Island of Dragons

  Aaron’s expression was similar. He sat on the bed. “Sorry about earlier.”

  “It’s okay,” said Alex. “It’s actually really great that you’re so naturally magical. I mean, I know I’d be dead if it weren’t for you. You saved me. And Artimé. I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive about it.”

  “Everybody fought hard,” Aaron said, shrugging off the compliment. “I just got lucky.”

  “It’s more than luck,” Alex said. “I guess I’m a bit jealous that it comes so easily to you.”

  “It doesn’t, actually, but whatever,” said Aaron lightly. He changed the subject. “How’s everything in the new Quill? Or are we calling everything Artimé now?”

  “We’ll keep it Quill, I think,” said Alex. “It’s confusing otherwise, isn’t it?”

  Aaron nodded. “Too confusing. Besides, the Quillens won’t call it Artimé, so why fight them on it?”

  “Good point. It’s settled, then.” Alex folded his hands in his lap and tipped his chair back to balance on two legs. “What other crises can we solve today?”

  Aaron glanced around the room, catching his reflection in the large mirror on Alex’s wall. Mirrors still startled Aaron at times, even in his own room, so he’d covered his up with paper. Now, though, he looked at his reflection and touched the scruff on his chin absently, studying it. There were some scratchy bits among the soft fuzz now, and he could see that the scratchy bits were as black as his sisters’ eyes. “We look like our father,” he said.

  “Unfortunately,” Alex said with a wry grin, but the humor was lost on Aaron.

  Aaron turned abruptly. “I was wondering . . . The reason I’ve come . . . Well, um, first, is everything going as it should?”

  “How do you mean?” asked Alex.

  “With Quill. Have I fulfilled my end of the agreement?”

  Alex let his chair rest on all four legs. He leaned forward. “Yes,” he said. “Of course you have. More than.”

  Aaron studied his brother, and found it suddenly difficult to speak. “If it’s all right with you, then, I’d like to go back to the Island of Shipwrecks,” he said.

  Alex’s mouth twitched. He let out a sigh. “Oh,” he said. “Well, sure.” He stood abruptly and swung around to stand behind the chair, putting his hands on the back of it and leaning forward. “That is, if you really want to. You . . . you don’t have to. You know that, right? I—we like having you here. Most of us, anyway.”

  Aaron dropped his gaze. “I know. I’d like to go, though. Ishibashi must be worried about me by now—it’s been months. So if we could leave as soon as it’s convenient for you to take me there, well, that would be good.”

  Alex was quiet. “Sure,” he said. After a minute he nodded. “We can leave once we hear back from Pan to make sure Henry made it to the Island of Legends all right. Does that sound okay?”

  Aaron gave a sharp nod. He stood up. “Thanks,” he said. “It’s been . . . nice. I mean, well, you know. Good spending time with you, anyway. And . . . and the girls.” He cleared his throat. “But yes, it’s time I go.” He took a step toward the door.

  “Okay,” Alex said, his voice strangely hollow.

  At the door, Aaron hesitated. He desperately wanted to tell Alex about the jungle, but at the same time he desperately wanted to wait until the last possible minute so that he would be long gone by the time Alex made his first visit there. Yes, it was cowardly leaving Alex to explain to Panther and the rock that the person they thought was Mr. Today’s successor was really a fraud. But Aaron couldn’t bear to do it. The more time he spent with his jungle friends, the more Aaron knew he could never tell them the truth.

  “Is something wrong?” Alex asked.

  Aaron closed his eyes briefly, pained. Then he met Alex’s gaze once more and shook his head. “No, nothing. Good night, brother.” He left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

  “Good night, friend,” Alex said softly, and stared at the door, feeling empty. After a moment he sat down at the desk, turned back to his open book and closed it, and put out the light.

  Return to the Island of Legends

  The hours of the night passed smoothly. Before the sun rose, Spike could sense Karkinos’s nearness in the waters. She adjusted her direction. “Karkinos is moving quickly toward the danger of the waterfall,” said Spike in a worried voice. “He is far from where he is supposed to be.”

  “He is a long distance from where I saw him last,” said Pan, lifting her head high in the air and straining her eyes. “We must move swiftly!”

