By morning all of Artimé knew that Alex Stowe was the one who had almost gotten them discovered and killed. Of course, if Alex or anyone was anywhere inside the world of Artimé, he probably wouldn’t have been detected by the governors, who merely saw the same desolate scene that the Unwanteds had seen when they first trudged through the black iron gate six months before. But Mr. Today was not usually one to take chances when it came to protecting his world, and it had been the standard protocol during all the biannual governor inspections since the beginning of Artimé to place all the citizens on lockdown inside their magically hidden rooms.
Mr. Today, despite his creativity, was a man of order, and he liked for everyone to be in their proper places and not roaming about. For what if the spell broke? What if a chaotic fight broke out in the lounge or in the theater, or what if a student wandered off and was attacked in the jungle, and Mr. Today was unavailable to handle the situation? No, it was safest for him to know and be assured that each person and domesticated creature was secured in his appropriate place during that stressful half-day visit.
All the people and creatures that did follow the instructions would of course be very upset with the one who didn’t. And so, when word got out that it was Alex Stowe who had seemingly defied their dear and faithful leader, and that it was Alex Stowe who had put them all in danger, well … almost no one could muster up an ounce of pity for him.
Meghan, though she had been furious early on, tried to swallow her anger when she talked to Alex at lunch. And Lani sent him pitying glances from her soulful blue eyes. But by then Alex was so utterly mortified by all the other harsh looks and pointing fingers and whispers hidden by cupped hands that he weaseled his way out of the dining room the first chance he got and closed himself in his room for the rest of the day, skipping his private lesson with Ms. Octavia, as well as Actors’ Studio with Mr. Appleblossom, even though it meant missing his star performance in Perseus! Perseus!
Alex went into his bedroom, shut the door so he could partially block out Clive’s endless yapping, and curled up on the bed, pinching his eyes shut to stop the headache that stabbed at him.
In and out he breathed, wishing with all his might that he could just go back to Quill, where he wouldn’t have expectations or dreams or hopes or imagination or responsibilities at all. He could just be. Not have everyone angry with him. Not be the only one who didn’t succeed. In Quill he’d be surrounded by people whose idea of success was getting up every day and picking corn or fixing the rusty, uncreative boxlike buses and Quillitary tanks, preparing endlessly, mindlessly, for a day that would never come. Indeed Alex felt like he’d become an Unwanted all over again.
He thought about his brother, which hurt even more. “Aaron would understand. Aaron would be there for me,” he said, as if he were challenging anyone to deny it. “I just wish … at least … he knew I was alive.”
His inner Alex didn’t respond.
Eventually Alex fell into a fitful sleep. What he didn’t know was that while he slept, a secret meeting of adults occurred in a very large office at the end of a mostly invisible hall way nearby.
Mr. Today’s Office
Mr. Today rose from behind his desk when the two ladies arrived. “Hello, Claire, Octavia,” he said.
Octavia shook Mr. Today’s hand with a lithe tentacle of her own, and Claire placed a kiss on the man’s cheek. “You’re looking a bit less harried this evening,” Claire said.
The old mage tugged absently at his whimsical hair. “The scare is over for now,” he said, but his voice was grim. “But it doesn’t change the situation. It was a very close call, and I’m not sure how many more times I can sustain the visits before the governors begin to suspect something. I could have sworn I saw a ripple along the edge of the Lake of Oil when Alex was out wandering.” He ran his fingers over his hair now, trying to smooth it down. “Octavia, what’s the latest?”
Octavia gripped the arms of a chair and slid up to the seat. Her tentacles moved about softly, one rubbing thoughtfully along the top of her long alligator snout, another adjusting her spectacles, and others dangling all around the edge of the chair like a flouncy skirt, wavering gently as if they were floating in water. “Well, Marcus. You know how I feel. The boy’s growing desperate—I can see it in his drawings. He’s completely brilliant, and should have been in Magical Warrior Training months ago. He skipped his private lesson today, you know.…” She clicked her tongue against her enormous teeth and shook her head slowly. “I’m not sure we’re doing the right thing at all by holding him back.”
“Claire?”
Claire sighed. “I am growing less sure of that myself every day now. Gunnar spotted him deep in the jungle before the governors arrived, and tracked him along the stream all the way to the shore, where the boat rests. Alex is spending all his time alone—and frankly, I don’t blame him. Everyone’s angry with him, and he feels bad now that he’s the only one not in magical training. It’s only making matters worse.”
Mr. Today shook his head and sank back in his chair. “Oh, oh, oh,” he said quietly, “what to do? I am afraid that if Alex starts training, he will use his magic to find his brother. The powerful connection between twins … It’s a huge risk we don’t need right now, especially now that Aaron is in Justine’s good graces and under her watchful eye.” He pressed his two forefingers to his lips and closed his eyes, thinking hard. For several minutes he remained quite still. When he opened his eyes, they were moist. “How I wish I could have convinced Justine to eliminate both twins, but she wouldn’t have it,” he said. “The Wanted twin, not one infraction. Not even a hint of one. If Alex wasn’t able to tempt Aaron into drawing in the dirt, I’m not sure Aaron would’ve been much use here, but at least we wouldn’t have this potential problem on our hands.”