by Lisa McMann
Meghan’s eyes grew wide. She glanced in each direction uneasily, perhaps out of habit, and cleared her throat. “Yes, very much, sir.” And then, when Mr. Today chuckled merrily, she added, “Thank you,” and tried to smile.
He nodded encouragingly to her, and to all the children, and then his face grew sober. “You may express your feelings and say what you are thinking here in Artimé,” he said in a soft voice. “It will be hard, at first. But you are safe to speak your mind. All of you.” His eyes grew misty for a moment, and then he clasped his hands in his lap. “There are some things we should talk about,” he said.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, and all eyes focused on Mr. Today, who continued. “You already know that your parents and the government of Quill believe you to be eliminated by now. You know they are not mourning for you. They’re doing what they do every day, which is to work to build Quill into a place of extreme power and super intelligence. You, dear children, are what they call creative. Imaginative. The government, and especially High Priest Justine, wants to eliminate creative thinkers like you—they see creativity as a weakness. After all, it could lead to something horrible … like magic.” He afforded a small smile, picked a flower, and handed it to Meghan. She hesitated and then took it, and in her hand it turned into a small silver music box.
Meghan jumped and sucked in a startled breath.
“Music,” Mr. Today said. “When you wind the little key, the music box will play a song. Sometimes you’ll hear a song with voices saying something, like we just witnessed here a moment ago.”
Meghan nodded. “Singing,” she said. She turned the key tentatively, and a few wondrous notes sprang from the box. She startled, and then her shock melted into a grin.
“Indeed,” Mr. Today replied, peering at the others to see if they understood. “Singing and dancing. Painting, sculpting, telling wild tales,” he said, glancing at Lani, who blushed. “Theater, playing instruments, writing stories and poems,” he continued, glancing at various others at each word. “That is what you are now free to do.” He noticed their puzzled looks. “Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself.”
He paused and tapped a finger on his lips as if he were thinking carefully. “I have two very serious requests. Because of your creative minds, you have been eliminated, or so think the people of Quill. My first request is this: Please consider the ramifications if you ever decide you want to go back to Quill.”
The group of children blinked, hanging on to every word.
“If you ever go back, if you ever contact anyone there in any way, your parents or your siblings,” he said, glancing at Alex, “the governors, or anyone, you risk exposing us all. You take the lives of everyone here in Artimé into your own hands. If discovered, this place, and everyone in it, will be destroyed.
Alex shivered, even though the day was still warm. He thought about his twin brother, Aaron, and felt a sharp pain run through him, as if half of his own body had been severed from the rest. But he knew that Mr. Today was right. And there was no way he would jeopardize the life of the man who had saved him, or the lives of the others here. Alex nodded very seriously along with the rest of the group. But part of Alex wished that Aaron could have shared in this good fortune.
“My second request,” Mr. Today said, “is this: Please take the classes I offer. Train with my warriors and learn how to fight. Because if the High Priest Justine, the governors, or the Quillitary does discover that you have not been eliminated,” he paused, letting the words sink in, “they will kill me for deceiving them. And then they will kill you once and for all. And if that happens, Artimé will disappear.”
Samheed, who had been silent ever since his whispered oath, now stiffened. “Fight against the Quillitary?” he sneered. “Impossible.”
Mr. Today cocked his head. “Ah, Samheed,” he said. “The realm of possibility here in Artimé is only limited by our imaginations. You’ll get used to it after a time. But you seem quite disturbed, my friend. Why is it that you think fighting is impossible?”
“Look at us!” Samheed waved his hand around at the group. He stopped and pointed at Alex, glaring. “In case you don’t know, we’re the rejects from Quill. We’re not strong or intelligent. We’re not capable of fighting. We’re worthless! And you think we stand a chance against the Quillitary?” Samheed rose to his feet. “What you have here is all really impressive, Mr. Today, but come on! You don’t seem to have any soldiers except for that group of oversized animals at the gate. No tanks, no weapons—they’ll destroy us in about one minute!”
Alex shifted uncomfortably and looked down.
