by Lisa McMann
“Got it,” Henry said. He and Carina began recruiting help from uninjured people all across the lawn.
And then Alex’s eyes landed on Meghan and Samheed. Sam’s face was hidden, but Meghan’s was ghastly white. The ice was red beneath them. “Oh no,” he breathed. He stepped gingerly toward them on the ice, trying not to slip. Each step was agonizingly slow. “Everyone, get moving!” he shouted. “Crawl if you have to! Let’s get the injured inside now!”
Simber chose to fly. Immediately he scooped up an unresponsive Meghan into his mouth and carefully dug his claws into Samheed’s component vest, lifting them both. They hung limp from Simber’s grasp. Alex took his own advice and dropped to the ground, sliding himself along the side of the mansion to the door to help Simber.
A moment later squirrelicorns filled the air, picking up injured Artiméans far and wide and delivering them to the mansion.
Alex’s hands burned against the ice. He crawled up to the threshold of the mansion, past the Artiméans stationed there to help transition the injured inside. He rose to his knees and grasped the handle to open the door, praying that the ice was external only.
It was.
“Phew,” he said, pulling himself into the mansion and getting to his feet just as Simber lowered Alex’s two friends to within reach.
Alex stretched out his hands and pulled Meghan gently from Simber’s jaws. His face paled when he held her.
“She’s cold,” Simber said.
Alex’s heart fell. “From the ice, you mean?” he said, faltering.
Simber was silent. He dropped his eyes.
Alex’s eyes burned. “From the ice? Simber?”
“Just get herrr into the hospital warrrd!”
Wild with fear, Alex started off. “You guys grab Samheed so Simber can rescue more injured,” Alex croaked over his shoulder to the Artiméans at the door. “And tell Carina and Henry to hurry! Meghan’s . . . she’s bad off.” He ran with his best friend in his arms into the hospital wing, and laid Meghan gently on the nearest bed. Her freckled face was gray.
He couldn’t breathe. He put a shaking hand to his mouth.
From across the ward, Sean sat up, his leg in a cast and held up in the air in a sling. “Oh, thank goodness you’re all right, Al. Is everybody okay? That voice—did you hear it? That was Gondoleery Rattrapp! Eva told me about her, she’s—why, wait . . .” He sat up farther and peered at the figure in the bed. “Is that—is that Meg?”
Alex could barely hold it together as Henry and Carina burst into the mansion and came running toward him, and others rushed into the room carrying Samheed. He shot Sean a fearful look. “Yes,” he said in a voice that sounded far away. “It’s Meghan.” Numb, he backed off from the bed to let the healers get close, and then tripped over a side table as Sean, helpless in his bed, strained to see what was happening.
Carina began barking out orders to the nurses, and the more intense her voice became, the more Alex felt his world crashing in on him. He stumbled to the hospital ward entrance, useless, yet knowing there were many other wounded, and he had to help them.
Blindly he returned to the front door and picked up the next body that had been left there. He ran with it to hospital ward and deposited it on a bed, and then doggedly went back. Body after body he transported from inside the front door to the hospital wing until his limbs and lungs burned.
At first he tried to block the screams and shouts that were coming from Sean, and from around Meghan’s bed, but the cries were endless. Mentally he begged for a spell that would cause his hearing to fail while he did the job he had to do, but there was none. He couldn’t unhear the horrible truth. His dear friend Meghan, his freckled classmate and fellow Unwanted, was dead.
When Sean cried out Alex’s name and grabbed his shirt as he passed by with yet another body, Alex looked at the horror in his friend’s eyes and croaked, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, okay? There was nothing we could do to save her!” He ripped his shirt from Sean’s grasp and stumbled out of the hospital ward, hot tears singeing his eyes and throat as he went back for the next injured person. And all the while a sort of fatalistic mantra began forcing its way into his head, whether he wanted it there or not. It was the only thing that kept him going.
We can only save the ones we can save.
