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As though he had done it a hundred ti chaan to move, Septimus allowed himself a smile at Beetle&039;s dumbstruck expression Neither said a word - Beetle was speechless, and Septiet back to the chaed froered the Alchemie Keye, which he had taken off in readiness

The arrow crept doard Septimus spoke "Beetle, are you sure you want to come the rest of the way? Because if you don&039;twell, you know I don&039;t mind, I really don&039;t You can wait here I can show you how to take this thing back up - just in case"

"Don&039;t be silly, Sep"

Thechamber suddenly slowed, and Beetle&039;s stomach shot up to his ears

"Hey, Sep - where have you gone?" he said

The chamber settled to a halt

"Can&039;t you seeby the door panel

"Nope You&039;ve disappeared"

"It&039;s your UnSeen that&039;s disappeared"

"Oh, gosh, I&039;m really sorry," said Beetle "I dunno what happened"

Septio of his UnSeen

"Oh, there you are, Sep That&039;s better"

"We&039;ll try theether, okay?" said Septiain!" said Beetle

Septimus reappeared "One oes"

"You count this time, Beetle Do it when you&039;re ready Sometimes that helps"

"Okey-dokey," said Beetle, sounding more confident than he felt It didn&039;t work

Septi away With every second the warrior jinn were getting closer - and every second passed was one less second they had to get back to thechamber He made a decision "We&039;ll do without Who needs UnSeens anyway?" He swiped the door open, and Beetle followed hi laht of steps and skidded to a halt in front of the shiny black dead-end wall Septimus ran his hand across the worn patch on the wall, and the door slid open They stepped inside the ice chamber With a soft swish and a click the door closed and the blue light came on Wide-eyed, Beetle stared at thewith ancient gold

"That is soasped

Septi Plate

"Hey, look at all the scribing in the gold," said Beetle, co jinn in his excite to have to co some translations with me Just think, if we could read what it says - "

Septi Plate

Suddenly the rhythh the walls of the chamber - the jinn had reached the corridor Beetle came back to reality He and Septih they were drowning in the thin blue light

"I guess we&039;retrapped," whispered Beetle

"Yeah," said Septi on holding the Keye still A skin of ice began to snake out froe-shaped hatch "But at least they can&039;t get to the Castle now"

"The Castleoh, osh - why didn&039;t I think of it before?" said Beetle "Sep, you got your whistle for the Wizard Tower sled?"

"Yes - why?" Septi it to ht there UnSeal it!"

"Beetle, are you crazy?"

"No We&039;ll get into the tunnel and Seal it froo ho footsteps co Unless he did an UnSeen, Tertius Fuet the jinn to take the Keye off hie another UnSeen, so if Septimus did do one, Beetle would be with the jinn - alone It was a terrible thought

"Okay!" Septi Plate and the narrow band of ice melted

Beetle pulled opened the ice hatch Below him was the widest, deepest - and surely the darkest - Ice Tunnel he had ever seen A blast of freezing airon the steps outside

"Halt!" Tertius Fuh the door "Open the door" Ahappened Septi weapons for hands was that it wasover the edge of the open hatch and lowered hi for a foothold He grinned "Rungs," he said, and disappeared Septied the ice hatch closed Slowly, slowly - horribly slowly - the hatch moved down to its Seal The door to the ice chalihostly blue robes and knobby sandaled feet before the hatch settled onto its Seal Inside the tunnel everything went black For aPlate? On the other side of the hatch, as Tertius Fume bellowed at the first two jinn to raise the hatch, Septiht reflecting off the gold Sealing Plate

Septimus slammed the Keye onto the plate and, in the ice chamber, Tertius Fu ice encircled the hatch His furious bellow penetrated the hatch