Island of Dragons

by Lisa McMann

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  Contents

  Fire

  The Island of Artimé

  Aaron Longs for Home

  House After House

  Henry Finds a Purpose

  Planning a Journey

  Strange Company

  Talking Dragons

  The Big Map

  Trouble at Sea

  A Close Call

  The Dragon’s Triangle

  Aaron’s Last Secret

  Return to the Island of Legends

  A Clattering Reunion

  A Night Journey

  Pan’s Sobering Predicament

  Magic All Around

  Contemplating Flight

  Old Friends and Traditions

  Making Masterpieces

  Preparing to Fly

  Warning Signs and Secret Good-byes

  More Good-byes

  A Brother’s Love

  Surprising News

  Ishibashi’s Secret

  Aaron Immortal

  Frantic Preparations

  A Secret Arrangement

  Getting Ready

  When Doubt and Fear Creep In

  A Meeting of the Minds

  One by One, the Warriors (Reprise)

  A Word from a Leader

  The Return of Florence

  The Return of the Catapults

  The Battle Rages On

  As Darkness Falls

  A Watery Grave

  A Long, Lonely Night

  Pirates Ahoy

  The Brunt of the Attack

  Aaron Fights His Battles

  A Solemn Discussion

  When All Is Lost

  One More Try

  The Call of the Wild

  Jungle Unleashed

  Death Be Not Proud

  Chaos Returns

  The Birds

  A Familiar Face

  When All Is Lost (Reprise)

  Some Very Special Guests

  A Short Reprieve

  To the Rescue

  A Little Help

  So Much to Do

  Facing the Truth

  The Longest Night

  A Grand Reunion

  Proper Paths

  The End of the End

  Acknowledgments

  ‘Quests’ Series Sneak Peak

  About Lisa McMann

  For my editor, Liesa Abrams, who said yes.

  This series, these characters, and all the islands became real because of you. From the depths of my heart, I thank you.

  DEATH BE NOT PROUD

  JOHN DONNE

  Death be not proud, though some have callèd thee

  Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,

  For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,

  Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

  From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,

  Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

  And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

  Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.

  Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,

  And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,

  And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

  And better than thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;

  One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

  And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

  Fire

  The desert land of Quill was no more.

  Even though Aaron Stowe had implanted the fatal scatterclip into Gondoleery Rattrapp’s forehead and cried out the words “Die a thousand deaths!” that ended her terroristic reign, the old woman’s weapons had hit many unintended targets. The fireballs continued doing damage long after her demise.

  The Artiméans limped home after the battle past dozens of small fires that burned throughout Quill. Fanned by the sea breeze and fed by the dry, brittle wood houses, the fires grew out of control. Soon every quadrant in Quill was engulfed in flames. Frantic Wanteds and Necessaries were forced to abandon their homes and flee for the only part of the island that wasn’t burning: Artimé.

  “Let’s keep the Quillens moving!” shouted Alex Stowe, the head mage of the magical land of Artimé, as the people passed through the invisible weather barrier to safety. “All the way to the shore and the edge of the jungle, so there’s room for everyone!” In the confusion, he turned to two of his closest friends, Lani Haluki and Samheed Burkesh. “Try to convince them that it’s safe to go inside the mansion, will you? I’m afraid we’ll run out of space out here.”

  “We’ll try,” said Lani, “but it’s not going to be easy.” The lawn was tightly packed with Wanteds and Necessaries. Lani and Samheed did their best to spread the word, while Alex hurried inside the mansion to expand the upstairs living quarters so they could house the refugees who agreed to come inside.

  But it was a lot of work trying to convince the stubborn-minded, fearful people of Quill that they wouldn’t accidentally get any magic on them if they decided to take a room in the mansion until things could be sorted out.

  Alex overheard an exasperated Samheed talking to an old Quillen man. “Trust me,” he said. “There’s absolutely no way you are going to become magical just by sleeping in a nice bed for once in your life. Just come inside and I’ll show you to your room.”

  When the stubborn man refused and instead sat down behind a bush outside the mansion, Samheed threw his hands in the air. “Fine,” he said. “Sleep there forever, then. I’m sure I don’t care.” He went grumbling back through the crowd toward the weather barrier to try to direct some injured Quillens to the hospital ward.

  Simber flew overhead, occasionally sweeping over the burning part of the island from a safe height, looking to rescue anyone who might be trapped. The orange flames weren’t hot enough to harm him—not much, anyway. It had been the white- and blue-hot flames of Gondoleery’s fireballs that had done him in. Nevertheless, the giant stone cheetah was especially wary after what he’d gone through. Simber knew that if Alex’s twin brother Aaron hadn’t acted so quickly to restore him, his sandy remains would still be on the road near the palace right now, burning with the rest of Quill.

