Mystery of the Golden Card

by Garth Nix

  ‘Where is the wretched thing?’ the man asked himself

  Jack suppressed a gasp of realisation. The face might be hidden, but the man’s voice was immediately familiar.

  ‘It must be here,’ muttered Rodeo Dave, pointing the witching rod methodically at each of the barrels in turn.

  And Jack understood. It was Rodeo Dave’s rod that their rod had detected – which meant . . .

  Jaide realised before him, but pulled him away a second too late. Rodeo Dave’s rod twitched at the same instant the one in Jack’s hand did. They had detected each other!

  Rodeo Dave’s head came up. He stared for a long moment at the unbroken wall before him. The miner’s light shone directly through the peephole. Jack and Jaide retreated from him. Rodeo Dave seemed to be staring right at them.

  Jaide’s foot kicked a fallen machete, which scraped along the cobbled floor with a terrible grating noise. Rodeo Dave froze.

  ‘Who’s there?’

  The twins acted instinctively. Jack reached out with his Gift to snuff out the miner’s light, while Jaide whipped up an obscuring whirlwind, thick with choking dust. Darkness and grit blinded Rodeo Dave. He staggered back with a howl, tripped over his feet, and fell heavily onto his backside, blinking uselessly.

  ‘Run!’ Jaide hissed, pushing Jack ahead of her.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Meet the Menagerie

  JACK WAS ALREADY MOVING. Wiping grit from his eyes, he took his sister’s hand and tugged her towards the nearest doorway. He couldn’t remember which one they had come through, but that didn’t matter. Getting away from Rodeo Dave was the important thing. The death mask bumped against his chest as they ran from storeroom to storeroom, past a seemingly endless exhibition of humanity’s cruelty to whales, fleeing the sound of Rodeo Dave cursing and spluttering behind them. He seemed constantly close on their heels – a result, perhaps, of the acoustics of the cellars, but the effect was the same. The twins didn’t let up their pace.

  Jaide could see nothing at all as she ran, and Jack could barely breathe through the roaring dust. Only dimly did he perceive a door larger than any of the others looming ahead, double the width, made of sturdy aged oak with a beam lying crossways across the middle, sealing it shut. He fumbled at the beam and eased it as quietly as he could to one side. The door creaked open, letting in a rush of fresh air and natural light. Jaide lunged forward, not caring what lay on the other side. She could see again. Her Gift rose up and pushed them forward, lifting both of them off their feet for an instant, then setting them back down.

  They stumbled up a flight of stairs, the light growing brighter with every step. At the top was a metal gate, easily unlocked with the skeleton key. Through its bars they could see the green mayhem of an overgrown kitchen garden. They passed through the gate, out of the secret storerooms and into daylight that seemed bright to them, even though the sky was overcast. They were outside.

  Jack slammed the gate behind him and ran with Jaide through the garden. He didn’t know if Rodeo Dave was behind them or not, but every instinct told him not to take any chances. They headed for a clutch of nearby outbuildings, over a low stone bridge that crossed the moat in a graceful arc. Dark water churned below, as though stirred by invisible beasts. Thick dark clouds gathered above. A natural, gusty wind tugged at them, making them hurry.

  They reached the outbuildings and stopped, gasping.

  ‘Did we lose him?’ asked Jaide.

  ‘Probably . . . that is, I’m sure we’ – Jack was interrupted by a low growl coming from very nearby – ‘did?’

  Only then did the twins notice the inhuman faces staring from all around them. They stepped closer to each other, and the growling doubled in volume.

  ‘Is that a wolf?’ asked Professor Olafsson, rolling his eyes around to look in every direction at once. ‘I’m not edible per se, but I’m undoubtedly chewable.’

  A gangly, humanoid figure leaped at them, shrieking like a banshee. The twins retreated until their shoulderblades crashed into iron bars. Another set of bars caught the attacking figure in mid-leap, and that seemed only to enrage it more.

  ‘It’s a monkey!’ said Jack in relief. ‘We’re in the old menagerie!’

  Jaide drew in a sobbing breath. ‘Of course. They must’ve reopened it when the animals escaped from their other pens.’

