The mass of stone mostly stayed in the jungle, though, watching over its sometimes-frightening occupants. Panther, who was half-wild, lived there, as did a little dog with very sharp teeth who’d put a number of puncture wounds in Aaron’s arms over the years. A giant scorpion resided much deeper inside the jungle. That creature had nearly done Fifer and Thisbe in once, and no one was ever safe from it. Luckily, it loved the darkness and rarely visited this area, where bits of sunlight filtered through the treetops.

Florence scanned the group, sizing up her team. Sean, Carina, and Seth were there with young Lukas and Ava. Lani and Samheed too. Aaron, but not Kaylee, who was keeping Daniel safe on the Island of Shipwrecks. Henry and Thatcher, with Ibrahim and Clementi and their other teenage children. Fifer and Sky, and Fifer’s birds hovering above. Claire Morning and Gunnar Haluki. Crow and Scarlet. Ms. Octavia, the octogator instructor, Fox, Kitten, and a few other statues who’d snuck out of the mansion before the siege. A spare handful of other staunch Aaron supporters filled in the gaps. Lani hadn’t managed to convince any of the departing Artiméans to stay—they’d wanted no part of a civil war. They set off for Warbler to wait it out.

The toothy dog wasn’t present as far as anyone could see, though his body had a camouflage quality to it that made it hard to spot him in the jungle. But Panther paced restlessly a short distance away. She wasn’t nearly as ferocious and dangerous as she used to be, but it was safer for everyone, including her, if she kept her distance, especially now that she was agitated over the news Florence had given her about Simber being trapped. Florence had warned Panther that she’d take her down in an instant if she threatened anyone present, and Panther respected that.

“So this is it, then,” said Aaron, bringing everyone to silence. “Thank you for sticking with us even though it looks like our side is sorely lacking in numbers. But some of Artimé’s best fighters are in this group, and that makes me feel confident.” He didn’t sound as confident as he said he was. “Florence, what thoughts do you have about our immediate future? We’ve been driven out of the mansion—what do you advise? Go quietly? Or fight?”

“It will be nearly impossible to fight them,” Florence began, and a few in the crowd, like Carina and Fifer, reacted by stepping forward and beginning to protest. But Florence held up her hand to explain. “We certainly can’t beat them. Their numbers are too large, and they have all the extra components.”

Others began to shift uncomfortably. What was Florence saying? Didn’t she think they had a chance?

The warrior trainer seemed troubled—more conflicted than she’d ever been in the past when leading up to a battle. “We also must remember,” she went on, “that like us, they are people of Artimé. The majority of them were Unwanted too. They were thrown out of Quill. Rescued and accepted into our world by Marcus Today and Alex and all of us. And… I think many of them have gotten caught up in the fearmongering. Not all of them are thinking straight. They’re not making decisions of their own accord like they’ve been taught to do from the moment they set foot in Artimé, because Frieda Stubbs is completely different from any ruler our land has ever seen. She’s disorienting and chaotic. Some of the people have been swayed by friends or coerced by Frieda’s lies.”