by Lisa McMann
The man with the rope pulled it around Lani’s neck and held it tight. Lani struggled, but it was no use. First she saw spots dance before her eyes as she struggled to breathe, and then a wall of blackness. She could hang on to consciousness no longer. She slumped forward against the wall.
» » « «
When Lani woke again, the screams she heard this time were her own. Her body was now tied to the same table she’d been on before. A different woman with strange, golden-orange eyes held Lani’s head still while another painstakingly threaded metal thorns through the skin of her neck.
The Search
Simber soared toward the sun, which was just beginning its descent for the day. Alex shivered and wished he’d brought a jacket’it was much cooler flying this high over the middle of the ocean. And really, he had other things to do. He wished his friends hadn’t chosen today of all days to mess around with Ms. Morning’s boat. He wished . . .
Alex pulled himself up closer to the stone cheetah’s neck, trying to hide his face from the wind that whipped his hair all around and stung his eyes. He had no idea how fast Simber was going, but it was much swifter than Alex had ever moved before, that was certain.
“Arrre you holding on all rrright?” Simber asked.
“Yes,” Alex said. His arms ached.
Just then a glowing dot of light appeared in the distance, growing bigger by the second. At first Alex thought his eyes had gone buggy from staring at the sun, but as seconds turned into minutes, it didn’t waver. Soon it reached Alex and Simber, and reversed its course to remain in a position just within Alex’s grasp.
Alex, not knowing what else to do, held out his hand and grabbed the sphere from the air. It exploded, and a lighted image of a drawing of Lani’his drawing’appeared, then broke into tiny pieces of light and fell away. Instantly he remembered the spell Lani had created for Mr. Appleblossom.
“We’re going the right way!” Alex cried out to Simber. “Lani sent a seek spell. So at least they’re all right,” he said, hope in his voice.
“Well,” growled Simber, “at least she is, orrr was, wheneverrr she sent it.”
The short blast of relief disappeared and fear returned to Alex’s belly. He didn’t know how long it took for a seeking ball of light to travel. And who knew how far away his friends were? He leaned forward again, searching all the harder.
Within an hour they were closing in on the nearest island. Alex strained his eyes toward the water below, looking for the boat, but was fooled over and over again from this height by foaming whitecaps’the sea below was getting choppy. But he didn’t need to worry. Simber’s keen eyes soon spotted the boat without a problem.
The giant stone cheetah dove down to get a closer look, making Alex’s stomach catch in his throat. They hovered over the boat for a moment. It was empty.
“Thrrree component vests on the seats, and no sign of theirrr ownerrrs,” Simber growled, highly displeased.
Alex’s eyes widened and his gaze darted from the boat to the shore to the lush green center and tall rocky points of the island. “Where are they?”
Simber flapped his powerful wings and headed for the island. “That’s what we’rrre going to find out.” His voice was gruffer than usual, and it made Alex feel like he should be worried.
They soared over the island, Simber flying swiftly and carefully over the beach and the landscape. Alex shielded his eyes and peered around Simber’s neck. He wasn’t cold now. He didn’t think about his discomfort or the annoying sun in his eyes. Simber was worried; therefore Alex was worried. Simber didn’t worry about things unless they were big.
“Do you see anything?” Alex ventured after they’d combed a quarter of the island.
“Some footprrrints on the beach,” Simber said. “I thought I saw a glint of metal orrr something else shiny a moment ago, but it was shorrrt-lived and I can’t find it now.” He went over the property again, but saw nothing.
Alex bit his lip and shifted on Simber’s back, leaning far off to one side now, determined to find something. “Is it safe to land?” he asked.
“I’d rrratherrr not,” Simber said gruffly. “Therrre’s something strrrange about this place. Therrre’s no noise at all. I don’t trrrust it.”
Alex swallowed hard. He tried not to let his panic overtake his senses. “Lani,” he whispered. “Come on, you guys. The joke’s over. Where are you?” But deep down, he had a feeling this wasn’t a joke at all.
