by Garth Nix
‘There might be a brass plate in the lighthouse, too,’ said Jaide.
‘There are lots of brass plates all over the place. How can we tell if one of them is the “something read” ward?’
‘The silver screws, maybe?’
‘That’s if the skull was talking about the ward and not some other plate,’ said Jack.
‘There are instruments that indicate the presence of Warden magic,’ suggested Kleo. She pointed with her paw. ‘Ari, show them the flower.’
Ari jumped across to one of the shelves and gently butted a tall silver cylinder with his head. Jack lifted it down, took off the lid, and he and Jaide looked at the glass flower inside.
‘If you take it out, the flower will change colour to indicate the presence of Warden magic,’ said Kleo. ‘Powerful magic makes it turn a very deep blue. I’m sure it would do that in the presence of a ward.’
‘So if we took this and held it near any brass plates we find in the cemetery or the lighthouse, it would tell us which one is the ward,’ said Jaide.
‘How do we fix the ward, though?’ Jack asked.
‘Finding it is the first step.’ A plan was already starting to form in Jaide’s mind. ‘Then we’ll need to see what has to be done.’
‘But we’re surrounded by The Evil,’ protested Jack with a shudder. ‘Those dogs . . .’
‘I think I know how to find the brass plate and get back here without being caught by the dogs,’ said Jaide. She put the silver cylinder under her arm. ‘Let’s go up on the roof again.’
When Jack opened the hatch at the top of the last flight of stairs, he was surprised at how old the day was getting. Through a break in the clouds, the lazy afternoon sun was sinking slowly into the last quarter, sending long shadows across the yard below.
There were even more dogs in the yard now. Hundreds of them, made horribly shaggy and creepy by heavy encrustations of cockroaches and other bugs. Their eyes were white and they all raised their snouts together as they caught the scent of their human prey.
‘At least they’re only watching,’ said Jaide. ‘They’d come inside if they could.’
‘Somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better,’ said Jack.
He looked further afield. The yellow shoulder of a bulldozer was visible over the fence by the derelict house next door, but there were no people in sight. The storm had made everyone stay indoors. He swung Grandma X’s opera glasses south, over houses along Cutting and Crescent streets, two curving streets south of Watchward Lane, then looked further east. The roads had no moving cars on them, and there was a train stopped at the station just south of the Little Rock.
The old willows by the river were bent over in answer to the wind blowing along the river off the sea. Jack thought of the tunnels under those willows and the sewers that ran to the river and the sea. He fervently hoped he would never, ever see the inside of those sewers again.
Jaide also looked out. She saw nothing strange to the northwest, just endless fields of newer houses and land cleared for future development. The little church by the cactus garden showed no sign of interference. The hospital was brightly lit, the only big building to have lights on, but then it would have its own generators, Jaide guessed. She could also see several work crews on the far end of Main Street, raising power poles and doing something that sent sparks from their welders falling like magical sprays of jasmine.
But there were no workers doing anything to the fallen power poles near Grandma X’s house, and there were no people on the streets nearby. It was as if the town had been selectively abandoned, and everyone had left the area within five hundred yards of the house.
Jaide turned her attention to the north. The coastal reserve was empty apart from two brave fishermen wading out on the sand flats. The dredger was safely docked. The rocks of Mermaid Point did look a lot like a sleeping giant, even from this angle, but she couldn’t tell if there were rocks missing or any other obvious damage.
Waves dashed themselves white against the breakwater. Masts swayed and bobbed in the marina. Like the coastal reserve, the cemetery and church were empty. Mourning could wait for better weather, Jaide supposed. She tried to see any brass plates, but it was too far, and there wasn’t enough sun for any bright reflections. Not that any of the brass plates they’d seen before were clean enough to shine.
The lighthouse was as lifeless as it always seemed to be. It was too early for the automatic light to be on.
That left only the Rock, and although Jaide scanned its steep flanks carefully, she found nothing to suggest that it was either home to the ward or under attack by The Evil.
‘See anything?’ Jack asked.
