Island of Legends (The Unwanteds) Read Online Free PDF Page A

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.
    Alex stopped when he saw Samheed stumbling toward him,carrying a girl whose hair and body were covered with a layer of dirt. She was limp in his arms.
    “Stowe, make way!” Samheed barked, dodging around Alex. He set the girl on an empty bed. His voice softened and he put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “And brace yourself. This is a pretty bad scene.”
    Alex looked past Samheed at the girl on the bed and gasped.
    It was Sky.

In a Panic
    S everal hours later, outside the palace, the High Priest Aaron took in one last glimpse of the sea, slid the final block into the hole in the wall, and stepped back. He wiped his bloody knuckles on his pants, and then dabbed the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve. “There,” he said, surveying his work and trying not to think about what was happening in Artimé right about now. He needed to get moving on securing the other weak wall in Quill, though he knew there was no way to do it now while there was likely a battle in progress over there. For some ridiculous reason, Aaron’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
    He stepped back and drew a keen eye over the wall. It wasn’t perfect, and it needed some patching, but he wondered if anyone far away could tell there had once been an opening in this spot. He concluded that it looked reasonably like the rest of the wall from a distance. Close up, one could see a few narrow slits and holes at eye level, through which tiny breezes blew. Aaron could just barely make out bits of the sea through them if he stood close, but it couldn’t be helped. He frowned at the bloody scrapes on his hands, which stung, and turned to go into the palace.
    At the entrance to the cold, gray structure stood Eva Fathom, arms crossed over her chest, watching Aaron.
    “Secretary,” Aaron muttered, using the name she’d gone by for fifty years. He didn’t need her nosing around or asking questions right now.
    “Welcome back,” she replied. She didn’t move from the doorway. “Where’ve you been?”
    Aaron stopped in front of her. “It’s none of your business. Excuse me,” he said. “I have a lot to do today.” He stood several inches taller than the curled old woman, but that didn’t keep Aaron from being a bit apprehensive around her. He was neversure if he could fully trust her, and the two occasionally butted heads. Still, she had been Secretary to the High Priest Justine for decades before the ruler’s untimely death, and Aaron was Justine’s most fervent fan. Surely the former high priest had had good reason to trust Secretary. Aaron just hadn’t figured out what that reason was yet.
    The woman stepped aside to let Aaron in. She followed him up to his office. “How shall I assist you today?” she asked when Aaron sat down at his desk.
    Aaron studied her through narrowed eyes. “Aren’t you going to ask about the hole in the wall?”
    Secretary’s voice was smooth. “You’ll tell me eventually if there is something you need me to know about it, High Priest.”
    “So you didn’t see those big—those big jalopies on the sea?”
    The woman hesitated, puzzled. “You mean ships?” she asked.
    “Whatever they are. A dozen of them. Headed to Artimé.”
    “Oh dear.” A frown passed over her face. “You should send guards over to stand in the entrance to Quill and keep intruders out. It’s wide open these days, isn’t it?”
    “Good idea. Why don’t you tell them to get over there.”
    Eva stepped outside the office to take care of the orders. While she was gone, Aaron picked up a dull pencil and drew a very crooked triangle on a piece of paper, for the sheer reason that he could now that he