Charlie Bone and the Time Twister Page 5

  "No, but you said someone wanted to adopt me," Billy said hopefully.

  "Did I? Can't remember We'll see about them when you've found the boy And don't forget the Twister." Ezekiel dismissed Billy with a wave of his bony hand.

  Billy slipped out of his chair and made for the door. Then he turned to the old man and said, "Thanks for the boots. My chilblains are much better."

  Ezekiel grunted. He wasn't listening to the boy When Billy had gone the old man stared into the flames and uttered a stream of strange words and sounds. Now and again the name "Henry" bubbled to the surface, and then "Time Twister." Other recognizable words were "Never!" "How?" "No, no!" "Why?" "Impossible!" These were spat so hard into the flames they began to sizzle. The fire might have gone out altogether if the old man hadn't reached into a silver box beside him and tossed a handful of sparkling sticks into the grate. But these small magic sticks caused such a violent explosion, clouds of black smoke billowed out into the room, and the old man was overcome by a violent fit of coughing.

  "Idiots!" he croaked at the innocent silver box.

  Charlie was awake, he couldn't think why Something must have woken him. What was it?

  The distant chimes of the cathedral clock began to ring out across the city. It was midnight and the back of Charlie's neck began to tingle. He felt as he always did when he heard the clock strike twelve. Afraid and elated at the same time.

  A bed creaked at the end of the room and he wondered if Billy had been out and about. Even if he had he wouldn't be punished for it. Last semester Billy had won the ruin game, and he was now the proud possessor of a bronze medal, a medal that would give him extra privileges and a whole year free of detention.

  "Billy is that you?" Charlie whispered.

  No answer, but there was another long creak, and Charlie was sure that it came from Billy's bed.

  "Where’ve you been?" he asked.

  "None of your business," came the reply.

  It was definitely Billy's voice. Charlie burrowed under the covers. If Billy wants to be secretive, let him, Charlie thought. He had other things to worry about: rescuing Henry for one thing. The whole enterprise needed very careful planning. First of all, he would have to get some food to Henry Before he could decide how to do this, Charlie had fallen asleep.

  Fidelio's dreams had been more productive. He had devised a way for Charlie to sneak up the music tower after lunch. But they would need help.

  Over breakfast next morning, Fidelio outlined his plan to Charlie. "Olivia will do it," he murmured in Charlie's ear. Although there was a great deal of noise all around them, Fidelio didn't want their plans to be overheard.

  "Olivia? How can she help?" Charlie said softly He tried to keep his lips as rigid as possible because Billy Raven, sitting opposite, was watching him intently.

  Fidelio was also aware of Billy's intense stare. He turned his head away from the table and whispered harshly "She can create a diversion. We need someone to stop Manfred and Asa Pike reaching the hall, when you go through the door to the tower. They both use the drama cafeteria; if Olivia can hold those two up for a few minutes, you stand a chance. No one else would bother to watch us."

  "What are you whispering about?"

  Charlie and Fidelio looked up to see Manfred Bloor leaning over Billy's chair. He was studying them closely It was almost as if the younger boy had called him over.

  "Well, come on, share your secret, Charlie Bone!" Manfred's black eyes glittered dangerously.

  Charlie immediately lowered his head. He knew he could fight Manfred's hypnotizing stare, but he didn't want to get into trouble with the head boy before Henry had been rescued.

  Fidelio said quickly "We were just discussing Olivia Vertigo's hair."

  "Oh?" Manfred raised a thin black eyebrow.

  "Yes, we thought blue looked very nice on her," said Charlie, "but we didn't like to say it out loud, in case 1 she heard us."

  “As if," said Manfred scathingly "It's not exactly quiet in here, is it? Personally I think Olivia Vertigo's hair looks ghastly"

  He shouted this last remark and, hearing her name mentioned, Olivia looked over from the table behind him. When she saw Charlie's serious face, she-grimaced and returned to her attack on the lumpy oatmeal.

  Manfred drifted away and began to shout at a small girl who was wearing her cape inside out.

  "Phew!" muttered Charlie. "Let's talk at break."

  "Good idea," agreed Fidelio.

