Charlie Bone and the Hidden King

  Charlie rubbed his eyes. Reading by candlelight wasn't easy, especially when he was half asleep. "It was all lies," he said. "All that stuff I heard about Count Harken when I was under the table. They said he had come to protect the king's children, but he only wanted to cause trouble. He taught them to murder and torture, to hunt animals to extinction, just like Bartholomew said."

  "So much for our books, Julia," Uncle Paton remarked. "I have never found a single reference to such a person in my library."

  "Nor I," said Julia, "but there must have come a time when people didn't look favorably upon men like the count. The descendants of the five children who had so slavishly followed him probably decided to cut him out of their histories."

  "Not Miss Chrystal," Charlie mumbled through a yawn. "She would choose a name that makes you think of something good and beautiful. Her real name's Tilpin." He gave another huge yawn. "I wonder what it was before that."

  "Time for bed, Charlie Bone," said his uncle. "We've read everything that Bartholomew marked for us, now let's sleep on it. There's nothing more we can do tonight."

  Charlie was relieved to be sent to bed. His eyes were already closing. Leaving the diaries with his uncle and Miss Ingledew, he bid them good night and went up to bed.

  As he passed the bathroom, he saw the white moth fluttering outside the closed door. How thoughtless he'd been. The moth was his wand. It could help him. Opening the door, he stepped inside. Was it his imagination, or had Maisie slipped a little further into her frozen stage? Charlie pulled the mask up to her forehead and saw that her eyes had closed.

  "Stay with us, Maisie," he whispered. "Cling on. Tight. We'll help you!"

  The moth swung wildly around the light and Charlie quickly turned it off. Now the only light came from the moth's shining silver-white wings. The little creature settled on Maisie's feet and crawled slowly toward her face. When she reached her chin she lifted into the air and hovered above Maisie's closed eyes. Suddenly they flew open.

  "Maisie!" cried Charlie. "Maisie, Maisie, come back. It's me, Charlie!"

  She seemed to see him and her lips moved the tiniest fraction. The moth flew down and perched on her gray curls. A flush spread across Maisie's cheeks and then, all at once, her eyes clouded over and a look of panic appeared on her face. Her lids drooped and she looked more frozen than ever. Whoever had frozen Maisie wanted to prove that they were more powerful than Charlie and his wand together.

  Charlie trudged back to bed with the moth on his shoulder. Tired as he was, he knew he wouldn't sleep.

  Billy Raven was kneeling on the landing above the great hall. Blessed crouched beside him. The main doors were open and flurries of sleet blew in with the guests. Billy had never seen so many fine people all at once. The women, in particular, looked as if they had stepped out of fairy tales. The colors of their ball gowns were breathtaking. Even Charlie's great-aunts looked reasonable.

  There was a sudden lull in the conversation. Heads turned toward the doors and a couple walked in. Billy clutched the staircase railings. The woman was Charlie's mother, Mrs. Bone. Mrs. Bone as Billy had never seen her. Dressed in a floating blue gown, she looked like a dazzling angel.

  A low growl throbbed in Blessed's throat. He backed away, whining and trembling.

  Blessed, what is it? Billy grunted softly.

  Green ~ man - shadow, whined Blessed.

  Green man? Billy looked down into the hall. Charlie's mother was holding the arm of a man in a green velvet suit. He had thick brown hair that was touched with gold, and a nose like a hawk.

  Billy shuffled away from the light. "The shadow," he breathed. "I must tell Charlie."

  Blessed grunted, "Come away, quick."

  "Yes, yes, I must."

  As Billy scrambled to his feet, a voice said, "What are you doing here?" Manfred stepped out of the hallway.

  "I-I was only looking, sir," Billy stuttered.

  "Spying, more like," said Manfred coldly.

  "No. Not spying. Honest."

  "It's a shame you can't spy for me anymore." Manfred's pitiless black eyes found Billy's and glared into them.

  Billy's red, albino eyes had always managed to withstand Manfred's hypnotizing glare, but tonight Billy felt there was something different about Manfred. His gaze had lost the power it used to have. Something had changed.

  "Don't stand there gawking," snarled Manfred. "Get to bed. And send that mangy dog down to the kitchens."

  But Billy continued to look at Manfred, trying to guess what had happened to him.

