AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The twins shot her a dirty look, which Grandma X completely ignored.
‘What about tomorrow?’ Tara said. ‘Could they come over to our house, Dad?’
‘I’m afraid they’re busy during the day,’ Grandma X said. ‘But tomorrow night they’re available.’
Jaide felt a rising sense of panic. They couldn’t leave Portland when The Evil was running loose!
‘Can they stay over?’ asked Tara. ‘Please, Daddy, say yes.’
Mr McAndrew looked from his anxious daughter to the tense trio on the steps. He smiled. ‘Of course, my love. Jack, Jaide – you are very welcome.’
Jaide and Jack nudged their grandmother from both sides, but it was too late.
‘I think that’s a wonderful idea,’ she said. ‘I’ll put them on the train in the afternoon, then they can catch the same train home the next morning. Shall I call you to confirm the times?’
‘That would be perfect.’ Mr McAndrew’s white teeth gleamed at them as he told Grandma X the phone number. ‘We’ll be waiting for them at the station.’
‘You can meet Fi-Fi,’ said Tara, climbing into the van. ‘She’s my puppy. You’ll just adore her!’
The twins waved listlessly as the van trundled forward, kicking up gravel in its driver’s haste. As its glowing brake lights vanished up the lane, the twins turned on Grandma X, who was already retreating inside.
‘What did you do that for?’ asked Jaide.
‘What do you mean? She’s your friend, isn’t she?’
‘Yes, but we don’t want to go to her house!’
‘Why not?’ Grandma X called over her shoulder. ‘I thought you’d relish the chance to see what Martin McAndrew’s home is like. I mean, if he’s an agent of The Evil, like you think, won’t there be some kind of sign?’
‘But what if it’s dangerous?’ said Jack.
‘That didn’t seem to bother you tonight.’
‘You don’t believe us,’ said Jaide. ‘You’re just trying to get us out of your hair!’
Grandma X didn’t deny that. She vanished into the kitchen to tend to her new concoction.
In the hallway, the twins conferred.
‘She’s right,’ said Jack. ‘This is a good chance to check him out.’
‘But what if we don’t find anything?’
‘Then maybe she’s right about that too.’
‘But she can’t be! Did you see the way he stayed in his car – like he was afraid of setting foot in the garden? That’s because it’s protected, and he’s in league with The Evil!’
‘So we prove her wrong,’ said Jack.
Jaide could accept that angle. ‘All right. We prove her wrong.’
‘When you’ve finished whispering out there,’ called Grandma X from the kitchen, ‘you can brush your teeth and go to your rooms to read for a while before turning out the light.’
The twins leaned their heads round the kitchen door. Grandma X was still at the pot, stirring and tipping in bowls of mysterious ingredients.
‘What’s going on tomorrow during the day?’ asked Jaide.
‘It’s Saturday,’ said Jack, worried that it might be more homework that Mr Carver hadn’t set.
‘I have a treat in store for you,’ Grandma X said, without looking up from her concoction. ‘A special teacher, and a very special lesson.’
‘Who?’ asked Jack
‘What?’ asked Jaide.
Their interest was piqued, but Grandma X would tell them nothing more.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Shapeshifter
The twins woke to find the only Warden they had ever met, apart from their father and grandmother, sitting at the kitchen table eating a perfectly ordinary bowl of porridge.
‘Good morning, Jack and Jaide,’ said Custer. ‘It’s nice to meet you under more congenial circumstances.’
Custer was an odd-looking man with close-set yellow eyes, sharp cheekbones and long blond hair – but that wasn’t remotely the oddest thing about him. They had met him briefly after the fixing of the East Ward, when the threat of The Evil had abated and the storm gripping Portland had begun to ebb. He and their father were trusted friends, and they both travelled by unusual means: Hector by lightning, Custer in the form of a sabretoothed tiger. Custer had assumed that Hector was the one who had fixed the ward, and nothing the twins had said would convince him otherwise.
‘It’s good of you to come, Nate,’ said Grandma X, handing him a mug of hot chocolate and pouring one each for the twins. ‘The moon is growing old and my Gift is therefore on the wane. While I’m busy, our troubletwisters here could use a firm, guiding hand.’
Custer’s odd eyes drilled into the twins, one after the other. ‘Not to worry,’ he said. ‘Happy to help out.’
‘How do you know Dad?’ asked Jack, sniffing at his hot chocolate and deciding it was probably safe to drink.
‘We fought together, a long time ago.’
‘Dad was in the army?’ Jaide was surprised. She couldn’t imagine her floppy-haired, eccentric father dressed in a uniform and holding a gun.
‘Not in the army,’ Custer clarified. ‘Against The Evil. We lost our – that is, when the battle was won, both our families had reason to mourn. That kind of bond can never be broken.’
‘This was before you were born,’ said Grandma X to the twins. ‘Your father was barely a teenager. Toast?’
Jack nodded eagerly, but he wasn’t done with learning about his father, and the life he had led that until recently they had known nothing about.
‘Was Dad brave?’ he asked Custer.
‘Very.’ Custer leaned forward and rested his hands on the table. ‘This was in the Pacific. A new island had appeared out of the ocean floor and The Evil had found a way into our world through it. The enemy was well established by the time we arrived, inhabiting albatrosses and sharks, even the stones of the island, which rose up against us in the form of granite giants. We had less than twenty-four hours to establish the wards before it found a way to reach civilisation. We lost many good Wardens that day.’
‘Custer,’ said Grandma X softly, ‘the table.’
Long, yellowish claws had emerged from the end of Custer’s fingers and were in danger of scoring the wood. He folded his hands into fists and straightened.
‘Enough old news,’ he said. ‘Let’s talk of you two. Your grandmother tells me you’ve advanced quickly, but that your Gifts remain unsettled. She also tells me that you’re seeing The Evil everywhere, thanks to your reading of the Compendium. It’s only natural for you to be excited about everything at this point in your development, but control is more important than excitement, and that’s what I’m here to teach you.’
‘We have control,’ said Jaide. ‘We duelled yesterday and I won –’
‘An illusion,’ said Custer firmly. ‘Fighting your brother is a far cry from fighting The Evil. No matter how mean or treacherous you might think Jack to be sometimes, our enemy is a thousand times worse. We must be certain of your capabilities before you can be trusted with the responsibilities of being a Warden.’
The long-term promise of being a Warden stilled Jaide’s tongue. That was what she wanted more than anything.
‘Is there a special ceremony to become a Warden?’ asked Jack around a mouthful of toast and peanut butter. ‘Like graduation?’
‘You mean, do we wear robes and put on funny hats and get a certificate to put on the wall?’ Custer sniffed. ‘No. We don’t go in for that, any more than we wave wands when we use our Gifts. It’s all in our heads.’ He tapped his temple with one perfectly ordinary fingernail. ‘That’s where the real battle is fought.’
‘Who else is a Warden?’ asked Jaide. ‘Anyone famous?’
‘Wardens work in the background, where no one can see them. It has to be that way because otherwise the distractions of the world will hamper our fight against the enemy. The Evil is always willing to use everyday confusions against us. We must be careful when we choose our friends, for inst
ance. Even a small kindness can turn to harm.’
Jack thought of Tara, but couldn’t see how anything they did could be bad for her – particularly if her father was already on the side of The Evil. Surely having them around could only do her good.
‘What’s stopping a Warden from using his Gift to make money?’ he asked.
‘Nothing,’ said Custer, ‘but his conscience. And in some situations, it might well be justified.’
