by Lisa McMann
A Trip to the Ancients Sector
Gunnar Haluki donned a black cape so he’d look familiar and high priestly to the Ancients, and Henry Haluki loaded his component vest with lethal and nonlethal spells so he’d be prepared for anything—even Gondoleery herself.
The father-and-son team hadn’t spent much time together lately with all the chaos and with Henry so engrossed in his work, so this quest felt a bit like a special adventure. Henry had never been inside the Ancients Sector before, and he was intensely curious about the medicines that were used there—especially the ones that actually put the Ancients to sleep. Not that Henry wanted to do that, of course. He’d just always wondered about it. What did they use, and more importantly, where did they get it on the desert island? It was something no one seemed to know.
Even Gunnar Haluki didn’t know. He hadn’t been in power long enough to discover that information.
Armed with Aaron’s secrets, they took the tube to their old house. Gunnar cringed only a little upon reaching his office closet, where he’d spent so much time tied up. He quickly stepped out of the tube and searched the room, making sure no one else had turned it into some sort of evil headquarters. Henry arrived a moment later. They spent a moment in the house, reflecting and missing the late Mrs. Haluki, who had selflessly died in battle against Aaron’s Restorers.
And then they pressed on, leaving the house and heading toward the Ancients Sector.
“Do you think Aaron gave us the right secret code to release everybody?” Henry asked his father.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he could have easily made something up as a trap.”
Gunnar Haluki thought for a moment. “I think that’s entirely possible.”
They walked in silence as both of them mused over it.
“I think,” Henry said eventually, “that Alex wouldn’t have given it to us without being completely certain it was the right code. And Alex would know if Aaron was lying.”
“Let’s hope so,” Gunnar said grimly. “But Alex has been wrong about Aaron before. His heart gets in the way sometimes.”
Henry glanced at his father. Gunnar had never before confided in Henry about what he knew about the inner workings of Quill and Artimé, nor had he ever spoken so candidly about Alex and Aaron. Henry was nearly as tall as his father now, he realized as they walked. Perhaps his father was beginning to treat him like a grown-up as he did with Lani. He straightened his back and lifted his chin and waited to see if his father would say anything else.
Eventually, Gunnar did. “It’s a wonderful trait to have, certainly. But for a leader it can be fatal.”
“What trait?” asked Henry.
“Having a kind heart, like Alex. It gets in his way. Like with the assassination attempt.”
“Do you think Alex should have let Lani kill her?”
Gunnar closed his eyes briefly. “That’s not an easy question to answer when the subject is your child. No father ever wants to see his child have to kill someone and then live through the emotional consequences of that.”
“But Gondoleery is so evil,” Henry said softly, not wanting to be overheard in the middle of Quill. “I can understand it if she had some good quality inside her, but . . .”
“I think it’s more complicated than that,” Gunnar said. “If Gondoleery were seriously wounded and someone brought her into our hospital ward, would you ignore her? Would you let her suffer and hope for her to die because she’s irredeemably evil?”
Henry pondered that for a long time. He knew for sure he wouldn’t give Gondoleery any seaweed. But beyond that, it was too hard to know what he’d do in that situation. Was he obligated to try to heal all people no matter what their allegiance was? He didn’t have an answer.
Soon they reached the Ancients Sector, and Henry turned his thoughts to the current task. They stood outside the door to the reporting office, looked at one another, silently going over the plan. Henry nodded when he was ready. Gunnar opened the door and stepped inside.
The attendant looked up. For a moment she seemed afraid, but then she hid her fear as the people of Quill were supposed to do.
“Greetings, former High Priest Haluki,” she said formally.
Gunnar nodded and smiled. “Hello, Zora. This is my son, Henry.”
Zora didn’t acknowledge the boy. “Have you both been sent here?” she asked.
“No,” Gunnar said. “I’ve come with a message from the high priest.” He didn’t bother to mention which high priest.
Zora’s eyes widened. “What is it?” she whispered.
