“Wait,” Lani said slowly. “What?”
Alex’s eyes widened. He got the feeling he had just done something wrong again. “What, what?”
“What are you apologizing for, exactly?” she asked, her free hand moving to her hip.
Alex could see the tension come back to her face, but he didn’t know what else to say. “I’I’m apologizing because you wish I had told Mr. Today that I’d be the next leader . . . of . . .” He faltered.
Lani waited a moment, daring him with her eyes to say the next word. But there was no way he was going to do that. “Boys,” she muttered before she turned on the ball of her foot and strode regally down the stairs.
“Crud,” Alex whispered as he watched her silky hair bouncing against her back at each step. He felt like poking his own eyes out. When she neared the bottom, she continued walking straight ahead to the massive front door. She opened it and walked out.
Florence glanced at Alex at the top of the stairs, trying to hide her amusement, but Simber stayed completely still except for his ears, which suddenly twitched and turned sharply, as if sensing something. Alex debated what to do for a moment, but then decided he didn’t need to starve to death over it, so he headed down the stairs as well to grab some food to bring to class with him.
At the bottom of the steps, Simber tensed, and then quickly extended his wings, bumping Alex and knocking him flat, and scaring him a great deal.
“Attention!” Simber roared, jumping from his pedestal and charging to the door. “Florrrence, to the gate. Alex and everrryone else, come. We arrre underrr attack!”
The giant cat pushed through the door and bounded away, his rippling stone body a mere flash by the windows that overlooked the lawn. Florence bellowed a sharp, “Marcus!” that shook the entire mansion.
Alex took off out the door after Simber, the boy’s hands automatically digging in his pockets for spell components. Lani had had a head start, and Alex’s stomach twisted when he saw her’she wasn’t wearing her component vest today. “Lani, wait!” he cried out, but she didn’t hear him in all the noise between them.
Intruders
Alex ran toward the gate at top speed as a dozen others, including Ms. Morning and Sean Ranger, fluidly exited the mansion from all doorways. There was shouting and confusion, girrinos rearing up, and a number of screams. Simber thundered across the lawn making the ground shake, and Alex could see at least fifteen Quillens running about and yelling, attacking the girrinos with long pieces of rusty metal. Lani stayed on the edge of the fight, ducking and shoving Wanteds, avoiding attack and trying not to get trampled, but unable to cast any spells without her components. Three girrinos took the brunt of the attacks and the fourth contorted and shuddered on the ground, squealing and roaring in pain.
Alex shot off a series of scatterclips, catching one Wanted in a wide open space and sending him flying backward several hundred feet into the Quill wasteland until he hit up against something the scatterclips could stick into.
Ms. Morning ran up to the entrance, shooting spells and staring hard at the men and women who were attacking Artimé, trying to identify them. She ran up to one who was attacking the girrinos, disarmed him, and began to cast a spell when he turned. When she saw his face, she stopped mid-spell. Her mouth slacked open and the Wanted’s eyes grew wide with recognition, and then with fear. He took a step back and held his hand up as if to protect himself or beg for mercy.
But there was no time for anyone to react further. Simber thudded to a stop at the gate and gave an earth-shattering roar. The Quillans took one look at the invincible beast and shrieked. They turned abruptly and fled down the dirt road toward Quill. Simber chased them several yards. Sean and Ms. Morning followed and stood in the road, watching them go. Ms. Morning’s fingers covered her mouth as the man she’d disarmed looked back. Simber whirled around and stampeded back to the entrance where Arija now lay completely still.
A crowd of Artiméans gathered around Arija, including Lani and Mr. Today, who knelt by the girrino’s side. Alex, breathless, stopped at the edge of the crowd and peered through the spaces between people and creatures. All was eerily silent.
Mr. Today murmured something undetectable over and over again as he moved his hand over the girrino’s neck. For several agonizing minutes he worked, and when he finally looked up, he had tears running into the deep wrinkles around his eyes. “I’m afraid’” His voice broke. He took a deep breath and rested his hand gently on Arija’s soft fur. He shook his head. “I’m not able to save her.”
Everything was silent for the tiniest moment as Mr. Today’s words sank in. And then the remaining girrinos sent up a cry so loud, so sorrowful, that it broke the hearts of every hearted person and creature for miles.
When Aaron Stowe heard it from deep within Quill, he smiled.
A Grave Danger
As word spread around Artimé about the attack and the shocking death of sweet Arija, no one was surprised to find classes canceled and an order on all blackboards to report to the theater immediately.
Lani walked willingly with Alex now, the argument between them forgotten for the moment. The two entered the theater in shock, Alex putting his arm around Lani’s shoulders, and Lani letting him, as they made their way to where they usually met their friends when there was a crisis.
Meghan and Samheed were there already, Meghan crying and clutching Samheed’s hand. The four of them stood, not saying much at all, each thinking about how weird and horrible it was to see somebody alive one moment, and see them dead the next.