by McMann, Lisa
She remembered making it to Claire’s boat and not having the strength to climb inside, instead hanging on to the ladder for dear life. And that was the last thing she could recall before she woke up inside the gray shack. She didn’t remember the rescue or flying out of the boat or nearly drowning.
“I can’t imagine what they’ve done to Lani and Samheed,” she said. “But you have to understand—we have one shot at getting them out of there. And almost everything is underground. There are spies in the trees with sleep darts—they got us on the way in, but I don’t think they were expecting me to escape. They must only be looking out to sea. So by the time they saw me running for the boat, I was too far away and they missed.” She thought for a moment. “We’re going to need a lot of help.”
“Simber,” Alex said, “I’d like to do a flyover of Warbler as soon as possible. We need to get an idea of what we’re dealing with and figure out where the cave entrances are.” He looked at the afternoon sun. “Tomorrow, first thing?”
“I’ll be rrready,” Simber said.
Meghan frowned. “I should go.”
Alex looked at her. “I didn’t think you’d want to.”
“I don’t. But I should,” she said. Her voice was growing clearer as the day wore on, and it was easier to understand her now. “I’ll be able to show you where I escaped from.”
“No,” Sean said. “You’re not going.”
Meghan flared. “Yes, I think I am.”
“Then so am I,” he said. His face was stone.
Ms. Octavia cleared her throat.
Everyone looked at her.
She smiled, her sharp teeth gleaming, and then looked at Alex. “Alex, I think Artimé needs you to stay on the grounds for now as we plan things.”
Alex flashed a confused look, which cleared a moment later. “Oh. To keep things stable around here,” he murmured. “Rally the troops, as they say.”
“At least until Claire is feeling better,” Ms. Octavia said.
“I agrrree,” Simber said, and Florence nodded.
Alex pressed his lips together. He wasn’t sure he liked counting on someone else to get things right. But then he thought about it. Who better than Sean and Meghan to take on this task? They were certainly invested enough—Meghan had the scars to prove it—and Sean had been a great leader. “Okay,” he said. “Both of you go with Simber tomorrow.”
The brother and sister team wore nearly identical grim smiles.
“And I’ll work on Sky and Crow,” Alex said. He rubbed his temples. “If we could only convince them to let me take those chokers off, we could communicate. They could tell us everything.”
“What do you mean?” Florence asked. “Are they hesitant?”
“Sky seems to be really worried that something bad will happen. I wonder what kind of nonsense they were told would happen if they removed them.”
Meghan gulped. “You mean something could have happened to me?”
“The point is, nothing did happen,” Alex said. “See? You’re fine.” He tapped his lips. “Maybe you could go talk to Sky this afternoon, Meg. Show her that you’re okay.”
“Sure,” Meghan said.
“As for Sam and Lani,” Alex said, “well, Lani, at least, is still alive. She sent a seek spell about an hour ago.” He pointed to the fading trail of light that streaked across the water to the west. “I hope they can hang on a bit longer. They must think we’ve abandoned them.”
“They won’t give up waiting for us,” Meghan said. “They must have figured out by now that things aren’t normal.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “Could you have imagined what happened here?”
Meghan paused. “No, I guess not. But if Lani has been doing the seek spell, she had to have seen that it wasn’t working for a while.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
They sat in contemplative silence. “Anything else?” Alex asked. He looked around. “I’ll send out a message to everyone’s blackboards just to make sure everybody’s doing okay, like Mr. Today would do. I don’t see a need for a big meeting—everyone seems to have gone back to their routines quite easily.”
The others agreed.
“What about the gate?” Simber asked. “I don’t think Quill has discoverrred that we’rrre back in business yet, but they will soon.”
Alex nodded. “I’ve thought about it. We need to keep it open in case some of our Unwanteds return. Let’s get another line of guards in place, and maybe Rufus can act as lookout from above.”
“I’ll handle that,” Florence said. “Shall I start up the Magical Warrior Training again?”