“You must release the Ancients to my care at once,” Haluki said with authority. “All of them. Immediately.”
The worker blinked and didn’t respond for a long moment, and while her face remained bland, Henry could see the fear in her eyes.
Finally Zora spoke in a shaky voice. “And of course you have proof that this command is legitimate?”
Gunnar smiled disarmingly. “Of course.”
“Well?”
Gunnar leaned toward her and whispered, “In the name of Quill, and upon your life, mine, and the life of the high priest herself . . . it shall be done.” He stood up straight.
Zora stepped back, no longer able to hide her horror. She put her hand out, pointing at Gunnar, her finger shaking. “That’s not it,” she whispered, her face going pale. She shook her head rapidly. “She changed it. That’s not it anymore.” She looked around rapidly. “Guards!” she shouted. “Guards!”
Gunnar turned swiftly to Henry. “Now,” he said quietly.
Henry’s face was awash with fear. He grabbed a freeze component and sent it soaring at Zora, freezing her in place before she could shout again.
“Of course Gondoleery changed it,” Gunnar muttered. “We should have expected that.”
Henry stood poised, watching behind the table for the guards to come. Instead two of them burst through the door behind him and grabbed Gunnar. Henry whirled around and threw scatterclips at the two guards, sending them flying back against the wall. Henry cast a blinding highlighter at each, then clay shackles, expertly avoiding hitting his father with any of the spells.
“Behind you!” Gunnar cried as he struggled to untangle himself from the guards’ shackled limbs.
Henry spun around as three more guards came through a door behind the attendant. He shot off a backward bobbly head, a pincushion, a handful of scatterclips, and a fleet of fire-breathing origami dragons, which turned the room into chaos.
“Come on!” Henry cried, reaching out to help his dad. The two weaved around the disoriented guards through the back door, Henry armed and ready to take out anybody else who wished to stop them.
“This way,” Gunnar said, taking the lead. He headed toward a community room where old people stood or sat aimlessly, all tethered with rusty chains to spikes on the wall.
“They chain them down?” Henry cried. “What a horrible thing to do.” As he froze the attendants in the room and looked around for a key that would unlock the chains around the Ancients’ ankles, Henry thought about Ishibashi and Ito and Sato, and how all of them would be in here chained to the wall if they lived in Quill. It made him furious.
Gunnar stripped the key from a guard’s belt and began to unlock the Ancients.
“Is this it? Is our time up?” one after another said fearfully.
Henry soon realized they thought they were being brought to the sleep chamber.
“No,” he said. “Oh dear, no. Not at all! We’re here to free you. Do you recognize former High Priest Haluki?”
A few of them stared at the man, and looks of recognition crossed their faces. They nodded.
“Everyone,” Henry said, “please listen for a moment.”
The bewildered Ancients settled down.
Henry turned toward his father. “We’ve only got a few minutes before the spells start wearing off,” he said quietly.
“Go back and make them permanent,” Gunnar said. �
�We’ll release them once we’ve got everybody out.”
Henry nodded and took off to the main entrance as Gunnar spoke to the Ancients.
“Friends,” he said, “I’ve come from Artimé to release you and ask you to help us. We must be very stealthy, and Gondoleery must not hear of this, or we will all be doomed. Do you understand?”
The Ancients nodded. “Clear as day,” one of them remarked. “Though we’re already doomed, so nothing really changes.”
“True,” Haluki said. “But everyone here knows that you do not deserve to die just because you’re old. You are all valuable. Before dawn we’ll give you your freedom whether you choose to help us or not.”
“Help you do what?” asked one Ancient, rubbing her ankle where the shackle had been. The Ancients were more vocal than ordinary Quillens, perhaps because they realized they had nothing to lose.
“We’re going to overthrow Gondoleery Rattrapp.”
The Ancients stared.
Gunnar stared back, trying to gauge their reaction.
The Ancients turned and looked at each other.
Gunnar watched them.
