Island of Fire (The Unwanteds) (11 page)

“Tater boy, Tater boy,

Too much sadness, no repeats.

I am sorry, more than sorry,

But it’s time for you to sleep.”

When Alex finished, the giant mastodon statue froze in place, and everything was quiet again.

Simber harrumphed a few times, trying not to laugh.

“Knock it off,” Alex muttered, and then hoped Simber hadn’t heard him. “This place is trashed,” he said as he met up with the cat at the door. “We’ll have to come back here and clean it later.” He reached for the handle. “Door number one.” The door opened to the hallway, and approximately fifty pairs of eyes met their gaze.

“Oh,” Alex said, surprised. “Hello. I thought you’d have headed down by now.” He saw that the injured among them were feeling better now that the danger had passed, and everyone was sitting up. Henry snuck through a space between two adults. “We’re still trapped,” he announced. “Walled in over here, glass wall here.” He tapped it to prove the predicament. “How’d you find us, anyway? And where are we?” The crowd murmured its concerns.

Alex’s lips parted, but he didn’t quite know what to say. They couldn’t see out to where Sean stood on the other side of the wall. How was he going to get them all out of here if they couldn’t go through the opening to the balcony? He caught
sight of Meghan just then, and he was relieved to see her acting completely fine. She had her arm around Crow, who looked more scared of Simber than he’d been of the mastodon. After all, he’d seen neither before today, and had been inside the mouth of only one of them.

“Well,” Alex said, scrambling to sound calm, “I can at least give you a little more room to stretch out. He pointed to the clear wall and muttered, “Glass.” The wall shimmered to the ground and disappeared. “Okay,” he said, turning back to the Unwanteds. “You can move to the end now, but please stay in the hallway. Don’t go into any of the side rooms, okay? I’ll get you some water from the kitchenette and move you out of here just as soon as I can figure out how to open up that wall.”

Alex had no idea how to do that, or if it was even possible. He didn’t know if there actually
was
a specific spell on this hallway at all—he’d always thought it just took a certain kind of magical ability to see it. Mr. Today had never made it visible or invisible to anyone as far as Alex knew. Eva Fathom had been able to get in on her own. And when Lani and Meg couldn’t get in for the magical weapons meeting, Mr. Today had moved
the meeting to the lawn—he hadn’t tried to rig it so they could get in. But what about Simber? He didn’t do magic, but maybe Mr. Today had created him with the ability to see the secret hallway.

“I’m not sure I can fix this,” Alex murmured to Simber as the people spread out down the entire length of the hallway and sat leaning against the wall.

“You don’t have a choice,” Simber muttered back.

Alex, facing yet another obstacle and feeling extremely hungry and thirsty himself, gripped his head and let out a frustrated groan. He headed down the hall toward the kitchenette across from Mr. Today’s office, Unwanteds lining the hallway all the way to the end, where the big picture window was. And just when Alex was trying to figure out how to tell the Unwanteds that he didn’t know how to get them out of there without putting them all back into the gray shack and somehow shutting down the world all over again, a small voice in the doorway of the kitchenette uttered a single word. The voice belonged to Henry, and the word he said was “Dad?”

H
enry ran into the kitchenette, Alex right behind him. Gunnar Haluki’s limp body spilled out of the corner tube onto the floor. His hands were tied behind his back, and his ankles were tied together too. His eyes were nearly closed, his face thin and drawn, his lips parched, and his gray hair ragged and unkempt. His clothes were ripped and ruined, and they hung loosely on him. It wasn’t clear how long he’d been lying there or where he’d come from.

The boys kneeled down beside the former high priest. “Simber, we need healers!” Alex called out. Simber loped
down the center of the hall and, to the Unwanteds, seemed to disappear through the solid wall at the end.

“Dad?” Henry said again, pulling his father’s sleeve. “Dad. Can you hear me?” Like a natural, Henry checked his father’s vitals while Alex untied the man and rolled him onto his back. Murmurs wafted through the group of Unwanteds as people expressed cautious joy that the good man was alive and here with them. Henry glanced at them when he heard the kind words, and he smiled gratefully as he worked. He got up and poured some water into a cup as Simber returned.

“None of the nurrrses can get in,” he said, “but I know Gunnarrr can get out. Shall I take him thrrrough to them on my back?”

“Great idea. Good thinking, Simber,” Alex said. He and a few of the others helped hoist Gunnar onto the giant stone cheetah’s back.

“But what about me?” Henry said. “I need to stay with him.”

His lip quivered enough to make Alex hesitate, but in the end, Alex knew what was best.

“I’m sorry, little guy,” Alex said. He kneeled next to the boy. “Now that Artimé is back, the nurses can help him way
better than we can. And we need him to get help right away.” He glanced at Simber. “Did you happen to notice if the hospital wing is still in place?”

“I did, and it is, just as it was beforrre.”

Finally one thing is working out right,
Alex thought. “Good. Okay, Henry, give your dad some encouragement, and then off he goes.”

Henry leaned down and spoke softly in his father’s ear. Then he patted his father’s shoulder and stepped out of the way, his face a facade of bravery. Simber carried Gunnar carefully down the hallway so he wouldn’t slip off. They disappeared through the wall, and all was quiet.

The Unwanteds’ faces were troubled. High Priest Haluki had been good to them. And they certainly didn’t want to see young Henry lose the last remaining member of his family.

A few of the people went over to Henry to offer him comfort and distraction, while Alex assigned others to pass out water and some of Mr. Today’s favorite cookies, which he found in the cupboard. When everyone was busy, Alex returned to the kitchenette and approached the tube to see if he could send something up from the main kitchen.

