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To the Tower

Jenna could not believe as happening to her She hardly had tioodbye before Marcia had thrown her purple cloak over her and told her to stay close and keep up Then the big black Heap door had unwillingly creaked itself open, and Jenna hisked away from the only hoood thing that, covered as she was by Marcia&039;s cloak, Jenna could not see the bewildered faces of the six Heap boys or the desolate expressions on the faces of Sarah and Silas Heap as they watched the four-legged purple cloak swish around the corner at the end of Corridor 223 and disappear fro way back to the WizardTower Marcia did not want to risk being seen outside with Jenna, and the dark winding corridors of the East Side seemed safer than the quick route she had taken earlier that , and Jenna had to run beside her to have any hope of keeping up Luckily all she carried with her was a small rucksack on her back with a few treasures to reotten her birthday present

It wasby now and the rush hour was over Much to Marcia&039;s relief the damp corridors were al the each turn as Marcia&039;s memory of her old trips to the WizardTower came back to her

Hidden under Marcia&039;s heavy cloak, Jenna could see very little, so she concentrated her gaze on the two pairs of feet below her: her own small, chunky feet in their scruffy brown boots and Marcia&039;s long, pointy feet in their purple python skins striding over the dank gray slabs beneath the her own boots and had beco before her - left, right, left, right, left, right - as they crossed the eways

In this way the strange pairdoors that hid the many workshops where the people fro boots, beer, clothes, boats, beds, saddles, candles, sails, bread, and uns, uniforms and chains Past the cold schoolrooms where bored children chanted their thirteen ti storerooms where the Custodian Army had recently taken away most of the winter stores for its own use

At long last Marcia and Jenna eh the narrow archway that led into the WizardTower courtyard Jenna caught her breath in the cold air and stole a look out fro up in front of her was the WizardTower, so high that the golden Pyra cloud The Tower shone a brilliant silver in the winter sunlight, so bright that it hurt Jenna&039;s eyes, and the purple glass in its hundreds of tiny s glittered and sparkled with a ht and kept the secrets hidden behind the its boundaries, and Jenna found it hard to tell where the Tower ended and the sky began The air too was different; it sical spells and old incense And as Jenna stood, unable to stir another step, she knew that she was surrounded by the sounds, too soft to be heard, of ancient charms and incantations

For the first time since Jenna had left her home she was afraid

Marcia put a protective arm around Jenna&039;s shoulders, for even Marcia re

"Coether they slipped and slid across the snow-covered courtyard toward the huge , silver entrance Marcia was intent upon keeping her balance, and it was not until she reached the bottoer a sentry on guard She looked at her tie was not due for fifteenboy she had told off thatto herself So The sentry was not here And yet he was still here He was, she suddenly realized, between the Here and the Not Here

He was nearly dead

Marcia made a sudden dive toward a small mound by the archway, and Jenna fell out of the cloak

"Dig!" hissed Marcia, scrabbling away at the mound "He&039;s here Frozen"

Underneath the mound lay the thin white body of the sentry He was curled up into a ball, and his fli coldly to hi tawdry in the cold winter sunlight Jenna shivered at the sight of the boy, not from the cold but from an unknoordless memory that had flitted across her mind

Marcia carefully brushed the snow from the boy&039;s dark blue mouth while Jenna lay her hand on his white sticklike arm She had never felt anyone so cold before Surely he was already dead?

Jenna watched Marcia lean over the boy&039;s face andunder her breath Marcia stopped, listened and looked concerned Then sheQuicken" She paused for aslow breath over the boy&039;s face The breath tumbled endlessly from Marcia&039;s mouth, on and on, a warm pale pink cloud that enveloped the boy&039;s mouth and nose and slowly, slowly seelow The boy did not stir, but Jenna thought that now she could see a faint rise and fall of his chest He was breathing again

"Quick!" whispered Marcia to Jenna "He won&039;t survive if we leave hiathered the boy into her arms and carried him up the wide marble steps As she reached the top, the solid silver doors to the WizardToung silently open before them Jenna took a deep breath and followed Marcia and the boy inside