‘Got lost in the fireplace,’ Kaz said, shrugging. ‘Been in the blasted thing for a good two weeks now.’
Every Smedry has a Talent. The Talent can be powerful, it can be unpredictable, and it can be disastrous. But it’s always interesting. You could get one by being born a Smedry or by marrying a Smedry. My father wanted everyone to get a Talent.
And I was beginning to suspect that this is what my mother had been seeking all along. The Sands of Rashid, the years of searching, the theft from the Royal Archives (not a library) in Nalhalla – all of this was focused on finding a way to bestow Smedry Talents on people who didn’t normally have them. I suspected that my father did it because he wanted to share our powers with everyone. I suspected that my mother, however, wanted to create an invincible, Talent-wielding Librarian army.
Now, I’m not too bright, but I figured that this was a bad thing. I mean, if Librarians had my Talent – breaking things? Here’s a handy list of things I figure they’d probably break if they could:
Your lunch. Every day, when you’d open your lunch – no matter what you brought – you’d find it had been changed into a pickle-and-orange-slug sandwich. And there would be NO SALT.
Dance. You don’t want to see any break-dancing Librarians. Really. Trust me.
Recess. That’s right. They’d break recess and turn it into a session of advanced algebra instead. (Note: The same thing happens when you go to middle school or junior high. Sorry.)
Wind. No explanation needed.
As you can see, it would be a disaster.
‘Kazan!’ Grandpa said, smiling toward his son.
‘Hey, Pop.’
‘Still getting in trouble, I presume?’
‘Always.’
‘Good lad. Trained you well!’
‘Kaz,’ I said. ‘It’s been months! What took you so long?’
Kaz grimaced. ‘The Talent.’
In case you’ve forgotten, my grandfather had the Talent of arriving late to things, while Kaz had the Talent to get lost in rather amazing ways. (I don’t know why I’m repeating this, since I clearly explained it all in Chapter One. Ah well.)
‘Isn’t that a long time to get lost, even for you?’ Bastille asked, frowning.
‘Yeah,’ Kaz said. ‘I haven’t been this lost for years.’
‘Ah yes,’ Grandpa Smedry said. ‘Why, I remember your mother and I once spending upward of two months frantically searching for you when you were two, only to have you appear back in your crib one night!’
Kaz looked wistful. ‘I was an . . . interesting child to raise.’
‘All Smedrys are,’ Grandpa added.
‘Oh?’ Bastille said, finally sitting down in the fourth and final chair beside the hearth. ‘You mean there are Smedrys who eventually grow up? Can I get assigned to one of them sometime? It would be a nice change.’
I chuckled, but Kaz just shook his head, looking distracted by something. ‘I’ve got my Talent under control again,’ he said. ‘Finally. But it took far too long. It’s like . . . the Talent went haywire for a while. I haven’t had to wrestle with it like this for years.’ He scratched his chin. ‘I’ll have to write a paper about it.’
Most members of my family, it should be noted, are some kind of professor, teacher, or researcher. It may seem odd to you that a bunch of dedicated miscreants like us are also a bunch of scholars. If you think that, it means you haven’t known enough professors in your time. What better way is there to avoid growing up for the rest of your life than to spend it perpetually in school?
‘Pelicans!’ Kaz swore suddenly, standing up. ‘I don’t have time for a paper right now! I nearly forgot. Pop, while I was wandering around lost, I passed through Mokia. Tuki Tuki itself is besieged!’
‘We know,’ Bastille said, her arms folded.
‘We do?’ Kaz said, scratching at his head.
‘We’ve sent troops to help Mokia,’ Bastille said. ‘But the Librarians have begun to raid our nearby coasts. We can’t give any more support to Mokia without leaving Nalhalla undefended.’
‘It’s more than that, I’m afraid,’ Grandpa Smedry said. ‘There are . . . elements in the Council of Kings who are dragging their feet.’