Iron Codex 2 - The Nightmare Garden by Kittredge Caitlin

Author:Kittredge, Caitlin [Kittredge, Caitlin]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780375985690
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-02-14T06:00:00+00:00

The Weight of Blood and Bone

I SPENT THE AFTERNOON trying to compose an entry in my journal about what had just happened with Valentina, then crumpling the pages one by one and tossing them across my bedroom to land in a corner like a drift of downed birds.

I was almost relieved when someone knocked at the door, and I opened it to see Archie and Conrad. “Oh,” I said. I’d been hoping it was Dean. Even if we couldn’t slip away to the Munin, he would have been someone to talk to.

“Don’t get too excited,” my father said dryly. He looked me up and down. “Get changed and meet us down at the beach steps,” he said. “Pants and a blouse—something you can get dirty.”

I cocked my head, confused. “What are we …,” I started, but my father was already walking away, that stiff-legged stalk I’d noticed he adopted, the one that warned all before him to get out of his way.

“What’s happening?” I asked Conrad, catching him by the sleeve before he could follow. “No idea,” he said, and tugged free of me. His face was a thunderhead, which made me think he did know, but I figured if something was upsetting Conrad maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for me. We were getting more different, in every way, but rather than dwell on it, I changed and hurried down to the beach steps to meet my father and brother.

Conrad stood with his hands shoved in his pockets, wind whipping his hair back and forth. Archie stood a little way off, smoking, but he extinguished his cigarette when he saw me. My steps slowed, but I forced myself not to look nervous, even though my stomach was in fits.

“All right, you two,” he said. “It’s time both of you learned how to handle yourselves. Aoife showed me her Weird, but it’s obvious she can’t hold her own in a stand-up fight. So you, Conrad—let’s see what you’ve got.”

I let my gaze rove between Archie and my brother.

Conrad’s face had flushed, two bright flowers in his cheeks that had nothing to do with the wind. “You want me to what, do a trick?”

“I want to see your Weird,” Archie said evenly. “If there’s a problem there, then there’s a much bigger problem with this whole plan. If we’re going back into the city in a few weeks to take another crack at finding survivors, I need you both in fighting form.”

Of course I’d wondered when I’d found out Conrad had used slipstreamers to get himself into the Mists. I’d wondered when he hadn’t offered to open the Gate back to the Iron Land. But he had to have a Weird—he was the firstborn Grayson of our generation, the only son. Heck, my father was only Gateminder at all because his older brother, our uncle Ian, had died young. I didn’t know how I was able to manipulate the Gates. There hadn’t been time to really think about it when the Proctors had chased us, or when Tremaine had been watching me, threatening to hurt my family.

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