» » « «
By the time Florence and the rest of the ship’s crew had scuttled the distance across the frozen lagoon and reached the shore, Alex had almost singlehandedly delivered the last of the injured Artiméans to the hospital ward.
Hours later, as darkness settled over the island, only Henry remained beside Meghan’s now empty bed. He was crying inconsolably, his hands shaking as they clutched an unopened tin of fluorescent blue seaweed.
Another Shipwreck
With no water or food and in blinding pain, Aaron slid in and out of consciousness. As the pirate ship pulled his little fishing boat along, he didn’t notice the cylindrical island with the rocky crown on top as they passed by, and he didn’t notice the lush, larger island with the jutting mountain and waterfall on one side and the word “HELP!” spelled out on the beach with bones. Every time his eyes opened, all he could see was water. Where were they taking him?
Now and then the pirates above peered over the railing at him. Sometimes they jeered. Whenever Aaron cried out for water, some of them would spit at him and laugh. Aaron knew this was the end of him. His tongue swelled with thirst until he reached over the side of the boat and sipped a handful of sea water, but that only made him more thirsty.
His stomach twisted in pain, his shoulder felt like fire grew inside it, and his face swelled and throbbed. The sun beat down on him during the day, burning his skin, and when it went down at night, he shivered until he thought his teeth would fall out.
He drank more sea water and became delirious, shouting, “I am the high priest of Quill. Let me go!” And when the pirates laughed, he growled, “Take yourselves to the Ancients Sector!”
Other times he shook and sobbed, though he was so dehydrated that he couldn’t produce tears even if he wanted to. “I don’t know what you want with me!” he cried, his voice growing so hoarse that the pirates couldn’t hear him anymore.
Finally he slid to the bottom of the boat, into the sludge, and passed out. And in his unconscious state, he dreamed of his brother, and of a better life.
» » « «
It was dark and choppy when the pirates unhooked the chain. The wind slapped waves against the sides of the little fishing boat, and the current, though not strong enough at this distance to pull the pirate ship into its grasp, was more than mighty enough to control the small vessel. The boat succumbed to the outer reaches of the hurricane, and went sailing into it without a struggle as the pirate ship pulled away and grew smaller. Soon the pirates’ laughter was drowned out by the whistling wind.
But Aaron heard none of it. He flopped about, shivering on the floor as the tips of waves licked the lip of the boat, and he rolled from side to side as the sea swelled. It was only when the rain came in sheets that Aaron roused. Perhaps it was instinct as the pure liquid touched his lips. Fresh water. He forced himself to lift his head, barely raising an eyelid, and opened his mouth wide to let the cool, driving liquid hit his tongue and the back of his throat. Sweet relief.
As the rain quenched his thirst, the ride grew rougher and more waves splashed in. Aaron grabbed on to the side of the boat and hoisted his battered body to a sitting position against the bench. He stayed hunched over so the driving rain didn’t sting his broken face. The strengthening wind whipped his loosening clothing and made his cheeks shudder, and once his mind returned to him, he grew scared.
“Help!” he rasped as a pitchfork of lightning crackled in the sky. “Please help! What’s happening?” The boat began to move faster through the water.
The waves grew and thunder crashed. The wind whipped the rain until the drops flew horizontally. They felt like hard pellets hitting Aaron’s face, nailing his eyes
and nostrils and eardrums, no matter how he tried to shield them. He grew dizzy with the speed of the watercraft and all the rocking and rolling. Soon, it was all he could do in his weak state to hang on. And before his muddled head could think, the fishing boat was darting past slices of rock jutting out of the water.
As lightning became more frequent, Aaron could see the path forward. Dangerous obstacles peppered the shoreline of a desolate island. Waves swelled and rolled, dragging the little boat with them. Aaron’s screams were barely audible above the roar of the sea, and the wind sucked the breath from him.
Aaron clung for dear life to the side of the boat as it careened crazily toward the maze of boulders and wrecks, narrowly missing one after another, and causing Aaron’s heart to leap. The boat went faster and faster, and began to bump against rocks, throwing Aaron from one side to the other.
