Marcia sees that Boy 412 has potential, and asks him to become her Apprentice, but he refuses. Marcia then walks with Boy 412, and shows him a charm that Alther, the old ExtraOrdinary Wizard gave to her when she was his Apprentice. He keeps the ring a secret for sometime though. On the island, Boy 412 wanders around the marshes, falls into a pit with a large cavern in it, and finds a ring that glows when he places it on his finger. Nicko, aided by Silas, sails the group to the island where Aunt Zelda lives a cottage in the Marram Marshes. Marcia uses a Reverse Spell to Project the Muriel, the boat that they're sailing on, and distract the Hunter, upon which he loses the groups trail, and has to return to the castle.

The Hunter, a henchmen of the Supreme Custodian, is sent to chase them. Secretly in return, Marcia lends Sally her KeepSafe.

The chute leads them to a dump next to the docks where Nicko helps the group sail away on the Muriel, which is given to them by Sally, Sarah Heap's friend. Marcia defends Jenna, and they all escape the tower through the rubbish chute. But before they are there for an hour, the Assassin arrives to kill Jenna. Silas, Nicko, and Maxie then come to visit Jenna in the tower. Marcia saves Boy 412, a mysterious boy in the Young Army, outside the Wizard Tower from freezing to death, and takes him with them to her room in the tower. Marcia takes Jenna away to protect her from an Assassin. At which point, Marcia also reveals Jenna as the previous Queen's daughter. The story revolves around the events of the time ten years after this incident, starting when Marcia comes to take Jenna in her to protection to stop her from being assassinated. Silas names the baby girl Jenna and raises the child and protects her like his own child. Just as he is out to enter his house, the matron midwife runs out carrying his newborn son Septimus Heap (who has been predicted to have extraordinary powers as he is the seventh son of a seventh son) wrapped in cloth and pronouncing him dead. He meets her in an alley way before he gets back and she tells him to keep the baby he found, raise her as his own and if anyone asks, acknowledge her as his daughter. Upon returning to a castle, he learns about the succession of Marcia Overstrand as ExtraOrdinary Wizard. He hides her in his cloak and takes her with him. Just outside the castle Silas finds an infant baby girl with violet eyes, stranded in the snow, and wrapped in a blanket. Here, we find Silas Heap trudging through the snow with some herbal medicines for his wife Sarah Heap.

The book begins outside of The Castle, in The Ramblings.

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