  Spike lowered her head and put all she had into increasing her speed. Pan stayed with her. Florence hung on and leaned forward in anticipation while Henry slept. Florence would wake him when it was time.

  It wasn’t long before they came upon the giant squid, which normally lived under the crab’s protection, out in the open sea. He was agitated. Spike slowed for a moment to speak with the sea creature, and the animated conversation roused Henry. As soon as Spike finished talking, she sped up once more. The squid followed as quickly as he could, but fell behind.

  “The crab no longer has strength to fight the current,” Spike informed the others. “He is moving faster toward the waterfall. He is still alive, according to the squid.”

  Henry sat up and gripped the tin through the fabric of his vest. “We have to make it,” he said. “We have to. Do they know what they are in for?”

  Pan edged ahead of the whale. “When I discovered what happened to your ship, I informed Talon of the dangers.”

  “Let’s hope they’re anchoring everybody to the island,” Florence muttered. She looked at Henry. “How long before the medicine works?”

  “Fairly quickly . . . I think,” said Henry, remembering the sea turtle that Ishibashi had healed. “But it won’t fully restore his strength immediately. It’ll keep him from dying. Whether or not he’ll be able to resist the current is something we’ll have to find out.”

  “Pan, can you go any faster?” asked Florence.

  “Perhaps a bit,” said Pan.

  Florence thought for a long moment. “Here’s what we’re going to do,” she said. “Henry, crawl out of your cocoon and give me your hand. I’m going to pull you over here with me.”

  “Okay,” said Henry, feeling a bit uncertain about jumping from one creature to another at this ridiculous speed. He began climbing out.

  “Pan,” Florence went on, “once Henry’s over here, can you push yourself to your top speed? Then Spike can follow and meet us there.”

  “Your idea is wise,” said Pan.

  “I agree,” said Spike. “I will try to hurry so that I can explain to Karkinos what is happening. I can go faster when fully submerged, so perhaps I will keep up all right.”

  “Perfect.” Florence held her hand out to Henry. He grabbed it tightly, closed his eyes, and jumped. Florence pulled him in front of her and he landed hard on the dragon’s back. “Have you got the medicine?” she asked.

  He tapped his vest. “I have it.”

  “Hit it, Pan!” Florence shouted.

  Pan wasted no time. She pulled ahead, and soon they were speeding faster than before.

  Spike disappeared under the water, but an occasional splash behind them assured Henry and Florence that the whale was nearby.

  Finally, as the sun rose, Henry and Florence could see the island not far off. Pan put forth an extra burst of speed.

  “Henry,” said Florence, “go straight to Karkinos’s mouth and give him the medicine. I’ll try to help from land and explain everything to the others. I hope I can find them. . . .” She trailed off, worried, and peered around the side of the dragon to see if she could find the telltale glint of bronze coming from Talon’s body. But he was not near the shore.

  “Listen,” Henry said as they approached the crab island’s shore. “The waterfall. Can you hear it?”

  Florence stood up on the dragon’s back and looked beyond Karkinos. “I see it,” she said. “Pan, do you
feel the waters pulling you?”

  “The sea is not too strong for the one who rules it,” Pan said. She angled and pulled up alongside one of the twin reefs made by Karkinos’s claws.

  Florence and Henry exchanged a worried look. Simber, Spike, and the squirrelicorns pulling the ship’s ropes couldn’t stop their ship from tumbling over the waterfall at the edge of the world. How were the four of them supposed to save an entire island? They were dangerously close to disaster.

  Florence reached down to help Henry stand so that as soon as Pan was close enough to the claw reef, he could jump off and run to Karkinos’s head with the medicine. “Ready?” she asked.

  Henry nodded. “Ready!” he said. And when Pan slowed and unfurled her tail, Henry ran down the length of it, slipping a bit but catching himself, all the way to the reef. He jumped off the dragon’s tail when it grew too thin and sped up the claw to the mainland.

  As he ran, he fumbled with his vest pocket, whispering the secret word that would unlock it. He pulled out the tin and held it tightly in his hand as he rounded the shell and came up to the crab’s enormous eyeballs, perched on their eyestalks. A thin, sickly film covered them.