The small smile on Mr. Today’s face remained hidden by his hand as he stroked his chin and grew thoughtful. “Hmm,” he said, almost as if he expected Samheed to say more.
And the boy did. “This place is ridiculous. I’m not taking your stupid classes.”
At the word “stupid,” and all the words around it, the other children’s eyes widened in fear. In Quill an outburst like this was against the law and a most egregious infraction that would seal a child’s fate, with no exception.
“It’s not stupid,” Lani burst out, without meaning to. She clapped her hand over her mouth.
Alex, feeling both a bit protective of Lani and a bit miffed at Samheed for always glaring at him, shifted on the picnic blanket in case he had to do something—although he had no idea what “something” might be—and shot a look of support at Lani.
Samheed laughed sarcastically. “Not for a baby, maybe.” He looked Mr. Today in the eye and said, “I think you are a complete lunatic.” And then, as if he knew where he was going, he stalked off down the lawn to the seashore and kept walking along its edge.
The Unwanteds watched, stunned. Every one of the children knew that people in Quill were not allowed to argue or become angry with other Quillens. They were taught to bank their rage and keep it somewhere deep inside, so that in case of attack they would, with one unified surge, pour the rage out upon the heads of their enemies. Of course, Quill had quite a lot of rage saved up, since there had been no sign of enemies in the entire fifty years of High Priest Justine’s reign. Yet the government instilled much fear into the people about evil foreign lands beyond the protective walls of Quill—unimaginable places like the great desert and the dark forest—as if an attack were imminent. And who were the people of Quill to question the rulers who had kept them safe all this time?
But here in Artimé, nothing was as the Unwanteds expected.
The other children began chattering, shocked at Samheed’s actions and words. “What is he doing?” “Is he allowed to go off like that?” “Isn’t someone going to stop him?” “Why does he have to be so mean?” This last one from Lani, who felt wounded, having just been called a baby.
Samheed’s outburst was foreign to the Unwanteds, and they watched Mr. Today, waiting for him to punish Samheed for the infraction. But to their great puzzlement Mr. Today did nothing.
As the old man watched the children react to the scene, it was hard for him to hide the mirth that crinkled around his eyes. “Bravo! Bravo, my dear boy!” he called in the direction of Samheed. “That’s the way!” Perfect, he thought. Even better than he had hoped for the first day. He put his hands together and began clapping and shouting.
Samheed flung up his hand in disgust and continued walking.
The others, startled, had no idea what to think, but after a moment Meghan began to clap too, for there was something inside her churning mind that just about, but not quite, understood why. Soon Alex joined in as if he almost understood it too, and a curious look passed between Meghan and him, one that made them both want to laugh out loud.
Home in the Stone Mansion
It was near dusk when the Unwanteds followed Mr. Today toward the mansion. Samheed had not rejoined them. Some of the children murmured their concerns. Mr. Today smiled. “He’ll be fine; there’s no need to worry. He needs to think and walk, and that is a good thing for a strong, angry fi
ghter like him.”
“But what if he gets lost?” Lani asked, feeling quite comfortable in her new surroundings already. And though she was curious, she didn’t particularly care whether the sullen Samheed ever returned.
“He can’t get lost,” Mr. Today assured the children. “I’ve put the scroll feature into effect. Once he reaches the end of Artimé, just beyond the mansion, he’ll slip through and come out the opposite side, at the edge of the jungle where it meets the shore. He’ll simply need to walk a bit farther to get back to where he started.”
Alex gave Mr. Today a quizzical look. “Scroll feature? So there is no jungle? It’s just a … a …” He struggled for the word.
“A picture? More like a giant window at the moment, actually. And yes, the jungle is really there—good heavens, where would all the animals go if it weren’t? You just can’t get to it at the moment.” His eyes twinkled. “But when you are all sure of me, and I am sure of you, and I know you have found your bearings quite satisfactorily, I’ll remove the giant window and the scroll feature, and you’ll find that the jungle is quite lovely.” The old man paused thoughtfully. “Though it can be frightening and dangerous. Lots of fascinating things to see there too. But that’s for another day.”
