When they had cruised over the entire island, Simber made one last pass over the beach. “Okay, leaderrr. What now?”
Alex had been asking himself this very question. He tried to be as grown-up as possible, tried to think everything through like Mr. Today would do. Finally he said, “Do you think it’s truly dangerous for us to go ashore and explore?”
“Forrr you, yes. Forrr me, prrrobably not.”
Alex bit his lip. Could he rightfully ask Simber to risk going ashore alone?
Simber cleared his throat. He hovered over the beach, watching and sampling the air. Waiting.
“Would you . . . I mean, what do you think . . . ?” Alex couldn’t ask such a thing.
Simber strained his neck and looked over his shoulder at Alex. “Do it, Alex,” he said. “It’s yourrr job.”
Alex pushed his tangled hair out of his eyes and sighed. “Okay. Fine. Simber, please drop me into the boat, and go on shore to do a little exploring. But be very careful.”
Simber nodded. “That’s the best idea you’ve had all day,” he said. He darted over the water to the boat and slowly lowered his body so Alex could safely drop into it.
“Be careful!” Alex repeated as Simber flew the short distance to the sand and landed gracefully.
Alex hung over the side of the boat, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the railing, watching Simber slink toward the trees like the hunter he truly was. “Please find them,” he whispered over and over, his teeth chattering from nerves. “Please let them be okay.”
His heart leaped when Simber started running through the trees, as if in pursuit of prey. Alex stood up straight, straining to hear something, anything, from the direction of the island. But as before, there was eerily no sound at all.
When he heard a small splash nearby, he jumped. He imagined a team of islanders coming up out of the water from underneath the boat to attack him, now that the beast was out of the way. Dizzy with self-imposed fright, he grabbed a paddle from the side compartment of the boat with one hand and a heart attack component with the other and looked quickly all around the water.
He heard another splash, and this time he could pinpoint it’it was coming from the back of the boat. Alex raised the paddle above his head with his right hand, and pulled his left hand back holding the heart attack component, ready to fight whatever it was. He carefully peered over the stern.
When he saw her, one arm slung loosely around the boat’s ladder, he sucked in a breath, for indeed, he nearly didn’t recognize her at first.
“Meg,” he whispered.
He threw the paddle to the deck and reached out for her. She could barely lift a hand, she was so weak. The low sun caught Meghan’s red hair on fire and glinted on the points of the metal thorn band around her neck.
Stationed Up and at the Ready
Eva,” Aaron called out when he had his plan for the next day’s attack all figured out. “A word, please.”
Eva rolled her eyes. “Now what?” She and the others had just sat down at the Halukis’ dining table to eat a rather fine governor-type dinner.
Aaron tried to ignore her attitude. “I need you to sneak out of here and talk to Gondoleery’let her know what the plan is, and see what they’ve done with their weapons.”
“What is the plan?”
“I’m about to tell you,” Aaron said. “You can stop with the insolence now. I apologized for doubting you. It’s over. Can’t we please move forward cohesively? We have a government to overtake, and we need to be together on this.”
This time Eva didn’t roll her eyes, but she wanted to. “Fine. Go ahead then.”
“This is very important. I want you to tell Gondoleery’s team to wait until it’s fully dark, and then begin stealthily heading toward Artimé. They should bring all of their weapons with them, hide, and sit patiently outside Artimé’s walls, watching who is going in and out overnight. They’re not to attack until after you and Today leave in the morning.”
“Okay,” Eva said.
“And I want you to go inside and sleep in the mansion tonight as you normally would. Do you have your heart attack weapon?”
“I do,” Eva said, patting her pocket. “And you have the rest of them.” Eva stared at the ground, thinking. She’d have to fake not knowing the gate was back up. Hopefully there would still be a way into Artimé. She shifted nervously. If she couldn’t release the gate spell herself and get into Artimé, she wouldn’t be able to leave with Marcus in the morning.
“I’ll have the rest of our team head toward the palace in the morning to try to delay Haluki in case he gets wind of this.”
“Sounds good,” Eva said. She glanced around at the others. “So you’re camping out here tonight? All of you?”
“Yes. You’ll be off with the old mage by the time we attack, so we’ll see you after. Remember, just dump the body and say he went for a swim and drowned.”
“I will.”
“Be properly upset about it.”
“I will.” Eva was getting upset with Aaron now. “Maybe you should brave up and kill him yourself if you don’t think I can do it right.”
Aaron’s face turned red. He pressed his lips together but said nothing.
Eva turned and looked longingly at the dinner table, where Liam, Bethesda, and Crawledge were making quick work of the food. “Is there anything else you want me to tell Gondoleery?”