"You always invite Billy home." Manfred put his 115 hands on the table and bent forward. "So what went wrong?" "I nothing." Charlie was thoroughly con- fused. "I just forgot." "You FORGOT?" Was it a crime, forgetting to ask a friend home? Now Charlie was suspicious. "You won't forget next time, will you, Charlie?" Manfred's eyes glinted. The coal- black irises were quartered with flicks of blazing light. Charlie felt an intense pain in the center of his forehead. Why is Manfred doing this? he wondered. He doesn't have to hypnotize me. I would have asked Billy home next week- end, anyway. Having to resist Manfred's gaze made Charlie angry. It had happened 169/557 before and Charlie had discovered that he could block the hypnotist. He had to look beyond the black glare and into the mind of Manfred Bloor. Images swam before Charlie's eyes: a knight in a green cloak; a stone troll; and, last of all, far, far out on a furious gray sea, the sail of a tiny boat. 116 "No!" cried Charlie. The pain in his head in- creased. He thought he could bear it no longer. He would have to let go. "You will ," came the words. "You will " "Will ?" Charlie murmured. He felt his head sinking forward. And then another image cut through the darkness in his head: a knight on a white horse, red feathers streaming from his silver helmet, and a sword whose blade flashed like a ray of the sun. 170/557 The dark figure on the other side of the table began to sink. Charlie heard a distant roar, and then the doors behind him opened, and he was surrounded by moving, murmuring forms. Charlie sat up and rubbed his eyes. "You OK, Charlie?" asked Tancred, taking the seat beside him. "Yes," said Charlie confidently. "I'm great." He looked across at Manfred, who had dropped into a chair. His head lolled forward as though he were asleep. 117 Dorcas and the twins clustered around the talents master. Joshua tapped his shoulder and Manfred lifted his head. He clutched the edge of the table and pulled himself to his feet. "Get started on your homework," he said. His speech was thick and slurred. Avoiding Charlie's eye, Manfred limped out of the room. 171/557 Dorcas, Joshua, and the twins took their usual places opposite Charlie. A few mo- ments later, Emma, Lysander, and Gabriel arrived and sat beside one another, beyond Tancred. Billy rushed in and headed straight for the empty place on Charlie's right. The small boy seemed nervous and even more disorganized than usual. Books kept falling out of his grasp, his glasses slipped off his nose, and reaching for them, his chair tipped sideways and he fell onto the floor. Charlie had no doubt that the Branko twins were responsible. They often tormented Billy with their kinetic powers. He was an easy victim. Dorcas and Joshua began to snicker. 118 "Pathetic!" Lysander glared at the twins. "Is that how you get your kicks? Tormenting people who can't defend themselves? Try it 172/557 on me, Idith. Come on, Inez, knock MY chair over." The twins lowered their eyes and opened their books. The ghostly African warriors that Lysander could call up were not something that they wanted to contest. Dagbert Endless came in late. He sat alone, halfway between each group. "Where's the talents master?" he asked. "He got sick," said Dorcas, "when Charlie Bone was with him." "Is that so?" Dagbert looked at Charlie with interest. 119 CHAPTER 6 THE POISONED NET T he long, cold dormitory with its single dim light had become so familiar to Charlie that he almost felt at home. But tonight he found it impossible to sleep. On one side of him, 173/557 Fidelio hummed in his dreams, and on the other, Billy Raven twisted and moaned in a tangle of bed covers. "Billy, are you awake?" Charlie whispered. Billy stopped moving and sat up. "I'm wor- ried about Rembrandt," he said. "Who's go- ing to look after him?" "You heard Olivia. She said Mrs. Onimous wasn't injured. She'll be back at the Pets' Cafe right now, I bet." "But Mr. Onimous? He he must be " Billy's voice trailed off. "We'll ask Cook about it in the morning," said Charlie. "She'll know." He closed his eyes and turned over, 120 and then he found himself asking, "Do you want to come home with me next weekend?" "Of course I do," said Billy. "That's settled, then." 174/557 Fidelio had drifted out of his musical dream and slumbered peacefully. Billy lay quiet and still, at last, and Charlie should have found it easy to sleep. But another problem had presented itself. Why was Manfred so eager for Billy to visit Charlie's home? Did it have something to do with the painting of Badlock? Charlie real- ized he had told Billy nothing about the painting. Billy's concern for his rat had put it out of Charlie's mind. The soft light of his white moth flickered above Charlie, and he was glad she had fol- lowed him to school. As he watched Claer- wen loop and swing through the darkness, he began to feel drowsy, but as he finally fell asleep, a voice in his head seemed to be warning him: Don't let Billy go into Badlock. 175/557 From a bed at the end of Charlie's row, Dag- bert Endless followed the white moth's dance across the 121 ceiling. He put his hand under his pillow and brought out a small golden fish and five tiny golden crabs. Clutching them in his fist, he murmured, "Sea gold," and a smile crept into his face. The bare walls of the dormitory were bathed in blue-green colors, veined with rippling sil- ver light. As the watery shades washed above him, Dagbert thought of his mother. She had given him the sea-gold creatures a month be- fore her death. She had found the gold in wrecks so deep they had been declared forever lost. But not to her. For Dagbert's mother was a merwoman, as much at home in the sea as in the castle her husband had built for her. She made the gold into rings 176/557 and bracelets and golden chains. But the five crabs and the fish were special charms to give her gifted son a power that would ex- ceed his father's. There was also a golden sea urchin somewhere in Tancred Torsson's pos- session. The storm boy