Alex swallowed hard and looked at his lap.
Mr. Today shuffled some papers on his desk, and then stood. “Come. I’ll walk you back.”
Alex got to his feet and followed Mr. Today to the hallway.
“So, Alex,” Mr. Today said, taking on a lighter tone, “How are your studies now that you’re in training? All going well?” But he seemed to be searching for something deeper.
Alex thought of the dreams. The doorway. His heart ached at the thought of never seeing Aaron again. Finally he looked up at Mr. Today. “Everything’s really going great. I like it here.”
Mr. Today gazed at Alex as they walked, his face indecipherable. After a moment he smiled sadly. “Good,” he said. “I’m very glad of that.”
Where There’s a Will
Where are you going?” Lani demanded, tapping her foot loudly near the library tubes, making several creatures, students, and statues scowl in her direction. “You’re always sneaking around these days.”
“I’m busy,” Alex said.
“With what?”
“Um … spells. Lethal stuff. That reminds me,” he said, trying desperately to think of a way to change the subject so that Lani would leave him alone—he was so close to finishing his doorway. “I really want to know what the incantation is for turning scatterclips lethal. Any idea?”
Lani cocked her head. “I don’t know.”
“Well, can you find out? I’d like to learn that one. I mean, not because I’ll ever use it. I mean just in case.”
Lani’s eyes widened. “You mean you’d kill someone, if it came to that?”
“I’m not saying that.”
“I think you are.”
Alex shrugged. “Only if I had to. I don’t ever want to kill anybody.”
Lani was silent. She turned. “I’ll see what I can find out,” she said, wandering off into the rows and rows of books.
When she was out of sight, Alex slipped through the doorway to the stairwell and bounded up the steps to the third floor. He peered into the window, saw that all was dark, and went inside. Then he tiptoed back to his table to finally finish up his painting.
Before an hour had passed, he made a final stroke with his brush and stood back. The door practically grew thicker on the table, it looked so realistic. Alex grinned, certain this time it would work. He gazed at it a little longer and felt a thrill run through him as he thought about finally seeing his brother again. He glanced around, wondering if he could find a free wall in the library, but all the walls were covered with bookshelves. So he rolled it up carefully and packed up his brushes and pencils.
As he grabbed his backpack, he heard the creak of the door. Two voices spoke in hushed sounds. One of them Alex recognized. It was Samheed.
Immediately Alex tensed; then he silently took his things and stepped behind a shelf, his back up against it, facing the tiki totem pole. His breath came in a shallow, quiet flow and his skin erupted with goose bumps, and he cursed himself for not having an invisibility paintbrush with him. He could hear the two, louder now that the door had closed, settling in at a table near the front. Alex was trapped. He crept closer so he could hear them better and see them through the space between shelves.
“The hinges are all wrong. See there?” Samheed said, pointing to a door eerily similar to the one Alex had finally just perfected.
“I know! I’m trying,” Will said crossly. “This isn’t exactly my area of expertise.”
“Let me try.”
“You’ve tried and you can’t do it either. Just be quiet. I’m concentrating.”
“I could ask Alex,” Samheed said.
Will laughed out loud. “Sam, you are even stupider than you look. Alex is being extremely helpful from afar already. Involving him would wreck everything. You know yourself how much he still thinks of his fink of a brother.”
Samheed’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing for a moment. He pulled out a chair and sat backward on it. “Yeah, maybe I am stupid, because I don’t get why you even want to go back there. I mean, sure, you can scare the skivvies off Aaron Stowe for taking your spot with the governors, but what good will that do? You’ll expose Artimé, and we’ll have to fight.”
Will tossed his pencil, frustrated. “Look. I don’t plan on anybody finding out who I really am, okay? At least not at first—not with my theatrical disguise, courtesy of your loser friend Alex and my incredible magical abilities. And believe me, when I get done with Aaron, he won’t be able to tell a soul.”
Alex sucked in a breath, and he nearly lost his grip on his 3-D door.
Samheed looked up as if he’d heard something, but then turned back to Will. “What do you mean? Are you going to kill him or something?” He laughed nervously.
Will Blair just shook his head and scowled. He picked up his pencil again and started working on the door.
“Seriously, Will,” Samheed said when Will didn’t answer. His voice grew quiet. “Are you planning to kill him?”
“I prefer the term ‘eliminate,’” Will said, snarling. “You have a problem with that? Or do I have to get rid of you, too?”
Samheed’s face turned green in the eerie blue light from the table. “No,” he whispered. “Of course not.”
Alex’s heart and mind raced. How on earth was he going to get out of here, get to Aaron in time to warn him? He could only hope that Will wasn’t close enough to finishing the doorway tonight before they packed up, or there would be serious problems. If he could only get to his bedroom! But no, stupid Clive would know what he was up to if he disappeared from the bedroom, and no doubt he would alert Mr. Today. Alex couldn’t risk that. Where else could Alex go that no one would see him?