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Septimus pointed the Flyte Charm toward the shadowy figure of his eldest brother. "Follow," he whispered to the Charm. The next moment he found himself hurtling away from the Palace and swooping across the lawns that led to the river. Soon damp smells of the river filled his nostrils as he skimmed low across the cool nighttime water, startling a few ducks on the way. As the ducks' angry quacking subsided, Septimus reached the far bank; he flew above the thatched roof of a lone farmhouse and hovered for a moment, searching out his brother. Sure enough, in the distance along the dusty road that wound through the Farmlands, Septimus saw a horseman spurring his horse into the night. A final, breathtaking turn of speed brought him level with Simon, and Septimus flewunseen at firstalongside him, easily keeping pace with the sweating horse.
At last Simon became aware that all was not well. "You!" he yelled, skidding to a halt in a cloud of dust.
Septimus landed lightly in front of the horse.
"Youyou've got my Flyte Charm," Simon spluttered, seeing the golden arrow in Septimus's hand.
"I do have the Flyte Charm," Septimus agreed, neatly flying out of reach as Simon lurched forward to snatch it. "But the Flyte Charm is not mine. The Flyte Charm belongs to no one, Simon. You should know that an Ancient Charm is its own master."
"Pompous prat," Simon muttered under his breath.
"What did you say?" asked Septimus, who had heard perfectly well.
"Nothing. Get out of my way, brat, and don't think you can try any Transfixing rubbish this time."
"I'm not going to," replied Septimus, hovering in front of the horse. "I've just come to tell you to get out of here."
"Which was exactly what I was doing," Simon growled.
Septimus held his position, blocking Simon's path. "I also came to tell you that if you ever try to harm Jenna again, you will have me to deal with. Understand?"
Simon stared at his youngest brother. Septimus returned the stare, his brilliant green eyes flashing angrily. Simon said nothing, for there was a feeling of power about Septimus that he recognizedthe power of a seventh son of a seventh son.
"Understand?" Septimus repeated.
"Yeah," muttered Simon.
"You can go now," Septimus said coolly and dropped to the ground, standing to one side so that Simon could pass.
Simon looked down at the defenseless boy in green in the dark, deserted Farmlands, way past midnight. For a brief moment he considered how easy it would be to make Septimus disappear; no one would know what had happened. No one would ever suspect ... but Simon did nothing. And then suddenly he kicked his horse into action and galloped off, yelling over his shoulder, "I wish you had been dead when the midwife took you away!"
Septimus flew slowly back to the Wizard Tower with Simon's words echoing in his head.
He smiled. The last of his brothers had accepted him.
Chapter 46 What Happened Before
Billy Pot
Billy Pot once had a pet shop that specialized in reptiles. Billy loved lizards and snakes, and he specialized in breeding purple pythons. The biggest python that Billy Pot had ever bred lived in the backyard of Terry Tarsal's shoe shop. Terry, who did not like snakes, very reluctantly used their sloughed skin for Marcia's pointy snakeskin shoes.
When the Supreme Custodian bought a colony of snapping turtles from Billy and then ordered him to move to the Palace to look after them, Billy did not dare refuse. Billy's niece, Sandra, took over the pet shop and to Billy's great disapproval started selling fancy hamsters and fluffy rabbits. Sandra's new line in cuddly animals proved very popular, and she soon offered to buy the pet shop from Billy.
With the money Sandra had given him for the pet shop, Billy set up the lizard lodges down by the river, built the Contraption and embarked on his never-ending quest for the perfect lawn. When the Heaps moved into the Palace with Jenna, Silas asked Billy to stay on and help them get rid of the snapping turtles. Billy agreed, but the job proved impossible and he gave up after he nearly lost a finger to a particularly aggressive turtle.
