Queste

H igh on their silver torch posts, the last pair of torches at the end of Wizard Way struggled to stay lit in the wind, their flames thrown about like wet rags in a storm.

"Come on, Beetle, you've got to fight this!" Jenna yelled above the howl of the gale as they approached the Great Arch. "She can't just dump you like that. You wait - when Marcia hears about this Jillie Djinn won't stand a chance."

Beetle did not have the energy to reply. As Jenna propelled him through the Arch and into the Courtyard, all Beetle could think about was how he was going to break the news to his mother, who frequently told anyone who would listen that the proudest day of her life was the day that Beetle passed the Manuscriptorium entrance exam. But something his mother never mentioned was the fact that it was Beetle's weekly pay - a silver half crown - that paid the rent on their tiny rooms in The Ramblings and bought them a steady supply of potatoes and fish.

The Wizard Tower Courtyard was sheltered from the wind, and the light from the torches in their holders along the walls was steady and bright. Jenna thought the Courtyard looked unusually clean - gone were the nasty surprises, and even the precarious slippery feeling underfoot had disappeared. As she and Beetle approached the great white marble steps that led up to the Wizard Tower, the reason for this sudden attack of hygiene appeared carrying a shovel and a very big bucket.

"Hildegarde!" said Jenna in surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you were having some time off."

Hildegarde swept a grimy hand across her forehead, stopped and leaned wearily on her shovel. "I wish," she said.

Jenna noticed that the sub-Wizard's blue robes were soaked and splattered with mud - or worse - and her short brown hair had been blown into something resembling a bird's nest. "I suppose it's not quite the job you wanted at the Tower," said Jenna sympathetically.

"No, it's not," replied Hildegarde and then, realizing she had been curt, she said, "But of course I am happy to help out while the Apprentice is unable to look after his dragon and - "

"Why, what's happened?" Jenna interrupted, suddenly alarmed. "Is Sep ill? Has he had an accident?"

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about, Princess Jenna. He's doing his first Projection. It's tricky stuff; he mustn't be disturbed until it's finished. It will be ending soon and then we'll all find out what it was.

He's obviously very good at it, as no one has guessed what it is, although" - Hildegarde's voice took on a disapproving tone - "some of the more elderly Wizards have been placing bets."

"Oh, thank goodness." Jenna sighed. "For a moment I thought we were too late."

"Too late? No, I think he has about ten minutes left until the end."

"The end?"

"Of the Projection. I suggest you try the Great Hall. I have a feeling all is not right in the Old Spells cupboard." Hildegarde winked conspiratorially. "But please excuse me, I must put these things away and I will join you there." She clattered off hurriedly.

Jenna and Beetle climbed the steps up to the massive silver doors that formed the entrance to the Wizard Tower. Jenna muttered the password and the doors silently opened. As they stepped into the Great Hall, the words WELCOME, PRINCESS ran across the floor in flickering, multicolored letters.

It did not escape Beetle's notice that there was no WELCOME, INSPECTION CLERK to greet him - as there had been in the past. Beetle wondered how the Wizard Tower could possibly know. He felt even worse, if that was possible. Somehow it made it official.

There was a buzz of expectation in the Great Hall. A throng of Wizards was milling about, some clutching small pink slips of paper, others chatting or hanging around trying to look as if they just happened to come to the Great Hall for important business. Jenna had never seen so many Wizards in one place. It was a colorful scene: the blue of the Ordinary Wizard robes set against the backdrop of the bright, fleeting pictures that moved over the walls showing fabled moments from the Wizard Tower's past.

As always, Jenna felt a little overawed by the Wizard Tower. Although as Princess she was always welcome - and was even in possession of the password - the Tower was a strange and intimidating place. It seemed to her as though it were a living being. The pictures on the walls brightened and faded as if the Tower itself were breathing in and out, in and out. Light and dark, light and dark. The heady scent of incense, and the odd smell of Magyk - of old Spells and new, all combined to make Jenna feel unsettled. She wanted to understand everything that went on in the Castle and did not like the fact that she could not quite work out what the Wizards actually did. She had once asked Marcia what she did all day and, although it all seemed to make sense at the time, later she could not remember a word of what Marcia had said. It had even crossed her mind that Marcia had done a Forget Spell on her, but when she had mentioned it to Septimus he had laughed and told her that he never remembered what Marcia said to him either. But even so, Jenna was beginning to understand the old Castle saying: A Queen and a Wizard shall never agree - what one calls two, the other calls three.

