by Jenny Nimmo
"This is it," said Charlie, guiding Paton to the door.
Benjamin grabbed Runner Bean's collar and they all went in.
The crescendo of animal noises was so loud Charlie could hardly hear his own voice. "I can see a counter right at the back," he shouted to Benjamin.
Before they could get there, a large man with curly black hair stepped in front of them. He was wearing a long white shirt decorated with elephant heads.
"Animals?" he said.
"No," said Charlie. "We're human."
"I know that," the man said impatiently "Where are your companions? No one's allowed in without an animal, bird, or reptile."
"Oh." Charlie's face fell.
"We've got a dog," Benjamin piped up. "He's over there, talking to a labrador ."
"One animal each," said the man. "Otherwise, out!" He pointed to the door.
Paton was finding it difficult to concentrate on his book. He held it even closer to his face in his efforts to avoid looking at the lights twinkling in the low ceiling. "Ahem," he muttered. And then, in a low voice, "Smells awful. Let's go."
Charlie was just wondering what to do next when Gabriel appeared, holding a large wooden box. He took two gerbils from the box, handed one to Charlie and popped another in Paton's top pocket.
. " Er — no," Paton objected, touching a gerbil nose. But it was too late.
The large man said, "That's better," and ushered them up to the counter. Here they were faced with a difficult choice. All along the counter among plates of ordinary cookies there were bowls of sausages, cakes that smelled of fish, round pellets that could have been chocolate (or might not have been), and seeds of various sizes.
"I recommend the sausages," said Gabriel. "They're delicious."
"They look as if they could be for dogs," said Charlie.
"Probably are," said Gabriel. "They're still delicious. The gerbils love them."
"Cookies and three waters, please," said Charlie playing safe.
The man behind the counter said, "If it isn't Charlie Bone."
Charlie blinked. At last he recognized Mr. Onimous , the mouse-catcher. It was his pointy-toothed smile that gave him away He looked very different in his chef's white hat and apron. The last time Charlie had seen him he'd been wearing a fake-fur coat and a velvet waistcoat.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Onimous ?" Charlie asked.
"Giving my wife a helping hand," said Mr. Onimous . "It's her café, you know Her idea entirely Good, isn't it?"
"Brilliant," said Charlie. "But do the flame cats mind all these other visitors? I mean, they live with you, don't they?"
"The flames?" Mr. Onimous raised his whiskery eyebrows. "They're not often here, bless ' em . Far too busy with their own particular duties. They pop in around midnight for a quick bite and a snooze, and then they're off again. Unless they need me, of course. In which case I have to follow them."
"I see." Charlie paid for the food. It was very cheap.
"Good to see you, Charlie," said Mr. Onimous . "You take care, now!"
"You, too, Mr. Onimous ."
The line behind Charlie was growing, so he took his tray to the table where his friends were sitting. He had to push his way through a crowd of dogs before he could reach the table. Gabriel had chosen a place right beside the window and they were able to watch the strange assortment of customers approaching the café.
At the table beside them a tarantula crawled around a red straw hat. The woman wearing the hat seemed quite happy about the situation. Now and again she passed tidbits up to the tarantula. Fearing the tidbits were alive, Charlie looked away
"What have you got to show us, then?" he asked Gabriel.
Gabriel pulled a plastic bag from under the table. "Look!" He reached into the bag and drew out an old tweed coat and a battered cap.
" Asa's disguise!" said Charlie.
"Exactly I even found the mustache." Gabriel held up a strip of white whiskers. "They were lying in the lane outside our yard. I reckon the wind from the Thunder House blew them there. Asa probably hid them in the woods."
Charlie shuddered. "You mean it was Asa in the woods. Asa as a . . . whatever he can turn into when it's getting dark?"
"Does he have to take all his clothes off," asked Benjamin, "before he turns into a beast?"
Gabriel frowned at him. "This is serious, Benjamin."
"Sorry I just wondered."
"Why would Asa go all the way up to the Heights?" murmured Charlie. "Does he live there?"
"I don't know where he lives," said Gabriel. "But I think he was warning us off. He was trying to make sure we wouldn't go back to the Thunder House."
"But why?" asked Charlie.
Gabriel shrugged. "Perhaps it's got something to do with your cousin Henry That evil old man who sent him through time knows he's come back. He's probably furious."
"Of course," said Charlie. "Ezekiel has ordered Manfred and Asa to find Henry But they know that we'll protect him — you, me, Lysander, and Tancred. So they're trying to split us up, weaken us. Have you told Lysander about the clothes?"
"Couldn't contact him," said Gabriel. "I'll see him tomorrow."
At that moment a body flung itself at the window Charlie looked up to see Asa Pike glaring at them through the small glass panes. His lips were drawn back in a horrible snarl, and his yellow eyes darted around the table until he saw the bag of clothes.
"Mine," he rasped. "Give them here, you wretches!
His sudden appearance caused an uproar in the café. Terrified birds fluttered, screeching, to the ceiling; dogs threw back their heads and howled; cats hissed and spat; rabbits rushed under tables, and everything else hid behind the large potted plants standing around the room.
