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She felt the book shuffle under her hands, and though she didn’t lift them, when she opened her eyes the folder was open, this time displaying a handwritten note that said:
Sam didn’t have the hooks. I’ve put all the keys in the top drawer of the snake bureau for now; will make the board when the hooks come in. And I picked up the cake, so you don’t need to go.
Jack was reading over Jaide’s shoulder.
‘I guess that’s Granddad’s writing,’ he said. ‘Weird.’
Jaide looked around the blue room. Over in one corner there was a teak bureau wound about with carved snakes.
‘That must be it,’ she said, pointing. ‘Check it out. I’ll ask about the witching rod.’
Jack went over and pulled out the top drawer. It was full of numerous differently shaped and coloured wooden boxes. He opened the lids of each of them in turn until in one of them he found a large ring of keys. The keys ranged in size from half the length of his little finger to one big key as long as his hand. They all had ivory handles, carved in the shape of a crescent moon, and the key parts were bright silver and surprisingly simple.
‘We still don’t know which one is the skeleton key,’ Jack said, holding them up. They made a sound like a wind chime. ‘I guess we take them all and try them one by one.’
Jaide didn’t answer. She was concentrating on the Compendium again. It fluttered open, but this time revealed only some hasty but well executed sketches. One showed a close-up of a thick wire that had been bent in half and twisted in the middle. Underneath was an inscription in very small handwriting that said, Makeshift witching rod, made from fencing wire, works just as well as the one the blacksmith made. Comes in handy for toasting marshmallows.
The second drawing showed a hand gripping the very end of the wire with just two fingers and thumb, and the note beneath that said, Of the two grips suggested, this one works best for me. Hard on the fingers, but the rod responds strongly, so strongly sometimes it jumps from my grip!
Jaide stared at the drawing.
‘This isn’t much use,’ she complained. ‘It shows what a witching rod looks like, but not where one is.’
Jack came and looked, too, bringing the keys. He tilted his head sideways, then laughed. ‘I know where it is,’ he said.
‘Where?’ asked Jaide.
‘In the living room, next to the fireplace. In that box with the poker and stuff. I’ll go get it.’
‘Don’t wake up Mum by jangling those keys!’ warned Jaide.
Jack closed his hand tight around the keys to stop their noise, and went up into the house. Jaide put her hands back on the Compendium, ready to ask it about one more thing that she thought needed investigation.
When Jack came back, he was holding a soot-blackened wire rod with a twist in the middle. He barely had time to show it to Jaide before the tapestry twitched and Kleo returned.
‘What’s that?’ asked the cat.
‘Um, a toasting stick,’ said Jack. ‘For marshmallows.’
‘Or sardines,’ mused Kleo. ‘I like a fire-toasted sardine.’
‘I guess I could toast you a sardine,’ said Jack, wrinkling his nose. ‘Not right now, though.’
‘Yeah, we’d better go to bed,’ said Jaide. ‘Night, Kleo!’
‘Thank you for watching over Cornelia, troubletwisters.’ Kleo rubbed her head against both of them as they filed through the door. ‘Goodnight.’
As Jack pulled the elephant tapestry back into place, he heard Cornelia call out quietly.
‘The devil,’ she said, ‘or the deep blue sea?’
It was definitely a question, but Jack didn’t feel as though it was directed at him. It might have been nothing more than random words from an old parrot. Still, it made him sad to think that she was still worried about something she couldn’t communicate to anyone. If only she could talk properly, like Kleo and Ari.
Back in their room, Jaide took the witching rod. It didn’t look like anything magical, little more than a bent old coathanger, but slightly thicker.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘I guess this is it. It looks just like the picture.’
Jack took the witching rod back from her and held it as the drawing had shown, with just two fingers and his thumb. It immediately quivered, and the end arched back, towards Jack himself.
‘It works!’ exclaimed Jack. ‘I’ve got the skeleton key in my pocket.’
‘I looked up something else while I was using the Compendium,’ Jaide said.
‘What?’
‘The death mask you found – Professor Olafsson. He was a Warden, just as he said. He was very controversial, though, even among Wardens. He had a theory that in addition to the world where The Evil comes from, there are other parallel worlds around us that we can’t see or access, but if we could work out how The Evil gets into our world we might be able to get into all the other worlds, too.’
‘Wow!’ said Jack. ‘Interesting guy.’
‘Interesting extremely old guy,’ said Jaide. ‘He died in 1763. So I guess he won’t be very in touch with anything that’s been going on more recently.’
‘He might still be able to help us find the card,’ said Jack. ‘We can ask him tomorrow.’
Jaide pulled back her covers and crawled gratefully under them. ‘If we can get away from Rodeo Dave . . .’
CHAPTER TEN
Every Castle Has Its Secrets
WHILE THEY WERE GETTING READY for their trip to the castle the next morning, there came two loud knocks at the front door. Susan opened it and stared out at a high-cheeked man with long blond hair. There was something about his eyes that unnerved her – they were so close-set, and disturbingly intense. He seemed to be staring right through her, or into her.
‘Susan Shield, I presume,’ he said.
‘Yes, but I’m afraid—’
‘I am a friend to your husband,’ he said, offering his hand. She took it. His grip was gentle, but his fingernails were surprisingly long. ‘And to your children.’
‘Oh,’ she said, backing away, feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of her. ‘Yes, I . . . think I understand.’
Jaide had poked her head around the kitchen door. ‘It’s Custer!’ she cried, running out to meet him. Jack followed.
‘What are you doing here?’ Jack asked. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘Nothing is wrong.’
‘Would you . . . would you like to come in?’ asked Susan. ‘I’ve just made some coffee.’
‘Thank you, but all I require is a moment with Jack and Jaide, here.’
He gestured at the twins. Susan nodded, turned as though in a fog, and walked three steps up the hall.
Custer squatted down in the doorway in front of the twins.
‘We saw you yesterday,’ said Jaide. ‘Out on the estate.’
‘Indeed you did, and I will be patrolling again today while your grandmother remains in the hospital.’ His upper lip curled, revealing his opinion of modern medicine. His teeth were long and sharp-looking. ‘Ari tells me that you, too, are returning to the estate. You must be careful. The boundary of the wards stretches across the property. It would be dangerous for you to step beyond that boundary.’
‘Why?’ asked Jack. ‘Is The Evil around?’
Custer glanced over their shoulders to where their mother stood just out of earshot, gnawing on a thumbnail.
‘That is not what I am saying. I am asking merely for you to be careful.’ He reached into an inside pocket of his long leather greatcoat. ‘Take these. They’ll tell you when you reach the boundary.’
He handed them a leather wristband each and helped tie them around their wrists. Colourful beads dotted the bands, apparently at random. One of Jack’s beads looked like a tiny six-sided die.
Jaide opened her mouth to ask Custer the first of the many questions she had, but a horn tooted outside and the chance was lost.
The three of them, followed closely by Susan, went out onto the veranda to meet Rodeo Dave. He was dri
ving an enormous red car – long, wide, and rectangular, with enormous fins at the rear and a top that was folded down behind the back seat, leaving the interior open to the sky. Two longhorns adorned the grill at the front, looking as though they had come from a real steer. The car’s engine sounded like the growl of a giant dog, slowed down to a rumbling throb. Rodeo Dave looked small and insignificant behind the wheel, even with his enormous moustache and an equally incongruous cowboy hat, which was also new to the twins.
‘The old companion?’ said Custer.
‘It seemed fitting,’ said Rodeo Dave.
‘Young Master Rourke would have hated it.’
