At the Heaps

Open," Marcia told the black Heap door. But, being a door belonging to Silas Heap, it did nothing of the sort; in fact, Marcia thought she saw it tighten up its hinges and stiffen its lock. So she, Madam Marcia Overstrand, ExtraOrdinary Wizard, was reduced to banging on the door as hard as she could. No one answered. She tried again, harder and with both fists, but there was still no reply. Just as she was considering giving the door a good kick (and serve it right too) the door was pulled open, and Marcia came face-to-face with Silas Heap.

"Yes?" he said abruptly as if she were no more than an irritating salesperson.

For a brief moment Marcia was lost for words. She looked past Silas to see a room that appeared to have been recently hit by an explosion and was now, for some reason, packed full of boys. The boys were swarming around a small, dark-haired girl who was sitting at a table covered in a surprisingly clean white cloth. The girl was holding on to a small present wrapped in brightly colored paper and tied with red ribbon, laughing and pushing away some of the boys who were pretending to grab it. But one by one the girl and all the boys looked up, and a strange silence fell upon the Heap household.

"Good morning, Silas Heap," said Marcia a little too graciously. "And good morning, Sarah Heap. And, er, all the little Heaps of course."

The little Heaps, most of whom were no longer anything like little, said nothing. But six pairs of bright green eyes and one pair of deep violet eyes took in every detail of Marcia Overstrand. Marcia began to feel self-conscious. Did she have a smudge on her nose? Was some of her hair sticking up in a ridiculous fashion? Perhaps she had some spinach stuck in her teeth?

Marcia reminded herself that she had not had spinach for breakfast. Get on with it, Marcia, she told herself. You're in charge here. So she turned to Silas, who was looking at her as if he hoped she would soon go away.

"I said good morning, Silas Heap," said Marcia irritably.

"Indeed you did, Marcia, indeed you did," said Silas. "And what brings you here after all these years?"

Marcia got straight to the point. "I've come for the Princess," she said.

"Who?" asked Silas.

"You know perfectly well who," snapped Marcia, who didn't like being questioned by anyone, least of all by Silas Heap.

"We don't have any princesses here, Marcia," said Silas. "I should have thought that was pretty obvious."

Marcia looked around her. It was true, it was not somewhere you would ever expect to find a princess. In fact, Marcia had never seen such a mess before in her entire life.

In the middle of the chaos, by the newly lit fire, stood Sarah Heap. Sarah had been cooking porridge for the birthday breakfast when Marcia had pushed her way into her home, and into her life. Now she stood transfixed, holding the porridge pan in midair and staring at Marcia. Something in her gaze told Marcia that Sarah knew what was coming. This, thought Marcia, is not going to be easy. She decided to dump the tough act and start over again.

"May I sit down, please, Silas ... Sarah?" she asked.

Sarah nodded. Silas scowled. Neither spoke.

Silas glanced at Sarah. She was sitting down, white-faced and trembling, and gathering the birthday girl up onto her lap, holding her closely. Silas wished more than anything that Marcia would go away and leave them all alone, but he knew they had to hear what she had come to say. He sighed heavily and said, "Nicko, give Marcia a chair."

"Thank you, Nicko," said Marcia as she sat down gingerly on one of Silas's homemade chairs. The tousle-haired Nicko gave Marcia a crooked grin and retreated into the bunch of his brothers, who were hovering protectively around Sarah.

Marcia gazed at the Heaps and was amazed how alike they all were. All of them, even Sarah and Silas, shared the same curly straw-colored hair, and of course they all had the piercing green Wizard eyes. And in the middle of the Heaps sat the Princess, with her straight black hair and deep violet eyes. Marcia groaned to herself. All babies looked the same to Marcia, and it had never occurred to her how very different the Princess would look from the Heaps when she grew older. No wonder the spy had discovered her.

Silas Heap sat himself down on an upturned crate. "Well, Marcia, what's going on?" he said.

