Derrotero

The adjustable bump keys depicting the Skidwrack River's inlets.

A ****d******errotero** is what the Spanish called a book of maps. The name was applied to Violet Cross's legendary map of the Skidwrack River, though it was not a book, but a movable map; eleven adjustable bump keys for the Skidwrack's eleven inlets.

## History

### *Ghosts of Greenglass House*

Clem and Georgie went on a heist, searching for the derrotero. They explained to the Pines what this was, Mr. Pine recalling having heard the word, an atlas or a book of charts. Clem explained how a derrotero was a collection of secret charts in books, because to have the maps was power, and the Spanish mariners had called them derroteros. Georgie explained that they had been searching for a derrotero of the Skidwrack River, which was notoriously impossible to map. Mr. Pine noted that Deacon and Morvengarde would kill to have this. Mr. Pine was skeptical that it was the real thing, but Georgie revealed that it had been Violet Cross's derrotero. They had not, however, found it in the cache, and after Gilawfer had demanded they give it to him, and they'd had to escape.

Milo wondered if Clem and Georgie had looked in the wrong place, or if the derrotero had never actually existed. Milo recalled a story from *The Raconteur's Commonplace Book*, and read the story about an unmappable house. Milo met the ghost of Doc Holystone (later revealed to have been Gilawfer in disguise), and told him about the derrotero. He was amazed to hear that it existed, and suggested that the derrotero could have been somewhere else, or maybe didn't look like a book of maps at all, because to chart the Skidwrack, Violet Cross would have had to have thought outside of the box.

Milo and Meddy relayed this message to Clem and Georgie, who revealed that someone had stolen their entire haul. Georgie listed the items in the haul, mentioning the keys, which she thought weird, which were adjustable to help you open locks, she thought, and were not the keys to the locks in the cache. There were a handful, she said. The keys had been stored in Clem's room, and were thus not among the half of the haul that was recovered that night.

Milo decided not to tell Emmett about the derrotero. Mr. Larven later mentioned the derrotero, saying that Marzana would know what the word was, and explaining that it was a legendary map of the Skidwrack River made by Violet Cross, and its name began with a 'd'. Marzana denied knowing about it. Marzana did not tell Milo what she knew about the derrotero.

Each thing in the haul that had been stolen was found, except for the keys, the only one Mrs. Kirkegrim (who Milo thought to be Cantlebone) had smuggled out of the house, hidden inside burnt stollen loaves in the trash, where Milo found them. Because of this, Milo presumed that the keys were the derrotero, though he was not sure how they worked. Doc Holystone's ghost asked to see them, but was prevented by Mrs. Kirkegrim arriving and revealing his true identity. Mrs. Kirkegrim pretended that Mr. Vinge had double-crossed Gilawfer through Emmett Syebuck, and Deacon and Morvengarde would receive the derrotero. Mr. Vinge said that it was his, and both he and Gilawfer pointed guns at Milo to get him to hand it over. However, Milo was rescued by a hobby horse and the real Doc Holystone's ghost.

They went inside, and Milo realized that Mrs. Kirkegrim was not only Cantlebone, but also Violet Cross. Clem noted that she had known what she and Georgie were looking for, and Mrs. Kirkegrim agreed, saying that everyone looked for the derrotero. Clem thought it had been in the haul, because she otherwise would not have come out of hiding to retrieve it, but Mrs. Kirkegrim explained that she did not want her tools to fall into the wrong hands, and also she did not want Gilawfer, who had caused the end of her smuggling career, especially, to get it. Milo showed off the keys and the guests examined them, deeming them beautiful. Mrs. Kirkegrim chose a keepsake for Marzana (now revealed as her daughter), choosing the keys, saying she was very proud of them, as they were one of a kind. She let Clem and Georgie keep the rest, saying that although they did not have the derrotero, what they did have they would find to have been worth the trouble.

After Mrs. Kirkegrim left, Milo expressed disappointment that there had not been a derrotero. Meddy insisted to him that there was one; Mrs. Kirkegrim had admitted it, and that perhaps it had been hidden somewhere else, but it was definitely out there. Milo opened *The Skidwrack: A Visual History*, and saw how the Skidwrack had eleven inlets, with a channel down the middle and shifting shoals and banks down the side. He realized that the keys had been the derrotero, and Violet Cross had smuggled it out twice without making it look like she was involved.

## Physical characteristics

The keys are described by Georgie to be 'weird'. They are adjustable bump keys with adjustable bittings on each side, not one, and some of the bittings are decorated. They have a wiggly channel down the flat sides, and at the top of each key is a small dial, and a number and letter code. When adjusted properly, the keys map the Skidwrack River's eleven inlets, with the straight channel down the key's middle being the river channel, and the bittings the shoals and banks.

## Gallery

**Take a look at our **gallery for Derrotero****.