aunt Edna and a Thing - because a Thing looked dead.
It was then that Merrin read the second part of the instructions: Now Address the Thing,
Demand to See.
Remove its Invisibility.
"Aaargh!" yelled Merrin, suddenly realizing to his horror what had happened. Angrily, he hurled the book at the wall. How was he supposed to know the Things were invisible? Why hadn't the book said so before?
Half an hour later, Merrin had calmed down. Knowing that he had no choice but to continue, he picked up the book, found the crumpled page and began to follow the instructions. He recited the See, closed his eyes and counted to thirteen. Then, with a feeling of dread, he opened his eyes - and screamed.
Merrin was surrounded by Things. Twenty-six aggrieved, nose-out-of-joint, why-didn't-he-just-choose-me-aren't-I-good-enough-for-him Things were staring at him, their lips moving, mumbling and moaning but making no sound. They towered above him and stared at him so intently that even Merrin, who was not known for his sensitivity, felt a deep gloom rising inside him.
It was, he thought, all going horribly wrong. Simon was right; everyone was right; he was stupid. But now he was stuck. He had to continue or else it would, as the book had said, be the worse for him.
With a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach, Merrin read the next instruction: Now Take with you your Servant Thing
To Find and Fetch the Two-Faced Ring
Merrin's heart sank when he read the words: the Two-Faced Ring. He still had nightmares about it.
A few months ago Simon had been grumpily cleaning up the Observatory, complaining loudly about Merrin's untidiness. Merrin, meanwhile, had hidden in the larder. He had been surreptitiously eating his way through a secret stash of cold sausages when he had heard Simon scream. Merrin had very nearly choked - Simon usually did not scream. Gasping and coughing, he had staggered out to see a truly terrible sight: a foul collection of rubbery-looking bones glistening with black slime was slowly stalking Simon across the Observatory. Clutching his garbage sack to him as though it were some kind of shield Simon was backing away with a look of utter terror on his face.
Merrin knew at once to whom the bones belonged - his old master, DomDaniel. It was the ring that gave it away. The thick gold and jade Two-Faced Ring that DomDaniel had always worn on his thumb shone out against the black sheen of the bones. "This ring," DomDaniel had once told Merrin,
"is indestructible. He who wears it is indestructible. I wear it, therefore I am indestructible.
Remember that, boy!" He had laughed and waggled his fat pink thumb in Merrin's face.
Merrin had watched the bones corner the terrified Simon. He had listened while, from somewhere deep within the bones, came a Darke hollow chant of destruction aimed directly at Simon. It had made Merrin want to curl up into a little ball, though he didn't know why. Luckily for him, he did not remember the time in the Marram Marshes when DomDaniel had directed the very same chant at him.
As the chant had progressed relentlessly toward its end - when Simon would be Consumed - Merrin saw Simon Heap change. But not in the way DomDaniel had planned. The fear in Simon's eyes was suddenly replaced by a wild anger. Merrin had seen that look before and he knew it meant trouble.
It did.
In one swift action - like a butterfly hunter after a prize specimen - Simon had brought his garbage sack down over the bones, yelling a Darke imprecation of his own. The bones had collapsed and some escaped across the floor, but the chant did not stop. Panicking now, Simon had scrabbled for the stray bones, throwing them into the sack just as he had been throwing the garbage a few minutes earlier.
Muffled by the sack, still the Darke chant had continued.
Frantically, Simon had hurled the last bone into the sack. Then, as if his life depended on it - which it did - he had raced across the Observatory, pulled open the door to the Endless Cupboard, hurled the sack inside and slammed and Barred the door. Then, to Merrin's amusement, Simon's legs had given way beneath him and he had collapsed onto the floor like a wet rag. Merrin had taken advantage of the moment to finish off the sausages.
But now Merrin was going to have to see those awful bones once more. And, worse, take the ring from them. But even worse, he