The warring kingdom of Dastor has seen the jets comings and goings. Nimble tells us that the war has moved to the home front. Boys even younger than he is are being recruited to fight. If Dastor means to have Internment and its fuel source, it will have to take ownership of Havalais itself.
It wont happen, hes told us. Havalais is bigger, more advanced.
Im not so certain. I see nothing of the war from the confines of this sheltered world where Jack Piper raised his children, but sometimes when the air is still, I think I hear gunfire.
Pen puts her hand over mine, and I realize that Ive been holding my breath. I know shes trying to keep me calm. She has heard me tossing and turning in my bed at night as I worry what news this king will bring when he returns from Internment. Only, I dont feel worry now. I dont feel anything, not even the dread that King Ingram usually ignites in me.
We should go back and tell the others, I say.
Pen gnaws her lip, and even as she sits up, her face is still angled skyward. Its probably just another delivery, she says, and she is likely right. Five times before this, the jet has returned, and five times we have all waited in silence for word of the kings arrival, and it never comes.
I pull Pen to her feet, and we make our way back to the hotel, both of us looking over our shoulders as the jet moves at an angle. Like a bird. Like a city falling from the sky.
Basil and Thomas arrive at the front steps moments before Pen and I do. Back on Internment, Pens and my friendship was the only bond between them, but since coming here theyve forged something like an independent friendship of their own, perhaps because if nothing else they have home in common.
They wouldnt have been able to go very far. Jack Piper has forbidden us to leave the grounds, for our own protection, all on the kings orders that we are to be kept away from anyone who may have sinister intentions for us now that its revealed that we come from the magical floating island above this world. Though, the people of Havalais have more cause to distrust their king than to harm us.
Truth be told, I dont mind the restriction half the time. It makes me feel safe. Reminds me of the train tracks that surrounded me back home.
Other times, my wanderers spirit comes out for a visit and I wonder at when this will all be over.
We were walking back from the theme park when we saw the jet, Thomas says. Did you see it?
Yes, I say.
Princess Celeste became a pawn when King Ingram needed access to Internment. King Furlow up in his sky has only two weaknesses, and those weaknesses are his children. He would allow King Ingram to have anything he asked for in exchange for Celestes safe return.
I have worried for her in silence. Pen would be angry if I so much as brought her name up. But I do hope that shes well, and that her decision making abilities have improved.
Basils standing close. His eyes are on me, and whether or not he knows it, he still sets my stomach fluttering.
Another gust of wind comes, and even the fearless Pen hugs her arms across her stomach and shivers.
Thomas frowns at her. Ive been looking all over for you.
Not all over, clearly, or youd have found me, she says.
He stands at a paces distance from her, and I can see the worry in his eyes. I can see that he is trying to get a whiff of tonic on her breath. When he cant find one, he looks to me, and while Pen isnt watching I give a slight shake of my head. Shes sober.
The jet has quit rumbling in the sky; presumably it has landed.
Come on, I say to Pen, and hold the door open. Lets see if we can find something in the kitchen youre willing to eat.
She follows me into the house, past the smallest Piper children, who are playing a war game in the living room. Annie is a soldier whose legs were blown off in an explosion, and Marjorie is a nurse applying a tourniquet. I have seen them play this game a dozen times, and it is anyones guess whether Annie will survive her wounds. Last time, an explosion hit their pretend medical tent and all the nurses and soldiers were killed.
I hate this game, but I think it makes them feel closer to Riles.
Up at the top of the stairs, Amy watches them from between the bars of the railing, not quite ready for human interaction. She has been quiet since her grandfathers death, and shes added another cloth around her wrist beside the one meant to symbolize her sister.
Lets say I lost my arm too, Annie says.
Which one? Marjorie asks.
The left.
Would you girls like to help me in the garden? Alice calls down from the top of the stairs. She cannot bear this game of theirs.
Annie sits up from her deathbed on the hearth. Why do you tend to the garden? We have a gardener.