  By the time the two boys had managed to call Olivia away from her friends, break was almost over. Olivia came bouncing across the snowy ground in bright pink lace-up boots studded with sequins.

  "The snow's taking all the paint off," she complained, holding out her left foot. The toe of her boot was a nasty gray color.

  "Olivia, we need a favor," said Charlie, coming straight to the point.

  "Oh?" Olivia put her foot back into the snow "What sort of favor?"

  Charlie knew it was no good trying to get Olivia to do something without a proper explanation. She would have to know all about Henry Yewbeam before she agreed to help. So, as quickly as he could, Charlie told her everything.

  Olivia's mouth dropped open and her large gray eyes grew even wider.

  " D'you mean that he got himself sort of whizzed out of the past to here and now?"

  "Yes." Charlie looked over his shoulder. He thought he saw Billy Raven hovering behind a group of music students. "But we want to keep it a secret until we know how to help him. I've got to get him some food."

  “And we thought Charlie could sneak my sausages up the tower at lunch break," said Fidelio, " if you could keep Manfred and Asa in your cafeteria for a few extra minutes."

  "No problem," said Olivia. "Leave it to me."

  A long blast from the hunting horn sent children racing in from the field, and Olivia ran off to join her friends.

  "We'll just have to trust her," said Charlie. "She's usually reliable."

  Each department had its own cafeteria, and the drama cafeteria was always the noisiest and most undisciplined. Manfred had done his best to stop them from wearing fancy shoes and long skirts but the drama teachers were very lax with the rules. They seldom complained about their pupils' choice of clothing, in fact they rather encouraged hats with ears, unusual footwear, and colored face paint. Mrs. Marlowe, head of the drama department, considered clothes a means of self-expression, the more unusual the better. All this infuriated Manfred, but there was little he could do about it, so he took it out on the children in the music and art departments.

  Today the drama cafeteria was a mess. Someone's jacket was molting and white fur lay all over the floor. Someone else's hat was shedding feathers and these had floated into the gravy boat. Glitter had stuck to some of the chairs, and the tables were littered with paint flakes, tinsel, and bits of false hair.

  "It's disgusting," grumbled Manfred, staring at a sequin in his custard. "Why can't people be more conventional?" For himself he favored plain black with occasionally a purple shirt to match his cape. Even the ribbon on his ponytail was black.

  Asa Pike gave a nervous snigger. The mustache he was fond of wearing had just dropped onto his plate. "Oops," he said. "Forgot I was wearing it."

  Manfred shot his companion a look of contempt. "There are times, Asa, when I would enjoy giving you a good kick."

  Asa's yellow eyes took on a nasty gleam. Manfred began to regret his words. He and Asa were not true friends, they stuck together because everyone else disliked them. Asa might fawn on Manfred but Manfred knew quite well that Asa could be as dangerous as he was. Manfred could hypnotize, but when night fell, Asa could become something wild and deadly a creature beyond Manfred's power.

  So the two boys sat at their table, with tight lips and brooding eyes, until a sudden commotion by the door broke their disagreeable silence.

  "It's Olivia Vertigo again," said Asa, looking toward the disturbance.

  Manfred stood up. "Not her." He strode over to the door.<
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  Olivia had managed to tip the entire contents of a tray right in front of the door. Most of the glass and dishes had broken and now lay in jagged pieces caked with gravy and custard.

  "Sorry sorry sorry " said Olivia. "I slipped."

  "Sony's not good enough," said Manfred. "Go and get a mop."

  "Yes, Manfred." Olivia walked briskly across the cafeteria and into the kitchen. "I'll give them five minutes," she muttered, looking at her watch.

  No one paid any attention to Olivia until Cook came through a door at the back of the kitchen. She marched up to Olivia and said, "You're on the wrong side of the door, dear!"

  "I came for a piece of bread," lied Olivia.

  "Didn't you have enough to eat?" asked Cook.

  "I was late," said Olivia, glancing at her watch.

  "Tch! Tch! I'll see what I can do." Cook was about to turn away when the door behind Olivia was suddenly flung open.

  Manfred stood glaring at Olivia. "Where's the mop, you idiot? We can't get out until that mess is cleared up."

  "I er . . .," Olivia began.

