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They sat a one warrior after another wade out of the sea Beetle looked at his ti out twelve a minute," he said "That&039;s the same rate as they came out of the hold So, if there really are four thousand jinn in there, like Grub says, it&039;s going to take themumjust over five and a half hours"

"Beetle, you really are like Jillie Djinn," Jenna teased

"No, I&039;ured it out to a tenth of a second"

"Bet you could do that too"

Septih tioing to get it right"

"Sep - don&039;t go back there," Beetle said "Send Jim Knee to do it"

"Jim Knee?"

"He&039;s your jinnee - that&039;s his job: to do dangerous stuff for you"

Septi in the sand, clutching his precious hat to his chest like a soggy teddy bear He was fast asleep Septimus shook his head "Beetle, he&039;s hopeless He&039;d probably fall asleep on the way Or he&039;d wait until they were all in the tunnel and then Seal it We can&039;t risk anything going wrong I have to do it"

"Then we&039;re coht?"

"Yep," said Beetle and Wolf Boy

"Sorry," said Lucy, "I can&039;t co else And so did Wolf Boy"

Everyone, including Wolf Boy, looked puzzled

"Like what?" said Jenna incredulously "Go to a party or so?"

"Very funny Not Wolf Boy and I" - Lucy gave Wolf Boy a ht back to the lighthouse Those horrible Crowes over there - " Lucy waved her arm at the Cerys "They tried to kill hiy with the Light, they&039;ll do it again"

"You ht?" asked Jenna, shielding her eyes and looking toward the Pinnacle

"Of course there is," said Lucy, as though it were obvious "Mr Miarr is the lighthouse keeper And we prohthouse - didn&039;t we?" She looked at Wolf Boy

"Yeah," he admitted "We did"

"We have to do it now, before anything bad happens" Lucy stared at everyone, daring them to contradict her No one did

"But how?" asked Wolf Boy

"Easy," said Lucy "We&039;ll borrow Jiain"

It was okay with Septimus It was not okay with Jim Knee However, okay or not, in a iant turtle in the water awaiting Lucy&039;s instructions Jenna, Septimus and Beetle watched the turtle swi a wide detour around the Cerys It swa comfortably above the water

"You don&039;t ly "Even if you&039;re a jinnee"

On the beach, the nu Tertius Fu line that folded back on itself It reminded Septimus of the anchor rope that Nicko had once made him lay out on deck when they had taken a boat to the Port The rope had zigzagged up and down the deck like a snake, so that when the anchor was finally ready to go, it would drop into the water with no knots or hindrance

"Flaking the anchor," Nicko had called it Nicko&039;s pickiness about the rope had annoyed Septimus at the time, but when they had to throw the anchor overboard in a hurry, he had seen why it was so important And now he realized that that hat Tertius Fu the jinn toa large number of thehost did not have to wait until they were all off the Cerys

"I gotta go," he said "Now"

"We&039;ve got to go, you mean," said Jenna

"No, Jen"

"Yes, Sep"

"No Jen, this is dangerous stuff Ifif anything goes wrong, I want you to tell Marcia what happened I don&039;t think Nik quite understands it But you do - and Marcia will listen to you"

"Sois Beetle going with you, then?"

Septimus looked at Beetle "Beetle?" he asked

"Yep I&039;," he said

Jenna was quiet for a irl, isn&039;t it?" she said

"What is?"

"You don&039;t want irl It&039;s this stupid Young Arether"