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Authors: Lisa McMann

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BOOK: The Unwanteds
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Alex shook his head and followed Mr. Today. “I’m such a dolt,” he said.

Mr. Today laughed, and then held out a finger at the glass shield. It shimmered, splashed to the floor, and disappeared. “We all have our moments, my boy. Come, have a seat.”

“Thank you,” Alex said. He sat down heavily in one of the office chairs and tried with all his might not to stare at the blackboards above Mr. Today’s head.

Mr. Today looked at Alex. “Let’s be honest with each other, shall we?”

Alex blinked. “Okay …”

“Do you miss your brother?”

Alex stared. His heart quickened. “No.”

Mr. Today regarded Alex for a moment. Then he turned toward the blackboard. “Alex,” he said, “is it true that your brother was creative like you?”

Alex blinked. “Well, he did try to draw once.” Alex remembered the time in the backyard when it rained.

“What happened?”

“My father got us mixed up. He thought Aaron was me—I was always the troublemaker, and it was pouring rain, and
we’re identical. It was a simple mistake,” Alex said. He felt like he had to defend his father.

“And Aaron went along with it. He let you get written up for his infraction?”

Alex shifted uncomfortably. “Mr. Today, I’d already had several infractions. I knew I’d be Unwanted. One more infraction wouldn’t have made a difference to me.”

“And one would have made a difference for Aaron.”

Alex’s eyes teared up. “Yes—I mean, no. I mean … it’s all so confusing.”

Mr. Today leaned forward. “You would have done anything for him. That’s the way it is with twins, isn’t it?”

Alex nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Finally, he whispered, “I wish I hadn’t.”

“Because then he might be here, is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Alex, you did a noble thing, thinking you were saving him. Believe me, I understand. And I think very highly of you for it.”

Alex swallowed hard and looked at his lap.

Mr. Today shuffled some papers on his desk, and then stood. “Come. I’ll walk you back.”

Alex got to his feet and followed Mr. Today to the hallway.

“So, Alex,” Mr. Today said, taking on a lighter tone, “How are your studies now that you’re in training? All going well?” But he seemed to be searching for something deeper.

Alex thought of the dreams. The doorway. His heart ached at the thought of never seeing Aaron again. Finally he looked up at Mr. Today. “Everything’s really going great. I like it here.”

Mr. Today gazed at Alex as they walked, his face indecipherable. After a moment he smiled sadly. “Good,” he said. “I’m very glad of that.”

Where There’s a Will

W
here are you going?” Lani demanded, tapping her foot loudly near the library tubes, making several creatures, students, and statues scowl in her direction. “You’re always sneaking around these days.”

“I’m busy,” Alex said.

“With what?”

“Um … spells. Lethal stuff. That reminds me,” he said, trying desperately to think of a way to change the subject so that Lani would leave him alone—he was
so close
to finishing
his doorway. “I really want to know what the incantation is for turning scatterclips lethal. Any idea?”

Lani cocked her head. “I don’t know.”

“Well, can you find out? I’d like to learn that one. I mean, not because I’ll ever use it. I mean just in case.”

Lani’s eyes widened. “You mean you’d kill someone, if it came to that?”

“I’m not saying that.”

“I think you are.”

Alex shrugged. “Only if I had to. I don’t ever want to kill anybody.”

Lani was silent. She turned. “I’ll see what I can find out,” she said, wandering off into the rows and rows of books.

When she was out of sight, Alex slipped through the doorway to the stairwell and bounded up the steps to the third floor. He peered into the window, saw that all was dark, and went inside. Then he tiptoed back to his table to finally finish up his painting.

Before an hour had passed, he made a final stroke with his brush and stood back. The door practically grew thicker on
the table, it looked so realistic. Alex grinned, certain this time it would work. He gazed at it a little longer and felt a thrill run through him as he thought about finally seeing his brother again. He glanced around, wondering if he could find a free wall in the library, but all the walls were covered with bookshelves. So he rolled it up carefully and packed up his brushes and pencils.

As he grabbed his backpack, he heard the creak of the door. Two voices spoke in hushed sounds. One of them Alex recognized. It was Samheed.

Immediately Alex tensed; then he silently took his things and stepped behind a shelf, his back up against it, facing the tiki totem pole. His breath came in a shallow, quiet flow and his skin erupted with goose bumps, and he cursed himself for not having an invisibility paintbrush with him. He could hear the two, louder now that the door had closed, settling in at a table near the front. Alex was trapped. He crept closer so he could hear them better and see them through the space between shelves.

“The hinges are all wrong. See there?” Samheed said, pointing to a door eerily similar to the one Alex had finally just perfected.

“I know! I’m trying,” Will said crossly. “This isn’t exactly my area of expertise.”

“Let me try.”

“You’ve tried and you can’t do it either. Just be quiet. I’m concentrating.”

“I could ask Alex,” Samheed said.

Will laughed out loud. “Sam, you are even stupider than you look. Alex is being extremely helpful from afar already. Involving him would wreck everything. You know yourself how much he still thinks of his fink of a brother.”

Samheed’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing for a moment. He pulled out a chair and sat backward on it. “Yeah, maybe I am stupid, because I don’t get why you even want to go back there. I mean, sure, you can scare the skivvies off Aaron Stowe for taking your spot with the governors, but what good will that do? You’ll expose Artimé, and we’ll have to fight.”

Will tossed his pencil, frustrated. “Look. I don’t plan on anybody finding out who I really am, okay? At least not at first—not with my theatrical disguise, courtesy of your loser friend Alex and my incredible magical abilities. And believe me, when I get done with Aaron, he won’t be able to tell a soul.”

