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The nextat Grandpa Benji&039;s feet Or foot The bright surandfather&039;s leaves and cast a pale green light on the Forest floor And on the chewed reone," Septi"

"Everything except for us," Nicko pointed out, "which is probably theHe was on his hands and knees exaround at the foot of the tree

"I wouldn&039;t run ri"

"Use your head, Sep Loads of wolverines Hanging around waiting for supper Getting excited Eating Mint Blasts So what do you think they do?"

"It must be here They can&039;t have eaten thatI dunno, Nik, what do they do?"

"Poo"

"Eurgh!" Septimus jumped to his feet

"And then they hide it under the leaves"

"Eurgh, no!" Septimus wiped his hands on his tunic, stepped back and trod on what he was looking for "Found it! It&039;s here Oh, fantastic"

"What?" asked Nicko, curious "What&039;s so ireen rock that he had so carefully packed in his backpack

"Oh," said Nicko, suddenly reminded of why they were in the ave it to me"

"I know I remember"

They were both silent for a moment and Septimus stared intently at the rock Then suddenly he burst out, "Oh, I hate wolverines! Look what they&039;ve done They cracked it" Septimus cradled the rock in his hands and showed it to Nicko "Look," he said, "there" A sed crack ran across the widest part of the rock

"Well, it could be worse, Sep," said Nicko "It&039;s not broken I suppose one of the wolverinesI bet it didn&039;t do its teeth ood"

"I hope not I hope they all fell out," said Septi from his Apprentice belt

It took Septirandfather, andthe rest of the fah the Forest in search of the boys&039; camp

So to throb painfully and he ondering if they were lost again, they came across a wide path

"I knohere we are!" said Nicko triumphantly

"Really?" There was some doubt in Septimus&039;s tone

"Really Just follow me, Sep"

"Nohen did I hear that before?" said Septimus

"Don&039;t be mean," said Nicko sheepishly "Lookdown therecan you see the ca at the top of a s between the trees and leading to a s A thin line of s air, and, as Septiure of one of his brothers stepped out froe pile of leaves and stretched and yawned in the warm sun

"Erik!" yelled Nicko "Hey, Erik!"

The figure looked up, bleary-eyed

"C&039;mon, Sep," said Nicko, "time to meet the rest of us"

Tenalone by the campfire pit Almost as soon as Nicko had introduced hiician pulling a rabbit fro Nicko with the to inspect the nets that Sa in on thetide And Septimus may as well make himself useful and stay and keep watch over the fire, which was kept burning night and day

Septimus stared at the fire and wondered if all fah he had been very nervous about ht have been pleased to see hih he were a frog in a jar And then he had realized that they were not even staring at hireen cloak and tunic, and at his silver ExtraOrdinary Apprentice belt, which had glinted eh he was showing off He had quickly pulled his cloak around hilumly, that had made him look stupidlike he was bothered about how he looked Or else it had made him look like a ho felt coldor scared, or And then, as he had stood there wrapped in his cloak his brothers had, one by one, h it could just as easily have been "dillop" In fact, the ht about it, the more he was sure that hat they had said Septi what a coht he was

As Septi why he had let Nicko bring hi for Jenna, he are of so him He turned to see one of his brothersbut which one? Septi embarrassed to be sure ho

"Hi," said the boy, poking at the fire with a stick

"Hi," said Septi he had a stick too

"You the one that was dead then?" asked the brother

"What?"

"Yeah Dead I reht eren&039;t listening You were dead But you weren&039;t Weird" The brother poked the fire soreed Septilance at the boy It wasn&039;t Saer than Simon, was a man noith a pale fuzz on his face and a deep voice And Edd and Erik, he re matted strands, twisted like rope Septimus reckoned it had to be Jo-Jo A little older than Nicko and a little taller too, but much thinner, with matted wild Heap hair, all straw-colored curls, which was kept in place by an intricately plaited band of different-colored strips of leather worn around his head The boy caught Septirin "That&039;sup a nearby stick and poking it at the fire

Jo-Jo stood and stretched "You watch the fire and I&039;ll go sort the fish Saht so"