When the next series of lightning made the sky glow, Aaron’s gasp stuck in his throat. He barely had time to close his eyes before the boat’s front end flew up and went airborne over a rock, flinging Aaron to the floor, and then it crashed on another, splintering the little boat into a thousand pieces and sending Aaron flying into the sky. When he came back down, he landed hard on a rock with a stomach-churning thud, and was still.
The next giant wave rolled in and poured over top of him. When it receded, the high priest of Quill was gone.
In an Icy Land
Meghan Ranger wasn’t the only one who had given her life for Artimé. And she wasn’t the only one to die saving another person. Artimé was filled with heroes.
While Alex and Lani worked diligently around the clock to assist the living in whatever way they could, Meghan never left their minds. The days that followed the battle blurred into one long, horrible nightmare for all of them—Alex and Lani, Sean, of course, and Samheed, once he recovered enough to hear the horrible news.
Everybody mourned in his own way—they’d seen evidence of that when Mr. Today died, and were reminded of it now as Unwanteds poured every ounce of strength and grief into breaking through the layer of ice that covered the land so that they could dig graves for the fallen. The final toll was eleven, with more than thirty injured severely enough to remain in the hospital ward. The Quillitary death count was much higher, yet no one came to claim the bodies, so the Artiméans buried them, too.
Sean’s manner of grieving for his sister was loud and quick. He was completely inconsolable for a day. Not even Carina, who had pushed aside the fight they’d had, could comfort him. But after that, he pulled his sadness inward. He was alive, and he had work to do. Alex needed him. And he knew the most about what was happening in Quill.
Well, almost. Charlie actually knew the most, and he did his best to share the information he had, but no one had a moment to listen.
When finally Alex could take a break from the endless task of caring for his people, he and Lani sought out Sean and helped him walk into Ms. Octavia’s empty classroom where they could talk in private. Simber, Florence, Claire, and Haluki joined them, while the rest of Artimé had dinner in the dining room. It was a somber meeting.
“I’m certain that voice was Gondoleery Rattrapp’s,” Sean said. The circles were deep and dark under his eyes, and his tone was reserved. “She’s one of the new governors, and I fought against her—she’s one of Aaron’s Restorers. Or at least she was, until she did this.” He pointed out the window at the ice-covered world.
“So she took over power from Aaron?” Alex asked. He had to admit this was the most burning question on his mind. What had happened to his brother? His stomach had been knotted and unsettled for days—he could only guess the worst.
“Sounds like it,” Sean said. “Eva told me Gondoleery was up to something. She’s been doing some sort of elemental magic, I guess. Ice, fire, stuff like that. Eva said they used to make rain with Marcus and Justine back when they were children on Warbler. And that once Marcus gave them their memories back, Gondoleery started working on her magic again.”
“I didn’t know they had that kind of magical ability,” Lani said. “But I guess Mr. Today brought a rainy day to Artimé now and then just to change things up, didn’t he?”
“He did,” Claire said. “I’m sure I don’t know the spell for it, though.”
“Maybe there’s a book with a counterspell to the ice,” Alex muttered. “Somewhere in that mess of a library in the Museum of Large. I’ll see if I can find something on the topic of elemental spells.” He pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the headache that threatened at the thought of digging through all of Mr. Today’s books.
Lani looked out the window longingly. “I’d just love to get in there and fix it up.”
“Maybe if you were just a little bit better at magic, you could see the secret hallway,” Alex said. He meant to tease her, but the dull way the words came out made it sound like an insult.
Simber cleared his throat. “Why don’t you paint a 3-D doorrrway to the Museum of Larrrge? That way you could let whomeverrr you want up therrre.”
Everybody turned to look at Simber. The suggestion raced through their brains as they tried to find a flaw in the plan.
“It’s just a suggestion,” the cheetah added.