had stolen it to weak- en Dagbert's power. When Dagbert was five years old, his mother had been caught in a net and crushed to death beneath a 122 ton of fish, creatures she had always con- sidered her friends. Dagbert let the sea-gold charms trickle between his fingers. The loss of his sea urchin angered him. Its theft was a slur on his mother's memory. But watching Charlie Bone's moth had given him an idea. Manfred Bloor wanted that white moth; without her Charlie Bone couldn't travel. But if Dagbert 177/557 caught the moth, he would be helping him- self as well. Tancred would surely return the charm in exchange for Charlie's moth. Dor- cas Loom will make me a net. She's clever with her fingers. We'll soon see who's the strongest, thought Dagbert. The following day Charlie found an oppor- tunity to tell Billy about Runner Bean. He watched Billy wander up to the top of the field and began to follow him. Billy often wandered up to the ruined castle in the woods. He felt safe behind the massive red stone walls, with the open sky for a roof and the comforting sense that the Red King and his queen might still be close. 123 Charlie found Billy sitting on a stone seat between two of the five arches that led deep- er into the castle. The white-haired boy was staring at a huge flagstone that was cracked 178/557 [...]... hadn't practiced enough," Charlie confessed Dr Saltweather sighed He was head of music and felt responsible for Charlie' s lack of progress Charlie' s father was the cathedral organist and a brilliant musician, but Charlie seemed to have inherited none of his father's talent Dr Saltweather was aware of Charlie' s extraordinary endowment, however, and had a certain amount of sympathy for the boy "I wanted to... desk and eased the opening of the net around the top of the glass The white moth fell in "There," said Dagbert "Now I'll take it to Manfred." 192/557 "You will tell him I helped, won't you?" said Dorcas "I mean, I did make the net and the poison and everything." "Of course I'll tell him, Dorc You're a genius, you know that?" 1 34 "Yes, I do." A smile dimpled her cheeks Dagbert covered the jar with the. .. hadn't managed to do the same for Runner Bean When the sound of the horn blew across the grounds, 126 the boys began to run back to the school Neither of them saw Dagbert Endless moving out of the trees, close to the castle entrance Charlie' s trumpet lesson always finished early Sehor Alvaro now taught all the brass band students and was generally very successful He was young and cheerful, with an... great-greatgreatgrandfather's tins of desiccated snails, his bottles of aspen oil and monkey tears, his jars of seaweed and nightshade, and the sheaves of yellowing paper covered in beautiful looping script Manfred had hoped they might be put to use sealing the crack in the Mirror of Amoret, but there was nothing in Bertram Bloor's notes about the fixing of mirrors He was more concerned with creation, with resurrection and revival... Dagbert made his way toward the light 135 The walls on either side of him gave off the damp, earthy smell of old brick, and moss grew in the cracked slate floor Halfway down the passage, a bookcase stood in a small recess Holding the jar tight against his body with his left hand, Dagbert used his right to remove two books from a 1 94/ 557 shelf He knocked on the bare wood behind them "Who is it?" called... queasy He wondered if someone had poisoned him He clung to the sink while the room spun around him First one way, then the other "You OK, Charlie? " A voice broke through the buzz in Charlie' s head He turned painfully and saw Fidelio standing by the bathroom door "I feel a bit funny," said Charlie He staggered through the door and Fidelio helped him to his bed 198/557 Dagbert Endless came in and stood staring... Cook lifted the lid from a pan of fish stew on the counter and sniffed "I'd better check the kitchen and see what my lunch ladies are up to." Charlie stood by the counter, patiently waiting for someone to come and ladle out the stew Other music students began to arrive and by the time 130 one of the lunch ladies turned up, a long line had formed behind Charlie Once he had been served, Charlie went... you." 193/557 "And Manfred will tell Fairy Tilpin about me, won't he?" Dorcas went on "She'll be so pleased." "YES!" Dagbert gave the door a backward kick and it slammed in Dorcas's face Students seldom went to the west wing It was home to the Bloor family, and they didn't like staff or children intruding At the far end of the hall, a dim light could be seen in the room at the base of the music tower... are you, Charlie? There's nothing a good night's sleep won't cure." 139 The light went out Charlie lay in the darkness while familiar images tumbled into his head: a knight in a green cloak, a stone troll, and a furious gray sea But the leopards were absent and so was the knight with red feathers streaming from his silver helmet And all 199/557 that remained of the boat was the tip of its mast, sinking... 136 "It is the right moth, sir." Dagbert turned the jar over in his hands and laid it upside down 195/557 before Manfred Now the moth's wings were barely distinguishable from the white muslin beneath her Manfred peered through the thick glass "You're sure?" "See the silver on its wings? I know it's Charlie' s I caught it in the hallway of portraits Thought it was so clever lying on a bunch of painted . him. Billy often wandered up to the ruined castle in the woods. He felt safe behind the massive red stone walls, with the open sky for a roof and the comforting sense that the Red King and his queen. thick and slurred. Avoiding Charlie& apos;s eye, Manfred limped out of the room. 171/557 Dorcas, Joshua, and the twins took their usual places opposite Charlie. A few mo- ments later, Emma, Lysander,. white horse, red feathers streaming from his silver helmet, and a sword whose blade flashed like a ray of the sun. 170/557 The dark figure on the other side of the table began to sink. Charlie heard