As she walked out of the Palace Gate and looked along Wizard Way, the wide, torchlit avenue that led to it, Tod gasped in wonder. The Wizard Tower rose high into the clear night sky, eclipsing the stars. It was tall and elegant, shimmering with a silver sheen over which played a myriad of coloured lights – fleetingly blue, purple, green and pink. The golden pyramid had become a pyramid of many colours reflecting the lights that glanced off it, so that it seemed to be almost transparent at times. Tod walked up Wizard Way, flanked by Nicko, Snorri, the Queen and the Chief Hermetic Scribe, whom, she now realised, was actually called Beetle – although she found it hard to believe that this was his real name. Why would anyone name a baby after an insect? But Tod reminded herself she was in another country. For all she knew, lots of people in the Castle were named after insects. Maybe there were Millipedes, Bugs and Bees wandering around all over the place. The nearer Tod got to the Wizard Tower, the more unreal everything felt.
