Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors (19 page)

A small peg at the back of the closet served as a doorknob, and when Charlie turned it, a door opened into a dark passageway. Charlie closed the second door. He was now standing in utter darkness. Cook usually had a soft light burning in the passageway Not today Charlie's uneasiness turned into a foreboding feeling.

Groping his way along the wall, he stumbled down two steps, then inched forward until he could feel a small closet. He opened the door and stepped into what had once been a cozy living room. Today it was unrecognizable. For one thing, the floor sloped alarmingly All the furniture had fallen over and now lay in a mess at the lower end of the room.

The feeble light from an overturned lamp showed Charlie a figure lying flat on the floor in front of the cold black stove. The dog, Blessed, sat beside it.

"Cook!" cried Charlie.

Blessed turned his mournful gaze on Charlie, as he rushed over to them.

Cook looked dreadful. Her gray hair had turned completely white. Her usually rosy face was drained of color and she appeared to have lost a great deal of weight.

"Charlie," moaned Cook. "You've come back."

"What's happened, Cook?" cried Charlie.

"The balance has gone. I told you, didn't I? We must keep the balance."

"But I thought that you kept the balance. You said you were the lodestone," said Charlie wildly

"I can't keep it if you're not here, can I?" Cook spoke in a thin, resentful voice. "You and Billy both gone, and that awful boy that magnet, taking over."

"Sorry," Charlie mumbled. "I took Billy to the Castle of Mirrors."

"So I heard. Alice Angel has told me everything. That poor Mr. Crowquill. Mind you, I knew there was something fishy about Tantalus Ebony. Help me up, Charlie."

As Charlie pulled her to her feet, Cook said, "I was feeling so bad I thought I'd have a nap. The stove went out when all that happened" — she indicated the jumble of furniture at the end of the room — "and I couldn't get it going again."

The floor sloped so badly Charlie had difficulty in keeping his balance, let alone holding Cook upright. While she clung to the mantelpiece he quickly fetched a chair and pushed some newspapers under the front legs. When the chair was reasonably steady Charlie helped Cook to sit down.

She sank back and patted her chest. “aah! That's better." Blessed shuffled close to her chair. "This old dog has kept me company bless him." She stroked the dog's wrinkled head.

"When did all this happen?" asked Charlie.

"Monday night. After they found poor Gabriel. I can't say I was surprised, with you gone and the Torsson boy behaving badly"

"I thought I was doing the right thing, taking Billy to the Castle of Mirrors," said Charlie.

"Don't give me that, Charlie Bone," Cook said angrily. "You weren't thinking of Billy. You made yourself believe you'd find your father. You threw reason to the wind, didn't you? Once again, you rushed off without a thought for anyone else."

Charlie gave a huge sigh. "I did want to help Billy Really It's just . . . well, 1 wanted to find my dad, too."

Cook stared at him for a moment. "I can't blame you, Charlie," she said gently. "I'm sorry you didn't find your father."

Charlie avoided Cook's eye and looked at his feet. "So what can I do now?"

"I honestly don't know. We need another endowed child. Someone who can put friendship before self-interest. Someone who'll work with us, Charlie. Maybe then, things will balance out."

"I think I know who might he endowed," said Charlie. "But they won't admit it."

"Well, whoever it is, they'll need a powerful talent to turn things around this time." Cook got to her feet and smoothed her wrinkled apron. "You'd better get back now, Charlie. Blessed and I will follow at a slower pace."

When Charlie finally managed to make a break for the kitchen door, he found Fidelio sitting alone, while the fluffy-haired kitchen assistant wiped down the empty tables. "And where have you come from?" she barked at Charlie.

"He went to look for a cloth," said Fidelio, who had made a disgusting puddle of crumbs and orange juice on his table.

"Boys," grumbled the woman. "My girls don't make this kind of mess."

"Glad to hear it, ma'am," said Fidelio. "Good afternoon." And he dragged the speechless Charlie out of the cafeteria.

"So what's going on?" Fidelio whispered harshly as the two boys walked along the corridor of portraits.

"Cook's in a bad way" said Charlie gloomily. "And I've got to find someone who can turn everything around."

"An impossible task," groaned Fidelio.

They had almost reached the hall, and seeing Manfred striding down the staircase, Charlie whispered, "Maybe not."

* * *

Homework in the King's room that night was even more unpleasant than Charlie expected.

"Good of you to join us, Bone," said Manfred when Charlie walked in.

Charlie took a seat beside Emma while six unfriendly faces watched him from the other side of the table. Tancred sat alone, Charlie noticed, so there was still a hope that Joshua hadn't entirely won him over. On the other side of Emma, Lysander was keeping his head down. He bent over his work, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

The twins began the trouble: Charlie's books were sent flying off the table and Emma was hit by a pencil case. When Lysander's exercise book was ripped down the middle and hurled to the ceiling, he lost his temper.