  A monstrous howl came from right behind them, and they leaped away from the bars. Turning, they saw a tremendous grey wolf standing alone in the cage with its legs braced wide apart, poised to spring. It growled again. If the bars hadn’t been between them, thick and sturdy despite their age and the weeds sprouting from their base, the twins would have instantly bolted.

  The wolf ’s and chimpanzee’s cages were just two of at least two dozen cages of varying sizes to match their inhabitants. There were at least ten animals scattered across the cages. Quite a few of the animals were ones the twins had never seen before outside of a nature documentary, including a warthog, who looked asleep until they realised his eyes weren’t completely closed and the very end of his tail was twitching slightly.

  At least the animals’ eyes were normal, Jaide reassured herself. There was no sign of The Evil here. But there was something strange about the animals nonetheless.

  ‘Why are they all staring at us like that?’ she asked. ‘They look like they want to eat us – even the ones that don’t normally eat meat.’

  ‘That’s because you’re troubletwisters,’ said Professor Olafsson. ‘And you’ve recently used your Gifts. Surely this can’t be the first time animals have acted strangely around you?’

  Jack shook his head, remembering kamikaze insects that had been drawn towards him, only to die upon touching his skin.

  ‘Could that be why Cornelia has been weird with me?’ he asked.

  ‘Who’s Cornelia?’

  ‘A macaw. She used to live on the estate, too. A couple of other animals escaped and—’

  ‘Can we go somewhere else, please?’ Jaide asked. The staring animals were putting her on edge. ‘I don’t like it here.’

  ‘Back to the library?’ Jack suggested, peering around the cages to the gate they had passed through. There was no sign of Rodeo Dave, who Jack was now convinced had to be a sleeper agent for The Evil. Why else had he lied to them about what he was doing at the estate?

  And more than that, Rodeo Dave was looking for the Card of Translocation, too. It was now a race between them and The Evil to get to it first.

  ‘We’d better get back there before Rodeo Dave does, anyway. Otherwise he might wonder if it was us he detected in the cellar.’

  ‘All right, but not the way we came,’ Jaide said. She didn’t want to retrace her steps through the storerooms, with the stained harpoons and whalebones, and the brooding armour guarding the doors. ‘Let’s go around the front.’

  They set off, leaving the staring, restless animals behind them. Jaide was glad to put them behind her. They had disturbed her far more than they had Jack.

  ‘So how are we going to find the card?’ asked Jack.

  ‘We keep looking,’ said Jaide. ‘When we can.’

  ‘But where? We’ve gone all over the castle.’

  ‘Maybe it’s on the grounds somewhere, not in the castle itself.’

  ‘That’s not what Dad said.’

  Jack was firm on this point, even though he knew Hector Shield wasn’t infallible. He was always losing his glasses, for one. And his phone, keys, wallet and way. But Warden business was different. He would never make a mistake about something important.

  ‘Maybe there are other secret passages we haven’t found yet,’ said Jaide.

  ‘Don’t forget my other-world theory,’ said Professor Olafsson. ‘All we need is the right doorway and right key, and we will have that card found before you know it!’

  Neither twin shared his optimism. As well as being worried that they might let their father down, they were nervous about facing Rodeo Dave again. What if he did know they’d been
in the cellar, and that it was their Gifts that had struck him down?

  There was a slight rise on the south side of the moat, partly covered by a copse of ancient fruit trees. They trudged uphill, tired, dirty and hungry. Jack stopped at the top to reach into his bag in search of the lunch Susan had packed. As he did so, a gleam of sunlight caught the corner of his eye.

  He looked up. The gleam came again. It was reflecting off something in the woods bordering the estate, where his father had been hiding. The light flashed like Morse code, fast and slow, fast and slow – an unmistakable signal.

  Jack gripped Jaide’s arm and pointed.

  ‘Look!’

  She had seen it. ‘Is it him?’

  ‘It must be.’ He smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. ‘Jaide, we forgot to check the phone. I bet he’s been trying to call!’

  They pulled it out of Jack’s bag. They had kept it on vibrate so Rodeo Dave wouldn’t hear. There were several missed calls from an unlisted number, but no messages. For the millionth time, Jack lamented the fact that they didn’t have their father’s number.

