Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors

  Luckily the storm had blown the boat farther inland rather than out to sea. Albert and the boys rolled up their trousers and took off their socks and shoes. They pulled the boat into the water, and while Charlie and Billy perched on one seat, Albert sat opposite and took up the oars. His back was toward the tall cliffs on the mainland, so he didn't see the two figures standing on the distant beach.

  Charlie saw them first. His heart gave a lurch. Was it the Yewbeams? Billy saw the figures too and he clutched Charlie's sleeve. "They've come to get me," he whimpered. "I should have stayed on the island."

  “You wouldn't have been any safer," Charlie told him. "Calm down, it might not be them."

  Albert looked over his shoulder. "People. Can you see who they are, Charlie? Do you want to return to the castle?"

  Charlie screwed up his eyes and stared at the beach. "No," he said slowly. "I think — yes, yes, I'm sure I know who it is." For one of the figures was beginning to come into focus. A tall man with black hair and a black coat. "Yes!" cried Charlie. "It's my uncle Paton. I don't know who the other person is, but he's very small and kind of hunched. I don't think he can be dangerous."

  Charlie's excitement got the better of him, and he bounced up in his seat, tipping the boat sideways.

  "Whoa!" cried Albert. "You almost had us in the water, Charlie Bone!"

  Helped by the incoming tide, they were now fast approaching the beach. Charlie couldn't wait to see his uncle's face when Albert stepped ashore, for Lyell Bone had been Uncle Paton's best friend, and surely Paton could help him remember who he really was.

  "Uncle Paton!" Charlie called. "Guess who I've found!"

  Paton waved and shouted. "I see you have Billy Raven with you. And here is Mr. Crowquill."

  "No, no! You don't understand." Charlie couldn't stand the suspense.

  Albert looked back at the beach, but Uncle Paton gave no sign that he had recognized him. The boat bumped onto a sandbank and Albert and the boys climbed out, splashing through the shallow water as they pulled the boat onto the beach.

  Charlie couldn't wait any longer. "Look, Uncle Paton, I've found my father."

  Uncle Paton regarded Albert with a puzzled frown. Eventually he said, "Charlie, this is not your father."

  Charlie was so shocked he couldn't speak.

  "They call me Albert Tuccini," said Albert, extending his hand. "I am very pleased to meet you."

  Uncle Paton introduced himself and Christopher and they all shook hands.

  Charlie felt as though there were a lead weight on his chest. It caused him so much pain he couldn't think, couldn't move. The immense cloud of disappointment muffled the voices around him. He was vaguely aware that Christopher Crowquill was hugging Billy And he saw Uncle Paton listening to Albert and gazing over the sea to the Castle of Mirrors. His uncle must have persuaded Albert not to return to the island, because the next moment the happy group was moving up the beach.

  "Charlie, are you all right?" Uncle Paton looked back and waited for him.

  "I . . . I . . . yes," said Charlie miserably. He walked up to his uncle.

  "You've had a terrible disappointment. I'm so sorry, Charlie." Uncle Paton squeezed his shoulder.

  "It's OK. I was being silly. I knew it couldn't really be him."

  "One day it will be," said Uncle Paton.

  Charlie watched his uncle and Albert push the boat into the cave. And then they were all climbing the wall of rocks into another bay where a narrow path wound up to the top of the cliffs.

  Christopher Crowquill led the way with Billy behind him. Next came Uncle Paton, followed by Charlie. Albert Tuccini brought up the rear. It was a perilous climb, and when they were halfway up, Uncle Paton said, "You should have seen us coming down, Charlie. We were on our bottoms most of the time."

  Charlie managed a halfhearted smile. He looked back at the Castle of Mirrors. It was shrouded in mist. Soon it would be invisible. But its precious secrets would still be there, hidden in the wall of history and one day Charlie would return to find them.

  By the time they had reached the top of the cliff, the tide was high, and looking down, Charlie saw foaming waves crashing against a barrier of jagged black rocks.

  Albert Tuccini had been watching Charlie anxiously. He put a hand on Charlie's arm and said, "I am sorry that I am not your father."

  "That's all right," said Charlie lamely

  They were walking along the cliff top to the road where Uncle Paton had parked his car. As they turned away from the sea, a bird gave a sudden shriek and flew into the sky. Peering ahead to see what had frightened the bird, Charlie saw a dark shape standing directly in their path.