"He's not very popular, is he?" Benjamin said in a shaky voice.
"Keep reading, Uncle Paton," Charlie warned.
The café was already in turmoil without his uncle breaking glass. Food was flying everywhere, plates had been smashed, drinks had been spilled, and anxious customers were tripping over frightened animals.
"Look out," said Gabriel. "Here he comes!"
Asa crashed through the door and walked straight into the man in the elephant shirt.
Animal?" said the man, who was evidently a sort of bouncer.
For a moment Charlie thought Asa was going to say he was an animal, but he just snarled into the man's face.
"That's it!" said the bouncer. "Out!"
He grabbed Asa by the scruff of his scrawny neck and thrust him out onto the pavement. Asa whipped around and was about to burst in again, when several large dogs rushed through the open door and set upon him.
Asa gave a high-pitched yell and ran off around the corner, followed by the pack of baying dogs. If Benjamin hadn't leaped up and grabbed Runner Bean's collar, he would have joined the chase. The big dog was very disappointed to miss the fun and whined monotonously until Mr. Onimous gave him a rainbow-colored bone to chew
The Pets' Café was emptying rapidly Several customers had gone racing after their dogs, and the others, having caught and calmed their pets, had decided to leave before things got worse.
Charlie and his friends stayed to help Mr. Onimous and the bouncer, Norton Cross, clear up the mess.
"That tall fellow is a bit of a lazy layabout ," Norton remarked, glancing at Paton, who was still reading his book.
"He can have — accidents," said Charlie awkwardly. "So it's best that he doesn't help."
"He's specia
l," said Mr. Onimous , winking at Charlie
"Oh, no. Not one of them is he? We've got more than our fair share of oddballs in this city," grumbled Norton. "That one the dogs chased — you could tell he was peculiar. Animals always know when something ain't right."
Mrs. Silk, who had finished her deliveries, came through a door at the back of the counter. She was followed by an extremely tall woman with pale wispy hair and a very long nose. Surprisingly this turned out to be Mrs. Onoria Onimous . She was a gentle, friendly person and seemed to like children almost as much as animals.
When, at last, the café was restored to order, Mrs. Silk offered the boys a lift back to Filbert Street . “And your father, too," she said, glancing at Paton. "If that is your father."
"No, I haven't got a . . . no , that's not my father," said Charlie. “And we've got to go somewhere else , thanks all the same."
"OK, then . ' Bye, boys. Come along, Gabriel." Mrs. Silk made for the door.
Gabriel reached over and rescued his gerbil from Paton's pocket, who didn't seem to notice. He pulled his other gerbil out of Charlie's pocket. Luckily it had gone to sleep and had only eaten a peppermint stuck to the bottom of the pocket. "See you tomorrow;" said Gabriel. "It should be interesting. I wonder if Asa's been bitten."
He staggered after his mother with the bag of old clothes under one arm, and his box of gerbils hugged to his chest with the other.
Charlie tapped his uncle's shoulder and said, "We can go now Uncle Paton."
Paton stood up, his eyes still glued to the page he was reading. Charlie steered him outside where they found Benjamin clipping a leash to Runner Bean's collar. "Just in case he gets the urge to chase something,” Benjamin explained.
Their walk to Ingledew's bookshop was relatively easy. No traffic lights had to be navigated, no roads crossed. As they walked around the huge cathedral they could hear the deep toned notes of the organ and Charlie thought of his father. Lyell Bone had been one of the cathedral organists until one foggy night eight years ago, he had gotten into his car and driven over the edge of a quarry He had never been seen again.
"I know what you're thinking, dear boy" Paton murmured. Lyell was his nephew and had been one of his best friends.
There was a CLOSED sign on Ingledew's door, but a soft light in the window illuminated the piles of ancient-looking books.
Charlie rang the doorbell. There was no answer. He pressed the bell again. They could hear it ringing in the back of the shop, but no one came to the door.
"Didn't you say they went out at weekends?" said Benjamin. "They could be at a museum, or the movies, or something."
"Of course," said Charlie. "I forgot."
Paton snapped his book shut and stared despondently at the window.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Uncle P —" Charlie began.
But Paton's distress was too great. With a small pop the light in the window went out, and a shower of glass settled on the antique books.
"Darn!" muttered Paton. "She'll know it was me."
"No, she won't," said Charlie. "Miss Ingledew probably often has lights failing."
"Failing, yes," moaned Paton, "but not bursting. She knows it's what I do."
"Come on, Uncle."
"Oh dear. Oh, darn. I'll never be able to face her again," sighed Paton.
"Of course you will. Let's go home. You won't have to read anymore because it's dark."
"That's true!" Paton turned away from the shop and strode toward the nearest alley
Charlie and Benjamin had to run to keep up with him, while Runner Bean dashed ahead, hoping for a game.
They were moving rapidly down Filbert Street when Paton said, "I don't want my sisters to hear about this little setback."
"Why are your sisters so mean ?" asked Benjamin
"It goes back a long way" said Paton.
"They always do whatever Ezekiel Bloor wants," said Charlie. "It's like they're afraid of him."
