"Simon?" Silas looked confused. "What do you mean? Our Simon?"
"It's Simon and he's taken Jenna!"
"Taken her where? Why? What is going on? Why doesn't anybody ever tell me anything?" Silas sat down again, aware that the day was beginning to go wrong and not sure exactly why.
"I'm trying to tell you," said Septimus, exasperated. "That was Simon and he's " But Septimus was interrupted again. Lucy Gringe, a pretty girl with deep-brown eyes and light brown hair tied into two long plaits that hung to her waist, had appeared at the gatehouse door. She wore a simple, long, white summer tunic, which she had embroidered herself with an odd assortment of flowers, and on her feet was a pair of heavy brown boots laced up with pink ribbon. Lucy was well known for her unusual approach to clothes.
"Simon?" asked Lucy, looking pale under her freckles. "Did you say that was Simon?"
"Lucy, I will not have you mention that name here," growled Gringe, staring at the Counter-Feet board and wondering how such an enjoyable morning could suddenly turn into such a nightmare. But, he told himself sternly, he should have known better. Wasn't that always the way with the Heaps? They were nothing but trouble.
"Yes, it was Simon, and he has taken Jenna away," said Septimus flatly, the urgency gone from his voice as he realized that it was too late now to do anything about it.
"But," murmured Silas, "I don't understand..."
Lucy Gringe understood. She understood only too well. "Why?" she screamed. "Why didn't he take me?"
The Greenhouse
He was riding like, a madman, Sarah," puffed Silas, who had found Sarah with her friend, Sally Mullin, potting herbs in the Palace greenhouse at the bottom of the kitchen garden. "He would have trampled Septimus into the ground if I hadn't pulled the lad clearand Jenna was screaming her head off. It was awful."
"No!" Sarah gasped. "I don't believe it."
"Jenna wasn't screaming, Dad," said Septimus, trying not to upset Sarah any more than she was already. "Jenna wouldn't scream. She just shouted something, that's all."
"What?" asked Sarah. "What did she shout?"
"I don't know," said Septimus glumly. "I couldn't hear. The horse was making so much noise."
"Maybe she was saying she'd be back soon. Maybe Simon just took her out for a jaunt along the river," said Sarah, trying hard to convince herself and not doing a very good job of it.
Sally, who was living at the Palace while her Tea and Ale House was being rebuilt, put a consoling hand on Sarah's arm. "You mustn't worry yourself, Sarah," she said. "He's just a headstrong young man showing off his fast horse to his sister. They all do it. He'll be back soon."
Sarah gave Sally a grateful glance, but, deep down, Sarah had a very bad feeling about Simon. Something had happened to him; something had changed him from her Simon intowhat?
Silas was still trying to catch his breath. He and Septimus had run all the way from the North Gate, leaving Maxie asleep under the Counter-Feet table and Gringe dragging Lucy up to the gatehouse tower to stop her from running off in pursuit of Simon.
Alther Mella floated anxiously above the potting bench. He had spent the previous night down at the Hole in the Wall Tavern, a favorite haunt for ghosts, and had not left as early that morning as he should have. Alther was annoyed with himself. If he'd been there, maybe he could have stopped Simon, although Alther wasn't quite sure how. But at least he could have tried.
Sarah pushed a stray wisp of straw-colored hair back behind her ear as she fiddled distractedly with some parsley seedlings. "I'm sure Simon wouldn't take Jenna away against her will," she insisted, stabbing at the soil with her trowel.
"Of course he wouldn't," said Sally soothingly.
"But that's just what he has done," Septimus insisted. "Jenna didn't want to go with him. I Transfixed the horse and he wouldn't let her get off. He got really angry."
"Well, he did seem very proud of his horse," said Sarah. "Maybe he was just upset about you Transfixing it. I'm sure he will be back soon with Jenna."
"He's kidnapped her, Mum," said Septimus, almost angry now. He could not understand why Sarah kept making excuses for Simon. But Septimus was still not entirely used to how mothers behaved.
Alther Mella floated dismally through a discarded pile of flowerpots. "It's my fault, Sarah," said Alther. "I blame myself. If I had allowed proper guards at the Palace Gate instead of those useless Ancients, this would never have happened."
"You mustn't blame yourself," said Sarah, giving the old ghost a wan smile. "Even a guard would have let Simon in. He is a Heap after all."
"But they wouldn't have let him out, would they?" said Septimus pointedly. "Not if Jenna had told them she didn't want to go."
"Septimus, you shouldn't speak to Alther like that," scolded Sarah. "You should be more respectful to an ExtraOrdinary Wizard, especially the one whom your tutor was Apprenticed to."
"Ah, Sarah." Alther sighed. "The boy is right."