Mystery of the Golden Card

by Garth Nix

  Jack wanted to run back to the estate and find his father, to be told the truth of the matter and comforted. Instead, he settled for fleeing upstairs and flinging himself onto his bed, clutching in one hand the ruined photo that, for a reason he could never admit to himself, he was unable to look at.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The Cornelia Conundrum

  DOWNSTAIRS, JAIDE FELT SIMILARLY STUNNED. Cornelia quieted when Jack left the room and eyed Jaide warily, as though sizing her up.

  ‘You’re a weird old bird,’ she said. ‘Maybe your eyes are going.’

  ‘Walk the plank! Keelhaul the landlubber!’

  ‘All right, I’m sorry. But I just don’t see how you could be right. I mean, it can’t be Dad.’

  But for the life of her, Jaide couldn’t think why Cornelia would pick out her father and screech ‘Rourke! Killer!’ like that, and she couldn’t talk about it with the parrot.

  ‘I’ll keep guard,’ said Kleo, heading for the front door. ‘You do what you can to make it look like nothing happened here.’

  Jaide sighed in frustration and confusion. There was nothing else to do until Jack came out of his funk, so she took the dustpan and broom from the laundry cupboard. Watched by Cornelia every second, she tipped the remains of the picture frame into the bin and brushed up every last splinter of glass as best she could.

  Kleo came running back in. ‘She’s here!’

  Jaide met Cornelia’s beady eye.

  ‘You’ve got to go back to the blue room,’ she said. ‘After the business with the phone, I have no idea how to explain where you came from. Either you go now, or I’ll throw a rug over you and carry you there. That way you won’t be able to bite me.’

  The parrot bobbed her head and made a low clicking noise, as though considering her options.

  ‘I’m serious,’ Jaide said, doing her best Grandma X impersonation.

  ‘Rourke!’ Cornelia came up to her full height and flapped her wings. Two mighty sweeps saw her in the air, and a third sent her swooping for the door. The front door opened as Cornelia vanished up the stairs to the top floor and through the door leading to the blue room.

  ‘Finished your homework already and doing your chores?’ asked Susan, seeing Jaide with the dustpan and broom. ‘That’s a step in the right direction.’

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ said Jaide. ‘Do you think we could have—’

  ‘Your phone back?’

  ‘Yeees,’ replied Jaide slowly, thinking she might be pushing her luck too far.

  Susan frowned.

  ‘I’ll think about it. Now, I couldn’t find all the ingredients I needed so I got us stuff for sandwiches instead. How’s that?’

  Sandwiches at dinnertime might have been a bit weird, but it was better than the alternative. ‘Great, Mum.’

  ‘Don’t look so pleased. I know that when it comes to cooking, I make a great paramedic.’ She gave Jaide a quick hug. ‘Where’s Jack?’

  ‘Upstairs finishing his homework.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll make him something and you can take it up to him later.’

  Jaide put the utensils away and helped her mother unpack. The thought of eating dinner led to the unexpected discovery that she was actually hungry. Susan had bought fresh bread with sliced meat, cheese and vegetables, creating a spread almost identical to the first meal they had ever had in Portland. Jaide made herself a lettuce, ham and tomato sandwich, and contemplated all the things that had happened since that first day. They had learned about their Gifts and The Evil. They had made several new friends, two of them cats. They had been in danger many times, and would certainly be in danger again. Maybe they were in great danger at that moment and didn’t know it. She thought of her father and wondered how he was doing, but there was no way to find out unless Hector called their mother or Custer dropped by.

  ‘Can we go back to the castle tomorrow?’ Jaide asked, figuring she might have better luck on that front.

  ‘That wasn’t the deal,’ said Susan. ‘You’ve missed enough school for one week.’

  ‘But Mum—’

  ‘No buts. David Smeaton’s been very good to put up with you two, but I think it’s time you let him get on with his work.’

  Jaide wanted to protest that this was exactly what they didn’t want him to do, but she couldn’t say anything like that. If Grandma X had been there, maybe they could have talked her around.

  ‘Is Grandma any better?’

