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‘There’s a bag of seeds and nuts by the cage door,’ said Kleo. ‘Try offering her one.’
Jack fished around in the paper bag until he found a Brazil nut. He held it by one end and slid it between the bars.
The macaw’s tongue appeared again, tapping against its beak as though tasting the treat already.
Cornelia took one step closer.
‘That’s it,’ said Jack. ‘You can trust me.’
The sharp-tipped beak reached out as though to take the nut, but then she suddenly stopped, turned her head sideways, and glared at Jack’s fingers before jerking back and flapping her wide blue wings, the cage rocking violently.
‘Enemy in sight!’ she cried. ‘Rourke! Rourke!’
Jack jerked away, so startled by her sudden violence that he dropped the nut onto the floor. He hadn’t done anything except talk kindly to her and offer her something to eat. What had got her so upset?
‘She was fine until she got close to me,’ he said.
‘Maybe you smell bad,’ said Jaide.
‘How could I?!’ protested Jack. ‘I’ve had the equivalent of ten showers today.’
‘Put the cloth over the cage,’ said Kleo. ‘That calms her down, eventually.’
Jaide did as instructed, sweeping the silk up and over the brass bars. Cornelia watched her with avian wariness and flapped her wings, making the cover puff out like a curtain in front of a window on a windy day.
Then with a few softer ‘Rourke’s and one final, plaintive ‘All at sea’, she settled down into silence.
‘Poor thing,’ Jack said, almost to himself. ‘I feel sorry for you.’
‘I wouldn’t feel too sorry if I were you,’ said Jaide. ‘I reckon you almost lost a finger a minute ago.’
‘How would you feel if your master had just died?’ asked Jack angrily. ‘She must’ve come here for help and wound up stuck in a cage – can’t you imagine how that must feel?’
Jack wasn’t angry at his sister very often. He was by nature an even-tempered boy who shied away from serious conflict. Perhaps because he was tired and worried about Grandma X, or because he had always wanted a pet of his own, this was suddenly one of those times. Anger flared up in him like a wild thing, and his Gift responded instinctively. The candles flickered, and a deep dark shade fell across the room, as though the air was suddenly full of black smoke.
‘Jackaran Shield, listen to me.’
A soft but insistent bump against his left calf muscle brought him back to himself. He blinked and looked down at Kleo, who carefully put one paw on his leg and slowly extended her claws. She didn’t do anything else, but it got his full attention.
‘The cage isn’t locked,’ she said. ‘Cornelia can let herself out any time she wants. I think she’s in there because it makes her feel safe. That’s why she came here in the first place.’
‘Oh,’ he said, feeling foolish. ‘Sorry, Jaide.’
‘It’s okay, little brother,’ she said, punching him lightly on the shoulder. She rarely called him that, because the distance between them was only four minutes, and because he hated it when she did. ‘I cracked a stupid joke and we’re both tired.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ said Kleo, glancing at the nearest working clock. ‘What did you say you were doing down here at this hour?’
‘We came to look at the Compendium,’ Jaide said.
‘What for? It’s very late to be doing homework.’
‘I know, but it’s about what happened to Grandma. Did she say anything to you before she left this morning?’
‘Anything about a card of some kind?’ added Jack, putting the matter of Cornelia behind him.
‘Not that I recall.’ Kleo looked from one twin to the other. ‘Should she have?’
‘That’s okay, Kleo.’ Jaide wondered if she should try to look disappointed. If Grandma X hadn’t mentioned the missing card to her own Warden companion, there must have been a reason. Or Kleo had been instructed to keep it a secret from them. Perhaps it was best not to push too hard. If Kleo found out what they knew, she might try to talk their father out of letting them help.
‘We understand,’ said Jack. ‘But it would make us feel better if we could just take a quick look.’
Kleo looked more amused than suspicious. ‘All right, troubletwisters. You know where the Compendium is kept. But don’t stay up too late or you’ll be tired tomorrow and get into trouble at school.’
