Charlie Bone and the Hidden King

  "Did you see that?" Emma called to Charlie.

  "What?" said Charlie, irritated by the distraction and desperate to find out more from Billy.

  "Asa came and locked the door as soon as we left the room," Emma told him.

  "And the others are still in there," added Gabriel. "What are they up to?"

  "Who cares." Lysander strolled away from them.

  "I care." Tancred's cape billowed out and a strong breeze whistled through everyone's hair. "What are they doing? I want to know." He put his ear to the door, and it suddenly opened, causing him to fall forward, straight into Asa Pike.

  "Get lost, spy!" hissed Asa, pushing Tancred backward.

  With a yell of rage, Tancred stumbled back, lost his balance, and sat down hard on his bottom.

  "And that goes for all of you." Asa glared down the hallway. "Unless you want detention." He slammed the door and locked it loudly from the inside.

  Tancred got to his feet and was about to approach the King's room again, when Emma put a hand on his arm. "Don't, Tanc," she said. "It's not worth it."

  Charlie could see that Tancred was just itching to bang on those tall black doors, but something in Emma's quiet voice stopped him. "OK. You're right, Em. I'm just playing into their hands."

  Emma helped Tancred gather the books and pens he'd dropped, and with a pile of homework tucked under his arms, the storm boy joined the group making its way to the dormitories. When they had crossed the landing above the hall, the two older boys left the others and mounted a staircase to the upper floors. A little farther on, Emma began to climb a second staircase to the girls' dormitories.

  Night, Em. See you -" Charlie broke off.

  "What is it?" Emma looked over her shoulder.

  The hallway was very dim, and the doors leading off it were hardly discernible, but Charlie knew what he had seen. "Mr. Brown," he whispered. "Benjamin's dad. He went into one of those storage rooms. He was following us. I'm sure he was."

  "Weird," said Emma. "But we can't do anything about it now." She yawned. "I'm off. Night, boys." She disappeared up into the shadows of the next floor.

  Charlie and Billy continued down the long gloomy hall to the dormitory they had shared the previous term. Lists had been pinned to the doors and they soon found that they would be together again.

  Gabriel was already in the dormitory. He was sitting on one of the beds, sniffing the air. "There's a funny smell in here," he said.

  "Smell or not, we're the first ones here, so we get first choice of a bed." Charlie consulted his watch. "Hey, Manfred let us out early."

  "So that he could have his secret talks with Asa and company, no doubt," Gabriel suggested. He went into the bathroom and gave a shout of surprise. "Uurgh! What a stink. It's that dog again."

  "Oh, poor Blessed, I forgot him." As Billy ran to the bathroom, he almost tripped over the short, fat dog that came waddling out as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.

  "What's he doing here?" Gabriel exclaimed. "How come he didn't disappear with the rest of the animals?"

  "I was going to tell you." Billy patted the old dog's head. "He came in when I was unpacking my bag, and I kind of, accidentally, shut him in the bathroom when I went to the King's room for homework."

  "That doesn't explain how he avoided the great animal exodus," said Gabriel as he returned to the bathroom.

  "He's old," Charlie pointed out. "A lot of the old ones couldn't make it, or didn't feel the shudder, or whatever it was."

  Billy heaved Blessed onto the bed he had chosen for himself. "Actually, he did feel the shudder," he told Charlie. "But he was with Cook and she made him stay where he was. When it was all over, he crept out and saw something that made him very, very scared. Didn't it, Blessed?"

  The old dog gave several low grunts and made himself comfortable on Billy's pillow. Charlie sat on the end of the bed next to Billy's. He didn't understand how Billy could tolerate the terrible smell that Blessed must leave on his pillow, let alone the dirt, hairs, and probably fleas.

  "Well, what did he see?" Charlie asked Billy.

  The small albino boy lowered his voice. "He saw a witch with two shadows."

  "What!" cried Charlie.

  Gabriel sprang out of the bathroom. "What happened?"

  Charlie repeated what Billy had told him.

  "What do you mean, 'a witch'?" Alarm spread across Gabriel's long face, making him look like a startled rabbit. "How did Blessed know it was a witch?"

  "That's my word for it," Billy admitted. "Blessed's word was more like devil-woman."

  "Devil-woman." The hairs on the back of Charlie's neck prickled like a bramble bush. "That's worse."

