Island of Fire (The Unwanteds) (27 page)

The cat circled and flew off.

“Psst,” someone said.

Alex looked all around. Up in the trees he saw them—a dozen squirrelicorns, including Rufus. Alex flashed a shaky grin. He was suddenly feeling better about this.

“Okay, team. You run and fly out there and distract them
while I get Samheed off his leash. Henry, as soon as you’re close enough, hit everyone else with everything you’ve got. I’ll help as much as I can. Ready, everyone?”

They all nodded, and Rufus circled a paw in the air, commanding his team.

“Go!” Alex said.

Like a disturbed beehive, the shipbuilding area was suddenly swarmed with screaming squirrelicorns and a few hopping, yelling statues. The Warblerans dropped their axes in fright as Samheed started throwing punches at anyone within reach.

Waiting for his cue from behind the woodpile, Alex grinned as he watched Samheed fight with every ounce of energy he had. “Man, have I missed you,” he whispered.

A
lex leaped over the end of the woodpile, casting blinding highlights on his way to Samheed. “Sam!” he said as he ran up. “Stand still now, don’t move an inch.” Samheed dropped his fists and began to shake, overflowing with adrenaline. The Warblerans he’d punched came to their senses and began to fight off the winged, horned creatures that stabbed at them.

Alex shot off a few more spells, and when it looked like he had a few seconds, he touched Samheed’s thorns. “Hold very still,” he whispered. He took a breath, and whispered, “Dissipate.”

Just as he breathed the dangerous magical word, a Warbleran
grabbed a squirrelicorn from the air and threw her at Alex. The squirrelicorn’s horn hit Samheed’s neck, jolting them all. And as the thorns vanished, so did the creature.

Alex pulled his hand away with a gasp. “No!” He looked all around, as if the squirrelicorn might be hiding somewhere, but she was gone. The leash dangled from the overhead wire, and Samheed was free.

“Alex!” Rufus cried out. “Let it go and carry on!”

That brought Alex to his senses. He shrugged off his vest and shoved it at Samheed. “You can speak now, or at least whisper,” he said. “Fire away!”

Samheed wore a dazed expression, not sure what had just happened, but at Alex’s words he came back to life and shoved his arms through the vest. He brought a hand to his neck, feeling the dents and holes in his skin. And then he grabbed components and started fighting.

Alex, who had padded his other pockets, began pelting Warblerans with spells. But when he heard a cry, he turned, finding Henry dangling from the arms of an enormous man, who held the boy out in front of him like a shield as he ran for a tunnel. “Alex!” Henry screamed.

Alex didn’t have a clear shot at the man. He whirled around frantically, searching the area. Finally his eyes alighted on the one he was seeking. “Kitten!” he cried. “Go!”

The kitten didn’t need any more instruction. She tore after the man, climbed up his leg, and wriggled her way into Henry’s pocket. Alex shot off a round of shackles at the man’s feet, but the man was running in a zigzag pattern. The spell missed and bounced off the ground. There was nothing else Alex could do without risking Henry. Then he thought of one thing. “Freeze,” he called out, holding his hand in the direction of the escaping man. But the man ducked down a hole in the ground and disappeared, and the freeze spell hit the side of a ship and shattered like ice to the ground. Alex grabbed a few more spells from Samheed’s vest and chased after them.

Meanwhile, Samheed found his whispery voice and began casting spells with gusto. He was a little rusty with his aim, but he soon got back into the rhythm. He mounted the log pile for a better view of his attackers. As more Warblerans came running, Samheed blinded, shackled, scatterclipped, and froze them before they had any time to fight back. It was a bizarre,
quiet fight, the only sound coming from the very few who had voices. When at last Simber returned, Samheed had polished off everyone in the area.

Samheed ran up to the giant cat.

“Had a minorrr incident to clearrr up at the beach with some of our fighters,” Simber told him. “Climb aboarrrd,” he said. “We’ll get you to the ship.”

Samheed shook his head violently, and then remembered he could speak. “Not without Lani,” he rasped, his voice trying hard to come back. He coughed a few times, attempting to clear his throat, and wished he could get his body to stop shaking. “I’m not going anywhere without her.”

Simber frowned, but then he nodded. “Do you know where she is?”

“Fire cave. Deep down below. But I’m sure word is spreading that you’re here. We have to hurry.” He thought for a moment. “Oh—but you can’t fit down the tunnels. If you can find the exit hole on the south side of the island by the lagoon, I’ll try my best to bring her out there.”

Simber nodded. “I will be therrre if I am not needed elsewherrre. Otherrrwise head straight to the lagoon wherrre you
arrrived a month ago. Do you know how to get therrre? The pirrrate ship belongs to us.”

“I’ll find it.” Samheed started to run, and then he turned back. “Is Meghan . . . ?”

“She’s waiting forrr you on the ship.”

Samheed sighed heavily. “Thanks. Thanks for coming back for us.”

Simber nodded. “Go.”

Samheed grabbed spell components in both hands and jumped down the entry hole, sliding on his back and landing on his feet. He ran down the tunnel, seeing frozen and shackled Warblerans everywhere, no doubt thanks to Alex. He saw Warblerans huddled in caves, peering out, and ducking when they saw him wearing the strange vest. Some of them signaled to him as he passed, pleading, “Save me.” “Let me come with you.” It was heartbreaking. But Samheed couldn’t risk saving anyone else right now. He had to get to Lani.

