Syren Read Online Free PDF Page A

nose.
    Barney didn’t like the dragon. It was huge, scary and it smelled weird—like Uncle Billy’s Lizard Lodges, only a hundred times worse. And ever since the dragon had very nearly stepped on him, and Uncle Billy had yelled because he had gotten in the way, Barney had kept his distance. But Barney knew that there was no keeping out of the dragon’s way now—he was on an important mission. He ran straight up to the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice and said, “Excuse me!”
    But the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice took no notice. He slung a weird-smelling fur cloak around his shoulders and said to Uncle Billy, “I’ll hold Spit Fyre, Billy. Can you tell Marcia I’m going now?”
    Barney saw Uncle Billy glance over to the corner of the field where— oh, wow —the ExtraOrdinary Wizard was standing talking to Mistress Sarah, who was in charge of the Palace and was the Princess’s mother even though she wasn’t Queen. Barney had never seen the ExtraOrdinary Wizard before, but even from far away she looked just as scary as his friends said she was. She was really tall, with thick dark curly hair, and she was wearing long purple robes that were flapping in the wind. She had quite a loud voice too, because Barney could hear her saying, “ Now , Mr. Pot?” to Uncle Billy. But Barney knewhe didn’t have time to stare at the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. He had to deliver the SafeCharm to the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice, who was about to climb onto the dragon. He had to do it now—before it was too late.
    “Apprentice!” said Barney as loud as he could. “Excuse me!”
    Septimus Heap stopped with his foot in midair and looked down. He saw a small boy staring up at him with big brown eyes. The boy reminded him of someone he had known a long time ago—a very long time ago. Septimus almost said, “What is it, Hugo?” But he stopped himself and just said, “What is it?”
    “Please,” said the boy—who even sounded like Hugo, “I’ve got something for you. It’s really important and I promised to give it to you.”
    “Oh?” Septimus squatted down so that the boy didn’t have to keep staring up at him. “What have you got?” he asked.
    Barney Pot uncurled his fingers from around the SafeCharm. “This,” he said, “it’s a SafeCharm. A lady asked me to give it to you.”
    Septimus drew back as though stung. “No,” he said abruptly. “No. No, thank you.”
    Barney looked amazed. “But it’s for you.” He pushed the gold bottle toward Septimus.
    Septimus stood up and turned back to the dragon. “No,” he said.
    Barney stared at the bottle in dismay. “But it’s a SafeCharm . It’s really important. Please, Apprentice, you have to take it.”
    Septimus shook his head. “No, I don’t have to take it.”
    Barney was horrified. He had promised to deliver a SafeCharm and deliver it he must. Awful things happened to people who promised to deliver SafeCharms and then didn’t. At the very least he would be turned into a frog or—oh yuck —a lizard. He would be turned into a smelly little lizard and Uncle Billy would never know; he would catch him and put him in a Lizard Lodge with all the other lizards, and they would know he was not a real lizard and they would eat him. It was a disaster. “You do have to take it!” yelled Barney, jumping up and down desperately. “You do! You have to take it!”
    Septimus looked at Barney. He felt sorry for the boy. “Look, what’s your name?” he said kindly.
    “Barney.”
    “Well, Barney, a word of advice—never take a SafeCharm from anyone. Never .”
    “Please.” Barney grabbed hold of Septimus’s sleeve.
    “No. Let go , Barney. Okay? I’ve got to go.” With that Septimus grabbed hold of a large spike on the dragon’s neck, swung himself up and sat down in the narrow dip in front of the dragon’s powerful shoulders. Barney gazed up at him in despair. He couldn’t even reach him now. What was he going to do?
    Just as Barney had decided he would have to throw the