It Continues original Chapter 9, a septimus heap fanfic

Chapter Nine

Sarah yawned and awoke. She felt the rocking of the boat and the cool ocean breeze.

Then she shot up with a question in her mind.

Wait a minute…I thought we reached Great-Aunt Zelda's place last night! What the HECK am I still doing on the boat??!!

Then a face peeked over the side. It was Nora.

"Hey, you're finally awake!" she said cheerfully. "Come on, all of us are already back at the house." "Did they get my stuff?' Sarah asked as she jumped over the side. "Yeah, now let's go. We have to figure out how we're going to do this."

They jumped into a boat and followed the stream to the house. Great-Aunt Zelda and her "apprentice" (he was about 25 years old) were there to see them.

"Well, hello Sarah. You guys haven't come here in a while…and certainly not with three other kids I've never seen before!" she greeted them. "I take it they've introduced themselves?" said Sarah with a grin as she walked inside the house. "Yes. That Koran boy…much too skinny. But I'm sure he'll take to the food here." "If you say so," said Milo, who had hopped out of nowhere. Sarah elbowed him in the ribs.

There came Silas and Marcus, and Rack had fallen back to sleep on the couch. Koran was having a burping contest with Rian. "Boys!" Great-Aunt Zelda chided them. "How can you burp when you haven't eaten anything?" Rian and Koran looked at each other for a second, then they shrugged. "Honestly," Great-Aunt Zelda sighed.

Her apprentice, who everyone still called 409, walked over and whispered, "Can you teach me to do that?" "Homie, we wrote the book on it."

Sarah plopped herself down on the couch and called the other four Royal Rambles over. "Okay" she whispered. "We're here, Koran's here, let's get to work. But we have to keep him occupied--along with Rian and Rack. Marcus, it's your job to challenge all of them to an eating contest. Nora, you tell Great-Aunt Zelda that we're going for a walk, and ask her where not to go because of the bugs. Silas, talk to 409 until I give you the secret signal, which means that Milo has gotten enough jars out of the back cabinets. Everyone got it?" "Just one question" said Silas. "What's the secret signal?"

Sarah made a clicking noise in her throat. "I'm afraid I can't tell you. Like I said, it's a secret." Silas rolled his eyes.

"Nothing else? Okay, gang, move out!"

Marcus sauntered over to the other three boys (Rack had finally woken up) and said slyly, "You guys are getting pretty good at burping, but I think you should try something different: I challenge you three to an eating contest, and I'm putting $5 on Rian, seeing as he's my cousin and the oldest." Rian grinned. "Bring it, kids." "I'll bring it in a tote bag," growled Koran as Rack smirked and Marcus set down about 60 bowls of ice cream. "Dig in" he said smugly. The two 13-year-olds and 15-year-old shoved their faces in as Marcus left.

Nora walked up to Great-Aunt Zelda and asked, "We're taking a walk, but we're worried about the Bogle Bugs. Where shouldn't we go?" Great-Aunt Zelda smiled. "Well, I'd suggest going to the north edge. To the south there're way too many." "Okay, thanks" said Nora, and she strode away.

Silas was asking a million questions to 409 as Milo grabbed around 10 jars and handed some of them to Sarah. She winked to Silas, and he quickly said to 409 "Gottagotinkleroombye!!" and darted off to where the other four were; right outside the house.

"That went pretty well" commented Sarah. "Now, Nora?" "We should head south." "Okay, off we go."

When they got to the south part of the Marshes, they found themselves in a great cloud of Bogle Bugs. "Don't open your mou—ptooey! Blecch! Yuck!" Sarah spat out bugs as the others made sure not to speak.

"OKAY!" Milo yelled. "WE'VE GOT THE JARS FILLED! NOW LET'S GO BEFORE WE GET EATEN BY THESE THINGS!"

Finally, they made it out of the bugs and they each held up two jars. There were tons of the insects inside them. Sarah grinned sneakily. "Excellent" she said as she clasped her hands in front of her nose. "EExcellent." Milo rolled his eyes. "Sarah, we know you can do a great Mr. Burns impression, but—" Marcus glanced at his watch and yelped, "We're missing 'The Simpsons'! Quick, back to the house!"

They dumped the jars in a hole by the house and covered it up with leaves and stuff, then raced into the house and jumped in front of the TV. "Whew!" gasped Sarah. "Thank goodness we only missed the theme song."

Later, after The Simpsons, Sarah pulled out about 15 bottles of pills from her pocket and hissed, "Come on, time for the second stage of preparing."

She dropped a whole bunch of pills into each bug jar and said, "These'll take about a day to take effect, so we can do all that we want while we wait."

And so the day of fun began.

The sun's rising we're all awake

We count all the things we'll take

Marcus ran in and grabbed the other three. They all headed down to the Mott.

And as if that can't compensate

Hard to tell the money we'll make

Run on

Sarah found herself next to Rack. She whispered in his ear, "Rack, dude, can ya lay off Koran a bit?" He started in surprise and glanced down. "I guess I've been kind of a jerk to him. Sorry, Sarah." "Thanks" she said with a grin. He grinned back and she ran on ahead.

We'll have thousands by the moon

Hey already it's dinner soon

Marcus was eating a slice of cold pizza when he looked at it for the first time. And I don't mean glanced, he really looked at it. And he raised his eyebrows as he saw what was really in the pizza.

