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L ike a spider returned to its web, Merrin was back in his secret space He had discovered it by accident a few days earlier when, sauntering down the Long Walk on his way to the Manuscriptoriu toward hiht in a particularly open part of the Long Walk with no shadows to lurk in and no doors or curtains to slip behind Merrin never thought well in a panic, so all he did was press hi and hope that, by some miracle, Sarah Heap did not notice him But, to Merrin&039;s a behind hi open and he fell backward into an empty space

Merrin had sat, winded, deep in layers of dust and watched Sarah Heap hurry by with never a glance at the dark gap in the panels Once she was safely past, he had inspected his hiding place It was the size of a tiny roo more than a broken-down old chair and a pile of blankets heaped in the corner Half afraid of what they ht conceal, Merrin prodded the blankets with his foot - they pro, Merrin had rushed out of the cupboard only to see Sarah Heap heading back toward him He dived back into the concealed roohs, crammed his knuckles into his s on hernoises co frohts Since then, Merrin had paid quite a few visits to what he thought of as his secret space He had stocked it with essentials: water, candles and licorice snakes, plus a few Banana Bears that were new at Ma Custard&039;s and, if chewed at the sa Whenever he could, Merrin sat quietly in the roo, a spider in the center of its aiting for a young, innocent fly to wander by - and eventually one had indeed wandered by in the form of Barney Pot Merrin had been an efficient spider and noas back in his den, excitedly clutching the spoils of his very first ambush He struck the flint of his tinderbox and, with the spark, lit the candles that he had "borrowed" froerly he closed the section of paneling that faced the Long Walk, taking care to wedge the catch open Ever since his nurse - on the orders of DomDaniel - locked him in a dark cupboard whenever he did not do what he was told, Merrin had a fear of being trapped in dark spaces, and the one drawback of his den was that he could not figure out how to open the door fro the door thirteen times to make sure it still opened, Merrin settled hie cupboard in the Palace attic Then he bit off the head of a brand-new licorice snake, stuffed a Banana Bear into his ood

Merrin inspected the sold bottle, which was still warm from Barney&039;s hand He smiled; he&039;d done well He could tell the bottle was pure gold just by how heavy it was and by the deep untarnished sheen that glowed alht He looked at the silver stopper and wondered what the strange little pictogram was on the top The bottle looked like a scent bottle, and he reckoned the symbol was the name of the scent He&039;d seen some similar ones in theof a little jewelry shop near Ma Custard&039;s place, and soh to buy Ma Custard&039;s entire stock of licorice snakes, Banana Bears and probably an to water, and he dribbled licorice spit down the front of his gray Manuscriptoriurinned and popped another Banana Bear into his mouth Decision old bottle to the jewelry shop and sell it, then he would go straight to Ma Custard&039;s and buy up her entire stock of snakes and bears That would show the old bat (Merrin&039;s licorice-snake consues, and Ma Custard had informed hian to get the better of Merrin, and he wondered what the scent in the bottle sht, he could charge even more He inspected the brilliant blue wax that sealed the stopper; it would be easy enough to melt the wax in the candle flame and reseal it - no one would know He stabbed at the seal with a grian to scrape it away Soon rubby curls in his lap and the s in the candlelight Merrin took the little stopper between his finger and thuh

Merrin raised the gold bottle to his nose and sniffed It didn&039;t smell very nice In fact, it smelled distinctly un nice However, he was not to know that jinn are not known for s fairly disgusting In fact, the jinnee that dwelled in the gold bottle clutched in Merrin&039;s sticky hand did not so - a subtleBut Merrin felt disappointed in his scent bottle Just to ht up to his left nostril and sniffed hard - and the jinnee was sucked up his nose It was not a good moment for either of them The jinnee probably had the worst of it It had waited in its bottle for nificent moment when it would be released It had drea on a mountainside, just like the last ti before soood witch had tricked it into the smallest bottle in which it was possible to fit a jinnee Since it had been Awakened by Aunt Zelda, the jinnee had been in a frenzy of anticipation, i an endless variety of fantastic release scenarios Probably the only one it had not i sucked up Merrin Meredith&039;s nose