  Artimé owed Aaron a debt of gratitude, though a few were having a hard time accepting that fact after all Aaron had done in the past to hurt the magical world. Alex was among the most grateful, though, for Aaron had done something that Alex couldn’t do—he’d brought Simber back to life. While Alex sometimes struggled with the complexities of magic, Aaron’s newfound abilities appeared almost effortless. Was there any limit to what Aaron could do? Alex was starting to wonder.

  Needless to say, Aaron Stowe—former Everything, current Nothing—had earned a lot of respect from those who’d witnessed his unselfish actions. But he channeled his inner Ishibashi, kept his head down, and worked alongside the Artiméans to help with the injured and displaced people. And, being the closest thing to a leader of Quill, he found himself having to solve a whole new series of problems that came along with a community devastated by fire.

  Once the fleeing Wanteds and Necessaries arrived in Artimé, they had no choice but to stay. Covered in soot and carrying what little they could salvage, they sought safety in the magical world they hated and feared. Some arrived defeated, some defiant, some ove
rwhelmed, and some finally digging deep inside themselves and discovering their anger a little too late. And a few—mostly children—arrived with a tiny hint of excitement stirring in their hearts, for they had heard whispers about the happenings in Artimé, and they were not quite dead inside.

  » » « «

  The heavy black smoke traveled westward with the wind, and it didn’t take long for Queen Eagala and the hook-handed pirate, Captain Baldhead, to hear reports that something was amiss. After their meeting on Warbler, they sent out spies to see if the entire island of Quill was destroyed.

  But Alex’s magical weather barrier around Artimé proved to be one of the best spells the head mage had ever put in place. Soon the leaders of Warbler and Pirate Islands received word that the southern part of the island of Quill remained completely unharmed by fire and was filled with people. So they redoubled their efforts and continued planning the ultimate attack to destroy the magical land.

  Alex and his people had other things on their minds.

  The fires raged and settled and raged and settled again for weeks until there was nothing left to burn. During that time, Alex and his friends did whatever they could to assure their new visitors that they were safe now. Some of them, comforted by seeing Aaron safe and sound in Artimé, eased into their new lives a little at a time, trying to get used to the strange surroundings. Others chose to stay far away from the Unwanteds’ mansion, sleeping on the lawn at the border between the two worlds, waiting until they could go back home. With no trained ability to imagine things, they couldn’t fathom that Quill would look very different than it had before. But they’d soon discover there would be no home to go to.

  When at last the fires burned out and it was safe to venture into Quill, all could see for themselves that nothing of worth remained. With no resources to rebuild, it seemed the Wanteds and Necessaries would be forced to stay in Artimé.

  The annual day of the Purge came and went, unnoticed and obsolete.

  The Island of Artimé

  But the people of Quill didn’t want to stay in the magical land. Wanteds and Necessaries went into Quill multiple times over the following weeks to consider ways to rebuild. Sometimes they brought creative-minded Artiméans with them in hopes of someone coming up with a plan. But with no resources, there were no solutions, and the groups returned day after day covered in soot and feeling desperate for their old familiar land. Frustrations ran high. Soon even the most stubborn of the Quillens had to admit there was nothing they could do to rebuild their awful world.

  With the long-term outlook seeming quite grim, Alex called a formal meeting on the lawn for all the Wanteds and Necessaries to attend so they could talk about what to do next. He even borrowed a podium from Mr. Appleblossom to stand behind so that it would feel familiar to the people of Quill. It was a subtle gesture that was unfortunately lost on the dull-witted Quillens.

  After greeting the crowd, Alex laid out the situation. “I’ve talked with my advisors, including my brother Aaron,” he said. He pointed to Aaron next to him, since his brother’s presence seemed to give the Quillens some sort of comfort. “Because there’s nothing salvageable left in Quill, and because it would take years to remove all of the soot and embers and burned-out structures from the island, you are stuck in Artimé whether you like it or not. But I have an idea. With your permission, we’d like to expand our magical world to cover the ugliness.”

  The crowd, more vocal than it had ever been, began to murmur and complain.

  Alex waited, then went on. “Once the magic of Artimé covers the entire island, I can make individual homes for you like you had before. And . . . ,” he said, cringing, “I can make the land as bland as you want it to be.”

  Claire Morning and Florence, the giant ebony warrior statue, were standing at the back of the crowd, and they exchanged wry grins. It was hard for anyone in Artimé to believe that there were people who would purposely choose to have a bland world. But Aaron had suggested the option be offered, and it seemed to quiet the complaints a little.

  “In fact,” Alex said, bolstered by the reaction, “I can give you a similar layout to what you had before. I can even number the houses exactly the same, and just add some trees—and grass, if you want it—and schedule some occasional rain, which will help your living situations a lot. That way you won’t have to limit yourselves to two buckets of water a week. Your gardens and farms will flourish, and you and your livestock and chickens will have plenty to eat and drink.”

