"Mah Kee uh VELL ee" Violet pronounced more slowly. She'd forgotten she was dealing with a first year here. [b]"He wrote a book called The Prince, which is sort of a book of philosophy, or a guide to taking over the world, depending on how you look at it. History isn't quite clear on whether he was a Muggle or a Wizard, but his name sounded cool to me.[b]" Miss Howard, her governess, had made her read that book, in a time that now seemed long ago. Violet realized that she hadn't written her old governess in quite a while--she couldn't seem to get organized at all this year.

"And trouble? Well, for one thing, he's an awful thief. You see, magpies love shiny things, and they'll pick something up they like and take it off and hide it. I'm always afraid Mack will take something valuable or important that belongs to someone and make off with it, so I try to find where he's made his latest nest each year before school ends and clear it out, just to make sure."

"A chameleon? That sounds really interesting," Violet said admiringly. "Can they really change colors to match the objects they're on?" Violet imagined that would make a chameleon pet hard to find if it got away. "And you think your pet might have wandered out here? Or did you bring him out to the Sanctuary yourself, for safekeeping?" This was probably a better place for it than the laundry room, someone might not see it if it looked like a piece of laundry and throw it into the wash by mistake.