"Cut it out, you trash!" he yelled at the twins, flinging a book at them.

The twins ducked together. They didn't cry out or scowl or even frown. Their faces were completely blank.

Manfred barked, "Next time you open your mouth it's detention for you, Sage."

Lysander made an ambiguous sound and sat down.

Joshua was smiling at Tancred, and in the next few minutes, Charlie, Emma, and Lysander were the victims of a small downpour that soaked their hair and their work. Surprisingly Manfred came to their rescue.

"Stop that, smart aleck," Manfred barked at Tancred.

Somehow, Charlie survived the evening and then another whole day. But on Thursday night he lay awake, long after lights-out, trying to decide what his next move should be.

He heard a car door slam. There were muffled footsteps in the courtyard below. Charlie ran to the window and looked down. Manfred and Weedon were dragging a small white-haired boy toward the main doors.

Billy had been found.

OLIVIA'S TALENT

Felix Gunn was dismissed from Bloor's Academy Before he went, however, he managed to relay the grim events of Billy's capture to Fidelio and Charlie.

In the middle of the night a wolf — or something like it — had jumped through the open window of one of the bedrooms. The Gunn children were not easily frightened. In fact, they were a brave and daring bunch. They had attacked the beast with anything that came to hand. Cellos, music stands, drumsticks, and even a French horn had been used to beat the snarling, creeping, dreadful creature

But by the time Mr. and Mrs. Gunn had come to their children's rescue, Billy Raven had run howling out of the front door — straight into the arms of Manfred Bloor.

"Flushed out," said Fidelio, "like a poor rabbit."

No sooner had Fidelio spoken than Manfred stood in the doorway of the blue coatroom, where Felix had been relating his grisly tale.

"Felix Gunn, you've been dismissed," Manfred said coldly

"So I have." Felix made a little bow "Good-bye, boys. And good luck. You'll certainly need it." He picked up his guitar and hummed his way across the hall to Mr. Weedon, who was obliged to unlock and unbolt the heavy doors.

"Stop gaping, you two," snarled Manfred. "Get to your classrooms."

Charlie and Fidelio obeyed without a murmur.

Billy didn't appear in school. He wasn't seen until Friday afternoon when everyone was dashing out to catch the school buses. Charlie happened to look up just as he passed the staircase, and there he was, a small figure standing in shadow at the far end of the landing. Charlie raised his hand, but before Billy could respond, Manfred shooed Charlie through the door.

* * *

When Charlie got home, the Friday tea party was already in progress. Grandma Bone was absent, so the atmosphere was considerably lighter than it had been the week before. However, Charlie caught Uncle Paton looking slightly pensive between mouthfuls of his pistachio ice cream. At length his uncle explained that he had been to see Alice Angel. When she heard about Mr. Crowquill's brave sacrifice, she had become extremely distressed. She had closed her store, put her house up for sale, and was, this very weekend, preparing to leave the city forever.

"But she can't!" cried Charlie, a spoonful of ice cream held in midair. "She's the only one who knows how to save us."

"I dare say you know what you mean, but we don't," Uncle Paton said dryly

Charlie had deliberately put his terrible week to the back of his mind while he enjoyed his treats, but now he realized that he would have to explain himself.

When Charlie's three relatives heard about Billy's capture, Tancred's defection, and Cook's upturned room, they pushed the remains of their delicious meal away from them, declaring that their appetites had fled.

Maisie was all for Charlie leaving the academy immediately. Amy kept murmuring, "No, no, no. It's too much." Uncle Paton stood up and paced the kitchen, pummeling the fist of his left hand into the palm of his right. Suddenly, he wheeled around and said, "What makes you think that Alice Angel can help?"

"She knows about someone's endowment," said Charlie. "Someone who might be able to turn things around for us."

"Who?" Paton demanded.

"I think it's Olivia, but I'm not absolutely sure," Charlie replied.

"Then find out, dear boy," Paton commanded. "Tomorrow, first thing, or Alice will be lost to you. What are your plans?"

Charlie admitted that he didn't have any.

"Hmmm." Uncle Paton paced again. He began to issue instructions while he was on the move. "This is what you must do, Charlie. Tomorrow morning you will meet Emma at the bookstore. Together you will visit Emma's friend Olivia and persuade her to accompany you to Alice's house. It's merely a stone's throw away from the Vertigo place, I gather."

"What about Runner Bean?" said Amy "Charlie always takes him for a walk on weekends."

"We'll get the Gunn boy to do that," said Uncle Paton. "I will phone the Gunns when I have arranged things with Julia — Miss Ingledew Are you clear about all this, Charlie?"