  Florence was not far behind. “Talon!” she shouted. “Lhasa! Are you here?” There was no answer. “They must be trying to secure the others to the island,” she said, worried. She walked to the edge of the wooded area and peered down a path.

  Henry knelt near the crab’s face. Karkinos’s mouth was under water. “Karkinos, it’s Henry from Artimé. I have medicine that can help you. Can you lift your head?”

  The crab didn’t move.

  Henry turned to look over his shoulder. “Florence, we have a problem!” he called out. “He doesn’t understand me. Pan, can you help?” And then he spotted Spike arriving. “Spike!” he cried. But Pan and Spike had other plans as they called for the help of Issie the sea monster and began to push against the moving island.

  The rushing of the waterfall grew louder. Henry could see clouds of mist rising from it and feel its dampness on his skin. Florence hadn’t heard him. She disappeared among the trees.

  “Spike!” Henry called again.

  The whale looked up.

  “Can you talk to Karkinos? See if he can lift his mouth out of the water so the medicine doesn’t wash away!”

  Spike left Pan’s side and disappeared under the water. A moment later Spike surfaced. “He is not responding,” she said.

  “But I need to ask him a very important question!” Henry shouted, beginning to panic. What was he to do if Karkinos wasn’t able to respond? Forego the medicine and plunge over the waterfall with all the others? He thought about Ishibashi and the injured turtle on the Island of Shipwrecks. Ishibashi hadn’t asked permission of the turtle. Was that because it was an animal? If so, did that mean Henry could administer the seaweed to Karkinos the crab for the same reason? Hadn’t Ishibashi mentioned only needing permission from humans? He was quite sure that was the case. But Karkinos seemed almost human compared to the turtle.

  Henry looked at the mist rising from the waterfall. He didn’t know what to do—all he knew was that they were all counting on him. “Can you pry open his mouth?”

  Spike nodded and turned around in the water, then tipped to one side and aimed her spike at the crab’s mouth just under the surface of the water. Slowly she moved forward, her eyes nearly rolling back in her head as she strained to see what she was doing.

  “That’s it,” said Henry. “Just a little more. Wiggle it a bit. Now angle your spike upward to pry his mouth open so I can climb in. Careful not to pierce him.”

  The whale obliged.

  As the crab’s jaws opened, Henry looked inside. Water flooded into the mouth. “How am I going to do this?” he muttered.

  “We must hurry!” Pan called out. She strained against the crab’s shell, her tail spinning like a propeller in the water. Issie pushed alongside her, but the two together could only slow down the island’s progress—they needed to reverse it.

  Henry looked inside the crab’s mouth again. “Hold it open, Spike. I’m going inside.”

  Without another word, Henry slipped into the churning water, hanging on tightly to the edge of the crab’s shell so the current wouldn’t wash him away. He reached out and grabbed the bottom of Karkinos’s mouth, trying to avoid cutting himself on the various chewing appendages. With a splash, he swung himself inside. But with the crab’s mouth propped open, water washed in and out. It could take the magic seaweed with it.

  Henry’s heart thundered inside his chest. He knew what he had to do.

  “Let go, Spike,” he said. “Let his mouth close. He won’t swallow me. . . . I don’t think so anyway. And when I yell, pry it open again. Okay?”

  Spike didn’t ask questions. “I will do that, Henry.”

  Before Henry knew it, the crab’s mouth was closing around him. He sucked in a breath as his world grew dark, and when the jaw clamped shut, Henry sat inside, trying to get his bearings. The water sloshed around his shoulders, and the briny smell of impending death inside was horrid. Despite the bubble of air above the water, Henry began to panic.

  Just take it easy, Henry told himself. Get the job done. He forced himself to stay calm. After a moment, he began feeling around the pod he was in, wondering if there was a way for him to get Karkinos to swallow some of the water so he could press the seaweed into the side of the crab’s mouth. Cautiously he pushed down, half scooting, half swimming, toward the back of the crab’s mouth, then pounded on his palate, trying to stimulate the swallowing mechanism. With one particularly sharp blow, Karkinos’s head reared back, sending Henry tumbling and splashing toward his throat.