  Susan sighed and looked down at her plate. ‘Doctor Witworth has her under heavy sedation in the hope of reducing the pressure on her brain. Maybe we can go see her tomorrow, if she improves.’

  Jaide put down the rest of her meal, her appetite gone.

  Susan made Jack a sandwich and Jaide took it upstairs to him, but not before detouring through the blue room to pick up the Compendium on the way. The chances of finding anything in it were slim, but she had to try.

  Jack was lying facedown on his bed and didn’t look up when she entered.

  ‘Are you hungry, Jack?’

  ‘No.’ He rolled over onto his side, his back to her.

  ‘Well, here you are anyway.’ She put the plate next to him and sat on her own bed, setting the Compendium down in front of her. Concentrating briefly on the notion of Warden Companions, she opened the folder and began to read.

  After a minute or two, Jack stirred.

  ‘Where’s Cornelia?’ he asked, still without looking up.

  ‘Back in the blue room. Do you want me to get her? I could probably sneak her in here without Mum noticing.’

  ‘No. I never want to see her again.’

  One hand reached out and snared half the sandwich. The smell of it had reminded him that there were more immediate concerns than what a mad old parrot thought of his father. The first mouthful went some way towards filling the aching void inside him. The second mouthful did more.

  ‘Listen to this,’ said Jaide. ‘One of the earliest steps towards inviting an animal to be your Companion is to spend three days in their mind, experiencing everything they do. That means Grandma X has been inside Kleo’s and Ari’s mind. I wonder if they got to be in hers in return.’

  ‘It doesn’t work that way,’ said a muffled voice from Jack’s bag.

  ‘Professor Olafsson!’ Jaide jumped off the bed to rescue him. ‘We forgot you again. I’m sorry.’

  ‘No apology necessary,’ he said when released from captivity and placed on the chest beside Jaide’s bed. ‘But it is nice to be part of the conversation again.’

  ‘So what does happen when a Warden makes a Companion?’ Jaide asked him, putting the Compendium aside.

  ‘May I ask why you’re asking?’

  ‘Well, I thought that if we made Cornelia Jack’s Companion, she’d be able to talk to us properly about what she saw that night.’

  Jack rolled over.

  ‘No way!’ he exclaimed. ‘I don’t want anything more to do with that treacherous old bird.’

  ‘Calm down, Jack. It’s possible we’re still misunderstanding her, isn’t it?’

  ‘I don’t think this could be a misunderstanding.’ Jack held up the photo, pointing to where Cornelia had bitten a hole right through Hector Shield’s head. ‘She kept saying killer.’

  ‘That does seem most definite,’ said Professor Olafsson. ‘But in any case, I assure you that enlisting the services of a Companion takes a great deal of time, energy, and trust – three things I fear you entirely lack at the moment.’

  It was Jaide’s turn to flop hopelessly onto the bed.

  ‘We can’t just lie here and do nothing,’ she groaned.

  ‘I want to talk to Dad,’ Jack said. ‘I’m sure he could tell us what really happened to Master Rourke. I mean, we know Rodeo Dave went over there that night. It’s more likely that he was the one who did the frightening, if The Evil told him to.’

  ‘I don’t want to think about that,’ said Jaide. ‘It’s too horrible, and besides, there’s no way to talk to him without the phon
e. We just have to find the gold card first. Then everything will be all right.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it will be!’

  ‘I mean, how are we going to find it? We tried a witching rod. We used a skeleton key. We got Ari to look around for us. We’ve found nothing, and now I’m out of ideas.’

  ‘The solution might be right in front of you,’ said the death mask, ‘or behind you, or above you, or all around you. If it’s in the universe next door, it could be anywhere, and nowhere.’

  ‘But how does that help us?’ asked Jack. ‘If it’s in another universe, we can’t get to it because it’s . . . in another universe, right?’

  ‘Not so. All we need is a cross-continuum conduit constructor.’

  ‘Is that something Grandma might have?’

  ‘Not likely. It was never considered . . . uh . . . mainstream Warden equipment. Very few were made – though now I come to think about it, I suppose more may have been built since I’ve been . . . ah . . . resting . . .’

