by Jenny Nimmo
"They didn't like me either," Billy said quietly. “Animals always like me, but they didn't."
Charlie had an idea. "Billy can understand animals," he told Benjamin. "Do you want him to talk to Runner? He could tell us what really happened."
Benjamin wasn't sure. He gave Billy a funny look. "Is he one of those kids like you?" he asked Charlie.
"Yes," said Charlie. "You could do it, couldn't you, Billy?" Billy nodded.
“All right." Benjamin led them back to the living room where Runner Bean was licking one of his wounded paws. He seemed a bit afraid of Billy but when the albino boy started making his funny little grunts and hums, the dog relaxed. He pricked up his ears and listened.
When Billy had finished, Runner Bean began to talk, or rather to grunt, and then he gave a tired sort of groan and lay down.
"Well?" said Charlie. "What did he say?"
"He says he was attacked by a wolf," said Billy.
"What?" cried Benjamin.
"It wasn't an ordinary wolf" Billy went on. "It was a boy as well as a wolf I think he meant that the boy turned into a wolf."
"Whew!" Benjamin collapsed into a chair. “A wolf!"
"It was one of us," Charlie murmured. "It had to be. One of those boys at the academy can turn into a wolf-a kind of werewolf-and Aunt Eustacia let him in, so that he could get Runner Bean away from the cellar door. Because she thought Dr. Tolly's case was still there."
"Isn't it?" asked Billy.
The other two boys looked at him. Could they trust Billy? They would have to, Charlie realized, because tomorrow they would all be going to Gunn House together. They couldn't leave Billy behind.
"Dr. Tolly's case is somewhere else," said Charlie. "I'll tell you about it when we get home."
Benjamin looked very cheerful as he waved goodbye from the steps of his house. His mom came out and waved too, and then she put her arm around Benjamin's shoulders and they went inside together.
"My Uncle Paton's a genius," Charlie said proudly. “Before this week Benjamin hardly ever saw his parents. I'd even forgotten what his mom looked like."
"I'm going to have new parents," said Billy.
"Really? That's fantastic! When did you find out?" asked Charlie.
"Oh, just the other day,” said Billy. “Only I have to be... good."
"I'll help you to stay out of trouble," Charlie promised. That night, before they went to sleep, Charlie told Billy everything that he hoped would happen the next day.
"But what will Emilia do, when she wakes up?" asked Billy.
"We don't know,” Charlie admitted. "We don't even know if she really is Emma Tolly or if she'll come to Gunn House. It's all up to Olivia now" Olivia had very obliging parents. When she told them she had to see a girl called Emilia Moon, who lived miles away on Washford Road, her mom drove her to Emilia's home and agreed to collect her and Emilia from a Gunn House at five o'clock.
“Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Mrs. Vertigo called from her car.
Olivia stood at the gate of a house called Moonshine. "No, Mom." She gave a wave. "I'll be OK."
Nevertheless, Mrs. Vertigo waited until she saw Olivia press the bell. A gray-haired woman opened the door, and Mrs. Vertigo called, "Bye-eee!" and drove off.
"What do you want?" the gray-haired woman asked Olivia.
"I've come to see Emilia," said Olivia. "She invited me."
"Emilia; never said. The thin, angry-looking woman made no attempt to invite Olivia in.
"Well, then she forgot," said Olivia. "You can't send me away now, because my mom's gone and I live miles away."
"The woman clicked her teeth. "Emilia!" she shouted. "Come here!" Emilia appeared. She looked rather gloomy.
"Did you invite this girl here?" demanded the woman. Olivia waved and smiled at Emilia, until Emilia said, "Yes."
"You'd no right," said the woman. "I suppose you'd better come in," she said grudgingly.
Olivia stepped into a cold, exceptionally tidy house. Emilia gave her a weak smile and led the way upstairs to her room. It was a rather sad room. There were no pictures on the walls, and everything that Emilia owned must have been packed away in the numerous drawers and closets that lined the room. The bed was covered with a spotless white blanket, and on the pillow sat a very neat-looking stuffed duck.
"That's nice," said Olivia, for want of anything better to say Emilia smiled.
"Shall we go out?" asked Olivia. "There might be more to do in the garden." Emilia agreed.