Charlie nodded, then yawned. "I will be tomorrow"

"Moth!" cried Maisie, taking a swipe at Charlie's shoulder.

"NO!" shouted Charlie and Uncle Paton in unison.

"Goodness." Maisie's hand dropped to her side, "What a fuss about a little moth."

"It's my wand," said Charlie quietly

"Silly me. I should have guessed," said Maisie huffily. "Why can't it sort out your problems, Charlie? That's what wands are supposed to do, aren't they?"

"It does help me." Charlie gently lifted the moth from his shoulder. "But not in an obvious way. It has to choose to."

"Pardon me for asking a silly question," said Maisie with a smile.

* * *

On Saturday morning, Fidelio and Runner Bean turned up at number nine.

"I don't think this was Uncle Paton's plan," said Charlie, as Fidelio and Runner Bean headed for the kitchen.

Maisie was delighted to see her old friend Runner. A meal of scraps was quickly provided for him, while Charlie and Fidelio ale hard-boiled eggs.

Grandma Bone came downstairs just as the threesome was leaving the house. "Not that dog again," she yelled.

Runner Bean lunged at Grandma Bone's ankles, and there was an undignified scuffle before Charlie managed to get the big dog through the front door.

Emma was waiting for Charlie at the bookstore, so at least that part of the plan had worked. But whether Fidelio and Runner Bean were supposed to join them on their walk to Olivia's house, Charlie wasn't sure.

"We're backup," said Fidelio, before Charlie could voice his doubts. "And Runner can sniff out any lurking, spying, hairy beasts."

When three children and a dog arrived at Olivia's house, Mrs. Vertigo looked anxious. "We've never had an animal that big in our home," she said.

"He's OK, Mom," Olivia called from the top of the stairs. "Let him in."

"If you say so, Liv." Mrs. Vertigo stood aside while the group filed into the house and up the stairs to Olivia's room. It was rather tight. Olivia's bed, the floor, and the chairs were covered in clothes, shoes, hats, beads, and wigs in various colors.

"I've had it with all this stuff" Olivia declared. "I'm giving it all away."

"You can't," said Charlie, regarding the mounds of colorful clothes. "You're not — not you without all your . . . your . . ."

"Disguises?" Fidelio suggested.

"I don't want to be disguised anymore," said Olivia. "I'm not an actress."

"You are, you are!" Emma insisted.

Olivia shrugged. "Why are you guys here, anyway?"

Her four visitors sat on the bed, and Charlie explained the situation at Bloor's and why they needed to know if Olivia was endowed.

Olivia sat in a chair and listened impassively to Charlie. It was only when he described Billy Raven's desperate plight that he noticed her face soften a little and he felt a glimmer of hope.

"Couldn't you just visit Alice Angel," Charlie urged, "before she leaves the city? She's feeling really down because of Mr. Crowquill. Imagine, she kept him going all through the terrible time he was in prison, and now he's gone."

"It wouldn't hurt just to see her, Liv," said Emma.

Olivia frowned. She got up and looked out of the window "I could go over the wall," she said.

Before she had time to change her mind, the others coaxed her downstairs and out into the garden. Olivia and Charlie climbed the wall while Emma, Fidelio, and Runner Bean waited in the Vertigos' garden.

Charlie knocked on Alice's backdoor but there was no response. He looked through the windows; all the downstairs rooms appeared to be empty. Olivia went to the front of the house and pulled the bell chain. No one answered the door. She noticed the
FOR SALE
sign by the gate and ran back to Charlie.

"She's gone!" cried Olivia. "Now I'll never know"

"Hold on, Liv, she can't have gone." Charlie was peering through a window at the side of the house. "I can see two suitcases in the living room. And a raincoat on the back of a chair."

"So she's somewhere in the city but where?" Olivia now seemed desperate to find Alice Angel. She ran back to the wall with Charlie in tow, and they both climbed back to the other side.

"Well?" said Fidelio, while Runner Bean barked enthusiastically

"Not there," said Charlie.

"How are we going to find her?" Olivia wrung her hands dramatically.

"The shop's been closed, so she won't be there," said Charlie.

"We'll have to scour the city," said Fidelio.

"It's too big," Charlie objected. "We could search for days and never find her."

"I think I can help," said Emma quietly "What does this Alice Angel look like?"

They all stared at Emma, and Olivia said, "She has a lot of white hair and a beautiful face."

Charlie made an inspired guess. "She might be carrying some flowers, white ones."

"I've got the picture," said Emma. "Now, do you mind going indoors, all of you. Because I don't like doing what I'm going to do in public." She looked at her bandaged lingers. "I think Joshua got Tancred to injure my fingers on purpose."