A few of the Ancients began to turn the wrinkled corners of their mouths upward into a smile. Others did the same.
Gunnar felt encouraged to continue. “Will you help us?” he asked as Henry returned.
The Ancients erupted in a wild cheer. Some began dancing around the room, others whooping and laughing.
“I think that’s a yes,” Henry said, sidling up to his father.
Gunnar nodded and put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “I think you’re right. Now, let’s get this army organized.”
The Plan Comes Together
When the white boat and its occupants arrived in Artimé’s lagoon after dark, there was no fanfare to greet them. Alex wanted it that way—he’d get everyone inside and settled so they could have a little rest before their early morning. Alex, Aaron, Sky, Kaylee, and Charlie said good night to Spike and waded to shore. They slipped inside the front door, finding Simber and Florence awaiting their arrival.
Alex quickly introduced Kaylee, who was speechless at the sight of the two living statues, and then Sky and Kaylee left to get a room assignment for the new resident. They agreed to meet everyone in a few hours, when it was time to head into Quill.
Charlie wandered off to find Matilda. Alex motioned for Aaron, Simber, and Florence to follow him to his office, where they could meet in private and catch up on things.
In Alex’s office, Simber eyed Aaron warily, but didn’t ask him any questions. Aaron ignored the stone cheetah as much as he could.
Florence began, reporting to Alex that six small groups of Unwanteds had gone out to Quill to spread the message to the Necessaries. The groups were led by Mr. Appleblossom, Sean, Claire, Carina, Samheed, and Lani, and all but Carina’s group, which had to travel the farthest, had returned so far. The leaders reported that the Necessaries seemed scared, and none gave any indication of whether they would show up in the morning, which Florence found to be deeply troubling.
“That’s normal for them,” Aaron explained. “They won’t commit. Remember, an infraction like that could mean being sent to the Ancients Sector. They’re not going to say anything ahead of time. I don’t think you have to worry about them showing up. Some of them, anyway. Enough.”
Florence watched Aaron carefully. “We’ll see,” she said.
Aaron, who very much wanted to retort, “Yes, you will,” instead held his tongue and took a deep breath in and out, remembering Ishibashi. He couldn’t disappoint the man. He must show respect in order to earn it. He knew how this worked now.
“Do we have the Necessaries’ food ready?” asked Alex.
“The chefs—and yourrr sisterrrs, I prrresume—packed everrrything up,” said Simber. “It’s on the lawn, rrready to go.”
Alex turned to Aaron. “What do you think about Simber and Florence being there at the amphitheater? Too scary?”
“Way too scary,” Aaron said. “Why do you think more Necessaries aren’t already living in Artimé?” He glanced at Florence and Simber. “Sorry.”
Florence blinked, clearly puzzled by the new Aaron even though Alex had tried to warn them through Charlie.
“I don’t like this arrrangement,” Simber growled. “If Aarrron is bluffing and plans to turrrn on us, he could take his chance then.”
Aaron looked up at the ceiling and sighed, but he kept quiet and let Alex talk.
“We’ll take Charlie with us,” Alex said. “He’s small enough not to look threatening. He can relay everything that’s happening to you through Matilda. You can be close by, but stay out of sight. If anything happens, you’ll be right there.”
Simber regarded Alex and nodded. “All rrright,” he said.
“I’m fine with that as well,” said Florence, “as long as every Artiméan is ready with spells in hand.”
“We will be,” Alex assured her. “I’ll have Clive relay the message to everyone.”
“And,” Florence said, “no components for you, Aaron. We’ll give you an empty vest, which will help protect you a little in case Gondoleery shows up.”
“That’s fine,” Aaron said. “There won’t be any need for magic at that meeting anyway, as long as Gondoleery doesn’t find out about it.”
“Alex, when do you expect to attack Gondoleery?” asked Florence.
“The longer we wait after the meeting, the better chance she has to find out about it,” he replied.
