“I’m so sorry,” Alex murmured.
Henry looked around, a dazed expression on his face. “I’m really seriously so thirsty, Alex. There’s no water anywhere. It’s so hot here now. . . .”
Alex, taken aback by Henry’s strange reaction, worried that the boy was in shock, or dehydrated, or a perhaps both. Quickly he closed the door and urged Henry toward the kitchen. The jug on the counter was empty. He scrounged around in the pantry and realized there were several more jugs of water in there. He puzzled over them at first, wondering why Mr. Today would have so many here in this shack, but then he guessed that Mr. Today must have gotten a large supply of water every time the governors came, so that no one had to cart it all the way out to the Death Farm each week. Mr. Today had no use for it after he transformed the world again once the governors left, so clearly he stored it. It was a relief to see it.
Alex opened a jug and poured Henry a glass. He watched Henry slam it down and he filled the glass again, not really knowing how to hold all the grim news. “I’m . . . I’m really sorry about your mother,” he said finally, and his chest ached as he wished he didn’t have to tell Henry about Lani. Alex felt like he needed a second body to hold all of the extra sorrow. “Are you sad?”
“Yeah. But everything is so sad, you know? Mostly it just feels weird.” Henry gulped his second glass of water down, a little slower this time, and caught his breath before continuing. “Before she died she told me that she wanted to fight for Artimé even though it’s all gone, because she knew that you would be able to fix things.”
“Oh,” Alex said. “Oh . . . wow.” He didn’t know what else to say. He ripped his fingers through his tangled hair. “Buddy, I don’t know . . .”
Henry looked at Alex. “Where’s Lani? I thought she’d be with you and Meghan. Hey, Meghan,” he said, looking over at her. He waved.
Alex turned sharply. His eyes widened. “Meg,” he breathed. He rushed over to her. “You’re awake.” He grabbed her hand and held it, held her gaze. Her eyes flooded. “Don’t be sad,” he said. “Don’t worry. We’ll fix you. I promise.”
She nodded her head, touched the spikes around her neck, and mouthed, “I can’t speak.”
“I know. Here, can you drink some water? Henry, grab that glass of water and bring it over.” Gently he hoisted Meghan up and took the glass that Henry brought. He put it to her lips and she swallowed, wincing, but she drank it all.
“Phew,” he said. “Okay, good. That’s one good thing. No, two. We’re on a roll,” Alex said, looking at Henry. “You guys are both alive. Finally some good news.”
Meghan gave Alex a quizzical look.
Alex hesitated, but he knew Meghan was wondering where on earth they were. So he gave both Henry and Meghan the full story as he knew it, leaving out nothing. He didn’t notice that the two Silents, as he’d begun calling them, had come out of the bedroom to listen as well.
When Alex finished, Henry was as quiet as the others. He looked up at Alex with solemn eyes’the same blue as Lani’s. “So you have kind of a lot of things to fix,” Henry said.
The overwhelming feeling took hold of Alex again. He stood up quickly, startling the Silents, and walked over to the window that faced the gate, letting his forehead rest against the glass. His breath steamed it up, and after staring through the fog it made, he wiped it all away with his sleeve. There was no way Alex could do all the things people were expecting him to do.
Fix Artimé? How? Mr. Today hadn’t told him this could happen. He probably didn’t even know it was possible, or surely he would have prepared him. All of those books in the Museum of Large’and an extra set of copies, even, for the library. . . . Mr. Today had been sure to make it possible to solve any problem, even though his organizing system left something to be desired. But could Alex get to the books? Of course not! They were in the mansion. And the mansion was gone.
He thought back to his times with Mr. Today. He remembered asking him how to bring creatures to life, and Mr. Today telling him no, that only his successor would get to know that.
“Well, here I am,” Alex muttered. “Thanks for stupid nothing.” He glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone had heard him, but Henry was talking quietly to Meghan and examining her necklace of thorns.
Alex surprised himself at how angry he felt toward Mr. Today. How could he leave him like this? How could he have done this to his world, and his people? The only conclusion Alex could come to was that Mr. Today couldn’t possibly have known that the world would end upon his death. Or maybe he was just so certain he wouldn’t die.
And maybe he’d told Ms. Morning.
A fat lot of good that did him right now. Where in the world was she when everything was falling apart around him?
He stood at the window for several minutes more. Soon the previously embattled warriors trickled into Artimé’or whatever this place was called when there was nothing artful about it anymore. Do they go back to calling it the Death Farm? It felt that way now, anyway. Death surrounded them.
Alex watched anxiously as people returned. He didn’t know where they planned to go, exactly. They could fit some people in this shack but certainly not more than thirty without everyone stepping on everyone else. He was just glad to see so many alive. He saw Carina Fathom’the one he’d made the extra-strength heart attack spells for. Too bad she hadn’t been able to use them.