‘We won’t!’ they promised, heading around the cage to go up the steps to the landing where the great mahogany desk sat. There, between two other large folders, rested the enormous blue folder that now contained brief records of their own encounters with the Wardens’ ancient foe, along with everyone else’s. A small card stuck into its plastic sleeve said A Compendium of The Evil.
Jaide pulled the folder free and laid it open on the desk. A great mass of different sorts of papers rustled and shifted, sounding uncannily as though the Compendium itself was waking up, as Jaide had, from a very deep sleep.
‘Remember what Dad told us to look for,’ she whispered to Jack, closing the folder again and putting her hands on the cover. Jack did the same, and faintly, barely audible at all, she heard him whisper.
‘The Card of Translocation . . . the Card of Translocation.’ Jaide closed her eyes and repeated the name with him three times more, then she opened her eyes and together they opened the Compendium to see what it would show them. She could never tell in advance what that might be – a picture, sometimes, more often on thick parchment than photocopied; or an essay, typed or written in the crabbed hand of a long-dead Warden. Once, after asking who the first Warden was, they opened the folder to find a collage made from feathers, shells, and ochre. Neither of them knew what to make of the answer.
What they saw that night were numerous pages that appeared to have been printed on a modern laser-jet printer, held together with a thick metal clasp.
‘What does it say?’ asked Jaide.
The type was very small, and Jack had to lean close to read it.
Along the top of the first page, underlined, was a title. Below that were names, and to the right of each name were two columns, one for Use, the other for Location.
The Register of Lost and/or Forgotten Things
1 The Sundered Map
2 The Sound of Meredith’s Horn
3 Edgwick Bartle’s Shoes
4 The Silver Card of Oblivion
‘What is it?’ asked Jaide.
‘It’s a list.’
‘I can see that. A list of what?’
‘Lost and/or Forgotten Things, of course.’
Jack put his finger on the page and scrolled down, then turned to the
next page when the name he was looking for hadn’t appeared. He found a lot of Cards – and, oddly, reading glasses – but not all of the cards were made of metal. Some were ivory, while others were plastic or even crystal. He wondered what sort this one might be.
It was on the fourth page, halfway down:
261 The Golden Card of Translocation
Gold.
‘Jaide, you know those decks of cards that Custer and Grandma have?’
Jaide nodded. Of course she did. Grandma X had used a deck of large, incredibly heavy cards of gold to try to evaluate their Gifts when they’d first come to Portland. Custer had done the same more recently. Their cards started off blank and changed to reveal a symbol when touched by someone with a Gift. No one had ever told them who made the cards or what powers they might possess.
‘It’s one of those cards, do you think?’ she asked.
‘It must be.’
‘But what makes a card so powerful and dangerous?’
‘Maybe the Register will tell us.’ He scanned across the page, reading as he went. ‘This is weird. It says At this time forgotten, best so, and Lost to us, if not to the world.’
‘That’s not very helpful.’
Jack leaned back and rubbed his eyes. ‘Well, at least we know it exists.’
‘Fat lot of help that is,’ Jaide said. ‘I wonder what Grandma and Dad want it for?’
‘What would happen if we ask about gold cards in general?’ Jack asked.
‘Let’s try it.’
They closed the Compendium and concentrated on an image of the two decks of gold cards they had seen so far. When they opened the folder again, there was a picture of a blank card on the page and a brief explanation beneath written in a looping, old-fashioned script.
For the Divination of Potential Powers and Safekeeping Thereof.
‘By Powers, do you think it means Gifts?’ asked Jaide.
‘I guess so,’ said Jack. ‘But what does it mean by Safekeeping?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe Wardens use the cards to store their Gifts when they’re not using them.’
‘Why wouldn’t they use them?’
Kleo leaped onto the desk next to them, making them both jump.
‘Did you find what you were looking for?’
