“Hi-iii!” Meghan said, her voice continuing to screech and creak. She did a little impromptu dance in the foyer. “I can talk!”

The group rushed over to her, chattering excitedly, surrounding her, and Alex stepped aside to give them room. He went back into the hospital ward to thank Ms. Morning, but both she and Gunnar were sleeping.

He tiptoed out and began to search the mansion for Sky and Crow—they needed to see this. But he couldn’t find them anywhere. He hadn’t seen much of them since Artimé had returned, actually, though he’d heard that Crow and Henry did everything together.

Alex headed outside and was reminded of how lucky they were not to be sleeping on concrete in desertlike heat. Now that he had a second to breathe, he took in the sights and sounds of the brightly colored world. The peaceful lull of the bubbling fountain, creatures walking down pathways or sitting together in trees, talking or resting or entertaining one another, and the gentle scents of flowers and the musk of the jungle at the edge of the lawn. It almost felt like the first day he’d been here.

A moment later he spied Sky sitting on the edge of the fountain. Her face brightened at the sight of Alex, and he felt his stomach flip as he ran over to her. He sat down at her side. “Hey! I feel like I haven’t seen you in days,” he said, laughing, and then his laugh softened into a crooked smile. “Isn’t it fun being clean again? Ha-ha. Um . . .” He blushed. “I missed you. And I never got to thank you for . . . wow, for everything. Helping with the clue, and figuring out there was something wrong upstairs . . .” He trailed off, realizing all the things she’d done for him the past few weeks.

Sky smiled and waved him off.

“No, I mean it,” he said in earnest. “You’ve been, like, the one person I could count on through this whole mess. You’re just really, really cool, and amazing, and smart, and levelheaded—”

Sky covered her face with her hands, embarrassed.

Alex stopped talking and waited for her to look at him again.

She spread her fingers and peeked between them.

“And clever,” Alex said.

She pinched the space closed again.

Alex grinned. “Okay,” he said. He punched her softly in the arm. “I’ll stop. I promise.”

She pulled her fingers away and raised an eyebrow.

“Promise,” Alex said again. He liked her orange eyes.

They smiled at one another as if they shared a secret, but when the girl blinked her long lashes and let her hand rest on the fountain between her knee and his, Alex was sure he didn’t know what that secret might be. His brain turned to scrambled eggs. He knew he had a goofy grin on his face, but he couldn’t help it. There was something almost magical about the girl. Her plump lips, her light brown skin, and those deep, golden sunset-colored eyes. Alex swallowed hard as he felt his body lean ever so slowly toward her, as if his shoulder was magnetized to hers. Sky, her eyes on his, didn’t lean away.

Just then a flaming ball of light streaked between their faces and stopped a few feet in front of Alex. As he reared back and turned to see what had happened, it exploded, leaving only a glowing pencil-drawn picture of Lani and a thin trail of light stretching across the sea, pointing out the direction from which it had come.

Alex stared at it, his face growing pale just as the picture faded away. He swung around to look at the trail of light streaking toward Warbler Island. And then he turned back to Sky. His lips parted as if to speak, but he didn’t have a clue what to say. Sky held his gaze solemnly for a moment, reached up and squeezed his arm, and then smiled, bringing her hands together in her lap.

“I’m sorry,” Alex whispered, though he wasn’t sure why he was saying that. His gut twisted with guilt—here he was relaxing and smiling when Sam and Lani were still captured. He looked at the ground. “I’m such a dolt.” He lifted his eyes up to hers again. “I came to tell you that we took Meghan’s thorn necklace off, and she can speak again. And if you want, we can do yours and Crow’s, too.”

Sky’s eyes grew wide, fearful. Her fingers fluttered to her neck, and now it was her turn to look away.

Alex got to his feet, knowing he had no time to waste, knowing he had to do something fast to get the rescue effort started, but desperately wanting to be with Sky. “I’m sorry,” he said once more. “I have to go.” Impulsively he reached out and squeezed her hand. And then he turned and ran to the mansion to find Simber, every step he took reinforcing the confusion of feelings he had in his head and in his heart.

Making Plans

When Alex had gathered up his group of trusted friends and advisors, he, Sean, Meghan, Florence, Simber, and Ms. Octavia picked a spot on the lawn to talk strategy. But first he invited Meghan to tell them all about her experiences on Warbler.

As she told her story, the others looked on in shocked silence. Sean sat silent and still, staring at the grass, fists balled up and jaw set.

She remembered making it to Claire’s boat and not having the strength to climb inside, instead hanging on to the ladder for dear life. And that was the last thing she could recall before she woke up inside the gray shack. She didn’t remember the rescue or flying out of the boat or nearly drowning.

“I can’t imagine what they’ve done to Lani and Samheed,” she said. “But you have to understand—we have one shot at getting them out of there. And almost everything is underground. There are spies in the trees with sleep darts—they got us on the way in, but I don’t think they were expecting me to escape. They must only be looking out to sea. So by the time they saw me running for the boat, I was too far away and they missed.” She thought for a moment. “We’re going to need a lot of help.”