Island of Dragons (2 page)

B
ut the people of Quill didn't want to stay in the magical land. Wanteds and Necessaries went into Quill multiple times over the following weeks to consider ways to rebuild. Sometimes they brought creative-minded Artiméans with them in hopes of someone coming up with a plan. But with no resources, there were no solutions, and the groups returned day after day covered in soot and feeling desperate for their old familiar land. Frustrations ran high. Soon even the most stubborn of the Quillens had to admit there was nothing they could do to rebuild their awful world.

With the long-term outlook seeming quite grim, Alex called a formal meeting on the lawn for all the Wanteds and Necessaries to attend so they could talk about what to do next. He even borrowed a podium from Mr. Appleblossom to stand behind so that it would feel familiar to the people of Quill. It was a subtle gesture that was unfortunately lost on the dull-witted Quillens.

After greeting the crowd, Alex laid out the situation. “I've talked with my advisors, including my brother Aaron,” he said. He pointed to Aaron next to him, since his brother's presence seemed to give the Quillens some sort of comfort. “Because there's nothing salvageable left in Quill, and because it would take years to remove all of the soot and embers and burned-out structures from the island, you are stuck in Artimé whether you like it or not. But I have an idea. With your permission, we'd like to expand our magical world to cover the ugliness.”

The crowd, more vocal than it had ever been, began to murmur and complain.

Alex waited, then went on. “Once the magic of Artimé covers the entire island, I can make individual homes for you like you had before. And . . . ,” he said, cringing, “I can make the land as bland as you want it to be.”

Claire Morning and Florence, the giant ebony warrior statue, were standing at the back of the crowd, and they exchanged wry grins. It was hard for anyone in Artimé to believe that there were people who would purposely choose to have a bland world. But Aaron had suggested the option be offered, and it seemed to quiet the complaints a little.

“In fact,” Alex said, bolstered by the reaction, “I can give you a similar layout to what you had before. I can even number the houses exactly the same, and just add some trees—and grass, if you want it—and schedule some occasional rain, which will help your living situations a lot. That way you won't have to limit yourselves to two buckets of water a week. Your gardens and farms will flourish, and you and your livestock and chickens will have plenty to eat and drink.”

Mr. Appleblossom, who had been in charge of rescuing the livestock and chickens that had run from the fire into Artimé, nodded and smiled as the Quillens talked among themselves about this new development. Once Mr. Appleblossom had put all the farm animals in one place, he'd set up a nice corral behind the mansion where they wouldn't be bothered or frightened by the owlbats, platyprots, and other strange creatures that roamed freely in Artimé. The Quillen animals were flourishing on the food, water, and care that Mr. Appleblossom and his helpers had been giving them.

Kaylee Jones, the American sailor whom Alex, Aaron, and Sky had rescued from the saber-toothed-gorilla-infested Island of Graves, had found a bit of comfort in the sight of animals that actually seemed normal to her, so she had joined Mr. Appleblossom's team. She'd set up a petting zoo for the children from both worlds to enjoy, which was something she remembered loving from her own childhood. Carina's son Seth and the younger set of Stowe twins, Thisbe and Fifer, were frequent visitors.

Now Kaylee stood off to one side with Sky, Samheed, and Lani, looking decidedly healthier than she'd been at the time of her rescue. Upon her arrival, she'd been shocked by the gray, desert land of Quill—perhaps more shocked by it than by Artimé—and wondered how anyone could turn down the opportunity to have enough fresh water to drink. Yet before her eyes, a small group of Wanteds stubbornly argued and shook their heads, complaining about ridiculous things. She marveled at the stark difference between the two kinds of people on this island, and was infinitely glad that her rescuers had come from Artimé.

As the crowd grew louder in their discussion over whether grass should be allowed, and whether they wanted it to rain more, Alex leaned toward his brother. “Now what do I do?” he whispered.

Aaron put a hand on the podium. “You want me to step in?” he asked quietly.

Alex frowned. “No, I can do it. Just tell me what to say to them, because I have no idea right now.”

One corner of Aaron's mouth turned up slightly. “Tell them that if they try having grass in their yards and they don't like it, we can always remove it so they can have dirt yards like before.”

Alex sighed. “But I don't want to create dirt yards.”

“Think of all the drawing they can do in the dirt when it rains,” Aaron said, almost mischievously.

The look on Aaron's face caught Alex by surprise, as so many things had in the past few months. His brother was a different person now, thanks to his time on the Island of Shipwrecks with the three old scientists: Ishibashi, Ito, and Sato. Alex still wasn't sure if Aaron had gotten whacked on the head a little too hard when the pirates had kidnapped him—that's how big his transformation was. But Aaron insisted he had still been an awful person when he'd first regained consciousness in the stone shelter, and Ishibashi had been quick to agree.

Alex smiled. “All right,” he said. His insides felt complete now that he had his brother beside him. The two of them standing together with the same goals in mind was a dream Alex never thought could come true. Not like this. Not as friends, anyway.

Alex stepped back to the podium and lifted his hand in the air for silence, which came quickly. The Quillens were nothing if not militant about letting the person at the podium speak—even if he was someone they didn't trust. “We can always give it a try with the grass yards,” Alex said amicably, “and if it turns out you don't like this luscious stuff massaging your bare feet every day, I will give you a dirt yard as before. Aaron will see to it.”

Aaron nodded his promise to the people, and that calmed them immediately.

“Leave it at that,” Aaron said under his breath. “Finish up—you're about to lose them.”

Alex nodded. “Thank you, people of Quill. All in favor of having your own magical homes right where the old ones used to be, raise your hand.”

