Septimus Heap, Book One_ Magyk - Angie Sage [53]
Boy 412’s sidelong glances took in Aunt Zelda’s frizzy gray hair, rosy cheeks, comfortable smile and friendly witch’s brilliant blue eyes. He needed quite a few glances to take in her large patchwork dress, which made it hard to tell exactly what shape she might be, especially when she was sitting down. It gave Boy 412 the impression that Aunt Zelda had walked into a large patchwork tent and had just, that very minute, poked her head out of the top to see what was going on. Briefly, a smile flickered at the corner of his mouth at the thought.
Aunt Zelda noticed the hint of a smile and was pleased. She had never in her life seen such a pinched and frightened-looking child, and it upset her to think about what could have made Boy 412 become that way. She had heard talk about the Young Army in her occasional visits to the Port, but she had never really believed all the terrible stories she had heard. Surely no one could treat children in such a way? But now she began to wonder whether there was more truth in them than she had realized.
Aunt Zelda smiled at Boy 412; then with a comfortable groan she heaved herself out of the chair and pottered off to fetch some more hot milk.
While she was gone Nicko and Jenna woke up. Boy 412 stared at them and moved away a little, remembering only too well Jenna’s armlock of the night before. But Jenna just smiled sleepily at him and said, “Did you sleep well?”
Boy 412 nodded and stared at his almost empty mug of milk.
Nicko sat up, grunted a hello in Jenna and Boy 412’s direction, grabbed a slice of toast and was surprised to find how hungry he was. Aunt Zelda arrived back at the fireside carrying a jug of hot milk.
“Nicko!” Aunt Zelda smiled. “Well, you’ve changed a bit since I last saw you, that’s for sure. You were just a little baby then. Those were the days when I used to visit your ma and pa in The Ramblings. Happy days.”
Aunt Zelda sighed and passed Nicko his hot milk.
“And our Jenna!”—Aunt Zelda smiled a broad smile at her—“I always wanted to come and see you, but things became very difficult after the…well, after a while. But Silas has been making up for lost time and telling me all about you.”
Jenna smiled a little shyly, glad that Aunt Zelda had said “our.” She took the mug of hot milk that Aunt Zelda offered her and sat sleepily looking at the fire.
A contented silence fell for a while, broken only by the sound of Silas and Maxie still snoring upstairs and toast being munched downstairs. Jenna, who was leaning against the wall by the fire, thought she could hear a faint sound of meowing from inside the wall, but as that was obviously impossible, she decided it must be coming from outside and ignored it. But the meowing continued. It became steadily louder and, thought Jenna, crosser. She put her ear to the wall and heard the distinctive sounds of an angry cat.
“There’s a cat in the wall…” said Jenna.
“Go on,” said Nicko. “I don’t know that one.”
“It’s not a joke. There is a cat in the wall. I can hear it.”
Aunt Zelda jumped up.
“Oh, my. I completely forgot about Bert! Jenna love, could you just open Bert’s door for her, please?” Jenna looked confused.
Aunt Zelda pointed to a small wooden door set into the bottom of the wall beside Jenna. Jenna tugged at the little door. It flew open, and out waddled an angry duck.
“I’m so sorry, Bert darling,” apologized Aunt Zelda. “Have you been waiting for ages?”
Bert waddled unsteadily over the heap of quilts and sat herself down by the fire. The duck was cross. It very deliberately turned her back on Aunt Zelda and ruffled its feathers. Aunt Zelda leaned over and stroked her.
“Let me introduce you to my cat, Bert,” she said.
Three pairs of bewildered eyes stared at Aunt Zelda. Nicko inhaled his milk and started choking. Boy 412 looked disappointed. He was just starting to like Aunt Zelda and now it turned out she was as mad as the rest of them.
“But Bert’s