Island of Dragons (40 page)

A
lex refused to stay in bed once Aaron had gone back to his room. He had too much on his mind to sleep. The magical medicine had worked quickly and done its job to take away the pain, leaving only his bandaged left arm hanging numb and useless at his side. Henry reluctantly agreed to let Alex get up, and fashioned a sling for him. Soon Alex was moving gingerly around the mansion, trying to get a grip on his thoughts.

Outside, the friendly dragons were protecting the island overnight, but there was little to worry about now. No enemies remained. The atmosphere throughout the sleepy mansion felt lighter somehow because of it, and Artimé's residents benefitted greatly from it as they enjoyed their first delightfully deep sleep in several days.

By now, all of the Warbler parents had reunited with their children and were only in need of rooms of their own to sleep in. As Mr. Today had often said, there was plenty of room for all who wished to be in Artimé—all Alex had to do was extend the hallways a bit.

He managed that much right-handed, for it was mostly a verbal spell. He wasn't entirely useless, which gave him a bit of comfort. But it wasn't much.

He taught the Warbleran parents how to access their new rooms, and he promised to take off their thornaments as soon as he was able so they could experience true freedom from Eagala's reign, like their children had. But first he had to work up the courage to try it with his right hand. Secretly he hoped Claire would heal quickly so he could ask her to do it instead. He didn't trust himself to be steady with it.

As Alex prowled the hallways, he ran across Florence, Talon, Simber, Ms. Octavia, and Fox and Kitten working through the night to clean up the glass and repair all the windows. It was quite amazing what Ms. Octavia and Florence could do magically to make things feel like home again. Kitten wasn't much help at all, but she played her tiny triangle and sang a little song for entertainment, which amused at least one of the others.

After surveying the damage to the mage's living quarters, Alex knew no one would be sleeping in there for a few days. Clive's remains had been removed, but the apartment was still a mess. Alex packed up a few necessities and made his way to his old room in the boys' hallway, where he'd soon be living permanently.

Alex cleaned himself up the best he could in his old room, but he didn't stay. It was too quiet in there, which only reminded him that Clive was gone. He didn't want think about how empty his life would be now without Clive. Without his art. Without his job as head mage. Instead he returned to the hospital ward, where he felt less alone among the disfigured.

Seeing that Henry was running on fumes, Alex worked alongside him and the nurses until all the injured were stable.

When everyone was quiet in the hospital ward, Henry finally sent the nurses to bed, and at Alex's urging, he sat down to rest in a chair between some of the most critically injured—Claire Morning, whose head was wrapped in bandages, and Thatcher, whose face Henry had stitched up, but who had lost a lot of blood and hadn't woken up yet.

Alex kept busy, awkwardly rolling bandages and refilling medicine bottles, watching Henry as he did so. The young healer didn't take his eyes off Thatcher's face until slowly his lids drooped and closed, and he slept.

Lani was across the room. Surprisingly, after having taken that spectacularly awful hit in the back from a pirate, she was awake, but completely unable to walk and had no feeling in her legs. No one knew how long that would last, or if she would ever get better. As with Alex's arm, Henry didn't have medicine that could fix that.

Alex and Lani exchanged heartbreaking looks from afar, but neither could stand to talk about their fates—not yet. So Alex stayed a safe distance way. Samheed slept in a chair on one side of her bed, holding her hand, and her father slept on the other. Henry and Carina had done all they could for her. Now they had to wait and see if she healed.

Eventually Alex found comfort in going quietly from bed to bed, assisting those who stirred and perhaps needed a sip of water or an encouraging word. Alex wasn't the only one facing difficulties—that was obvious. They'd struggle together.

» » « «

And then there was Aaron, the only one left still fighting a war. After his visit with Alex he'd returned to his room, but was unable to get back to sleep because of the battle raging in his head. First he sat and thought. Then he paced inside his room. When his blackboard got too nosy and started asking questions, he left and began to roam the quiet mansion instead.

He kept the robe hidden away inside his vest, but touched it now and then, alternately planning out his reign and then cursing himself for doing so, until he nearly drove himself mad.

“It's what Alex wants!” Aaron found himself saying in the now empty lounge. He sat on a barstool in the darkness, the very stool that Will Blair had once sat upon, though of course Aaron didn't know that. The only light in the lounge was a bluish glow coming from Earl the blackboard, who was asleep.

Aaron pulled the robe from his vest and looked at it, then he pressed it to his face and breathed in. The fabric was still silky and soft against his skin, but it smelled like sweat from being trapped inside his vest for days. Aaron shoved it back in place with a frustrated groan that woke Earl.

“What's your problem?” asked Earl, a bit grumpily. “Lounge is closed for the night.”

“Sorry,” said Aaron. He fled to the tubes and went to the mansion entryway, where a glance out the shiny new windows gave proof of the sun rising on a new day. Artimé began to stir.

Aaron turned to look into the hospital ward, expecting to see Alex asleep in his bed, but instead found him up and about, doing what he could to help the people of Artimé.

Aaron watched them for a long time—the way the injured people's faces lit up when Alex came by their beds. The way he comforted them and soothed their fears. The way they responded to him and worried over his injury as if . . . as if they were all family.

Aaron slipped his hand inside his vest and his face cracked in pain. Something inside him fussed and roiled and wouldn't settle.

