The room was silent. Claire’s lips twitched, and tears streamed down her face.
After a while, Haluki looked up. “He used two more heart attack spells the other day,” he said, “to subdue the panther.”
The others turned toward him.
Meghan nodded, thinking back to her secret visit to the palace. “Yes, I’m pretty sure it was him.”
“I’m almost positive of it,” Haluki said. “I saw him later in the jungle by the tube.”
“There’s a tube in the jungle?” Meghan asked, incredulous.
“There are tubes in several places,” Haluki said. “I’m sure I don’t know all of them. But there’s definitely one in the jungle. I’ve used it myself.”
“Whoa,” Sean said. “I didn’t know either.”
“Almost nobody did,” Haluki said. “Marcus had many secrets. I imagine there are hundreds of things we’ll never know. Unless he wrote things down, his secrets went to the grave with him. Perhaps we’ll stumble across some now and then.”
Carina, who had been silent and brooding during this last bit, stood up, her face a mask. She looked at Sean. “Well,” she said, her words cold and sharp, “this has been a very informative session.” She struggled to control her anger. “I’m just so glad to know you were such great friends with my lying mother. Nice of you to tell me—it’s not like you and I had anything else to talk about during the entire time I took care of you.” She clenched her jaw. “And to think I could have had the chance to . . . to understand all of this and maybe speak to her before . . .”
She shook her head and pointed a shaking finger at Sean. “You are quite possibly the worst person anyone has ever known. You’re a worse human than . . . than Queen Eagala. You’re a . . . you’re a world-class jerk, Sean. An absolutely hideous man, inside and out. And I never want to look at your ridiculous lying face again.”
She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she turned and walked swiftly toward the hospital wing doorway, where Mr. Appleblossom stood with Seth, listening to the conversation from afar.
“Mama!” cried the toddler.
“Thank you, sir,” Carina said to Mr. Appleblossom as Seth reached out to her in glee. She took him and held him tightly, then retreated into the mansion’s entryway, ran up the stairs to the family wing, and disappeared.
Sean, weak and exhausted, could only watch her go, and when she was out of sight, he put his hand over his eyes and groaned. “Crud,” he muttered.
Aaron Strikes a Deal
You want me to do what?” Aaron asked the general, trying not to sound incredulous. But what General Blair was asking was something Aaron, even on his most adventurous days, had never seriously considered. Tear down the wall? Completely? That went against everything Justine had taught him—everything Justine believed in. The wall was their infallible protector. Their safety. Their hope, for Quill’s sake. Sure, he’d taken down a tiny portion in the past. But even opening that window in the wall near the palace had made Aaron so uncomfortable he’d filled it again. It was dangerous! Clearly the general had lost his mind. Maybe the gunk oozing from his wound was his brain leaking out.
That forty-foot-tall wall that encircled Quill had taken months, maybe even years to construct. It had kept them safe from enemies for Justine’s entire reign. And clearly there were enemies out there. Aaron knew well enough that Artimé was fighting them. Did Aaron really want to go that route, when that route looked like the most wrong of all possible wrong ways to go?
“Take down the wall,” General Blair repeated. There was menace to his voice. A dare. Almost as if he expected Aaron to say no.
And why wouldn’t he? It was a ridiculous request.
Yet the general had a point. The bottleneck issues of the original battle had been Quill’s downfall—that was easy to see when the general pointed it out. Once vehicles had been rendered useless inside the gate, there was no way to get the working ones out past the ones that had broken down. And each platoon that entered was small compared to the Artiméan groups that awaited them. No wonder they’d lost that battle. They couldn’t descend on the enemy in any sort of successful way.
What Aaron had to decide now was whether it was worth it to take down the wall and risk being attacked from other islands in order to defeat the one true enemy, Artimé.
Liam fidgeted next to Aaron. Aaron averted his eyes. He had to concentrate. He had to think this through. What was more important? Protecting Quill from some unknown enemy who might not ever attack—and had no reason to attack Quill, because they hadn’t done anything? Or giving Quill the opportunity to control the entire island, including the magical world . . . and the beautiful mansion?
And even more important—if Aaron said no to General Blair, would that alienate their relationship forever? General Blair was Aaron’s last possible ally. The Quillitary was his only remaining option for ultimate success.
Aaron frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache began to pound. Was this his moment to make a bold move? Was this his moment to shine? Was this the moment he would look back on one day and say, “That’s when I really took over. That exact moment, when I decided to tear down the wall.”
Even though it was basically the only option he had left, he could still say no and hope for something better to present itself. But he didn’t expect there would be anything. He’d exhausted his other resources—the Restorers, the jungle creatures—and now the Quillitary could be his with a single nod of his head. The question was, did he dare?