  "What did I say!" Manfred grabbed Billy's wrist, and there was a bright flash as his long fingers pressed into Billy's flesh. The small boy felt that his whole arm was on fire.

  "Owwwwww!" yelled Billy.

  Several of the guests looked up, but Manfred dragged Billy away from the landing and deep into the hallway. "Get to bed," he hissed.

  Billy's arm was released, and the headmaster's son whirled away. Moments later the tap of footsteps could be heard descending the stairs.

  Sobbing with pain, Billy rushed back to the dormitory. He held his arm under the cold-water tap but the pain persisted. There were four deep red welts above his wrist and one beneath it where a thumb had squeezed his flesh. Manfred's hypnotizing power had been replaced by something even worse.

  Billy lay on his bed, holding his injured arm across his body. Blessed jumped up and attempted to lick it, but Billy pushed him away. It's no good, he grunted. Sorry, Blessed.

  Sorry, sorry, sorry, howled the old dog.

  The harsh light in the dormitory was beginning to give Billy a headache. He needed comfort. Scrambling off the bed, he turned out the light and put all five of his guardian's candles on the windowsill. A tiny flame appeared at the top of each one, and they all burned with a clear, steady light.

  Billy began to breathe more easily. His head cleared and his arm stopped throbbing. In a few moments the angry red marks had completely faded.

  Charlie heard the soft purr of an engine in the street. He rolled out of bed and went to the window.

  The gold limousine was parked outside number nine. A man in a green velvet suit walked around the back and opened the door nearest the curb. Charlie's mother stepped out; her blue dress gleamed in the streetlight. They walked toward the house, the man's arm around Amy Bone's shoulders.

  Mom, don't let him kiss you, Charlie silently prayed.

  When the couple reached the steps, the man bent his head and kissed Amy Bone on the lips. Charlie felt as though all the breath had been knocked out of him. As his mother climbed to the front door, the man looked up and saw Charlie at the window. He smiled. And in that instant, Charlie knew that his mother had been kissed by an enchanter.

  THE ALTERED PHOTOGRAPH

  A WARM WELCOME TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS said a sign on the door of the Pets' Cafe. Below the sign there was a list of all the extra treats on the Sunday menu. Mrs. Onimous had evidently been cooking some very special food for the returning animals.

  When Charlie went in he was met by Norton, the bouncer, in a pink T-shirt adorned with sparkling elephants.

  "Come in, Charlie. Your friends are over there with an extra gerbil for you." Norton pointed at Gabriel, who waved and held up a small bundle of black-and-white fur.

  The cafe had been decorated with colored streamers and strings of white lights, just as if it were Christmas.

  "We wanted the place to look festive, now that the animals have come back," said Norton, "but I'm not sure that they appreciate the gesture. Some of them are still very nervous. Look at that cat, trembling something awful. And the birds aren't singing as much. Whatever it was that made them all run away is still around, if you ask me."

  "I think so, too," said Charlie. He made his way over to the table where Gabriel was sitting with Olivia, Emma, and Fidelio.

  Olivia's rabbit had tucked his head under her chin and Nancy the duck was sitting under Emma's chair.

  "Nancy's still in a state," said Emma. "It's great
to have her back, though."

  "Mom let me bring Wilfred's hutch into the hall," said Olivia. "Look at him. He's just a bundle of nerves."

  Fidelio's deaf cat was fast asleep in a cat basket under the table. Deafness and old age seemed to have made her immune to the atmosphere that was troubling the younger animals.

  Fidelio advised Charlie to get some Green Heavenlys before they all went. "They're fabulous," he said. "Dripping with green icing and chocolate and stuff."

  Charlie joined the line at the counter. Lysander and Homer were two places ahead of him and Charlie noticed that the gray parrot looked very depressed. His head drooped and he kept repeating, "Retreat! Retreat! Watch the dogs!"

  Did he mean the Looms' rottweilers? Charlie wondered. He looked around the cafe but there was no sign of them. Perhaps Homer was remembering something that had happened to him in the army.

  By the time Charlie reached the counter all the Green Heavenlys had gone. "Sorry, Charlie," said Mr. Onimous. "Lysander took the last two. Should have rationed them, shouldn't I? The Nut-Pom sticks are good. Try some."

  "Aren't they for animals?" asked Charlie.