“Good morning, Aaron-san,” said a soft voice from the stairs.

Pain spiked inside his chest as Aaron whirled around. “Ishibashi-san,” he said, incredulous. “You're here!”

“I fixed the tube,” said Ishibashi with a grin.

“I can't believe it,” said Aaron. He tried to smile, but his face was strained and his lips trembled. He jerked his fingers away from his vest and shoved his hands in his pants pockets, his heart engulfed in warring emotions. “I'm really glad to see you.” His voice was thin.

Ishibashi came toward Aaron. He squinted, searching the young man's face. “Something is troubling you,” the scientist said.

Aaron's vision blurred. He couldn't deny it. He turned his gaze away.

Ishibashi tilted his head an inch, studying Aaron. His eyes were filled with compassion as he seemed to read Aaron's expression. After a moment he said quietly, “Your applecorn is exploding.”

Aaron stared at him. And then he broke down and launched himself into Ishibashi's arms.

A
fter a while, Ito and Sato joined Ishibashi and Aaron, and word of the scientists' arrival began to spread. Kaylee came running when she heard the news, for she had often thought of the men since her short visit to their island. They were glad to find Kaylee alive and well and in such good company.

The five of them spent a good part of the morning at the kitchen bar, eating breakfast and drinking tea that Aaron made for them—real tea this time. Aaron and Kaylee filled the scientists in on everything that had happened since they last saw them, from Kaylee's extended stay on the Island of Graves, to the battle and win over Gondoleery, to Aaron constructing dragon wings.

And then it was Aaron's turn to ask Ishibashi a question. “I worked so hard trying to get that tube to work, and I couldn't figure it out. How in the world did you manage to fix it?”

Ishibashi smiled. “You had it mostly fixed. All it needed was a spring.” Which was entirely true, though Ishibashi decided not to mention that it was he who had the missing spring all along.

Kaylee leaned forward. “And how did you get from the tube in the kitchenette into the rest of the mansion? Could you see the balcony from the hallway? I've only ever seen a wall there. If you could see the balcony, you must be very magical.”

Ishibashi translated the question to Ito and Sato, and all three men had a hearty belly laugh. Ishibashi turned back to Kaylee to answer. “We did not see the balcony. But we did see a large hole in the wall of a bedroom, so we climbed down that way.”

Kaylee and Aaron laughed. “Well, don't worry if they patch that hole up,” said Kaylee. “There's another way in through a 3-D door that I'll show you later.”

Aaron grew somber. “We haven't found a way back to your original world, though,” he said, and then he looked down. “I hope you don't mind that I know the truth. Kaylee figured out where we are. It's called the Dragon's Triangle.”

Kaylee nodded, a sad look in her eyes.

Ishibashi pressed his lips together and then spoke to his friends for a moment. “It is as we suspected all these many years,” he said after he told Ito and Sato. “But now that we are no longer stranded by the hurricane, we have renewed hope that we may be able to find a way out. Perhaps we could borrow one of your many extra ships? Ito, Sato, and I would like to take a journey and see what we can find to the north and south.”

Aaron looked up. “And me. Right?”

Ishibashi's eyes burned into Aaron's. “Do you wish to abandon this island?”

Aaron held his gaze. After a moment he nodded. “I do.”

Ishibashi smiled and patted Aaron's arm.

Sato said something to Ishibashi. Ishibashi laughed and translated for him. “Sato wants to know why you would want to leave now that you have found . . . a friend?” He smiled, indicating Kaylee, and Aaron could feel his face heat up.

“I want to go with you,” Kaylee declared. “Even if Aaron doesn't. I want to find a way home too, if there is one. Will you take me, Ishi? Please? I'm an excellent sailor. Well, I mean, obviously I ended up here, but . . .”

“We ended up here too,” Ishibashi reminded her. “The storms are insurmountable in the Dragon's Triangle. It is nothing to feel shame for.” He turned to speak to Ito and Sato, and the men nodded emphatically. Turning back to Kaylee, he said, “We would be honored to have your expertise on board our ship. I am sure you will bring us luck.”

Kaylee pumped her fist. “Yes!” she said. And then she realized Aaron was quiet. She looked at him. “Is that okay with you? I mean, I don't want to intrude. I know you have a special relationship with the scientists, and I know how much you like to be quiet and alone and—”

“I think it would be okay,” said Aaron, feeling suddenly bold. The turmoil in his mind about being the head mage had turned to turmoil of the heart over the proposition of Kaylee being around indefinitely. He definitely preferred this kind. “It might even be nice.”

Kaylee raised an eyebrow. “Dude,” she said. “You have no idea just how, ahem,
nice
, it's going to be. Ishi,” she said, looking up, “we have a lot of work to do with this one. Good thing you're patient.”

Aaron frowned. “What are you trying to say?” But then he thought he knew, and he couldn't help the silly grin that crossed his face. He leaned to the side and made another bold move, lightly bumping shoulders with Kaylee.

Kaylee looked sidelong at him. “What did you just do there? Are you flirting with me?”

Aaron looked back, suddenly suspicious. “What does that mean?”

Ishibashi laughed loudly and shook his finger at the teenagers. “This is going to be a very interesting trip,” he said.