  ‘If Grandma hasn’t got one of these construct things, then I don’t think there’s much hope—’ Jack started to say, but he was interrupted by the gleeful professor.

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong! There’s one in the castle. I saw it while we were searching the second floor.’

  Jaide and Jack sat up at the same moment.

  ‘What?!’

  ‘The castle contains a cross-continuum conduit constructor, which I now suspect was used to hide the card you seek in the first place. If we go back, I can show you where it is. I can even show you how to use it!’

  ‘Wait.’ Jaide rubbed at her tired eyes. Her brain was beginning to shut down from exhaustion. ‘You’re telling us that with this thing you can open a tunnel to another world, where the Card of Translocation is hidden.’

  ‘Yes. A world among many possible worlds.’

  ‘What kind of world?’

  ‘It could be like ours, or it could infinitely stranger, built from an entirely different number of dimensions and physical laws. I glimpsed some of these places during my own research – endless flat plains with no height or depth at all, giddying vistas boasting an extra version of left and right—’

  Jack cut him off. ‘Could someone use one of these conduits to connect to somewhere else in this world?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘So that’s how the back door to the blue room works!’

  He felt pleased to have worked that much out, even though he was no closer to a solution to their current problem.

  ‘Okay, so it could be done,’ Jaide said. ‘But we can’t search every possible universe. That would take us forever.’

  ‘That’s true. Fortunately, in this case you would simply look for an existing doorway into the world where the card is hidden, not create a new one. Then we would use the cross-continuum conduit constructor as a key to open it.’

  ‘Would the witching rod help us find the doorway?’

  ‘Yes. Just deduce where such a doorway would likely be, point the rod at it, and see what happens.’

  ‘And how exactly do we do the deducing?’ asked Jaide.

  ‘Well, in my day people tended to make otherworldly doorways in things that already looked like doors. You know, they tend to the rectangular. A window, for example. Or even an actual door, since it would only open to the other world if it was activated by the device.’

  ‘That’s all great, but we still have to go back to the castle,’ said Jack.

  ‘Somehow.’ Jaide felt gloomy again.

  ‘I find,’ said Professor Olafsson with persistent cheer, ‘that the best ideas come when the concerns of the mundane world are set aside and the conscious mind submits to the ruminations of the unconscious.’

  ‘When what?’ asked Jack.

  ‘When you get a good night’s sleep, in other words, and that’s what I advise for both of you right now. By the time you wake up, I’m sure you will have the answer.’

  ‘I hope so.’ Jack was too tired to argue, even with a full belly. He got up and slipped into his pyjamas.

  Jaide went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. There was no sign of Cornelia or Kleo, and by the time she went back, Jack was already out cold, the damaged picture sitting on his chest, resting under his limp hand. The bracelet charm Custer had given him gleamed in the low light. Jaide browsed through the Compendium until Susan came and told her it was time for sleep.

  ‘Do you sleep?’ Jaide asked Professor Olafsson as she got into bed.

  ‘No, but there are times when I fade out. When nothing is happening and there is no one to talk to.’ He smiled at Jaide. ‘I would not want to sleep now. This puzzle has given me much to think about!’

  ‘Well, that’s good,’ she said. ‘Happy thinking. Maybe one of us will have the answer by morning.’

  ‘I believe that is entirely likely, Jaide.’

  Jaide closed her eyes and, within moments, started to snore.

  ‘Cards, parrots and cats,’ said Professor Olafsson softly to himself. ‘Now, where did I hear that voice before . . . ?’

  Jack woke the next morning from a nightmare about giant parrots picking up members of his family one by one and biting their heads off, while Jaide had dreamt about flying in the rain and dodging lightning bolts. Neither dream brought any kind of revelation or solution to any of their problems. Professor Olafsson had nothing, either, and he didn’t look happy about it. The night’s fruitless thinking had put him in a sullen mood.

  ‘The entrance could be anywhere in the castle,’ said the professor. ‘It could be disguised as anything. We need another clue to guide us.’

