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A bored Thing slowly chewed the tops of its fingers, pulling at long bits of skin with its blackened teeth It glared at its Master - a waste of space in the opinion of the Thing - and cursed its ill fortune at having been Engendered for such a fool Its Master, blissfully unaware of the waves of loathing co

Merrin was leaning nonchalantly against the old clock tower opposite the Palace, eating a licorice snake, enjoying his first ever taste of a sweet After his contretemps with Beetle in the Manuscriptorius and had discovered Ma Custard&039;s All-Day-All-Night Sweet Shop, tucked away on the far side of the Castle down Sugar Cone Cut beside the Old Dock While the Thing and its sack of bones had loitered outside, creating an oppresive haze that put off other custo at all the sweets Ma Custard, as used to people dithering for hours between leer Eventually Merrin had chosen the licorice snake because it reminded him of the black snake that Simon Heap kept, and Merrin had alondered what snake tasted like

Merrin savored his last sticky mouthful of licorice He stared up at the s that ran the length of the Palace - a long, low, an to count them It was then that the idea ca a room? Just think how many licorice snakes he could buy with a whole week&039;s rent Anyway, he belonged in the Castle - it was his right to live anywhere he wanted So there And where better than the Palace? Merrin sed the snake&039;s tail with a decisive gulp Proble ways into places - especially places he should not go So it was easy for hih-walled alleyway that led around the outside of the Palace grounds to the sarden The door was open as usual Sarah Heap liked to leave it open so her friend Sally Mullin could drop by and have a ot back to the lunchtih Merrin planned to one day have the entire Palace at his disposal - just as DomDaniel&039;s deputy, the Suprerettably, a little different Closely followed by the Thing, he slipped in through the open door and found hiarden

Merrin liked the kitchen garden; it appealed to his sense of order It was the one place where Sarah Heap was tidy The garden was bounded on all sides by a high redbrick wall It was neatly laid out with close- betell-tended beds where Sarah was in the process of planting early lettuce, peas, beans and all kinds of vegetables that Merrin did not even recognize, let alone dreae well in the center of the garden, where Sarah drew the water for her plants At the far end of the garden was a low brick arch, which Merrin could see led into a covered way

Keeping close to the wall, Merrin carefully walked the grass paths, resisting the urge to count the newly sewn lettuce seedlings As he got near the arch, he could not believe his luck At the end of the covered as a half open door that led straight into the Palace His new home beckoned

It was then that Merrin felt so of being followed for a while He had felt it outside the Grateful Turbot, again when he had come out of the Manuscriptoriu had been Waiting for hi But now Merrin was sure He spun around and caught the Thing unawares

"Got you!" he yelled and then clapped his hand over his mouth in horror So froze, staring at each other, listening for footsteps None ca, I told you to look forhere?"

"I a replied in a low, mournful whisper

"Just you?" asked Merrin suspiciously

"Justdolefully

Merrin felt relieved "Well, you can wait outside I&039; behind those?" Merrin had caught sight of the sack of bones

"For yoooooou, Master," said the Thing in its low, insinuating voice

Merrin stared at the Thing He hated the way he could not quite see the Thing&039;s expression; ithiht think, it had to obey hi bones," he told the Thing "You can" Merrin cast around for sohted on the well "You can chuck the looked horrified but all Merrin saas a faint flash of red fro at its precious sack of bones in disbelief, Merrin slipped through the arch and crept along the covered way He flitted from pillar to pillar until he had reached the half open door The door looked as if it could have a nasty squeak, so he squeezed through the gap into the cool,And there he was - inside the Palace

Not long after, Sarah Heap caate near the old kitchens She still wore Jannit&039;s battered sailor&039;s boater Sarah rather liked it, as itshe had not felt for soreenhouse to collect the seedlings for that day&039;s planting, a horrible feeling of gloo Darke was by the well

Sarah Heap had not been interested in Magyk for ht she had left Magyk far behind her But she still had the telltale Magykal green eyes and knew quite enough to do a See So when, to her horror, Sarah Saw the Thing perched on the edge of her well - her beautiful clean, clear, pure well - with a sack of so back to her She looked the Thing in the eye - as , evasive eyes - and chanted very slowly:

"Pure and clean this well shall stay

Shielded frolared angrily at Sarah, but there was nothing it could do It heaved the sack of bones over its shoulder and sloped off Sarah waited until the Thing had left the kitchen garden, then the awfulness of what she had seen suddenly overca, back inside to sit with Ethel

The Thing waited until Sarah had disappeared into the Palace, then returned to the kitchen garden

Unable now to put the bones where it had been instructed it chose instead the garden shed, where it carefully placed the sack aarden clutter Then the Thing loped up to the half-open door that led into the Palace and folded itself deep into a leafy bush to wait for its Master&039;s eventual exit

The Palace was not what Merrin had expected It s in the corners And as Merrin&039;s eyes got used to the direat either The plaster on the walls was cracked and cruainst it there hite dust all over his black cloak Ahead of hied corridor, known as the Long Walk It was as wide as a s the middle Warily, Merrin set off Every few yards a door opened off the corridor and at first he stopped at each one, half expecting someone to come out But now the Palace was occupied only by Sarah, Silas and Jenna Heap - and Maxie, the wolfhound E staff did not cos herself Thatthe few Palace servants Sarah had taken on were elsewhere - the Cook was in the kitchens chatting to the Cleaner, the WashingUp Boy was dozing in the pantry and the HouseKeeper had a bad cold and had stayed home