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"He’ll be fine, Jacinth," Sabriel replied wearily "A scratch It’s already closed up"

Jacinth exainnings of a wriggling fear showing at the back of her eyes

"There isn’t anything under the blood," stammered Jacinth "What did you"

"I didn’t," snapped Sabriel "But perhaps you can tellBunny," replied Jacinth, her eyes clearing as life reverted to a more normal situation "You see"

"No excuses," recited Sabriel "Remember what Mrs Umbrade said at Assembly on Monday"

"It’s not an excuse," insisted Jacinth "It’s a reason"

"You can explain it to Mrs Umbrade then"

"Oh, Sabriel! You wouldn’t! You knoas only chasing Bunny I’d never have come out--"

Sabriel held up her hands in ates

"If you’re back inside within three ate this tio back inside"

Jacinth s, whirled around and sped back up the drive, Bunny clutched against her neck Sabriel watched till she had gone through the gate, then let the tre with cold A moment of weakness and she had broken the promise she had made both to herself and her father It was only a rabbit and Jacinth did love it so reat step fro back a person

Worse, it had been so easy She had caught the spirit right at the wellspring of the river, and had returned it with barely a gesture of power, patching the body with simple Charter symbols as they stepped from death to life She hadn’t even needed bells, or the other apparatus of a necromancer Only a whistle and her will

Death and what careat mystery to Sabriel She just wished it was

It was Sabriel’s last terraduated already, colish, equal first in Music, third in Mathe Arts and fourth in Etiquette She had also been a runaway first in Magic, but that wasn’t printed on the certificate Magic only worked in those regions of Ancelstierre close to the Wall which dom Farther away, it was considered to be quite beyond the pale, if it existed at all, and persons of repute did not e was only forty ht Magic to those students who could obtain special permission from their parents

Sabriel’s father had chosen it for that reason when he had eirl in tow to seek a boarding school He had paid in advance for that first year, in Old Kingdom silver deniers that stood up to surreptitious touches with cold iron Thereafter, he had cohter twice a year, at Midsu for several days on each occasion and always bringing more silver

Understandably, the Headmistress was very fond of Sabriel Particularly since she never seeirls would be Once Mrs Umbrade had asked Sabriel if she minded, and had been troubled by the answer that Sabriel saw her father far more often than when he was actually there Mrs Uic, and didn’t want to know any more about it other than the pleasant fact that sohters schooled in the basics of sorcery and enchantment

Mrs Umbrade certainly didn’t want to kno Sabriel saw her father Sabriel, on the other hand, always looked forward to his unofficial visits and watched theits movements from the leather-bound aldohts into the seasons, tides and other ephemerae that were never the same at any one ti of hihts, Sabriel would lock herself into her study (a privilege of the Sixth Form--previously she’d had to sneak into the library), put the kettle on the fire, drink tea and read a book until the characteristic wind rose up, extinguished the fire, put out the electric light and rattled the shutters--all necessary preparations, it see to appear in the spare ar forward to her father’s visit that Novee was about to end and she wanted to discuss her future Mrs U further away froic would wane and parental visitations would be liht well beco to university wouldwith soirls she’d started school with at the age of five There would also be a reater world of social interaction, particularly with young e around Wyverley College

And the disadvantage of losing herof her affinity for death and the dead

Sabriel was thinking of this as she waited, book in hand, half-drunk cup of tea balanced precariously on the arht and Abhorsen hadn’t appeared Sabriel had checked the almanac twice and had even opened the shutters to peer out through the glass at the sky It was definitely the dark of the n of him It was the first time in her life that he hadn’t appeared and she felt suddenly uneasy

Sabriel rarely thought about what life was really like in the Old Kingdom, but now old stories came to mind and dim memories of when she’d lived there with the Travelers Abhorsen was a powerful sorcerer, but even then

"Sabriel! Sabriel!"

A high-pitched voice interrupted her thought, quickly followed by a hasty knock and a rattle of the doorknob Sabriel sighed, pushed herself out of her chair, caught the teacup and unlocked the door