  Jaide waved the phone above her head and jumped up and down, hoping he could see her through his binoculars, or whatever he was using to watch the castle. But the flashing continued and the phone didn’t ring. Maybe he was looking at the drawbridge, not the back of the castle.

  ‘We’d better go to him,’ said Jack, already moving down the hill away from the castle, Professor Olafsson bouncing once more against his chest. Jaide followed closely behind. They cut a straight line across the estate, not needing to cross the creek because that was on the other side of the castle.

  As they approached, the flashing grew brighter, then ceased.

  ‘He’s seen us!’ said Jack, starting to run. Jaide ran, too, and Jack put on an extra burst of speed to keep ahead of her.

  That was when he felt a sharp tug on his left wrist, as though someone had grabbed him. But Jaide was on the other side of him and there was no one else around. No one with a body, anyway.

  ‘Ouch! Hey, Professor – what are you doing?’

  ‘I have done nothing but attempt to hang on with my chin!’

  ‘It’s the wristband,’ Jaide said, holding up her right arm. ‘Custer gave them to us, remember?’

  Jack had forgotten completely about the narrow coil of leather wrapped around his wrist. It tugged at him again, uncannily as though an invisible hand was holding him back, almost pinching his skin. He imagined the ghostly form of Custer reaching across the horizon to remind him of what he shouldn’t have done.

  They had left the wards.

  Jack broke his pace for a second as reason undermined his original sense of urgency.

  ‘We should go back,’ he said. ‘We can tell Dad about Rodeo Dave when he calls us later. He’s bound to, isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, but we can’t go back now,’ said Jaide. ‘He’s on his way – and I’m sure if we’re quick and don’t use our Gifts, nothing will go wrong.’

  Jack put his head down and pressed on, but even though the ground was perfectly flat, he felt as though he was running uphill. Worse, the slope was increasing, so every step took more energy. No matter how he huffed and grunted, he slowed down rather than sped up.

  Beside him, Jaide was experiencing the same problem. To her it felt as though the invisible hand on her wrist was not only slowing her down, it was pulling her back to the safety of the wards. She gritted her teeth and fought as hard as she could, but there was no resisting the power of Custer’s charms.

  ‘This is useless,’ she gasped, as both of them were practically running on the spot. ‘We’re never going to make it!’

  The tree line was still some dozens of feet away.

  ‘Where is he?’ asked Jack. ‘I can’t see him.’

  Jaide scanned the trees for any sign of their father.

  ‘There!’ she pointed.

  A shape was moving through the undergrowth, low and hunched, like someone trying not to be seen. Jack waved his arms, and Jaide called out, ‘Dad! Over here!’

  The bracken parted. Something stepped into view.

  It wasn’t their father. It was something totally unexpected: a chimpanzee, riding on the back of a very large, savage-looking grey wolf. The chimp grinned, showing its huge yellow teeth.

  But it wasn’t the chimpanzee’s teeth the twins were looking at. It was its eyes. Eyes that were completely white, without pupils of any kind. The wolf’s eyes were just as white – horrible milky orbs set in the deep fur.

  Jaide gasped. ‘The Evil!’

  ‘Retreat!’ shrilled Professor Olafsson, just as Jack shouted, ‘Let’s get back!’

  Jack was already moving as he spoke. Jaide was barely a pace behind him. This time, the bracelets worked in their favour, pulling them back towards the wards’ influence.

  Behind them, the chimpanzee pointed and the wolf broke into a trot. They looked like a miniature horse and jockey, heading right for the twins. The chimp lowered its arm as the trot became a run.

  Jack looked over his shoulder, and was shocked by how fast the wolf was moving. The boundary of the wards was invisible, so there was no way of knowing how far they had to go. Could they outrun a wolf?

  Ten scrambling, panicked steps later he glanced over his shoulder again and wished he hadn’t. The grinning wolf was almost close enough to snap at his heels. The chimp was crouched low on its back, like a champion jockey, its arm whipping the flank of the wolf with a twig.

