Aaron opened the door and stepped inside. “Hi,” Aaron said. “Am I disturbing you?”
Alex looked up from the small desk, where books lay scattered about. On the floor were three or four tottering piles of them. “No, come in. Have a seat.” Alex shoved the hair off his forehead and pushed his chair back. He wore the slightly dazed look of someone who had just returned to real life after having been lost in another world for hours.
Aaron’s expression was similar. He sat on the bed. “Sorry about earlier.”
“It’s okay,” said Alex. “It’s actually really great that you’re so naturally magical. I mean, I know I’d be dead if it weren’t for you. You saved me. And Artimé. I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive about it.”
“Everybody fought hard,” Aaron said, shrugging off the compliment. “I just got lucky.”
“It’s more than luck,” Alex said. “I guess I’m a bit jealous that it comes so easily to you.”
“It doesn’t, actually, but whatever,” said Aaron lightly. He changed the subject. “How’s everything in the new Quill? Or are we calling everything Artimé now?”
“We’ll keep it Quill, I think,” said Alex. “It’s confusing otherwise, isn’t it?”
Aaron nodded. “Too confusing. Besides, the Quillens won’t call it Artimé, so why fight them on it?”
“Good point. It’s settled, then.” Alex folded his hands in his lap and tipped his chair back to balance on two legs. “What other crises can we solve today?”
Aaron glanced around the room, catching his reflection in the large mirror on Alex’s wall. Mirrors still startled Aaron at times, even in his own room, so he’d covered his up with paper. Now, though, he looked at his reflection and touched the scruff on his chin absently, studying it. There were some scratchy bits among the soft fuzz now, and he could see that the scratchy bits were as black as his sisters’ eyes. “We look like our father,” he said.
“Unfortunately,” Alex said with a wry grin, but the humor was lost on Aaron.
Aaron turned abruptly. “I was wondering . . . The reason I’ve come . . . Well, um, first, is everything going as it should?”
“How do you mean?” asked Alex.
“With Quill. Have I fulfilled my end of the agreement?”
Alex let his chair rest on all four legs. He leaned forward. “Yes,” he said. “Of course you have. More than.”
Aaron studied his brother, and found it suddenly difficult to speak. “If it’s all right with you, then, I’d like to go back to the Island of Shipwrecks,” he said.
Alex’s mouth twitched. He let out a sigh. “Oh,” he said. “Well, sure.” He stood abruptly and swung around to stand behind the chair, putting his hands on the back of it and leaning forward. “That is, if you really want to. You . . . you don’t have to. You know that, right? I—we like having you here. Most of us, anyway.”
Aaron dropped his gaze. “I know. I’d like to go, though. Ishibashi must be worried about me by now—it’s been months. So if we could leave as soon as it’s convenient for you to take me there, well, that would be good.”
Alex was quiet. “Sure,” he said. After a minute he nodded. “We can leave once we hear back from Pan to make sure Henry made it to the Island of Legends all right. Does that sound okay?”
Aaron gave a sharp nod. He stood up. “Thanks,” he said. “It’s been . . . nice. I mean, well, you know. Good spending time with you, anyway. And . . . and the girls.” He cleared his throat. “But yes, it’s time I go.” He took a step toward the door.
“Okay,” Alex said, his voice strangely hollow.
At the door, Aaron hesitated. He desperately wanted to tell Alex about the jungle, but at the same time he desperately wanted to wait until the last possible minute so that he would be long gone by the time Alex made his first visit there. Yes, it was cowardly leaving Alex to explain to Panther and the rock that the person they thought was Mr. Today’s successor was really a fraud. But Aaron couldn’t bear to do it. The more time he spent with his jungle friends, the more Aaron knew he could never tell them the truth.
“Is something wrong?” Alex asked.
Aaron closed his eyes briefly, pained. Then he met Alex’s gaze once more and shook his head. “No, nothing. Good night, brother.” He left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
“Good night, friend,” Alex said softly, and stared at the door, feeling empty. After a moment he sat down at the desk, turned back to his open book and closed it, and put out the light.
Return to the Island of Legends
The hours of the night passed smoothly. Before the sun rose, Spike could sense Karkinos’s nearness in the waters. She adjusted her direction. “Karkinos is moving quickly toward the danger of the waterfall,” said Spike in a worried voice. “He is far from where he is supposed to be.”