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Silently, like a snake through the grass, Septi hi reen of the grass above - but his one unnoticed

In the sandy darkness of the hideout, Beetle was suddenly awake, listening hard - soed out froot to his feet and autoh his hair He immediately wished he hadn&039;t - his hand was now covered in a stickyaardly, for the hideout was not quite high enough for hih the narrow slit of the entrance To his concern he saw Septi down the slope toward the beach Beetle squeezed out of the hideout, dislodging some sand, which just missed Jenna&039;s head

Inside, Jenna slept on, drea of Nicko on his ship

More like a turtle than a snake, Beetle set off down the slope toward Septimus, who had now stopped at the foot of the dip and was peering onto the beach Beetle joined hier to his lips

"Shh"

"What&039;s up?" Beetle whispered

Septilow fro, boots in hand, along the line of the outgoing tide They looked, Septih they did not have a care in the world As the figures drew nearer, it becairl And as they drew nearer still, Septi that he kneho they were

"It can&039;t be," he muttered under his breath

"What can&039;t be?" whispered Beetle

"It looks like 409 and Lucy Gringe"

"409?"

"You know Wolf Boy"

Beetle didn&039;t actually know Wolf Boy, but he did know Lucy Gringe - and he figured Septiht

"Buthow could they possibly have gotten here?" Beetle whispered

"They haven&039;t," whispered Septi to lure me out"

Beetle was skeptical "Hey, wait aknow about Lucy and Wolf Boy?"

"I was so stupid," Septi my MindScreen"

Beetle and Septiures draw nearer They stopped by the edge of the water and stood looking out to sea

"They&039;re very realistic," said Beetle doubtfully "I thought people were hard to Project?"

"Not for the Syren," said Septi hiet down"

Septiun to walk up the beach, heading toward the very place fro

"Get back in the hideout," Septimus hissed

A few seconds later, Jenna was covered in an avalanche of sand

"Wha" spluttered Jenna, suddenly awake

"Shh" hissed Septiot to her feet and looked out

Although the hideout&039;s entrance was only large enough for one person to get through at a time, it was just about possible for three people to look out And soon there were three pairs of eyes - one violet, one brown, and one brilliant green - watching the figures of Wolf Boy and Lucy Gringe climb wearily up the sandy slope between the dunes and head straight for the invisible - Septiures sat down in the sand no asp of amazement escaped Jenna

"Shh" Septih he told himself that it didn&039;t matter - Projections couldn&039;t hear

"What are they doing here?" mouthed Jenna

"They&039;re a Projection," Septimus mouthed back

"A what?"

"A Projection"

But they&039;re real, ht Septimus, that they did look very real In fact, they looked so lifelike that he felt that if he reached out, the real 409 would actually be there, matted hair, sandy cloak and all Septimus very nearly did reach out He stopped just in ti himself that this was another of the Syren&039;s tricks - as soon as he showed hi for him She had sent out her Projections like terriers down a rabbit hole to flush out her quarry, and there was no way he was going to venture out of the rabbit hole until they had gone

Suddenly one of the Projections spoke

"Did you hear so with its braids

"They&039;re talking," whispered Beetle "Projections don&039;t do that"

"The Syren&039;s do," whispered Septimus "I told you"

Outside the hideout the Projection-with-braids was getting twitchy "That noise There it was again"

"It&039;s okay," said the Projection-with-"