  "They're uni-food," said Mr. Onimous with a chuckle. "Get it? One for all."

  "Uni? Oh, yes, OK. Just one, please," Charlie said cautiously, "and a jam and ginger ring."

  Charlie had just sat down when Tancred swept in. Norton, the bouncer, was being rather fussy. "No animal, no entry," he told Tancred.

  "Look," said Tancred, pointing at Gabriel. "He's got my entry ticket."

  "Animals aren't tickets, young man," growled Norton.

  Tancred stamped his foot and a wild wind blew through the room. Plates, cups, and silverware were sent flying, not to mention Nut-Pom sticks, Green Heavenlys, ginger rings, and other goodies. Luckily, Mr. Onimous had taken to providing plastic instead of glass and china, so there were no breakages. But the commotion sent some of the more nervous animals over the edge. A terrible wailing, howling, and squealing started up.

  Gabriel rushed over to Tancred with a white gerbil. "It's all right, Norton. Here's Tancred's gerbil. Calm down, Tanc, everything's OK."

  Once Tancred was in a mood it took him ages to calm down. Charlie and the others, having just retrieved their food, clung to their plates as Tancred came storming over. He took the empty seat next to Lysander and then realized he had nothing to eat.

  "Here." Lysander pushed his second Green Heavenly over to Tancred.

  Charlie watched sadly as the storm boy bit into the delicious-looking cookie. It did drip with icing and chocolate. But at least it soothed Tancred's temper. The wind died to a little breeze that occasionally flipped over a Nut-Pom stick or a thin cookie.

  "So," said Lysander, when things had calmed down, "I heard you got detention, Charlie. Did you see the hundred heads?"

  "Did I?" Charlie said emphatically. "I'll say I did. You'll never believe what I heard."

  "WHAT?" said his friends in unison.

  Charlie swallowed his last piece of ginger ring, washed it down with cherry juice, and then told his friends everything he could remember about his night under the table. When it came to Miss Chrystal's revelation, he built the tension by describing his prickling scalp, and by the time he had finished, everyone was scratching their heads.

  Fidelio looked completely stunned. "What am I going to do?" His voice was quiet and scared. "She's my violin teacher."

  There was a dramatic silence. No one knew what to suggest.

  "She's got nothing against you," Lysander said at last. "So I'd just carry on as normal."

  "But I can't, can I?" Fidelio looked wildly around the table. "I mean, I know what she is - how can I forget it?"

  "And what about this count she's let loose?" Emma hugged Nancy so hard it let out a startled quack. "Where is he? What's he going to do?"

  "I can tell you where he is," Charlie said grimly. "He's the new owner at Kingdom's and he calls himself Mr. Noble."

  "How do you know that?" asked Tancred.

  "Because -" Charlie hesitated. He hadn't wanted to mention his mother, but he'd gone too far to stop. "Because my mom went to the Grand Ball with him."

  "Charlie, no!" Emma's hand flew to her mouth.

  The others gasped and spluttered and Fidelio said, "What are you going to do?"

  "I don't know. I need a bit of help, don't I?" Charlie said wretchedly.

  His friends murmured in agreement, and then fell silent again. A wordless gloom settled on the group, until, without any warning, Olivia decided to do something rash.

  One minute the table was empty except for a few crumbs, the next it was covered by a huge, fat, yellow-and-black-spotted caterpillar.

  Tancred yelled and leaped away from the table. A terrified gerbil flew several feet into the air, and Homer swooped eagerly, only to see his meal disappear before his eyes.

  "Who did that?" Tancred demanded.

  "Who did that?" Lysander looked furious.

  "Why did whoever did that, do it?" Gabriel asked shakily.

  The others, who knew about Olivia's endowment, looked uncomfortable.

  "It was me," said Olivia. "You all looked so gloomy, I thought you needed a bit of a jolt."

  "You," said Lysander. "Since when have you been able to do stuff like that?"

  Olivia glanced at Charlie. "Since last semester. Charlie was there, and Fidelio and Emma. But no one else knows."

  "And we want to keep it that way," said Charlie. "So there's at least one endowed person the Bloors don't know about."

  Lysander looked over his shoulder. "You'll have to be more careful," he said gravely. "Anyone in this cafe could have seen that yellow monster."