  Henry gasped and reached out blindly, clinging by one hand to a section of teeth, nearly dropping the tin of seaweed, but managing to hang on. Water rushed past him, and when the crab’s head settled, there was only a little bit of water remaining inside his mouth. As soon as Henry felt certain the crab wasn’t going to swallow again, he dropped down and hurried to open the tin.

  The seaweed glowed, shedding a tiny bit of light in the moist pod. Henry knelt down and felt around the briny sludge of the crab’s mouth for a place to pack the medicine where it could be absorbed. He soon found a slippery fold of tissue near the crab’s cheek . . . or whatever it was called. Quickly he pulled half of the glowing seaweed out of the tin and pushed it into the space, spreading it out for maximum exposure and packing it down as tightly into the fold as he could.

  He felt his way over to the other side of the crab’s mouth and did the same. “Come on, Karkinos,” he breathed. He shook the tin upside down to get the remaining bits out, hoping it was enough for the enormous creature.

  There was nothing more Henry could do but wish. And he could do that just as well outside of the giant crab’s mouth. He shouted to Spike through a tiny space near the feeding appendages and waited. He could hear the churning water and the shouts of Pan and Florence outside. “Spike!” he cried out again. “Open up!” Now that he had done the job, he was more anxious than ever to get out of Karkinos’s disgusting mouth.

  “I am coming, Henry!” Spike shouted.

  Henry jiggled impatiently.

  “No, Spike!” Pan called out. “I need you! We must all push together now or we’ll never get out of the waterfall’s grasp. Hold on, Henry! Everyone, push to the northeast with all your might!”

  Henry’s heart sank at the words. “Okay,” he managed to say. He slumped against the crab’s mouth opening, watched the seaweed glow, and tried not to gag at the stench. He could feel the crab’s mouth slime drip onto him from above. He hoped he wouldn’t run out of air. More importantly, though, at the moment at least, was his hope that Karkinos wouldn’t go sailing over the waterfall headfirst with Henry trapped inside his mouth.

  There were so many things to worry about, and Henry sat there, helpless to do anything. He wished he could see. And then he remembered he had a highlighter right in his pocket. He lit it at half p
ower and looked around at the algae on Karkinos’s teeth and the sea worms crawling along the crab’s cheek. His stomach gurgled. Quickly he put the light out again. “Disgusting,” he muttered. “Really wish I hadn’t seen that.”

  From outside he heard Florence shout. “Hang on, Henry!” she thundered. “We’re going over the edge!”

  Henry’s heart flew to his throat.

  And then the giant crab’s mouth began to churn.

  A Clattering Reunion

  Henry froze as the crab’s muscles rippled under him, sending the seaweed tin tumbling to the back of his mouth and Henry scrambling for a sharp upper tooth to hang on to. Then Karkinos opened his mouth, and water rushed in over Henry’s head. He could barely hold on, and he couldn’t escape. When the water rushed back out, Henry coughed and sputtered and looked out over the edge of the waterfall as he dangled above it from Karkinos’s tooth.

  “Aaaaaaah!” screamed Henry. “Help!”

  Pan shouted unintelligibly, and the crab began shaking. Spike was yelling too, and Issie and even the squid had joined them by now, everyone using all of their strength to stop the crab from plummeting over the waterfall. It inched forward, then somehow moved two inches backward. Then forward again. Then three inches backward, the crab’s body beginning to hum. Karkinos was coming alive.

  His claws snapped once, twice, and his body swiveled in the water, Henry swinging with it. Soon the crab was scooting backward, and with the help of all the other sea creatures, Karkinos began inching against the tremendous pressure of the current.

  “He’s doing it!” Henry shouted once he could catch a breath. “Karkinos is alive! And he’s paddling! Everybody, don’t give up—now’s the moment! Give it everything you’ve got!”

  With another giant rush of seawater coming into Karkinos’s open mouth, Henry lost his grip on the crab’s tooth. He dropped underwater and surfaced, trying to swim back to the tooth, but a wave struck him. Henry was washed outside of Karkinos’s mouth and into the churning sea. The boy surfaced and sputtered, grabbing and grasping at anything he could reach, lest he be swept away.