Island of Legends (The Unwanteds) by Lisa McMann

to make sure everything is working as it should.” He looked over his shoulder at the tube’s button, as if that would help him leave more quickly. “By the way,” he said, “how many creatures are out here?”
    “A dozen or so. Some of them I haven’t seen in . . . well, in years, I suppose. I think about them, though. They know how to find me if . . . if they need me.”
    Aaron frowned. The rock’s voice had turned wistful, and Aaron didn’t know how to process that. And frankly, he didn’t want to know. Not today. He’d had enough for today. He nodded and said another awkward good-bye. And then he pressed the button.
    Spending less than a second in the tube in his brother’s mansion, Aaron pushed the first button, which would take him to Haluki’s. When he arrived there, he felt a cool draft, colder than any temperature he’d ever felt in Quill before. His heart pounded. Had he hit the wrong button by mistake? He pushed his hand out of the tube and found the familiar closet doors.Cautiously he opened it and stepped into Haluki’s office. His shoes squished on the wet floor.
    What in Quill? Aaron wondered, stepping gingerly across the room. It was almost chilly in there. The walls were wet. The ceiling dripped with water. And the floor was soaked. It was more water than he’d seen in one place before, if you didn’t count Artimé. And he didn’t.
    He dipped a finger into a small pool of water and tasted it. He’d never felt something so cold on his tongue before. And it tasted good. He cupped his hands and drank some more, glad for it but feeling like he was in a strange dream. Why was it here?
    Puzzled, he wandered through the house, still in a daze from the jungle experience. It was the same everywhere—water dripping from the tables and chairs, standing in the sink, soaking into the wooden floorboards. And in the center of the dining table was a small white puck of something strange. Aaron reached out and touched it. “Ouch!” he cried. It had felt good at first, but then it made his fingers burn. He dropped the puck, watched it skate across the floor, and pressed his fingertips to his cheek. They were cold.
    Aaron could feel a strange, anxious feeling welling up insidehim. It was all too much for him to process after what he’d just been through. He couldn’t make sense of anything tonight. It was all he could do to keep his legs from collapsing under him as he made his way to the palace. What Aaron needed more than anything right now, he decided, was to forget everything weird that had happened and go to sleep for a week. Then he could figure out just how to handle this new, secret part of his life.
    Staggering back home to the palace, Aaron didn’t even notice Secretary on the side of the road, hiding in the shadow of the wall, talking quietly with a friend . . . or perhaps it was an enemy.
    But Eva Fathom saw him.
    » » « «
    “He’s up to something,” Eva said in the shadows after Aaron was out of sight. “I can feel it.”
    “Well, you’ll have to hold him off for a while.”
    “I’ll try. He’s a bit of a coward, so it shouldn’t be difficult. Be safe.”
    “You too.”
    The two—friends or enemies, perhaps not even they knew for sure—clasped hands and then parted ways.

The List
    B y morning, preparations were in full swing for the rescue, and Alex didn’t have time to lament the loss of his first creature. He’d been preoccupied, had acted hastily, and hadn’t thought things out, which had resulted in several obvious mistakes. Perhaps that was why Mr. Today had never tried to re-create the whale. There was no place to keep it and train it, or simply talk to it.
    It was a bit embarrassing, actually, now that the fear of Spike’s dying was over. Alex was glad he hadn’t brought an audience around to witness it—especially Sky. What if she was disappointed in him? He hoped she wouldn’t ask aboutit. Though maybe if he’d included her more in the planning,