“Just . . .” Aaron fidgeted. “Just tell her to hold off and stand down if she feels outnumbered. We aren’t in a race.”
“Okay.” She took it upon herself to end their little meeting and went back to sit at the table and finish her food.
Aaron watched her, incredulous, and then cleared his throat loudly. “Eva?”
Eva turned to look at him, surprised. “Yes?”
“Now.”
Eva and the other three paused simultaneously, hands to mouths, and stared at Aaron.
“Now,” he said again, and pointed to the back door. “Go.”
The former secretary to the High Priest Justine hesitated, and then slowly placed her spoon back into her full bowl of soup. She stood, infuriated, and without a word or a second glance, walked out the back door of the Haluki home, seething, and disappeared.
» » « «
When she reached the home of Gondoleery Rattrapp, she entered quietly. Gondoleery sat at her table staring at the spell components, rolling them around in her fingers, deep in thought. She startled and stood up when Eva cleared her throat.
“I have a message for you,” Eva announced. “Aaron Stowe requests that your team head over to Artimé now. There you’ll find a gate up. Release the magic spell on it, or break it down if you have to,” she said, looking at Gondoleery, “and attack immediately.”
The Weekly Peace Meeting
As the sun set over the distant islands Marcus Today sat at his dressing table in his private chambers. He adjusted his robe on his shoulders and secured it, just so, around his neck. He doffed his favorite slippers and put on his walking shoes for the trip into Quill. But then he chuckled to himself, remembering he’d put the gate up again. Perhaps he wouldn’t walk into Quill today after all.
The walk was one of his favorite parts of his new routine since the battle. Sometimes Claire accompanied him, and that gave him some lovely time to spend with his daughter. But he really favored the walk when he was alone. While the road was hot, and the odor and scenery left much to be desired along the way to the palace, it was often quite deserted for a good portion of the way, and it gave Mr. Today some much needed peace and quiet from the mostly friendly chaos that had overtaken Artimé. It was good for him to be alone sometimes, he knew. And occasional solitude was especially good for the creative mind. Some of his best ideas of the past months came out of that weekly walk. The greatest of which was Alex Stowe.
The boy was young, but Marcus had no doubt that he would flourish in the years ahead. And the old mage was set on helping Alex build his self-confidence and belief in himself as being worthy of the title of mage of Artimé. It would take time, but Alex would come around eventually.
As Marcus smoothed his flyaway shock of hair, he thought back on his meetings with Alex over the past months. How fun it was to surprise the boy with his eccentric ideas. How smart Alex was, and how capable. And how disappointed the boy could get when he wanted something so badly but was denied. He knew back then that Alex would feel incapable of being mage. He also knew, more than Alex himself, that Alex wouldn’t want anyone else taking the job from him.
“Oh!” he said to his image in the mirror. “That reminds me. . . .”
He picked up a pencil and scribbled a note to himself for after the meeting:
Teach Alex Triad spells
He chuckled to himself as he put his pencil down. “Oh dear. Getting forgetful,” he said. “It wouldn’t do to leave out that little gem, now would it. In fact . . . I’ll grab it now.” He got up and walked out of his chambers and across the hall to the Museum of Large. Inside he gazed at the overflowing piles of books for a long moment, concentrating. Slowly he walked halfway down the library wall to the very center of the middle shelf, and pulled out a thin, handwritten diary simply called The Triad: Live, Hide, Restore.
He brought the book to his chambers and set it on his dressing table so he wouldn’t forget to give it to Alex that night.
A moment later there was a light tapping on the doorframe. Ms. Morning poked her head in.
“Hello, dear,” Mr. Today said, smiling brightly.
“Ready, Father?”
“Just about,” he said. “Has Alex returned with the boat?”
“Not yet,” Ms. Morning said. She was starting to get worried, but she knew that there was no better companion for Alex to have than Simber. “I’m sure they’ll be back before we get home after the meeting.”
“Perhaps we should wait.”
Claire smiled. “Father, you put us in charge. Alex is no doubt handling everything with utmost care. And if he and Simber are not back by morning, obviously you can cancel your trip.”
Mr. Today nodded. “You’re right. You know, Claire, this is very good for me, to let go of a few things now and then.”
“I know,” she said.
Mr. Today turned to Charlie, the gargoyle. “Charlie, can you let Gunnar know we’re on the way?”
Charlie gave Mr. Today three thumbs-up. He’d always felt very lucky to have three thumbs, so he used them all whenever the opportunity arose.
Mr. Today and Ms. Morning left the mage’s private chambers and walked across the hall to the kitchenette. Ms. Morning stepped to the side of the tube and flourished regally with her hand to her father. “Age before beauty, as they say.”
Mr. Today chuckled softly and stepped into the tube.
Silence
Meghan!” Alex hoisted Meghan’s limp, sodden body into the boat, nearly toppling over when her foot caught on the ladder. He yanked her free and they both fell to the deck. “Meg!” he cried out again.