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"What?" Septi about with the tiller; we&039;re going to land," ca shout

"Where?" Septimus and Nicko both shouted

"On the river, silly Where else?" yelled Jenna

Septihtly, unsure of what else to doand suddenly he could s in to land and he could see nothing Suppose they hit a boat? Or cao away and let hi his mind, the mist rolled up into a small white cloud and shot off, back across the Marshes where it had come from

Septiaze was fixed on the dark green water of the river, which was rapidly co too fast Far too fast

"Slon!" he yelled at the dragon

At the last on stretched out her wings as best she could, reared her head up and dropped her tail She hit the water with a crash, bounced up and down and aquaplaned at full speed past a group of elderly fisherht at the Old Trout Tavern they were not completely surprised when no one believed their latest story By the end of the evening even they did not believe it

The Dragon Boat finally slowed about half a mile up the river, just before a bend She settled into the water, raised her good wing and spread it to catch the wind, but her broken wing trailed uselessly alongside and began to turn her in a circle, until Nicko stuck an oar over the other side for balance

Septimus sat doearily by the tiller and Jenna careat, Sep"

"Thanks, Jen"

"That cloud" said Jenna "Did it stop us fro?"

Septimus nodded

"It eird," said Nicko "It s"

"Aunt Zelda&039;s cottage," said Jenna happily

"What? Where?"

"Nothe cloud It se"

At Keeper&039;s Cottage Wolf Boy had woken from a deep sleep, and for the first tiled to sit up, trying to remember where he was Slowly it all caood-bye and he ree, but he lass flask that was blocking the front doorway Wolf Boy had never seen anything like it Beside the flask was a huge cork stopper, and beside the cork stopper stood Aunt Zelda, anxiously peering around the flask out at the deepening evening sky The flask was about the same size as Aunt Zelda and about the same shape too

Aunt Zelda noticed that Wolf Boy had woken up; she went and sat down beside hiazed at her, bleary-eyed "412 okay?" he mumbled

"We can but hope," said Aunt Zelda, keeping an eye on the flask "Ahhere it coh the open door and into the flask Soon the tendrils had beco into the flask Aunt Zelda ju the h speed

For so the flask to the top When the last tendril of mist had returned to the flask, Aunt Zelda drew a s on tiptoe, she reached up and dripped one drop of a brilliant white liquid into the mouth of the flask The mist swirled into a frantic whirlpool and swirled itself into a small, white, hed "It&039;s Cloud Concentrate again" She picked up the huge cork stopper with both hands and shoved it into the mouth of the flask Then, with the ball of Cloud Concentrate rolling around like a solitary iant flask across the floor, opened a large door concealed behind bookshelves at the end of the room and maneuvered the flask into a cupboard

Aunt Zelda closed the cupboard door with a quiet click and went outside Slowly she walked to the end of the island and looked out across the expanse of the Marshes, searching for any trace of the Dragon Boat She saw nothingthere was no clue, no sign of what had happened to her Aunt Zelda shook her head and hoped for the best, for that was all she could do, and retraced her steps to the Cottage Now she was ready to deal with Siet that wretched boy Merrin out of his clutches before it was too late

But as Aunt Zelda stepped onto the path she tripped over a solitary brown boot She picked up the boot, saw straw from the thatch stuck in its eyeletsand she knew that, for Merrin, it was already too late