“He can’t get lost,” Mr. Today assured the children. “I’ve put the scroll feature into effect. Once he reaches the end of Artimé, just beyond the mansion, he’ll slip through and come out the opposite side, at the edge of the jungle where it meets the shore. He’ll simply need to walk a bit farther to get back to where he started.”

Alex gave Mr. Today a quizzical look. “Scroll feature? So there is no jungle? It’s just a … a …” He struggled for the word.

“A picture? More like a giant window at the moment, actually. And yes, the jungle is really there—good heavens, where would all the animals go if it weren’t? You just can’t get to it at the moment.” His eyes twinkled. “But when you are all sure of me, and I am sure of you, and I know you have found your bearings quite satisfactorily, I’ll remove the giant window and the scroll feature, and you’ll find that the jungle is quite lovely.” The old man paused thoughtfully. “Though it can be frightening and dangerous. Lots of fascinating things to see there too. But that’s for another day.”

Alex didn’t understand, but he nodded anyway, and soon they reached the walkway to the mansion. As they drew near, a pleasant-sounding noise could be heard coming from the shrubs. “Music in the bushes,” Mr. Today said.

He climbed the steps. “This is our home. You may come and go as you please and even stay out all night if you wish.”

Lani’s eyes opened wide. That’s a bit of a shock, she thought. But what so far this day wasn’t?

The old magician then opened the enormous wooden door to the mansion and walked inside, the children following.

Before them was a stunning, massive marble entryway flanked by two statues standing upright on pedestals. The pedestals alone were as tall as Alex, and the statues on top of them reached twenty-five feet off the floor, yet they nowhere nearly approached the ceiling. On the left stood a towering winged cheetah made of sand-colored stone, with sharp ivory teeth thicker and longer than the children’s fingers. He stood poised to attack, reared up on his hind legs, his wings widespread, frozen in mid-flap. On the right, carved from ebony, was an enormous, sleek woman with long, flowing hair and bulging muscles, a quiver of arrows and a bow slung over her shoulder.

Mr. Today looked up. “Hello, Simber. Good evening, Florence,” he said.

The statues nodded stiffly.

“There ought to be one more boy coming along presently, so be aware. Probably shouldn’t eat him, all right, Simber?”

The winged cheetah purr-growled in response and fluidly lowered himself to all fours on the pedestal, his huge paws with gleaming claws hanging off the edge within inches of Alex’s face. Slowly the boy slid away from the stony beast.

“Wow,” Lani breathed, and the others followed her gaze from the statues to the rest of the great foyer. Beyond the entrance the marble floor led to an extremely wide marble staircase whose steps split halfway up and wound around to meet again in an incredible expanse of balcony. They could see several hallways branching off the overlook.

The children’s voices grew loud as they exclaimed or noted things to each other about the mansion from their viewpoint in the entryway.

Mr. Today strolled past the staircase. “We’ll visit up there in a moment,” he said. Instead he led the children behind the staircase to a hallway and showed them past several doors—classrooms, he said—and to the back of the mansion, to a kitchen the size of six Quill houses put together. At a long counter bar off to the left sat a dozen or fifteen older teenagers all laughing and snacking on popcorn and sodas as a brilliant pink ball of fluff with webbed feet did a dance for them along the countertop. Some of the people sitting there turned to look curiously at the children standing with Mr. Today. A few waved hello.

Alex recognized one, just barely remembering her as one of last year’s Unwanteds. How strange, he thought, and his mind began to turn.

“How many Unwanteds live here, actually?” he asked.

“Hmm,” Mr. Today hummed, tapping his lips with his forefinger. “Perhaps five hundred? I lost count years ago.”

“Five hundred!” Meghan said. “Where is everyone?”

“Oh, they’re around. Here and there,” he said. “Some are in evening classes, some practicing their art, some relaxing in the lounge, some in their rooms. You saw a few of them strolling about on the lawn, didn’t you?”

Lani tapped Mr. Today’s shoulder, which made him chuckle and give her his utmost attention. “Mr. Today,” she said somberly, “did all the Unwanteds over the years decide not to be eliminated? Are they all here?”

Meghan gave Alex a wildish sort of look and gripped his arm, and he remembered that she had an older brother who had been eliminated five years before.

Alex nodded sharply, knowing what Meghan seemed speechless to say, and the burning question rushed from his lips before he could stop it. “Yes, Mr. Today—how many years …?” His face grew pale as he thought about all the Unwanteds that had been Purged from Quill since he was a boy. His mind raced, trying to remember them, but it was difficult, since Quillens had all been instructed to forget them.

Mr. Today smiled, but there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes. “Dear people, how could I forget? Yes, all the Unwanteds as far back as you can remember are here.” He looked at Meghan, and his dark eyes danced again. “Meghan, your brother, Sean, is so excited to see you. He’d like you to meet him in the lounge at eight o’clock!”