It wasn&039;t nice up Merrin&039;s nose Without going into too many unpleasant details, it was dark, da to expand And the noise was atrocious - even in the center of an enchanted ind, the jinnee had never heard anything like the howls that filled the tiny cave it had been dragged into But suddenly, to the acco sound of the most enormous sneeze, the jinnee was let out, propelled froun With a scream of exhilaration it hit the open air and shot across the tiny rooht, where it bounced off the wall and was hurled deep into a pile of ancient dust Merrin stared in absolute aer like that Merrin&039;s pride quickly evaporated and his ae erowing A squeak of terror escaped hi and bubbling, began rising up and up Now the rew, glowing ever brighter, drowning the war yellow light

By now Merrin was cowering in the corner, whiht that one of the Manuscriptoriuer Spell (an old Manuscriptoriu But now - even with his eyes shut tight - Merrin kneorse than that He knew that inside the chaer, older and scarier than he was And so was not particularly happy just then Merrin was right - the jinnee was not happy at all It had been longing for wide-open spaces and here it was boxed into a tiny cupboard, full of ancient dust and with the Great One Who Had Released It cowering and sniveling in the corner Of course, all jinn were used to a bit of terror at their appearance - many went out of their way to cultivate it - but there was so about this jinnee&039;s Great One that it did not take to The hunched-up,human had an unpleasant air about it and wassong had led the jinnee to expect It didn&039;t even look right Annoyed at being tricked once again, the jinnee heaved an irritable sigh The sigh howled around the charound and covered his ears with his hands The jinnee spread itself across the ceiling and regarded Merrin&039;s prone, sniveling figure with distaste But if the jinnee wanted to stay out of the bottle, the next step had to be taken fast It had to receive a coain become part of the world and could adopt huht the jinnee, looking at the pathetic figure below The next thing Merrin heard - despite sticking his fingers into his ears - was a voice that felt as though it was deep inside his head, saying, "Be you Septimus Heap?"

Merrin opened one eye and looked up fearfully The yellowish splodge on the ceiling hovered ed a small squeak "Yes I be - well, once I been I reat howl of histled through the little box of a roo brat had said he was Septi like the glowing description of the Magykal boy Aunt Zelda had given the jinnee The portrayal of Septimus Heap had been such that even the jaded jinnee had been al its new Master, but noas clear - yet another double-crossing witch had deceived it It had no choice but to continue with the Second Question

"What Do You Will, Oh Great One?" Just for fun the jinnee made its voice the scariest it possibly could Merrin stuffed his fingers back in his ears and shook with terror

The voice repeated its question impatiently "What Do You Will, Oh Great One?"

"What?" said Merrin, covering his face with his hands and peering out through his fingers

The jinnee sighed again This was a really stupid one It repeated its question yet again, very slowly, and began to slide down the wall

"Whatdo? Iwill?" Merrin echoed like a scared parrot

The jinnee decided it e For the better part of the next five es while it wandered aimlessly around the chamber, watched with horror by Merrin It had no success As it reached the very last language it knew - a dialect from an undiscovered river valley in the Snow Plains of the East - the jinnee was in a state of panic If the stupid Great One didn&039;t answer the question soon, it would be right back in that awful little bottle and then what?

It had to get an answer - now

Merrin by now had gathered enough courage to sit up "Wha - what are you?" he stammered as the blob settled itself on the floor The jinnee&039;s panic lessened a little - the Great One was finally talking soe to use But ti to feel the pull of the little gold bottle, which the Great One still clutched in his hand It knew it must appear patient and friendly - that was its only hope Slowly it answered Merrin&039;s question

"I am a jinnee," it replied

"A what?"