“Liam’s loyalty is something I know nothing about,” Haluki said gruffly. He hesitated, looking carefully at Ms. Morning. “I only know how poorly he treated you.”
Ms. Morning looked at the grass. “Don’t worry,” she said bitterly. “I haven’t forgotten that.”
Meghan, sensing tension, looked anywhere but at Haluki and Ms. Morning. As Meghan craned her neck, pretending to admire the budding trees near the shore, she spotted something in the sky.
“Look.” She squinted, then got up and ran toward the beach, while Mr. Appleblossom headed for the corner of the mansion and climbed sprightly up the side of it to his observation tower on the roof.
The spot grew bigger. “What in the world?” Meghan whispered.
“Hurrry!” came the familiar roar from the dot in the sky. “Prrreparrre forrr incoming wounded!”
Island Number Five
The ship drifted slowly to the west with the current while the people on board grew restless and tired of fixing things. It had been days since they’d raced over the waterfall. Water continued to seep in through the edges of the patched hole in the ship, and sometimes the pressure of the waves knocked the glass out completely, causing a blast of seawater to fill the bowels of the vessel at an alarming rate. Samheed and Alex had cast more glass spells than they could count, and everyone else was getting sick of bailing around the clock. Sleep came in snatches, and on the minds of everyone was Simber’s glaring absence.
One of Captain Ahab’s ears was still missing and probably lost forever, and his head rattled a bit, but there was nothing Ms. Octavia could do to stop it short of taking his entire head off, and she didn’t want to risk doing that at sea when they needed him at the wheel. Half-deaf, the captain spoke even louder than usual, and his nonsensical outbursts put everyone on edge.
Spike surfaced now and then, staying near the ship in case she was needed, and always eager to learn more about the ways of the sea by watching and listening.
Florence was unusually quiet and lost in thought as she repaired things on the top deck, no doubt revisiting in her mind the island of Karkinos and its inhabitants, most specifically the bronze giant Talon, whom she’d grown very fond of. She thought often about the dying crab and racked her brain to think of something the people of Artimé could do to help. But so far, she hadn’t come up with anything.
Energy was down all around. Not unlike Karkinos, the ship had pretty much turned into a floating island with no other land in sight.
In the quietness of the late afternoon, Lani took a worn map from her pocket. It was the one she’d been studying throughout the journey to Pirate Island and the Island of Legends. She’d been convinced the map held a secret to what lay beyond the string of seven islands, for on the map, to the west of a staggered row of seven dots, was a drawing of a much larger piece of land. That land was what she’d hoped to find on their journey beyond the westernmost island, Karkinos.
Now she studied it one last time and shook her head. There was no larger land to the west. The world was only seven islands, and the map was probably just something some writer imagined in her world of make-believe stories. Lani’s theory had been wrong, and Samheed had been right. Oh, how she hated to admit it! But with her chin held high, and making sure Samheed was watching, Lani took a fire-breathing origami dragon from her component vest pocket, commanded it to light, and used it to set the corner of the map on fire, intending to let the ashes whirl around and fly off to meet the sea.
But Samheed didn’t gloat—he sprang into action. He grabbed the map, threw it to the deck, and stomped the fire out. Then he picked it up and handed it back to Lani, smoothing the blackened corner and seeing that the map was still fully intact. “You should keep this,” he said. “It might not be what you thought, but it could still be important.” He put his hands on Lani’s shoulders and pulled her close. They stayed together, talking quietly for a very long time.
Alex noticed them and paused to watch their intimate conversation from his spot at the stern, where he continued to retreat to despite the fact that Simber was no longer hovering above. Feeling lost and alone, he sighed softly and turned to stare out over the sea.
Sky also noticed the couple and looked away. After an awkward moment standing near the stairwell, pointedly not looking at Alex, she descended to check on her mother, Copper, whom they’d rescued from the pirate island. Soon after, Crow and Henry, who had been watching and snickering at Sam and Lani from behind a crate, lost interest in the mushiness and snuck belowdecks too.
As darkness crept over the ship, the exhausted sailors, creatures, and even the young whale failed to detect in the distance what Simber no doubt would have noticed, had he been there. It was the easternmost island.
And it was not a nice one.
Aaron Grows Desperate
Aaron lifted his head from his desk. His hair was disheveled and his jawline wore an uneven layer of fuzz. Shadows hung below his bloodshot eyes. The desk was strewn with recent sketches—this time of Quillitary vehicles and soldiers. “There’s no other way,” he muttered, stabbing the drawings with his pencil. “I need their help. And there’s no more time to waste.”
Gondoleery had said out loud what Aaron had refused to admit to himself all this time—that he was going to lose everything. His power, the palace . . . probably even his life if he didn’t do something drastic. And fast.
In retrospect, this was probably something Aaron should have done from the time he’d been kicked out of university, but back then there was no way it would have worked—after all, the Quillitary soldiers had been the ones who removed him. But now? Maybe. There was a chance.