It seemed like a valid one, and Alex was chagrinned that he hadn’t thought of it before. “That’s really good thinking, Sim. We’ll have to keep it quiet, though,” Alex said. “I don’t want just anybody getting up there.”
There was a shuffling of feet behind Alex, and he turned to see Charlie peering at the group.
“Charlie!” both Claire and Alex exclaimed at once.
Claire put her hand to her forehead. “I’d nearly forgotten all about you.”
“Me too—I’m sorry,” Alex said. And then it occurred to him that Charlie might have very important news. “What can you tell us?”
Charlie began signing rapidly. Lani narrowed her eyes, trying to decipher the language, but she gave up and looked to her father.
Gunnar Haluki gave Charlie his full attention, while everyone else watched the expressions on his face change. When Charlie stopped, Haluki let out a breath and shook his head.
“What is it?” Alex asked.
Haluki pursed his lips. “It sounds like it’s going to be a long story,” he said. He glanced carefully at Alex. “Charlie says Aaron was kidnapped.”
Tough Answers
Kidnapped?” exclaimed Alex.
Haluki nodded. He watched Charlie intently as the gargoyle explained further, and then Haluki interpreted once more. “Matilda saw the whole thing. A group of ten pirates burst into Aaron’s office while Aaron was trying to make her come alive magically.” Haluki paused. “She adds that she faked being a frozen statue the whole time, of course.”
“What?” Alex said.
Gunnar shrugged. He watched Charlie and continued. “The pirates had shiny weapons. Swords, cutlasses, that sort of thing. They grabbed Aaron and held a paper to his face, and agreed he was the one they were after. They picked him up and he tried to reach some magical components that Liam had given him—”
“Wait. What?” Claire asked, her face furious.
Haluki shrugged again, but Sean spoke up. “It was Meg,” he said, his voice hollow. “She created a sack of fake components to trick Aaron.”
Alex was confused by a number of things, but he couldn’t worry about them now. “What happened to Aaron?” he demanded.
Simber lifted his head and regarded Alex, but Alex was focused intently on Haluki.
“They carried him out of the palace and down to the sea. They threw him face-first into a small boat and rowed out to the pirate ship. And then they chained his boat to the ship, left him there, and climbed aboard. And then they sailed away, pulling him behind them.”
“Back to their island? What would they want with him?” Alex was stumped. “He’d be absolutely useless as a slave.”
Haluki and Charlie conversed for a moment.
“They went the other way,” Haluki sai
d, his voice puzzled.
“You mean east?” Lani asked, exchanging a look with Alex. “Why?”
Haluki shook his head. “Matilda doesn’t know. Charlie saw them, too, from the mansion window. They passed by during the night, definitely heading east.”
The group was quiet for a moment, contemplating the news.
Charlie signed some more, and Haluki translated. “Then, in the morning, Gondoleery arrived at the palace and there was a bit of a ruckus. Matilda could hear some of the exchange from her post by the window in Aaron’s office. When Gondoleery found out that Aaron was gone, she declared herself high priest and sent Liam and some others—she’s not sure who—to the Ancients Sector.”
Ms. Morning leaned forward, eyes narrowed. “Oh,” she said. She massaged her temples and was silent, while Sean just closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the back of his chair, defeated.
Alex’s mind whirled with information, but he knew he had to get down to the bottom of Gondoleery’s intentions. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “Gondoleery Rattrapp took over Quill. Okay, I get that. And I get that she cast this ice spell and it affected Artimé and even a bit of the sea all the way around the island. But other than this severe inconvenience, does Artimé have something to worry about here? Seems to me she’s got her hands full trying to get Quill figured out, and we’re just victims of the spell because we happen to share the island. Is that the correct assessment?”
Haluki began to sign the questions to Charlie to make sure the gargoyle understood the complexity of what Alex was asking, but before he could finish, Sean spoke up. “No, Alex,” he said. He paused and looked wearily around the circle. “She wants the mansion. She is the one person in Quill who has the magical ability to keep Artimé alive if you die. And believe me—she wants all of us dead.”