Magyk by Angie Sage:

It was a snowy afternoon when Silas Heap found the baby girl. She had hazel eyes & strawberry blonde hair and he couldn't understand why someone would want to abandon her. He was about to pick up the baby when he thought about how hard it would be to take care of two babies and six other boys, but if he didn't take her home she might get hypothermia. He made up his mind and picked her up and put her in a blanket. Suddenly Marcia Overstand came out from behind the bridge and said "Tell no one that you found her. She was born to you. Understand?". Before he could answer she disappeared. When he reached the village's gate he realized something was wrong. The midwife was at the cemetery with his wife, Sarah. "Whats wrong?" he asked

" Septimus is DEAD!" Sarah sobbed.

"How? He was just born today!"

"We don't know"

"That's weird... I have something for you, I hope it cheers you up a little" he said as he showed Sarah the baby.

"She's beautiful" said Sarah, who was still crying. "Her name will be Penny"

Penny fit right into the Heap family, as if she were actually blood related. Her brothers were really protective of her and never let her out of their sight. One week after they found Penny Sally Mullin came by for tea.

"I see Penny is doing good."

"Yes, she has eaten almost all of our food and cried all night, every day of the week, but we still love her." Sarah replied. " Now I know you didn't come all the way over here to talk about Penny, what did you really want to tell me?"

"The Queen was assassinated last week along with Mr. Arthur. The two were at the palace celebrating the birth of the new princess. It really is a tragedy. Poor Marcia, at least she can take Arthur's place as Extraordinary Wizard. Marcia saved the baby's life by taking her and running. I hope she's in good hands now."

" When did you say this was?" asked Sarah.

"Last Monday, the day Penny was born. Why?"

"Ummmmm... no reason..."

"Well, I have to get back to the cafe, bye!"

As Sarah thought about it she began to realize something- Penny was the baby princess. Sarah decided not to tell Silas immediately, and just wait for him to finish tutoring the boys in their magic lessons.

When Silas came out for his walk to the forbidden forest Sarah called Silas over.

"I have something to tell you" said Sarah in a hushed voice.

"Well, what is it?"

"The Queen is dead and I'm almost positive Penny is the baby princess. I know it sounds very crazy but she was found on the exact same day and who could possibly want to abandon something so cute?... Did Marcia talk to you at all that day? And don't you dare lie to me Silas Heap!"

"Ummmm... She might have said something-"

"What did she say? And answer me truthfully!" she interrupted

"Fine, she told me not to tell anyone where I found Penny and tell everyone that she was our real daughter."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, she IS the Extraordinary wizard and I do not want her to turn me into a frog or something!"

For the next 12 years the Heap family tried to stay as "low-profile" as possible., but made one critical mistake. It was an ordinary day and the Heaps were celebrating Penny's birthday party. "This is for Penny" said Silas as he handed her a box. Penny opened the box and pulled out a rock.

"Thank you?" she said while she studied the rock.

"Oops, I forgot to do one thing!" Silas said. He took the rock and mumbled something under his breathe. Suddenly the rock began to glow so bright they had to shield their eyes. When it started to dim Penny looked at it and said "I don't see any difference- wait it has eyes!" Silas Heap had turned the rock into an actual pet. It had two eyes and four legs and Penny absolutely adored it. "Thank you so much! I love it!" Jenna exclaimed. Suddenly they heard a voice outside screaming "OPEN NOW!"

"Wait here Penny" said Nikko, the second oldest brother. He went to the door and said "Who is it?"

"It's Marcia now open the door!"

"OK,OK, hold your horses!"

He opened the door and Marcia rushed past him. "We have to evacuate immediately, the princess is in danger." she said.

"What are you talking about Madame Marcia, who's the princess?" Penny asked.

Marcia glared at Silas. "Why didn't you tell her?" she screamed

"You told me not to tell anyone, so I didn't"

"Well, Penny, I'm going to make this as quick as possible. You are the heir to the throne and Dom Daniel is after you. He is an assassin and he always kills the people when he first finds them. Your neighbor was a spy for him. Arthur is on his way to help us. He insisted on going but I don't know what a ghost can do when and assassin like Dom Daniel is after you. Arthur was killed 12 years ago when he was visiting you, so he is a ghost. It takes 1 year for people to become a ghost so he is a very new ghost. Anyways, we are going to your Aunt Zelda's house. She'll know what to do."