Jenna's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden bout of shushing among the assembled Wizards. On the far side of the Great Hall, at the point where the silver corkscrew spiral stairs emerged through the high vaulted ceiling, Jenna saw the distinctive purple pointy python shoes of Marcia Overstrand appear. In order to make a more dramatic entrance, Marcia had placed the stairs on the slow nighttime mode. She had learned from bitter experience that spinning round at the relatively fast daytime speed was apt to give rise to some hilarity when a crowd of Wizards was assembled. And so, as though she were descending from the heavens, Marcia elegantly rotated down through the height of the Great Hall until she reached the ground. She jumped off and clapped her hands for silence.

"Word seems to have gotten around that my Apprentice, Septimus Heap, is about to finish his first Projection," she said. An excited murmur arose. "I do not entirely approve of this fuss," Marcia continued. "Frankly, I would have hoped you all had better things to do. But unfortunately it has become a tradition - in fact I seem to remember the same thing happening to me some time ago.

Presumably, as you are all gathered here, you think that this is where the Projection has been placed."

A general muttering ensued and one brave Wizard shouted out, "Give us a clue, ExtraOrdinary!"

"I know no more than you," Marcia replied. "My Apprentice has made his own choice about what to Project. He has not informed me of his decision."

Excited murmurs spread as the Wizards propounded their own pet theories of what Septimus had actually Projected. Marcia raised her voice. "However...excuse me, can I have silence please? Now?

Thank you. There are some things I must insist upon. One: until the Projection comes to an end, please do not move about more than necessary. Two: if, when the Projection is finished, it is not immediately apparent what has been Projected I do not want an undignified stampede around the Tower searching for it. If you haven't spotted it already, then you are hardly going to notice it once it has disappeared, are you?"

There was an outbreak of obedient nodding among the crowd.

"And three - positively no betting."

A stifled groan came from the Wizards. The little slips of pink paper that Jenna had noticed were hastily stuffed into deep pockets.

"I will now give a countdown to the end of the Projection. Five...four...three - "

A loud crash came from the Old Spells cupboard and the next moment Catchpole staggered out, pursued by a large, clattering trash can. The can proceeded to chase the unfortunate Catchpole around the Great Hall, to the great amusement of the audience. Marcia looked on in disbelief - if this was a Projection then she had never seen anything like it before. It had both substance and sound, something that was thought to be impossible. When she had been a young Apprentice, Marcia had once managed to coax a small baa from a troupe of dancing sheep she had Projected as a joke on Alther's birthday, but it had been a short and rather faint baa and Alther, who was getting hard of hearing by then, had not even heard it.

"Why's he so scared of an old trash can?" Jenna shouted to Beetle above the excited hubbub.

"I reckon Sep's done a double bluff," said Beetle.

"A what?"

"We see a trash can. Catchpole sees something else."

"Like what?"

"Probably the thing he fears most. That usually works. And it means that Sep didn't have to decide what Catchpole sees - Catchpole has done that for him." Jenna flashed Beetle an admiring look - how did he know all that stuff? Beetle caught the look and went red.

Pursued - or so he thought - by his old boss, the Hunter, Catchpole shot back into the Old Spells cupboard and slammed the door, leaving the trash can outside. The trashcan/Hunter retracted its legs, straightened up its lid, folded its little hairy arms and settled down outside the door, until it looked like any other can with little hairy arms left outside for the trash collection.

Amid the excitement, no one had noticed the stairs suddenly speeding up to emergency fast mode and a flash of green whizzing down them. A few seconds later, with perfect timing, Septimus leaped off the stairs and skidded to a halt next to Marcia, with the words CONGRATULATIONS, APPRENTICE, ON YOUR SUCCESSFUL FIRST PROJECTION swirling around his feet.

An outburst of applause greeted Septimus's arrival at Marcia's side. Septimus grinned happily. He pointed to the can, clicked his fingers and, to a delighted chorus of oooooohs, the can disappeared with a bang and a flash of green smoke.

Marcia was not amused. "There is no need for that, Septimus. We are not putting on some kind of cheap Magyk show. This is serious business."

Marcia did not know how true her words were. At that very moment the doors to the Wizard Tower swung open - to reveal Tertius Fume silhouetted against a blinding flash of lightning.