  ‘Will you be okay if we leave you here?’ asked Jaide. ‘I don’t think we should take you to school.’

  Jack agreed, fearing what Miralda King would make of the death mask if she got her hands on it. Professor Olafsson assented. He was getting bored of sitting around thinking, but it wasn’t as if they had many choices.

  Susan was distracted and irritable over breakfast, as though she hadn’t slept well. Jack assumed she was worried about Grandma X and their father, as they were. She didn’t know anything about The Evil, but distance and car crashes were enough to make anyone unhappy.

  ‘I don’t want to hear any more talk about going to the castle,’ Susan said, although they hadn’t said anything about it at all. ‘I checked the homework I gave you. You didn’t do any of it. You’re going to school and that’s where the matter ends. And don’t even think about asking for the phone.’

  They knew better than to argue with that tone, just as they understood when to obey their father. Feeling trapped between two parents who weren’t talking to each other about what really mattered, they had no choice but to grit their teeth, make their own lunches, and get themselves to school.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Jaide asked as she untangled their bikes and pushed hers out of the laundry room.

  ‘Beats me.’ Jack followed her, almost running over two feline shapes sitting by the back door, one scruffy ginger and the other a glossy blue-grey.

  ‘So this was the big secret from the other night?’ Ari was looking up at the rail of the widow’s walk high above, where Cornelia was visible as a blue smudge against the tiles of the roof. His eyes were narrowed and suspicious. ‘What’s so special about a bird? They’re just dinner on legs.’

  ‘Exactly what we thought you’d think,’ said Kleo. ‘I asked Custer to keep you busy so you wouldn’t scare her off.’

  ‘So he didn’t really need my help?’

  Ari looked hurt, and Jaide hastened to distract him.

  ‘Not all birds are stupid,’ said Jaide. ‘This one can talk.’

  ‘About what – how she really wants a cracker? Pffft.’ Ari rolled his eyes. ‘No respectable animal would eat crackers.’

  ‘I’m on your side, Ari,’ said Jack. ‘Why doesn’t she just fly away?’

  ‘Because she’s still trying to tell us something,’ said Kleo. ‘She
stirred when you woke, troubletwisters, and came out through one of the upper floor windows. I don’t know what she’s doing, but she definitely has a purpose.’

  Jaide climbed onto her bike. ‘Come on, Jack, or we’ll be late.’

  Ari returned his attention to the bird.

  ‘Just come down here,’ he called, ‘and we’ll see whose claws are sharpest . . .’

  They pedalled down the lane, leaving Ari to his fantasies of a parrot breakfast. Neither of them saw Cornelia stretch one wing and then the other, as though waking herself up, then launch herself into the air. She flapped twice, banked to avoid a tree, and disappeared from Ari’s frustrated sight.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  A Twin Thing

  ZEBEDIAH WAS JUST PULLING AWAY from the kerb with Rodeo Dave behind the wheel as the twins approached the Book Herd. On his way to the castle, Jaide thought glumly, to continue his search for the Card of Translocation. He waved, but their return waves were half-hearted at best.

  ‘Good morning, troubletwisters,’ Rennie called from the doorway with her rough voice. She waved, too, and it took both twins a full second to realise that she did so with a complete left hand. They screeched to a halt, not believing their eyes. Grandma X had told them that there was no way even the Wardens could heal so great a wound.

  ‘Come inside,’ Rennie said, crooking one impossible finger. ‘I want to talk to you.’

  They propped their bikes against the window and followed her into the shop, where she led them through the door at the back and up a narrow flight of stairs, to the room she slept in. It contained very little in terms of furniture, just a single bed and a cupboard with one door, but was plastered floor-to-ceiling with hand-drawn pictures.

  They were the pictures of Rennie their class had drawn when they’d thought she was dead, Jaide realised, looking around in wonder. Tara must have given them to her in the end.

  Rennie sat on the bed, surrounded by pictures of herself, and brought the twins to her for a quick hug. She was like that sometimes. The Evil had used her when she was grieving over the deaths of her own children. Now that she was a ward of Portland, that protectiveness had been transferred to them.