  ++Turn back, troubletwisters,++ said The Evil, directly into their minds. ++There is no escaping us!++ Jack and Jaide unleashed their Gifts at the same moment, though not under control. A sudden darkness fell upon them, but vanished as quickly, even before Jaide could cry out in fear, closely followed by a wind that roared past ahead of them, flattening the grass but not doing anything else.

  The chimpanzee chittered and the wolf howled, and though Jack didn’t dare look, he knew that any moment he would feel the wolf upon him or – even worse – see Jaide fall under its great weight.

  ++Your Gifts are strong, troubletwisters. We will use them well when they are ours!++

  At that moment, a cloud formed above them and rain bucketed down, lashing the twins like whips, turning the already sodden grass into a playground slide. Jack lost his footing, and in reaching for Jaide, tripped her over, too. They fell onto the suddenly muddy soil, and slid to a stop.

  ++Ours at last! All ours!++

  The wolf leaped towards them, the chimp jumping from its back to target Jaide as the wolf sprang at her brother.

  But they did not land. They were met in midair by the rain, a solid force of rain, like a giant baseball bat made of compressed water. It met wolf and chimp with a liquid snapping sound, and both animals disappeared right into it, before they were suddenly ejected out again and sent flying back up the slope in an explosion of mist and raindrops.

  ‘What was that?’ gasped Jack.

  ‘Who cares!’ said Jaide, slithering backwards through the mud. Even the ordinary rain was torrential, getting in her eyes and making it hard to see which way she was going. The castle was a distant blur, far out of reach. ‘Let’s get out of here!’

  The wolf sprang up and headed back towards them, the mud-spattered chimpanzee struggling along at its side.

  ++One of you,++ growled The Evil inside their heads. ++Grant me one of you and we will let the other go free.++

  ‘No!’ cried Jack, as he tried to get up and slipped over again. He reached for Jaide’s hand and gripped it. ‘Never!’

  ++Never is a long word for such a small boy.++

  ‘You’re just trying to drive us apart!’

  ++We merely hasten the inevitable.++ The wolf was prowling towards them, the chimp clambering onto its back. There was no sign of the mysterious watery force to protect the twins now. ++Spare yourself the agony, troubletwister, before she decides for you!++

  The raindrops suddenly got bigger, and fewer. They were so large that each ma
de a sound like a small gunshot as it hit the ground. Then a really enormous raindrop fell, and there was a thunderclap, though neither twin saw lightning.

  Wiping their half-drowned faces, the twins saw a sodden figure appear out of the rain.

  ‘Dad!’

  ‘Stay back!’ said Hector Shield, splaying the fingers of his right hand wide to drive them away from him. ‘This is my fight.’

  ++You dare? Do not come between us and our troubletwisters,++ said The Evil.

  ‘Keep away from them.’ Hector’s voice was faint but strong through the rain swirling around him. ‘Don’t do this.’

  ++You know we do what we must do. You cannot fight us!++

  Hector Shield did not answer. Instead, he raised both arms, and with another thunderclap so loud the twins felt it in their chests, an absolute river of rain fell out of the clouds to smite The Evil where it stood. Stinging spray blinded the twins, and they recoiled from where their father had been standing, calling for him and hearing only the roar of water all around them.

  Then two strong hands grabbed each of them by an elbow.

  ‘Hurry,’ said their father, pulling them, twisting and sliding, back down the slope. ‘Get inside the wards!’

  ‘Come with us, Dad,’ pleaded Jack. ‘I swear we can control our Gifts—’

  But already the light was flickering and the rain was swirling around them with the beginnings of a hurricane.

  ‘Listen to me, Jaidith and Jackaran.’ And they did. There was no arguing with their father’s tone, and he only ever used the twins’ full names when he was mad or in a hurry.

  ‘The Evil is trying to distract us,’ he said. ‘It wants to stop us finding the card before it does.’

  ‘But we know who’s looking for it,’ said Jack. ‘The sleeper agent is Rodeo Dave!’

  ‘That explains a lot, but it doesn’t change anything. You still have to go back. If he doesn’t know you know, he won’t act openly against you. The search for the card will keep him busy – he won’t hurt anyone else now.’

  ‘Can’t you just . . . I don’t know . . . have him arrested?’ said Jaide. ‘Or whatever it is Wardens do?’