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There was a note under Gwin’s collar It was dirty, and had been folded very small and tied in place with a piece of tape

‘Why are you opening the ? The air outside is even hotter than in here We--’ Fenoglio broke off and stared in aie’s arer to her lips Then, holding the struggling Gwin tight, she removed the note from under his collar The ain He didn’t like being held too long, and would even bite Dustfinger if he tried it

‘What have you got there – a rat?’ Fenoglio cao of the marten, and Gwin immediately leaped back to the sill

‘A lio ‘Where did that coie looked anxiously at the door, but obviously the guard outside had heard nothing Fenoglio pressed his hand to his ie alot horns!’ he whispered

‘Of course! That’s the way you wrote hi on the sill, blinking uncoht and preferred to sleep through the day So how had he got here?

Meggie put her head out of the , but there were still only the maids down in the yard Hastily, she moved back into the roolio leaned over her shoulder ‘Is it fronised the writing at once, although it wasn’t as steady as usual Her heart began dancing inside her She traced the letters with her eyes as longingly as if they were a path with Mo waiting for her at the end of it

‘What on earth does it say? I can’t ie s!’ she whispered ‘Mo and I have been using it as our secret writing ever since I read The Lord of the Rings, but he’s probably rather out of practice He’s made quite a lot of mistakes’

‘Well, what does it say?’

Meggie read it to him

‘Farid – who’s he?’

‘A boy Mo read hihts, but that’s another story You saw hier ran away froain and looked out of theoncethe earth off her hands and looking up at the high wall as if she dreaht Gwin here? Mo? Or had the marten found his way by himself? That wasround in broad daylight unless soie hid the note in the sleeve of her dress Gas still sitting on the sill Sleepily, he stretched his neck and sniffed at the wall outside Perhaps he could seons who sometimes settled outside the‘Feed hilio, and then went over to the bed and got her rucksack down Where was that pencil? She was sure she had a pencil Yes, there it was, although it was only a small stump Nohat about paper? She took one of Darius’s books out from under the mattress and carefully tore out one of the endpapers She had never done such a thing before – fancy tearing a page out of a book! – but now she had to Kneeling on the floor, she began to write in the sae She knew the letters off by heart: We’re all right and I can do it too, Mo! I read Tinker Bell out of her book, and when it gets dark to the Shadow out of ‘Inkheart’ to coer She didn’t ht she had seen her mother, and if Capricorn had his way that she too had only two days to live A e like that wouldn’t fit on a piece of paper no reedily nibbling the bread Fenoglio had given hiie folded up the endpaper and tied it to his collar ‘Take care!’ she whispered to Gwin, and then threw the rest of the bread down into Capricorn’s yard The marten scurried down the wall of the house as if it was the easiest thing in the world One of the s, and called out to the others She was probably alarmed for Capricorn’s chickens, but Gwin had already disappeared over the wall