“Yes.”

“Very good. I want everyone to have the knowledge and ability, whether they choose to use it or not. Claire, find Gunnar in the forest and ask him to come see me. Simber, keep a close eye on Will Blair and Samheed. I’ll put up a shimmer shield in the entrance to this hallway so you can tell if someone invisible walks through it.”

“And the boy … hmm …” Mr. Today thought out loud. “Yes. I’ll take care of Alex myself.” He clasped his hands together and met the solemn eyes of his comrades. “All right, then. Let’s be as ready as possible, shall we?”

Together each person, statue, and creature in the room nodded.

The Eliminators

Nearly every night when his eyes and hand gave out from working on the doorway, Alex agonized over Aaron. “How?” he asked himself over and over after weeks of failure to produce a doorway that would lead him to his brother’s dormitory room—or anywhere, for that matter. He shook his head. “I know I can rescue you. But how do I get to you? There’s got to be another way.”

One night Alex had had all the tossing and turning he could stand. He left his room, walked down the stairs, past the two statues, who both nodded civilly, and went outside for a walk to clear his mind. He didn’t see Simber and Florence exchange a glance, nor did he see Simber leap nimbly from his pedestal and pad up the stairs to the mage’s private quarters.

Alex roamed along the seashore, and then, instead of going into the jungle, he turned back and walked diagonally in a direction almost no one cared to go because of the awful memories that accompanied it—to the giant iron gate. In the light from the stars Alex could make out the shadowy figures of the four girrinos, keeping guard as they did endlessly, seemingly without rest.

Alex cleared his throat.

“We see you, Mr. Blair,” one said in a pleasant voice. “You may approach without fear.”

Alex bit his bottom lip and stepped out of the shadows. “Hi—I’m, um, not Will Blair,” he said, not knowing quite what else to say. “I’m Alex Stowe.”

“Oh, so you are,” said one whose name was Tina. “Look, ladies, a new one has come to face his fears.”

The girrinos smiled. The one named Arija asked, “What brings you here tonight, Alex? Can’t sleep? Feeling wonky?”

“How—how did you know?” Alex could feel the ground shiver just slightly as two of them sat down hard and turned their attention back to the door.

“We rarely get visitors. When we do, it’s usually for one of two reasons. Most often someone comes to face the iron door in hopes of seeing it in a different light, from the good side of things, and thereby casting out the horrid memories of Quill.”

“Does it work?”

“For some, yes.”

“What’s the other reason?” Alex asked presently, hoping the ladies couldn’t read his mind.

Arija blinked her milky chocolate eyes solemnly. “To escape.”

Alex’s heart throttled, but he held his expression firm. “Oh. That seems strange,” he said. His voice sounded a wee bit thin in his ears, so he tried to breathe in using his diaphragm, like Ms. Morning had taught them in choir. “I didn’t think the door would work as a way out. Isn’t it locked from the other side? And who would want to escape to that awful place?”

Tina grinned, her teeth like glowing rectangles in the star-light. “Right on both counts, Alex. He’s a clever one, isn’t he, Arija?”

“Indeed.” Arija nodded. “There are two ways out of Quill, but only magical ways to get back in—we can’t open the gate from our side. Unless, of course, someone from the other side unlocks it.”

Alex furrowed his brow. “Two ways out of Quill? What’s the second? We were told the only way out was through elimination—through this gate.”

“Well, of course you were told that, my boy. I don’t think even the governors know about the other way. And if they did, they wouldn’t tell the people of Quill,” said Tina.

Arija gave Tina a stern look. “Don’t tease the boy, Tina. How would he know?” She turned back to Alex. “There’s a secret passage from the palace to beyond the walls that the High Priest Justine and Marcus created long ago, when Justine took over the rule of the land. As far as the high priest knows, Marcus is the only other person in Quill who is aware of it.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “But … the palace,” he said, thinking. “What lies beyond it? Where does the passage lead? To the great forest? To enemy territory?”

“Why …,” Tina began. “To the sea, of course!”

“What?” Alex asked, incredulous. “But what about the threat of the borderlands? The Quillitary? That blasted barbed-wire ceiling that protects the entire land from intruders?”

Arija stepped over to the boy. “There, now, dear,” she said, and sort of nuzzled his shoulder comfortingly, as if Alex were her own son, until Alex had quite calmed down. “I’m afraid it’s all a ruse to control the actions of the people of Quill.” She sighed. “The land of Quill—and Artimé, attached—is an island. It’s one in a chain of islands. We once traded goods with other lands, but that was before Justine had the walls constructed, I’m told.”

Alex shook his head, defeated. “I can’t believe it. Why would they lie to us?” he whispered. “What about the old people? Don’t they remember?”