Twelve-year-old Carmen has a secret: she can talk to her cat Grim. But the powerful Brotherhood has banned pets, and the penalty is death.
Ward is the most wanted boy in the world. The only thing standing between him and the hangman's noose is maste...
The Old City was cool and dark after the glare of the open field. Grim led the way, followed by Carmen and Slops, then Nick. Ward and Mildew came last.
"The Kidsman never let any Scowerers come here," Mildew whispered to Ward. "Hectors neither."
"Did he ever come here?" Ward said, glancing up at Nick gliding along ahead.
Mildew shrugged. "Who knows where he's bin?"
They soon reached the courtyard. It was unsettlingly quiet. The mechanical archon's eyes opened as they approached the door.
"Oh, you," it said. "He's not home."
"We know," Slops said.
"Young people, they know everything," the bird confided to Nick, rolling its eyes.
"We've brought something for him," Ward said.
He wouldn't have thought that a bird's eyes could narrow, but the archon's did. "What is it?"
"A surprise," Ward said.
"What kind of surprise?"
"If we told you, it wouldn't be a surprise any more, would it?" Carmen said.
"Oh, it's Just-A-Girl," the archon cawed, as if it had only just sighted her. "Ha! Well, I doubt Corvus goes in for surprises. I'm quite sure he doesn't, actually."
"Just go ahead and knock," Carmen said to Slops. "We're wasting time."
Slops reached for the knocker.
"You could do that," the archon said. "But it wouldn't do any good. Nope, no good at all."
"Why?" Carmen said.
"New password!" the archon shrieked, and exploded into gales of laughter. "New-password-new-password-new-password!"
"I hate you," Carmen said.
Nick stepped forward. The archon's laughter died away and its eyes narrowed again.
"Would you like to see what we brought him?" Nick said softly, patting his pocket.
"Couldn't care less," the archon said, but it stared at Nick's pocket as if trying to see through it. Ward wondered if it could.
"There must be another way in," Ward said.
The archon snorted.
"This building's protected, isn't it?" Nick said to the archon.
"By enchantments. You would die trying to break through them. And I don't know how I'd live with myself if that happened."
"Enchantments," Nick said with a snort. "There's no such thing as magic."
"Do I not seem magical to you?" the archon said. Then it broke into gales of laughter again, as if it had said something outrageously funny.
"Well, we can't wait here for a man who might be hours," Nick said. He patted his pocket again and turned to go.
Carmen seemed about to protest, but suddenly the archon spoke. "Wait. I can't give you the password – my security credentials don't allow it."
Ward didn't know what this meant, and had no wish to display his ignorance in front of the bird.
"You can give us a hint though, can't you?" Nick said.
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