  "And what's all this stuff about two shadows?" asked Gabriel, hoping to calm himself with a rational explanation. "Do you think he was seeing double? I mean, he's a pretty ancient dog, isn't he?"

  "His eyesight's just as good as mine." Billy adjusted his round-framed glasses and spoke to Blessed in a whining sort of mumble.

  Blessed gave a worried howl, then rolled onto his back and emitted a series of staccato-like barks.

  "Definitely two shadows," said Billy, when the old dog's voice had subsided. "Because one of them turned into something else while the devil-woman's shadow stayed with her."

  "What did it turn into?" asked Gabriel and Charlie in unison.

  "For a dog, he described it very well," Billy said appreciatively. "He was in the hall, behind that old chest. The woman came down the main staircase with these two shadows spread across the flagstones in front of her. And when they reached the main doors this - other one - kind of, stood up. First it was gray, like a cloud of dust, and then it was green with golden patterns on it."

  Billy glanced at Blessed and lowered his voice. "He said it was a nightgown, but I think he means that it was a long kind of medieval robe." He gave Blessed a friendly grin. "It's not his fault. I mean, he's never seen a medieval robe. I mean I've only ever seen pictures of . . .

  "Could you please go on about the shadow?" begged Charlie.

  "Sorry. But dogs' feelings are important." Billy gave a light cough. "Anyway, he said that it had a man's face and brown hair, almost to its shoulders, and its shoes were long and pointed, and -"

  The door suddenly burst open and a crowd of boys streamed into the room.

  "Uuurgh! Not that smelly old dog again," said the first boy, a large, chunky character who had earned the name "Bragger" Braine.

  Blessed gave a whine of dismay, tumbled off the bed, and padded through the door as fast as he could.

  "It's disgusting," grumbled Bragger, making for the bed farthest from Billy's. "That dog has the most evil smell in the world."

  "I can think of worse," said Fidelio, putting his bag on the bed Charlie had saved for him.

  "Mommy's given me some air freshener," Rupe Small, a diminutive first-year, piped up. "It'll soon smell better in here, Bragger." He produced an enormous pink can and proceeded to spray the room with an even worse scent than Old Dog.

  "It's called Sweet Petal," Rupe called happily, while eleven boys dived onto their beds and covered their faces with pillows, pajamas, and anything they could lay their hands on.

  Choking cries of "Stop that!" "It's worse!" "Give it up!" "Someone strangle him!" came from the victims, while Rupe blithely filled the dormitory with the suffocating scent of Sweet Petal.

  Nothing, it seemed, could stop the determined sprayer, until a series of earsplitting screams issued from the floor above. Caught in mid-puff, Rupe stood with his mouth agape while boys flung themselves off their beds and filed past him.

  Charlie was the first to reach the girls' floor. He stood at the top of the stairs, rocking on his feet - perilously close to a backward tumble - while Gabriel, propping him up with both hands, peered around him into the hallway beyond.

  "OH MY GOD!" screeched Gabriel, collapsing onto the line of boys standing behind him.

  Oblivious to the yells of pain and anger below, Charlie stared incredulo
usly at the creature in front of him. A greenish-gray alligator of gigantic proportions blocked the entire hall. It blinked its yellow eyes and opened a cavernous mouth, crammed with more evil-looking, razor-sharp teeth than Charlie had ever seen, even in horror movies.

  The floor behind the monster was littered with prostrate figures in various items of nightwear, while the terrified faces of girls who hadn't yet fainted, kept peering out of their rooms, screaming and withdrawing. The passage echoed with the drumbeats of hastily slammed doors.

  All at once, the giant creature gave a throaty bellow and came charging at Charlie. Clinging to the stair rail, but unable to move, Charlie screamed so loudly the creature actually stopped in its tracks.

  "WHAT'S GOING ON?"

  Charlie recognized the voice of his great-aunt Lucretia, the matron. Knowing how much she disliked him, he doubted if she would come to his rescue, but to his amazement, the monster began to dematerialize. Beginning with its tail, invisibility slid up its warty back and over its gnarled head until it was completely swallowed in nothingness.

  By the time Lucretia Yewbeam had climbed over the injured boys and reached Charlie, the hall was empty, except, of course, for the unconscious girls.