When they had cruised over the entire island, Simber made one last pass over the beach. “Okay, leaderrr. What now?”
Alex had been asking himself this very question. He tried to be as grown-up as possible, tried to think everything through like Mr. Today would do. Finally he said, “Do you think it’s truly dangerous for us to go ashore and explore?”
“Forrr you, yes. Forrr me, prrrobably not.”
Alex bit his lip. Could he rightfully ask Simber to risk going ashore alone?
Simber cleared his throat. He hovered over the beach, watching and sampling the air. Waiting.
“Would you . . . I mean, what do you think . . . ?” Alex couldn’t ask such a thing.
Simber strained his neck and looked over his shoulder at Alex. “Do it, Alex,” he said. “It’s yourrr job.”
Alex pushed his tangled hair out of his eyes and sighed. “Okay. Fine. Simber, please drop me into the boat, and go on shore to do a little exploring. But be very careful.”
Simber nodded. “That’s the best idea you’ve had all day,” he said. He darted over the water to the boat and slowly lowered his body so Alex could safely drop into it.
“Be careful!” Alex repeated as Simber flew the short distance to the sand and landed gracefully.
Alex hung over the side of the boat, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the railing, watching Simber slink toward the trees like the hunter he truly was. “Please find them,” he whispered over and over, his teeth chattering from nerves. “Please let them be okay.”
His heart leaped when Simber started running through the trees, as if in pursuit of prey. Alex stood up straight, straining to hear something, anything, from the direction of the island. But as before, there was eerily no sound at all.
When he heard a small splash nearby, he jumped. He imagined a team of islanders coming up out of the water from underneath the boat to attack him, now that the beast was out of the way. Dizzy with self-imposed fright, he grabbed a paddle from the side compartment of the boat with one hand and a heart attack component with the other and looked quickly all around the water.
He heard another splash, and this time he could pinpoint it’it was coming from the back of the boat. Alex raised the paddle above his head with his right hand, and pulled his left hand back holding the heart attack component, ready to fight whatever it was. He carefully peered over the stern.
When he saw her, one arm slung loosely around the boat’s ladder, he sucked in a breath, for indeed, he nearly didn’t recognize her at first.
“Meg,” he whispered.
He threw the paddle to the deck and reached out for her. She could barely lift a hand, she was so weak. The low sun caught Meghan’s red hair on fire and glinted on the points of the metal thorn band around her neck.
Stationed Up and at the Ready
Eva,” Aaron called out when he had his plan for the next day’s attack all figured out. “A word, please.”
Eva rolled her eyes. “Now what?” She and the others had just sat down at the Halukis’ dining table to eat a rather fine governor-type dinner.
Aaron tried to ignore her attitude. “I need you to sneak out of here and talk to Gondoleery’let her know what the plan is, and see what they’ve done with their weapons.”
“What is the plan?”
“I’m about to tell you,” Aaron said. “You can stop with the insolence now. I apologized for doubting you. It’s over. Can’t we please move forward cohesively? We have a government to overtake, and we need to be together on this.”
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br /> This time Eva didn’t roll her eyes, but she wanted to. “Fine. Go ahead then.”
“This is very important. I want you to tell Gondoleery’s team to wait until it’s fully dark, and then begin stealthily heading toward Artimé. They should bring all of their weapons with them, hide, and sit patiently outside Artimé’s walls, watching who is going in and out overnight. They’re not to attack until after you and Today leave in the morning.”
“Okay,” Eva said.
“And I want you to go inside and sleep in the mansion tonight as you normally would. Do you have your heart attack weapon?”
“I do,” Eva said, patting her pocket. “And you have the rest of them.” Eva stared at the ground, thinking. She’d have to fake not knowing the gate was back up. Hopefully there would still be a way into Artimé. She shifted nervously. If she couldn’t release the gate spell herself and get into Artimé, she wouldn’t be able to leave with Marcus in the morning.
“I’ll have the rest of our team head toward the palace in the morning to try to delay Haluki in case he gets wind of this.”