  "There are enough monsters in here already. No one would have guessed it was an illusion." Olivia gave Lysander a smug grin.

  "They would if they'd seen it disappear," he retorted.

  Charlie was still hungry. His mother had been fast asleep when he left the house, and without Maisie to cook one of her big Sunday roasts, he'd had to make do with a lump of cheese and a stale bun. He was about to go up to get another Nut-Pom stick, when he saw Mr. Onimous making his way toward their table. His hand was placed on the shoulder of a very small girl with bouncing brown curls and large hazel eyes. The little girl was carrying a plate piled high with pink-and-blue balls.

  "I want to introduce you to Una," said Mr. Onimous when he reached the children's table. "She's brought an extra treat for you all. Marshmallow globes."

  The little girl smiled around at everyone.

  "Hello, Una!" They all returned her bright smile.

  Mr. Onimous leaned closer to the table and confided, "She's my brother's daughter, twins we are, and with Onoria and me not having been blessed with children, Una here is like our own little daughter. Also" - he lowered his voice -"she is endowed."

  When he said this, the little girl suddenly vanished, leaving the plate of marshmallows hanging in the air.

  "No. Not now, darling," Mr. Onimous said sharply.

  Una reappeared, still holding the plate, which she carefully placed on the table, saying, "Eat up!"

  Everyone grabbed a marshmallow globe and Una cried happily, That's right. Stuff yourselves."

  "She's very forward," Mr. Onimous said ruefully. "It's her mother's fault. She spoils her." Before leading the little girl away, he added, "Una's only five, but like some of you, she's special. So remember her when the time comes."

  "What time, Mr. Onimous?" said Charlie.

  "Who knows what lies around the corner?" Mr. Onimous's smiling, whiskery face became very grave all at once. He clasped Una's hand and they made their way back to the kitchen.

  "I hope that count thingy isn't lying around the corner," said Gabriel through a mouthful of marsh-mallow.

  "He's bound to be, isn't he?" said Emma. "I mean, if he's not around this corner, he'll be around another one, until . . .

  "Em, don't be so pessimistic." Olivia wiped her mouth and stood up. "We can take him on. We've got powers.
"

  "I think they need our table." Lysander pointed at an elderly couple with trays of food and four white cats, one perched on each of their four shoulders.

  Homer settled the argument over who should have the last marshmallow by spearing it with his beak. The group collected their pets and moved to the door. Charlie was the first out and to his surprise, he walked straight into Benjamin and Runner Bean.

  The big dog leaped up at Charlie with a welcoming bark, and Charlie realized how much he'd missed him.

  "You didn't tell me what time you were coming here," Benjamin said accusingly. "You're not leaving already, are you?"

  The others were coming out of the cafe and Charlie stood aside to let them pass. "Sorry, Ben," he said.

  "Are you going to come for a walk, then?" asked Benjamin.

  "Urn - I don't think so," Charlie said uncomfortably. He'd promised to meet his uncle at the bookstore, but he didn't want Benjamin tagging along.

  Gabriel waved at Charlie and followed the two older boys out of Frog Street. All three lived on the hill outside the city, and Gabriel's mother usually gave him a lift. Fidelio and the girls waited for Charlie.

  "Why are you being like this?" Benjamin said with a sob in his voice.

  Charlie felt bad. "I'm not being anything," he said as gently as he could. "I'm just busy."

  "No one will be my friend." Benjamin stared gloomily at his feet.

  "We will." Frowning at Charlie, Emma put her arm around Benjamin's skinny shoulders. "We're going to the bookstore. You can come if you like."

  "The bookstore?" Benjamin seemed uncertain. "No, I don't think so, thank you. Runner needs a walk." He threw Charlie a reproachful look. "Maybe I'll see you next weekend."

  "It's a deal," said Charlie. "Friday night. Soon as I get back from school."

  "OK." Benjamin trudged away from them while Runner Bean did his best to cheer him up, bouncing around his woeful figure with squeaky barks of encouragement.

  "Why are you being so mean to Ben?" asked Emma.

  Charlie gave a guilty shrug. "His parents are spies, Em. There's too much to lose. Other people's lives depend on our secrecy."

  "Ooo!" Olivia mockingly wiped her brow. "We are being serious today. Charlie, you can carry my rabbit. Now, let's all go bother Emma's auntie."