The garden consisted of a neat lawn surrounded by large, bushy shrubs. Beyond a swing at the far end, Olivia spotted a promising-looking wall.
"What's on the other side of that wall?" she asked Emilia.
"Just an alley,” said Emilia. "It leads to the main road."
"Let's climb over it."
"Why?"
"Because I want to show you something," said Olivia. "It's very special. I can't tell you what it is, but it's in Fidelio Gunn's house."
"Is this a trick?" Emilia looked anxious.
"Emilia, trust me," said Olivia. "I'm your friend." Olivia's gentle tone was so persuasive, Emilia was soon climbing over the wall behind her.
"We'll be back before your mom has noticed we're gone," Olivia promised. Meanwhile in the attic at Gunn House, Fidelio, Charlie, Benjamin, and Billy were munching their way through a second plate of sandwiches. They were sitting on various piles of boxes and music cases, while blasts of music reverberated beneath them.
Charlie decided he was just eating to forget his anxiety Was he doing the right thing? Would Olivia find the house? Would Emilia wake up? And if she did would she scream and freak out, or faint... or turn into something else? A bird maybe? He took another sandwich. For a singer, your mom makes amazing sandwiches," he told Fidelio, as he munched into banana and peanut butter.
"Fidelio!" Mr. Gunn sang out from the hall. "There are two young ladies to see you!"
"Show them up, Dad!" called Fidelio.
"Up you go, right to the top, mind your heads, and please don't hop!" sang Mr. Gunn.
Olivia burst out laughing but Emilia was silent - as far as Charlie could tell -there was so much noise in the musical house.
"Here we are!" said Olivia, striding into the room. Emilia followed her. She looked puzzled, but not frightened.
"Did Olivia explain?" Charlie asked her.
"You've got something to show me," said Emilia slowly.
"Yes. It's something your father made," said Charlie. Emilia frowned. "My father's an accountant. He doesn't make things," she said.
"Well, actually he was an inventor," said Fidelio. "But he died and he left you this case." He pointed to the metal case that lay in the center of the room.
"How do you know?" asked Emilia, her frown deepening. Fidelio looked at Charlie, and Charlie said, "It all happened when I met your aunt."
"I've got an aunt? I never knew I had an aunt."
"She's a very nice person, and she's been wanting to see you for years and years," Charlie told Emilia. "She gave me the case, and then I found out what was in it and how it could -er -wake you up." Emilia looked even more confused. Olivia sat on a large trunk and pulled Emilia down beside her. "It's going to be OK. We won't let anything bad happen to you," she said.
"I didn't know I wasn't awake," Emilia murmured.
"I think we'd better do it now,” said Fidelio. "Time's running out. Go on, Charlie."
Charlie stepped forward. He ran his fingers firmly but carefully over the letters on the side of the case. Tolly Twelve Bells. As he reached the last letter he looked around the room. Everyone was staring at his fingers. He noticed that Billy Raven's eyes had gone wide and dark, and that they completely filled the round frames of his glasses. It gave him a blank, hidden look.
When the last letter had been pressed, the lid began to open. Charlie stood to one side and watched Emilia's face, but it was Olivia who cried out in amazement. Emilia just looked baffled.
When
the knight raised his sword, everyone jumped up and backed away even Emilia. And then the bell began to chime, and the voices of the chanting choir filled the room.
For a moment, Emilia looked as if she were in intense pain. She hunched her shoulders and put one hand over her mouth. She closed her eyes and sank back onto a box. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks.
The others watched, fearfully as the tears grew into a stream and Emilia began to sob helplessly She rocked back and forth, moaning and sighing until the knight lowered his sword and descended into the case. When the chanting ceased and the bell chimed for the last time, Emilia was silent. Both hands now covered her face and she was completely motionless. No one in the room spoke. Charlie closed the case, wondering what to do next.
At last Emilia said, in a very small voice, "I didn't know that I was so unhappy All my life I've lived with people who didn't love me." Olivia flung her arms around her, saying, "It's going to be OK, Emilia. You're going to be happy now You'll see. Charlie, tell her." So Charlie told Emilia about her poor mother who died, and her father, Dr. Tolly the inventor. And then he described Julia Ingledew, who lived in a bookshop and longed to see Emilia, longed to look after her forever and ever, in fact. And then Charlie told Emilia the strangest thing of all. "Your father said you could fly Emilia. That's why they wanted you at Bloor's."