  Uncle Paton slowed down. "What the . . ." He shook his head. "A tree." He strode out again ahead of the others.

  When they drew near the tree, they saw that it was squat and curiously misshapen. Its crooked branches bore clusters of thin, blackened needles, and the bark of its gnarled trunk was riven with scars.

  "A black yew." Paton's voice was choked with dawning horror.

  Before their eyes, a gnomelike face twisted out of the rough bark. The branches shriveled, scattering their needles like dark rain, and the writhing trunk slowly assumed the form of a tall man. It was Tantalus Ebony He stared at the motionless group, his thin lips curled into a malicious smile.

  Charlie couldn't believe his eyes. Was Tantalus Ebony a shape-shifter?

  The man spoke. "We meet again, Paton Yewbeam."

  "What . . . ?" Paton began.

  "Come, come, Paton. Don't tell me you haven't been expecting this moment. I warned you, didn't I, that if you harmed my Yolanda you would pay for it with your life?" The voice was familiar, and yet it seemed to come from deep underground. "You KILLED MY DARLING!" the shape-shifter suddenly roared.

  "Yorath," Paton said fearlessly, "your daughter was a monster."

  The shape-shifter gave a scream of fury and came running full tilt at Uncle Paton. Charlie could see what was going to happen. Careless of his own life, Tantalus would take his uncle over the cliff. Charlie clung fiercely to Paton, but his uncle pried away his clinging hands and stepped forward.

  In a sudden instant, a small gray body flew at Tantalus. For a moment, they wrestled together, and then amazingly, Christopher Crowquill was forcing the shape-shifter toward the cliff. It happened so fast that no shouts, no movements were quick enough to stop their headlong rush toward the cliff s edge — and over it!

  There was a shout, a scream, and then silence.

  Paton ran to the place where the two figures had disappeared. He spread his arms as Charlie and Billy leaped forward. "NO!" he commanded, forcing them back. But Charlie had already seen the boiling sea and the dark rocks. There was nothing else, except for a black bird bobbing on the waves. A crow? A raven? Or a shape-shifter?

  "The dear man gave his life for me," Paton said huskily.

  "Why?" cried Billy "Why did he do it? He was my only relative. My guardian. Now there's no one again."

  "There's us," said Charlie.

  "Why? Why?" Paton shook his head. "It makes no sense." He squared his shoulders and seemed to pull himself together. "We must leave here. I'll alert the coast guards when we've put some distance between us and this awful place. Nothing more can be done."

  In stunned silence, they walked on until they came to Paton's car. Charlie and Billy scrambled into the back, while Albert took the passenger seat.

  While he drove, Uncle Paton explained the shape-shifter's attack to a bewildered Albert Tuccini. "He is so old he has no form of his own and has to borrow the shape and sometimes the minds of other creatures. His daughter was just as bad. She killed my mother, and then tried to do away with someone very dear to me."

  Charlie whispered, "Miss Ingledew?"

  Billy shuffled away and huddled in the corner, a picture of misery

  "What a fiend this Yolanda must have been," said Albert.

  "I electrocuted her," Paton said flatly

  If Albert was shocked, h
e didn't show it. Maybe some of his memories were coming back to him. Memories that were so bad, nothing would ever surprise him again.

  After they had been traveling for some time, they stopped at a café on the edge of a small town. The day was warm and sunny and Uncle Paton chose to sit at one of the tables outside. He gave Charlie a list and enough money to pay for four lunches. Billy, who seemed to have recovered a little, followed Charlie into a low-beamed room, lit by several soft lights.

  "Just as well your uncle didn't come in," said Billy nudging Charlie's elbow as he read out the list to a purple-haired woman behind the counter.

  Charlie gave Billy a warning look, and Billy said in a crushed voice, "I didn't give anything away, did I?"

  Charlie grinned at the purple-haired woman, and she smiled back in a surprised way before disappearing through a curtain made of beads.

  When Charlie and Billy went back to their table, Uncle Paton was in a public phone booth across the road.

  "He is telling the police about the accident," said Albert. "It's a terrible thing."

  "One bad timing and one good thing, really," said Charlie without thinking.

