Island of Legends (The Unwanteds) (37 page)

E
va Fathom got out of the Quillitary vehicle at the gate to Artimé. “Thank you,” she said to the driver. “I’ll be very quick.”

He nodded and looked down. Both of them knew he could be sent to the Ancients Sector for this if anybody found out.

Secretary hurried into Artimé, greeting the girrinos by name. They narrowed their eyes at her but let her in. She walked down one of the paths to the mansion, but then she caught sight of Claire Morning on the lawn with a group of orange-eyed children, all with strange scars around their necks.
The instructor had been teaching the children how to sing.

Claire did a double take at the sight of Eva Fathom. She rose. “Excuse me for a moment, dear children,” she said. “Talk about your favorite songs quietly. I’ll be right back.”

She stepped away. Eva met her in the grass.

“What do you want?” Claire asked. She folded her arms over her chest.

“Claire, I know Carina isn’t around right now. But I need you to tell her something for me.”

“How would you know she’s not around?”

“It doesn’t matter—it’ll all come out one day, I’m sure.” She hesitated. Her chin began to quiver, and she frowned, trying to stop it. She turned her face and gazed out at the sea, realizing it would be the last time she’d take in its beauty. “I’m being sent to the Ancients Sector,” she said, her voice soft. “I was arguing with Aaron, and he got mad, and now I’m . . . about to go.”

Claire’s mouth twitched. “If you want me to say I’m sorry about your circumstances, I’m afraid I can’t. Not after what you did to me.”

“I don’t blame you, Claire. Though when I spoke loudly
in Haluki’s home about you and Gunnar, it was on purpose. I wanted you both to know the other was there. It’s not much, I’m afraid, but it’s all I can tell you right now.” She pressed her lips together. “I’m on your side, though I don’t expect you to believe me. I’ve been staying with Aaron so I could keep an eye on things.”

Claire frowned. She glanced at the children, who were talking animatedly about their favorite songs. “What is it you want me to tell Carina?”

Eva focused on Claire. “Please, will you tell her I love her and little Seth? And that I’m so sorry . . .” Her hand flew to her mouth, fingers trembling. She took a deep breath and continued, stronger. “Tell her I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to say good-bye. And to explain.”

Claire looked at the ground. “I’ll tell her.”

Eva pressed her fingers to her eyelids to stop the tears. “Thank you. There is someone who can vouch for me. But I can’t say anything more. I have to go.” She looked at Claire. “I’m so sorry, Claire. I hope you can forgive me someday. And . . . Liam, too. He’s been appointed governor, but he’s faking his loyalty. He’s sick over what he did.” She touched Claire’s
arm. “Marcus wasn’t supposed to die like that. He and I had a plan. . . .”

Claire recoiled from the touch. “How dare you?”

Eva faltered. “I’ve said too much. My driver . . .” As she stepped back and turned toward the gate, she added, “Aaron is plotting an attack. He uses the tube. Did Charlie tell you? Because I told Matilda.” Now she was just babbling, and it didn’t matter—Claire hated her, and Eva understood why. It was senseless to try to explain herself. She dropped her eyes. “Good-bye,” Eva said.

Just then a shout rang out. And then another, followed by a piercing scream. Soon screams filled the air.

Eva turned to look. Bounding toward the group of children was a huge black creature with gleaming white teeth and a screech that chilled her blood. And behind the creature was a figure in a black cloak running toward them. It was Aaron.

“Aaron, no!” Eva screamed. She ran to the children and began to pull them to their feet. “Run to the mansion!” she told them. “Go!” She turned around and ran toward the screaming panther, trying to get between the beast and the children. With a sinking heart, Eva knew that she didn’t have
any magical spell components to stop the panther, and her elemental magic was of no help—neither rain nor ice would stop the beast, and fire out here in the open would only serve to put Artimé in grave danger.

There was only one thing Eva could do to stop the panther. Her legs weren’t as strong as they once were, but with all her energy Eva ran and threw herself in front of the children as the panther opened up her mighty jaws.

