Island of Legends (The Unwanteds) (17 page)

Samheed frowned, but then shrugged. “I guess I could let one dumbhead remark go. Just this once.”

Alex, gazing off over the water, turned abruptly and went down the stairs to the deck below to get away from the cat and nurse his wounds—to his pride, and also to his heart from the loss of their beloved Florence.

T
here was little time to mourn.

After a while, Alex realized the captain was waiting for instructions. And since the volcanic activity had halted and Pirate Island stood quiet, he knew they needed to make their approach before it was too late. Florence would have wanted them to continue with the quest—Alex knew that well enough. He made his way back to the top deck. “To the island, Captain,” Alex said.

The ship, sturdy and strong as ever in spite of the hole in the main deck, was soon sailing along at a fast pace, and the subdued passengers tried to forget their shock and sadness
by cleaning up the mess made by the rocking ship.

Alex ignored Simber, even though he was dying to ask him if he knew anything more about Florence—like did she breathe? But he couldn’t bear to be publicly rebuffed again, for failing to find out if everyone on his team breathed or not. Who even thinks about such things? Besides, finding out the answer now didn’t matter. She was either dead or alive somewhere in this vast sea, and either way they’d probably never see her again.

Simber flew out ahead of the ship now, perhaps so that no one could see his face. “Not that I care,” Alex muttered rather incoherently. He needed a new plan now that they didn’t have Florence.

It was with great pain to his soul that he realized they didn’t actually need Florence to punch a hole through the glass skylight. Simber could do it just as easily. So she could have stayed safe in Artimé after all. Of course, then it would have been someone else getting dragged off by the eel. Probably Simber. “Not that I care,” he muttered again, louder.

Ms. Octavia looked at him. “When people say that,” she said, “they usually mean the opposite. And I suspect you care a great deal about whatever it is you’re struggling with.” The
octogator swished over to Alex. “Did I miss something?”

Alex laughed bitterly. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Alex looked at Simber. He was sure the cat could hear. The cat hears all and knows all—Alex had that ingrained in his memory well enough by now. “No, thank you.”

Ms. Octavia followed Alex’s gaze. “Ah. I see.” She put a tentacle on Alex’s arm. “He’s feeling guilty, thinking he should have saved her. They were very close friends. You know,” she said, turning to look at Alex, “I just realized how alike you two are. No wonder you’ve finally clashed.”

Alex turned toward Ms. Octavia and studied her for a moment. “You’ve lost your glasses,” he said finally.

“Yes,” she said with a rueful smile. “They’re at the bottom of the sea now. Siggy will find me another pair from his costume box once we get home, I suppose.”

Alex’s chest tightened. Tears sprang to his eyes. He remembered the last time Ms. Octavia had lost her glasses—on the day Artimé came back to life. Alex had picked them up for her, overjoyed at the sight of her yet still heartbroken because he had to tell her the news that Mr. Today was dead.

Now, with Florence gone and Simber mad, he leaned forward, elbows on the railing, and buried his face in his hands. “I’m so sorry,” he choked out.

Ms. Octavia patted Alex’s back. “There, there,” she said. “It’s just a pair of glasses! And I’ll tell you a secret—they were purely for vanity. I assure you I can see perfectly.”

Alex sighed and breathed in and out. “I know,” he said. He kept his face covered. “Mr. Today told me.”

“Oh, that Marcus, what a stinker! He wasn’t supposed to tell,” Ms. Octavia said with a laugh, but her eyes shone, and soon she was weeping openly. “And now Florence. Oh, dear Alex. You’ve been thoroughly wrung out in ways most of us will never understand.”

Alex couldn’t speak. After a few minutes, as Captain Ahab guided the ship to the south side of Pirate Island, Alex squeezed the end of one of Ms. Octavia’s tentacles and patted the top of it. “Thank you,” he said.

And then he sniffed, composed himself, and took his place at the bow of the ship to address the fractured team, for it was also his job to bring them all together once more.

I
t was back to business, and the first team was off to Pirate Island. Alex shoved his feelings aside, more determined than ever not to let anything get in the way of this mission. He could not mess up again.

“Do you see anyone?” he whispered a short while later.

“Not on the upper level,” Sky said. She leaned over the skylight of the reverse aquarium—the glassed-in, undersea island habitat that was built around a volcano. She scooped water and sand out of the shallow window well to get a clearer look. Crow pushed in beside her, and Carina, who had seen Copper briefly on their last visit and knew what she looked like, crouched on
the other side of the glass. Next to her was a large coil of rope, just in case they had a chance to make a fast rescue.

Simber crouched on the rocks nearby. He ignored the others and stared to the west, sampling the air now and then.

It was a long day with little activity on the upper level. Just the occasional man or woman in dark trousers and bright-colored or white flouncy shirts. Some of the shirts were adorned with gold bars or symbols, and others were plain. Some of the men and women sported tattoos and scars, making them look quite dangerous.

Now and then they saw women in elegant dresses, complete with petticoats and feathered hats that would make Mr. Appleblossom sigh in delight. But there was no sign of Copper in her dingy brown slave clothing.

At nightfall, Simber carried Crow to the ship so he could sleep, but Sky refused to go, so Carina and Alex stayed with her. Their muscles ached from crouching all day.

