Septimus Heap, Book One_ Magyk - Angie Sage [70]
Boy 412 was shocked. How could he possibly help Marcia, the ExtraOrdinary Wizard? She had it all wrong. He was a fraud—it was the dragon ring that was Magykal, not him. As much as he longed to say yes, he couldn’t.
Boy 412 shook his head.
“No?” Marcia sounded shocked. “Do you mean no?”
Boy 412 nodded slowly.
“No…” Marcia was, for once, lost for words. It had never occurred to her that Boy 412 would turn her down. No one ever turned down the chance to be Apprenticed to the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. Apart from that idiot Silas, of course.
“You do realize what you are saying?” she asked.
Boy 412 did not respond. He felt wretched. He had managed to do something wrong again.
“I am asking you to think about it,” said Marcia in a more gentle voice. She had noticed how scared Boy 412 was looking. “It is an important decision for us both—and for the Castle. I hope you will change your mind.”
Boy 412 didn’t see how he could change his mind. He held the Charm out for Marcia to take back. It shone clean and bright in the middle of Boy 412’s muddy paw.
This time it was Marcia who shook her head.
“It is a token of my offer to you, and my offer is still there. Alther gave it to me when he asked me to be his Apprentice. Of course I said yes straight away, but I can see that it’s different for you. You need time to think about it. I’d like you to keep the Charm while you think things over.”
Marcia decided to change the subject. “Now,” she said briskly, “how good are you at catching bugs?”
Boy 412 was very good at catching bugs. He had had numerous pet bugs over the years. Stag, who was a stag beetle, Milly, a millipede, and Ernie, who was a large earwig, had been his particular favorites, but he had also kept a large black house spider with hairy legs, who went by the name of Seven-Leg Joe. Seven-Leg Joe lived in the hole in the wall above his bed. That was until Boy 412 suspected Joe of eating Ernie, and probably Ernie’s entire family too. After that Joe found himself living under the bed of the Chief Cadet, who was terrified of spiders.
Marcia was very pleased at their total bug haul. Fifty-seven assorted bugs would do nicely and was about as many bugs as Boy 412 could carry.
“We’ll get the Preserve Pots out when we get back and have these in them in no time,” said Marcia.
Boy 412 gulped. So that’s what they were for: bug jam.
As he followed Marcia back to the cottage, Boy 412 hoped that the tickly feeling going up his arm was not anything with too many legs.
24
SHIELD BUGS
A truly horrible smell of boiled rat and rotten fish was wafting out of the cottage as Jenna and Nicko paddled the Muriel Two back along the Mott after a long day on the marsh and no sign at all of the Message Rat.
“You don’t think that rat got here before us and Aunt Zelda’s boiling it up for supper, do you?” Nicko laughed as they tied up the canoe and wondered whether it was wise to venture indoors.
“Oh, don’t, Nicko. I liked the Message Rat. I hope Dad sends him back soon.”
Keeping their hands clamped firmly over their noses, Jenna and Nicko walked up the path to the cottage. With some trepidation, Jenna pushed open the door.
“Eurgh!”
The smell was even worse inside. Added to the powerful aromas of boiled rat and rotten fish was a definite whiff of old cat poo.
“Come in, dears. We’re just cooking.” Aunt Zelda’s voice came from the kitchen, where, Jenna now realized, the awful smell was coming from.
If this was supper, thought Nicko, he’d rather eat his socks.
“You’re just in time,” said Aunt Zelda cheerily.
“Oh, great,” said Nicko, wondering if Aunt Zelda had any sense of smell at all or whether countless years of boiling cabbage had killed it off.
Jenna and Nicko reluctantly approached the kitchen, wondering what kind of supper could possibly smell so bad.
To their surprise and relief, it wasn’t supper. And it wasn’t even Aunt Zelda doing the cooking.