  Billy shot him an injured look. Albert said nothing. A few moments later, a girl in a very short black dress appeared with a tray of sandwiches, water, orange juice, and coffee. Uncle Paton returned from the phone booth, saying he had done his best to explain what had happened, but the police seemed to think it was a hoax.

  "I don't know what else I can do," said Uncle Paton with an uneasy glance in Billy's direction. “s for Alice, how am I going to tell her? She'll be heartbroken."

  "Like me," said Billy gazing at the ham sandwich he couldn't eat.

  "Billy dear boy I don't know if this will help, but your guardian cared very very much for you. H e did what he did for a good reason. In fact, I believe he sacrificed himself for you. For seven long years, he longed to see you. He would not lightly have given up an opportunity to be with you."

  In a weak voice, Billy said, "Oh."

  * * *

  Albert Tuccini remained quiet during the meal. There was a strange, faraway look in his eyes, and he seemed hardly aware of the others. When the sandwiches had been eaten (Charlie ate Billy's), Albert announced that he was going inside to find the men's restroom.

  Several minutes passed. When a quarter of an hour had gone by and Albert still had not returned, Uncle Paton became anxious and Charlie was sent to look in the restroom. There was no one there.

  Uncle Paton frowned when he heard the news. "No one? Are you sure?"

  "More or less," said Charlie.

  Paton stood up. "I'll have a look."

  "Do you think you should? There are lots of lights in . . .," Charlie began.

  But his uncle was already striding through the door of the café. Charlie prayed that he wouldn't have an accident. A few moments later, he heard a man's voice shout, "Sue, the lights have all gone out in the men's restroom. There's an awful mess in there. Glass everywhere."

  Uncle Paton came hurrying out. He looked flushed. "Bother!" he muttered. "Still, I'm sure no one can point the finger at yours truly"

  He had been followed by the purple-haired woman, who now looked extremely irritated. "Are you Mr. Paton Yewbeam?" she asked.

  "Er, yes," Uncle Paton said nervously

  "That guy left a note for you." She handed Paton a folded note and walked off grumbling that she had enough to do without having to carry notes and clean restrooms.

  Uncle Paton unfolded the note. His expression became very grave as he read it. "I can't say I'm surprised. Poor man."

  "What does it say?" begged Charlie.

  His uncle read the note aloud.

  "Dear Mr. Yewbeam,

  I have so enjoyed knowing briefly you and Charlie and Billy. But now we must part company. Do not look, for me, I beg you. It is better this way. Maybe we will meet again in happier times.

  "Your humble friend,

  Albert Tuccini (so-called)"

  "Where will he go?" asked Charlie. "If he doesn't know who he is?"

  Uncle Paton gave a shrug and tucked the note in his pocket. " I believe he is a gifted pianist, Charlie. We must hope that he can find a life for himself somewhere in this world."

  They walked back to the car and began another long journey south, toward Filbert Street and Bloor's Academy

  Christopher Crowquill's sudden and dreadful departure had put everything else out of Charlie's mind, but now the memory of his journey with Queen Berenice came flooding back and he couldn't imagine how he could have forgotten to tell his uncle.

  "You didn't ask how we found the island," he said, leaning over Paton's seat.

  "Your friend Tancred told me about the white horse, if that's what you mean," said Uncle Paton. "I couldn't get him off the phone. He told me everything: oaths and ogres, spirits and storms. That lad can go on, can't he? Not that I wasn't interested. You two have certainly been through the wringer these past few days."

  "Wringer?" asked Billy

  "Squeezed, mangled, wrung out," Uncle Paton explained.

  "Mangled," said Billy quietly "Yes, I feel mangled."

  "Boys, I should . . ." Uncle Paton hesitated, and then he said, "Never mind." Charlie wondered what his uncle had been going to say. His voice had held a note of warning, but perhaps he felt that they had been through enough today.

  There was a long silence and then Charlie said, "The queen ran away when she saw the island. I wonder where she went."

  At the mention of the queen, Billy sat up and a smile crossed his face. "She said she wouldn't abandon us. 1 think we'll see her again. In fact, I know we will. It's like she's a kind of parent."

  Charlie was glad to hear Billy sounding so hopeful. He wished he kit the same.

