Septimus Heap, Book Six_ Darke - Angie Sage [40]
The little band of children who had followed Maizie all along the Way gathered around the blackened silver base of the torch post and cheered as the Manuscriptorium torch flared up into the deepening twilight. It was a happy moment, but Beetle was not there to enjoy it. The sight of Maizie had jogged his memory and taken away the last of the fuzziness in his head.
“Jenna!” he gasped.
He set off at a run down the Way, dodging between the oncoming pedestrians, heading for the Palace.
Chapter 13
Gothyk Grotto
Halfway down Wizard Way, Beetle saw Jenna racing up the other side. With her long hair streaming out behind her, the light from the torchlights glinting off her gold circlet and her red cloak flying, she sent oncoming pedestrians jumping out of her way and left them staring after her. Above her a small, invisible lovebird desperately tried to follow the glinting circlet through the crowds as it zigzagged toward the Wizard Tower.
Beetle walked quickly across the wide thoroughfare of the Way. He still found it hard to shake off one of the rules of the Manuscriptorium that all scribes signed up for: no running, shouting, swearing, singing or dancing in Wizard Way. It was a rule that, during his time at the Manuscriptorium, was taken very seriously, and up until now Beetle had not broken it. But as Jenna disappeared fast toward the Great Arch that led into the Wizard Tower courtyard, he broke two of its tenets at once. He set off at a run and yelled, “Jenna! Jenna!” And then, as people stopped and stared at him, he felt that maybe he was being disrespectful, so he yelled, “Hey, Princess Jenna. Stop!”
Jenna did stop, not for Beetle but to push through the crowd that had gathered around Maizie Smalls, who had crossed the Way to light the very last torch. As Jenna tried to dodge around Beetle—just another body in her way—he put his arm out to stop her.
Jenna looked up, eyes blazing in anger. “Get out of my way—oh Beetle, it’s you, it’s you!” She threw her arms around him.
“Ooh,” said someone in the crowd. “Ooh, look! It’s the Princess and that boy who was the—”
“Let’s get out of here,” said Beetle, reluctantly disengaging himself. He took hold of Jenna’s arm and walked her briskly away.
“Beetle—what happened? You didn’t come back! I was so scared. How did you get here? Hey, where are we going?” Jenna demanded in rapid fire while Beetle steered her across the Way and into the shadows of The Skinny Bones’ Bob—an extremely narrow opening that led off Wizard Way and would take them into Ramblings Alley.
“We are going to Gothyk Grotto,” said Beetle.
“Why?” Like a stubborn pony, Jenna stopped in her tracks and shook her head. Beetle halted—when a pony stops in The Skinny Bones’ Bob, everyone stops. Jenna regarded Beetle with one of her finest Princess stares. “Beetle,” she informed him, “I am not going another step until you tell me what is going on.”
“I’ll tell you on the way, okay?” he said.
“What, to Gothyk Grotto—that dump where all the weirdos hang out?”
“Yes. Please, Jenna, can we get going? It smells horrible here.”
Jenna gave up. “Okay. But this had better be good.”
* * *
Jenna was entirely accurate in her description of Gothyk Grotto. It was a run-down, dark and dingy shop at the end of Little Creep Cut, somewhere in the middle of the scruffiest part of the Ramblings. As Beetle pushed open the door, the sound of a theatrical monster-style roar blared out above their heads and made Jenna—and the UnSeen bird—jump. The bird recovered itself and flew