Alex chased after the man and Henry, getting farther and farther behind as Warblerans tried to stop him. He shot spells left and right and pressed his way through the crowds, closing
off caves with glass spells and locking the people inside when he started running out of components. He felt terrible about it, but it was the only way to keep up.

But in the maze he lost them. He kept running, unsure of where to go. “Kitten!” he yelled. He waited at a circle where several tunnels came together, having no idea what to do, which way to go, and constantly turning to make sure no one was coming up behind him. He was starting to panic.

And then the ball of light arrived. Kitten again, this time to save the day.

Alex sped down the proper tunnel, eventually hearing Henry’s screams once again. He snuck up to the entrance of a cave, finding himself in a hospital room of sorts. The brute held Henry down on a table, and another Warbleran reached into a cupboard, pulling out a handful of braided thorns.

Alex’s eyes widened. “Get your hands off him!” Alex yelled, furious. He blasted the brute with an encasement spell and hit the other with a dog collar shackle that stuck her to the wall, her feet dangling off the floor. Henry scrambled off the table, a look of terror in his eyes. Alex grabbed him by the arm and ran to the nearest opening, having no idea where on the island
they were but hoping one of the statues would be around to help. They emerged to find Florence stacking frozen bodies like logs.

“Don’t shoot!” Alex cried. “It’s us. Get Henry to the ship, fast! I’m going back down.”

“Good luck!” Florence picked up the boy and ran, her steps shaking the earth, while Alex dove back underground.

F
inally it was time. Lani cleaned up her thorn station for the day with the other melters. She was running behind because at the last minute she’d decided to get one more mold of thorns made, hoping her manager would notice. Maybe then she’d get the leash off sooner. If anyone could fake being the model of good behavior, it was Lani, and she was doing everything she could to get the leaders of Warbler to trust her.

The others finished up, and one by one they left, until finally Lani was alone. She jiggled her sizzling mold, trying to get the stupid thorns to solidify and come loose without burning her
hand off. While she waited for it to cool, she wiped up her table and scrubbed it with her scraper to get the tiny drips of gold off before they stuck there for good.

When she heard a voice coming from the tunnel outside the cave, her heart raced. She hoped it was one of the leaders, who would see that she was still hard at work. She began scraping harder.

Then she heard the voice again. “Glass,” it said. The voice was familiar, but she couldn’t quite figure out which of the leaders it could be. She picked up her thorn mold and went to swish it in the water to help it cool and loosen from the mold. And then, from the doorway, she heard her name.

“Lani.” It was a whisper.

She looked up. Her fingers trembled and went to her mouth. The mold slipped from her other hand and hit the floor without a sound, thorns popping out like toothpicks and scattering on the floor. And then she ran to him and jumped into his arms, her lips mouthing his name as her heart screamed it.

Alex.

He held her, laughing and crying as she sobbed silently into his neck. He twirled her around in the doorway, knowing they
had to hurry and wanting to get her neck thorns off, but she clung to him and wouldn’t let go. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, feeling her shuddering breaths against him, wishing he could fix it all so this had never happened. He smoothed his fingers over her hair as her sobbing slowed, and then he opened his eyes and whispered, “We have to hurry.”

He turned to look down the tunnel, hoping none of the spells had worn off, and then his jaw dropped as he saw two arms on the other side of the glass barrier, with other body parts of Sky and Crow beginning to appear as their invisibility spells wore off, including Sky’s face. Clearly, she didn’t know he could see her.

He set Lani down hastily. “Let’s get this thing off you. Please don’t move, not even a fraction. This will only take a few seconds.”

Lani obeyed, tears still washing down her streaky, sooty face, and soon—without any casualties this time—her thornament was gone.

“You can speak now,” Alex said. He handed her most of the spell components he had left, and then he hurriedly released the glass spell. In a low voice he said, “This is Sky and Crow
from the raft, remember? They can speak now too.”

He turned to Sky as they began moving for the exit. “Boy, am I glad to see you,” he said. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to find my way out of here.” He hugged Sky’s shoulders and they started jogging through the tunnel, past an occasional frozen person.

Lani cleared her throat. “Where’s Sam?” she whispered. “We have to find him.”

“We found him once, but then I had to go after Henry. . . . ”

“Henry—is he okay?” Her voice was a rasp.

“He is now.”

“This way,” Sky said, taking her brother by the arm and turning sharply. “This leads away from the queen’s throne room.”

“I’m not leaving without Sam,” Lani said defiantly.

“Well, duh,” Alex said. He grinned at Lani, and she gave a reluctant smile in return.

As they passed various caves, Alex threw more glass spells, locking in as many Warblerans as possible to keep them out of their way. He was glad that spell didn’t require a component. Sky made them turn once more, and they could see the end of
the tunnel. “Almost there,” Sky said under her breath. They broke out into a full run.

They saw the ostrich down one stretch of a tunnel. “What is she doing down here?” Alex wondered, puzzled. “Never mind,” he added hastily and called to her to follow.

“You brought the ostrich?” Lani said. “She hates us.”

“I know, right?” Alex chuckled. “We have a lot to tell you.” His laugh died in his throat when he realized just how much Lani and Sam didn’t know. He wasn’t sure if he could tell that story again.

They reached the end of the tunnel. Sky, then Crow, lunged for the ladder and scaled it like they’d done a thousand times. Lani tried the same thing and struggled, but made it up, and then Alex held out his hand to help boost the ostrich. “Are there any more of you in the tunnels?” Alex asked.