‘Nope,’ she said. ‘You?’
Wind caught her around the body and tangled in her hair. She felt a sudden surge of weightlessness and quickly handed Jack the silver cylinder so she could hold on to the rail.
‘Nothing useful, except it looks like it’s going to rain again soon.’
They both looked east. A vast storm front of dark clouds was building up on the horizon, its interior lit by intense flashes of lightning.
‘It’s going to be a vile night,’ said Ari from his position by Jaide’s feet. ‘The first storm was your grandmother’s work. The one coming stinks of The Evil.’
‘Much of the house’s protection is built into its timbers, infused with your great-grandfather’s Gift. He built this place as a wedding present for your grandmother,’ said Kleo. She was perched on the railing, ignoring the wind and the Evil-infested dogs below. ‘If a storm were to physically break a wall, that would weaken the magical defences, perhaps enough for The Evil to come in.’
‘So we need to find the broken ward and fix it before the storm hits,’ said Jaide. ‘Almost certainly to the east.’
‘Yes,’ said Jack. He was still looking out to the lighthouse and the cemetery. ‘But how can we get past the dogs?’
‘I’ll glide there,’ said Jaide. She was almost airborne already, even though she was doing as her grandmother had suggested, thinking heavy thoughts and holding on to the rail.
Jack stared at her as though she’d gone mad. ‘You’ll what?’
‘Trust me,’ she said, with a glance up at the sky. There was a bright patch of sun above her, one that she thought would last for ten or fifteen minutes before it was obscured by the outrider clouds of the storm front. She could feel the sunshine pouring into her, fuelling her Gift. Grandma X had said Jaide’s powers were of the sun and wind, and she felt that to be true, as both were now powerfully present. ‘It’ll be easy. I’ll be there and back in a few minutes. I’ll take the flower, and when we know exactly what and where the ward is, we’ll work out how to fix it.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ said Jack. He looked around the sky. ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea.’
At the same time Kleo said, ‘Jaide, wait! This is very dangerous. Your Gifts are raw and you have not been trained!’
‘I know I can do this, for Grandma,’ said Jaide confidently. The sunshine was flowing through her, lifting her spirits, making her feel like she could tackle anything. ‘Give me the flower.’
Reluctantly, Jack opened the silver cylinder and took out the flower. As he touched it, the glass changed from being completely colourless to a very light cornflower blue. But as he gave it to Jaide, the colour darkened to a richer royal blue.
‘See,’ said Jaide. ‘My Gift is strong right now. Help me up.’
‘Please be careful,’ said Jack quietly as he gave her a hand onto the top of the rail. She stood there for a moment, testing her balance. The wind scattered her hair across her face, and she felt a lightness in her stomach, a joy that came at least partly from the thought that she was special. In almost no time at all, it seemed, she had gone from being an ordinary kid to someone who could fly. No one else could do what she was about to attempt.
‘Let go, Jack.’
The pressure of his fingers around her ankles fell away. He looked up at her as she lea
ned forward into thin air and let the wind take her.
JACK BIT HIS TONGUE IN fear as his sister dived forward with the glass flower in her hand, then he gasped in wonder and relief as she was swept up by the wind. Banking to the left, she circled the house once and then, climbing steadily, took off toward the cemetery.
As her shadow crossed the yard, every dog guarding the house started barking. Jack looked down in surprise, because they’d been so silent before. He was even more surprised to see them all in a frenzy of distress, some writhing and biting at their insect-ridden backs, some rolling in the dirt, most of them barking madly but more than a few whimpering in abject fear instead.
They were behaving like normal dogs now. A Labrador looked up at him piteously, and he saw the whiteness ebbing from its sad brown eyes.
‘The Evil has left them,’ said Kleo. ‘But where has it —?’
With a raucous chorus and a thunderous slap of wings, hundreds of birds burst out of the trees all around the house. White-eyed and single-minded, they flew straight up to become a great winged host, a dark cloud of enemy birds that spread across the sky.
