by Lisa McMann
• • •
By that time, Aaron was approaching the Island of Legends. Karkinos reached out his coral-reef claw to assist him, lifting the sodden former head mage and placing him gently on the shore near the others. Once he’d caught his breath, he faced the ones there: Fifer, Thisbe, Sky, Ibrahim, and Clementi. They, with Drock’s help, had kept an eye on the whole interaction and could tell bad things were going on, but they couldn’t hear well enough to understand everything.
Thisbe and Fifer came up to embrace Aaron. “What happened?” Thisbe asked, alarmed. “Why did you give up your robe?”
Aaron, still a bit dazed, explained what had transpired. “There was no chance of getting them to listen,” he said. “I’m a distraction. Way too big of one at such a crucial moment. I had to do it. I . . . I wanted to. I can’t go on like this. Being head mage was never something I desired, anyway. Not . . . not now.”
Fifer stared over the water, trying to make out the activity. “What about Seth? Did you see him?”
“No,” said Aaron. “I saw Carina, though. They’ll be fine. The dissenters don’t have a problem with our friends. Just us. We’re not safe there anymore.”
Thisbe stared. What in the world was happening? This was unbelievable. All three of them, hated by this noisy group in Artimé. Banished, or so it seemed. After all their brother Alex had done for that world, his death had left the other three tossed out to sea. “At least we’re together,” said Thisbe, her eyes filling. And then she broke into a sob.
Fifer started crying too. “All our stuff in the mansion . . . We don’t even have canteens or anything.”
“Who cares about that?” said Thisbe sharply, swiping at her tears. “Sheesh, Fifer. You drive me crazy sometimes.”
“You’re mad that I care about having water?” said Fifer. “After what we went through in the land of the dragons? Did you forget that already?”
Thisbe stared. “Oh, yeah,” she said sheepishly. “Right. Well, luckily we have water here.”
Fifer nodded stiffly. There was still so much hurt between them, but she tamped down her urge to keep arguing. Sky placed a comforting hand on each girl’s shoulder.
Aaron turned to Ibrahim and Clementi. “You two should go back to Artimé. Henry and Thatcher will be worried. The conflict there will settle down now. I hope so, anyway.”
Ibrahim and Clementi nodded. They gathered up their rucksacks and took a few reluctant steps toward the water, still intimidated by Aaron even though he no longer wore the robe of the head mage. But then they stopped and whispered to each other. Clementi turned to Aaron. “We want to stay and help you if you’ll let us. I think Henry and Thatcher would know that. We’ve been very vocal about our support for Thisbe and her quest to return to the land of the dragons. So I think they’ll expect that we want to help you both now.”
“Clementi’s right,” said Ibrahim. “I think they’ll know. And if they want to make sure, one of them can come here to check on us. They’ll understand.”
Aaron considered their argument for a moment, then wearily agreed. “We could certainly use your creative minds,” he said.
“Let’s get back to work, then,” said Thisbe. “We’ve got no time to waste.” Thisbe ran over to where Drock was floating in the space between the great crab’s coral-reef claws. “Drock!” she called. “Where is the Revinir now?”
Drock flapped his mighty wings and rose high into the air, showering everyone with water. He held steady overhead, eyes fixed to the west, then circled and rose higher and stared again. He seemed shocked. He muttered something under his breath and landed. “She’s passing over the Island of Fire. Making incredible time. Much faster than I anticipated. She’s moving as quickly as a regular full dragon can fly.”
Thisbe’s legs quaked, and her scales quivered. The report took her breath away. “So what’s her estimated time of arrival?”
Drock gave the girl a pained look. “If they don’t stop to rest? Not long after daybreak.”
“Then,” said Thisbe bravely, “we’ve got no time to lose. Let’s figure this monster out once and for all.”
• • •
Night fell. Drop bears appeared, weaving anxiously in and out of the trees, as if they could feel danger approaching. Talon and Lhasa, the snow leopard, emerged from the woods and stopped by the group to offer them food and drink.