Our aunt gets up from her loom

Cooks us things we can't consume

The cheese was actually melted spinach covered in something, the pepperoni was thin slices of a type of edible algae, the crust was full of—horror of horrors—seeds, and the tomato was, well, tomato. I guess that's healthy enough for Great-Aunt Zelda. Marcus ducked behind a bush to throw up.

We're rockin' the marshes, just like our predecessors did

We're rockin' the marshes, make room for all of the kids

We're rockin' the marshes, cash on delivery saves us now

But in the nearest future

We're getting busted don't tie me down

Soon they reached the Mott. Milo jumped in with a yell, and Silas followed. Sarah found some stuff in her pocket and went to fill them up. Koran was inspecting the water curiously, Marcus had launched himself right in front of Silas, and Nora was splashing her brothers. Rian was laughing as he swung from a vine to land in the Mott with a KABLOOSH!!

Water balloon fights and soaking clothes

Uh oh, auntie'll have a row

As Koran looked over with a wary eye, a water balloon hit him in the head and, surprised, he fell in. Everyone roared with laughter and Sarah aimed another water balloon. Koran shook his head, grinned, and dove underwater.

Quick, guys, get somewhere low

Find a place she doesn't know

Rack had gotten out of the water and grabbed a large plank of wood. He set it down by the Mott and used it as a diving board.

Great, she knows where we are

Hurry, you lot, and hide the bug jars

Sarah shot another water balloon at Marcus as he clambered out to try the diving board. "Hey!" he yelled as it hit him in the butt. Then suddenly a water balloon hit Sarah in the head. She whirled around and sent another one back at her pursuer. She heard a sploosh, snorted in laughter, and took off, racing around the Mott.

We're rockin' the marshes, just like Mom and Daddy did

We're rockin' the marshes, my brother's an idiot (Sarah, shut up!)*

We're rockin' the marshes, cash on delivery saves us now

But in the nearest future

We're getting busted she tied me down

Nora watched Koran take off after Sarah and smiled, then grabbed a water balloon of her own and ran after them.

In a blaze these days

Racing past the house again

Until it starts to rain (Crap!)**

We can tell that he's suspecting it

Curses

Raindrops started to fall. Grumbling, the kids went back to the house, but not after Nora threw her water balloon at Sarah and the latter hit Koran with her final one.

He's shooting suspicious looks our way

'Cause he found one of the lids

'Cause Milo dropped one, idiot (SARAH!!)*

Koran bent down. "Hey, what's this?" He held up a jar lid. Sarah cussed under her breath and Nora said hurriedly, "Um, Great-Aunt Zelda was gathering some kind of herb earlier, she must have dropped it." "Hmm." Koran still looked cautious, and Rian and Rack were looking at the Royal Rambles as if they were asking them, "What do you know?"

Yes it was my idea

Always was my idea

Oh joy a storm

Now we're running out of food (Marcus did it)***

They plopped themselves in front of the TV for the rest of the evening until dinner, which they politely excused themselves from, saying "It's very kind of you, but we aren't hungry at the moment." That is, except for Koran, because Great-Aunt Zelda insisted, "You're as thin as a stick, boy, and you need to eat." The others sympathized for him.

The sun's rising we're all awake

We count all the things we'll take

The sun's rising we're all awake

We count all the things we'll take

The sun's rising we're all awake

We count all the things we'll take

The sun's rising we're all awake

We count all the things we'll take

After dinner, the eight kids laid around bored. "What are we gonna do?" groaned Rack. Nora sat up. "We could play…" she smirked and glanced at Sarah. "…Truth or Dare."

It's morning again time for the last stage

Koran's jaw dropped and he scooted out and onto a chair. "Count me out." "Oh come on, Koran" said Rian with a grin. "Sissy." "I am not a—fine. I'll play" the black-haired boy grumbled.

CRAP!!

"I'll go first" said Nora, and looked at all the kids. "Wait, Nora. Before we start I think we should list the rules" said Koran. He stood up, cleared his throat, and announced, "Rule One: No truths or dares can be about liking people." Sarah snorted and leaned back in a reclining chair. "Please, Koran. We're 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds." "Exactly my point. Rule Two: They cannot be about kissing the Boggart." Marcus did a spit take and all the others keeled over, roaring with laughter.

The Bogle Bugs are loose

We're rockin' the marshes, so much for a luxury cruise

We're rockin' the marshes, cash on delivery saves us now

But in the nearest future

We got busted HELP SHE TIED ME DOWN!!

She's crazed

"Rule Three!" Koran shouted over all the guffawing, "They cannot be about using a plant as—" He was interrupted by Great-Aunt Zelda. "Kids, what are you doing now?" she sighed. "We're playing Truth or Dare" said Nora eagerly, while Silas was still chuckling.

Yeah, yeah, we're rockin' the marshes

"Well, you have to go to bed now. Good night, everyone." "Good night, Great-Aunt Zelda" they chorused, and then they went upstairs. They played Truth or Dare in whispers until midnight, then they finally fell asleep, a certain five looking forward to the next day.

Yeah, yeah.

A/N: Loooong chap! The song is called Rockin' the Suburbs, by Ben Folds, and I wrote my own lyrics. I didn't use the last part of the song because, well, there's not much to it.