It just makes me happy, I suppose, Alice says. She reaches the bottom step and holds her hands out to them, and they forget their game and happily follow her outside.
In the kitchen, Pen and I sit at the small table reserved for the maids, and Pen bites into a raw carrot from the cold box.
I wish youd stop looking so worried, she says.
I cant play it as cool as you, I suppose.
She stares at me for a long moment, and then she says, Youre not the only one who has nightmares about whats happening back home. Just because I dont talk about it doesnt mean I dont care.
I know that you care. Thats whats so frustrating, I say. Weve hardly spoken in months.
What are you going on about weve hardly spoken? We share a room. We speak every day. Were speaking right now.
You know what I mean.
She takes another bite of the carrot, with a crunch I swear is meant to be pointed. Youll forgive me if I dont entirely trust you with my secrets these days.
I know just what she means. It has been a source of contention thats never fully gone away these past several months. She discovered that Internments soil contains the very fuel source King Ingram wants for his kingdom, and she confided this secret to me. But after she nearly drowned, I told the princess everything, hoping an alliance could be forged between Internment and Havalais, giving us all a chance to return home.
Instead, King Ingram used the princess as a hostage and has been depleting Internment of its soil as he pleases.
I dont know the enormity of whats already happened and whats to come, but even so I wouldnt take back what I did. Im still holding out hope that Ill be able to return Pen home to her family, to the city that she loves so much that shes been going to pieces without it.
So I say nothing, and Pen can see that shes wounded me. Nim says Birdie has had her last surgery, and can come home soon, she says to change the subject. Shell still be confined to her wheelchair, but I doubt that will last for long.
I push my chair away from the table. Im going to make some tea for Lex.
Oh, Morgan, dont be cross. I didnt mean it. Im just on edge because of that bloody jet.
I know, I say softly.
I hope that this time the king has returned, and the princess as well, alive and safe. Whatever news they bring will surely be better than all this wondering and fear.
I dont know what sort of mood Lex will be in when I reach the top of the stairs, but hes been especially sour lately. Hes running low on paper for his transcriber, and soon he will no longer be able to spend his days hiding in his fictional worlds.
I dont know what sort of mood Lex will be in when I reach the top of the stairs, but hes been especially sour lately. Hes running low on paper for his transcriber, and soon he will no longer be able to spend his days hiding in his fictional worlds.
I knock when I reach his door.
Alice? he says.
No, its me. Back home he always knew when I was the one approaching him, but something about this house and its noises disorients him. Ive brought some tea.
Oh, he says, rather unenthusiastically. Come in.
Hes sitting in a wing chair near the open window, and the worry on his face mirrors my own from earlier. He doesnt care for the wind; perhaps it reminds him too much of the edge. The weather down here takes some getting used to, I say. I press the teacup into his hand, not letting go until Im sure hes got a grip on it.
I have a bad feeling, he says.
Me too.
I hesitate, standing before him, debating with myself whether to tell him what I saw in the sky.
But in the end Im not given a choice. Even without his sight, Lex is clever at sensing when anything is wrong. What is it, Little Sister? Whats happened?
I wring my skirt in my hands. We saw the jet about an hour ago. Pen, Basil, Thomas, and I. Weve been waiting for someone to come home and tell us what it means.
Lex is silent for a long moment. I heard. He takes a sip of his tea and then with minimal fumbling he sets it on the window ledge. So it begins, he says.
Theres no need to be so theatrical, I say. It may be good news.
A greedy king in a wasteland of wealth holds a princess hostage so that he may invade a tiny floating city, and you still think he may return with good news. My sister the optimist.
I am tired of being called an optimist as though it were a bad thing. Pen has used this word against me as well. Im merely trying not to panic, Lex. I hold myself back from saying anything too combative. I dont want to fight, and it has taken me so long to stop hating my brother for lying to me about our father being dead. I would like for us to be reasonable with each other.
Where is Alice? he asks. Maybe he wants to avoid an argument too.