Alex didn’t understand, but he nodded anyway, and soon they reached the walkway to the mansion. As they drew near, a pleasant-sounding noise could be heard coming from the shrubs. “Music in the bushes,” Mr. Today said.
He climbed the steps. “This is our home. You may come and go as you please and even stay out all night if you wish.”
Lani’s eyes opened wide. That’s a bit of a shock, she thought. But what so far this day wasn’t?
The old magician then opened the enormous wooden door to the mansion and walked inside, the children following.
Before them was a stunning, massive marble entryway flanked by two statues standing upright on pedestals. The pedestals alone were as tall as Alex, and the statues on top of them reached twenty-five feet off the floor, yet they nowhere nearly approached the ceiling. On the left stood a towering winged cheetah made of sand-colored stone, with sharp ivory teeth thicker and longer than the children’s fingers. He stood poised to attack, reared up on his hind legs, his wings widespread, frozen in mid-flap. On the right, carved from ebony, was an enormous, sleek woman with long, flowing hair and bulging muscles, a quiver of arrows and a bow slung over her shoulder.
Mr. Today looked up. “Hello, Simber. Good evening, Florence,” he said.
The statues nodded stiffly.
“There ought to be one more boy coming along presently, so be aware. Probably shouldn’t eat him, all right, Simber?”
The winged cheetah purr-growled in response and fluidly lowered himself to all fours on the pedestal, his huge paws with gleaming claws hanging off the edge within inches of Alex’s face. Slowly the boy slid away from the stony beast.
“Wow,” Lani breathed, and the others followed her gaze from the statues to the rest of the great foyer. Beyond the entrance the marble floor led to an extremely wide marble staircase whose steps split halfway up and wound around to meet again in an incredible expanse of balcony. They could see several hallways branching off the overlook.
The children’s voices grew loud as they exclaimed or noted things to each other about the mansion from their viewpoint in the entryway.
Mr. Today strolled past the staircase. “We’ll visit up there in a moment,” he said. Instead he led the children behind the staircase to a hallway and showed them past several doors—classrooms, he said—and to the back of the mansion, to a kitchen the size of six Quill houses put together. At a long counter bar off to the left sat a dozen or fifteen older teenagers all laughing and snacking on popcorn and sodas as a brilliant pink ball of fluff with webbed feet did a dance for them along the countertop. Some of the people sitting there turned to look curiously at the children standing with Mr. Today. A few waved hello.
Alex recognized one, just barely remembering her as one of last year’s Unwanteds. How strange, he thought, and his mind began to turn.
“How many Unwanteds live here, actually?” he asked.
“Hmm,” Mr. Today hummed, tapping his lips with his forefinger. “Perhaps five hundred? I lost count years ago.”
“Five hundred!” Meghan said. “Where is everyone?”
“Oh, they’re around. Here and there,” he said. “Some are in evening classes, some practicing their art, some relaxing in the lounge, some in their rooms. You saw a few of them strolling about on the lawn, didn’t you?”
Lani tapped Mr. Today’s shoulder, which made him chuckle and give her his utmost attention. “Mr. Today,” she said somberly, “did all the Unwanteds over the years decide not to be eliminated? Are they all here?”
Meghan gave Alex a wildish sort of look and gripped his arm, and he remembered that she had an older brother who had been eliminated five years before.
Alex nodded sharply, knowing what Meghan seemed speechless to say, and the burning question rushed from his lips before he could stop it. “Yes, Mr. Today—how many years …?” His face grew pale as he thought about all the Unwanteds that had been Purged from Quill since he was a boy. His mind raced, trying to remember them, but it was difficult, since Quillens had all been instructed to forget them.
Mr. Today smiled, but there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes. “Dear people, how could I forget? Yes, all the Unwanteds as far back as you can remember are here.” He looked at Meghan, and his dark eyes danced again. “Meghan, your brother, Sean, is so excited to see you. He’d like you to meet him in the lounge at eight o’clock!”
