The Unwanteds (5 page)

As the old man watched the children react to the scene, it was hard for him to hide the mirth that crinkled around his eyes. “Bravo! Bravo, my dear boy!” he called in the direction of Samheed. “That’s the way!”
Perfect
, he thought. Even better than he had hoped for the first day. He put his hands together and began clapping and shouting.

Samheed flung up his hand in disgust and continued walking.

The others, startled, had no idea what to think, but after a moment Meghan began to clap too, for there was something inside her churning mind that just about, but not quite, understood why. Soon Alex joined in as if he almost understood it too, and a curious look passed between Meghan and him, one that made them both want to laugh out loud.

I
t was near dusk when the Unwanteds followed Mr. Today toward the mansion. Samheed had not rejoined them. Some of the children murmured their concerns. Mr. Today smiled. “He’ll be fine; there’s no need to worry. He needs to think and walk, and that is a good thing for a strong, angry fighter like him.”

“But what if he gets lost?” Lani asked, feeling quite comfortable in her new surroundings already. And though she was curious, she didn’t particularly care whether the sullen Samheed ever returned.

“He can’t get lost,” Mr. Today assured the children. “I’ve
put the scroll feature into effect. Once he reaches the end of Artimé, just beyond the mansion, he’ll slip through and come out the opposite side, at the edge of the jungle where it meets the shore. He’ll simply need to walk a bit farther to get back to where he started.”

Alex gave Mr. Today a quizzical look. “Scroll feature? So there is no jungle? It’s just a … a …” He struggled for the word.

“A picture? More like a giant window at the moment, actually. And yes, the jungle is really there—good heavens, where would all the animals go if it weren’t? You just can’t get to it at the moment.” His eyes twinkled. “But when you are all sure of me, and I am sure of you, and I know you have found your bearings quite satisfactorily, I’ll remove the giant window and the scroll feature, and you’ll find that the jungle is quite lovely.” The old man paused thoughtfully. “Though it can be frightening and dangerous. Lots of fascinating things to see there too. But that’s for another day.”

Alex didn’t understand, but he nodded anyway, and soon they reached the walkway to the mansion. As they drew near, a pleasant-sounding noise could be heard coming from the shrubs. “Music in the bushes,” Mr. Today said.

He climbed the steps. “This is our home. You may come and go as you please and even stay out all night if you wish.”

Lani’s eyes opened wide.
That’s a bit of a shock
, she thought. But what so far this day
wasn’t?

The old magician then opened the enormous wooden door to the mansion and walked inside, the children following.

Before them was a stunning, massive marble entryway flanked by two statues standing upright on pedestals. The pedestals alone were as tall as Alex, and the statues on top of them reached twenty-five feet off the floor, yet they nowhere nearly approached the ceiling. On the left stood a towering winged cheetah made of sand-colored stone, with sharp ivory teeth thicker and longer than the children’s fingers. He stood poised to attack, reared up on his hind legs, his wings widespread, frozen in mid-flap. On the right, carved from ebony, was an enormous, sleek woman with long, flowing hair and bulging muscles, a quiver of arrows and a bow slung over her shoulder.

Mr. Today looked up. “Hello, Simber. Good evening, Florence,” he said.

The statues nodded stiffly.

“There ought to be one more boy coming along presently,
so be aware. Probably shouldn’t eat him, all right, Simber?”

The winged cheetah purr-growled in response and fluidly lowered himself to all fours on the pedestal, his huge paws with gleaming claws hanging off the edge within inches of Alex’s face. Slowly the boy slid away from the stony beast.

“Wow,” Lani breathed, and the others followed her gaze from the statues to the rest of the great foyer. Beyond the entrance the marble floor led to an extremely wide marble staircase whose steps split halfway up and wound around to meet again in an incredible expanse of balcony. They could see several hallways branching off the overlook.

The children’s voices grew loud as they exclaimed or noted things to each other about the mansion from their viewpoint in the entryway.

Mr. Today strolled past the staircase. “We’ll visit up there in a moment,” he said. Instead he led the children behind the staircase to a hallway and showed them past several doors—classrooms, he said—and to the back of the mansion, to a kitchen the size of six Quill houses put together. At a long counter bar off to the left sat a dozen or fifteen older teenagers all laughing and snacking on popcorn and sodas as a brilliant pink ball of fluff
with webbed feet did a dance for them along the countertop. Some of the people sitting there turned to look curiously at the children standing with Mr. Today. A few waved hello.

Alex recognized one, just barely remembering her as one of last year’s Unwanteds.
How strange
, he thought, and his mind began to turn.

“How many Unwanteds live here, actually?” he asked.

“Hmm,” Mr. Today hummed, tapping his lips with his forefinger. “Perhaps five hundred? I lost count years ago.”

“Five hundred!” Meghan said. “Where is everyone?”

“Oh, they’re around. Here and there,” he said. “Some are in evening classes, some practicing their art, some relaxing in the lounge, some in their rooms. You saw a few of them strolling about on the lawn, didn’t you?”

Lani tapped Mr. Today’s shoulder, which made him chuckle and give her his utmost attention. “Mr. Today,” she said somberly, “did all the Unwanteds over the years decide not to be eliminated? Are they
all
here?”

Meghan gave Alex a wildish sort of look and gripped his arm, and he remembered that she had an older brother who had been eliminated five years before.

Alex nodded sharply, knowing what Meghan seemed speechless to say, and the burning question rushed from his lips before he could stop it. “Yes, Mr. Today—how many years …?” His face grew pale as he thought about all the Unwanteds that had been Purged from Quill since he was a boy. His mind raced, trying to remember them, but it was difficult, since Quillens had all been instructed to forget them.