Shes in the garden.
And she knows about the jet?
I told her when we came back inside. Were all waiting now. Drink your tea, all right? Alice will be up to check on you in a bit.
As I cross the threshold, he says, Morgan?
I turn.
Be careful.
Im only going downstairs.
I never know what mad and wild adventures youll get off to on a whim.
I cant help but smile at the thought. Mad and wild adventures. Its not something he ever would have accused me of back home, when I was tucked safely in our little floating world.
2
They never exhale, the trees. It was the same on Internment; on a very windy day, the trees rustle and inhale, and then the leaves and the branches all tremble as though something were trying to strangle the life from them. The dark sky watches on, filled with anticipation, wondering if this will be a great night, or a horrible night, or the last night of the world.
Morgan. Basils voice pulls me out of my trance. He joins me at the window, and when his arm brushes mine, my skin swells with tiny bumps. Youve been standing here for an hour.
My body releases some of its tension and I lean my head toward his. I have a bad feeling. Lex does too. Like something big is about to happen.
Suppose something is about to happen, he says. Then what?
I shake my head. Im tired of being driven mad by the what if game. I just want to know. I want King Ingram to come back and tell us whats happening. Good or bad. So all the wondering can stop.
Basil is quiet for a few seconds, and then with some difficulty he says, Ive been playing that same game, wondering about my parents and Leland.
I look at him.
I think they must be okay, he says, and nods straight ahead at the sky, where our floating city is hiding somewhere in that darkness beyond our sullen reflections. They would follow the kings orders. Theyve always been smart about that.
Which kings orders? I say.
Whichever king is in charge these days, he says.
Maybe King Ingram and King Furlow really are forming some sort of alliance, I say. Maybe there will be good news.
He glances sidelong at me, and a smile comes to his lips. Ive always loved your optimistic side.
Youre the only one. Everyone else seems to think Im foolish for harboring it.
He puts his arm around my back, and the last of the tension in me dies. I rest my temple against his shoulder. Im tired, Basil. And so worried that the decisions Ive made were the wrong ones.
The wrong decisions have been made by these kings, he says. And for what its worth, I would have done the same thing you did. If Id known about the phosane, I would have told.
Really?
If whats happening to Pen had been happening to you, if Id thought this world were killing you, yes. Id do anything it took to bring you back home.
Youve always understood me, Basil.
His arm tightens around me and I close my eyes. The anxiety feels so distant when hes around. Farther away and smaller in the sky than our long-lost floating city.
Then I hear the front door open, and my stomach drops.
The younger Pipers have long since gone to bed, and everyone else has been in the lobby for hours, waiting for word. All eyes are at the front door when Nimble steps inside, his shoulders dropped, his eyes weary. He is always the first to run to the tarmac when the jet returns, hoping for word about Celeste. And he is always heartsick when no word comes.
We all wait in silence. Nim raises his head and looks at each of us, settling on me. King Ingram has returned. My father is with him now. I dont know what any of this means yet. Im sorry.
He moves toward his bedroom, and by the heaviness of his steps I can suspect what the answer will be. But still I have to ask, Was Celeste with him?
He pauses, his back to me. No, he says. My father told me only that the king has brought a special visitor, but it isnt her. He takes a deep breath, and his voice is so tight, I think he may be fighting tears. I doubt my father will be back tonight. You might as well all go to bed.
He cant get away from us fast enough.
Pen is standing by the couch, Thomas at her side. Shes staring worriedly after Nimble, though, and she doesnt hear Thomas until the third or fourth time hes said her name. Pen. She flinches, startled.
Well know more tomorrow, surely, Basil says.
The hotel falls into its nightly silence. I soak in the tub long after everyone else has gone to bed. The mornings in this place can be so noisy, with the Piper children running about, shrieking with laughter as they play their games, most of which involve explosions. And footsteps going this way and that, and voices, and silverware on plates.
But the nights are still. I can feel everyones silence just as surely as I can hear their voices during the day.