Island of Dragons (15 page)

“They're definitely strong enough,” said Lani. “I did all the equations. That's not the problem.” She continued to study Samheed, and then a thought struck her, and she began digging around in her component vest pockets.

After a moment Samheed started running again.

“Wait!” hollered Lani. “Don't try just yet.” She pulled an origami fire-breathing dragon from her pocket and looked at it.

Samheed slowed, and both he and Alex turned to Lani. “What is it?” asked Alex. “Did you think of something?”

“Remember when we created these?” Lani said, holding up the origami dragon.

Alex nodded. “What about them?” He and Samheed walked over to where Lani was standing.

“Do you remember what happened when we tested them out?”

Samheed took the dragon and looked at it. “No. What happened?”

“Oh!” said Alex. “We had to give them eyes.”

“Yes,” said Lani.

“But Samheed already has eyes.”

“Right, but then we had to tell it where to go,” Lani said. “We had to give it directions.”

Alex grimaced. “Of course. How are we possibly still alive after being so stupid?” He looked at Samheed. “You have to tell the wings where you want to go.”

“Yeah, I picked up on that,” said Samheed, shaking his head and walking away.

“We're nothing without you,” Alex said to Lani as Samheed started running once more.

“It's true, I know,” said Lani.

Samheed jumped into the air, shouting, “To the jungle!” And this time, the wings flapped and Samheed began flying forward instead of straight up. He hovered about ten feet off the ground, then gained altitude when he figured out how to pump his wings harder.

The scales caught the light, and the wings shimmered as Samheed worked them up and down. The ride was a bit jerky at first, but then it smoothed out into a beautiful, fluid motion, like the way Claire Morning conducted musicians.

Alex and Lani stood side by side and watched as Samheed flew toward the jungle with the wind rippling through his hair and a huge grin on his face. A few people on the lawn paused in their activities to watch as well.

“It's working great,” said Alex.

Lani nodded. “I wonder how he'll land.”

“Hmm,” said Alex. “Good question. I hope he doesn't fall from
that
height.”

“That would be tragic,” Lani agreed. “Maybe we should get Simber out here.” They couldn't take their eyes off Samheed.

“Nah,” said Alex after a moment. “He'll be fine.”

As Samheed neared the jungle, he began to lean to one side, making a wide turn. Soon he was flying toward Alex and Lani. He held his arms bent in front of him and moved his shoulders to keep the wings flapping.

“How am I supposed to land?” Samheed screeched when he drew near to Alex and Lani.

“Slow down your flapping!” Alex called out, though he had no idea if that would work.

Samheed slowed his movements and he lost altitude.

“That's working!” shouted Lani.

In fits and starts, Samheed dropped lower in the air, sometimes gut-wrenchingly fast, other times gently, as if he was starting to get the hang of it. He leaned again to curve around, stretching the wings out and soaring slowly, and then, narrowly missing his friends, he neared the ground, folded in his wings, and crash-landed a third time.

After he rolled to a stop, he looked at Alex. “Well, they work. I'm not so sure I'm the right person to have wings, but I imagine with a little practice, the water dragons will pick up the necessary skills better than I did.”

“Not to mention,” said Lani, “they'll likely land in the water, which is a bit softer than the ground.” She reached out and helped Samheed to his feet, then planted a kiss on his cheek. “I'm glad you're not hurt.”

“Had enough?” asked Alex.

“Definitely,” said Samheed. “Get these things off me.”

He turned around, and Alex released the meld spell that held the wings to Samheed's back. With a squeak and a whoosh, the wings' suction released, and Alex and Lani each pulled one off.

“Aaron really did a good job with these, you know,” Lani said.

“Yes. He's surprisingly good at a lot of things,” added Samheed generously. “He's all right.”

Alex nodded. It was true, and he was genuinely proud of Aaron, even if his natural ability was annoying at times. Alex was going to miss him. As the three friends walked back to the mansion and the regular activities on the lawn resumed, he grew melancholy. The wings were ready. “I guess Aaron and I will leave in the morning, then,” he said. “We'll stop at the Island of Dragons to attach the wings, and then I'll deliver him to the Island of Shipwrecks.”

Samheed didn't say anything, but Lani placed her hand on Alex's shoulder as they walked inside the mansion together, each of them with a dragon wing tucked under one arm. “It's probably for the best,” Lani said. “It seems like he was really happy there.”

Alex nodded. “I know,” he said, feeling almost miserable about it. He and Lani put the wings in Ms. Octavia's classroom, and then Alex went to the kitchen to find Aaron and tell him he could finally go home.

When he walked into the bustling kitchen unnoticed, Alex observed the food designers discussing and admiring their beautiful presentations. He found his sisters and Crow by the tube delivering food and his brother wearing an apron and chef's hat, knife poised as he listened carefully to what the head chef of Artimé was explaining.

Alex watched as Aaron painstakingly perfected a recipe, and then he gazed at his sisters, absorbed in their task of placing the beautiful food creations into the delivery tube. It was a rare moment, all four Stowe siblings in the same room. And one that wouldn't happen again once Aaron was gone.

Alex felt a certain heaviness descend upon his shoulders and a loneliness rise to his throat, and instead of embracing the familial moment, he turned away, overwhelmed by it. With his head bowed, he stumbled past the dining room to the entryway, past Simber and up the stairs to the once secret hallway, past the doorways to the last one on the left, where he went in. He sat down at his desk and lowered his head, resting it on his folded arms.

A few moments later, he got up, sent a message to Aaron's blackboard telling him they would leave the next day, and entered his private quarters to pack.

E
arly the next morning Alex found Simber in his usual spot by the front door to the mansion. Alex beckoned to the cheetah to go outside with him and take a walk. The cat followed the mage out the door, and the two strolled together along the shore.

