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...
"As the story goes," Mr Blanket said, "on the Day of Judgement, at the end of the world, someone will blow the horn known as the Oliphant, waking the Sleepers from the depths of the earth. They will rise up," he yawned, "rise up, and ravage the earth, and all who have followed the teachings of Hatto will be spared and shall ascend to Abaddon, and all who have not shall be flung down into the pit of Eden to suffer for eternity and so forth. As you said Joe, nonsense. Nobody in the Brotherhood takes it seriously."
"Yet they're prepared to execute people over it," Carmen's pere said.
"Oh thank you my dear," Mr Blanket said as Carmen's mere returned with the pot. He became so occupied with serving the blackleaf that he seemed to have forgotten what Carmen's pere had said.
"What are the Sleepers though?" Carmen said.
"Oh, they're just -" Mr Blanket began.
"Nobody knows," Carmen's pere said. "The Hattoists used to claim," and here he looked at Mr Blanket, "that they were demons, but the Great Book isn't explicit. Actually, I don't think it mentions them by name at all."
"I think Hattoist scholars would know more about these things than a carpenter," Mrs Blanket said with a little laugh. "This has always been your problem Joe. Never satisfied with facts."
Her brother shrugged. "I'm satisfied by what I see."
"Speaking of which," Mr Blanket said, "I see you've gotten rid of that animal. Very wise, Joe. The Wildlife Protection Bill be voted on until next week, but I'd be surprised if the MSI wasn't already looking into known cases."
"Only if someone had tipped them off," Mr Carmichael said, looking straight at his sister, who began to take an unnatural interest in a spoon.
"And now you have nothing to worry about," Mr Blanket said, clasping his brother-in-law's shoulder and smiling. He pulled out a pocket tempus. "We'd better be off or we'll be late to the big show."
He went on to remark on the quality of the blackleaf (if perhaps a little weak), while Mrs Blanket asked the younger Blankets to thank Aunt Evie for her hospitality, and to forgive her if it was a tiny bit colder than they were used to. "What did happen to that fel?" she said as she put on her hat.
"I put him in a bag with a brick and threw him in the river," Carmen said. From the corner of her eye she saw her pere's mouth open, then close again.
"Excellent!" Mr Blanket said. "Well done my girl."
After the Blankets had left, Carmen helped clear the table. She could sense her mere's eyes flicking across to her from time to time.
"Carmen, you didn't really...?"
Carmen just looked at her as a parent would a child, her eyes twinkling, and left the room.
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I fully expect that your response to this chapter may be a tiny bit colder than I'm used to. *sniffs*
