She stalked five paces, feeling a bit silly now, having no idea which direction might be correct, when she saw two dents in the grass. She charged forward as the dents moved, and then she reached out and grabbed an invisible something. But it got loose and Lani could hear Alex cackling as he reached the hard footpath, leaving her no more clues as to his whereabouts. She shrugged at Ms. Morning. “I guess I give up,” she said with a half grin.
The audience roared its applause for the demonstrators as Samheed returned at a gallop, Lani clapping too, until she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned and didn’t see anyone.
“You were great,” Alex whispered in her ear. Her hair smelled like mangos. He squeezed her shoulder, and not really knowing why, other than the adrenaline of the chase, or the fear of the guns, or the amazing feeling of being invisible in front of all these people, or perhaps it was the contrast of her bright blue eyes and her shiny black hair, but Alex, feeling suddenly quite daring, pulled Lani a little closer and pressed his lips against her smooth cheek.
Lani froze. “What. Are you doing.”
Alex chuckled softly as the audience began looking for him. “Gotta go,” he said.
Lani blushed furiously as she felt Alex’s hand leave her shoulder. She turned around so her back was to the crowd and pretended to look for him. But all she could think about was that the boy with the kind brown eyes that she’d met on the Quill bus, the boy that she’d pelted with spells trying to get his attention, the boy who rarely noticed her whenever Meghan was around—that boy had just kissed her, right on the cheek.
A moment later, as the crowd’s applause died down and Samheed had gone back to his seat, the sound of an aerosol spray could be heard. Soon Alex, who had now sprayed himself with visible spray, was in full view again. He sauntered back to his place next to Samheed, a goofy little grin on his lips as the audience clapped once again. He glanced sidelong at Lani, giving her a sly wink as he sat back down.
Lani’s face grew hot again. She turned her attention to Ms. Morning and, trying very hard to resist touching the warm spot on her cheek, pretended quite convincingly to be enraptured by the rest of the demonstrations and lessons.
A Glimpse of Quill
At the end of class Alex, whose mind was now occupied with things other than Lani, slipped away from the others as they headed to lunch. He bounded up the marble staircase and stepped cautiously into the secret hallway, making sure no one was around. And then he crept down the hall toward Mr. Today’s office, knowing that the mage always had lunch with the students on Tuesdays.
When he got to the place where the glass wall had been, he put his hands out, determined not to run into it again, but as he inched forward, it became apparent that the wall was not in place. “There’s a bonus,” Alex whispered under his breath.
He slipped into the office, his ears tuned for any noise, and stared at the row of blackboards on the wall.
The three on the left showed various parts of Artimé, flashing from one scene to another every ten seconds or so. Alex waited until he saw the dining room, and noted that Mr. Today was walking about cheerfully, stopping and chatting at each table.
The remaining six blackboards showed moving views of Quill. Alex was horrified by how gray and desolate it looked—it was so much worse than he remembered. He watched each blackboard, intrigued. One blackboard showed repeating views of the four quadrants, where all the houses and farms stood. He strained to pick out his parents’ house from the vast expanse of rows and columns, but the picture changed too quickly for him to even come close to finding it.
He moved on and watched the Quillitary grounds for a moment. Soldiers and officers walked about mechanically, their faces expressionless. Some of them worked on tanks and other vehicles, and others toiled in a windowless room filled with sheets of rusty metal and a few cutting tools. Still others painstakingly poured liquid from a dented tin pail into a vehicle’s engine, careful not to spill a precious drop.
On the last two blackboards were flashing shots of government buildings and the palace of the High Priest Justine. Alex’s heart fluttered as he recognized the university grounds on one blackboard, and he waited anxiously for the scene to change, hoping against hope that he’d catch a glimpse of Aaron. Just to see him once, he thought. Just to know he’s okay.
While he saw many university students sitting rigidly at lunch, he didn’t see his brother. Disappointed, he turned to the palace and watched with slitted eyes as the scene showed the governors in a small meeting room, and then it flashed to the high priest herself, alone in her office. Alex scowled and turned back to the university blackboard, which now flashed from the cafeteria to an empty dormitory room to a classroom.
Alex shook his head sadly. Not only did the scenes of Quill depress him, but they also made him feel like he was so close to actually seeing Aaron, which made the results more disappointing.
Just as he was about to turn away and go down to lunch, he took one last look at the university blackboard. And there, in the once-empty dormitory room, was a dark-haired boy just entering. Alex’s heart leaped—was it him? Turn and look this way, he pleaded silently, but he knew instinctively, whether it was the way the boy slipped his jacket off, or the way he smoothed his Quillitary haircut just so, that it was Aaron.
Alex tugged nervously at his shirt collar as he watched his brother turn and hang up his jacket, almost as if he were reaching right through the wall to Alex. He touched his shaking fingers to the blackboard and gazed at Aaron. “So serious,” Alex whispered.