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M arcia was stu around the Wizard Tower, unable to see Desperately she called,

"SeptimusSeptimuswhere are you?"

"I&039;m here, I&039;m here!" yelled Septimus

"Go back &039;sleep," haahh," mumbled Beetle, as in the middle of his own dreaiant rat

They were sleeping - or trying to - on the floor of a small storeroom at the entrance to Ephaniah&039;s domain Jenna and Beetle both slipped back into sleep, but Septihteningly vivid He sat up, all the events of the previous evening crowding in on hi at the Wizard Tower? Surely Tertius Fume had discovered his escape by now? And if so had he sent people, or - hosts, out to search for hiht? Septimus put his hand in his pocket to find his last memento of the Wizard Tower and drew out the SafeChararde to do that, he thought By the co, he looked fondly at the SafeCharh him like a knife No! No no no no no It couldn&039;t be It couldn&039;t possibly be Septimus stared at the heavy, oval lapis lazuli stone in his hand, and the golden Q inscribed deep into it glinted back at hian to show and Septi Stone

He stared at the Stone, trying to re But it was all a blur - only the phrase Once you Accept the Stone , your Will is not your Own came into his head

Septimus tried to think clearly But he hadn&039;t accepted the Questing Stone, had he? He had accepted what he thought was a SafeCharm So surely that was different - wasn&039;t it? He stared hard at the Stone It was a beautiful thing; silky s their way through the brilliant blue And the dreaded Q - that was beautiful too The gold was set deep into the stone and polished to such sers over it he could feel no join at all In fact he could almost convince himself that the Q was not there But as soon as he looked down at the stone in his palht, refusing to go away

Septi Stone back into his pocket He would ignore it, he decided He wouldn&039;t tell Jenna or Beetle either There was enough for the about so on anyway

Septimus threw himself back onto the hard bedroll and pulled the thin Manuscriptoriuency blanket up over his head He tried to block the Questing Stone froan to reykal thing and as the Questor drew nearer to his or her goal, it changed color And at the Queste&039;s end it was the deepest blue, so dark that it looked black - except in the light of the full et across as much information as possible, but just then Septimus did not even want to think about it He didn&039;t need to, he decided He was not going on the Queste He closed his eyes and tried to sleep - with little success

About an hour later frohtUllr change As the panther slept, Ephaniah saw the orange tip on his tail expand and grow, the bright color traveling across the creature like the sun chasing away the shadows And as it grew, the sleek panther fur becae and its muscled body shrank so fast that Ephaniah was sure that Ullr would disappear completely Indeed, when the Transforh he ally cat, who looked as if he could use a real httime attire was a black tip at the end of his tail, ready for the ain set

Now that the storeroouarded only by a small cat, Ephaniah dared venture in to wake its occupants Sleepily, Jenna, Septimus and Beetle rolled up their bedrolls and stacked them back onto the orderly shelves And then, at Ephaniah&039;s insistence, they gathered around the big worktable in the first cellar and ate the oatenerally used for lue Ullr, after some persuasion fro of a bowl of milk

It was not a lively breakfast

Jenna was anxious to get away to the Port "If we hurry we can catch the early- the last of the surprisingly good oatmeal from the bowl

"Good," said Beetle, who had taken a lot of persuading to spend the night back at his old workplace and wanted to be off as soon as he could

Ephaniah returned fro the previous day&039;s work in the basket at the top of the stairs He flapped his hands, signaling thee sheet of paper down beside the bowls It was covered with his now fa the words: The journey to the Forests of the Low Countries is long and perilous by ship But there is another way There is an old saying, "A journey to a Forest is best begun in a Forest"

Jenna knew the saying but had never understood what it meant "What do you mean?" she asked

Ephaniah wrote: In the Forest there are ancient Ways that lead to other Forests Morwenna knows I can take you safely into the Forest by the old charcoal burners&039; gulleys

"We used to use those in the Young Aro to their winter quarters"

Ephaniah nodded and wrote: We will find Morwenna I will ask her to show you the Forest Ways