  "Hold your horses, Manfred Bloor," said Cook sharply "Everything comes to those who wait." "Ha!" grunted Manfred.

  Cook ambled across the kitchen and took a mop, a bucket, and a pair of rubber gloves from under the sink. Manfred shouted, "For goodness' sake, hurry up, woman."

  Cook froze. She dropped the bucket and stared at Manfred with her hands on her hips. "Don't you speak to me like that. Don't you dare. Don't you ever, ever use that tone with me again."

  "Yeah, yeah!" said Manfred nervously.

  “Apologize," said Cook.

  "Sorry" mumbled Manfred, pretending to examine his fingernails.

  Olivia could hardly believe it. In a few words Cook had reduced the head boy to a jittering junior.

  Cook picked up the bucket and handed it to Manfred. "If you want a mess cleared up, do it yourself."

  "But I didn't make the mess!" cried Manfred, turning scarlet.

  Cook shrugged and walked away.

  Manfred gave Olivia a vicious shove through the door and, as soon as they were on the other side, handed her the bucket.

  At that very moment, Charlie and Fidelio were crossing the hall. Now that the children from drama were all trapped in their cafeteria, there were fewer people about, and Charlie managed to sneak through the door into the west wing without being seen. Fidelio stood guard. When Charlie had completed his mission, he would give two taps on the door, and if the coast was clear, Fidelio would tap back.

  Charlie raced up the deep spiraling steps that led to the top of the tower. By the time he reached the music room he was out of breath and had a stitch in his side.

  Henry had gone. A large blue cape lay over the back of a chair, and there was an empty tin on a stool. Some of the books were covered in crumbs and two candy wrappers had been dropped by the window.

  Mr. Pilgrim was playing very softly today He kept repeating the same notes over and over again, as if he couldn't remember where the music was going.

  Without knocking, Charlie opened the door and looked in. Mr. Pilgrim was alone. He wasn't wearing his cape, and Charlie remembered that he'd been without it at assembly; but then, Mr. Pilgrim often forgot things.

  The music teacher looked over the piano and frowned at Charlie.

  "Excuse me, sir," said Charlie. "Have you seen a boy? A boy a bit like me?"

  Very much to his surprise, Mr. Pilgrim answered quite clearly "Yes. There was a boy"

  “And do you know where he is now sir?"

  "He shouldn't have been up here alone," said Mr. Pilgrim. "Not at night. It's too cold."

  "Yes but — where did he go?"

  "He was hungry" Mr. Pilgrim must have suddenly recalled the notes he'd been searching for, because he played two loud chords and then launched himself into a very complicated piece of music.

  Charlie realized that it would be useless to ask the teacher any more questions. Besides, if he didn't get back soon, Manfred and Asa would be prowling around the hall.

  "Thank you, sir." Charlie left the room and, closing the door behind him, ran all the way clown to the bottom of the tower. He descended the winding stairs so quickly by the time he reached the ground floor he felt very wobbly on his feet.

  Before he went into the dark passage that led to the hall, he stopped to listen. He could hear nothing. It was safe to enter the passage. All the same he tiptoed over the stone floor. He had only gone a few meters when he walked straight into something; a small, thin figure that was hardly a person at all. It whimpered slightly and scurried away but when Charlie turned to look back at it, the person or thing turned back, too. Its eyes glittered behind a thin black veil, and it whispered, "Boy" then it was gone.

  CHAPTER 5

  INTO THE FREEZER

  Charlie tore to the end of the passage and whizzed through the door at the end, almost knocking Fidelio off his feet.

  "You forgot to tap," said Fidelio fiercely "Someone's watching."

  "Who?" Charlie saw Billy Raven disappear into the coatroom. "Oh no," he groaned. "Not him."

  At that moment, Manfred and Asa appeared at the far end of the hall. Manfred looked furious. As soon as he saw the two boys, he shouted, "Out! Out! Why aren't you two outside?"

  "It's — er — wet," said Charlie.

  "Wet? Of course it's wet, you idiot. Not afraid of a bit of snow are you?"

  "We couldn't find our boots," said Fidelio quickly.

  "Then, go out in your shoes!" barked Manfred.

  " But . . .," began Charlie.