Claire was scrambling to put up a protective glass wall and herd the children to the mansion. As they ran, screaming, Claire looked back over her shoulder to see Eva Fathom leaping, putting herself in harm’s way. The creature pounced, knocking Eva’s frail body to the ground, and the beast’s fangs took hold.

In the distance, Aaron Stowe watched in horror. What was Secretary doing there? “Panther!” he yelled. “Just scare them! Come back! Release! Retreat!”

But it was too late. Secretary was down. And the Panther wasn’t letting up. Aaron panicked. “Secretary!” he whispered. He shoved his hand into his pocket, pulled out the two heart attack spells, and sent them flying at Panther, yelling, “Heart attack!” as he did so.

The heart-shaped components sprouted wings and flew straight and true, hitting Panther in the side. The beast stopped cold, held her position for a second, and then toppled over to one side in the grass next to Eva Fathom.

Neither one moved.

A second later Artiméans streamed out of the mansion to defend their world. Aaron stared. And then he turned around and ran as fast as he could back into the jungle.

With all the children safe inside, Claire rushed back outside and pushed her way to Eva’s side. The nurses were already there. But there was nothing they could do. Eva Fathom was dead.

For what seemed like an eternity, no one knew what to say. Eva Fathom had sacrificed her life for the sake of Artimé.

“We should summon Alex so Carina can come,” Claire said quietly. She looked at Mr. Appleblossom, who nodded. “She threw herself in front of that panther. If she hadn’t, it would have gotten the children.” She shook her head, sickened by the frightening beast. “Where in the world . . . ?” she said. She’d never seen anything like it.

The nurses covered Eva Fathom’s body, picked her up, and
brought her inside the mansion. Claire couldn’t tear her eyes away from the beast lying still in the grass. Next to it were two used heart attack components. “Who cast these?” she asked, looking around.

No one claimed the deed.

“Whoever did it most surely saved lives,” Claire said. But she felt uneasy inside. Had her ears played tricks on her, or had she heard Eva shouting to Aaron, of all people? Was
he
responsible for the creature’s attack? Or for its demise? Claire hadn’t seen anything in her haste to protect the children.

“Reluctant heroes in our midst, perhaps?” suggested Mr. Appleblossom, and then he declared, “May paybacks for a good deed never lapse.”

Claire frowned, sizing up the creature. It was bigger than a man, but not nearly so big as Simber. “I’m pretty sure this panther’s not dead,” she said as Gunnar ran out to join them. “She took a double hit, but I believe the spell will wear off eventually even if we don’t release it.” She looked up. “What’ll we do with her? She’s actually very beautiful when she’s not charging toward you.”

“Look at those fangs!” Haluki said with a wistful smile. He
touched the panther’s back. “I’m glad she’s not dead. I know her. I’ll take her back where she belongs.”

Claire twisted her neck to look at him. “You
know
her? How is that possible? I don’t remember ever seeing her before. Did my father make her?”

“Yes, he did,” Gunnar said, nodding. “Call everyone to go inside, and keep them there until the panther and I are long gone. All right?”

“Are you sure she won’t hurt you?”

“I’m sure.” Gunnar touched her sleeve. “I’ll be back soon.”

Claire smiled, and then she turned and ordered everyone into the mansion. The people of Artimé lined the windows, peering out, ever so curious to know how Gunnar Haluki would tame this wild beast.

When everyone was safely inside, Gunnar held his hand toward the panther and released the heart attack spells. As the panther lifted her head, the former high priest spun around. His body blurred, and when he stopped moving, a giant gray wolf—with kind blue eyes—stood in Haluki’s place.

The panther struggled to her feet as the wolf moved to help her. They put their heads close together for a long moment,
as if the panther and the wolf were old friends getting reacquainted.

When the panther had recovered enough to stand and move on her own, the feline and canine friends slowly trotted off to the jungle together.

T
he ship traveled several hours, Sean peering anxiously ahead from his chair on the deck and Lani asking now and then if Simber could see anything.