"Wait I'm a princess? That's CRAZY! And who's Aunt Zelda?"

"We'll explain that later," she said " now we HAVE to go!"

As if on cue, Arthur came in the door. "He's here!" he said

"RUN!" Marcia screamed.

Penny obeyed immediately. She got her backpack and her pet rock and jumped out of the window onto the awning below. She checked to make sure her family was following and she saw them following her, and sure enough right behind them was their dog Maxy. "Let's wait for Marcia" said Nikko. Just as he said that a boy came up to him and said "Hello, my name is Boy 412, are you in need of assistance? I'm from the young Army and I am trained to help people." he said. "Sure" said Nikko. We need to get my sister to safety. Do you know anyone that can help?" Before Boy 412 could answer Marcia ran out of the building with nothing more than a scratch, while Dom Daniel was limping and covered in blood. "RUN!" screamed Marcia.

"Come with us, Boy 412!" said Silas. They ran as fast as they could, and then some more. They decided to rent a few boats and split up so it would be harder to chase Penny. When Penny was safely on the boat, along with Nikko, Marcia, and Boy 412, they set off to Aunt Zelda's house. "What time is it?" whined Nikko for the 10th time. "Ten minutes past the last time you asked" said Marcia in an irritated voice. It took almost 4 hours for them to get to the swamplands, but they got there safe and sound. "Don't get out yet! We need to make sure the brownies aren't outside." Marcia said.

"You do realize that brownies are a desert, right?"

"Not in this case" said Marcia as she tried to get her eyes adjusted to the dark. "brownies are creatures that will tear you to shreds if they see you."

"When do they come out ?" asked Penny , who was terrified of the description of something that she loved to eat.

"At night"

"How are we going to get to Aunt Zelda now?"

"I don't know"

Suddenly a creature with skin as rubbery as a seal came out of the water. He had whiskers and was covered in mud.

"Bogart where have you been? Brownies are about to come out!"

"Sorry, Madame Marcia. Just follow me to the house"

As they followed Bogart to the Cottage Penny felt like she was being watched. They finally arrived at the cottage with all of the others waiting at the door. "Hurry up, get in the house before you get eaten by a brownie!" Aunt Zelda said half teasing. They were about to eat dinner when they heard a gun shot. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Aunt Zelda asked.

"It's me, Bogart"

She opened the door and saw Bogart bleedng all over and Aunt Zelda screamed. Right behind Bogart was Dom Daniel. He ran in and grabbed Penny. Simon and Nikko, who were the oldest, tackled Dom Daniel. Boy 412grabbed Penny and they ran. "Keep going!" yelled Penny. They ran as far as they could. Suddenly Boy 412 heard a scream and saw Penny who had fallen through a hole. He jumped in and as soon as he did the ground started to shake and a door opened. It led to a narrow pathway with carvings all over the walls. At the end of the pathway was an enormous boat with a dragon on it. "That's the golden boat of Hotep-ra!" Penny exclaimed.

"Wow" said Boy 412.

"Only the dragon keeper can open the door, YOU'RE THE DRAGON KEEPER!"

"REALLY?" he said enthusiastically.

"Yep! Let's go find Dom Daniel and we can come back to this later"

"OK" he said

It wasn't hard to find Dom Daniel. He had crashed his boat and then was eaten alive by brownies. Sarah whispered somethng in Aunt Zelda's ear and Aunt Zelda turned to Boy 412 and said "We think you should come with us" they walked over to the lake and Aunt Zelda said "You know how you said you were in the young army? Well we think that you are... the seventh son of the seventh son, Septimus Heap. I know its crazy but we can do a spell and proove it. Aunt Zelda grabbed a charm from her bag and read it out loud and then asked it a question: "Where is Septimus Heap?" An image of Boy 412 appeared in the lake. "Only people like you can open the dragon boat's passage. You are one of a kind"

"Thank you, I guess?"

"We were wondering if you wanted to live in the palace with us and be Marcia's apprentace?"

"Yes ma'am I would love to" he said with a grin.

They went back to the palace and they got rid of Dom Daniel forever...or so they thought...

THE

END