Lani pulled a handful of paper clips from her pocket. Meghan put her piccolo away and positioned herself to do a fire step. Samheed withdrew a long black ink pen from his vest, and Alex rolled a small ball of sculpting clay between his thumb and forefinger, ready to try his very own creation. At Florence’s go they all attacked and, more confident now, all succeeded within the first three attempts. The experts were immobilized.
“We’re amazing,” Meghan said proudly, as her partner ran off shouting, his feet growing unbearably warm.
“Yes!” Alex said. His clay had formed handcuffs and bolted the wrists and ankles of his opponent to the ground.
“Not bad at all,” said Lani as her partner wriggled to get loose from the scatterclips, which had gone right through the shield and pinned the expert’s clothing to a nearby tree. “You know, there are lethal ways to use lots of these ordinary spells,” she whispered to Samheed, who was next to her. “I’ve been reading about them.”
“I wish we could start learning them now,” Samheed said impatiently, as Florence released the spells and once again the experts returned.
“Very good,” Florence said. “One more round and we’ll dismiss for the day. At our next class I want you all to return with magic spells of your own design. Nothing lethal, remember.” She paused and gave the students a weighty look. “We’ll save those for another time.”
Samheed’s stomach flipped with anticipation.
The Mostly Secret Hallway
After weeks of intensive warrior training, Alex was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep immediately after dinner. It was late at night when he awoke with a start, drenched in sweat. He had been dreaming again, that same dream about Aaron, but, as always, it turned nightmarish at the end when Alex looked back at his brother. Each time he dreamed it, Aaron transformed into the High Priest Justine, who cackled evilly and came at him with a rusted trident. Alex always woke up just before the high priest skewered him.
Whenever Alex woke from this unsettling nightmare, he couldn’t get back to sleep, so he took to roaming the halls or getting a snack from the kitchen, trying to forget it. Sometimes there were other people around, but generally very few except the nocturnal creatures spent their nights moving about.
It was on one of these occasions that Alex, feeling pleasantly full and the nightmare having been extinguished from his thoughts, decided to peer down the new hallway that had been beckoning to him for weeks.
He never saw anyone enter or exit it, and no one else seemed to notice it at all. Because of this, Alex didn’t dare to explore it when others were around, or it would be painfully obvious that he’d be walking through what appeared to most students as a solid, mirrored wall.
Glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was about, he slipped quietly into the hallway and tiptoed down it. This hallway was different from the others he’d been in. It was much shorter and wider. And rather than soft carpet under his feet, this floor was deep, shiny mahogany planks. There were pillars carved of the same wood, and warm-colored paintings on the walls, giving this hallway a most comfortable feel.
Alex passed two wide, arching doorways on either side, though the doors of those four rooms were closed tightly and gave no indication of what was inside. As he walked farther down the hallway, he approached an area that appeared to be a lounge of some sort, extending far beyond the width of the hall on either side. He stopped, unsure. Straight ahead, above a sofa, was an enormous window overlooking the lawn. Alex could see stars twinkling and the shadowy trees of the jungle in the distance. Ahead and to the right he could just see into an area of gadgets and gauges, a blackboard, a tube, and a kitchenette.
Ahead and to the left he saw what appeared to be an office with a desk. Alex couldn’t tell whether someone occupied that room, but it looked fairly dark in there. He moved forward slowly, trying to get a better look. On a coatrack in the corner hung a multicolored robe very much like the robes Mr. Today often wore. Alex’s heart quickened, for certainly this was Mr. Today’s office, and certainly students were not meant to see it. Which made it all the more enticing.
He peered more closely and saw a display of blackboards lining the wall behind the desk. On them flashed different scenes, only Alex couldn’t make out what the scenes were. They all seemed quite dark, and after a moment Alex decided that they must be pictures of the outdoors.
