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It was very early the next , just as the eastern sky above The Rope Walk was turning pink, when a s the middle of the street and stopped outside the Port Witch Coven&039;s house Sleuth paused for aon the spot while it took stock Sleuth was content It knew it had nearly reached its destination Since its Master had thrown it out with its Tag, it had faithfully followed not only Jenna&039;s exact footsteps, but also the rhyth up where she had done so and stopping where she had stopped Which is why the green ball aiting a o, Jenna had questioned Stanley&039;s sense of direction
This was how the Tracker Ball operated, and it was extreh not without the occasional problem Such as when, late that afternoon, ten feet of choppy sea-water had covered the route that Jenna took earlier in the day, when the tide was out That had slowed Sleuth down a bit, and getting covered in sand afterward had not helped its progress either Sleuth knew its Master would not be pleased about the delay and it was anxious to get on with its task The ball bounced up to the door of the Port Witch Coven, only to feel a sudden urge to leave again Sleuth was about to bounce ahen the door was flung open and a hand shot out and grabbed it
"Got it!" a triuled but the witch held it tight in her grasp
"Got what, Linda?" Sleuth glimpsed another, older, witch&039;s shocked face as Linda showed off her catch Her face hite with fright "Oh, Covens aboveare you trying to get us all killed?"
"What are you going on about?" snapped the younger witch "You&039;re just cross because you missed that rat earlier Anywayit&039;s my ball now So shove off"
"Lindafor Coven&039;s sake, let it go It belongs to the Master It&039;s a Tracker Ball on a ht now!"
The witch dropped Sleuth like a hot potato The ball shook itself and bounced back into the street, then made its way to the door of the Doll House The titches watched, fascinated, as Sleuth briefly bounced on the spot and, on the third bounce, squeezed through the letterbox and disappeared inside
"Shame it&039;s not come for anyone here," said the older witch "We could have Kept theood books"
"We&039;re never in the right place at the right tiloo
"Nicko?" whispered Jenna "Nicko?"
"Werr?"
"Nicko, there&039;s so on the "
" &039;S only mad Nurse, Jen Ger bakoo sleep," Nicko rubby room
Jenna sat up in her equally lumpy bed and pulled Lucy&039;s cloak around her She stared into the glooh the Nurse was bouncing a ball outside theirWhy? She hadn&039;t looked the sporty type And then, as the fog of sleep finally left Jenna&039;s brain, she remembered Sleuth
Jenna leaped out of bed and i form of Septimus, rapped up in a blanket on the floor He did not stir Slowly, she crawled over to the , keeping low in the hope that Sleuth would not see heralthough Jenna suspected that it did not matter one bit whether or not the Tracker Ball saw her It knew she was here
And then Jenna trod on so softand alive She opened her mouth to scream but before she could, a hand had snaked over her face and covered the scream A s eyes stared at her
"Shh," whispered Wolf Boy, who had been lying under thelistening to Sleuth for the last fiveoutside I saw one just like it in the Forest once"
"I knohispered Jenna "It&039;s come to find me"
"Do you wantin the green glow that was shining through the prihter by the second It had found the quarry; noas gathering the energy to Tag the quarry Once Sleuth had done that, it would return to its Master, ed, and its Master would knohere to find it