“He was not used to the smell of dragon breath, which is best described as a combination of the stench of burning rubber and the stink of old socks, with overtones of a hamster cage in dire need of a cleaning.”

“Why?” breathed Boy 412. “Why me?”“You have astonishing Magykal power. I told you before. Maybe now you’ll believe me.” She smiled.“I—I thought the power came from the ring.”“No. It comes from you. Don’t forget, the Dragon Boat recognized you even without the ring. She knew. Remember, it was last worn by Hotep-Ra, the first ExtraOrdinary Wizard. It’s been waiting a long time to find someone like him.”“But that’s because it’s been stuck in a secret tunnel for hundreds of years.”“Not necessarily,” said Marcia mysteriously. “Things have a habit of working out, you know. Eventually.”

“Use your head, Sep. Loads of wolverines. Hanging around waiting for super. Gtting excited. eating mint blasts. so what do you think they do?'it must be here. they can't have eaten that... i dunno, Nik, what do they do?'POO.”

“Oh dear," said Sarah anxiously, "I do wish he wouldn't do these silly things."I'm sure we all wish that, Sarah," said Marcia sternly. "But unfortunately he has progressed rather further than the silly stage. Evil-minded-scheming stage is more what I would call it.”

“I really like Septimus Heap. he is my favorite guy in the story. I should make you all read it.”

“Septimus was suddenly horribly afraid that the Antidote would not work. He glanced nervously at Marcia, who whispered, "It will work, Septimus. You must believe in it." Physik isn't like Magyk," said Septimus unhappily. "It doesn't matter whether you expect it to work or not. Either it does or it doesn't.""I doubt that very much," said Marcia. "A little belief in something always helps.”

“Things have a habit of working out, you know. Eventually.”