Meghan squeaked in shock. “He’s here …?” She trailed off and gripped Alex’s arm so hard it hurt him.
“Which reminds me,” said Mr. Today. “I’d better show you the upstairs so you can get ready.”
“Where do you suppose the lounge is?” Meghan whispered to Alex.
Mr. Today, though apparently forgetful in his old age, did not have a hearing problem. He chuckled. “You’ll find instructions in your room that will tell you how to take the tube to the lounge, Meghan. Never fear! Never fear!” The magician chuckled again and rubbed his hands together, so excited to see the Unwanteds feeling a bit more comfortable as the day wore on.
“Tube?” Meghan whispered, softer now, in Alex’s ear.
Alex shrugged, his eyes wide in wonder. “I have no idea.”
There were several doors that led from the kitchen. Mr. Today pointed at one as they walked through the huge room and said, “Help yourself to anything in that pantry whenever you get hungry for a snack, either by coming down here or ordering up. The official mealtimes are posted on the blackboards in your rooms.”
“Snacks, whenever we want?” whispered a rather thin boy at the back of the group. “Amazing.”
“Where does everyone sit?” Lani asked.
“Oh, we always have room. You’ll see,” he said mysteriously. Mr. Today led them down another hallway and pointed out an enormous dining room, and soon they were back to the entryway and the base of the staircase.
Alex saw that Simber had once again risen to his hind-quarters.
“Marrrcus,” Simber said in his purr-growl voice. “I believe the young man has arrrived.”
“What excellent timing,” Mr. Today said. “Thank you, Sim. Wait here one moment for me, children.” He went to the giant door and opened it. On the step sat Samheed, his broad shoulders curled over and his chin in his hands. Mr. Today sat next to him, and the two exchanged a few quiet words.
Alex leaned down and whispered to Lani and Meghan, “Where do you suppose the other statue went?” For now the warrior woman had disappeared.
Lani giggled. “Perhaps she needed a snack from the pantry.”
“Or maybe a nap?” Meghan, who was nearly shivering in anticipation of seeing her brother, laughed a strange, high-pitched laugh and hiccupped.
Mr. Today and Samheed joined the others, and they ascended the magnificent
staircase, Samheed still wearing a mildly sullen look on his face. Lani and several others sent suspicious glances his way, but Samheed made no further outbursts, and he stayed near the back of the group. The rest of them chattered excitedly now, wondering over things like the statues, the pictures on the walls, the music that floated about their ears, not really understanding any of it but liking it all the same. They gathered at the center of the balcony.
“That hallway there,” said Mr. Today, pointing toward the rightmost wing, “is where the families live.” It seemed to go on endlessly. “And this hall next to it is for the other adults.”
He pointed to the expanse of wall directly in front of Alex. “This one, right about here, is where the female students live—boys, you and I can’t see it, and therefore we can’t enter it. But we can see the one next to it—that’s the boys’ hall. You girls can’t see that, can you?”
Meghan, Lani, and the other girls exchanged surprised looks as Mr. Today continued.
“And here we have a wing for the few creatures who prefer to lodge indoors, though you might notice creatures in your various halls, too. Some have roaming tendencies.” He chuckled at the twenty pairs of wide eyes.
“Mr. Today,” someone ventured from the back of the group, “does that giant turtle have a room in the mansion?”
“No,” replied the man, “Jim prefers to live in the jungle, like many of the creatures. But he’s welcome here if he changes his mind, just as they all are.”
“Don’t you ever run out of space for everyone?”
“Never,” Mr. Today said with a mysterious smile. He then turned to the group and said, “Children, please find your rooms. You’ll know which one is yours as you walk along the hallway because your door will call out a greeting to you when you come near it. Inside you’ll find everything you need to be comfortable. Once you feel quite settled, feel free to roam about the mansion at will. This is your home now.”
Most of the children dispersed. The girls watched curiously as some of the boys seemed to disappear straight through the wall, and the boys watched the girls do the same. Only a few hung back—Alex, Lani, and Meghan briefly talked over their plans to meet again before going off to find their rooms.