  Taking in the dreadful scene before her, the matron cried, "CHARLIE BONE, WHAT, IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT'S GOOD, HAVE YOU DONE?"

  "Me?" croaked Charlie. "Nothing."

  "Do you call that 'nothing'?" The matron pointed at the fallen girls, some of whom were now regaining consciousness.

  "I didn't do that," said Charlie.

  "He did," said a sly voice.

  Dorcas Loom had emerged from one of the dormitories. "He made an alligator. Well, that is to say, he created the illusion of one."

  "I didn't," cried Charlie. "You know I didn't. I got here minutes after you all started screaming."

  "That doesn't mean you didn't do it," said Dorcas.

  "Go to the headmaster this instant." The matron glowered down at Charlie.

  "Why?" asked Charlie, genuinely surprised.

  "To explain what you've done."

  "But . . ." Charlie looked up at the cold face looming over him. They were all the same; his grandmother and his three great-aunts. They would always be against him. To argue would be useless.

  He was about to go down the stairs when a voice rang out, "He didn't do it, Matron. Honestly. I know, he didn't."

  Charlie turned to see Olivia Vertigo bouncing along the hallway. She was wearing the most incredible pair of pajamas. They were black velvet, embroidered with huge, golden flowers, and exactly matched her black-and-gold-striped hair.

  "Mind your own business, Olivia," barked the matron.

  "But it is my business," Olivia protested. "Dorcas is lying. Charlie's innocent."

  "Innocent, my foot." The matron gave Olivia a violent shove. "Get to bed."

  "Thanks for trying, Liv," said Charlie. "By the way, you look fantastic."

  "I told you to see Dr. Bloor," shrieked the matron. "Now, GO." She grabbed Charlie's shoulder and sent him stumbling down the stairs.

  Fidelio was waiting outside the dormitory. "Good luck," he called.

  Charlie grinned. "Dr. Bloor doesn't scare me."

  They could hear the matron marching along the hallway above them, barking out orders and hauling whimpering girls to their feet.

  "Poor things!" Charlie muttered as he left the noises behind him. When he came to the main staircase he heard a light footstep below him and looked down. The hall appeared to be deserted. Charlie began to descend. He was halfway down when he saw a figure dart into the blue coatroom. Mr. Brown, if Charlie was not mistaken.

  Did Benjamin know that his parents were working at Bloor's? Charlie wondered. He had reached the small door that led to the Bloors' apartment in the west wing. A single, dim light showed the way to the base of the west tower. From here a spiral staircase climbed to the turret, but at the first floor, Charlie turned through an arch into a thickly carpeted corridor.

  It was only now that he began to hear his own heartbeat thumping in his chest. He hated this part of the academy. For all its comparative warmth and comfort, it made him feel like a trespasser. He began to wonder how he could prove his innocence without revealing the identity of the true culprit. For that must remain a secret at all costs.

  Olivia had discovered her endowment the previous term. Only Charlie, Fidelio, and Emma knew about it, and they decided to keep it a secret. The fewer people who knew about it, the better. Olivia had promised to use her gift only in the most desperate circumstances, so what had possessed her to conjure up an alligator, right outside the girls' dormitories?

  Charlie had reached the lofty oak-paneled door of Dr. Bloor's study. He knocked tentatively.

  "Enter!" Dr. Bloor's frosty voice came from within the room.

  Charlie entered and stood, just inside the door. His heart sank when he saw old Ezekiel sitting by the fire in his wheelchair. He looked even older than his 101 years, with his skull-like face and sparse white hair.

  "What brings you here so late in the day, Charlie Bone?" Dr. Bloor demanded.

  "Matron sent me." The words stuck in Charlie's throat and came bubbling out as if he were gargling.

  "What?" Ezekiel put a hand to his ear. "Speak up, boy."

  "Matron sent me," shouted Charlie.

  "No need to shout," said Dr. Bloor. "We're not deaf."

  "No, sir."

  "So? Come on, why did the matron send you? What have you done now?"

  "Can you never keep out of trouble?" Ezekiel gave Charlie a black-toothed grin.

  "I try," said Charlie. "But sometimes I am falsely accused."

  "I hope you're not blaming members of staff." The headmaster gave Charlie one of his dead-eyed glares.