"Me?" said Emilia. "I can't fly."
"Well, you did once," said Charlie. "Perhaps it only happens when you need to."
"Like, if you're frightened," said Olivia.
"Tomorrow I'm going to take you to see your aunt," Charlie told Emilia.
"But how?" she asked.
"I'll find a way,” he said confidently. “You know you can just walk away from the Moons whenever you want to, now that you know who you are." Suddenly a voice called up through the singing flutes and violins, the drumming and piano exercises, “A Mrs. Vertigo is here!"
"Well timed, Mom," said Olivia. "Come on, Emilia." Emilia followed Olivia downstairs where Mrs. Vertigo was comfortably chatting with Mrs. Gunn. At Olivia's insistence, she broke off her interesting conversation about lungs and drove the two girls back to an alley behind Washford Road. Mrs. Vertigo was rather surprised to see Olivia and Emilia climb over a wall, but did as she was asked and drove around to the front of the house, where she waited for Olivia to come out of the front door. This happened about two minutes after she'd parked the car.
"You're a star, Mom," said Olivia, climbing into the car. "It all worked perfectly."
“You do lead an exciting life, Olivia," said Mrs. Vertigo, who was, in fact, a real star. A film star, as it happened.
For a few moments after the girls left, the four boys sat in a bemused silence. Charlie was enormously relieved that their plan had worked. Now it was up to him to see that Emilia found a home where she truly belonged.
"What shall I do with the case?" asked Fidelio.
"Can you keep it up here?" Charlie asked. "I think I'm going to need it again."
"It's safe with me," said Fidelio.
Billy Raven stood up. "I'd better go back now,” he said. "They're sending a car for me." His voice was a bit shaky and he looked at the floor as he spoke.
Charlie wondered if he was feeling ill. He agreed to take Billy home immediately Fidelio had to do his violin practice, and by the time the three boys left Gunn House, they could hear their friend adding to the musical racket behind them.
As they wandered back to Filbert Street, Charlie and Billy were wrapped in their own thoughts, but Benjamin hopped along, whistling and chattering, eager to be back with his returned parents and his precious dog. A black car sat outside number nine. When the boys tried to peer through the smoked-glass windows, a cloor opened and an elegant cane shot out, whacking Charlie on the knee.
"Ouch!" He leaped back. "Who's in there, Billy?"
"It must be old Mr. Bloor," he said.
Something made Charlie anxious. "Billy you won't tell anyone about Emilia, will you?" he said. "No one can know until we're ready."
Billy shook his head.
Charlie took him in to collect his bag and, after a brief thank-you to Maisie and Mrs. Bone, Billy ran out and jumped into the black car.
"What a strange boy,” said Maisie, as the black car pulled away from the curb.
Emilia Moon lay in bed in her tidy white room. "Emma Tolly,” she said to herself She repeated the name and decided she liked it much better than Emilia Moon.
The telephone in the hall rang several times. This was unusual. The Moons never got phone calls at night. But Emilia thought nothing of it. She was so excited. She'd never really felt excited about anything before. Her life had been dull and cold and organized. Nothing had ever surprised or delighted her. But all that was about to change. "Now I am Emma," she murmured.
Her door suddenly opened and Mrs. Moon looked in. "Get dressed and pack your things," she said. "We're going out."
"Where are we going?" Emma asked nervously.
"Back to the academy. We've just had a call."
"Why?" asked Emma. Could they have found out about her visit to Gunn House?
"You've broken the rules, Emilia," Mrs. Moon said coldly. “Now, hurry up." With shaking hands, Emilia put on her clothes and went downstairs. Mrs. Moon grabbed her arm and took her out to the car, where Mr. Moon, a thin bespectacled man, sat waiting in the driver's seat. Emma and her bag were pushed into the back of the car and they drove off. Bloor's Academy looked huge and forbidding from the outside. A single light showed at the top of the tall, grim building, but otherwise it seemed silent and deserted.