Una Brakket
Una Brakket was housekeeper at the Young Army Barracks when Septimus was a toddler. Una did not like boys, even subdued and scared Young Army boys; she soon got a transfer and became housekeeper to the Hunter and his Pack. Una admired the Hunter very much indeed, although it is doubtful whether the Hunter even noticed her. He once asked her where his socks were, and Una went around in a daydream for days afterward. After that she took to hiding the Hunter's socks so that he might ask her again, but he never did.
When the Supreme Custodian fled and Jenna came back to live in the Palace as Princess, Una took advantage of Marcia and Alther's Second-Chance Scheme. She applied for a job as Palace housekeeper, which she did not get as Sarah Heap thought she was scary. The Scheme eventually referred her to Professor Weasal Van Klampff, who only took her on because he was too frightened to refuse.
However, Una's sympathies still lay with DomDaniel, and she joined the Restoration Unit, a secret network of people who wished to see him return. They met every Saturday night under the pretense of country dancing classes. It was through them that Una was put in touch with Simon Heap.
Professor Weasal Van Klampff
Weasal Van Klampff came from a long line of Professors. Many hundreds of years ago, Professor Doris Van Klampff had worked out a secret and very complicated formula for getting rid of Hauntings. This included Shadows, such as Marcia's, and Spectres like the one that had Waited for Alther when he was Apprentice to DomDaniel. Although the Van Klampffs had great mathematical ability, they tended to be rather gullible and extremely forgetful; Weasal was no exception.
After Weasal's father, Otto, blew himself upalong with the original Van Klampff Laboratorywhile mixing some volatile Amalgam, Weasal decided to give up experimenting and live a quiet life beside the Moat. On moving into his house on Snake Slipway, he was dismayed to find an ancient laboratory tucked away at the end of a warren of tunnels. Weasal spent many years trying to ignore the laboratory, but in the end the temptation was too great, and he decided to carry on his father's work. He perfected Otto's Amalgam so that it acted as a highly efficient screen for Darke energy, thus unwittingly providing an ideal hiding place for DomDaniel's bones. Weasal Van Klampff was a trusting man and had no idea that Una Brakket belonged to the Restoration Unit.
Beetle
Beetle was an only child. He grew up in The Ramblingshis parents had two large rooms on the floor immediately below the Heap family. One of Beetle's earliest memories was his mother banging on the ceiling with a broom handle, yelling, "For heaven's sake be quiet!" His parents refused to let Beetle have anything to do with the Heaps, which only made them more attractive, and he soon struck up a friendship with Jo-Jo Heap, who was the same age.
At the age of eleven, Beetle passed the highly competitive entrance test to the Manuscriptorium, much to his mother's delight. He started as General Dogsbody, and after the Inspection Clerk fell off the sled and broke his ankle, Beetle was trusted enough to take over the weekly inspections of the Ice Tunnels.
Beetle liked Septimus a lot; he reminded him of Jo-Jo, but he also shared Beetle's interest in Magyk and his liking for weird fizzy drinks. Beetle shared Septimus's dislike of Darke Magyk for, as he once said to Septimus over a mug of FizzFroot, "All that Darke stuff is depressing. When that awful old bloke came back to the Wizard Tower my hamster died, my mum got a huge boil on the end of her nose and the cat ran away. All because Darke stuff stuck to me at work, and then I brought it home. Horrible."
Septimus liked Beetle a lot too. He trusted him completely.
Boris Catchpole
Ever since he could remember, Boris Catchpole had been known by his last name. His mother had tried her best to call him Boris, but by the time he had started toddling she, like everyone else, had given up and reverted to plain Catchpolesomehow Boris seemed just too familiar.
Catchpole's ambition was to be a Hunter. He had run away from home and joined the Hunting Pack in the Badlands while DomDaniel had been preparing the assassination of the Queen. Catchpole had trained hard with the Pack, but he was not popular. He had given up cleaning his teeth as a boy and had no intention of starting again now that he did not have his mother telling him to. He had a nervous habit of clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth that made people feel snappy, and, to top it all, he was growing fast and was soon too tall to make a good Hunter.