Marcia's mouth felt very dry. "Have you got a glass of water?" she asked.

Jenna scrambled down from Sarah's lap and came over to Marcia, holding a battered wooden cup with teeth marks all around the top.

"Here, have my water. I don't mind." She gazed at Marcia admiringly. Jenna had never seen anyone like Marcia before, no one as purple, as shiny, as clean and expensive-looking, and certainly no one with such pointy shoes.

Marcia looked at the cup dubiously, but then, remembering who had given it to her, she said, "Thank you, Princess. Er, may I call you Jenna?"

Jenna did not reply. She was too busy staring at Marcia's purple shoes.

"Answer Madam Marcia, poppet," said Sarah Heap.

"Oh, yes, you may, Madam Marcia," Jenna said, puzzled but polite.

"Thank you, Jenna. It's nice to meet you after all this time. And please, just call me Marcia," said Marcia, who could not help thinking how much Jenna looked like her mother.

Jenna slipped back to Sarah's side, and Marcia forced herself to take a sip of water from the chewed cup.

"Out with it, then, Marcia," said Silas from his upturned box. "What's going on? As usual we seem to be the last to know over here."

"Silas, do you and Sarah know who, er ... Jenna ... is?" asked Marcia.

"Yes. We do. Jenna is our daughter, that's who she is," said Silas stubbornly.

"But you guessed, didn't you?" said Marcia, directing her gaze at Sarah.

"Yes," said Sarah quietly.

"So you will understand when I say that she is not safe here anymore. I need to take her. Now," Marcia said urgently.

"No!" yelled Jenna. "No!" She scrambled back onto Sarah's lap. Sarah held her tightly.

Silas was angry. "Just because you're the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia, you think you can just walk in here and mess up our lives like it doesn't matter. You most certainly are not taking Jenna away. She is ours. Our only daughter. She is perfectly safe here, and she stays with us."

"Silas," sighed Marcia, "she is not safe with you. Not anymore. She has been discovered. You have a spy living right next door to you. Linda Lane."

"Linda!" gasped Sarah. "A spy? I don't believe it."

"You mean that awful old gasbag who is always around here prattling on about pills and potions and drawing endless pictures of the kids?" asked Silas.

"Silas!" remonstrated Sarah. "Don't be so rude."

"I'll be more than rude to her if she is a spy," declared Silas.

"There's no 'if' about it, Silas," said Marcia. "Linda Lane most definitely is a spy. And I'm sure the pictures she has been drawing are proving very useful to the Supreme Custodian."

Silas groaned. Marcia pressed home her advantage. "Look, Silas, I only want the best for Jenna. You have to trust me."

Silas snorted. "Why on earth should we trust you, Marcia?"

"Because I have trusted you with the Princess, Silas," said Marcia. "Now you must trust me. What happened ten years ago must not happen again."

"You forget, Marcia," said Silas scathingly, "that we don't know what happened ten years ago. No one ever bothered to tell us."

Marcia sighed. "How could I tell you, Silas? It was best for the Princess's, I mean Jenna's, sake that you did not know."

At the mention of Princess yet again, Jenna looked up at Sarah. "Madam Marcia called me that before," she whispered. "Is that really me?"

"Yes, poppet," Sarah whispered back, then she looked Marcia in the eye and said, "I think we all need to know what happened ten years ago, Madam Marcia."

Marcia looked at her timepiece. This had to be quick. She took a deep breath and started. "Ten years ago," she said, "I had just passed my final exams and I'd gone over to see Alther to thank him. Well, soon after I arrived a messenger rushed in to tell him that the Queen had given birth to a baby girl. We were so pleased - it meant that the heir to the Castle had at last arrived.

"The messenger summoned Alther to the Palace to conduct the Welcome Ceremony for the baby Princess. I went with him to help him carry all the heavy books, potions and charms that he needed. And to remind him in what order to do things as dear old Alther was becoming a little forgetful at times.

