Queste

T hat evening another gale came in from the Port. It howled up the river, whisking slates off roofs and making everyone irritable and edgy.

Septimus was marooned in the Wizard Tower under the eagle eye of Marcia Overstrand. He was beginning the complicated preparations for his first Projection, which was an important milestone in an Apprentice's studies. A first Projection traditionally involved the Apprentice choosing a small domestic item and then trying to Project a realistic image of this object inside the communal areas of the Tower in the hope that it was believable enough to pass for the real thing. All Projections were mirror images of the original but, providing the Apprentice was careful not to choose something with lettering on it, this did not usually matter. Sometimes a seemingly innocuous "broom" would be propped up in a dark corner, a small "ornament" would sit high up on an inaccessible window ledge or a new "cloak" would hang in the closet. Throughout the time of the first Projection, an air of excitement would pervade the Tower as the Wizards, busy pretending they were doing something entirely different, went around prodding all manner of suspicious objects - and taking bets on what exactly the Apprentice would Project.

With Septimus shut away in the Projection room, Marcia made a start on removing the traces of Spit Fyre from the yard - or rather, she got Catchpole to do it for her. However, by that evening Catchpole had locked himself in the Old Spells cupboard and would not come out. Exasperated, Marcia sent a message to Hildegarde, the sub-Wizard on door duty at the Palace, to come to the Wizard Tower straightaway.

Hildegarde arrived windswept and out of breath, having run all along Wizard Way, thrilled that at last she had received the summons to the Wizard Tower that she had long wished for. But instead of being offered a post as an Ordinary Wizard, Hildegarde was given a large broom and an even larger bucket. Hildegarde, determined as ever, rolled up her sleeves and got to work, telling herself sternly that any job at the Wizard Tower brought her one step nearer to her dream. The next morning Hildegarde was Terry Tarsal's first customer. She bought a sturdy pair of waterproof boots.

With the eagle-eyed Hildegarde gone from the Palace, Merrin began to get cocky. He no longer crept along the corridors but walked with a swagger. Twice he nearly bumped into Jenna coming unexpectedly around a corner. The second time he was tempted to walk past her and see if she noticed, but at the last moment he thought better of it and hid behind a curtain.

Jenna may well not have noticed Merrin even if he had walked past her. She was too preoccupied thinking about Nicko and the map. Unable to keep away from the Manuscriptorium, she stopped by to see Beetle at least twice a day. Beetle had mixed feelings about this. He loved to see her but every time the door went ping - or rather, pi-ing, in the particular way he was convinced it did only when pushed by Jenna - he braced himself to tell her that there was no news from Ephaniah Grebe. But on the third day that Jenna came by, Beetle did have news - and it was not good.

It was late in the afternoon and the dark clouds made it feel even later. Beetle had just lit a candle and placed it on his desk. He was getting ready to do the last round of the day - the LockingUp round - when pi-ing, the door flew open and Jenna was blown in. She pushed the door closed, pulled her windswept hair from out of her eyes, jammed her gold circlet securely down on her head and, with an anxious look, said, "Any news?"

Beetle had been dreading this moment. "Well, yes...but, um, not good news, I'm afraid. This note was on my desk this morning."

He handed the large piece of white paper to Jenna. On it was written: Re: Ancient Paper Fragments.

Vital piece missing. Please advise.

"I suppose it's not surprising," said Beetle with a sigh.

"But we searched everywhere," Jenna protested. "And I looked again when I went back. And the next day just to make sure. There can't be..." Her voice trailed off. Now that she thought about it, she knew it would be a miracle if there wasn't a piece missing.

"I went to ask Sep what to do but they wouldn't let me see him," said Beetle. "Wouldn't even take a message. Said he was not to be disturbed. Marcia's as good as got him prisoner up there. I'm sure he could find the missing piece. There must be some kind of spell or something."

"We could ask Ephaniah," said Jenna. "He might know of a spell. Maybe we could get an Ordinary Wizard to do it for us."

It seemed like a long shot to Beetle, but he couldn't think of anything else to suggest. "Okay," he said.

The Manuscriptorium was empty. All the scribes had gone home, allowed to leave early before the wind became stronger at nightfall. Even Jillie Djinn had retired upstairs to the Chief Hermetic Scribe's rooms. As the wind rattled the office partition door, Jenna and Beetle crept though the rows of desks, which rose high above them like skeletal sentries and gave Jenna the creeps. At the top of the basement steps was a basket with that day's offerings - a couple of spells to be ReSet and an old treatise in need of rebinding. Beetle picked it up and took it down with them.