His breath quickened as he crept closer. He looked over his shoulder again and, seeing no one, pushed ahead toward the room. Immediately he smacked hard into something, and with a loud twang he fell to the floor, his nose and forehead throbbing painfully. “Drat it,” he said, rubbing his nose. “Yeowch.”
When the sharp pain faded to dull, Alex sniffed and reached his hand out tentatively until it struck something cool and slick. “Glass,” he muttered. “What a nasty trick.” He followed the glass wall all around, finding to his dismay that it encased the entire width of the hallway and there was no way around it that would give him access to either of the open rooms that branched out, nor the comfy-looking lounge directly in front of him.
Gingerly holding the bridge of his aching nose, he slid as close as he could to Mr. Today’s office, trying to get a better glimpse of the blackboards. “What in the …,” he said, completely puzzled.
“Well, well, Stowe. You’ve found your way here too?”
Alex jumped and crashed loudly against the glass again, only this time with his shoulder, thank goodness. He whirled around, sucking in a shocked breath, and his mouth fell open in surprise.
Samheed’s Second Secret
Alex let out his held breath and grinned shakily. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question.” Samheed stood tall a dozen feet away, a dark look on his face. “Did I scare you? You sure jumped a mile.”
“Geez, Sam. Why’d you have to do that?” Alex straightened up and dusted off his pajamas, scowling.
“I made a little noise first, but you had your nose pressed so far into the glass I wasn’t sure you’d have heard a tank even if it rolled right past you. So haven’t you been here before?”
“Well, I’ve seen the hallway for a few weeks,” he said, remembering the first time he’d seen it, on the day of the governors’ inspection. “But there are always people wandering around, so I haven’t had a chance to go down it until tonight.”
“It’s better during the daytime,” Samheed said.
“Why?”
“Because you can see Quill better.”
“You … what?”
“And,” Samheed continued, “sometimes the glass barrier is down.”
“So you’ve gone in there? And what do you mean, you can see Quill better? Through that window?”
“No, not the window. And yes, I’ve been in there. Well … only twice. But those blackboards, which I’m guessing is what you were staring at, are really live pictures of Quill.”
“Live …?” Alex faltered.
“You know—they’re like a picture of what’s happening in Quill right now. Sort of like if you were looking out the window and seeing it.”
“How do you know?”
Samheed looked smug. “I’ve seen things,” he said. “The High Priest Justine, the governors, the Quillitary making armor and weapons. And—” He stopped short and pressed his lips together.
“And what?”
“Nothing. Never mind. Just people walking around, the fields, the nursery, a few government buildings, the palace … that sort.”
Alex turned around and peered into Mr. Today’s office again. “Are you joking?”
“Listen, Stowe, I’m getting tired of you never believing a word I tell you. It’s very irritating.”
“Well,” Alex said, “you haven’t exactly been very trustworthy, have you?” But he was not in a mood to fight, and since Samheed ignored it, he turned his face back to the glass. It grew foggy under Alex’s breath. “Have you ever seen … you know. Your parents or anything?” Alex’s voice s
ounded light, like he probably wasn’t really asking what Samheed knew he was asking, but both of them in that room knew better, though neither would say it.
“I’ve only been close enough twice to really see anything at all,” Samheed said, as if that explained it.
Alex didn’t quite dare to ask again.
Samheed glanced over his shoulder. “What are you doing up this late, anyway?”
“I—I had a nightmare,” Alex said, his face flushing guiltily now, because this was the second time he’d thought of Aaron in two minutes. “Got some milk and a snack. Decided to finally give this hallway a try …” He trailed off. “What about you?”
Now it was Samheed’s turn to blush. “My door won’t let me in. I was just on my way down to the dining room so I could take the tube when I saw you.”
Alex snorted. “What did you say to it this time?”
“I told it to stop being so stupid cheerful all the time because it was driving me insane.”
“That would do it,” Alex said. “I suppose you could use my tube.”
“Thanks.”
