Magyk

Aunt Zelda insists that the children escape through the tunnel while she stays behind to look after the wounded Boggart. Inside the tunnel, Jenna opens a hidden passage by touching a hieroglyph of a dragon. The passage leads to an underground temple and the Dragon Boat of Hotep-Ra, a legendary ship that belonged to the Wizard who constructed the Wizard Tower. The Dragon Boat used to be a real dragon, and she carried Hotep-Ra from the Far Countries to this kingdom centuries ago. The Queen at the time befriended Hotep-Ra and helped him repair his boat after she saved her daughter. Through the centuries, the Queens paid secret visits to the Dragon Boat on MidSummer Day, but this tradition was interrupted when Jenna’s mother was assassinated. A succession of White Witches looked after the Dragon Boat through the ages, and Aunt Zelda is the most recent Witch to do so.

At Nicko’s direction, Boy 412 takes the tiller. Jenna inadvertently awakens the dragon by hugging its neck. The temple begins to flood, and the Dragon Boat surges forward. Now that there’s a young Queen aboard and a Magykal hand on the tiller, the vessel senses that it’s “time to go to sea once more” (485).

The Dragon Boat exults in her newfound freedom and the storm, which she considers a good omen for the start of a voyage. At Jenna’s request, she heads for The Vengeance and Marcia. Marcia realizes that the ring Boy 412 gave her is “the long-lost Dragon Ring of Hotep-Ra” (489). The ring gradually restores her Magykal powers. DomDaniel thinks that the approaching Dragon Boat is merely an illusion created by Marcia, and he orders his Magogs to kill her. Marcia casts a spell that makes the monsters shrivel up and then sneaks onto the deck. The Dragon Boat soars into the air and looms over The Vengeance. Jenna sends the last Shield Bug after DomDaniel, which causes him to fall to the deck. Seizing her chance, Marcia reclaims the Akhu Amulet and, with it, her rightful place as the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. She prepares to strike DomDaniel with a spell but stops when the Dragon Boat urges her to climb aboard.

With DomDaniel defeated, the Dragon Boat’s crew sails back to Aunt Zelda’s cottage. The Dragon Boat falls asleep as her passengers exit. As the storm fades and the water level lowers, The Vengeance becomes stuck in the marsh. Thousands of Quake Ooze Brownies invade the cottage, but the Boggart drives them outside, and they attack DomDaniel’s ship. Aunt Zelda, Marcia, and the children clean up the mess the Brownies made.

By the next morning, The Vengeance has sunk into the marsh. The Apprentice paddles to the cottage on a wooden plank and describes the Brownies’ attack: “They pulled us down into the marsh. I couldn’t breathe. Everyone’s gone” (513). Jenna takes pity on him, and she and Nicko carry him into the cottage. The Apprentice tries to steal Marcia’s amulet, and she knocks him unconscious with a Thunderflash spell. Aunt Zelda is scandalized: “He may be the most unpleasant boy I have ever had the misfortune to come across, but he’s still only a boy” (517). Jenna thinks that the Apprentice is her long-lost brother, Septimus, and she appeals on his behalf as well. Marcia explains that he’s really DomDaniel in disguise, and she teleports the Necromancer back into the sunken ship.

Marcia knew that the alleged Apprentice was really DomDaniel because she discovered the real Apprentice earlier that morning. The Necromancer consumed his life energy, leaving nothing but his empty skin and clothes. Aunt Zelda is moved with pity, not only for the ill-fated boy but also for Silas and Sarah.

Later that day, Marcia gives Boy 412 a beautiful leather-bound diary and returns the golden ring to him. She tells him that the ring belongs to the Dragon Master, and Boy 412 guiltily apologizes for taking it. However, Marcia explains that Hotep-Ra’s ring chose him to be the new Dragon Master because of his great Magykal power. She asks him if he’s thought about her offer, and he answers, “I would like to be your Apprentice. Very much” (529).

Aunt Zelda revives the Apprentice using a modified Darke potion called Vigor Volts. Then she casts the scrying spell again and looks into his past, searching for answers and clues about how to sunder the boy’s connection to DomDaniel. After she finishes scrying, she leaves the Apprentice in a healing sleep and returns to the cottage. She’s astonished to find Alther Mella in a fishing boat outside her home. Alther explains that he, Silas, and Sarah sailed to the marshes with the intention of helping Aunt Zelda and the children escape DomDaniel.

Because Boy 412 has agreed to become Marcia’s Apprentice, the group prepares the traditional Apprentice Supper to seal the contract. Marcia gives a brief speech to Boy 412: “So, thank you for agreeing to be my Apprentice for the next seven years and a day. Thank you very much. It’s going to be a wonderful time for us both” (539). Each of the living people present at the party is given a cabbage that magically transforms into whatever food they’re most craving, thanks to a spell cast by Marcia. In return for the time that Boy 412 will spend as her Apprentice, the ExtraOrdinary Wizard offers to grant a wish for him. Although the boy is happy with his newfound family and freedom, there is one thing he still desires: “‘I want,’ he said quietly, ‘to know who I am’” (542).

Aunt Zelda leads everyone onto a bridge so that she can cast a scrying spell on the water below. The Witch asks the moon to reveal “the mother of Boy 412 of the Young Army” (546). At first, the group sees their own reflections in the water, but their images disappear until only Sarah’s is left. Next, Aunt Zelda asks the moon to show Septimus Heap, and Boy 412’s reflection appears. Sarah realizes that the boy’s eyes are turning green and removes the red hat he’s worn for months, revealing the Heaps’ trademark curly blond hair. Septimus Heap casts off “his old life, his old fears and his old name” (548).

The narrative moves 10 years into the past. DomDaniel sends a Nurse to retrieve Septimus Heap from the Young Army barracks, but the Nurse seizes the Matron Midwife’s baby by mistake. When the Midwife tries to take her son back, the Nurse has her arrested. The Midwife’s baby is brought to the Necromancer, while Septimus Heap is raised within the Young Army as Boy 412.

The second epilogue relates what happens to various minor characters after the main story ends. Gringe remains the Castle’s Gatekeeper, a job he loves even though he “would rather have jumped into a vat of boiling oil than admit it” (553). He’s able to save his 11-year-old son, Rupert, from conscription into the Young Army thanks to a silver half-crown coin that Marcia generously gives him. Rupert Gringe becomes a shipbuilder and constructs Muriel. Stanley the Message Rat is rescued from prison by a colleague. After her arrest, the Matron Midwife, Agnes Meredith, is taken to an “asylum.” She’s released a few years later and begins to search for her lost son, Merrin.