Aaron smiled. “I declare,” he began again, and this time Alex didn’t stop him, “that Alexander Stowe is now the head mage of Artimé.”
Alex slid his hand out from under Aaron’s grasp and picked up the robe and book. After a moment he looked up at his brother, whose expression was sober but whose eyes were bright. Alex pressed his lips together, then held the items to his chest and closed his eyes. He took in a solid breath and let it out slowly, then opened his eyes. “Thank you,” he said.
The End of the End
The scientists decided to go home for a while before embarking on their great adventure, though they didn’t know which tube button to push to get there. Alex explained that there was no book in the Museum of Large that addressed the subject, not that he’d ever found anyway, but clearly he hadn’t made it through all of them yet. He warned the men to be very careful, though, for no one knew where most of the buttons went—if anywhere.
Aaron and Kaylee puzzled over it with the scientists for a while, and then Ito said something to the others and pointed at the blue button.
Ishibashi looked at Aaron. “Ito thinks it’s this blue one because the button in our tube on the island is also blue.”
“That makes sense,” said Aaron. He thought about the other remote tubes he’d been in. The button in the jungle’s tube was white, but there were no white buttons in the kitchenette tube—they were the colors of the spectrum. Aaron frowned. Pushing all the buttons at once would be akin to mixing all the colors of the spectrum, and doing that most certainly would result in white—Aaron had learned that much about color and light in his short time in Artimé. So perhaps there was something to the color matching.
Aaron tried to remember what color the button had been in the tube in Haluki’s closet, but it had always been so dark in there that he’d never noticed it. Was it red, like the first button in the kitchenette’s tube? He had no idea. And that tube had been destroyed by fire, so there was no way to check.
Ito spoke again, and Ishibashi translated. “Ito says he’s willing to risk it.” He grinned, and he and Sato stepped aside to let Ito get into the tube. Ito smiled brightly and waved, and then pushed the blue button. He disappeared.
Kaylee looked at the others. “Aren’t you nervous for him?” she asked, incredulous.
“Nah,” said Ishibashi. “He’s one hundred and eleven years old. Good time to die.” He and Sato began laughing uproariously. Aaron joined in, as if he were in on some sort of joke. Kaylee looked on in confusion.
A moment later Ito returned. He spoke to Ishibashi, and Ishibashi looked at Aaron. “He says he found the right button!”
With promises to return in a month to join Aaron and Kaylee and set out on their journey, the three scientists went home, leaving Kaylee shaking her head in wonder at the bravery of the three old gentlemen.
She and Aaron left the kitchenette and walked down the hallway. When they reached the 3-D door, Kaylee said good-bye to Aaron and disappeared through it just as Alex exited his partially repaired private quarters.
Alex closed his door and looked up, seeing Aaron. “Did they make it back to the Island of Shipwrecks?”
“They did—it’s the blue button. How’s the construction going?”
“It’s coming along,” said Alex. The brothers walked together past the two doors that had never been seen open as long as Alex had been accessing this hallway.
“Do you think you’ll ever figure out how to get in there?” asked Aaron, pointing at one.
“I hope so,” said Alex. “Now that life is settling down I’ll have time to try, at least.” And then he chuckled. “And if not, we’ll just have to bring Thisbe or Fifer up here.”
“Yes,” said Aaron with a wry smile. “Either a ‘boom’ or a piercing scream ought to bring the doors down, I’ll bet.”
? ? ? ?
With everyone on the island pitching in, even the Wanteds and Necessaries, it didn’t take more than a few weeks for the entire island of Quill to be restored, and soon Artimé was back to looking its best, too. The fountain was flowing properly, the lawn was lush, Henry’s greenhouse garden had been replanted, and the mansion appeared even better than new. Alex’s living quarters now included a circular glass door where the hole had been, leading to a private balcony where he could sit and enjoy the sunsets. Sky often joined him to watch.