As they gratefully ate, Aaron told the two what had happened. Talon offered to check on Florence and find out if everything was settling down and to let Henry and Thatcher know that Ibrahim and Clementi were choosing to stay with Aaron and the twins. He set off, and the group of mages continued to throw out ideas as they finished their hurried meal. But everything they could think of would likely be repelled by the Revinir’s scales.
“What about a potion that affects the Revinir’s sight?” asked Clementi. “Eyes are vulnerable.”
“That would be something, at least,” said Thisbe. “It won’t break her control over the dragons, but it might buy us some time.”
Clementi and Ibrahim began brainstorming but soon realized Karkinos didn’t have the right kinds of herbs they’d need to make a potion, and there was no easy way to get them from Artimé. So they had to abandon the idea for now and try something else.
After a while, Talon returned. “It’s still chaotic,” he said. “A whole new group of protesters has formed—the ones who want you back as head mage, Aaron.”
Aaron closed his eyes briefly as mixed emotions flowed through him. He wished they’d put their efforts into practicing their fighting skills, but he was grateful to have some support. Yet . . . he didn’t regret leaving the toxic situation. Though he still felt terribly guilty for what he’d done to Simber. “How is Florence?” he asked.
“She’s more sympathetic to you than Simber is,” Talon said carefully. “She held the training session, but it wasn’t easy with all the activity and arguing. She has an awful lot to do to try to prepare the mansion for an attack, and she wasn’t getting much cooperation.”
“And . . . Simber?” asked Aaron, not looking up.
“Simber isn’t speaking to anyone at the moment. Frieda has him busy doing meaningless chores for her. It’s . . . not a good scenario.”
“What about the obliterate spell?” asked Thisbe. “Is there one ready yet?”
“Not yet,” said Talon. “Carina got pulled away to help with crowd control. She’s back working on it again, but it’s very slow going, she said.”
Aaron sighed deeply. “I hope I didn’t destroy everything.”
Talon gave him a look of sympathy. “I think everyone knows how important it is to stop the Revinir. This will blow over.”
“If we all survive to see that happen, it’ll be a miracle,” muttered Aaron. “We’re going to have to leave your island soon—we certainly don’t want to draw the Revinir to your shores. Perhaps Karkinos should swim out of the area for a while.”
“But where will we go?” asked Fifer. “If Artimé isn’t safe for us and we don’t want to draw the enemies to Karkinos, will we go to the grandfathers? If so, we’ll have to take a ship, since there’s no way we can access the tubes. And we can’t go to Warbler—the Revinir will see us.”
“I don’t think Warbler is a safe place to hide, anyway,” said Sky. “She knows that island better than anyone.”
Aaron sighed. “I haven’t figured anything out quite yet.”
But Thisbe had. She watched and listened to the conversations through the cover of darkness, taking it all in. She glanced at Drock, who looked back solemnly at her, and a strange new feeling of understanding passed between them that surprised her. She’d forgotten about the additional ancestor broth she’d taken earlier, before all this craziness broke loose. But maybe it was having an effect on her and her ability to communicate with dragons. Whatever the case, she and Drock seemed to be the only ones to fully understand what needed to happen here. And the closer they got to daybreak, the more serious they had to become about d
oing it.
The group brainstormed long into the night until exhaustion overcame them. All agreed to get a few hours of sleep before they had to make a move. What move would it be? Only two of them knew for sure.
A Sacrifice
Thisbe had slipped away on the back of a dragon in the middle of the night once before. It felt strange to be doing so again after what had happened last time. When the others were asleep, she grabbed one of the canteens that Talon had provided them, silently thanking Fifer for the reminder, and tiptoed out to where Drock napped. As she did so, the roar of the Revinir blasted inside her head. Thisbe dropped to her hands and knees, prepared for the inevitable paralysis and the pounding of the images. But strangely, this time she merely had to fight through a misty haze. She rose to her feet and, after a moment to steady herself, continued to Drock.
Drock had been startled awake by the call, and he splashed, highly agitated, in the water as Thisbe drew near.
