“Ooh, a holiday,” Meghan said dreamily. “Nobody ever does that! Where is there to go? I thought holidays were only in books.”
Lani’s lips parted in surprise. “So . . . he wants you?” she said softly.
“Well, he mentioned something like that, but I said no thanks.” Alex turned to Meghan. “He wants to go back to the island where he grew up.”
Samheed narrowed his eyes. “He wasn’t born here?”
“I guess not,” Alex said. He didn’t know how much Mr. Today would want him to say, so he remained vague.
“Why did you say no?” Lani’s eyes blazed.
Alex looked at her, surprised. “Because I’d be a terrible leader.”
“What?” Meghan exclaimed. “No you wouldn’t. Don’t be so thick.” She sat back on the seat. “Besides, this place practically runs itself by now, doesn’t it? And it’s just for a holiday. What’s that, a few weeks maybe?”
Alex scowled at the table and said nothing.
Lani stared at Alex. Meghan looked at Samheed and then back at Alex.
“Oh. So, not a few weeks,” Lani said. “Longer, then?”
Samheed leaned forward, elbows on the table. “All right, Stowe. What’s this really all about?”
Alex, feeling a headache coming on, pressed his fingers to his temples. “For some stupid reason, Mr. Today thought I would make a good future leader. A permanent one for after he . . . you know . . . gets too old. Like in ten years. So he wanted to start training me a bit at a time now so I can help Ms. Morning while he’s on his little holiday, and then slowly take over some other things because Ms. Morning doesn’t want the job permanently. But I said no, because I’d stink at it, so that’s that. Okay? Can we drop it?”
Samheed stared, mouth open.
Lani sat quiet, the corners of her lips twitching downward, eyes trained to a nebulous spot across the room.
Meghan, grinning, patted Alex’s arm. “That is quite hilarious,” she said. “Good one, Al.”
Everyone was awkwardly silent. Meghan’s smile slowly disappeared. She looked from face to face. “Not a joke?” she asked.
Alex shook his head slightly.
Lani nudged Samheed, indicating she wanted out of the booth. “I have to go,” she said, her voice wavering. When Samheed saw the look on her face, he scrambled to his feet so she could slide out. She shoved past him and ran to the tubes, leaving the others staring, speechless.
Alex just sat there. “Did I miss something? What just happened?” he asked. “Is she sick?”
Megan shrugged, mystified.
Samheed, still standing, looked at Alex and finally shrugged. “I guess I’ll go see if she’s okay, then,” he said. He turned, strode quickly to the tubes, and disappeared.
Throwing Stones
It took Samheed quite some time to find Lani after checking the mansion and ringing her blackboard to see if she was in her room. He jogged by the gate and asked the girrinos if they’d seen her, but they said only Sean Ranger and a few others had left Artimé that day.
Eventually he saw her outside by the shore. The sea was fairly calm today, and Lani was skipping stones over the water and letting the low waves wash up over her bare feet. Her toenails were painted fluorescent purple.
He walked over and stood next to her, not saying anything at first. He spied a few stones so he picked them up and wiped the sand off of them to see if they were good for throwing. When he had a handful, he offered them to Lani. “These look like they might skip,” he said.
“Thanks,” she said. She took them and gave one a try. It skidded over the water and she counted. “Seven. Not bad.”
Samheed found a few more and tried one himself. His bounced once and plopped into the water with a glug.
“Twist your arm a little,” she said. “Like it’s a throwing star.”
He did what she said and managed three skips. “Meh,” he said. “I was never very good at this.”
“You’re dead-on with spells though.”
Samheed nodded. “True.” When he was out of stones, he wiped the sand off his hands, took off his shoes, and rolled up his pant legs. “Wanna walk?” he said. He started walking slowly toward the jungle.
After a moment Lani caught up to him. They sloshed through the water side by side in silence for a long time, Samheed just thinking, watching the sand that stretched out immediately before him, and Lani with her eyes half-closed, face angled toward the sky.
When they got past the jungle to the lagoon where Ms. Morning’s big white boat gleamed, Samheed pointed to an old downed log. “I sit here sometimes,” he said. “Only when the platyprots aren’t around though. They’re so annoying.”
Lani grinned and sat down. “I know,” she said.
Samheed sat next to her. “Are you ever tempted to give that boat a try?”
“Every time I see it,” Lani said. “You?”
“Yeah.”
They watched the water for a bit longer, and then Samheed spoke again. “So. Did you kill Justine?”
Lani looked at him in surprise. “What? Where did that come from?” she said with a little laugh.
“Well, did you?” Samheed asked. “You did, didn’t you.”
She looked away, trying to hide a grin. And then she shrugged one shoulder and tilted her head, looking out over the water.
Samheed regarded her for a moment, his esteem for her rising mightily, not only because she had the guts to kill the High Priest Justine, but that she managed to keep it to herself all this time.