  "So you'll have wet shoes. So what? That'll teach you to lose your boots. "Manfred had worked himself into a line temper. His normally pale face was quite pink.

  Charlie and Fidelio scuttled out into the garden without another word.

  "Phew I bet that was all due to Olivia," said Fidelio.

  "I hope she hasn't got detention," said Charlie. Henry wasn't there, by the way. Now I don't know what to do."

  "We'll find him," said Fidelio confidently "But we'd better get to him before Manfred. What scared you in the tower? You looked as if you'd seen a ghost."

  "I think I did," said Charlie. "It was horrible. All black and wispy"

  "The dark lady" said Fidelio. "Gabriel told me about her. She hangs around the music tower. I think she likes Mr. Pilgrim's piano playing."

  A few minutes later, Olivia joined them in the garden. "Hi, folks, did it work?" she asked.

  "It was brilliant," said Charlie. "You must have held them up for at least ten minutes."

  "How did you do it?" asked Fidelio.

  Olivia told them about her accident with the tray "But now I've got detention," she said, "so I won't be going home till Saturday night."

  Charlie's face fell. "I'm sorry I should have known that would happen."

  "Oh, I don't mind," said Olivia. "I can do a bit of exploring. As long as someone else gets detention with me. I don't like being on my own."

  "Oh." Charlie felt even worse. "Well, if you don't mind, I think I'm going to be busy"

  "Of course. Cousin Henry" Olivia said cheerfully "I understand. And I know Fido will be doing some musical thing or other."

  "Well, now that you mention it . . .," said Fidelio.

  "It's OK. Don't look so guilty both of you. I'll try Emma Tolly." Olivia bounced off in her pink boots, and headed toward Emma, who was walking around with her nose in a book.

  The two boys spent the rest of break walking up and down on the stones outside the garden door. It was several degrees warmer and the snow was turning into a watery slush. Charlie's left shoe was leaking.

  Just before the horn went for the end of break, Olivia came up to them looking very fed up. "Guess what?" she said. "Emma Tolly doesn't like to leave her aunt alone at weekends. I ask you! I helped to rescue her from those awful foster parents and now she won't even spend a few hours with me."

  "In that case I'll try and get detention," said Charlie. "Henry can wait a
bit longer."

  "No, he can't," said Olivia. "You get him out of here as soon as you can. It's OK. Bindi's going to stay with me." She shook her head. "I don't know what's gotten into Emma. She's so prissy these days."

  "She's never had a real home before," said Charlie. “I suppose she just wants to be in it as much as she can."

  " Hm." Olivia sauntered off.

  As the two boys walked to their history lesson, Fidelio said quietly "Charlie, I think you're going to have to carry out your rescue mission tonight. You won't get another chance today"

  Charlie agreed. But he had no idea where to start looking for Henry.

  "Try the kitchens," Fidelio suggested. "He must be starving by now"

  That night, as Charlie lay in bed, he tried to remember all the stairs and passages that eventually led to the kitchens. He knew there were three kitchens, one behind each of the three cafeterias. They were connected by swinging doors, so he would be able to creep through all three, once he had found his way to the first one.

  " D'you think Cook will still be in the kitchen?" Charlie whispered to Fidelio.

  "Not after midnight," Fidelio said softly.

  "Shut up, all of you!" said Damian cheek.

  "Shut up, yourself." Fidelio threw a damp shoe in Damian's direction. It was a good shot and grazed Damian's cheek.

  "I'll get you, Fidelio Gunn, you wait!" screeched Damian.

  "You're on," said Fidelio. "See you by the garden door, straight after breakfast."

  Damian sniveled and pulled the covers over his head. He was terrified of violence, but he often made silly remarks about getting people, and then pretended he had hurt his arm or his leg, so he could excuse himself from a fight.

  Charlie was just about to speak, when the door opened and the light came on.

  "Who was talking?" Matron stood on the threshold.

  No one answered.

  "Own up!" she said.

  "We were," said Charlie.

  His great aunt swung her long nose in his direction. "Oh? Is that a confession?"

  "We all confess," said Fidelio.

  Matron stared around the room unpleasantly "If I have to come in again, you'll all be put on detention," she said.