"When we arrived at the Palace we were taken to the Throne Room to see the Queen, who looked so happy - so wonderfully happy. She was sitting on the throne holding her newborn daughter, and she greeted us with the words, 'Isn't she beautiful?' And those were the last words that our Queen spoke."

"No," muttered Sarah quietly.

"At that very moment a man in a strange black and red uniform burst into the room. Of course I know now that he was wearing the uniform of an Assassin, but at the time I knew nothing of the kind. I thought he was some kind of messenger, but I could see from the Queen's face that she was not expecting him. Then I saw that he was carrying a long silver pistol, and I felt very afraid. I glanced at Alther, but he was fussing with his books and hadn't noticed. Then ... it was all so unreal somehow ... I just watched the soldier very slowly and deliberately raise the pistol, take aim and fire it straight at the Queen. Everything was so horribly silent as the silver bullet passed straight through the Queen's heart and embedded itself in the wall behind her. The baby Princess screamed and tumbled from her dead mother's arms. I leaped forward and caught her."

Jenna was pale, trying to understand what she was hearing. "Was that me?" she asked Sarah in a low voice. "Was 1 the baby Princess?"

Sarah nodded slowly.

Marcia's voice trembled slightly as she carried on. "It was terrible! Alther was starting on the SafeShield Spell when there was another shot, and a bullet spun him around and threw him to the floor. I finished Alther's spell for him, and for a few moments all three of us were safe. The Assassin fired his next bullet - it was one for the Princess and me this time - but it skittered off the invisible shield and shot straight back at him, catching him in the leg. He fell to the floor, but he still kept hold of his pistol. He just lay there and stared at us, waiting for the spell to end, as all spells must.

"Alther was dying. He took off the Amulet and gave it to me. I refused. I was sure that I could save him, but Alther knew better. He just very calmly told me that it was time for him to go now. He smiled and then - and then he died."

The room was silent. No one moved. Even Silas stared deliberately at the floor. Marcia continued in a low voice. "I - I couldn't believe it. I tied the Amulet around my neck and gathered up the baby Princess. She was crying now, well, we both were. Then I ran. I ran so fast that the Assassin had no time to fire his pistol.

"I fled to the WizardTower. I couldn't think where else to go. I told the other Wizards the terrible news and asked for their protection, which they gave us. All afternoon we talked about what we should do with the Princess. We knew she could not stay in the Tower for long. We could not protect the Princess forever, and anyway, she was a newborn baby who needed a mother. It was then that I thought of you, Sarah."

Sarah looked surprised.

"Alther often talked to me about you and Silas. I knew you had just had a baby boy. It was the talk of the Tower, the seventh son of the seventh son. I had no idea then that he had died. I was so sorry to hear that. But I knew you would love the Princess and make her happy. So we decided that you should have her.

"But I couldn't just walk over to The Ramblings and give her to you. Someone would have seen me. So, late in the afternoon, I smuggled the Princess out of the Castle and left her in the snow, making sure that you, Silas, would find her. And that was it. There was nothing more I could do.

"Except, after Gringe had flustered me into giving him a half crown, I hid in the shadows and watched for you as you came back. When I saw the way you held your cloak and the way you walked as if you were protecting something precious, I knew that you had the Princess and, do you remember, I told you, Tell no one you found her. She was born to you. Understand?"'

A charged silence hung in the air. Silas stared at the floor, Sarah sat motionless with Jenna, and the boys all looked thunderstruck. Marcia stood up quietly, and from a pocket in her tunic she took a small red velvet bag. Then she picked her way across the room, being careful not to step on anything, particularly a large, and none too clean wolf that she had just noticed asleep in the middle of a pile of blankets.