"They are," said Paton. "He's a cousin and at the moment he holds the power. They admire that."
"I'm glad I haven't got any aunts," Benjamin muttered. "I'm off now Mom and Dad are home. Bye!"
Charlie and Paton climbed the steps to number nine, but once inside, Paton marched grimly up to his room. Charlie went into the kitchen to give Maisie and his mother a progress report.
"How did it go?" asked Mrs. Bone. “Any mishaps?"
"It went perfectly" lied Charlie.
"I'll go with him next time," said Maisie happily "It'll make such a difference to poor Paton if he can go out in the daytime."
Charlie noticed that Skarpo the sorcerer had disappeared. "Where's the painting?" he asked.
"Search me," said his mother. "Grandma Bone must have taken it to her room."
Grandma Bone had done no such thing. When Charlie went to bed he found Skarpo on his pillow
"OK," he said grimly "If they want me to go in, I will, but not until I'm ready and not until I've decided how you can help me."
Before he shut the painting in a drawer with his socks, he took a quick look at the sorcerer. The man in black tilted his head toward Charlie and said, "Welcome, child of the Red King!"
Charlie closed the drawer quickly He wondered how dangerous it would be to "go in" as his uncle put it, and ask for Skarpo's help. If Henry Yewbeam was to be rescued before old Ezekiel found him, then a bit of sorcery could come in handy
“TAKE HIM TO THE DUNGEONS!”
Henry Yewbeam spent the rest of the weekend in Cook's secret rooms.
"If you leave here you'll get snatched," she warned Henry “And then where will we be? Someone in this place wants you gotten rid of you know!"
"I bet it's Zeke," murmured Henry "He's never forgiven me for finishing his puzzle."
"It's Ezekiel, all right," said Cook. "There he is, a feeble old man at the end of his life, while the cousin he thought he'd banished forever has come back as a boy with his whole life in front of him."
Henry couldn't help grinning. "He must be in a rage," he said.
"Yes. And we don't want him to put a stop to the nice long life that lies ahead of you, do we?"
"No." And yet Henry found it hard to imagine what kind of life it might be.
Cook set about preparing a meal. Mrs. Bloor would be joining them later and Henry helped to lay three places on a small round table in the corner.
As Cook worked she began to tell Henry her story. And Henry found himself curling up in the armchair by the stove, and listening to one of the strangest tales he'd ever heard.
Cook and her younger sister, Pearl, had once lived with their parents on an island in the north. Their father, Gregor , was a fisherman. When the girls were five and six it became apparent that they were like lucky charms. Whenever they watched their father set off in his little boat, he always caught more fish than he could carry Soon people Rocked to the island to buy Gregor's fish. He became very rich and was able to purchase the whole island. He built a grand house with breathtaking views of the ocean, and the sea around his island was always calm. This was because his daughters were endowed with luck and tranquillity so it was said.
One day a young man came to the island. "He was handsome enough," said Cook, "but there was something about him that gave Pearl and me the creeps. It turned out that he'd come to marry one of us. It didn't matter which. We were fifteen and sixteen at the time, and my father said, 'Be off with you, Grimwald ' — that was his name — 'Be off with
you. My daughters are too young to marry. They want to see the world before they settle down.' Grimwald was persistent. 'I need one of your daughters now,” he said, 'while she's still young. I want her for her pure fresh beauty for her sweetness and tranquillity and for the luck she will bring me.' The young man's attitude annoyed my father. Again he refused him. And then Grimwald began to threaten us." Cook tasted the stew she'd been cooking. "More salt," she murmured.
"Go on," said Henry eagerly
Cook continued, "My father ordered Grimwald to leave the island, and eventually he went, but not before he'd turned his fury on us. “You think you control the oceans, don't you, you little minxes,' he said. 'Well, you don't. Very soon you'll find out that my power is far greater than yours. And then you'll come running to me, both of you, mark my words.' If only we had believed him," Cook said sadly
“A year later, Pearl and I left our island. We traveled all over the world. We dined and danced and met our sweethearts — both sailors as it happened. We came home to tell our parents and found . . ."At this point Cook gave a terrible sigh and several tears dropped into the sauce she was stirring.
"Found what?" asked Henry
"Found nothing," said Cook. All gone: island, house, parents — all perished. Drowned by the biggest tidal wave in history We suspected, but we couldn't be sure, and then when our sweethearts were drowned at sea we knew It was Grimwald !"
Henry gasped. "You mean he could . . . ?"
"Oh, yes. He could do anything with water. My sister and I parted. It was safer to travel alone. We were less recognizable. We went underground, took work in secret, shadowy places where he couldn't find us. Wherever we went we tried to improve things, keep children safe. One day I learned that Bloor's Academy needed a cook. I'd heard it was where the Red King once held court, and I thought I could help some of the children who came here. I guessed that, just like Pearl and me, if they were endowed they wouldn't have an easy time of it." Cook licked the spoon she'd used for stirring, grunted approvingly and put a lid on the saucepan.
Henry would have liked her to continue but, at that moment, Mrs. Bloor came through the little door in the corner, and Cook declared their supper was ready