‘Jaide!’ screamed Jack to the small, retreating speck that was his airborne sister. ‘Watch out!’
Jaide heard Jack’s cry but not the actual words. They were lost in the rushing of the wind. Air pressed close all around her, coiling and uncoiling like a restless, invisible snake. She felt safe in its insubstantial strength, and being so high above the ground didn’t frighten her at all. She felt as though she could fly for hours, carried by the wind and warmed by the sun.
Then the first of the seagulls smashed into her back, squawking and pecking, and everything went horribly wrong. Surprise made her wobble and dip. She dropped the glass flower, and it tumbled away.
She started to fly down in a desperate attempt to catch it, but a magpie and another seagull swooped against her head, knocking her off course. More birds struck her back and legs, mobbing her from every side. Suddenly everything was feathers and claws, and she was falling, spearing toward the ground.
In despair she saw the flower hit ahead of her, turning to clear glass just before it shattered into a thousand pieces.
Fear stabbed through her, but it was overlaid by the furious determination that had fuelled her ever since Grandma X had been injured. She wouldn’t be knocked out of the sky by a bunch of birds – she wouldn’t. She would blow them away!
Without even thinking about what she was doing, Jaide took in a very deep breath, filling her lungs and her cheeks to bursting. Then she blew it all out, turning her head so that the blast of air from her mouth hosed in all directions.
Far more than a human breath issued from between her lips. A great wind swept the birds away from her, but it also sent Jaide into a violent spin further up into the sky, surrounded by a cloud of stunned and squawking birds.
Jack watched in horror, gripping the rail so tightly he gave himself splinters without noticing. The birds had attacked Jaide all at once and she had gone into a dive; he’d seen the flower fall, but then the birds had been blown in all directions, and now Jaide was spinning wildly up into the sky.
He understood what was happening immediately. Jaide’s Gift was out of control, exactly as Kleo had feared it might become. At least she wasn’t falling anymore, but she was climbing way too high and way too fast.
‘Jaide!’ he called, waving. ‘Jaide! Come back!’
Jaide ran out of breath. For a moment she thought that this would stop the wild, ferocious wind that had blown the birds away and sent her into the sky. But it didn’t. She was still surrounded by a jet stream that was driving her straight up like a rocket.
Far below her, she heard a faint cry.
‘Jaide! Focus! Fly down here!’
Jaide didn’t feel like she could focus. She felt like throwing up. The world was spinning, the wind was blowing madly, and she was suddenly freezing cold.
‘Jaide!’
But Jack’s voice was like a lifeline. Somehow, she did manage to focus on it. She tried to imagine that his voice was a real lifeline, and visualised the remnant sunshine wrapping around his words, weaving a rope that would hold her down.
‘Aim for the house, Jaide! Aim for the house!’
Jaide’s rapid ascent slowed as she concentrated harder on being pulled back to the ground by her lifeline. The wind faltered and began to dart in different directions, as if it had lost heart. Jaide was jerked and shoved around, but she knew she was winning the battle for control.
‘Down,’ she said firmly to the wind, and, amazingly, the wind ebbed. Jaide began to spin and flitter down like a leaf falling from a tree.
‘Faster, Jaide! The birds are coming back!’
Jaide ignored the warning. The last thing she wanted to do was go faster. Her hold on the breeze was tenuous and she thought if she tried to change anything, she would plummet like a stone.
Immediately she wished she hadn’t thought about falling, because then she couldn’t think of anything else, and all of a sudden she was falling, the wind had dropped, and all her weight returned.
But she was almost at the roof of the house. Jaide hit the topmost turret hard, bounced off, and then, with a despairing cry and a wild grab, reached up and caught the moon-and-stars weathervane.
The birds swooped in but did not press their attack. Jaide clung to the weathervane and shut her eyes for several very long seconds.
‘Can you move?’ Jack was calling to her again. ‘Creep around to your right. There’s a ledge there. If you climb down a bit, then across to the chimney to your right, I’ll pull you in.’
