“But should we consider attacking from the air?”
“I’ve thought about that a lot,” said Florence, “and my conclusion is no. It’s easy enough for the pirates and Warblerans to hide from Simber and from any spells we cast from the air. They’d love for us to use up all our spell components without actually doing any harm to them. Add to that the risk of Simber having a wing broken off by a flaming tar ball, or the spell casters on his back being knocked down or shot with sleep darts and potentially captured . . . it’s too much risk, and for what gain? We take out a few of their fighters? In the end, it’s not worth it. I think our only move is to ride this out, Alex.”
Alex sighed. “I suppose you’re right. But it’s maddening.”
“That’s exactly what they’re counting on,” said Florence. “Warbler might not be made up of the best fighters, which is why they’ll keep them on the ships. But my guess is the pirates have done their fair share of fighting over the years. It’s in their blood. They’ve got a plan in place, I’m sure of it. And they’ll use it. Right now most of them are sleeping, and none of us are. That’s exactly what they want. They’re wearing us down.”
Alex looked up wearily when he heard another round of thwaps, and ducked as a tar ball flew over his head and hit the lawn. Two of Alex’s team members ran to extinguish it. “Unfortunately,” he said, “it’s working.”
A Long, Lonely Night
As the night passed, Alex sent out squirrelicorns to instruct the teams to take turns resting if possible. The flaming tar ball attacks continued, but their frequency slowed a bit. In between, Alex found himself dozing off on the mansion rooftop, dreaming about Sky and the times they’d sat on the roof of the gray shack. But Alex always woke alone to the sound of the catapults. He wondered how Sky was holding up across the island, putting out fires.
After a while Mr. Appleblossom returned to the roof and urged Alex to take a break, so Alex went inside the mansion and surveyed the mess from the broken windows. He tried to remember the broom spell that Lani had created, which would automatically sweep up the shards of glass that lined the walls. Eventually he gave up trying and found an actual broom. He began cleaning.
He stopped by the painted mural of Mr. Today on the doors that led to the hospital ward. The old mage would be horrified to see his beloved mansion in such a state. Windows blown out, tar balls littering the entryway. At least the mural hadn’t been damaged.
Alex’s eyes and nostrils burned from the smoldering tar odor that wouldn’t leave even after the flames had been extinguished. When he finished sweeping, he took the tube to the lounge to check on the Artiméans who weren’t fighting, and stood there in the dark for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the soft light. Most of the people were sleeping. Alex spied Crow on the floor between Thisbe and Fifer, all three asleep, Fifer’s thumb planted in her mouth. Alex stopped and watched them, then weaved his way to Earl, the lounge blackboard.
“Hello, Alex,” said Earl in a low voice. “I think we’re at capacity tonight. I haven’t been this popular in years. How are things?”
Alex smiled wearily. “Under control so far, but you might want to communicate with the kitchen blackboard to arrange for food down here in the morning in case the bar runs out. The battle rages on.”
“You’d think Clive would have mentioned it to us,” Earl said, a bit put out.
“I haven’t had a chance to give him an update,” Alex said. “It’s my fault.”
“Still, he could answer his page. Of course he’s probably sleeping. He doesn’t have a hundred people asking him questions all night long.”
“Sorry, Earl.”
“So did the boy return?”
Alex was puzzled by the abrupt change of subject. “What? Which one?”
“Henry. He’s a nice kid. Very respectful. I heard he was missing.”
Alex felt like Earl had hit him over the head with a bat. “Oh no,” he whispered. How could Alex have forgotten about Henry and Spike? He found his voice. “No, he’s not back yet.” He ran a hand over his hair and turned away. “I . . . crud. I’ve got to go.”
He ran back to the tube and hit the button that would take him to the entryway, where all was quiet for the moment. He rushed outside and found Florence tirelessly filling buckets and placing them on the edge of the roof for Mr. Appleblossom.
“I totally forgot about Spike and Henry!” Alex exclaimed. “Tell me again, Florence—were they right behind you? Did you see them leave the Island of Legends?”
Florence paused in her work. “I’m worried too,” she said gently. “I don’t know if Henry and Spike actually left. I didn’t see them, but I assume they did shortly after Pan and me. That was the plan. Spike isn’t quite as fast as Pan, but even if they left hours later, they should have been here by now.”