Emma walked between Mr. and Mrs. Moon, across the courtyard and up the wide steps. Mr. Moon pulled a chain that hung beside the massive doors, and a bell rang somewhere, deep within the building.
Emma's heart sank when Manfred Bloor opened the door. She glanced away from his coal-black eyes, expecting one of the horrible, numbing stares. But he didn't even try to make her look at him.
"Thank you," he said to the Moons. "Come in, Emilia!"
"Good-bye, Emma," said Mrs. Moon. She put Emilia's bag on the floor beside her. "Be good."
The heavy doors closed and Emma was alone with Manfred. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked. "In the middle of the night?"
"You broke the rules, didn't you, Emilia? You must be punished." Emma felt suddenly brave. It was a very unusual sensation. She also found that she was angry. “I'm not Emilia," she said. "I'm Emma Tolly."
Manfred laughed. It was a horrible, vicious sound. "We'll soon knock that nonsense out of you. Emma Tolly! I never heard such garbage. Pick up your bag and follow me."
Something inside Emma wanted to fight, but she didn't see how she could. She was alone with Manfred, as far as she could see. Perhaps, later, she could find a way to escape. Manfred led her down passages she'd never seen, up dangerously narrow spiral steps, and through empty rooms hung with cobwebs. He carried a lantern in each hand, but Emma could barely see where she was going. There was obviously no electricity in this part of the building. Bats screeched and flittered across the crumbling ceilings, and the wind moaned through broken windows. At last they reached a small room where a narrow bed had been pushed against the wall. There was a pillow and a blanket, nothing else. The floor was bare, the walls great slabs of stone. Manfred put one of the lanterns on the floor. "Night, night!" he said.
"Sleep well, Emilia Moon."
He closed the heavy door behind him, and Emma heard a loud click as a key was turned in the lock. When Manfred's footsteps had receded, she tried to open the door. It was locked, just as she expected. Emma sat on the bed. She didn't cry She'd done enough crying for one day She just sat and thought about all the wonderful things she was never going to have after all. The kind aunt, the friends, the adventures, and the amazing feeling of being happy.
"They'll say I've disappeared," she said to herself, "and no one will ever find me."
She looked around her dreadful, dingy cell. Would she be kept here fo
r ever and ever? Until she was very old?
"No," she said to herself. "I'm Emma Tolly now, and Emma won't stand for it. Emma is a persevering person." And with that she leaped up and screamed for all she was worth. "Help! Help! Help!" She could hear her own voice echoing through the empty rooms beyond the door. But there was no answer.
So Emma called out again, and this time she banged on the door. She rattled and knocked and kicked until her toes were bruised and her knuckles were red and raw And then she retreated and lay on the narrow bed, exhausted by her efforts.
She was just about to close her eyes, when there was a soft creak outside the door. Emma sat up. The key turned in the lock, the latch was lifted, and the door swung open.
Emma rushed across the room and looked out. There was no one to be seen. She picked up the lantern and swung it across the passage outside. No one -nothing -unless you counted the bat that hung from a beam. Bats can't open doors, thought Emma.
Holding the lantern as high as she could, she began to walk down the passage. "Who's there?" she whispered. "Who let me out?" This time she didn't dare to raise her voice in case Manfred came storming back. At the end of the passage she came to a staircase. Cautiously she began to climb down. At the bottom of the stairs, passages branched right and left. Emma hesitated and then took the right. It was very smelly Gaslight flickered from the walls and she wondered whether it was this that caused the smell.
And then she saw the monster. Or was it a dog? It was low and fat, like a pillow on very short legs, and its face had all but disappeared, except for a long sagging nose. Emma gasped and shrank against the wall. But the dog hadn't seen her. She was about to creep in the other direction when a voice screeched, "Stop. You there! Come back!"
Before tearing away Emma cast one quick look over her shoulder. She saw a man in a wheelchair, so old that his face was almost a skull. He had a woolen shawl over his shoulders and his long, white hair dripped like wax from a small woolen cap.
"It got out!" he shrieked. "The inventor's brat! Manfred, get it!" Stifling a scream, Emma ran. She crashed up the stairs, banging her lantern against the wall, along the passage and into the cell-like room, slamming the door behind her. And then she waited, knowing that very soon something bad would happen.