Island of Fire (The Unwanteds) (5 page)

Aaron’s attention turned to the beautiful view of the water through the hole in the wall, and he wondered once again how in the world Justine could have wanted to hide Quill from that. A prick of fear gnawed at him. There had to be a reason.

◆ ◆ ◆

Eva Fathom, in the backseat of the rusty old vehicle, bounced along with a hint of a smile on her wrinkled lips, having quite possibly heard the high priest’s last bellow but dodging it all the same. She had better jobs to do than run around chasing after things for a teenage boy.

The driver soon pulled up to the Haluki house, and the smile left Eva’s face. She got out of the vehicle, went to the door, and opened it without knocking. She went inside.

“Good morning, Bethesda. Liam.” She spoke more loudly than she needed to. “How are the prisoners today? Not trying anything tricky, I hope.” She rounded the corner to Haluki’s old office. “Is Claire Morning giving you any trouble in the pantry?” she called out.

Bethesda frowned in Liam’s direction.

“I’ll go quiet her down,” Liam said, standing up. “She’s old. Must be getting deaf,” he whispered. He caught up to Eva in the short hallway. “No,” he said to Eva. “She’s fine.”

“Too weak by now to try anything,” Eva said, almost as a question.

“I suppose so.”

“Tsk.” Eva shook her head and leaned toward Liam, lowering
her voice. “I can’t say I understand why we’re keeping them trapped like this. We should either kill them or let them go.” She looked at the man. “Don’t you agree?”

“I—” He shrugged, noncommittal.

“Do you think we should kill them, then?” Eva looked at him for a long moment, trying to gauge his loyalties. If anyone were going to cave in, it would be him.

He shifted his weight uncomfortably and looked away, and Eva had her answer.

T
he clue from Mr. Today became a song in Alex’s head, and even though music was still new and wonderful to Alex, this clue became the kind of annoying song that sometimes got stuck in his brain and left him wishing he could forget it. Trying to get some sleep on the hard ground, Alex couldn’t get the words out of his head, so at last he got up, picked his way to Florence, and climbed up to the roof.

Sean Ranger was there already.

“Hey,” Alex said.

Sean offered a bleak smile. “You okay?” He’d heard about Carina Holiday leaving them.

Alex was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “Sometimes I don’t know if we’re going to make it.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sean said. “Carina will be back, though.”

Deep down, Alex thought that Carina would probably not be back at all. “Does she have any other . . . family? Out there?” he asked, meaning Quill.

“No.” Sean pulled a thin, whittled stick from his pocket and began to clean his teeth. “You knew her husband, Seth, was killed in the first battle, didn’t you? Before the baby was born. He’s named for his father.”

Alex looked at Sean. “I—I didn’t know her then.” He’d wondered about it, but Carina never spoke of the past or about the baby’s father, so Alex assumed she didn’t want to talk about it. Now Alex felt even more terrible.

“She’s a really strong person,” Sean said. “I admire her. I remember her from Quill—she’s just a few years ahead of me, you know. When she was Purged, she had this look on her face like she was going to get revenge on everybody one day.”

Alex laughed softly. “I believe that.”

“She’ll do it, too.”

Alex nodded.

“I remembered that when my name was announced. I wanted to be like her.”

“You are. In a lot of ways.”

Sean shrugged. “Thanks.”

The song played in Alex’s head during the silence that followed, and he recalled Carina’s parting words. “She said she didn’t think the dots were the islands.”

Sean was quiet for a long moment. “Well, she has really good instincts. She might be right.” He glanced at the wall, where two days’ worth of effort stacking the creatures had gotten them nearly to the top of it. “I reckon I’ll continue the project, though.”

“Yes, definitely. We don’t have anything else to go on.”

Just then a face peeked up over the edge of the roof. Alex smiled. “Come on up,” he said. “We’re just talking.”

Sky climbed up and sat next to Alex. All three lay on their backs or rested on their elbows, staring at the night sky.

Sean frowned. “Do you think the dots . . . ”

Alex looked at him. “What?”

Sean sat up, peering intently at the sky. “Do you think the dots are the stars?”

Sky sat up too.

Alex shook his head. “I thought about that. But the sky is always changing. The stars don’t stay in the same place all the time. So if we’re supposed to follow a line of stars, how would we know what time of night to do it, or what time of the year they would all line up in the right part of the sky?”

“Oh. Good point.” Sean sighed.

The Silent girl slumped.

“What if the dots weren’t actually, you know, outside?” Sean asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are there any dots in the shack, like on the walls or anything?” Sean leaned back on his elbows.

“Not that I noticed. Believe me, I looked everywhere. I see dots swimming in front of my eyes constantly.”

Sky sat up again and stared out across the sea.

“Something in Artimé, maybe?”