Mr. Today smiled, but there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes. “Dear people, how could I forget? Yes, all the Unwanteds as far back as you can remember are here.” He looked at Meghan, and his dark eyes danced again. “Meghan, your brother, Sean, is so excited to see you. He’d like you to meet him in the lounge at eight o’clock!”

Meghan squeaked in shock. “He’s here …?” She trailed off and gripped Alex’s arm so hard it hurt him.

“Which reminds me,” said Mr. Today. “I’d better show you the upstairs so you can get ready.”

“Where do you suppose the lounge is?” Meghan whispered to Alex.

Mr. Today, though apparently forgetful in his old age, did not have a hearing problem. He chuckled. “You’ll find instructions
in your room that will tell you how to take the tube to the lounge, Meghan. Never fear! Never fear!” The magician chuckled again and rubbed his hands together, so excited to see the Unwanteds feeling a bit more comfortable as the day wore on.

“Tube?” Meghan whispered, softer now, in Alex’s ear.

Alex shrugged, his eyes wide in wonder. “I have no idea.”

There were several doors that led from the kitchen. Mr. Today pointed at one as they walked through the huge room and said, “Help yourself to anything in that pantry whenever you get hungry for a snack, either by coming down here or ordering up. The official mealtimes are posted on the blackboards in your rooms.”

“Snacks, whenever we want?” whispered a rather thin boy at the back of the group. “Amazing.”

“Where does everyone sit?” Lani asked.

“Oh, we always have room. You’ll see,” he said mysteriously. Mr. Today led them down another hallway and pointed out an enormous dining room, and soon they were back to the entryway and the base of the staircase.

Alex saw that Simber had once again risen to his hind-quarters.

“Marrrcus,” Simber said in his purr-growl voice. “I believe the young man has arrrived.”

“What excellent timing,” Mr. Today said. “Thank you, Sim. Wait here one moment for me, children.” He went to the giant door and opened it. On the step sat Samheed, his broad shoulders curled over and his chin in his hands. Mr. Today sat next to him, and the two exchanged a few quiet words.

Alex leaned down and whispered to Lani and Meghan, “Where do you suppose the other statue went?” For now the warrior woman had disappeared.

Lani giggled. “Perhaps she needed a snack from the pantry.”

“Or maybe a nap?” Meghan, who was nearly shivering in anticipation of seeing her brother, laughed a strange, high-pitched laugh and hiccupped.

Mr. Today and Samheed joined the others, and they ascended the magnificent staircase, Samheed still wearing a mildly sullen look on his face. Lani and several others sent suspicious glances his way, but Samheed made no further outbursts, and he stayed near the back of the group. The rest of them chattered excitedly now, wondering over things like the statues, the pictures on the walls, the music that floated about their ears, not
really understanding any of it but liking it all the same. They gathered at the center of the balcony.

“That hallway there,” said Mr. Today, pointing toward the rightmost wing, “is where the families live.” It seemed to go on endlessly. “And this hall next to it is for the other adults.”

He pointed to the expanse of wall directly in front of Alex. “This one, right about here, is where the female students live—boys, you and I can’t see it, and therefore we can’t enter it. But we can see the one next to it—that’s the boys’ hall. You girls can’t see that, can you?”

Meghan, Lani, and the other girls exchanged surprised looks as Mr. Today continued.

“And here we have a wing for the few creatures who prefer to lodge indoors, though you might notice creatures in your various halls, too. Some have roaming tendencies.” He chuckled at the twenty pairs of wide eyes.

“Mr. Today,” someone ventured from the back of the group, “does that giant turtle have a room in the mansion?”

“No,” replied the man, “Jim prefers to live in the jungle, like many of the creatures. But he’s welcome here if he changes his mind, just as they all are.”

“Don’t you ever run out of space for everyone?”

“Never,” Mr. Today said with a mysterious smile. He then turned to the group and said, “Children, please find your rooms. You’ll know which one is yours as you walk along the hallway because your door will call out a greeting to you when you come near it. Inside you’ll find everything you need to be comfortable. Once you feel quite settled, feel free to roam about the mansion at will. This is your home now.”

Most of the children dispersed. The girls watched curiously as some of the boys seemed to disappear straight through the wall, and the boys watched the girls do the same. Only a few hung back—Alex, Lani, and Meghan briefly talked over their plans to meet again before going off to find their rooms.

Samheed hesitated as well. The boy’s sullen look had mostly worn off his face by now. “Mr. Today? You missed one. Where does that hallway lead?” he asked.

Mr. Today looked to where the boy was pointing, and then regarded Samheed carefully for a short moment. “Hmm,” he said, scratching at his electric hair. He wore a strange, curious smile on his face. “I’m surprised you can see it, Samheed.”

L
ani and Meghan made their way down the long hallway in search of their rooms in the mansion. Meghan’s door called out to her almost immediately, as it was located near the entrance to the balcony. After a quick exchange and a reminder to meet in the lounge later, Lani continued down the hallway alone. All the other new children had found their rooms as well by now, so the hallway was eerily silent.

Lani walked slowly past more statues, who nodded to her cordially if she looked at them, and bright square things on the walls—paintings, Mr. Today had called them—of all colors
and sizes. As she neared the end, growing more and more concerned that there would be no door calling out her name, one burst open, and a smallish, yellowish, featherish figure emerged. Lani startled and nearly screamed, because it is one thing to see a magical creature when in the company of others, and quite another thing entirely to have one nearly upon you when you’re alone.