Jaide did as she was told with her eyes tightly shut. She didn’t want to look down, and she never wanted to fly again. Not until she had her Gift completely under control, anyway.
Jack’s hands caught her and pulled her over the rail.
‘Well done,’ he said. ‘Though you do look like you’re about to throw up.’
Jaide gave him a furious look, rushed back to the rail, and vomited over the side. Jack patted her on the back as she said, ‘I would have been all right if you hadn’t said anything.’
‘Sorry,’ said Jack.
Jaide was sick again, then she stood up straight and wiped her mouth.
‘There goes that plan,’ she said. ‘What are we going to do now?’
‘I had a thought,’ said Jack. He had remembered the odd little jump he had taken in the tunnels, from inside a mound of rats and bugs to safety inside a shadow. What if he could do more than just move his mind along a shadow – what if he could move the rest of him as well? It would have made getting into the blue room a lot easier than it had been, for a start. ‘The sun is going down. There are a lot of shadows. I can go and look for the brass plate instead of you.’
‘But I lost the flower,’ Jaide pointed out. She felt very down and defeated, an emotion made stronger because of its sharp contrast to how great she’d felt when she’d first flown off the house. ‘How will you know if you’ve found the ward?’
‘Ari, Kleo, do you know of anything else I could use to find the ward?’ asked Jack. ‘Something I can use as a shadow?’
Ari shut his left eye and stared out with his right, then shut his right eye and stared with the left. Then he opened both eyes and said, ‘No. I’m afraid not. Though a full Warden would just recognise the ward —’
‘There is something,’ interrupted Kleo. ‘You remember the Warden Nickolanci, Ari? She came to see Grandma X last year and stayed for three days?’
‘Yes,’ said Ari. ‘She brought rollmop herrings. You ate most of them.’
‘She is a Shadow Walker, like you, Jack,’ said Kleo. ‘She could manipulate and shape shadows, and she said something once, that she could use the memory of a shadow, if something had cast one long enough in the same place.’
‘What does that mean?’ asked Jack. His mind was racing, thinking of the possibilities of manipulating and shaping shadows. He was very keen to give it a go.
‘Nicki could use the shadow of an object when she herself was a shadow,’ said Kleo. ‘She could, for example, take the shadow of a sword and wield it. But I’m thinking that the flower was in that silver case for a long time, its shadow with it —’
‘You mean I could take the memory of the shadow of the flower and use it to find the right brass plate!’ interrupted Jack. ‘Though it wouldn’t change colour —’
‘It would change tone or density,’ said Jaide, who was more into art classes than Jack. ‘I guess it would go black. But I’m not sure you should go out, even as a shadow. Who knows what The Evil can do to you? I mean, rats and birds might be nothing compared to what it can do with shadows.’
‘You tried your way,’ said Jack. ‘It’s my turn now.’
‘It’s not about turns,’ said Jaide.
‘Can you think of anything else?’ Jack pointed to the approaching storm. Below, the dogs had fallen silent again and were watching the house with creepy intensity. ‘We can’t just wait until the storm blows the house down and The Evil walks in!’
Jaide looked at the clouds.
‘I guess you’re right,’ she said.
‘All I need is a shadow to start with,’ said Jack.
They circled the widow’s walk, looking for a point where the shadows intersected the house. There weren’t many tall trees to the west, but there was a shapely elm behind one of the shops on Dock Road. Its shadow reached far across the front yard, just touching one of the drawing room windows.
‘That’ll do,’ Jack said, and he headed for the stairs. Jaide followed, glad to put the widow’s walk behind them. She had got cold up in the high, thin air, the last of the sun was fading fast, and she no longer trusted the wind or her ability to use it.
Jack pulled back the drawing room curtains and looked out.
‘The rats are back,’ he said. ‘A few of them at least. Over by the wall.’
Jaide looked out, too. There weren’t many of them, as Jack had said, but they had the milky eyes she had learned to fear. She saw a couple with normal eyes and was relieved for a moment, until she realised they were not really rats, but rat-shaped composites made up of cockroaches, earwigs, and other insects.
