“How dare you defy me! Dreams? Be silent!”

Governor Strang, somewhat recovered from the shock of the world, remained still as he drove the Quillitary vehicle up the winding road to the palace.

“Strang,” the High Priest said, her voice sickly calm again, “gather all the governors—blast it, why did Haluki have to run off like that? I need him immediately, and the rest of you. General Blair, too. Can’t you make this thing go any faster?”

The boxy, rusted vehicle chugged and strained against the incline. “The pedal is to the floor. Nearly through it, Your Highness,” Strang said.

At the mention of General Blair, Aaron bit his lip and cleared his throat softly. “Madam High Priest, my Unwanted brother told me that the general’s own Unwanted son was planning to kill me and take my place, using something called ‘magic.’” He dared not say any more.

The High Priest did not acknowledge Aaron, and he sank back into the seat again.

Soon they had reached the palace. “Follow me,” the High Priest Justine barked. Aaron hastened to keep up.

“Dreams,” she muttered. “Grounds for dismissal and death.”

Aaron’s eyes opened wide with fear. He felt like he was going to throw up.

“Guards!” The High Priest Justine’s shoes snapped and clicked on the stone floor of the palace. “Do not let this boy out of your sight,” she said, sneering. “If he tries to run, kill him.” She turned abruptly into her office and slammed the door in Aaron’s face.

Aaron stood there for a moment, his shoulders sagging with remorse, and then turned and sat down on the floor, covering his face in his hands.

What Happens

After midnight Will Blair, who had been hiding in the jungle, snuck back to the campus before his invisibility spell wore off and tubed his way secretly back to his room. He sent a message to Samheed and waited impatiently for his friend to answer his blackboard, but to no avail. Finally he gave up and decided to go it alone. Abandoning his 3-D door failure, and no longer needing it, he sat in his room, surrounded by sketches of Alex Stowe, as if in a creepy sort of shrine. He concentrated for a few minutes, breathed deeply, and crossed his fingers. With all his might he focused on theatrical thoughts of becoming his character, until his body and features transformed into the body of the person he’d been studying for nearly a year. Then he hoped against hope that he wouldn’t bump into Alex on the way out of Artimé, because that would indeed ruin everything.

He strolled down the steps in the same manner as Alex would stroll, and when he passed Florence and Simber, he nodded like Alex would nod. Simber growled, “Alex,” and nodded in return. Will made his way to the gaping space in the wall and nodded to the girrinos there. Tina asked in a frightened voice, “Where are you going?” Will didn’t want to tell the nosy girrinos anything, so he simply waved and set out on his quest: to reach Wanted University before he was discovered.

When Mr. Today got word that Alex (or someone looking suspiciously like him) had left Artimé, he whirled around to check the blackboards and then flew to the tube across from his office, shimmered, and disappeared.

Hours later he returned, exhausted. And empty-handed.

By morning there were two announcements written on the blackboards: First, the Quillitary, which had been preparing for this moment for so long, was already on the march. And second, Alex Stowe had gone into Quill during the night and never returned.

Alex sputtered as he read the second. “What? Clive, is this your idea of a joke?”

The board rippled in shiny black waves as Clive’s face pressed through. He smiled grimly. “It’s tempting, but I didn’t do it. I’ve already alerted Marcus that you are here. He mumbled something about Tina making the report down by the gate, and Will Blair using a disguise spell.”

Alex clapped his hands to his forehead. “Oh, no—Clive, you’ve got to send out a notice that it’s not true.” His stomach clenched, wondering if Will had already killed Aaron, but there was no time to think about it now.

“On the way.”

It popped up

The previous message regarding Alex Stowe was inaccurate. Please disregard.

Alex sighed in relief. “Thanks, Clive. You’re not half bad, you know that?”

Clive smirked. “Well, I’d hate to have you go off to battle and get killed without me at least doing one decent thing for you. You know. Karma.”

“Wow. How big of you.”

“Read your instructions. You don’t have much time.” Clive melted into the blackboard. “Don’t die,” he called out as his face disappeared and the announcements appeared on the screen again.

“I’ll try not to,” Alex whispered. He pressed the first announcement and read:

Alex Stowe,

The Quillitary is on the march. Your breakfast has been tubed up to you. Please report to your squad on the lawn immediately. Your commander is Simber. He will have your orders.

Thank you for your dedication and service to Artimé. You are a valuable part of our community.

Marcus Today

Alex picked up the tray of food from the tube and ate quickly, and then he washed and dressed. He grabbed his component vest, checked the bulging pockets for all his magical items, and slipped his arms through it. Ten minutes later he joined the throngs of Artiméans, easily found Simber, and stood near him. He felt a lot less scared knowing that Simber was there to lead his group.