  Charlie shifted from foot to foot. "Not exactly."

  "Not exactly. What have you been accused of, Bone?"

  "Of making girls faint, sir."

  Dr. Bloor raised an eyebrow. "And how, pray, did you achieve that?"

  "That's just it, sir, I didn't," Charlie blurted out. "There was this alligator in the hallway, an illusion and . . ."

  "What?" Ezekiel whirled his wheelchair away from the fireplace and drew up in front of Charlie. "So it's you. You, who have been creating illusions, frightening people to death."

  "NO," cried Charlie. "It's not. I can't. If I could, I'd have done it ages ago."

  Ezekiel Bloor's small, black eyes darted over Charlie's face, as though seeking the truth from his slightest change of expression.

  "He didn't do it, Grandfather," said Dr. Bloor. "I believe it's someone who has only recently discovered their endowment. And Charlie knows who it is."

  "Yesss!" Ezekiel spat the word. "Yess! He knows. Who is it, Charlie?"

  "I don't know."

  "Liar!" the old man's cane was hidden in the folds of his woolen blanket and Charlie didn't see it until, in a blur of white, it slashed across his knees.

  "Owww!" yelled Charlie.

  "You know who it is," said Ezekiel. "And now we must know. We have to, you see. Every child who is endowed must be known to us."

  "Well," said Charlie, thinking fast as he rubbed his knees. "I haven't a clue. Nor have any of us. It took us completely by surprise. I mean we knew there were twelve of us - if you include Manfred - so imagine how we felt when, out of the blue, someone started creating illusions." Charlie paused, worried that he had gone too far. "Perhaps it's one of the teachers."

  "Don't be silly!" Ezekiel lifted his cane but Charlie stepped out of the way just in time.

  "Let it go, Grandfather." Dr. Bloor spoke slowly, his tone full of menace. "We'll find out in time. And then, oh dear, they'll be in for it. Nasty, crafty, sneaking child. And you'll be in for it too, Charlie Bone, for lying."

  INTO THE WILDERNESS

  T he trouble with Olivia, in Charlie's opinion, was that she could never see the error of her ways.

  "This time she'll have to," Charlie said to himself when he heard voices com
ing from inside the ruin. He'd spent almost the entire first break looking for Olivia. He should have known she'd be hiding in the castle.

  "Got you!" cried Charlie, leaping through the arch. But all thought of telling Olivia off left him when he saw the chaos in the courtyard. The huge flagstones were cracked and broken. Shattered fragments lay everywhere and there was a dark hole in place of one of the larger stones. The great slab lay in two pieces beside the gap.

  "What on earth?" gasped Charlie.

  "I know - weird, isn't it?" Emma, standing close to Olivia, nervously chewed a strand of blond hair.

  "This is the result of a search," Olivia pronounced. "You can tell. And I'll bet that whoever was searching found what they wanted under that slab."

  Charlie peered down into the rectangle of dark soil. In the center there was a square indentation defined by rotting strips of wood, as though a small box had lain there. The lid had obviously decayed and now the boxlike shape was packed with earth and leaves. But in the middle the outline of a circle could still be clearly seen. The box had contained something round with a slim oval attached - could it be a handle? From the sharp contours of the circle it appeared that the object had only recently been removed. Charlie thought of the "artifact" his uncle had mentioned being ripped from the earth.

  "Let's get away from here," said Emma. "It gives me the creeps."

  As they made their way out of the ruin, Charlie brought up the subject of the alligator. "What were you thinking of, you dolt?" he asked Olivia, carefully stepping out of reach of her witchy-looking mauve shoes. "I mean, an alligator - right outside the dorms."

  "I was sick of all the moaning." Olivia adjusted the mauve bandanna on her head. "They were all going on about their lost kittens and disappearing dogs and stuff and . . ." A wicked sparkle came into her eye. "Did you know that the Looms' revolting rottweilers are missing? Dorcas has never liked them but she was grizzling like a drain. Oh, my poor brothers, they've lost their dogs. So I thought an alligator would cheer her up."

  Olivia was a brilliant actress and Charlie couldn't help smiling at her impression of Dorcas Loom. "You'll scare someone to death, Liv, and then what'll we do? You'll be found out and then you'll be finished. The Bloors are desperate to know who's creating the illusions."