“She’s getting close,” Drock said. He flopped and dove underwater, disappearing for a long moment and leaving Thisbe wondering if he was ever going to surface. When he did, he rose with a loud splash.
Thisbe shushed him and looked over her shoulder at the others. She couldn’t tell if they’d woken up or not. “I know it’s hard, but try to be calm,” she whispered. “Let’s hurry.” The images flashed at the edges of her brain, more like memories this time rather than the visions that blinded her. The extra vial of ancestor broth seemed to have done great things for her problem. She wished she’d taken it much sooner. The pull of the Revinir’s call still made her feel like going toward it, sort of like how the pull of a late-night snack might make her want to get out of her toasty warm bed. It usually wasn’t strong enough to get her to actually do it, but she definitely thought about it.
However, Drock was having a lot of trouble resisting the call this time, perhaps because the Revinir was getting so near to them. Thisbe became agitated too, just watching him and worrying that he was going to wake up Aaron or Fifer. If they found out what she was about to do, they’d probably stop her.
“Too bad,” Thisbe murmured to herself, imagining the conversation with Aaron. “I’m going, no matter what you say.” She heard a footfall in the sand behind her.
“Thisbe,” said Aaron, too close for comfort.
Thisbe jumped. “Yes?” she hissed. All of her determination bled out of her.
“What are you doing?”
Thisbe pressed her lips together. “I’m going with Drock.” She could see his outline next to her now.
“Going where?”
“Come on, Aaron. You know. There’s no other way to stop this.”
Aaron sighed deeply.
“We tried,” said Thisbe. “We had ideas, but we didn’t have enough time. You can keep thinking of ways to stop her if you want, but this will actually save Artimé, I think. She wants me back with her. She’s furious that I escaped, and she’ll be relentless until she has me back. And she wants Drock, too—she wants all the dragons. Every last one of them. She’s greedy. Perhaps . . . perhaps that’s her weakness.” Thisbe stopped and thought about that for a moment. “Yes, maybe that’s it. Keep thinking about that while I’m gone, Aaron. And I will too. Ask Sky about what else might get to her. Maybe there’s something left at Warbler that can help give us a clue.”
“You think I can just let you go and turn yourself in to the Revinir? I can’t, Thisbe. You know that.”
“She won’t kill me. I promise. I know her. I’ll be okay. I’m a well-trained actor, remember? I know what to do.”
Aaron was quiet.
“And I took the extra ancestor broth. It’s helping me be stronger against her roar. She just sent out a roar a few minutes ago, and look at me—I’m fine. Pretty good, anyway. Just a little fuzzy.”
“Thisbe.”
“I’m dead serious, Aaron.”
“Then I shall come with you.”
This time Thisbe was quiet as she contemplated it. Her heart longed for his company. She didn’t relish being alone with the Revinir again. Would she ever see her friends and family again? At least she knew how to get back through the volcano system now. But how could she ask Aaron to come along? Why put his life in danger when it didn’t need to be? He had Kaylee and Daniel and Fifer here. She frowned. And if he did go with her, what would the Revinir think? She wasn’t calling to him—his presence might make her suspicious.
Aaron saw her hesitation. “Seriously, Thiz. My schedule is pretty open now that I’m not the head mage anymore.”
Thisbe smiled ruefully. “Well, there is that.” She thought a bit more, then shook her head. “I don’t feel good about it. It seems like it’ll complicate things and make the Revinir suspicious. I want you to stay and make sure Artimé is safe. I know how to get back here. And I’m actually relatively safe with Drock. As long as he can keep resisting the call, we can go along with the Revinir and maybe fake her out a little. You know? Pretend that we are actually heeding the call, and infiltrate that way. Then, once I figure out what I need to do in Grimere, I’ll send a single seek spell to Florence to let her know to send a team to help me. Okay?”
Thisbe stopped abruptly, realizing that this plan might actually work and feeling her heart lift. “Yes,” she said more confidently now. “That’s exactly what we’ll do. We’ll play along. I doubt she wants to fight our people for the sake of fighting—not yet anyway. I’m confident she doesn’t have full control over the land of the dragons and what lies beyond it yet. She won’t tackle our world until she’s sure she can beat all of us.”