The two boys walked back toward the balcony, hushing their voices as they neared it, and peeked around the corners, being very careful no part of their bodies showed until they were quite sure no one was around. Then together they stepped out of the hallway.
“By the way, I’ve always wondered,” Samheed said. “What’s actually on the wall where the secret hallway is?”
“It’s a gigantic mirror,” Alex said, remembering.
“Ah, well, that makes sense.” They continued down the boys’ hall. “One day when I was standing on the balcony waiting for Lani, she came out and immediately told me I had ink on my lip. I said, ‘Where?’ And she looked at me like I was stupid, pointed at the secret hallway, and said, ‘Well, just look in the mirror, you dolt.’”
Alex laughed quietly. “So then what?”
“I looked at the clock and said, ‘We’re late!’”
Alex’s door sang out an overly cheerful greeting as they approached. Samheed rolled his eyes but held his tongue as the door swung open. He looked around Alex’s room for a moment before sliding into the tube. “Hey, Alex, if you want to check out the”—he glanced sideways at Clive—“thing, tomorrow’s a good day for it. Lunchtime.”
Alex nodded. “Thanks.”
“But don’t get your hopes up.” Samheed narrowed his eyes, studying Alex’s face for a moment, and then he disappeared.
Alex stood, looking at the empty space where Samheed had been. “It’s too late for that,” he said.
Defense
It was rare to see Lani without a book these days. She always seemed to be reading, whether at meals or walking across the lawn or through the mansion. And while she didn’t usually bump into things while reading and walking, it happened that as she left the girls’ hallway on her way to breakfast, someone sort of popped out of nowhere in front of her and she ran right into him. Her book flew out of her hands and sailed over the balcony railing, causing quite a stir down below.
“Hey—watch it, shrimp!” It was Will Blair.
Lani scrambled to her feet and peered over the railing. “Sorry,” she called out to the pedestrians down below, but those assaulted by the book had moved on by now. She turned back to Will, her eyes burning. “Why do you have to be so rude?”
Will, who was a wiry boy of sixteen, snarled. “Why do you have to be such a priss?”
Lani flounced off down the stairs in a huff. When she got to the bottom, she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder to see if Will was following her, but in the stream of humans and creatures all heading down the stairs for breakfast, he had disappeared. Lani rolled her eyes and picked up her book, which someone had kindly set on a hallway table to keep it from being trampled, opened it up, and began reading again as she made her way to the dining room and joined the others at their usual table.
“You’re late this morning,” Meghan remarked as Lani sat down next to Samheed. Both Samheed and Alex were bleary-eyed from their nighttime escapade, and they ate in silence. But Meghan was as bright as ever.
“That Will Blair,” Lani grumbled, “knocked me down and blamed it on me.”
“Were you reading?” Meghan asked.
“Well, yes, but he came out of nowhere and I ran right into him.”
Samheed paused his chewing, turned to look at Lani, swallowed and said, “What do you mean, he came out of nowhere? Were you standing in front of the boys’ hallway or something?”
“Well, that would be a stupid place to stand, wouldn’t it? Don’t you think I know better than that?” Lani rolled her eyes and grabbed a jelly-filled pastry from the basket at the center of the table.
“One never knows, with you,” Samheed said, not very nicely. He looked at Alex, but Alex appeared to be lost in his own thoughts and not paying attention.
Lani’s eyes flared, but she held her tongue. She still stung a little from Simber’s whirlwind admonishment in the dining room several weeks before.
Meghan looked around. “Where is he? I don’t see him.”
“He never came down the stairs,” Lani said, her mouth full of pastry.
“He’s not as bad as you think,” Samheed said. “He’s just acting.”
Both girls snorted raucously at that, bringing Alex out of his trance.
“Hmm? What’s that?” Alex said. He checked the clock on the wall and downed the rest of his milk in one tremendous gulp.
“Oh, never mind,” Lani said. She finished her pastry, wiped her mouth on her napkin, and pushed her chair back. “Let’s go.”
