As soon as Henry was settled, Simber called out, “Hold on tightly!” And they were off, soaring at Simber’s top speed. He updated them as they flew with whatever details he could make out. The closer they drew to Artimé, the more alarmed Simber’s voice became, for he could see clearly now that Artimé was indeed under a severe attack.

“The Quillitarrry is sprrread acrrross the entirrre southerrrn shorrre of the island,” Simber said. “They’rrre attacking frrrom vehicles and on foot!”

Alex could hardly see—the wind was making his eyes water furiously. He wiped them and tried again. They were closing in now, and Alex could make out the figures on the lawn, fighting from behind their glass shields. Quillitary soldiers waving their rusty metal weapons were everywhere, running and plowing into glass shields with their vehicles, causing all sorts of problems, but Alex could tell Artimé was holding its own by the number of frozen Quillitary soldiers on the grounds. Every now and then he saw a body flying backward and sticking to a tree or the side of a vehicle with scatterclips.

Alex turned to address Samheed, Lani, and Henry. “Let’s make our first pass from the air. Get ready to pepper them with whatever spells we have, and keep your aim measured and tight—we don’t want to waste anything. Sound good so far?”

The three agreed that it did.

“Great. Who has a large stash of components in their room and can get access to them fast?”

“I do,” Samheed said.

“Okay, perfect. So we’ll make that first pass, then when we get near the mansion, we’ll drop Sam off and keep fighting with our remaining spells until Sam comes back with components. Clear?”

“Clear,” the three called out.

“Simber?” Alex prompted.

“Got it,” said the cat.

The next minutes dragged by, Alex clutching Simber’s neck and leaning forward, as if that would propel them even faster. He hated the Quillitary’s presence on his land. It made him furious to see his people having to risk their lives without him right by their sides. “Hurry up, Sim,” he muttered, not intending for Simber to hear him, but realizing too late that of course he did—he always did.

Instead of getting angry, Simber risked a glance at the mage and nodded. “It feels terrribly helpless, doesn’t it?”

Alex let out a deep sigh. “Yeah,” he said. He patted Simber’s neck.

“We’rrre moments away.” He began his descent and circled, then called out, “Coming in frrrom east to west. Lining them up forrr you—no extrrra charrrge.”

Alex heard nervous laughs behind him. You could count on Simber to lighten the mood during the intense times. It made Alex feel more relaxed. Mentally he planned out his spell lineup and grabbed the first two components.

Simber swooped in, almost unnoticed by anyone on the ground because they were all concentrated on their battles, and one by one, the four excellent spell casters on Simber’s back released their components and rendered four soldiers useless. A second later, four more went down.

When the Artiméans on the lawn realized what was happening, a cheer rose up. Their mage had returned.

Alex, Lani, Samheed, and Henry didn’t stop. They shot off another round, and another, all the way along the southern shore into Quill, until they were almost out of components.

“Back to the mansion,” Alex called out. “Samheed, be ready to run!”

“Got it!” Samheed slid to the end of Simber’s wing as the statue swooped down, and he jumped off, hitting the ground running.

Simber lifted off again, and the three remaining on his back continued firing components until they ran out. Once Alex’s supply was depleted, he was able to sit back and look out over the island, trying to spot areas of trouble. He spied Meghan near the mansion, but she was too busy fighting to notice them.

After a minute, Samheed burst out of the mansion, his pockets bulging and a burlap sack in one hand. He fought off the Quillitary with spell after spell from his free hand, waiting for Simber to find an open spot to swoop in. Unable to get through the crowd to hop onto Simber’s back, Samheed finally gave up.

“Here!” he shouted, and tossed the sack of components to Lani so they could continue fighting from the air. “Go on without me—I’ll stay down here!”

Lani caught the sack, and Simber flew up and away to take on soldiers farther inland.

Samheed reloaded and glanced around, trying to figure out where his allies were. He spotted Meghan and shouted to her.

She looked up, surprised and pleased, though there wasn’t time for niceties at the moment, seeing as she was nearly surrounded and a trickle of blood was blocking her vision in one eye. She took out the nearest soldiers and glanced back at Samheed, who was moving toward her.

“Are you okay?” Samheed asked, seeing the blood. He took out two more soldiers and muscled through the throng of fighters, narrowly avoiding a crack to the head with a rusty iron rod. Once through, he raced to her side.

“I’m fine. Feel like giving me a hand?” She shot him a wry grin. It was good to see her friend after so long.

“I suppose,” Samheed said. He reached out to give her shoulder a squeeze and gave her a kiss on the cheek while simultaneously tossing a pin cushion spell at a soldier nearby. The soldier convulsed in pain from hundreds of pinpricks. “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble just to welcome us home, you know.”