Page 22 (1/2)

J enna and Beetle left the bright lights of Ephaniah&039;s realm and stumbled out into the darkness of the Manuscriptoriuot to check to see if the Vaults are secure and do the LockUp, but it won&039;t take long," said Beetle

Jenna was longing to rush and get Marcia but she realized that Beetle had a job to do "I&039;ll come and help you check the Vaults if you like," she offered

Beetle did like - verynot to sound too pleased but overdoing it a little

"But I don&039;t want to get in the way"

"No! I et in the way"

Jenna followed Beetle along the eway that wound its way down to the Vaults, which were dug deep into the bedrock of the Castle below the cellars As they reached the last turn of the passageway, the sound of voices could be heard - one of which had a low, boo resonance that Beetle kneas Tertius Fume It was the other voice that surprised hian to lance

"Trouble," Beetle mouthed in reply He slipped into an alcove at the top of the steep flight of steps that led down to the Vaults Jenna joined hi so fast that at first he could not hear what the voices were saying He took a few deep breaths and made himself calm down

"Who is it?" lance It was exactly who he had thought it was Sitting sprawled on the botto shadows cast by the pair of rushlights outside the Vaults was Jillie Djinn&039;s brand-new e with rapt attention at the Ghost of the Vaults The sound of the conversation drifted up the steps, the voices sounding hollow in the ee

"Of course it is difficult, boy" Tertius Fume&039;s voice reverberated up to the two eavesdroppers in the alcove The ghost sounded cranky "That is why it is at the end of the book You are oes before"

"But I didn&039;t want to do them I only wanted to do the end one"

"Practice perfect makes A fool the shortcut takes," Tertius responded

"But I did everything it said - and it worked I even got the Thing In fact I got stacks of Things"

"Stacks? What is stacks?"

"Lots Lots and lots Ummany"

"Many? How many?"

"I dunno About twenty, s ? Thou artthy life forever more"

"No, they won&039;t I locked &039;eet ry they will truly be, when next they catch a sight of thee"

"Do you always talk in rhymes?"

"Yes Nohat do you want, boy? I am tired of this chatter"

"I wanted to ask you about the Darkening the Destiny thingy"

"Thingy?"

"I mean the Darke Hex I did it on so has happened to him yet and I&039;m sure I would have heard if it had"

Tertius Fu "So you&039;ve tried to Darken AnOther&039;s Destiny, have you?" he asked "And ould a young snake like you want to ee I&039;d have chanced host chuckled as though reliving fond memories

The new scribe sounded taken aback "Oh Well, I don&039;t really like knives," he mumbled

"Ah, you prefer others to do your work for you, do you? Ee, a little deceit, hey? I&039;ve seen your kind before You prefer to be the puppet s But, be warned, when you dabble with the Darke you may find that you become the puppet"

"Oh" The boy&039;s voice faltered and if Beetle had dared to take another look he would have seen hiht thatwell, as you wrote this book - and I think it&039;s a really, really good book, the best I&039;ve ever read in fact and - "

"Don&039;t waste your breath trying to flatter ive a tinker&039;s monkey whether you like my book or not," Tertius Fume snapped "Just tell me what you want from me Come on, out with it"

"I would like you to helptime"

"And why should I help you, boy? What&039;s in it for ether"

Tertius Fuave a loud snort "Me - ith you? Me, the very first Chief Hermetic Scribe, ive me one reason why on earth I would want to do that?"

There was a silence and then Jenna and Beetle heard the words, clear as a bell, "Because I am alive and you are dead"

Beetle raised his eyebrows at Jenna That Daniel Hunter kid had nerve

"Careful, boy," Tertius Furowled "That state of affairs is easily remedied"

"Oh But I didn&039;t mean to" The boy&039;s voice sounded thin and scared

Tertius Funored him and carried on "However, it is true that I do h I would not trust a lettuce leaf like you to docompanion here"

Beetle raised his eyebrows at Jenna as if to say What interesting cohost and the dark-haired boy in the shadows - no one else

"You can have hiivesiance towork"

"And then - then will you help me?"

"I am a man of my word, whatever others may say," said Tertius Fume "The Other whose destiny is to be Darkened will find himself cast onto the Precipice of Peril How does that sound?"

"Great!" said the new scribe "Really great That will show hioody Septimus Heap kid ish he never stole my name"

Jenna and Beetle looked at each other "Sep!" they both gasped, then clapped their hands over their mouths But it was too late

"What was that?" Tertius Furowl echoed up the steps

"What hat?"

"I thought I hearda rat Or rats Lurking at the top of the steps Go and see, boy Go on Now"

Horrified, Beetle grabbed Jenna&039;s hand and ran

"There was no one there," said Merrin, returning to his place at Tertius Fuhost "So noe have a Contract to complete, do we not?"