Island of Fire

“I’m not sure I can fix this,” Alex murmured to Simber as the people spread out down the entire length of the hallway and sat leaning against the wall.

“You don’t have a choice,” Simber muttered back.

Alex, facing yet another obstacle and feeling extremely hungry and thirsty himself, gripped his head and let out a frustrated groan. He headed down the hall toward the kitchenette across from Mr. Today’s office, Unwanteds lining the hallway all the way to the end, where the big picture window was. And just when Alex was trying to figure out how to tell the Unwanteds that he didn’t know how to get them out of there without putting them all back into the gray shack and somehow shutting down the world all over again, a small voice in the doorway of the kitchenette uttered a single word. The voice belonged to Henry, and the word he said was “Dad?”

Touch and Go

Henry ran into the kitchenette, Alex right behind him. Gunnar Haluki’s limp body spilled out of the corner tube onto the floor. His hands were tied behind his back, and his ankles were tied together too. His eyes were nearly closed, his face thin and drawn, his lips parched, and his gray hair ragged and unkempt. His clothes were ripped and ruined, and they hung loosely on him. It wasn’t clear how long he’d been lying there or where he’d come from.

The boys kneeled down beside the former high priest. “Simber, we need healers!” Alex called out. Simber loped down the center of the hall and, to the Unwanteds, seemed to disappear through the solid wall at the end.

“Dad?” Henry said again, pulling his father’s sleeve. “Dad. Can you hear me?” Like a natural, Henry checked his father’s vitals while Alex untied the man and rolled him onto his back. Murmurs wafted through the group of Unwanteds as people expressed cautious joy that the good man was alive and here with them. Henry glanced at them when he heard the kind words, and he smiled gratefully as he worked. He got up and poured some water into a cup as Simber returned.

“None of the nurrrses can get in,” he said, “but I know Gunnarrr can get out. Shall I take him thrrrough to them on my back?”

“Great idea. Good thinking, Simber,” Alex said. He and a few of the others helped hoist Gunnar onto the giant stone cheetah’s back.

“But what about me?” Henry said. “I need to stay with him.”

His lip quivered enough to make Alex hesitate, but in the end, Alex knew what was best.

“I’m sorry, little guy,” Alex said. He kneeled next to the boy. “Now that Artimé is back, the nurses can help him way better than we can. And we need him to get help right away.” He glanced at Simber. “Did you happen to notice if the hospital wing is still in place?”

“I did, and it is, just as it was beforrre.”

Finally one thing is working out right, Alex thought. “Good. Okay, Henry, give your dad some encouragement, and then off he goes.”

Henry leaned down and spoke softly in his father’s ear. Then he patted his father’s shoulder and stepped out of the way, his face a facade of bravery. Simber carried Gunnar carefully down the hallway so he wouldn’t slip off. They disappeared through the wall, and all was quiet.

The Unwanteds’ faces were troubled. High Priest Haluki had been good to them. And they certainly didn’t want to see young Henry lose the last remaining member of his family.

A few of the people went over to Henry to offer him comfort and distraction, while Alex assigned others to pass out water and some of Mr. Today’s favorite cookies, which he found in the cupboard. When everyone was busy, Alex returned to the kitchenette and approached the tube to see if he could send something up from the main kitchen.

Don’t ever use that tube, Mr. Today had once told Alex. It goes to Haluki’s house and other nasty places.

“Like where?” Alex muttered to himself. He hesitated, and then stepped toward it. Without setting foot inside, he poked his head in so he could see the mini blackboard and the controls. But instead of the destination descriptions he was used to seeing in all the other tubes—lounge, library, dining, and room service—this one had only numbers with no explanations to go with them.

Alex pressed his fingers to his throbbing temples. Everything was happening all at once. He couldn’t seem to catch a break. He had to focus now on getting the people out of this hallway. But how?

A cool hand touched his arm, and he turned to see that it was Meghan. She smiled at him, but there was a question in her eyes. He knew the look well enough.

“I’m okay,” he said, and then the words flooded out. “There are just so many crazy things happening. I don’t even know how to get everybody out of here. And Haluki . . . he obviously escaped, but how? And I feel so bad about not trying to rescue him before, you know? But how could we?”

Meghan nodded.

“I mean, I had no idea he’d been treated like this. And wow,” he said, shaking his head, “we just barely had enough energy to keep ourselves alive. How could we possibly go rescue him, too? It’s all so much . . . it’s too much. But did you look at him? I feel terrible.”

Meghan reached her arms around her friend and hugged him.

Just then Simber bounded down the hallway and stopped at the open door to the kitchenette. “Alex,” he said, “Gunnarrr spoke.”

“Oh, good,” Alex breathed. Maybe the man had looked worse off than he really was.

“He said Clairrre’s alive. She’s in his house, locked in the pantrrry.”