“Yes,” Alex said. He looked at Ms. Octavia. “And let’s get regular classes going again too.”
The octogator nodded. “That will be good. Poor Siggy doesn’t know what to do with himself. He’s still so distraught over Samheed.” She wrung two or three tentacles in her lap.
After they had sorted out all the most urgent tasks, Alex looked around the group. “Well, I guess that’s enough for today. Thanks, everybody.” He smiled. “It’s good to have you back.”
The Birds, the Birds!
When the advisors dispersed to take care of their tasks, Alex made his way inside the mansion. He peeked into the hospital ward, seeing Gunnar and Henry Haluki, along with Crow and also Charlie the gargoyle, all sitting together on Gunnar’s bed. Crow was signaling wildly to Charlie, and Gunnar was signaling too, only at a much slower pace.
Henry looked up and saw Alex watching them. “Charlie and Crow speak the same language,” he said, eyes shining. “Can you believe it? And my dad can understand Crow a little bit too!”
Alex grinned. “That’s incredible,” he said. “What a strange coincidence that Charlie and Matilda would use the same sign language as the people on Warbler.” He thought about that for a bit, scratching his head as he turned to leave. “Then again, that’s where Mr. Today was born. Maybe he learned it there and taught it to the gargoyles.” He climbed the steps, deep in thought. And then he stopped, turned around, and went back down. He peeked into the hospital ward again.
“Crow,” he said, “can you tell Henry’s dad what the leaders of Warbler have told you about the thorns in your neck? Did they tell you something would happen to you if you took them off?”
Crow’s face turned ashen. He gripped the choker and backed away from Alex.
Alex put his hands in the air and stepped back. “Whoa, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Crow watched Alex for a long minute, and then he turned to Gunnar and began to sign.
Gunnar watched Crow carefully. When Crow finished, Gunnar turned to Alex and shook his head. “I didn’t get it all,” Gunnar began, “but the gist of it is that if they ever escaped and tried to remove the thorns, the birds would come.”
“The birds?” Alex asked.
Gunnar looked at Crow. Crow signed some more.
“The Warbler birds, he says,” said Gunnar. “The Warbler birds will come and peck them, starting with their eyes. And then the people of Warbler would find them and kill them.”
Alex stared. Henry stared. Even Charlie stared.
Crow cowered, his hands over his eyes.
Alex’s mind raced. What would Mr. Today say right now to this scared little boy to soothe his fears? He put his hands in his pockets and offered a kind smile. “Well, all I know is that a crow can beat a warbler any day of the year.”
Crow didn’t move.
“And you know what else I know?”
Crow remained still.
“I know that warbler birds are friendly. I also know that the leader of Warbler told you that to scare you, and I bet I know why—they don’t want you to remove the thorns so you can’t talk to anyone about what they’re doing over there.” Alex began to wind up. “It’s like Quill. Justine told everyone that the walls were there for our protection from the neighboring lands, but she was lying to us. She wanted us to be scared only so that we wouldn’t dare to leave.” He too
k a breath.
Crow let his hands slip down from his eyes.
“There’s nothing special about that thorny necklace,” Alex said decisively. “Its only purpose is to keep you from talking to outsiders, and to scare you into obedience.”
Crow looked up at Alex, his eyes begging to be assured.
“I can prove it,” Alex said. “We took Meghan’s off this morning. She sat outside for hours, and no Warbler birds came. Plus, now she can talk again.”
Crow’s face strained with hope.
“Go find her—you’ll see for yourself. And tell your sister, too. She’s probably with Meghan right now.”
Crow bit his lip, and then he scrambled off Haluki’s bed and jumped to the floor, running at full speed to find Meghan and his sister.
Gunnar grinned at Alex. “You have a way with that boy,” he said. “He trusts you.”
Alex smiled. “I guess so,” he said, feeling a new confidence growing inside him. And then he turned to Henry. “Now that we have our art supplies again, see if you can get Crow to draw a map of the tunnels on Warbler, will you?”