Don’t ever use that tube,
Mr. Today had once told Alex.
It goes to Haluki’s house and other nasty places.

“Like where?” Alex muttered to himself. He hesitated, and then stepped toward it. Without setting foot inside, he poked his head in so he could see the mini blackboard and the controls. But instead of the destination descriptions he was used to seeing in all the other tubes—lounge, library, dining, and room service—this one had only numbers with no explanations to go with them.

Alex pressed his fingers to his throbbing temples. Everything was happening all at once. He couldn’t seem to catch a break. He had to focus now on getting the people out of this hallway. But how?

A cool hand touched his arm, and he turned to see that it was Meghan. She smiled at him, but there was a question in her eyes. He knew the look well enough.

“I’m okay,” he said, and then the words flooded out. “There are just so many crazy things happening. I don’t even know how to get everybody out of here. And Haluki . . . he obviously escaped, but how? And I feel so bad about not trying to rescue him before, you know? But how could we?”

Meghan nodded.

“I mean, I had no idea he’d been treated like this. And wow,” he said, shaking his head, “we just barely had enough energy to keep ourselves alive. How could we possibly go rescue him, too? It’s all so much . . . it’s too much. But did you look at him? I feel terrible.”

Meghan reached her arms around her friend and hugged him.

Just then Simber bounded down the hallway and stopped at the open door to the kitchenette. “Alex,” he said, “Gunnarrr spoke.”

“Oh, good,” Alex breathed. Maybe the man had looked worse off than he really was.

“He said Clairrre’s alive. She’s in his house, locked in the pantrrry.”

Meghan’s hand went to her mouth and Alex’s jaw dropped. “She is? Is he sure?”

“He hearrrd Eva Fathom talk about herrr just yesterrrday. Therrre are two guarrrds, sometimes thrrree, in the house at all times.” Simber’s stone face was earnest. “If you use the tube and yourrr spells, you may be able to surrrprrrise them.”

Alex pressed his lips together. “If we . . . but the tube—it’s
all numbers. I don’t know which button to press, and I don’t know—”

“It’s numberrr one to Haluki’s office,” Simber said in a low voice. “I know that much from Marrrcus. Two of you could go togetherrr in the tube if you can fit. That would . . . that would be the best way, I think.”

Alex looked hard at Simber. “You’re serious.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Alex sighed a heavy sigh and squeezed his eyes shut. “Sorry,” he said. “Of course we need to go. We need to go now. Let me just, ah, get some components, and then Meg . . . are you up for it?”

Meghan’s eyebrows shot up. She shook her head, pointing to her neck.

“She can’t use verrrbal components,” Simber translated, though Alex didn’t really need him too—he’d just forgotten for a moment.

“Okay, well . . . who from this group?” Alex muttered, peeking around the corner of the doorway and scanning the crowd. He didn’t really know very many of the adults well, and he didn’t trust the ones he knew to be great at magic since
they’d never had to use it for defense until recently. He turned back to Simber and whispered, “Or is there anybody else who can get into this stupid hallway?”

“Perrrhaps Octavia,” Simber began. “But she’s . . . ”

Meghan frowned, shaking her head, and then she turned Alex around by the shoulders and pointed to someone.

“Who?” Alex asked.

She pointed especially hard, and Alex followed her finger. “Henry? Are you kidding?”

Meghan rolled her eyes and looked at Simber.

Simber spoke. “It’s a good choice.”

“He’s a little kid! Hasn’t he been through enough?”

“It’s his house. Think, Alex.”

Alex thought. And then he said, “Oooh. He’ll know his way around. Places to hide. And how to find the pantry.”

“And he’s small enough to fit in the tube with you, so you can attack togetherrr rrratherrr than one at a time.”

Alex thought about that, too. He thought about how well Henry picked up the spells even though he’d only been in Artimé for a short time. The kid was levelheaded and smart, sure. And he was quick. But . . . Alex cringed. “What if something
happens to him? I mean . . . ” He thought of Lani and nearly lost his composure.

Simber looked at the floor. “I know. But he’s the best choice. And we need her.” He glanced at Meghan. “We need Clairrre. She’s morrre than a frrriend. She’s . . . like family. To me, that is, now that . . . ” Simber growled sharply to clear his throat, causing many of the Unwanteds in the hall to cast a nervous glance in the direction of the kitchenette.

Meghan gave Alex an imploring look.

Alex gazed from one face to the other and closed his eyes wearily. “Okay.”

While Simber spoke with Henry, Alex ran out of the secret hallway and into the boys’ hallway to his room to collect as many components as his now-tattered vest could hold. It was strange to be back in his comfy quarters again. He yearned for a nap in his bed.

“What happened to you?” Alex’s blackboard, Clive, sneered as if he’d just seen him this morning.

“Nothing,” Alex said. “Just . . . I’ll tell you everything someday.” He grabbed handfuls of origami dragons, scatterclips, balls of clay for shackles, and blinding highlighters, and
stuffed them into his pockets. He paused, looking at the little pile of heart attack components, so simple and innocent. He grabbed them, his face twisting into a grimace. He hesitated, and then he tossed them into a drawer and slammed it shut. “Never again,” he muttered.

As he rushed out the door, he heard the old familiar words ring out from Clive: “Don’t die!”

A
lex met Henry at the tube in the kitchenette. Henry’s lashes were still wet from crying when he couldn’t go with his father, but the tears had stopped and his eyes held an eager look now.