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J enna, Ullr, Septimus and Beetle stepped out into the middle of a silent, snowy forest

Septi pole into the snow to shohere they had co todown limply No breath of air disturbed it; all was still The three looked at one another but said nothing - no one felt like breaking the heavy silence that covered them like a blanket All they could see was snow and trees - so densely packed that their black trunks felt like great bars of a cage encircling theh above and landing lightly on their hair and faces Jenna brushed the snowflakes from her eyelashes and looked up The trunks of the trees were thin and smooth and did not branch out until the very top, when they spread wide and flat like a snowy parasol

Jenna realized that they had all expected to find the - just a featureless, flat wilderness of trees radiating in all directions No footsteps led to where they stood and there was no way of knohich direction was forward and which was back It was, she thought, as if they had been dropped into the e bird

"Let&039;s look at the map, Jen," Septimus whispered

Jenna took off the backpack, pulled out Nicko&039;s book and extracted the neatly folded map Septimus held the map for the first time It crackled with ReStore fluid, yet it felt flexible and strong Septi Arood map-reader But as he looked at Snorri&039;s finely detailed pencil lines, he realized that he had always taken one thing for granted - he had started off knohere he was

"Where are we?" asked Beetle, peering over his shoulder

"Good question," replied Septi" He wiggled his finger through the hole in the middle of the map "We could even be here"

"No, we couldn&039;t," Jenna said "That is the House of Foryx"

"That&039;s e think it is," said Septimus "But we don&039;t know for sure what&039;s on thepiece, do we?"

Jenna did not reply She refused to even think that they were not heading for Nicko and the House of Foryx She ruh the two deep silk-lined pockets in her red woolen tunic, hoping that, for once, sheuseful with her Jenna tried to remember if she had rescued it from the floor after she had thrown it across her room in a fit of temper when her real father, Milo, had told her he was off oncetravels Her hand closed around a cold ot a coot a compass?" said Septimus

"Yes No need to sound so surprised"

"But you never carry anything with you, Jen"

Jenna shrugged irritably It was true - she never took anything with her When her tutor had pointed out approvingly that this was so Princesses and Queens were known for, Jenna had felt embarrassed She didn&039;t want to act all Princessy - and the idea of being Queen was still just plain weird But after the tutor&039;s cos in her pocket - even if they were not obviously useful - just to prove her tutor wrong And now Milo&039;s co for a packet of rainboy turtles in Ma Custard&039;s, came into its own Jenna held out the small brass compass and they watched the needle spin roundand roundand round, like a watch on fast-forward

"It shouldn&039;t do that, should it?" said Jenna

"No," said Beetle and Septiether

"That is just so typical of Milo," Jenna said grumpily "All his stuff is useless - and weird"

"I&039;d say it was this forest that&039;s weird," said Beetle, glancing around uncomfortably

"Can I have a look, Jen?" asked Septi if it would start to behave once Septimus held it It didn&039;t Septimus kneeled down and laid theaway the soft, fat snowflakes that were drifting onto it "I don&039;t knohere we are, but I&039;ll put the compassu for soet one "Here," he said, and placed the co to do a Navigate?" asked Beetle

Septi to do it without the part we&039;re going to?" Beetle asked, pointing to the hole in the et it to take us to the edge of the hole," said Septiht be able to see the House of Foryx from there"

"Yeah Well, it&039;s worth a try - anything to stop that needle whizzing around like crazy Gives me the creeps"

Septihtened out a piece that had become bent and placed it on top of the compass Jenna and Beetle peered over his shoulder The compass needle continued to spin

"It&039;s not working," said Jenna anxiously

"Give us a sec," y is"

"Thingy?" asked Jenna

"Technical term, Jen"

"Oh, ha-ha"

Septier on top of the cross, closed his eyes and muttered, "X shall mark the spot"

Then he picked the fine wire cross off the coe of the hole in the middle of the map

"About here?" he inquired Jenna and Beetle nodded Keeping his finger on the center of the wire cross, Septih dale and dell