It was actually easier to see into the reverse aquarium in the dark. And now they could lean over the skylight without fear of casting a shadow and being discovered. The place was lit up, though Alex wasn’t exactly sure how. He could see vertical
tubes here and there that contained bubbling, glowing lava, but he wasn’t sure if they were casting much light or if their primary purpose was for warmth. The constant, slow movement of the globs of lava was quite relaxing and pleasant to watch. Almost too relaxing. Alex felt himself dozing off once or twice but immediately forced himself to stay alert—he couldn’t afford any more mistakes. He studied the layout.

The top level, a good distance below them, was simply a suspended, wood-planked walkway around the perimeter of the glass leading to a single set of large doors. It wasn’t well traveled at all. That’s where they’d seen Sky and Crow’s mother the last time, when she’d told them through Warbleran hand signals that she was a slave. They’d watched her get taken away by a man with gold bars on his shirt.

“What if they killed her?” Sky asked eventually. It had taken her all day to say it out loud, even though Alex knew she’d been worried about that ever since they’d seen her.

No one knew the answer. Instead they tried to memorize the layout of the open areas far below, where large, leafy plants, vegetables, fruit trees, and flowers grew. And there was grass, too, with benches all around. People bustled about the common
area, some strolling as if they were enjoying the scenery, others stopping to pick up fruit that had fallen to the ground, still others looking like they were headed somewhere important.

“It’s like they think they’re outside,” Carina mused. “I wonder how often they get out of this cage.”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t imagine they get out very often, except to fish.”

“Oh,” Carina said, pointing, “there goes somebody out the fishing hatch now. See—one glass door slides open to let them into the holding space. When that inside door closes, the outside door slides open and water pours in over them, but they can hold on to a bar so they don’t get swept away. And they’ve got masks of some sort to help them breathe.”

“Shh,” Alex warned. He turned and looked expectantly at the shore nearest them. “He’s right below the ground over there.”

“I don’t think he can hear us if he’s underwater,” Sky said.

Alex felt the blood rise to his cheeks. “I know. I meant in case he swims up to the surface or something.”

Sky elbowed him to let him know she was only teasing.
She didn’t like the tension between them. But Alex just gave an absentminded smile and stayed focused on the scene below.

“There’s that playground where we saw all the children,” he said. That glass room was dark now.

The rocks below them shuddered, making everyone tense up. The person who had gone out the fishing hatch came back inside and quickly took off his gear as other people sprang into action inside the island. “I think that’s our cue. We should go,” Alex said. “Now.”

Nobody questioned him.

“Captain, head out to sea immediately! We’ll catch up,” Alex called, knowing his voice would carry nicely over the water at night.

Within seconds, Ahab, who was standing ready, had the ship pulling away from the volcano. The ground shook again, and Alex, Sky, and Carina hopped onto Simber’s back. He took off into the air, and as they passed over the skylight, Alex could see people below scurrying to the walls, where seats dropped down. The people sat down and strapped in, helping children first, then themselves.

“So that’s how they don’t get hurt with all the plunging
and resurfacing,” Alex said, pointing. “They feel the warning shivers just like we did, and they strap in for safety.”

Simber started heading for the ship. “Wait a second, please,” Alex said, a bit stiffly. It was uncomfortable speaking to Simber, as it still felt like they were fighting, but Alex couldn’t dwell on that now. “How do you feel about hovering over the volcano while it sinks? Maybe we can see what happens?”

“Yes!” Carina said. “What do you think, Simber? Is it safe?”

Sky looked on with interest. Everybody wanted to know more about the workings of the strange island.

“As long as no firrre shoots out when it descends, we should be safe and hidden frrrom view.”

“And,” Alex said, “we’ll be able to see down into the hole because it’s all lit up. At least until the water covers it. Plus, we’ve never thought to fly over the top to see where that fire comes from.” He grew more excited. “I don’t think it spews any fire at all when it goes down, does it, guys?”

Carina and Sky shook their heads. “I don’t think so,” Sky said. “Only when it comes back up, almost as if the heat inside builds up with the pressure of the water over it, and”—she paused, thinking—“maybe that’s what raises the island. The
fire under the surface builds up until it lifts the volcano. It explodes and stays above the surface until it cools sufficiently, and then it goes back down again, where the process starts over.”

Alex, forgetting himself for a moment, gave her an admiring glance. “Wow,” he said, a little breathless. Even if she turned out to be wrong, she sounded really smart.

“That’s a good theory,” Carina said.

“Thank you,” Sky said. “Let’s watch.”

Simber flew up above the top of the volcano. From here, everyone could see the rectangle of light coming from the skylight where they had been stationed, and because it was dark out, they could see a few other skylights as well hidden around the volcano.

“Look!” Alex said, pointing them out. “Over there—that’s near where the sea creatures are.”

Simber flew above a skylight on the opposite side of the island and dropped down a bit so they could get a better look, but soon the volcano rumbled once more and Simber pulled away. Still, the Artiméans could see, almost like looking through a porthole, an entire vat of sea beasts swimming around one another in very tight quarters.

For once the small group was stunned silent. An entire quarter of the glass cage was taken up by a giant squid with wistful eyes the size of Artimé’s largest serving platters, and long, beefy tentacles splayed against the glass, as if there was a chance he might will himself through to the other side. If he sat upon the mansion in Artimé, his long tentacles might reach the ground.