A few of Aaron’s newest followers were from the Quillitary, dissatisfied over how things were being run since General Blair and Major Burkesh had been brutally murdered by the Unwanted’the major’s own son’Samheed Burkesh. It was their goal to take the young man down at all costs.
At first these Quillitary members didn’t trust Aaron, what with all the rumors going around. But once Aaron approached their broken-down Quillitary vehicle and showed them how to fix it, and then gave them some much-needed food, they reluctantly listened to what he had to say. And surprisingly, he made sense.
One Quillitary officer, Liam Healy, had been in on the most recent attack along with governors’ teenage sons Dred Crandall and Crawledge Prize, and knew they had their work cut out for them. But Liam was willing and eager to lead the next charge.
Unfortunately, the giant stone monster, or whatever it was, was now stationed at the gate, and that left the Restorers puzzled about how to attack next.
Eva Fathom spoke up. “This afternoon around three o’clock, that monster, as you call it, will be absent from the gate for at least an hour.”
Aaron grinned at his former adversary. “Well done, Eva.” No wonder Justine had kept Secretary by her side all those years.
Eva smiled conspiratorially in return. “May Quill prevail with all I have in me,” she said. The rest of them echoed the mantra. Hopefully, they would all get their lives back one day.
Liam Healy had been able to confiscate several Quillitary weapons, including two pellet guns that still worked, a large sack of gunpowder that no one knew what to do with, a long piece of rope, and several rusted metal knives. He handed them over to be stored with the rest in Eva’s house, and then Crandall and Prize each presented Aaron with the most stunning score of them all’both had been able to sneak off with their fathers’ pistols.
“We should save these for the ultimate battle with Artimé,” Gondoleery said. “Not waste them in skirmishes.”
“I agree,” Aaron said. “But I’m not sure I like them sitting in Eva’s unoccupied house with no one there to protect them.” He scratched his head and looked around the room. “Who should keep them? My vote is for Gondoleery. Anyone second it?”
“Me?” Gondoleery exclaimed. “Why not you?”
“They are not safe with me. I fear Mrs. Haluki may return at any time, whether to live or to retrieve something on a whim’daily I leave the house exactly as I found it because of that fear, except, of course, for the food in the pantry. I just hope they don’t remember the exact contents, living large as they are in Artimé. So it’s that fear which prevents me from holding the pistols. I wouldn’t want them falling into the wrong hands.” He gave the old woman a meaningful look, and then said again, “Is there a second?”
“Second,” said Eva. “They’d be no good with me, either.”
“All in favor?”
“Aye!” said the Restorers in unison.
“Opposed?”
Silence.
“Then it is settled. The pistols go home with you, my dear Gondoleery.”
“All right,” she said, secretly pleased. “Now, what’s our plan for three o’clock?”
Magical Weapons Galore
Alex and Samheed waited impatiently in Mr. Today’s office for the old mage, not because they were so eager to start the meeting, but because they’d realized a rather crucial problem’Meghan and Lani still couldn’t see the mostly secret hallway, so they couldn’t enter it. While the boys waited, Alex studied some of the pictures that hung on the wall. There was a series by one particular artist, it seemed, made up of dot designs that didn’t look like much of anything at all, which was what made them so curious, not to mention hideous. He moved from one to another, but couldn’t really understand why they warranted placement in such special locations.
But art is subjective’Alex knew that as well as the next Unwanted. Mr. Today certainly had strange taste. Then again . . . one look at his robes would tell anyone that.
Finally Mr. Today breezed into the office through the back wall as he’d done before. “Greetings! Are the ladies coming as well?”
“They can’t get in,” both Alex and Samheed said at once.
“Good heavens, so they can’t,” Mr. Today mused. “Well then. We shall have to go elsewhere. Which works quite well, actually. We’ll all meet at the gate. The girrinos are back from their mourning period and were going to take over for Simber during the meeting, but I’ve become nervous about them being there alone.”
“Great,” Alex said.
“Sounds good,” Samheed said.
Mr. Today and the boys strode quickly out of the office and down the hallway, bursting through the wall, or so it seemed from the perspective of Lani and Meghan. “We’re meeting at the gate,” Alex told them.
They met Ms. Morning and Ms. Octavia on their way up the stairs, and Florence at the entrance. The strange-looking party headed toward the gate just as Simber was saying good-bye to the girrinos.
The leaders decided on a spot a short distance from the gate so that Tina, Opal, and Penelope wouldn’t be distracted by their discussion or accidentally hit by a wayward spell.
Mr. Today jumped right into the meeting. “First, a few business items,” he said. “Alex, well done with the creation of the sick wing. You are officially one of the only students to successfully perform such a difficult spell without the use of a component.”