The Team Warrior classes had been extended to two hours each morning and afternoon on the lawn. Each day it seemed more and more adult Unwanteds and mansion creatures sat in, some to brush up their fighting skills and others to observe curiously what sorts of magical items the new Unwanteds were creating.
Today Florence had them all sit on the lawn, since the first part of class was to be a lecture. The four friends sat two in front of two, and they whispered together in their little square about the new magical items they’d brought. When everyone was seated, Claire Morning came forward.
“For our lecture today,” Florence boomed, “we have Ms. Morning.”
While the audience applauded politely, Meghan cheered wildly, for the musical Ms. Morning was Meghan’s favorite instructor.
Alex leaned over to Samheed. “If we get an hour’s worth of music lessons, I think my head might explode.”
“In that case, bring on the music,” Samheed muttered.
Alex scowled to hide the sting. “Whatever.” He couldn’t figure Samheed out.
Lani shushed them both with pokes to their ribs as Ms. Morning began to speak.
“For the next four days we will be working on defensive skills,” she said. “Defensive skills are crucial to Artiméans, for if we are ever at war, we will be fighting against people with weapons very different from ours.”
Samheed grew somber as he remembered how he could have been an expert with the weapons of Quill by now. He jabbed Alex with his elbow and whispered, “Defense? We need to learn how to fight to kill. It’s the only way we’ll win against the Quillitary.”
Alex furrowed his brows. “I … I don’t know about that.…”
Ms. Morning continued. “Who can give me an example of a defensive skill?” She looked around at the group of students. “Gentlemen?” she said pointedly to Alex and Samheed, who were still whispering.
“You guys got caught,” Lani whispered merrily.
“And Lani,” Ms. Morning added. “The three of you come up to the front, please.”
Alex and Samheed snickered at Lani’s look of surprise as they went up front to join the instructor.
“Lani, you’ll be the enemy, standing back here with your weapons. No magic now from you, all right?”
Lani nodded and pretended to hold a weapon.
Ms. Morning turned to the boys, who were both a bit red-faced at bein
g the center of attention. “At my command Lani will charge at you. You should have a variety of options in mind already about what to do. But remember right now we are simply doing defensive skills, so please don’t attack her with a magical item. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Alex said. “What sorts of weapons does the Quillitary have, actually?”
“Excellent question. Who has the answer?”
“Knives,” Samheed said. “Shields, too.”
“Pieces of horrid, rusty metal,” laughed someone.
“Oooh, and slingshots,” someone else hooted.
“Sticks and stones … and insults,” said another.
Some of the Artiméans didn’t laugh at that last one.
“Guns,” Lani said. The word rang out.
The crowd was still.
“Yes, some guns,” Ms. Morning said seriously. “Though they are not terribly powerful, they can pack a punch.”
“Most of them are BB or pellet guns,” Lani said with an air of authority that some might have questioned, “that could possibly kill birds, rabbitkeys, even small beavopps. But the governors all have handguns. Those are deadly to humans and large creatures.”
After a long, silent pause while the crowd looked at one another, Ms. Morning nodded. “Thank you, Ms. Haluki.” She turned back to face the three. “Ready?”
Alex and Samheed had been staring at Lani, not having known about the governors’ weapons, but now they both snapped their attention back to Ms. Morning. Lani faced her opponents, and the three of them nodded together. “Ready.”
“Go!”
Lani charged toward the boys as Alex immediately whipped a paintbrush from his pocket and waved it in front of himself, while Samheed whispered a chant.
In a matter of seconds Alex painted himself invisible, and Samheed jumped in the air and appeared to hang suspended, then shot off like lightning toward the jungle. Lani stopped short, aimed an imaginary pistol at Samheed, and whispered, “Bam.” She turned, wondering if she still had a chance to find Alex. The audience murmured while Lani studied the lush grass in front of her.