Alex was quiet, considering that. He’d dismissed the idea once before, but now he couldn’t remember why. “I don’t know,” he mused. “Maybe. Like what?” He pictured the lounge, the theater, the mansion, the library. “Books could be dots, maybe.” But then he shook his head. “No, Mr. Today would
be more clever with his clue if he meant books. Maybe there was something in his office.” Alex felt a sharp pang of sadness. “If Samheed were here,” he said, “he might remember.” But no one else remaining had ever set foot in Mr. Today’s office as far as Alex knew. Not even Mr. Appleblossom. It was depressing.

“What about the black-and-white tiles in the entrance to the mansion? Or statues in the hallways? Or—”

Alex slapped his forehead. “No. Now I remember why I don’t think the dots are inside Artimé. It’s because we can’t magnify or focus on anything that doesn’t exist. Which seems to be our biggest dead end.”

“Right,” Sean muttered. “Sorry. I’m not thinking straight.” They lapsed into their thoughts.

Sky closed her eyes, thinking hard. And then her lids popped open and she turned toward Alex and gripped his leg.

He looked at her, alarmed. “What is it?”

Her hands flew through the air, speaking a language Alex didn’t know.

“Whoa,” he said. “Slow down.”

But Sky wasn’t slowing. Her face was wildly animated, her golden-orange eyes bright, her actions exaggerated—all
indicating that something very important was happening, but Alex couldn’t figure it out.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry, I can’t understand—” He bit his lip, frustrated, then glanced at Sean. “Any idea?”

“No,” Sean said quietly, his eyes intent on the girl. “But now she’s getting frustrated with us.”

Sky rolled her eyes and gripped her hair, pulling her head down to her bent knees, shaking her head from side to side. Finally she sat up again and faced the two. She took a deep breath, and then calmly held up a hand, first to Alex, then to Sean.

“Stay here?” Alex guessed.

The Silent girl nodded wildly.

“Okay,” Alex said, relieved to have gotten something right. “We’ll stay here.”

Sky pointed to herself, then pointed away, then pointed to herself again, then at the roof.

“She’s going to leave and come back,” Alex interpreted. “Right?”

The Silent girl rewarded Alex with a beautiful smile that made his stomach flip. She touched her nose and pointed at him, nodding. And then, after one more reminder to the boys to stay put, she scrambled down Florence to the ground.

S
ky returned a few minutes later, just as the eastern edge of the morning sky turned orange. She was carrying something on her shoulder, gripping it tightly with one hand as she maneuvered her way up the statue. Alex reached down to help her up.

She held the miniature mansion that she’d found the first day, a replica of the true mansion, and she handed it to him with pride.

“Oh!” Alex grinned and took it, careful not to tip it. “Did I ever show you this?” he asked Sean. “Sky found it our first day here inside a cupboard in the shack. I think it’s a model that
Mr. Today made as he was planning what Artimé would look like. Can’t you just picture him sculpting this little miniature mansion and dreaming about creating it?”

Sean squinted in the dark. “Sweet,” he said under his breath. He looked into the windows, opened and closed the doors. “There’s a mini Florence and a mini Simber,” he said with a hint of glee in his voice. “And look! A platyprot wandering the hallway. This is the best toy ever.”

The Silent girl waved her hand in front of their faces. They looked up. She stared at them as if they were stupid, then pointed to the mini mansion. She tapped the air several times and shrugged.

“Dots? Oh! Now we can see if there are any dots. I get it.” Alex smiled at Sky. “Good idea.” He said it almost like it was a silly thought. Like the girl had made a big deal out of nothing.

She glared as Sean and Alex explored the miniature, pointing out the tubes and the giant kitchen, their mouths watering at the thought of all the food they could eat if only they had Artimé back. They stared at the black-and-white squares on the floor, but decided they weren’t really dotlike.

A steadily growing light filled the skies, and the sleeping
Unwanteds began to stir. After a few minutes, Sean yawned and stretched, saying it was his turn to sleep inside the shack on the sofa, and he wasn’t about to give up that luxury.

After Sean was gone, Alex looked at Sky, his eyelids heavy from lack of sleep. “Thanks for finding this,” he said. “I didn’t really see any dots, though. But it was a good idea.” He set the model mansion on a flat part of the roof and lay down next to it. “I’m going to try to grab an hour of sleep here before it gets hot,” he mumbled, and he closed his eyes.

The Silent girl frowned. She watched the sunrise, the words of Mr. Today’s clue running through her head. She crawled over to the little mansion and looked inside. She didn’t see any dots either.

Alex groaned in his sleep. The girl watched him for a moment. His clothes were ragged and dusty, his face smudged with dirt, his hair a tangled nest of dark brown curls. His chest rose and fell, rose and fell; he was finally getting some rest. Maybe it would help him think more clearly. The girl reached out a tentative hand and pushed aside a lock of his hair that had fallen in his face. And then she closed her eyes and made a
wish for him to receive every good thing he needed to save his people . . . and himself.

When she opened her eyes, she was struck by another thought. A thought so simple she was surprised that no one had come up with it yet. She bit her lip as she mentally reviewed the clue, and she came to the same conclusion as before. And so it was that Sky climbed down Florence with an idea and went in search of the two people who would be the most helpful to her.