Alex sucked in a breath, and he nearly lost his grip on his 3-D door.

Samheed looked up as if he’d heard something, but then turned back to Will. “What do you mean? Are you going to kill him or something?” He laughed nervously.

Will Blair just shook his head and scowled. He picked up his pencil again and started working on the door.

“Seriously, Will,” Samheed said when Will didn’t answer. His voice grew quiet. “Are you planning to kill him?”

“I prefer the term ‘eliminate,’” Will said, snarling. “You have a problem with that? Or do I have to get rid of you, too?”

Samheed’s face turned green in the eerie blue light from the table. “No,” he whispered. “Of course not.”

Alex’s heart and mind raced. How on earth was he going to get out of here, get to Aaron in time to warn him? He could only hope that Will wasn’t close enough to finishing the doorway tonight before they packed up, or there would be serious problems. If he could only get to his bedroom! But no, stupid Clive would know what he was up to if he disappeared from the bedroom, and no doubt he would alert Mr. Today. Alex couldn’t risk that. Where else could Alex go that no one would see him?

He slid down to the floor to sit the night out, and when he did so, his shoe crumpled the very edge of his rolled up doorway drawing.

“Did you hear something?” Samheed asked quietly.

“No.”

“I think I heard something.”

“So go make yourself useful and check it out, then.”

Alex put a hand over his mouth and nose, as if to silence his own breath. He froze, and willed Samheed to think it was nothing.

Samheed was silent a moment, and then he got up and slowly walked through the dusky library. He rounded a row of shelves, and Alex could hear him just on the other side of the row he leaned against. He nearly exploded in fear.
No, no, no
, he kept repeating in his head.
Please, no
.

Samheed rounded the corner by the totem pole statue and stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of Alex. His eyes grew wide, scared at first, and then they narrowed. Alex, tensed and ready to run for it, silently pleaded with Samheed. Samheed stood completely still; the two boys’ eyes locked on each other.

“Anything over there?” Will called.

The totem statue behind Samheed yawned in triplicate. And then it cleared its throats.

“Just a statue,” said Samheed. “It’s nothing.” He glared at Alex for another moment, and then he turned and went back to his table.

There’s a Way

A
lex’s body ached from sitting so still in one place. He felt like a swarm of bees was trapped inside his head, thoughts going every which way. Will Blair was planning to kill Aaron—not only kill him, but actually
become
the likeness of Aaron using his theatrical spells—so that no one in Quill would know the difference. How on earth was Alex going to save his brother? He just had to get out of there!

Hours passed, with both Will and Samheed working on different parts of the door frame. Finally Samheed stretched, groaned, and said, “Can we just call it a night? We’re not going to finish.”

“I’m almost done. See? See how the top of the frame is rising up off the table a bit? We just need to get the rest of it perfect.”

“It took us all night just to get that part done! I’m finished with this for today. I’m going to bed.”

“Fine, go,” Will said. “If you say anything about my plan, I will kill you. I’m not even joking.”

“Okay, okay,” Samheed said. His voice sounded hollow. “Relax. I’m with you.”

Will stabbed his pencil into the paper and ripped a tiny hole in it. “Blast it!” he roared. “This is so frustrating!” He stood up and ran his fingers through his hair, and then began pacing around the table.

Alex froze, though he was pretty sure he no longer had control over his cramped lower half.

“All right,” said Will, still pacing, but calming down. “All right. Tomorrow we’re finishing it.”

“Tomorrow. Good,” Samheed said. He glared in the direction of Alex, but Alex could no longer see them.

They rolled the drawing and packed up their art supplies. “Back here tomorrow after lunch. We can skip training.”

“But—”

“Look, Samheed, don’t be an idiot. We need to get this done before the old geezer finds us out. You’re making it really clear why you don’t belong in the Quillitary, with all your blubbering.”

“Shut it,” muttered Samheed.

“What?”

“Nothing! Sheesh.” Samheed fumed in silence. He slammed his chair into the library table and walked out without waiting for Will. A moment later Will followed, snickering to himself.

Alex sat for five more agonizing minutes, then slowly rose to his feet, feeling the blood rushing to his legs as they prickled mercilessly.

“Thank you,” he said quietly to the statue.

The top face opened its eyes and stared at Alex. Then it nodded and went back to sleep.

When he could walk without tripping, Alex grabbed his drawing and hurried down the stairwell, avoiding the tube for fear of getting stopped by Lani. He ran around the mansion to the front entrance, where neither statue was in its usual place, and up the stairs to his room.

Samheed stood in front of Alex’s door, glaring. “What did you hear?” he whispered.

Alex, breathing hard, said, “Nothing. I couldn’t—hear anything. Too far.”

Samheed regarded Alex, almost quivering in anger. “You’re lucky I didn’t tell Will.”

Alex nodded wildly. “I know. I know. Thank you. You really—saved me. Thank you.”

Samheed seemed to relax a little bit. “Nothing’s going on,” he said. “Right?”

“Right!” Alex said. “I mean, what? What are we talking about?” He gave an anxious laugh.

Samheed rolled his eyes and turned away, walked to his room, and disappeared inside.

Realizing that going inside his own room to paste up the door painting would only make Clive start asking questions, and knowing that Samheed was safe in his room, and presumably Will was too, and remembering that Simber and Florence were both out doing other things at the moment rather than standing there to spy on him, Alex looked down at his drawing
and realized he knew the perfect place to put it up in secret at this time of night.

BOOK: The Unwanteds
10.57Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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