Septimus Heap, Book One_ Magyk - Angie Sage [104]
“That’s amazing,” said Jenna. “Where did you find it?”
“Down here,” said Boy 412.
“What, you just found it? Just now?”
“No. I found it before.”
“Before what?”
“Before—remember when we got lost in the haar?”
Jenna nodded.
“Well, I fell down here then. And I thought I was going to be stuck here forever. Until I found the ring. It’s Magyk. It lit up and showed me the way out.”
So that was what happened, thought Jenna. It made sense now. Boy 412 sitting smugly waiting for them when she and Nicko finally found their way back, frozen and soaked after hours of wandering around looking for him. She had just known he had some kind of secret. And then all that time he had been walking around with the ring and never showing anyone. There was more to Boy 412 than met the eye.
“It’s a beautiful ring,” she said, gazing at the gold dragon curled around Boy 412’s finger. “Can I hold it?”
A little reluctantly, Boy 412 took off the ring and gave it to Jenna. She cradled it carefully in her hands, but the light began to fade and the darkness drew in around them. Soon the light from the ring had completely died.
“Have you dropped it?” Boy 412 asked accusingly.
“No,” said Jenna, “it’s still here in my hand. But it doesn’t work for me.”
“Of course it works. It’s a Magyk ring,” said Boy 412. “Here, give it back. I’ll show you.” He took the ring and immediately the tunnel was filled with light. “See, it’s easy.”
“Easy for you,” said Jenna, “but not for me.”
“I don’t see why,” said Boy 412, puzzled.
But Jenna had seen why. She had seen it over and over again, growing up in a household of Wizards. And although Jenna knew only too well that she was not Magykal, she could tell who was.
“It’s not the ring that’s Magyk. It’s you,” she told Boy 412.
“I’m not Magyk,” said Boy 412. He sounded so definite that Jenna didn’t argue.
“Well, whatever you are, you’d better keep hold of the ring,” she said. “So how do we get out?”
Boy 412 put the dragon ring on and set off along the tunnel, leading Jenna confidently through the twists and turns that had so confused him before, until at last they arrived at the top of the steps.
“Careful,” he said. “I fell down these last time and nearly lost the ring.”
At the bottom of the steps Jenna stopped. Something had made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
“I’ve been here before,” she whispered.
“When?” asked Boy 412, a bit put out. It was his place.
“In my dreams,” muttered Jenna. “I know this place. I used to dream about it in the summer when I was at home. But it was bigger than this…”
“Come on,” said Boy 412 briskly.
“I wonder if it is bigger, if there’s an echo.” Jenna raised her voice as she spoke. there’s an echo there’s an echo there’s an echo there’s an echo there’s an echo there’s an echo…sounded all around them.
“Shhh,” whispered Boy 412. “He might hear us. Through the ground. They train them to hear like dogs.”
“Who?”
“Hunters.”
Jenna fell silent. She had forgotten about the Hunter, and now she didn’t want to be reminded.
“There’re pictures all over the walls,” Jenna whispered to Boy 412, “and I know I’ve dreamed about them. They look really old. It’s like they’re telling a story.”
Boy 412 hadn’t taken much notice of the pictures before, but now he held his ring up to the smooth marble walls that formed this part of the tunnel. He could see simple, almost primitive shapes in deep blues, reds and yellows showing what seemed to be dragons, a boat being built, then a lighthouse and a shipwreck.
Jenna pointed to more shapes farther along the wall. “And these look like plans for a tower or something.”
“It’s the Wizard Tower,” said Boy 412. “Look at the Pyramid on the top.”
“I didn’t know the Wizard Tower was so old,” said Jenna, running her finger over the paint and thinking that maybe she was the first person to see the pictures for thousands of years.
“The Wizard Tower is very old,” said