“And the more time you give the Necessaries to back down or forget,” Aaron pointed out. “If we manage to motivate them—and that’s a big if—we need to strike fast. Give them an hour to bring their food home and talk to their loved ones, and then we go.”
Florence looked down at Aaron. “You seem to have very good ideas,” she said. “Why didn’t you organize something like this against us when you had the chance?”
Aaron frowned. “My mind was clouded by a lot of other things,” he said. “Getting away was the only way for me to see clearly.”
“And now that you see things morrre clearrrly,” Simber said, “do you want to go back to rrrule Quill again?”
Aaron dared look at the big cat in the eye for the first time. “No, Simber. Not in the slightest. If you would send me back to Ishibashi right now, I would thank you profusely and go without another thought.”
Simber regarded him. “And yet you came willingly.”
Aaron nodded. “I did,” he said quietly. “I owe you that.”
After a long moment, Simber dropped his gaze, seemingly satisfied that his own observance had rung true once more—that once a person leaves Quill, their mind changes and they see the world differently. He began to gnaw at his remaining dewclaw, which had somehow grown a small callous near the cuticle.
Just then there was a noise at the door to Alex’s office. Alex and the others turned swiftly, finding Claire standing there with a battered-looking Carina Holiday.
“What happened?” Alex cried, standing up and rushing to the door. “Are you all right?”
“It’s the sixth group that went into Quill,” Claire said gravely. “Gondoleery discovered them. Everyone but Carina is dead.”
And Then It Falls Apart
Even Aaron was ripped apart by the news. Everything became more real than ever before. And Aaron felt extremely vulnerable. He was about to go into a situation he’d never had to face in the past, with no weapon but a dagger and no protection except for a flimsy vest. Gondoleery was killing people. Actually killing them herself. He’d known she was doing this before, and he’d heard about Sully by now, but to hear it firsthand, to see Carina standing there, singed and hurt and without her team . . . It was startling. What remained of the calmness of Ishibashi’s world now collapsed at Aaron’s feet. And then everybody turned to look at him.
He scrambled to think of what he should say. Clearly they weren’t looking for him to tell them how sorry he was that it had happened. They wanted
his thoughts on what to do. What would the Necessaries do if they found out this had happened?
“Did Gondoleery stumble across them on her own, or was she tipped off?” Aaron asked Carina.
“She was in a car leaving a house that was glowing orange,” Carina said. “I don’t think a Necessary tipped her off. We never expected her to be there in the Necessary quadrant. When we saw the car, we ran, but she shot fireballs and everybody went down. I—I managed to get away.”
“What do you think we should do?” Alex asked. “Sounds like it was an isolated incident. Do we still go to the amphitheater in”—he checked the time—“two hours?” If so, there would be no sleep for them tonight.
“We have to,” Aaron said. “I do, anyway—the rest of you can decide for yourselves, I guess. Even if Gondoleery knows about the plan, and even if the Necessaries get wind of what happened to your scouting group—I need to be there. My name was on that promise.”
Now it was Claire’s and Carina’s turn to stare. But there was no time to talk about it.
“I won’t let you go alone,” Alex said. “I’ll be there too. But we have to prepare for a fight.”
“We’ll all go as planned,” Florence said. “Things aren’t going to get better by us canceling the meeting in the amphitheater. We’ll lose the Necessary support for sure if we don’t show up.”
“Plus Gunnar and Henry and the Ancients are counting on us.” Aaron looked around at the group as several of them nodded. It was a lot easier working with a team of reasonable people rather than plotting everything alone and trusting no one.
Alex turned to Florence. “Do you have any more weapons? We have a few nonmagical fighters now. Sky has the sword and Aaron has the dagger. Do we have something for Kaylee?”
“Who?” asked Carina.
“Kaylee,” Claire said. “The girl Alex and the others rescued from the island with the gorilla.”
“Gorillas,” Alex corrected. “Seventy of them. But that’s a story for a different day.”
“So there really was someone there on that island,” Carina said. “And she wants to fight? That’s great.”