Beetle and Jenna pushed open the green baize door and set off through the cellars, which were almost blindingly bright in contrast to the shadowy Manuscriptorium. Once again the cellars were empty, but this time they walked briskly through and headed for the last one. There they found Ephaniah Grebe peering through a large magnifying glass and hunched over the table, which was covered with hundreds of tiny scraps of paper spread out like a huge, impossible jigsaw puzzle.

"I brought your basket," said Beetle, setting it down on the floor.

Ephaniah started and turned to greet them. Both Beetle and Jenna braced themselves for the sight of the rat face, but this time Ephaniah was swaddled in his wraps and all they saw were his green eyes, hugely magnified behind their bottle-glass spectacles. The Conservation Scribe made a low squeaking noise and beckoned them over. He handed them a piece of paper. On it was written: I have succeeded in ReUniting all papers bar one.

Ephaniah waved his hand toward a neatly stacked pile of papers on a shelf behind him.

"Well, look at those," said Beetle, trying to cheer up Jenna. "They're all back together. There's only one missing - that's not bad, is it? I bet the missing piece is one of those boat doodles, there were lots of those. Chances are it won't be important, just a scribble."

Jenna was about to say that all of Nicko's scribbles were important to her when Ephaniah placed another piece of paper in front of them: I have strengthened all the papers but for future safekeeping I should like to bind them. Do I have your permission?

Jenna nodded.

Ephaniah's eyes smiled - this was a job he loved. From a drawer in the table he took two thick pieces of card, covered in the new Jillie Djinn rebranding reddish purple Manuscriptorium cloth. Taking an eyelet punch, he made five holes down one side of each card and then picked up the sheaf of ReUnited papers and sandwiched them between them. Now Ephaniah took a long length of blue ribbon and deftly laced the covers together so that Nicko's notes and jottings were now safely bound between the thick red card. Next the Conservation Scribe tied the corners together with yet more ribbon; then with a final flourish he produced a large stamp and thumped it down onto the cloth.

When he lifted the stamp the words CONSERVED, CHECKED AND GUARANTEED BY

EPHANIAH GREBE were imprinted in gold on the red.

With his white wraps wrinkling as though underneath them his rat whiskers were twitching with a smile, the Conservation Scribe proudly handed the beautifully bound papers to Jenna. "Oh...thank you," she breathed. Now at last she had Nicko's papers back in her hands; Jenna felt a huge sense of relief. Everything was going to be all right. She would go to see Sep, they would look at the map together and figure out how to get to the House of Foryx, and then they would go and get Nicko back. Her thoughts running far ahead, Jenna found herself wondering if she could persuade Jillie Djinn to give Beetle some time off - it would be great if Beetle could come with them too. Just as Jenna was planning what she would say to Miss Djinn when she refused to let Beetle go, Beetle's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Have you seen what's missing?" he asked anxiously.

"Missing?" Jenna came down to earth with a bump.

"Yes. The one that wouldn't ReUnite. Which one was that?"

"Oh." Jenna opened Ephaniah's beautifully bound book and began to leaf through the papers, which were now clean and strong, the writing clear and unsmudged with no signs of any joins - the Conservation Scribe had done a wonderful job. There were many things Jenna had not seen - lists for food supplies, clothing, a messed-up application for two travel permits, numerous to-do lists and several urgent must-do lists. Then there were the things she remembered seeing in Marcellus's attic - the boat doodles, the knot diagrams, the winter market list, the games that Nicko and Snorri had played. They were all there except for one thing - the map.

Jenna looked at the mess on the table in despair. Tears pricked the back of her eyelids as she took in the fact that the key to finding Nicko lay strewn in a thousand pieces in front of them, with a memo beside it in Ephaniah's neat hand: Incomplete.

Ephaniah had seen Jenna's expression and was hastily scribbling: All is not lost. Maybe a Seek can be done for the missing piece. Ask EOW.

"Who is Eow?" asked Jenna.

Ephaniah picked up his pen again, but Beetle said, "ExtraOrdinary Wizard. It's the shorthand we use here. Like CHS is Chief Hermetic Scribe or GFOAIC - that's me. But nobody uses it because it's shorter to say Beetle."

"GFOAIC?" asked Jenna.

"General Front Office and Inspection Clerk."

"Ah," said Jenna. "Well, GFOAIC, would you come with me to find Marcia...please? She might listen to two of us." She turned to Ephaniah and said, "Thank you, Mr. Grebe. Thank you for giving me back Nicko's things." She clutched the beautifully bound book close to her.

Ephaniah nodded and produced a neatly written card, which he presented to Jenna with a flourish: I have enjoyed your visits very much, Princess. I would be honored to see you again and hope I may be of service in the future.

Jenna smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Grebe. I shall be back very soon with the EOW, and then you can do the final ReUnite," she said, sounding much more confident than she felt.