Island of Dragons (Unwanteds #7)(27)

“Because they have to grow with the body when it grows,” Alex explained, feeling a bit exasperated. “See, the dragons are small. About my size right now. And Pan said they’ll stay around this size for another ten years or so, but then they’ll grow rapidly, and they’ll continue growing until they’re a hundred years old. And if the wings aren’t made of actual dragon parts, then once the dragons start to grow, their magical wings won’t grow with them. And they’ll be useless because the dragons will be too heavy for the wings to support.”

Aaron sighed, and Ms. Octavia looked at Alex. “I’m sorry, Alex,” Ms. Octavia said, “but I don’t think it’s possible to provide the dragons with body parts that will grow with them. There are limits to our magic for good reason. And this is one of them. Don’t you agree?”

Alex pushed his hair off his forehead thoughtfully. “I guess so,” he said. “So what do I do? Make prosthetic magical wings that cease to be useful once they have their growth spurt?” He leaned forward and said quietly, “I think she wants to keep her children away from the pirates.”

“By the time they grow, maybe they won’t need to fly to get away from the pirates anymore,” Ms. Octavia said. “They’ll be big enough to fight them off.”

“Yes, exactly,” said Aaron. “So it’s really a simple solution. It’s no more difficult than using a vine to fix a—” He clamped his mouth shut.

“What?” asked Alex.

“Um, a rope,” Aaron said lamely. “Or,” he said, scrambling to come up with something, “no different from the heart attack spell. That spell has wings.”

“That’s true.”

“It’s probably going to be very easy,” Aaron said, “like I’ve said all along. You always make things too complicated.”

Alex’s mouth dropped open. “I do not.”

Aaron gave Ms. Octavia a side-eye glance. “He does, doesn’t he?”

Ms. Octavia lifted her eyebrows and shrugged. “Yes,” she said. “Sorry, Alex.”

Alex just shook his head. “You two,” he muttered. “So I guess the biggest question is what materials are we going to use to make this happen. Because we’ll need a lot of them, and they’ll have to be a big variety of colors in order to blend in properly. We don’t want our dragon friends to look like our patch job on the ship. They’ll be our artwork on display for all the world to see.”

“Fair enough,” declared Ms. Octavia. “Though we can easily just paint the wings to match the dragons if we can’t find the right material. Why don’t you work on designing a mini-model-size wing for your 3-D drawing that will be aerodynamic and strong enough to transport its weight, and then once the dimensions are perfected, you can move on to a full size pair of wings. Aaron can help me see about some materials that will suit the job.”

Alex agreed. He showed the two his drawings to point out the various colors necessary. Aaron was appropriately impressed by the 3-D drawing that popped off the page, which made Alex feel a little more secure in his abilities. At least Aaron couldn’t do that.

Once Ms. Octavia and Aaron had had a good look, they headed off together, and Alex sat in the classroom alone with his project. It was good to be doing the thing he did best and enjoyed most once again.





Old Friends and Traditions


With so much help from sea creatures, it didn’t take much effort for Karkinos to stay afloat in his usual spot in the sea. He showed signs of tiredness from time to time, but Spike and the giant squid fed and monitored the crab to make sure he had everything he needed. Henry kept an eye on his health and strength, which improved little by little.

At first Henry worried that he hadn’t given the crab enough seaweed, and even considered making a trip to the Island of Shipwrecks to get more. But after a few days of resting and eating, Karkinos began making great strides. Indeed, he became almost playful as more time passed.

“He’s acting like his old self again,” Talon said one day as he and Henry stood at the edge of the island and watched the crab play tag with the squid and Issie. “He reminds me of the creature he was before he fell sick—which was well before your ship first landed here.”

“I’m really glad to hear that,” Henry said. It was a relief to know their efforts had paid off. Karkinos lurched to one side trying to tag Issie with his claw, and Henry grabbed on to Talon’s arm to steady himself. “I think Karkinos has a long, healthy life ahead of him.”

Talon put his bronze hand on the boy’s shoulder and looked at Henry earnestly. “I cannot possibly thank you enough,” he said. “You risked everything for us. I don’t know what I would have done if you’d been hurt.”

Henry could see the gratitude in Talon’s eyes. “But I wasn’t hurt,” the boy said. “I’m really glad we could help. You and everybody here mean a lot to us. We talk about you all the time—about how much fun we had here. You are our friends.” He grew quiet, thoughtful. Talon made him feel like he’d done something right. But there was one thing that had been bothering Henry since the time they arrived. Something he couldn’t quite shake from his conscience. He looked back to the playful water creatures and frowned.