  A tiny point of glimmering light moved down his sleeve, and leaning forward, Charlie said, "Uncle Paton, I've found my wand. Or rather it found me. It's turned into a moth."

  "I'll be darned. What's next?"

  The moth's company was comforting to Charlie, who just then felt in great need of comfort. "You won't tell Mom what I thought, will you?" he asked his uncle. "About my dad?"

  "No, Charlie. I'll keep that to myself."

  LOSING THE BALANCE

  It was dark when they arrived in the city Uncle Paton didn't drive straight to Filbert Street, as Charlie expected. He parked, instead, beside the familiar and very noisy building where Fidelio's family lived. Gunn House.

  "What are we doing here?" asked Charlie.

  Uncle Paton turned around in his seat. "It seemed the best solution," he said, looking at Billy

  Billy had been silent for most of the journey He had even given up wondering where he would go or where he would be sale. Maybe he had expected to live at number nine, although with Grandma Bone around, it would have been impossible to hide him for long. Now, all at once, Billy grasped what Uncle Paton was saying.

  "Do you mean that I'm to live here?" said Billy

  "I can't think of anywhere better," said Paton. "As a matter of fact, Mr. and Mrs. Gunn have already approved the plan. You'll hardly be noticed in a house that holds seven children already. It was Mr. Crowquill's suggestion." Paton's voice softened. “And a very good one, too. You were never out of his thoughts, Billy."

  It was then that Charlie guessed why Christopher Crowquill had saved Uncle Paton's life. Christopher was already ill, anyone could see that. He was an easy victim for the Bloors. Not so for Uncle Paton, who was endowed with a deadly talent. Christopher had saved the only person he knew who could protect Billy Raven.

  Billy already looked happier. "Yes, it is a good idea. I've stayed with Fidelio before."

  As soon as they got out of the car, the noise from Gunn House came surging toward them. Musical instruments of every description were being banged, blown, scraped, and pounded. Mr. Gunn's loud bass and Mrs. Gunn's powerful contralto competed with their children's instruments, and the whole building shook with sound.

  "Good thing th
e house is detached," said Uncle Paton. He pressed a knob beside the front door.

  Immediately a recorded voice boomed, " DOOR! DOOR! DOOR!" Obviously a bell would never have been heard above such a racket.

  Fidelio's older brother, Felix, answered the door. "Charlie Bone!" he exclaimed. "Fidelio's been worried sick about you. Where've you been?"

  "It's a long story:" Charlie stepped into the house, closely followed by Billy.

  "Billy Raven! So you were 1 together all the time," said Felix, banging the door shut.

  "Hold on," said Charlie. "My uncle is still outside. Do you mind turning off the lights?"

  "Good grief! Mr. Yewbeam!" Felix hurriedly switched off the hall light. "Oh, parents! Lights!" he shouted. "Mr. Yewbeam's here!" He opened the front door and Uncle Paton stepped into the dark hall.

  Mr. and Mrs. Gunn continued their duet in the kitchen, while Felix bellowed, "Lights, parents! Lights! Paton the power-booster is here."

  Charlie couldn't see Uncle Paton's face, but he knew his uncle was blushing because of the way he cleared his throat.

  Still singing, Mrs. Gunn poked her head out of the kitchen door. "What, what, what, what, what, what, what, what?" she trilled in the scale of C major.

  "YEWBEAM, MA!" yelled Felix. "Mr. Yewbeam. Lights."

  "Heavens!" sang Mrs. Gunn, turning off the kitchen light.

  This brought a musical bellow from Mr. Gunn as he stumbled over the deaf cat, and a yell from the cat whose tail had been stepped on.

  "So, Billy's been found," said Mrs. Gunn when she saw him cautiously entering the kitchen. "Welcome, Billy, you'll be safe here, my love. So many children, so much music. You'll be well hidden."

  The three visitors sat at the kitchen table, and while they ate a selection of Mrs. Gunn's exotic sandwiches, Felix gave them the news from Bloor's Academy. Felix had recently obtained his music degree and was about to embark on a world tour with his group when he'd been summoned to Bloor's to fill in for a music teacher who'd mysteriously disappeared. "Name of Ebony," said Felix.

  "We know.” said Charlie.

  "Couldn't resist the offer," Felix added. "The pay's really good."

  "I bet," said Uncle Paton. "So what's been going on?"