Ms. Morning reared back. “Watch out!” she cried. The children of Warbler didn’t seem so innocent anymore.
“Attack!” shouted Alex, but he wasn’t to be heard above the noise.
“Attack!” yelled Simber and Florence together.
Alex, narrowly dodging a boulder, fired off several rounds of scatterclips, sending half a dozen Warblerans to the sides of the ships. At the same time, the original rounds of scatterclips began to wear off, leaving those enemies dangling unceremoniously about the water by a clip or two.
The next group of Warblerans emerged from their temporary spells, and they charged into the chaos, looking around desperately as if they were searching for someone. And of course they were.
The battle shifted. Caught off guard, Alex switched his verbal components to permanent chants and began laying Warblerans out across the shore, one by one.
“Florence, permanent spells from here on out,” he said, and Florence yelled out the command. When he had a second, Alex turned around to see what had become of his people. At least a third of them were on the ground. The rest were fighting valiantly, Sky among them.
“Sky!” Alex cried. “Go! Like we talked about!”
But his voice was lost in the battle. He sought out Crow, Sam, and Lani, but they too were out of hearing.
Frustrated, Alex turned back to see the third wave of Warbler fighters come to life as their spells wore off. At the sight of the weapons, Mr. Appleblossom had returned with an apparent change of heart. He stuck by Alex’s side, having pushed his way forward to assist now that so many of Artimé’s front line were flattened.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Alex said, seeing the eccentric theater instructor. “Let’s split these up and be done, shall we? Scatterclips seem to be the answer here.”
Together they fired a dozen smart rounds of scatterclips, sending all but a few of the Warblerans smacking into the sides of ships. The few whose paths were not in a direct line with a ship flew past them and kept going, out of sight.
When Alex ran out of scatterclips, he pulled out a new spell component that Meghan had created and popped it into his mouth. He blew through his lips, and a long, thin bubble emerged, taking the form of a sword. Alex grabbed the bubble sword and began swiping it at the oncoming attackers, sending them bouncing in various directions, where others could subdue them.
Mr. Appleblossom followed up with a new abstract spell, which caused the Warbler attackers’ body parts to scramble, causing mass confusion.
Once the last of the Warblerans at the shoreline was rendered useless, Alex and Mr. Appleblossom turned to see who might have gotten past them. As it turned out, a great number of them had.
The two charged toward the enemy, meeting up with Sean and Carina near the entrance to Quill. “Over there!” Carina cried. “They’ve got Crow.” She rushed off, and when she was in range, fired off a variety of spells. Crow fell to the ground. Carina scooped him up and ran inside the mansion.
“Sean,” Alex said, “we’ve got to get Sam, Meg, and Lani into the mansion. Sky, too, if you can find her.” He looked all around, knowing Sky must be outside. There was no way she would have gone to the library without Crow.
Alex ran toward Henry just as the boy was being held against a tree with a knife to his throat, and quickly put a stop to that. Then the two turned to see a concerted effort by adult Unwanteds, not known for their magical fighting abilities, who pooled some swan song spells and sent eight Warblerans squawking and waddling in a circle all at once.
“Well done!” Alex shouted to them. “Can you do it again?”
With a few more quick blasts by each Unwanted who was still able, the remaining Warblerans were soon contained in one way or another—many of them stone-cold statues, reminding Alex a little too much of how things had looked on these grounds not so long ago.
As the noise died down, Alex, breathing hard, whirled around to assess the damage. “Be very sure you’ve got the attackers contained by permanent spells. Check each one over to be certain no one is faking.”
The Unwanteds set out.
Alex turned to Florence and Simber. “What’s happening out there at the ships?”
“Simber’s going to take a look if you think it’s wise.”
The enormous cat stood patiently, waiting for Alex’s reply.
Alex thought for a moment, worried that a boulder in a catapult could hurt the statue. “Okay,” he said, his voice guarded. “But be nimble.”
The cat needed no further urging. He leaped into the air and flapped his enormous wings. It took only seconds for him to soar high over the ships and release a shattering roar. Moments later, Simber didn’t need to make any announcement as to what was happening. Whoever remained on the ships began pulling anchors and raising sails. Those stuck to the sides of the ships began screaming in fear, but the ships pulled away, leaving great numbers of their own people dropping into the water or frozen stiff on shore.
“Get our wounded inside!” Alex commanded the Unwanteds. “Ms. Morning, Henry, and the rest of the nurses are already heading in there. Let’s go!” He paused and looked at the Warblerans in the water, knowing they probably couldn’t swim. “And get a team of good swimmers and the squirrelicorns to rescue them right away.” The Unwanteds jumped to action.
Alex stepped around a boulder and lifted the shoulders of a woman, her forehead bleeding. He and Mr. Appleblossom picked her up and carried her into the mansion. They placed her on a bed and turned around to go back for another, watching as the long stream of wounded limped or were carried inside.