“One never knows, with you,” Samheed said, not very nicely. He looked at Alex, but Alex appeared to be lost in his own thoughts and not paying attention.
Lani’s eyes flared, but she held her tongue. She still stung a little from Simber’s whirlwind admonishment in the dining room several weeks before.
Meghan looked around. “Where is he? I don’t see him.”
“He never came down the stairs,” Lani said, her mouth full of pastry.
“He’s not as bad as you think,” Samheed said. “He’s just acting.”
Both girls snorted raucously at that, bringing Alex out of his trance.
“Hmm? What’s that?” Alex said. He checked the clock on the wall and downed the rest of his milk in one tremendous gulp.
“Oh, never mind,” Lani said. She finished her pastry, wiped her mouth on her napkin, and pushed her chair back. “Let’s go.”
The Team Warrior classes had been extended to two hours each morning and afternoon on the lawn. Each day it seemed more and more adult Unwanteds and mansion creatures sat in, some to brush up their fighting skills and others to observe curiously what sorts of magical items the new Unwanteds were creating.
Today Florence had them all sit on the lawn, since the first part of class was to be a lecture. The four friends sat two in front of two, and they whispered together in their little square about the new magical items they’d brought. When everyone was seated, Claire Morning came forward.
“For our lecture today,” Florence boomed, “we have Ms. Morning.”
While the audience applauded politely, Meghan cheered wildly, for the musical Ms. Morning was Meghan’s favorite instructor.
Alex leaned over to Samheed. “If we get an hour’s worth of music lessons, I think my head might explode.”
“In that case, bring on the music,” Samheed muttered.
Alex scowled to hide the sting. “Whatever.” He couldn’t figure Samheed out.
Lani shushed them both with pokes to their ribs as Ms. Morning began to speak.
“For the next four days we will be working on defensive skills,” she said. “Defensive skills are crucial to Artiméans, for if we are ever at war, we will be fighting against people with weapons very different from ours.”
Samheed grew somber as he remembered how he could have been an expert with the weapons of Quill by now. He jabbed Alex with his elbow and whispered, “Defense? We need to learn how to fight to kill. It’s the only way we’ll win against the Quillitary.”
Alex furrowed his brows. “I … I don’t know about that.…”
Ms. Morning continued. “Who can give me an example of a defensive skill?” She looked around at the group of students. “Gentlemen?” she said pointedly to Alex and Samheed, who were still whispering.
“You guys got caught,” Lani whispered merrily.
“And Lani,” Ms. Morning added. “The three of you come up to the front, please.”
Alex and Samheed snickered at Lani’s look of surprise as they went up front to join the instructor.
“Lani, you’ll be the enemy, standing back here with your weapons. No magic now from you, all right?”
Lani nodded and pretended to hold a weapon.
Ms. Morning turned to the boys, who were both a bit red-faced at being the center of attention. “At my command Lani will charge at you. You should have a variety of options in mind already about what to do. But remember right now we are simply doing defensive skills, so please don’t attack her with a magical item. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Alex said. “What sorts of weapons does the Quillitary have, actually?”
“Excellent question. Who has the answer?”
“Knives,” Samheed said. “Shields, too.”
“Pieces of horrid, rusty metal,” laughed someone.
“Oooh, and slingshots,” someone else hooted.
“Sticks and stones … and insults,” said another.
Some of the Artiméans didn’t laugh at that last one.
“Guns,” Lani said. The word rang out.
The crowd was still.
“Yes, some guns,” Ms. Morning said seriously. “Though they are not terribly powerful, they can pack a punch.”
“Most of them are BB or pellet guns,” Lani said with an air of authority that some might have questioned, “that could possibly kill birds, rabbitkeys, even small beavopps. But the governors all have handguns. Those are deadly to humans and large creatures.”
After a long, silent pause while the crowd looked at one another, Ms. Morning nodded. “Thank you, Ms. Haluki.” She turned back to face the three. “Ready?”
Alex and Samheed had been staring at Lani, not having known about the governors’ weapons, but now they both snapped their attention back to Ms. Morning. Lani faced her opponents, and the three of them nodded together. “Ready.”
“Go!”
Lani charged toward the boys as Alex immediately whipped a paintbrush from his pocket and waved it in front of himself, while Samheed whispered a chant.
In a matter of seconds Alex painted himself invisible, and Samheed jumped in the air and appeared to hang suspended, then shot off like lightning toward the jungle. Lani stopped short, aimed an imaginary pistol at Samheed, and whispered, “Bam.” She turned, wondering if she still had a chance to find Alex. The audience murmured while Lani studied the lush grass in front of her.