“Sounds good,” Eva said. She glanced around at the others. “So you’re camping out here tonight? All of you?”
“Yes. You’ll be off with the old mage by the time we attack, so we’ll see you after. Remember, just dump the body and say he went for a swim and drowned.”
“I will.”
“Be properly upset about it.”
“I will.” Eva was getting upset with Aaron now. “Maybe you should brave up and kill him yourself if you don’t think I can do it right.”
Aaron’s face turned red. He pressed his lips together but said nothing.
Eva turned and looked longingly at the dinner table, where Liam, Bethesda, and Crawledge were making quick work of the food. “Is there anything else you want me to tell Gondoleery?”
“Just . . .” Aaron fidgeted. “Just tell her to hold off and stand down if she feels outnumbered. We aren’t in a race.”
“Okay.” She took it upon herself to end their little meeting and went back to sit at the table and finish her food.
Aaron watched her, incredulous, and then cleared his throat loudly. “Eva?”
Eva turned to look at him, surprised. “Yes?”
“Now.”
Eva and the other three paused simultaneously, hands to mouths, and stared at Aaron.
“Now,” he said again, and pointed to the back door. “Go.”
The former secretary to the High Priest Justine hesitated, and then slowly placed her spoon back into her full bowl of soup. She stood, infuriated, and without a word or a second glance, walked out the back door of the Haluki home, seething, and disappeared.
» » « «
When she reached the home of Gondoleery Rattrapp, she entered quietly. Gondoleery sat at her table staring at the spell components, rolling them around in her fingers, deep in thought. She startled and stood up when Eva cleared her throat.
“I have a message for you,” Eva announced. “Aaron Stowe requests that your team head over to Artimé now. There you’ll find a gate up. Release the magic spell on it, or break it down if you have to,” she said, looking at Gondoleery, “and attack immediately.”
The Weekly Peace Meeting
As the sun set over the distant islands Marcus Today sat at his dressing table in his private chambers. He adjusted his robe on his shoulders and secured it, just so, around his neck. He doffed his favorite slippers and put on his walking shoes for the trip into Quill. But then he chuckled to himself, remembering he’d put the gate up again. Perhaps he wouldn’t walk into Quill today after all.
The walk was one of his favorite parts of his new routine since the battle. Sometimes Claire accompanied him, and that gave him some lovely time to spend with his daughter. But he really favored the walk when he was alone. While the road was hot, and the odor and scenery left much to be desired along the way to the palace, it was often quite deserted for a good portion of the way, and it gave Mr. Today some much needed peace and quiet from the mostly friendly chaos that had overtaken Artimé. It was good for him to be alone sometimes, he knew. And occasional solitude was especially good for the creative mind. Some of his best ideas of the past months came out of that weekly walk. The greatest of which was Alex Stowe.
The boy was young, but Marcus had no doubt that he would flourish in the years ahead. And the old mage was set on helping Alex build his self-confidence and belief in himself as being worthy of the title of mage of Artimé. It would take time, but Alex would come around eventually.
As Marcus smoothed his flyaway shock of hair, he thought back on his meetings with Alex over the past months. How fun it was to surprise the boy with his eccentric ideas. How smart Alex was, and how capable. And how disappointed the boy could get when he wanted something so badly but was denied. He knew back then that Alex would feel incapable of being mage. He also knew, more than Alex himself, that Alex wouldn’t want anyone else taking the job from him.
“Oh!” he said to his image in the mirror. “That reminds me. . . .”
He picked up a pencil and scribbled a note to himself for after the meeting:
Teach Alex Triad spells
He chuckled to himself as he put his pencil down. “Oh dear. Getting forgetful,” he said. “It wouldn’t do to leave out that little gem, now would it. In fact . . . I’ll grab it now.” He got up and walked out of his chambers and across the hall to the Museum of Large. Inside he gazed at the overflowing piles of books for a long moment, concentrating. Slowly he walked halfway down the library wall to the very center of the middle shelf, and pulled out a thin, handwritten diary simply called The Triad: Live, Hide, Restore.
