Page 7 (2/2)

Sarah pushed a stray wisp of straw-colored hair back behind her ear as she fiddled distractedly with sos "I&039;ainst her will," she insisted, stabbing at the soil with her trowel

"Of course he wouldn&039;t," said Sally soothingly

"But that&039;s just what he has done," Septio with hiet off He got really angry"

"Well, he did seem very proud of his horse," said Sarah "Maybe he was just upset about you Transfixing it I&039;m sure he will be back soon with Jenna"

"He&039;s kidnapped her, Mury now He could not understand why Sarah keptexcuses for Simon But Septimus was still not entirely used to how mothers behaved

Alther Mella floated dish a discarded pile of flowerpots "It&039;s my fault, Sarah," said Alther "I blauards at the Palace Gate instead of those useless Ancients, this would never have happened"

"You host a wan suard would have let Simon in He is a Heap after all"

"But they wouldn&039;t have let him out, would they?" said Septimus pointedly "Not if Jenna had told theo"

"Septimus, you shouldn&039;t speak to Alther like that," scolded Sarah "You should be more respectful to an ExtraOrdinary Wizard, especially the one whom your tutor was Apprenticed to"

"Ah, Sarah" Alther sighed "The boy is right"

Alther floated off the potting bench and hovered beside Septimus Compared with the Ancients in the Palace, Alther looked positively substantial His purple ExtraOrdinary robes, although a little faded, looked almost real, even down to the bullet hole and dark brown bloodstains just below his heart The ghost&039;s long white hair was scraped back into its usual ponytail, and his green eyes had a bright glint in thearded Marcia&039;s Apprentice

"So," said Alther to Septimus, "what do you propose we do now?"

"Me? What do I think we should do?"

"Yes As the Apprentice of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, I thought you o after Jenna And get her back That&039;s e have to do"

Sarah dropped the trowel she had been poking the seedlings with It landed with a clang in the host stepped back hastily "Septi anywhere It&039;s bad enough with Jo Jo, Sa up to goodness knohat and refusing to even coone off with that Rupert Gringe boy testing soh he promised he&039;d be ho could have happened to hione" At this Sarah suddenly broke into loud sobs

Silas put his arms around Sarah "There, there, love, you ht," heyou a nice cup of tea and a big slab of barley cake," said Sally, "and everything will feel much better, just you see" And she bustled off to the Palace kitchens

But Sarah would not be coone," she wailed "Why? Why would Si? Why would he take Jenna away?"

Alther put a ghostly arm around Septimus&039;s shoulders "Come on, lad," he said "Let&039;s leave your parents alone for a while You can take me to see Marcia"

Septimus and Alther made their way out of the Palace and took the Snake Sliphich led down to the Castle Moat The Castle was surrounded by water Most of the water consisted of the river, as the Castle was built on the inside of a wide river bend, but so when the Castle walls were built The Moat ide and deep and was full of river water, for both ends of the Moat ran into the river itself It was a popular place for fishing and, in the sue wooden pier had recently been built out into the middle of the Moat for the Castle children to swie had just started renting out his new invention, the s about on the water for an hour or two This had been extremely popular with everyone in the Castle, except for two people: Weasal Van Klampff and his housekeeper, Una Brakket, who had the misfortune to live beside the new pier and above the boathouse where the Ruperts were stored

Septimus knew the way to Professor Van Kla Almost since his first days as Apprentice, Marcia had sent hi to knock on the Professor&039;s door and collect one of the many and complex pieces of the ShadowSafe But even if the Professor had a piece readywhich was a rare eventand actually gave it to Septimus, Una Brakket would waylay him at the door and demand it back She did not, she would tell Septimus, trust a boy with such a valuable object Marcia herself -distance battle had ensued between Marcia and Una, with Septimus batted to and fro like a shuttlecock Every Saturday , Septimus would wait outside Professor Van Klahed at and shouted at by a group of boys fro around the pier, daring each other to jump into the water

Eventually, to Septiive in and collect the components herself Una Brakket may have a point, Alther advised; the ShadowSafe was indeed a coykal device, and it was not fair to make Septimus responsible for it Just to irritate Una, Marcia had taken to occasionally arriving unannounced in the early hours of the o, the boys on the pier had watched the ExtraOrdinary Wizard stride down the Snake Slipway and give a vicious tug on the bellpull that hung beside Weasal Van Klampff&039;s thick wooden door Marcia had waited impatiently on the Slipway She tapped her purple python shoes irritably on the stone cobbles while she heard s inside the house, until Una Brakketwho knew by the long, insistent ringing of the bell that it was Marciaopened the door Eventually

And now Septiain Alther was no protection, as the ghost could choose to whom he would Appear, and quite understandably he chose not to Appear to a bunch of reen tunic and shiny silver Apprentice belt, had no such choice Sure enough the chorus of catcalls soon started:

"Too stuck-up to talk to us then, are ya?""Greeny-guts, greeny-guts!""Hey, caterpillar-boy! Whatcha doin&039; back here again?"

And so on Septied to turn the lot of theyk codeand the boys knew that

"Here we are," Septimus told Alther, as he reached up and save the bellpull a hefty tug Far, far away, unheard by either Alther or Septimuch to the annoyance of the housekeeper Septihost as hovering behind hi up at the house "Do you think you&039;ll be able to co that he would be able to

"HmmI&039;oing to a party down by the Moat It was quite a party toowe all ended up in the water I think it was in this house, butwell, I&039;ll soon find out e go inside"

Septio to places that he had been during his life Alther had pretty much traveled all the roads and alleyways in the Castle, and, as ExtraOrdinary Wizard, he had been in s But people&039;s houses were anothered to be invited to every single house in the Castle

The door was suddenly thrown open

"Oh, it&039;s you again," said Una Brakket, as a tall,spiky-looking woman with extremely short black hair

"I need to see the ExtraOrdinary Wizard," said Septimus "Please"

"She&039;s busy," snapped Una

"It&039;s very urgent," Septimus insisted "It&039;s a matter of life or death"

The housekeeper shot Septimus a suspicious look She stood at the door for athe two al Septiry with her for not letting Septiht then Come in" The housekeeper held the door open and Septimus entered, closely followed by Alther But, as Alther crossed the threshold of the house, there was a sudden violent rush of air, and the ghost was hurled straight out the door and Returned to the street

"Bother," muttered Alther as he picked himself up off the cobbles "I remember now The party was at the house next door"

"It&039;s very windy out there all of a sudden," said Una, puzzled She sla outside; then she turned to Septi he was still outside in the sun with Alther

"You had better come down to the Laboratory," she said