With a shaky hand, Alex reached into the office and tried carefully to pluck one of the dot paintings from the wall, but it was stuck fast. He pulled his hand back and looked around the room. There were five paintings with unattractive dot designs, all hanging on one wall. “Clever beast,” Alex said. “But what am I supposed to do with them?”

As he lay on his stomach, peering into Mr. Today’s office, he heard a noise at the edge of the roof. Sky, Crow, and Henry Haluki clambered up. Sky had a wide grin on her face and pointed to Henry.

“Hi, guys,” Alex said. “I don’t have time for games now—I think I—” He stopped speaking when he saw the Silent girl’s fiery glare. “I mean . . .”

“Alex,” Henry said, “Sky figured out part of your clue! And I’m the only one who can help you.” He grinned slyly. “Magnify. Because remember I have this?” From his trouser pocket he pulled his magnifying glass, one of the few items that had transported unharmed from Artimé when the world disappeared, because it had been in Henry’s pocket during that time. It had been handy for starting fires. And now it was going to be even more useful.

Alex’s jaw slacked. But Henry kept talking.

“I didn’t think about it when we thought the dots were islands, because obviously,” he said with a bit of a swagger, “this glass can’t work from so far away. But Sky thought there was more to this little mansion. So do you want me to start magnifying things?”

Alex stared at the magnifying glass, and then he looked at the Silent girl. He felt the corners of his lips tug into a wispy smile as he processed the news. “Just before you got here, I figured out where the dots are,” he said. He shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier. The clue is totally literal. The dots aren’t islands or stars or trees. They’re dots! They’re actual pictures of dots!” He pointed at the office wall. “And you guys just figured out the next part.” He grinned like a maniac.

Henry reluctantly handed over the magnifying glass. “I guess you know what you’re looking for.”

Alex took it and gripped the boy’s shoulder. “This is all thanks to you, Henry.” He looked up at Sky and winked. She blushed. Alex held the magnifying glass up and leaned toward the first painting, his hands still quivering. He moved the glass until he could see the dots just as he remembered them. And then he blinked. “Okay,” he said. “I magnified. I focused. And . . . I see dots.” He looked over at the others. “Now what?”

The two Silents and Henry looked at one another and back at Alex. All three shrugged. “Aren’t there any clues?” Henry asked.

“I don’t see any. I just see dots.”

“Well, try the next one.”

Alex looked at the next painting the same way. Again he saw dots and nothing more. He moved on to the next, and the next, until he had magnified and focused on all of them. “They’re all just dots,” he said. “They aren’t in the shape of anything. They’re just random.”

“Let me see,” Henry said. “Maybe you’re doing it wrong.” He grabbed the glass and peered into it.

“Yeah,” Alex said sarcastically, “you’re probably right. You have to really know how to use one of those things.”

Sky laughed, her shoulders shaking. Alex made a face at her, then reluctantly laughed too.

Henry went through the same procedure as Alex, growing more and more perturbed. “There’s nothing there,” he declared after a while.

“Thanks a lot, Aristotle,” Alex said.

Henry proceeded to magnify everything else in Mr. Today’s office and in all the other rooms and hallways—the floors, walls, ceilings, staircases, and even statues. It took him well over a quarter of an hour to declare that there were no clues whatsoever hidden in the miniature mansion.

Crow poked Henry in the ribs. He looked bored. He pointed to the shack and raised an eyebrow.

Henry shrugged and nodded.

“Can I hold on to your magnifying glass for a bit?” Alex asked.

Henry considered the request, looking doubtful, but then Sky clasped her hands around Henry’s and offered up a pleading smile. “Oh, all right,” he said. He gave it to Alex. “Don’t break it.”

“Yes, boss,” Alex said, rumpling the younger boy’s hair, and then he pretended to drop it.

Henry glared, but then Crow tugged at his shirt, and off they went, Crow signing rapidly to his sister, to which she nodded her approval. And Alex and Sky were alone once more.

Alex sighed heavily. “We’re back to having nothing.” He wiped sweat off his forehead with his sleeve, and then he looked over his shoulder at Warbler Island. His recent dreams had him thinking of his friends more urgently than ever. After a minute, he turned back to the girl and squeezed his eyes shut to stop them from burning, pressing his fingers into the corners as if that would hide the defeat in them. He shook his head and whispered into his hands, “I honestly don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

Patience

After the wave of emotion passed, Alex looked up at Sky. “Sorry about that,” he said with a crooked smile. “Apparently you’re the one who always gets to see the real me.” After a moment he hung his head. “Sorry I didn’t take you seriously at first. That was not very cool of me.”

The Silent girl’s lips twitched. She moved closer and took Alex’s hand, and for a moment he forgot to breathe. Without thinking, he brushed a finger across her cheek, wiping away a smudge of dust. “You’re pretty . . . awesome,” he said. Saying it made him feel like a dolt, but she didn’t laugh. She blinked and looked down as the blush rose to her cheeks. He didn’t know why she made him feel so weird. Maybe because she seemed to understand so well all the anxiety he was feeling, all the responsibility. And all the pain, too. Whatever it was about her, it was starting to make him act like a total dork. Maybe it was because he liked her both as a friend and as a girl. Kind of like Lani, only this girl was . . .