"So that you couldn't fly." Olivia looked concerned. "Don't hurt yourself, Em. If it's too painful — just don't. You might fall."

Emma waved them away "It'll be OK."

They trooped indoors and stood by the French windows, trying not to look into the backyard but finding it impossible not to take the occasional peek. Emma was hidden by the shrubbery, and it was only when a small brown bird flew up into the apple tree that they knew she was on her way. They watched the bird soar in the sky and said, "There she goes. If anyone can find Alice Angel, it's Emma Tolly."

* * *

Emma's wing tips gave her trouble to begin with. She hovered uncertainly over Filbert Street but finally regained her balance when she sailed into a cloud above the cathedral. Taking advantage of the warm autumn temperature, she drifted across the city her sharp bird eyes taking in every detail of the busy citizens striding, ambling, and running below her. She even flew above Bloor's Academy and the castle ruin. She saw Billy Raven walking across the ground with Blessed at his heels and would have liked to stop and talk to him, but time was precious.

The bird, Emma, was about to fly away from the ruin when she saw something that caused her to lose her concentration, and she began to drop toward the earth.

Deep in the ruin, tall ivy-covered walls surrounded a green and secret courtyard. In the center stood a tree with red-gold leaves. A sound came from the tree, music of a kind that Emma had never heard. Alighting on a wall, she saw a white horse grazing beneath the tree. Emma had no doubt that the tree and the horse belonged together and that they were a part of a world that was altogether different from her own.

The horse looked up when it saw the bird. "Child," it said. "My child."

"I fly," said Emma.

"May fortune fly with you," said the horse. A surge of hope carried Emma into the sky. Her wings no longer ached and she felt profoundly happy. With renewed energy she continued to search the city, until she came to the park at the end of Filbert Street. Below her, a white-haired woman sat alone on a bench. Her head was bent over a bouquet of white flowers on her lap.

Emma gave a sharp cry and the woman looked up. She had a beautiful but sad face. Emma wheeled around and flew back to Olivia's garden. Her three friends were still gathered around the window when she ran up the path, a girl again, crying, "I've found her. I've found her. She's in the park."

Four children and a dog raced down to the park, through the gates, and across the grass to the bench where Alice Angel sat alone. When she saw Olivia, Alice's sad face broke into a smile. "Olivia, have you come to say good-bye?"

"I've come to say I'm sorry" Olivia blurted. "I'm sorry for everything, for not believing, and for your friend who's gone."

Alice brought the white flowers up to her face and breathed in their scent. "I wanted to put these on his grave, but of course, he doesn't have one. Poor Christopher."

"I'm sorry, so sorry," cried Olivia, almost beside herself with remorse.

"You've come to see me. It's not too late." Alice stood up. “And you, Charlie, was it you who brought her here?"

"It was all of us," said Charlie. "My friend Fidelio" — Fidelio made a bow — "but mostly it was Emma. She found you."

Ah!" Alice gave Emma a knowing look, then she carefully placed the flowers on the bench and turned to Olivia. "So you're ready to accept your inheritance?"

"I suppose I am," said Olivia.

“And who would you like to see what you can do?" asked Alice.

"My friends, of course," Olivia replied.

"No one else?" Alice said gravely "You can choose whom to show your revelations."

"Can I?" Olivia's eager face began to look serious. She regarded a cyclist whizzing around the cycle path, two boys playing football, and a woman walking her dog. "Well, right now I only want my friends and you to see what I can do — oh, and Runner Bean, of course."

"Very well! Think of something, anything. Think very very hard. See it in your mind, every facet of it."

"Hang on, I'm not going to turn into what I see, am I?" Olivia asked.

"No," replied Alice.

"OK. Here goes." A frown of concentration creased Olivia's brow, and then the familiar, mischievous gleam came into her eyes. Everyone stood very still, even Runner Bean, who seemed to have grasped the gravity of the situation. After a minute of total silence, Alice said, "Now, Olivia, look over your shoulder!"

Olivia looked. Everyone followed her gaze. In the middle of the park a huge murky cloud appeared. Gradually it assumed an indistinct, wobbly shape.

"No," said Alice. "You haven't quite got it, Olivia. Relax! You're trying too hard."

Olivia smiled and half-closed her eyes. The wobbly shape hardened into something horribly real.

Fidelio yelled first, and then Runner Bean gave a terrifying, primeval howl. Charlie's mouth dropped open but he was too scared to make a sound. He knew that what he was seeing wasn't real, but it looked real, it smelled real, and it sounded real. A huge dinosaur, a
Tyrannosaurus rex
by the look of it, stood a few paces away from them. Its vast mouth was open, its breath horrendous, and its bloodcurdling roar a sound you only hear in nightmares.