The Heaps watched, mesmerized, as Marcia walked solemnly over to Jenna. The Heap boys parted respectfully as Marcia stopped in front of Sarah and Jenna and knelt down. Jenna stared with wide-open eyes as Marcia opened the velvet bag and took from it a small gold circlet. "Princess," said Marcia, "this was your mother's and now it is yours by right." Marcia reached up and placed the gold circlet on Jenna's head. It fitted perfectly.

Silas broke the spell. "Well, you've done it now, Marcia," he said crossly. "The cat's really out of the bag."

Marcia stood up and brushed the dirt off her cloak. As she did so, to her surprise, the ghost of Alther Mella floated through the wall and settled himself down beside Sarah Heap.

"Ah, here's Alther," said Silas. "He won't be pleased about this, I can tell you."

"Hello, Silas, Sarah. Hello, all my young Wizards." The Heap boys grinned. People called them many things, but only Alther called them Wizards.

"And hello, my little Princess," said Alther, who had always called Jenna that. And now Jenna knew why.

"Hello, Uncle Alther," said Jenna, feeling much happier with the old ghost floating next to her.

"I didn't know that Alther came to see you too," Marcia said, somewhat put out, even though she was rather relieved to see him.

"Well, I was his Apprentice first," snapped Silas. "Before you elbowed in."

"I did not elbow in. You gave up. You begged Alther to annul your Apprenticeship. You said you wanted to read bedtime stories to the boys instead of being stuck in a turret with your nose in a dusty old spell book. You really do take the biscuit sometimes, Silas," glowered Marcia.

"Children, children, don't argue now." Alther smiled. "I love you both the same. All my Apprentices are special."

The ghost of Alther Mella shimmered slightly in the heat of the fire. He wore his ghostly ExtraOrdinary Wizard cloak. It still had bloodstains on it, which always upset Marcia when she saw them. Alther's long white hair was carefully tied back into a ponytail, and his beard was neatly trimmed to a point. When he had been alive, Alther's hair and beard had always been a mess - he could never quite keep up with how fast it all seemed to grow. But now that he was a ghost, it was easy. He'd sorted it all out ten years ago and that was the way it had stayed. Alther's green eyes may have sparkled a little less than they had when he was alive, but they looked around him as keenly as ever. And as they gazed at the Heap household he felt sad. Things were about to change.

"Tell her, Alther," demanded Silas. "Tell her she's not having our Jenna. Princess or not, she's not having her."

"I wish I could, Silas, but I can't," said Alther, looking serious. "You have been discovered. An Assassin is coming. She will be here at midnight with a silver bullet. You know what that means..."

Sarah Heap put her head in her hands. "No," she whispered.

"Yes," said Alther. He shivered and his hand strayed to the small round bullet hole just below his heart.

"What can we do?" asked Sarah, very quiet and still.

"Marcia will take Jenna to the WizardTower," said Alther. "Jenna will be safe there for the moment. Then we will have to think about what to do next." He looked at Sarah. "You and Silas must go away with the boys. Somewhere safe where you won't be found."

Sarah was pale, but her voice was steady. "We'll go into the Forest," she said. "We will stay with Galen."

Marcia looked at her timepiece again. It was getting late. "I need to take the Princess now," she said. "I must get back before they change the sentry."

"I don't want to go," whispered Jenna. "I don't have to, do I, Uncle Alther? I want to go and stay with Galen too. I want to go with everyone else. I don't want to be on my own." Jenna's lower lip trembled, and her eyes filled with tears. She held on tightly to Sarah.

"You won't be on your own. You'll be with Marcia," said Alther gently. Jenna did not look as though that made her feel any better.

"My little Princess," said Alther, "Marcia is right. You need to go away with her. Only she can give you the protection you will need."

Jenna still looked unconvinced.

"Jenna," said Alther seriously, "you are the Heir to the Castle, and the Castle needs you to keep safe so that you can be Queen one day. You must go with Marcia. Please."

Jenna's hands strayed to the golden circlet that Marcia had placed on her head. Somewhere inside herself she began to feel a little bit different.

"All right," she whispered. "I'll go."