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...
"Why'd you give the Oliphant to Slops in the first place?" Carmen said.
"If the Brotherhood don't kill me old age will before long. Who was I to pass this secret down to? Anna suggested her grandson."
"Grandmere knew?" Carmen said.
"Some of it. Your family's relationship with the Oliphant goes back a long way."
"She said that David Nassar gave my grandpere the avory," Carmen said. "But it couldn't have been the same David Nassar who -"
"It seems implausible," Corvus said. "Anyway, I'd been hoping to introduce Rupert to this secret at the right time. But then something the barman from the Slough and Bellows said made me wonder if I hadn't already given away too much. Handel Snapper had come in the night before, and a strange man had started a conversation with him. The barman overheard them. Well, his snokey did."
"He's a Dolittler too?" Carmen said.
"Dolittlers aren't common, but they're not as rare as the Brotherhood would have us believe. This stranger poured rather more rum into Snapper than he was accustomed to, and showed him an object – the barman was too far away to see it properly, but I suspect it was some kind of artifact. Bait. In the course of their conversation it came out that some young people had been asking about the Oliphant earlier that day. Snapper's only saving grace was that he didn't name you."
"So that's how Tamerlane found out," Carmen said. "He would've set someone to follow us – the Brotherhood have spies everywhere. They could've seen us with the flute at Flag Wood the next day."
"Snapper saved my life," Ward said.
"He's an excellent man," Corvus said, "but his passion for old things quite banishes his reason sometimes."
Ward said nothing. He couldn't honestly defend Snapper against this charge.
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Your mania for underpants quite banishes your reason sometimes.