“Sure,” Henry said. “He’s pretty good at drawing. I showed him my things and he drew some stuff.” He got off the bed and went after Crow.
Alex looked at Gunnar Haluki. “We’re doing everything we can to find Lani,” he said. “She’s alive, we know that much. She sent a seek spell this morning.”
Gunnar smiled weakly. “I know you’re doing your best, Alex. And from what little I’ve seen, you’re doing an excellent job. Marcus would be very proud.”
Alex blinked hard and looked at the floor.
Gunnar went on. “Thank you for taking care of my son. I can never repay you for that.”
Alex nodded. “I’m sorry about your wife,” he said.
Gunnar closed his weary eyes. “There is only one instance where living without ever expressing one’s feelings seems like it could be useful, at least on the surface, and that is when someone you love dies.” He took a breath. “I will never be the same person again.”
Alex nodded. He thought he understood, at least a little. After a moment, thinking Gunnar was asleep, he turned to go.
“Alex,” Gunnar said.
Alex stopped and looked at the man.
“I didn’t want to say this in front of the boys, but Charlie is communicating with Matilda, who is in Aaron’s office at the palace. She overheard a conversation. It seems Aaron has somehow managed to sentence your father to his death, but then decided to save his life again on the condition that they never support you in any way.” He paused. “I thought you should know.”
Alex’s stomach dropped. He felt numb. He pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache threatened. And then he let out a held breath. “I see,” he said. “Thank you for telling me.”
“And your mother is due any day now.”
Alex blinked. “She—what?”
Haluki opened his eyes. “Ahh, I’m sorry. You haven’t reconnected,” he mused. “According to Matilda, your mother is about to have twins.”
Information Overload
After sending out a greeting to all of Artimé by way of a very cranky blackboard, Alex retreated to the Museum of Large to search for a book that might tell him more about Warbler Island. But once he got there, he was quickly reminded of the mess that Ol’ Tater had made. He picked up a few things, and then made his way to the gray shack. It was almost exactly as it had been when it stood alone on that dry plot, except for a few pieces of toppled furniture, most likely due to the Unwanteds trying to get out when they realized something was happening. He straightened it up.
Alex made a mental note to restore water to the water cabinet in case the world ended again. That had saved them. And then he bent down and looked into the cupboard where the model of the mansion was kept. He spied it and pulled it out, looking it over. “Brilliant clue, really,” Alex said aloud. He smiled and pushed the miniature mansion back in its place.
“I’ll fix you later, as soon as I have time,” he said to the whale bones, which were scattered near and far. “Promise.” And then he laughed at himself. He sounded like Mr. Today, talking to the whale as if it could hear him. “And I’ll explore the rest of this room one day too,” he promised himself. There were hulking things in all directions, some of them curiously covered with tarps.
On the way back to the wall of books, he patted the side of the pirate ship. It whispered unintelligibly in return.
And then he dove into the library, trying to find the W section.
There wasn’t one. As he searched through piles and shelves overflowing with books, his mind turned to Sky. And to Lani. And to how awfully confused he felt. How could he even be thinking about girls when he had so much to do?
Then he thought about his parents. And Aaron. And how awful Aaron was. And about his mother having twins. Alex would be an older brother, and he’d probably never meet the children. How coincidental, he thought. Twins again.
On second thought, maybe he would meet one of them eventually. He gave a rueful chuckle and picked up another book, Everything There Is to Know About Shells. Alex opened it and just laughed. He was sure it was a great book and very useful—though not quite as useful as the vomit book, which had already provided entertainment for Alex and several of his friends—but …
He set it aside and dug deeper, trying to organize titles as he went through them, but ultimately giving up because the job was endless and took too much time. He searched into the night.
Finally he happened on a small book written in Mr. Today’s own hand. It was a biography or a journal of sorts. Alex paged through it and then put it in his pocket to take back to his room.
