Island of Legends (The Unwanteds) Read Online Free Page A

coming to rest on land, only to be immediately made useless by the simplest of spells.
    It was almost too easy, Alex thought. “Stay on your guard!” he warned.
    Several Unwanteds stationed near the wall that separated Artimé and Quill had had none of the action thus far, and began to scoff at the efforts of Queen Eagala.
    “Stay on yourrr guarrrd!” repeated Simber.
    But it wasn’t easy when Warbler’s best efforts seemed ridiculous.Several minutes passed as Artimé waited to see what was next. Some of the Unwanteds, tired of standing, sat down despite the warnings.
    “Hold your ground,” Alex commanded, and Florence repeated it so all could hear.
    Finally the catapults let loose a third time . . . and another round of Warblerans sailed up into the air and down toward Artimé, their parachutes bringing them lightly to the ground, where the Unwanteds put a swift end to their movements completely.
    “Is this all they have?” Alex muttered.
    “I don’t know,” Florence replied. “If it is, we’re in luck. Watch—here’s another round. Maybe Eagala thinks we’ll run out of spells.”
    “Maybe.” But Alex knew his army was well stocked, and even if they ran out of the old faithful spell components, the Unwanteds were coming up with new spells all the time and were fully armed.
    The thwapp s were heard again, and the catapult arms swung once more. The people of Artimé watched nonchalantly as the fourth round released into the air.
    Simber stood on his hind legs, madly sniffing the air. “Take coverrr!” he cried. “These arrren’t alive!”
    But it was too late. Dozens of giant boulders flew toward Artimé with no parachutes to slow them down, bowling over rows of Unwanteds as loud thuds and the sound of breaking glass filled the air. The mansion windows had been hit.
    Immediately the catapults returned to loading positions and let loose once more. Dozens of boulders even bigger than the last ones flew at the Unwanteds. Artiméans everywhere dove to get out of the way, or flew if they could fly, some managing to dodge one boulder but ending up directly in the path of another. The ground shook as the boulders hit it. Screams filled the air. Artimé was in chaos. There was no spell that would stop an attack like this. Not that Alex knew, anyway.
    As a third round of boulders pelted the island, enough time had passed to allow the first group of Warblerans to come back to life from their temporary frozen states. And almost as if they’d planned it, they began charging at the Unwanteds, drawing knives from their belts.
    Ms. Morning reared back. “Watch out!” she cried. The children of Warbler didn’t seem so innocent anymore.
    “Attack!” shouted Alex, but he wasn’t to be heard above the noise.
    “Attack!” yelled Simber and Florence together.
    Alex, narrowly dodging a boulder, fired off several rounds of scatterclips, sending half a dozen Warblerans to the sides of the ships. At the same time, the original rounds of scatterclips began to wear off, leaving those enemies dangling unceremoniously about the water by a clip or two.
    The next group of Warblerans emerged from their temporary spells, and they charged into the chaos, looking around desperately as if they were searching for someone. And of course they were.
    The battle shifted. Caught off guard, Alex switched his verbal components to permanent chants and began laying Warblerans out across the shore, one by one.
    “Florence, permanent spells from here on out,” he said, and Florence yelled out the command. When he had a second, Alex turned around to see what had become of his people. At least a third of them were on the ground. The rest were fighting valiantly, Sky among them.
    “Sky!” Alex cried. “Go! Like we talked about!”
    But his voice was lost in the battle. He sought out Crow, Sam, and Lani, but they too were out of hearing.
    Frustrated, Alex turned back to see the third wave of Warbler fighters come to life as their spells