Septimus Heap, Book One_ Magyk - Angie Sage [153]
Marcia Overstrand, whom Septimus had now been Ap-prenticed to for almost a year and a half, had found the spiders waiting for her on her triumphant return to the Wizard Tower after ousting the Necromancer, DomDaniel, from his brief second time as ExtraOrdinary Wizard. Marcia had thoroughly Cleaned the Tower of Darke Magyk and restored the Magyk to the Wizard Tower, but she could not get rid of the spiders. This had upset Marcia, for she knew that the spiders were a sure sign that Darke Magyk still lingered in the Tower.
At first, when Marcia came back to the Tower, she was too busy to notice anything amiss—apart from the spiders. She had, for the first time, an Apprentice to think about; she had the Heaps—who were now living up at the Palace—to deal with and a bunch of Ordinary Wizards to sort out and settle back into the Tower. But as Septimus’s first summer at the Wizard Tower had drawn on, Marcia had begun to notice, out of the corner of her eye, a Darkenesse following her. At first she had thought she was imagining it, for every time she glanced back over her shoulder and had a proper look, there was nothing to be seen. It wasn’t until Alther Mella, the ghost of Marcia’s old tutor and ExtraOrdinary Wizard, had told her that he could see something too that Marcia knew she was not imagining things—there was a Darke Shadow following her.
And so, for the last year, piece by piece, Marcia had been building a ShadowSafe, which was nearly finished. It stood in the corner of the room, a tangle of shiny black rods and bars made from Professor Weasal Van Klampff’s special Amalgam. A strange black mist played around the bars of the ShadowSafe, and occasionally flashes of orange light leaped between them. But at last the ShadowSafe was nearly finished, and soon Marcia would be able to walk inside it with the Shadow following her and walk out again, leaving the Shadow behind. And that, Marcia hoped, would be the end of the Darkenesse in the Tower.
As Septimus stared at his thumb, which was now twice its normal size and turning a nasty purple, he heard Marcia’s study door open.
“I’m off, Septimus,” said Marcia purposefully. “I’ve got to go and pick up another part of the ShadowSafe. I told old Weasal I’d be down this morning. It’s almost the last piece. We’ve only got the Stopper to collect after this, Septimus, and that will be that. Good-bye Shadow.”
“Aargh,” Septimus groaned.
Marcia peered suspiciously around the door. “And what are you doing in the potions room?” she asked irritably, catching sight of Septimus’s hand. “My goodness, what have you done? Have you burned yourself doing a Fire Spell again? I don’t want any more singed parrots hanging around here, Septimus. They smell disgusting and it’s not fair to the parrots either.”
“Aargh. That was a mistake,” muttered Septimus. “I meant to do a Firebird Spell. It could have happened to anyone. Ouch—I’ve been bitten.”
Marcia came in, and behind her Septimus could see a slight murkiness in the air as the Shadow followed her into the potion room. Marcia bent down and looked more closely at Septimus’s thumb, almost enveloping him in her purple cloak as she did so. Marcia was a tall woman with long, dark, curly hair and the intense green eyes that always came to Magykal people, once they were exposed to Magyk. Septimus had the same green eyes too, although before he had met Marcia Overstrand they had been a dull gray. Like all ExtraOrdinary Wizards who had lived in the Wizard Tower before her, Marcia wore the lapis and gold Akhu Amulet around her neck, a