  Mr. Appleblossom, who had been in charge of rescuing the livestock and chickens that had run from the fire into Artimé, nodded and smiled as the Quillens talked among themselves about this new development. Once Mr. Appleblossom had put all the farm animals in one place, he’d set up a nice corral behind the mansion where they wouldn’t be bothered or frightened by the owlbats, platyprots, and other strange creatures that roamed freely in Artimé. The Quillen animals were flourishing on the food, water, and care that Mr. Appleblossom and his helpers had been giving them.

  Kaylee Jones, the American sailor whom Alex, Aaron, and Sky had rescued from the saber-toothed-gorilla-infested Island of Graves, had found a bit of comfort in the sight of animals that actually seemed normal to her, so she had joined Mr. Appleblossom’s team. She’d set up a petting zoo for the children from both worlds to enjoy, which was something she remembered loving from her own childhood. Carina’s son Seth and the younger set of Stowe twins, Thisbe and Fifer, were frequent visitors.

  Now Kaylee stood off to one side with Sky, Samheed, and Lani, looking decidedly healthier than she’d been at the time of her rescue. Upon her arrival, she’d been shocked by the gray, desert land of Quill—perhaps more shocked by it than by Artimé—and wondered how anyone could turn down the opportunity to have enough fresh water to drink. Yet before her eyes, a small group of Wanteds stubbornly argued and shook their heads, complaining about ridiculous things. She marveled at the stark difference between the two kinds of people on this island, and was infinitely glad that her rescuers had come from Artimé.

  As the crowd grew louder in their discussion over whether grass should be allowed, and whether they wanted it to rain more, Alex leaned toward his brother. “Now what do I do?” he whispered.

  Aaron put a hand on the podium. “You want me to step in?” he asked quietly.

  Alex frowned. “No, I can do it. Just tell me what to say to them, because I have no idea right now.”

  One corner of Aaron’s mouth turned up slightly. “Tell them that if they try having grass in their yards and they don’t like it, we can always remove it so they can have dirt yards like before.”

  Alex sighed. “But I don’t want to create dirt yards.”

  “Think of all the drawing they can do in the dirt when it rains,” Aaron said, almost mischievously.

  The look on Aaron’s face caught Alex by surprise, as so many things had in the past few months. His brother was a different person now, thanks to his time on the Island of Shipwrecks with the three old scientists: Ishibashi, Ito, and Sato. Alex still wasn’t sure if Aaron had gotten whacked on the head a little too hard when the pirates had kidnapped him—that’s how big his transformation was. But Aaron insisted he had still been an awful person when he’d first regained consciousness in the stone shelter, and Ishibashi had been quick to agree.

  Alex smiled. “All right,” he said. His insides felt complete now that he had his brother beside him. The two of them standing together with the same goals in mind was a dream Alex never thought could come true. Not like this. Not as friends, anyway.

  Alex stepped back to the podium and lifted his hand in the air for silence, which came quickly. The Quillens were nothing if not militant about letting the person at the podium speak—even if he was someone they didn’t trust. “We can always give it a try with the grass yards,” Alex said amicably, “and if it turns out you don’t like this luscious stuff massaging your bare feet every day, I will give you a dirt yard as before. Aaron will see to it.�
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  Aaron nodded his promise to the people, and that calmed them immediately.

  “Leave it at that,” Aaron said under his breath. “Finish up—you’re about to lose them.”

  Alex nodded. “Thank you, people of Quill. All in favor of having your own magical homes right where the old ones used to be, raise your hand.”

  The Wanteds and Necessaries had never been asked to vote on anything before. They looked at one another, confused.

  “Just go ahead and put your hand in the air like I’m doing,” Alex said, “if you want me to extend the magical world in order to give you your homes back. And if most of you agree, I’ll do it.”

  Samheed stared from the audience and made a face at Alex.

  Alex ignored him.

  Aaron raised his hand as well to show the people. But no one wanted to be the first in the audience to do it.

  “Okay, then,” Alex said, hesitating a bit, trying to figure out what to do next. “How about this: Everyone who would like to have their own home back as I proposed, just keep standing there with no hands in the air.”

  No one moved.

  “Good!” said Alex. “Excellent. That’s all of you. I’ll begin working on it right away. If everything goes well, we should have the first new homes ready in a matter of days. Thank you for coming!”

  The people didn’t move.

  “And now you may go,” said Alex, with a grand flourish that made Lani crack up and have to hide her face.

  Alex stepped back from the podium and turned to Aaron as the Wanteds and Necessaries began to disperse. Only a few small groups stayed around to voice complaints. “Whew,” he said. “Tough crowd.”

  “Yes,” Aaron said. “That was pretty clever how you did that, though.”

  A group of five or six Wanteds approached Aaron.

  “We don’t want to live in the magical world,” one said grumpily. “We want nothing to do with that Unwanteds magic.”

  Aaron and Alex exchanged a worried glance. “But . . . ,” said Aaron, “there’s nowhere else for you to live.”

  “We don’t care,” said the spokesperson.