The Wanteds and Necessaries had never been asked to vote on anything before. They looked at one another, confused.

“Just go ahead and put your hand in the air like I'm doing,” Alex said, “if you want me to extend the magical world in order to give you your homes back. And if most of you agree, I'll do it.”

Samheed stared from the audience and made a face at Alex.

Alex ignored him.

Aaron raised his hand as well to show the people. But no one wanted to be the first in the audience to do it.

“Okay, then,” Alex said, hesitating a bit, trying to figure out what to do next. “How about this: Everyone who would like to have their own home back as I proposed, just keep standing there with no hands in the air.”

No one moved.

“Good!” said Alex. “Excellent. That's all of you. I'll begin working on it right away. If everything goes well, we should have the first new homes ready in a matter of days. Thank you for coming!”

The people didn't move.

“And now you may go,” said Alex, with a grand flourish that made Lani crack up and have to hide her face.

Alex stepped back from the podium and turned to Aaron as the Wanteds and Necessaries began to disperse. Only a few small groups stayed around to voice complaints. “Whew,” he said. “Tough crowd.”

“Yes,” Aaron said. “That was pretty clever how you did that, though.”

A group of five or six Wanteds approached Aaron.

“We don't want to live in the magical world,” one said grumpily. “We want nothing to do with that Unwanteds magic.”

Aaron and Alex exchanged a worried glance. “But . . . ,” said Aaron, “there's nowhere else for you to live.”

“We don't care,” said the spokesperson.

Alex scratched his head, perplexed. How was he going to satisfy everybody?

But Aaron took hold of the situation. “No problem,” he said. He turned to Alex. “Can you leave a small portion of Quill untouched by magic for these fine Wanteds?”

“I—” Alex began, then hesitated. “Well, sure, I
can
, but . . .”

“Very good,” Aaron said smoothly. “Our problem is solved. Give them a bit of barren, burned-out land to live on.” He thought about what Ishibashi might say, and added, “And make it as far away from here as possible.”

I
t had been a crazy few years for Aaron Stowe. He went from Wanted, to university student, to assistant to the secretary of the high priest, to leader of the Restorers, to high priest of Quill. He'd killed a kind magician; nearly killed his brother; sent his father to the Ancients Sector and made his only friend, Secretary, get him back; and sent Secretary to the Ancients Sector only to watch her die because he stupidly set loose a wild creature upon a group of innocent children.

That was a lot of horrible deeds to deal with, and Aaron would be lying if he said he didn't think about them often. He spent hours roaming the smoldering ruins of Quill alone, contemplating. He stood where the portcullis had been, and looked at the charred remains of the palace—his former home. Yet there was nothing he could think of that he missed about the place. Nothing had made that cold, gray palace feel as cozy as his cot on a rock floor in the middle of a hurricane.

Thinking back upon his life in Quill made Aaron feel numb inside. Everything he had once lived for was gone. He smiled ruefully, wondering what sort of metaphor Ishibashi would make from it. He missed the old man, sometimes desperately.

Every now and then Aaron thought about what it would be like if the pirates hadn't mistaken him for his brother—if they'd captured Alex instead, and Aaron had remained in power. Would he still be high priest, or would Gondoleery have ousted or even killed him by now? Would he still sneak to the jungle to be in the one place he felt at ease, among the misfits . . . the misunderstoods? Would he have eventually confided in Liam that he was so terribly uncertain about what he was doing? Or would he have kept it all in, as always? As one is expected to do in Quill?

And would he be raising his sisters to be bad like him? Thisbe and Fifer were almost two years old. When he looked at them, he couldn't imagine them growing up in that horrible, stark palace.

One quiet morning he sat on the lawn with his sisters, watching them play in the sand, making sure they didn't venture too far into the water. They were learning to swim, but it was the current that worried Aaron the most, knowing they could be swept off their little feet and pulled out to the sea.

Aaron could swim a little now. Not like Alex and Sky and the others, but at least he wasn't terrified anymore. Not really, anyway, though he still had nightmares about the little pirate boat and the hurricane. But he also had good dreams about returning to the Island of Shipwrecks.

Carina Holiday and her son, Seth, walked up to the beach. Seth ran over to the girls, and Carina sat down next to Aaron.

Some of Alex's friends had begun to trust Aaron by now. Simber, for sure, and Sky, of course. But Carina had kept her distance, watching him—he saw her and others, too, like Claire Morning and Samheed Burkesh, always, always watching him. And while Aaron knew their skepticism was deserved, it was hard to take, and it didn't feel very good. He wondered why Carina chose the spot next to him to sit.

“Good morning,” Aaron said.

“Good morning,” she replied, crossing her ankles and pulling her knees up. She sipped from a steaming mug.

Aaron watched his sisters shriek with joy when they saw Seth, who was a year or so older than them. They had become fast friends—most of the time anyway. As good friends as two- and three-year-olds could be, he supposed. “The girls really love Seth,” he said to break the silence.

“He adores them, too,” Carina said. “And I am rather enjoying this quiet morning.”

“It'll be even quieter when the Quillens are gone,” said Aaron. “Alex is going to start expanding the magical world soon.”

“I was at the meeting,” Carina said.

“Of course,” said Aaron, feeling awkward. “Sorry I didn't see you.”

If Carina noticed Aaron's awkwardness, she didn't indicate it. “I would imagine the Wanteds and Necessaries can't wait to go home,” she mused.

Aaron nodded. He understood the feeling.

Seth started to pile and pack sand into a large mound. Thisbe waited until he was almost done and pushed it over. But Seth didn't get mad; he just started building it up again. Fifer played quietly by herself, singing a nonsensical made-up song.