Island of Dragons (12 page)

“He's really good,” Kaylee said.

Crow bristled. “Scarlet's better,” he said in a quiet voice. He returned his gaze to Warbler girl.

Kaylee looked sideways at him and pressed her lips together to stifle a smile. “Yes, I totally agree,” she said. “Scarlet rocks.” She poked Aaron with her elbow.

Aaron startled. “What?”

Kaylee leaned in, her shoulder touching Aaron's shoulder and her face dangerously close to his. He resisted the urge to shrink away, and she whispered in his ear, “Crow has a crush on Scarlet.”

Her breath was warm as it caressed his skin and slipped down below his shirt collar. Aaron's ear tingled, and then his whole body tingled. His heart thudded in his chest. He didn't even register what she was saying. Instead of responding like a normal human, Aaron froze. He stared straight ahead and didn't move. He had no idea what to do. All he knew was that her shoulder was still touching his, and he wasn't sure if he wanted it to stay there or move away.

With Crow, Aaron, and Kaylee all momentarily occupied, and Sky reading intently under the tree, nobody actually paid much attention when Thisbe meandered over to where her sister was stacking stones. Thisbe took a warrior stance and pointed at the tower. “Boom!” she said.

The stones flew into the air of their own accord and pelted the sand around Fifer. Fifer stared, and then the twin girls began giggling hysterically. “Again!” cried Fifer.

“Again!” cried Thisbe.

Fifer began to pile the stones once more.

A
lex woke around noon feeling groggy and disoriented after having stayed up all night with Pan, but once he bathed and dressed, he was wide awake and ready to work. He found Ms. Octavia in her classroom and told her about the dragons and what had transpired overnight.

“That's quite a project,” Ms. Octavia said, scratching her head with one of her tentacles. “I admit I have no idea how you're going to do it. I've only fixed existing appendages. I always left the creating of them up to Marcus.”

“I know . . . I still have to figure that out. But,” Alex said, his face growing excited, “I have something cool I need to show you.”

“What is it?” asked Ms. Octavia.

Alex pulled his notebook from his pocket. It sprang open to the page with the 3-D dragon drawing. The drawing popped up and hovered a few inches above the page.

Ms. Octavia took in a sharp breath, and then carefully took the notebook from Alex and looked more closely at the dragon from all angles. She took off her latest pair of fake glasses from Mr. Appleblossom and studied it some more, turning the notebook in a circle. Then she looked at Alex. “I've never seen this happen before,” she said, admiration in her voice. “I am very proud of you. Your drawing has continued to improve to near perfection over the years because you work so hard at it, and clearly this is your reward for that. Well done, Alex. Well done.”

“I didn't mean to do it,” he said modestly. “It just happened when I was drawing.”

“You must have been perfectly precise,” said the octogator, “or I'm sure it wouldn't have happened. This is really something to celebrate! I wish Marcus were here to see it.”

Tears sprang to Alex's eyes at the mention of the wonderful old mage who had saved so many Unwanteds over the years. Alex longed for Mr. Today to see this accomplishment. “It's okay,” Alex said, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Perhaps he knows somehow.”

Together they brainstormed the predicament of putting magical wings on a nonmagically made creature.

“Was Jim the winged tortoise created from a real tortoise?” Alex asked.

“No, I'm afraid not,” said Ms. Octavia. “He's like the rest of us.”

“But what about you?” Alex said. “You're parts of two animals. Octopus and alligator. Those creatures are nonmagical, yet you exist magically.”

“Ah, but you forget that I am not actually either of those animals, not even a little bit. I only look like a combination of them. I was created from items found in the sea—seaweed, shells, plant life.”

“I remember that now,” Alex said, thinking back to when all of Artimé was gone and Ms. Octavia's body had morphed into those materials. “So what exactly is the real dilemma here? I think it's like I told Lani yesterday. I can't create a third arm and attach it to her, and expect it to work like the other two arms, can I? Because she was born a living human, and magic and human parts can't communicate. A third arm would need blood and muscle and bone connected to the rest of the body, and magic can't create that, can it?”

“No magic that I know,” said Ms. Octavia. She tapped her snout thoughtfully as a second tentacle began jotting down notes and a third picked up her coffee mug and brought it to her mouth. She took a sip and swallowed.

As they sat thinking, there was a knock on the door. Aaron poked his head in.

“Am I interrupting?” he asked.

Alex frowned. He wanted to be the one who figured this out, not his freak prodigy brother. But then he reluctantly admitted it was silly of him to be acting so petty about Aaron's abilities. Alex needed Aaron, just like he needed his other friends for the various things they were good at. And then he remembered Aaron would be leaving soon, perhaps for good, and the empty feeling gnawed at him.

“No, you're not interrupting,” said Alex. “We're talking about dragon wings and . . . and I think maybe you can help us. Unless you can't stay, of course.” Alex tried not to look hopeful.

“I was just looking for you to see if you were getting lunch,” Aaron said. “Of course I'll stay, but I don't know what help I'll be.”

“Okay. Great, then. We'll get something to eat afterward if you can wait,” Alex said.

“If I can wait?” Aaron nearly laughed. “I'm from Quill. Of course I can wait for food. I'm just thrilled to know there is some. Also, I was wondering about Henry. Is there any news? And if it's all right for me to, you know, go home. To Ishibashi's, I mean.”