Aaron listened. After a minute he nodded slowly. “As much as I want to protect you, I think you’re right—my presence would cause suspicion since she knows I haven’t taken any dragon-bone broth. Your plan to infiltrate and pretend to be under her spell is a good one. While you’re gone, we’ll continue working on more complex spells to help you—and I’ll talk to Sky like you asked. Just . . . just stay safe. Stay alive.” Aaron looked carefully into Thisbe’s eyes to read her expression.
Thisbe smiled. The plan felt good to her. And it was nice to have Aaron trust her. After all, Thisbe was the resident expert on the Revinir. “Thanks, Aaron. This is the right plan. I can feel it. I love you. And tell . . . the others . . . tell Fifer . . . that I love them all too. I’ll be okay if I just play along. And just come when I call. Hopefully by that time Florence will have the new seek spell and the obliterate components finished. And with any luck you’ll come up with some other solutions by then. Not just to help me with the Revinir, but also to fix things here with this mess.”
Aaron nodded solemnly. “Don’t worry about this—it’ll all clear up in a day or two. We’ll be ready and waiting for your seek spell.” He bent down and kissed Thisbe’s forehead, then embraced her. “Are your pockets loaded with components?” he asked.
Thisbe nodded and squeezed his arm. “Oh! I almost forgot,” she said, then quickly unbuttoned the vest and stuffed all of the components into her pants pockets. “I don’t want the Revinir to see that I have one of these—she’d recognize it and might search me for components.” She handed the vest to Aaron. “Take care of it for me.” She smiled reassuringly, then turned and ran lightly through the sand to Drock. She climbed up his tail and took her place in the hollow between his shoulder blades. As they moved away from the island, Thisbe began to tell the dragon about her plan. Knowing Drock’s rebellious nature, she only hoped he’d go along with it.
Chaos Rules
The protests in Artimé continued long into the night. Lani helped Kaylee and Daniel get into the mostly secret hallway through a 3-D door that she kept hidden in her room for just such emergencies. The two escaped safely via the tube to the Island of Shipwrecks. Then Lani called an emergency meeting with some of the others who considered the Stowes to be friends. They also met in the mostly secret hallway to avoid as many dissenters as possible—including Frieda Stubbs, who wasn’t able to see the entrance because she, like most o
f Artimé’s residents, wasn’t quite magical enough.
Florence was there, and Simber snuck in once Frieda went to bed. Samheed, Scarlet, Henry and Thatcher, and Sean and Carina and Seth were all there too—Seth having triumphantly discovered upon his return to Artimé that he could see the magical hallway now. This was his first meeting in that wing, and he felt rather important to be the youngest in attendance, despite being bleary-eyed with exhaustion and worry.
He knew better than to sit near Simber, who was still very angry about what Aaron had done. There was no way Simber would forgive the former head mage as long as Frieda Stubbs was in charge—that much was obvious. Once everyone had arrived, Lani updated them with all that she knew.
“Aaron, Thisbe, Fifer, and Sky are safe on the Island of Legends,” she said.
“Ibrahim and Clementi are there too,” Henry added for those who hadn’t heard yet.
Seth frowned. He was the only one stuck here.
“Florence,” said Lani. “Has there been any progress on a plan to defeat the Revinir? Do we know when she’ll get here? Where are the updates?”
“Frieda’s in charge of the updates now,” said Florence, not trying to hide her sarcasm. “And she’s choosing to pretend that nothing is happening.”
“Great,” said Seth, sitting up in alarm. “We’re all going to die.”
Nobody jumped to contradict him, which was even more frightening.
“We’ve got a team working on the obliterate spell,” said Florence, pointing to Carina and Seth. “It’s our only hope on such short notice. I’m authorizing a limited number of them and assigning who they’ll go to.”
“Yikes,” said Samheed. He’d seen firsthand what it could do. “Alex never wanted to produce that one again.”