“Still no,” Simber said. “It is endlessly the same. Waterrr and sky meeting at the horrrizon.”

By late afternoon, Alex grew restless. “Nothing new?”

“Nothing new,” Simber said.

Samheed wisely held his tongue.

Florence kept a constant watch over the sea, forever uneasy on the open water since the eel had attacked. And while she was pretty sure Karkinos had ended up munching on the
squirmy tail end of the eel, no one really knew for sure if it was the same eel they’d encountered before, despite its increased size, or if there was more than one eel out there. And Florence wasn’t about to take any chances.

“Simber,” she asked suddenly, looking up, “have you seen Spike lately?”

Simber frowned. “I’m surrre she’s fine,” he said, but he dropped back anyway to look for the whale.

Alex watched him go. When the stone cheetah grew small in the distance, Alex turned to scan the horizon for any sign of land.

Some time later, when Alex went to check on the giant cat, a flash caught his eye. Spike’s sparkly spike was reflecting some sunlight. A bird-size Simber flew in the air above, heading toward the ship at a lazy pace.

“They’re coming,” Alex told Florence. The statue seemed relieved to hear it.

At first, almost no one noticed that the ship had begun to go faster. Ahab gave a shout, but he was always giving shouts about something, and no one paid much attention to him these days. Lani glanced up methodically, then went back to her map.

It was Sean, from his comfortable perch near the ship’s wheel, who looked sharply at the captain after the old statue shouted again.

“What’s that you’re saying?” he asked.

“The ghost of the whale!” Ahab cried, reaching for the ropes that would lower the sails. “She’s got ahold of the ship once more!”

Samheed rushed over to help Ahab. “What’s happening?”

“That ghoulish monster has overtaken us,” Ahab mumbled. He yanked at the ship’s wheel.

“But Pirate Island is back the other way,” Samheed said. “Are you sure?” He tied down the sails and looked at Sean. “Are we still speeding up?” he asked, incredulous.

“We are,” Sean said, perplexed.

By now Alex had felt it too, and seen the flurry of activity. “Something’s happening,” he muttered to Florence as he passed by her. “Call everyone on deck.”

Lani put away her map and strained to see what was happening. “Land?” But she soon realized the excitement had nothing to do with land.

The ship pummeled over the waves, and the sea turned
choppy. Alex didn’t understand it. It couldn’t be a storm. In front of them was the same sky they’d seen all day, except the morning clouds had all dissipated. Only the sea looked different. Whitecaps fizzed and churned around the ship as its speed continued to increase. Samheed dodged obstacles as he ran to the bow to see what was happening, while Florence began calling out instructions to everyone.

“Simber!” Alex called.

The stone cheetah looked up from a quarter mile behind them, where he’d been flying along with Spike. He and the whale began moving faster to catch up with the ship. “What’s wrrrong?” bellowed the cat when he was close enough to be heard by the boy.

But Alex didn’t have time to answer, because from the front of the ship, Samheed began yelling. “Holy moly!” he said. “Captain, turn it around! Turn it around!” Samheed whirled about, fear on his face. “Somebody lower the anchor—we need to stop. NOW!”

Lani rushed to release and unfurl the anchor. Alex ran to Samheed at the bow, slipping and sliding on the deck as spray splashed everywhere. “What is it?” Alex asked. “What’s happening?”

“See for yourself,” Samheed said, distressed. He pointed ahead.

The place where the sky met the sea no longer seemed like a spot far off in the distance as it always had in the past. There seemed to be an end to the sea now, and it had grown steadily closer. The ship was barreling toward that point. Alex sucked in a breath. “Buckets of crud,” he said. “It’s the edge of the world!”

“And we’re about to fall off,” Samheed said. “At top speed. It’s pulling us to it.”

Alex stared, trying to figure out what to do, what to tell everyone else to do. His eyes grew wider with each passing second. Spray and foam created an eerie fog that rose in front of them, distorting their view. A sound like the constant rumbling of thunder began, and grew louder. He looked over his shoulder and shrieked, “Simber!”