When he left the Museum of Large, his mind was swimming with book titles about everything one could possibly imagine. Books on flags, books on famous people, books on geography and cooking and war and craft making. Books on art, sculpting, music, and magic. Books of fiction, scripts, plays, and poetry. And one of the most interesting things of all was that most of the books in the library, except for the ones written by Artiméans and two piles of random titles that Alex found in pristine condition, were very old.
It was puzzling, but there was no time to wonder about it.
“Come on,” Alex muttered. He was tired. He just wanted to find something that would help him. “We need to come up with a find spell,” he said.
And then he spied it—a book called simply The Islands. It was old and tattered—well loved, Mr. Today would have said. That had to have some information about Warbler.
Alex stifled a yawn that threatened to crack his jaw, and realized he was useless without sleep. He took the two books, closed up the Museum of Large, and headed back up the not-really-secret hallway. It was late. Late enough to be stumbling across Samheed right about now, Alex thought. A pang ripped through him. Things weren’t happening fast enough, and he couldn’t seem to make anything go faster.
He squeezed his eyes shut as he emerged from the hallway, and nearly tripped over someone.
“Oh,” he said, catching his balance. And then he smiled when he realized who it was. “It’s you two. Sorry about that.” Crow hopped to his feet. Alex blushed and held his hand out to Sky. She took it and pulled herself up, then hastily let go.
Alex looked from one to the other. And then he frowned. “You guys have rooms, don’t you?”
They both nodded.
“Oh, good. I thought we forgot. I’m glad somebody took care of you,” he said. “Did Meghan find you?” He tried to sound nonchalant, but it wasn’t working.
The Silent girl nodded again, and then she pointed to the thorns around her neck and looked up at Alex with a solemn face.
Alex looked back at her. Just looking at her made his knees weak. “So … ?” He flashed a lopsided grin. “You want me to take that nasty collar off you now?”
Sky didn’t smile. She just swallowed hard and nodded.
Alex took a deep breath. It was crazy how excited h
e was. He wondered what her voice would sound like. What if it was nothing like he expected? What if she’d had the necklace on too long and her voice didn’t come back?
He’d thought about it and realized there was no need for Florence and her tools. It would be even easier removing one solid piece rather than half a dozen broken pieces. “Let’s do it, then,” he said gently. “All you have to do is stand there and don’t move.” He turned to Crow. “This would be a very, very bad time to bump me, okay? You got that?”
Crow nodded and stepped back, his eyes wide and solemn.
Alex turned back to the girl and moved her hair out of the way. “Cover your ears, Crow,” he said, his eyes not leaving the girl’s beautiful orange irises.
Obediently, Crow put his fingers in his ears.
Alex touched the metal thorns, careful to stay far away from her skin. “Ready?” he whispered.
Sky blinked once, not daring to nod her head. She squeezed her hands into fists so tight that her knuckles looked like they might split.
Alex closed his eyes and pictured the thorns disappearing, and then he whispered, “Dissipate.”
When he opened his eyes, his fingertips were empty. In the space in front of him, Sky stood, still as a mouse.
“It’s done.” A grin spread across Alex’s face. “Check the mirror,” he said, remembering that’s what covered the wall where the secret hallway stood.
The girl put her fingers to her neck, and then ran to the mirror and stared. She traced the scars. A tear fell from the corner of her eye, and then she turned to Alex. “Alex,” she half mouthed, half whispered, nearly choking as her voice struggled to make sound once again. “Thank you.”
It was the most beautiful sound Alex had ever heard.
Lessons in Warblish
Every day, whenever Lani could find a moment when no one was watching, she sent out the seek spell. And every day, when no one came to rescue them, she lost a little more hope.
She was assigned to work in a fire cave, melting gold coins and making thorn necklaces. There were five or six other workers there around Lani’s age, and they showed her how to use a mold to form the long, thin, sharply pointed strings of gold. While the strings were still hot, the workers loosely weaved several of them together in a curved shape, making sure the pointed ends were at the proper angles to easily be inserted into someone’s neck. It was the most horrible job Lani could think of.