“Ah, yes—sorry,” Alex said. “I meant to tell you. I should be able to get you back to the Island of Shipwrecks very soon, but I was sort of hoping to finish the dragon project first. Then we can set off together, attach the wings, and continue on to the Island of Shipwrecks.”

“Oh,” Aaron said. “All right.” He was only a little put off that Alex wasn't going to jump into the boat today to take him away. “Of course that's fine. I don't want to inconvenience you.” He came and sat down with them. “What's going on?”

Alex filled Aaron in on the conversation so far.

Aaron listened intently, and when Alex reintroduced the third-arm scenario, he closed his eyes, a perplexed look on his face.

“What's wrong?” Alex asked.

Aaron didn't answer at first, and then he said, “So you're saying that you wouldn't be able to give Lani a third arm because you can't create human blood and bones and things like that, and for this same reason you can't make dragon wings.” He opened his eyes and looked inquisitively at Alex.

“Right,” said Alex. “I know you think you can do this, but—”

“I can,” said Aaron. “You're making it too complicated.”

Ms. Octavia nodded. “I think you may be right, Aaron. Why do the wings need to have dragon's blood and bones and muscles in them in order to work?”

“Because they have to grow with the body when it grows,” Alex explained, feeling a bit exasperated. “See, the dragons are small. About my size right now. And Pan said they'll stay around this size for another ten years or so, but then they'll grow rapidly, and they'll continue growing until they're a hundred years old. And if the wings aren't made of actual dragon parts, then once the dragons start to grow, their magical wings won't grow with them. And they'll be useless because the dragons will be too heavy for the wings to support.”

Aaron sighed, and Ms. Octavia looked at Alex. “I'm sorry, Alex,” Ms. Octavia said, “but I don't think it's possible to provide the dragons with body parts that will grow with them. There are limits to our magic for good reason. And this is one of them. Don't you agree?”

Alex pushed his hair off his forehead thoughtfully. “I guess so,” he said. “So what do I do? Make prosthetic magical wings that cease to be useful once they have their growth spurt?” He leaned forward and said quietly, “I think she wants to keep her children away from the pirates.”

“By the time they grow, maybe they won't need to fly to get away from the pirates anymore,” Ms. Octavia said. “They'll be big enough to fight them off.”

“Yes, exactly,” said Aaron. “So it's really a simple solution. It's no more difficult than using a vine to fix a—” He clamped his mouth shut.

“What?” asked Alex.

“Um, a rope,” Aaron said lamely. “Or,” he said, scrambling to come up with something, “no different from the heart attack spell. That spell has wings.”

“That's true.”

“It's probably going to be very easy,” Aaron said, “like I've said all along. You always make things too complicated.”

Alex's mouth dropped open. “I do not.”

Aaron gave Ms. Octavia a side-eye glance. “He does, doesn't he?”

Ms. Octavia lifted her eyebrows and shrugged. “Yes,” she said. “Sorry, Alex.”

Alex just shook his head. “You two,” he muttered. “So I guess the biggest question is what materials are we going to use to make this happen. Because we'll need a lot of them, and they'll have to be a big variety of colors in order to blend in properly. We don't want our dragon friends to look like our patch job on the ship. They'll be our artwork on display for all the world to see.”

“Fair enough,” declared Ms. Octavia. “Though we can easily just paint the wings to match the dragons if we can't find the right material. Why don't you work on designing a mini-model-size wing for your 3-D drawing that will be aerodynamic and strong enough to transport its weight, and then once the dimensions are perfected, you can move on to a full size pair of wings. Aaron can help me see about some materials that will suit the job.”

Alex agreed. He showed the two his drawings to point out the various colors necessary. Aaron was appropriately impressed by the 3-D drawing that popped off the page, which made Alex feel a little more secure in his abilities. At least Aaron couldn't do
that
.

Once Ms. Octavia and Aaron had had a good look, they headed off together, and Alex sat in the classroom alone with his project. It was good to be doing the thing he did best and enjoyed most once again.

W
ith so much help from sea creatures, it didn't take much effort for Karkinos to stay afloat in his usual spot in the sea. He showed signs of tiredness from time to time, but Spike and the giant squid fed and monitored the crab to make sure he had everything he needed. Henry kept an eye on his health and strength, which improved little by little.

At first Henry worried that he hadn't given the crab enough seaweed, and even considered making a trip to the Island of Shipwrecks to get more. But after a few days of resting and eating, Karkinos began making great strides. Indeed, he became almost playful as more time passed.

“He's acting like his old self again,” Talon said one day as he and Henry stood at the edge of the island and watched the crab play tag with the squid and Issie. “He reminds me of the creature he was before he fell sick—which was well before your ship first landed here.”

“I'm really glad to hear that,” Henry said. It was a relief to know their efforts had paid off. Karkinos lurched to one side trying to tag Issie with his claw, and Henry grabbed on to Talon's arm to steady himself. “I think Karkinos has a long, healthy life ahead of him.”

Talon put his bronze hand on the boy's shoulder and looked at Henry earnestly. “I cannot possibly thank you enough,” he said. “You risked everything for us. I don't know what I would have done if you'd been hurt.”