Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors

by Jenny Nimmo

  * * *

  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 go
es. 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.

  Still howling, Runner Bean was the first to move. He tore off toward the park gates with three children yelling and screaming behind him. When the cyclist saw them he shouted, "What the . . . ?" and fell off his bike. The two boys picked up their ball and ran for the trees, crying, "Is it a ghost?" The small dog leaped into a trash can and its owner proclaimed that the work I had gone mad.

  "Children, stop!" called Alice. "It can't hurt you."

  From a safe distance, they turned and looked back at the dreadful creature. Peals of laughter ran across the park as Olivia rocked back and forth, unable to stop herself. Alice put an arm around her shoulder and spoke softly

  Olivia nodded. She stopped laughing and looked over her shoulder. Behind her the awful image lost its shape. Gradually it faded into a cloud of particles that floated into the sky like a shower of dead leaves.

  Olivia clapped her hands and did a little dance. Before her friends had recovered from the first illusion another took its place. A feast served on glittering silver plates was laid upon a long table. And there was the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse, half inside a teapot.

  Next a rainbow arched over the park, and when this had faded, a knight in shining armor galloped across the grass on a huge black stallion, with feathers in his bridle and a scarlet cape embroidered in gold. Charlie could hear the pounding of hooves, the creak of leather, and the jangle of spurs.

  Olivia danced around Alice with her head back and her arms thrown wide open. "Look what I can do," she cried. "Look! Look! Look!"

  "Very impressive," Fidelio whispered to Charlie. "I don't know about her, but I'm exhausted."

  Runner Bean sank to the ground with a moan and covered his eyes with a large paw

  Alice spoke to Olivia again, and when the knight and his horse had left the scene nothing took their place. Olivia flung herself on the grass sighing, "Phew! I overdid it, didn't I?"

  Alice smiled loudly at her. The others approached a little warily but Runner Bean stayed right where he was, his eyes still covered with a paw

  When they were all sitting comfortably on the bench and trying to shake themselves back to reality Olivia asked Alice why it had taken so long for her to find out what she could do. "And how did you know about it? And why the apple?"

  Alice considered the flowers on her lap. "It's difficult to put it into words," she said. "I always knew that one clay I would see someone who would need my help to find themselves. It's a strange endowment, you may think." She looked at Charlie sitting beside her.

  Charlie said, "They're all strange. All the endowments."

  Alice gave him a grateful smile. "That's true. To cut things short, I was asked to decorate a room for a certain baby's christening." She glanced at Olivia. "The baby's mother was so pleased with my flowers, she invited me to join the party I had no idea that it would be one of the most important days of my life. They brought in the baby and everyone clustered around, cooing and chattering and calling to you, Olivia."

  "Was I a beautiful baby?" Olivia asked.

  "To tell the truth, you were a bit tubby, but" — she looked sternly at Fidelio and Charlie who couldn't restrain a giggle — "but as soon as I saw you, Olivia, my heart missed a beat. I wondered what was happening to me. Later, they lay you in a lovely while crib, and when I gazed down at you, I knew that you were sp
ecial. I also knew that it would take twelve long years for you to accept your inheritance."

  "How did you know?" Olivia asked earnestly.

  "This will sound really peculiar," said Alice.

  "We don't mind," said Charlie. "Everything is peculiar."

  "Well, there is an apple tree at the end of my garden. It's mine because it grows there, but it's also yours, Olivia, because a branch hangs into your garden. There were thirteen apples on the branch that day and . . . and . . ." Alice paused, and then in such a quiet voice that they all had to lean very close to her, she continued, "a voice in my head said, “n the thirteenth year of the apple, may she accept her inheritance with grace.'"

  "Oh!" said Olivia, as though struck by a sudden thought. "I was twelve at the beginning of the semester. So I guess I'm in my thirteenth year. And the apples . . . they wouldn't be peeled until I believed, until I accepted."

  "That's about it," said Alice. "I hope you're happy Olivia."

  "Well, yes, of course I am. But I feel a bit odd, because I was never one of them." She gave Charlie a regretful grin. "And now I don't know what I'm going to do with this bizarre talent."

  "I'm sure your friends will help you find out." Alice looked at Charlie.

  Fidelio, who had lost his habitual smile, suddenly asked, “Are you a witch, Miss Angel?"

  Alice laughed. "I suppose I am. But I am a white witch." She paused and added gravely "Children, I don't want to alarm you, but you should be warned — where there is a white witch, there is always another of a darker nature."

  "Who is it?" said Charlie.

  "I'm afraid I have no idea." Alice stood up. "And now I must leave you," she said in a businesslike tone. "I have a train to catch."

  "You're really going?" cried Olivia.

  "I have fulfilled my destiny — at least one of them." Alice gave a contented sigh. "You're on your own now; Olivia. But I'm sure you'll cope very well."

  Olivia leaped up and hugged her fiercely. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for being my guardian angel."

  "It has made me so happy," said Alice.

  Emma asked, "Before you go, can you tell us, will that other witch, the dark one, follow you?"