“I had thought you could take Aaron and me to the Island of Dragons and then on to the Island of Shipwrecks,” Alex said. “I would have liked that, but Aaron has requested we bring some supplies with us—mainly some fresh soil so he and the scientists can get some plants growing outside now that the storms are gone. I want to give them quite a lot since we have plenty to spare. But I don't think we'll be able to fit all the sacks of soil on your back along with the five pairs of dragon wings. And the two of us, of course.”

“It's all rrright,” said Simber. “The boat will be morrre comforrrtable forrr you anyway.” He paused, sampling the air as he often did, and then gazing in the direction of Warbler Island to the west. “Besides, I'm mildly concerrrned about what's happening overrr therrre.”

Alex followed the statue's gaze, but he couldn't see whatever Simber was able to see. “You mean the ships that Pan told us about?”

“Prrrecisely,” said Simber. “Therrre's some activity happening that I'm not completely comforrrtable with—ships sailing between the pirrrate island and Warrrbler. It's out of the orrrdinary forrr them, which makes me suspicious.”

“Of course it does,” said Alex, reaching out and putting his hand on the cheetah's neck. “I wonder if the pirates are selling sea creatures to Warbler. I honestly can't figure it out—who else is there to buy them? Whenever I ask Pan, she gets quiet.”

“I don't know,” said Simber. “And I don't think Marrrcus knew, eitherrr, orrr I hope he would have told me.” Simber didn't sound like he had much faith in that, though. The original head mage of Artimé, Marcus Today, had kept many secrets that went to the grave with him.

Alex shrugged. “At least we freed the sea creatures—some of them, anyway.”

Simber frowned. “The pirrrates neverrr came afterrr us. I admit I'm surrrprrrised by that.”

“Ah, but they did—they just went to the palace by mistake and retaliated against the wrong guy,” Alex reminded him.

“Trrrue,” said Simber. “I wonderrr if they'll everrr rrrealize theirrr errror. With theirrr rrrelationship with Queen Eagala on Warrrblerrr, I imagine they will.”

Alex shook his head. “Please, Sim. We're finally at peace. Give us a little chance to enjoy it before you go imagining other problems, will you? Besides, they would have attacked by now. It's been months.”

The statue growled softly, but he let the conversation die. Soon they reached the edge of the jungle. They turned around and walked back toward the mansion. The lawn was beginning to fill up with residents of Artimé. Mr. Appleblossom held a fencing class there, where he had Kaylee teach some moves since she was well trained in the sport.

Ms. Morning was on the lawn meeting with Lani, who was showing off some new spell components she'd invented. And quite far away, Liam Healy, former governor to the former high priest Aaron and rescuer of Thisbe and Fifer, was standing near the front door of the mansion with Aaron himself. Both appeared to be scanning the lawn in search of someone.

Alex waved, and Aaron waved back. Alex climbed on Simber's back. “They look like they need something,” he said.

“Let's go,” said Simber. He began to run with Alex holding on around his neck. Soon they reached the mansion and Alex hopped off.

Aaron's face was anxious. “What time are we leaving?” he asked.

“I've decided we'll go around sundown,” said Alex. “That way the boat will have us to the Island of Dragons by morning. We'll want to attach the wings during daylight, don't you agree?”

“I—well, yes, I should think,” Aaron said, but he sounded distracted. “Thanks, that's perfect. I was hoping we weren't heading out first thing. . . .” He trailed off, and then dashed back inside the mansion before Alex could say another word.

“What was that about?” Alex asked Liam.

“I d-don't know,” said Liam, who often stammered when nervous. “But as I was telling Aaron, I've got the sacks of dirt ready to go. So, um . . . where . . . ?”

“That's great, Liam,” Alex said. “Thank you. I'll help you load them on the boat.”

» » « «

While Alex and Liam loaded the
Claire
with hundreds of pounds of soil, Aaron was far away in the deepest part of the jungle, trying to be strong. He'd been here a lot in the past few days, always thinking it would be his last visit, but then finding a way to come back one more time.

Upon his arrival, Panther had come running, her sleek black body shimmering and her muscles rippling. Hanging from her jaws was one of the spiders made of vines that Aaron had constructed. Panther dropped it at Aaron's feet and batted it with her paw.

Aaron grinned and picked it up. “Stay,” he said.

She sat obediently and rubbed her whiskers against Aaron's side. Aaron picked up the vine spider and threw it with all his might. Panther's body jerked, but she stayed in place, waiting for her cue.

“Attack!” Aaron shouted.

The panther leaped in the air and charged toward the spider. She slid to a stop on the jungle floor, picked it up and shook it, and then brought it back to Aaron.

“Well done!” Aaron praised.

They played the game for nearly an hour, until Aaron's arm grew tired. He sat down near a pile of vines and began constructing more spiders for Panther—he wanted to have enough for her to play with for a long time. He began piling them up on one side of him, while Panther lounged on the other side, her face pressed against Aaron's thigh and one paw resting possessively on his knee. She closed her eyes.

“I'm going away for a while,” Aaron said softly. He reached out and petted Panther between the ears.

Panther turned to look at Aaron, her eyes wide and sad.

Aaron set down the spider he'd been working on. “You'll be okay without me.” He frowned, and then he slipped his arms around the panther's neck in an awkward hug.

Panther struggled to get up, and Aaron quickly got up too. He'd been here far too long. He needed to pack his things. “Good-bye,” he said. “Tell the rock and the dog that I said good-bye. And I'll . . . I'll see you later. Sometime. Okay?”

Panther screamed in Aaron's face. Aaron gave the beast a long look, and then he swallowed hard and went inside the tube. “Keep your tail on,” he said. “I'm not sure if Al . . . if anyone, I mean, knows how to fix those. Not like me, anyway.”