Liam nodded, and though he had no idea what Sean was referring to, he didn’t feel right about asking.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Liam looked at Meghan. She narrowed her eyes, and then her face cleared. “Oh, I’m Meghan. Sean’s sister. You don’t mind if I sit in on your little chat, do you?”

Liam shot Sean a fearful glance. He was already taking such a risk, and the young woman didn’t seem to understand the enormity of situation he was in, nor the secrecy of it.

“She’s smarter than both of us, Liam,” Sean said. “She’s staying.”

Liam let out a small, shuddering breath, and nodded. “All right, then.” He bit his bottom lip, searching for words, and then he said, “Aaron has ordered me to bring him as many spell components as possible, along with the . . . the, ah, incantations that go with them.”

Sean chuckled. “Has he, now? How interesting. And what does he expect to do with these items?”

Liam looked puzzled. “Use them, sir. Against Artimé. I believe so, anyway.”

Sean and Meghan exchanged near-identical frowns. They were silent for a moment, considering the information.

“But—” Sean said, and stopped.

“Do you think—?” Meghan said, and she stopped too. They looked at each other again, and then Meghan turned to Liam. “Do you think he can actually do magic? I mean . . . he got lucky a few times. . . .” She trailed off, remembering. “A few very important times. And if so, can anyone else in Quill? Do magic, I mean?” She knew of at least one other, that was certain. She touched her shoulder, where the burn from Gondoleery’s fireball still smarted.

Sean shook his head. “I don’t think so. When Quill attacked us the day Aaron killed Mr. Today, some of them cast spell components at us and they didn’t work. They just bounced off us.”

“But did your spells work?” asked Meghan, who hadn’t been present during that attack. “Or did you all start fighting after Artimé disappeared?”

Sean closed his eyes, remembering the horrible day. “Oh, you’re right. It was after. Our spells didn’t work, either.” He shook his head. “Sorry. My mind is a bit fuzzy from the medicine.”

Liam waited politely until he was sure the siblings’ conversation was done. “I do think Aaron can do magic, and not just by accident,” he ventured. “For he’s obviously done it more than once. And as for anyone else, well . . .” His face clouded as he remembered the time he and Eva had stopped by Gondoleery’s house and were greeted by a wave of heat. “Yes. I think there are others.”

Meghan wondered if Liam knew about Gondoleery too. But she hadn’t told anyone of her visit to the palace, or what had taken place there—it hadn’t been smart to go there alone, and she knew Ms. Morning would be furious to know she’d taken such a risk. She didn’t know if she could trust Liam enough to say what she’d seen, so she continued to keep quiet about it. “Liam’s right about that,” she said simply. “There are others to be wary of in Quill.” She looked at Liam. “So why are you here? Did you think we would just give you a bunch of spell components or something?” She laughed.

Liam’s face paled. He cleared his throat and sat up straighter in his chair. “I’m here to see if you would consider a-a plan. Of mine, that is.”

Sean’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of plan?”

Liam swallowed hard. “Ah, well, I was thinking maybe you could give me . . . some spell components . . .”

Meghan’s lips parted.

Sean raised an eyebrow.

“And . . . ,” Liam continued quickly. “And, ah, I would show them to Aaron, so he would see I did my job, and he’d trust me more, and then I could return them to you. And I’d just . . . I’d tell him that I was keeping them safe, you see. For when he needed them.” He dropped his eyes and mumbled, “But obviously I wouldn’t be, because you’d have them back.”

Sean and Meghan stared.

“It’s kind of a trick,” he added. The idea didn’t sound nearly as good out loud as it had seemed in Liam’s head earlier. In fact, he was embarrassed by it, sitting here with two very intelligent people. How did they get to be Unwanted if they were so smart? he wondered.

And then it dawned on him. One more crack in Quill’s philosophy. Eva could do magic. She was creative and intelligent. Sean and Meghan were too. And Claire, of course . . . Justine’s words haunted him. “The strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university. The creative Unwanteds are sent to their deaths.” Not even Justine herself had said that the creative children were unintelligent. It was just something the Wanteds assumed. Now, thinking about it, it didn’t seem very intelligent of the Wanteds to assume such a thing as that. What a land of fools.

Liam sighed weakly and slumped in his chair. “I realize now how this sounds. I’m not, ah, not very practiced when it comes to ideas. Not yet, anyway. I’m sorry for wasting your time. Forgive me.” He pushed back his chair and stood up, unable to look either Sean or Meghan in the eye, and hurried out of the hospital ward to the sound of their incredulous silence.

Now what was he going to do? He thought about the options as he left the mansion and strode, head down, across the lawn and through the ever-widening opening into Quill. He’d have to admit to Aaron sooner or later that he wasn’t able to complete the task. Maybe he could drag it out for a few days before Aaron sent him back to the Ancients Sector.