He brought the book to his chambers and set it on his dressing table so he wouldn’t forget to give it to Alex that night.
A moment later there was a light tapping on the doorframe. Ms. Morning poked her head in.
“Hello, dear,” Mr. Today said, smiling brightly.
“Ready, Father?”
“Just about,” he said. “Has Alex returned with the boat?”
“Not yet,” Ms. Morning said. She was starting to get worried, but she knew that there was no better companion for Alex to have than Simber. “I’m sure they’ll be back before we get home after the meeting.”
“Perhaps we should wait.”
Claire smiled. “Father, you put us in charge. Alex is no doubt handling everything with utmost care. And if he and Simber are not back by morning, obviously you can cancel your trip.”
Mr. Today nodded. “You’re right. You know, Claire, this is very good for me, to let go of a few things now and then.”
“I know,” she said.
Mr. Today turned to Charlie, the gargoyle. “Charlie, can you let Gunnar know we’re on the way?”
Charlie gave Mr. Today three thumbs-up. He’d always felt very lucky to have three thumbs, so he used them all whenever the opportunity arose.
Mr. Today and Ms. Morning left the mage’s private chambers and walked across the hall to the kitchenette. Ms. Morning stepped to the side of the tube and flourished regally with her hand to her father. “Age before beauty, as they say.”
Mr. Today chuckled softly and stepped into the tube.
Silence
Meghan!” Alex hoisted Meghan’s limp, sodden body into the boat, nearly toppling over when her foot caught on the ladder. He yanked her free and they both fell to the deck. “Meg!” he cried out again.
Her skin was blue white and very cold except for the swollen red skin of her neck, where the thorny band was sewn, but her eyelids fluttered and she breathed shallowly. She focused on Alex for a second and tried to speak, but couldn’t make a sound. Her fingers brushed past her throat and her face twisted up, lips quivering, tears leaking from her eyes in a silent chest-heaving sob.
Alex stared. And then he sprang to his feet. “Simber!” he shouted, leaning over the boat’s edge and cupping his mouth. “Simber!” He scrambled around the boat to find towe
ls, wrapping Meghan in them and giving her a pillow. Her eyes were closed now, and she didn’t open them when Alex shook her arm. He stood again to shout the cheetah’s name, but this time saw him coming.
The cheetah glided in and landed with his back paws precariously on the side railing of the boat, still flapping his wings to keep the majority of his weight from capsizing them all, but being careful not to touch the water. His eyes were eagle-sharp, his teeth bared. “What’s happened to herrr? Wherrre’d she come frrrom?” he growled.
Alex, now fighting the wind from Simber’s wings, shielded his face’he’d been accidentally knocked about by those wings before, and it wasn’t fun, so he was cautious. “She was in the water, clinging to the ladder. I didn’t know she was there until she splashed. She can’t talk. They’” He choked up a little. Whoever “they” was Alex didn’t know, which made it even more frightening. “They put that horrible metal thing on her neck.” His own face threatened to twist up in emotion, but he gripped the captain’s seatback, trying to control it. “I haven’t seen Lani or Samheed.” He dug his fingernails into the cushion and closed his eyes a moment, trying to compose himself. He was supposed to be in charge. And people in charge can’t buckle. He knew he had to take his personal pain out of it for now and focus on what to do next. He took a deep breath and let it out. Then he looked at Simber, his face serious. “Did you see anything on the island?”
Simber nodded grimly. “Yes. Not Samheed orrr Lani, but I saw two natives with the necklaces made of thorrrns. I chased them until they disappearrred into a hole in the grrround, much smallerrr than I could get into.” He looked at Meghan and then at Alex.
“A hole in the ground?” Alex echoed. He didn’t have time to contemplate that right now’he knew he had another decision to make. But this one was beyond his ability. “Simber . . .” He stared at Meghan’s limp body and looked up at Simber again. “I need your help,” he said.
“I’m always herrre,” he said softly.
