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Deppen Ditch

Marcia was snappy Very snappy Keeping two spells on the go was a tough one Especially since one of theyk and, unlike most spells that Marcia used, still had links to the Darke side - the Other side, as Marcia preferred to call it It took a brave and skillful Wizard to use Reverse Magyk without inviting the Other in Alther had taught Marcia well, for many of the spells he had learned froyk, and Alther had beco it out Marcia was only too well aware that all the ti the Projection, the Other hovered about the its chance to break into the spell

Which explained why Marcia felt as though her brain had no roo the effort to be polite "For goodness&039; sake, get this wretched boat , Nicko," snapped Marcia

Nicko looked hurt There was no need to talk to hiot to paddle it, then," muttered Nicko "And it would help if I could see where we&039;re going"

With some effort, and a consequent increase in snappiness, Marcia cleared a tunnel through the Fog Silas kept quiet He knew that Marcia was having to use a huge a respect for her There was no way Silas would ever dare atte at the saood

Silas left Marcia to her Magyk and paddled Muriel through the thick white cocoon of the Fog tunnel while Nicko carefully steered the boat toward the bright starry sky at the end of the tunnel Soon Nicko felt the bottoh sand, and Muriel burass

They had reached the safety of the Marrah of relief and let the Fog disperse Everyone relaxed, except for Jenna Jenna, who had not been the only girl in a fa or two, had Boy 412 facedown on the deck in an aro, Jen," said Nicko

"Why?" demanded Jenna

"He&039;s only a silly boy"

"But he nearly got us all killed We saved his life when he was buried in the snow and he betrayed us," Jenna said angrily

Boy 412 was silent Buried in the snow? Saved his life? All he re asleep outside the WizardTower and then waking up a prisoner in Marcia&039;s rooo, Jenna," said Silas "He doesn&039;t understand what&039;s going on"

"All right," said Jenna, a little reluctantly releasing Boy 412 fro"

Boy 412 sat up slowly, rubbing his ar hiirl called hi, especially after she had been so nice to him before Boy 412 huddled by hiet and tried to work things out in his head It wasn&039;t easy Nothing made sense He tried to re Army Facts There are only facts Good facts Bad facts So:

Fact One Kidnapped: BAD

Fact Two Uniform stolen: BAD

Fact Three Pushed down rubbish chute: BAD Really BAD

Fact Four Shoved into cold smelly boat: BAD

Fact Five Not killed by Wizards (yet): GOOD

Fact Six Probably going to be killed by Wizards soon: BAD

Boy 412 counted up the GOODs and the BADs As usual, the BADs outnumbered the GOODs, which didn&039;t surprise him

Nicko and Jenna clarassy bank beside the sing loose Nicko wanted a rest froe of the boat He took his responsibilities as skipper very seriously, and while he was actually in Muriel he felt that if anything rong, it was soain, or rather slightly day, squashy feel to it, as though it was growing on a big piece of wet sponge, and it was covered in a light dusting of snow

With Jenna at a safe distance, Boy 412 dared to look up, and he saw so that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up