Midnight for Charlie Bone (Children Of The Red King, Book 1)
Read Midnight for Charlie Bone (Children Of The Red King, Book 1) Online
Authors: Jenny Nimmo
Midnight For Charlie Bone
CHILDREN OF THE RED KING BOOK 1
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
Long, long ago a king arrived in the North. They called him the Red King because he wore a scarlet cloak and his shield was emblazoned with a burning sun. It was said that he came out of Africa. This king was also a marvelous magician and each of his ten children inherited a small part of his power. But when the king's wife died, five of his children turned to wickedness and the other five, seeking to escape the corruption that surrounded their evil siblings, left their father's castle forever. Brokenhearted, the Red King vanished into the forests that covered the kingdoms of the North. He did not go alone, however, for he was followed by his three faithful cats -leopards to be precise. We must never forget the cats!
The manifold and fabulous powers of the Red King were passed down through his descendants, often turning up quite unexpectedly in someone who had no idea where they came from. This is what happened to Charlie Bone and to some of the children he met behind the grim, gray walls of Bloor's Academy.
CHAPTER 1
CHARLIE HEARS VOICES
On a Thursday afternoon, just after tea, Charlie Bone saw smoke. He happened to be looking out of his window when a dark cloud lifted above the autumn trees. The wind blew it south and it moved through the sky like a great, floating whale.
Somewhere, on the other side of the city there was a fire. Charlie could hear a fire engine racing toward it. He had no idea that in mysterious and unexpected ways he was connected to it and would soon be drawn to the place where it had begun.
Charlie slept well, got up the next morning, and went to school. After school, Charlie and his friend, Benjamin Brown, walked home together, as usual. The cloud of smoke had gone, but the sky was stormy and dark. A fierce wind sent red and gold leaves racing down Filbert Street. Benjamin crossed the road to number twelve, while Charlie stopped at number nine. Most of the people who lived at number nine complained about the large chestnut tree in front of it -how dark it made their rooms, how damp and creaky it was, and how it would probably fall on the roof one day and kill them all in their beds. Needless to say no one at number nine did anything about it. Complaining to one another was as far as they went. They were that sort of family Or, rather, those sorts of families. As Charlie ran up the steps to his front door, the tree sighed and rained a handful of chestnuts on his head. Luckily his thick, wiry hair softened the blows. Thick hair had its uses, though not many Charlie was always being told to smarten himself up, an impossible task for someone with hair like a hedge.
"Hello, grandmas!" Charlie called as he stepped into the hall. There were two grandmas at number nine: Grandma Jones was Charlie's mother's mother, and Grandma Bone was Charlie's father's mother. Grandma Jones was round and cheerful and bossy while Grandma Bone spoke only to complain. She rarely smiled and nothing made her laugh. Her hair was thick and white, and she wore long, stiff dresses in shades of black, gray or brown (never pink, which was Maisie's favorite color). Grandma Jones liked to be called Maisie, but Charlie wouldn't have dared to call Grandma Bone by her first name, which was Grizelda. She liked to remind people that, before she had married Mr. Bone, she had been a Yewbeam. The Yewbeams were an ancient family their history littered with artistic people and others who had more unusual talents, such as hypnotism, mindreading, and be witchery.
Charlie knew he had disappointed Grandma Bone by being ordinary Even worse, in her eyes, he was quite happy to be ordinary.
When Charlie came home from school, it was always Maisie who gave him a wet kiss on his cheek and pushed something to eat under his nose. Today Maisie had a large bump on her forehead. "Silly chestnut," she told Charlie. Grandma Bone was always sitting in a rocker by the stove, criticizing Maisie's cooking or the state of Charlie's hair. Today the rocker was empty That was the first unusual thing.
It was Benjamin's tenth birthday on Saturday and Charlie had decided to make him a birthday card instead of buying one. He'd taken a photo of Benjamin's dog, Runner Bean, smiling or, to be more precise, showing his long, incredibly yellow teeth.
Charlie had asked his mother to get the photo enlarged at Kwik Foto on her way home from work. He intended to draw a balloon saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BENJAMIN! above Runner Bean's head.
The second unusual thing was about to happen.
At five minutes past four, Charlie's mother came in with a box of overripe apples and rhubarb. "They'll make a lovely cobbler," she said, dumping the box beside Charlie's plate and kissing his shaggy head. Amy Bone worked part-time in a greengrocer's shop, so there was always plenty of fruit and vegetables at number nine. Charlie leaned away from the rotting fruit. "Have you got my photo, Mom?" he asked.
Amy Bone poked around in her shopping bag and found a large orange envelope. She put it on the other side of Charlie's plate. Charlie opened the envelope and revealed -not Runner Bean. Nothing like Runner Bean.
It was at this moment that Grandma Bone appeared. She hovered in the doorway fingering her neck, touching her silver-white hair, and pulling at her stiff black skirt. She looked somehow as though she were on the brink of fulfilling her destiny And in a way she was, though, at sixty-five, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a bit late. The photograph that Charlie now held showed a man holding a baby The man sat on an upright chair. He had thinning, grayish hair and a long, mournful face. His crumpled suit was black and his thick pebble glasses gave his pale gray eyes a lost marblelike stare.
Instead of pushing the photograph back into the envelope, Charlie continued to gaze at it. In fact, he couldn't tear his eyes away from it. He began to feel dizzy and his ears were filled with mysterious sounds, like the hiss and swish of voices on the radio when you can't pinpoint the right frequency.
"Oh," he said. "Um, what...?" His own voice seemed far away trapped behind a kind of fog.
"What's wrong, Charlie?" asked his mother.
"Is something happening?" Grandma Bone crept forward. Aunt Eustacia rang me. She had one of her premonitions. Are you a proper Yewbeam, after all?"
Maisie glared at Grandma Bone while Charlie pulled his ears and shook his head. If only the horrible muffled buzzing would stop. He had to shout in order to hear himself. "They've made a mistake at the shop. Where's Runner Bean?"
"There's no need to shout, Charlie." His mother looked over his shoulder. "My goodness, that's certainly not a dog."
"Ow!" wailed Charlie. But suddenly the mumbling voices broke free of the buzz and made themselves clear. First came a woman's voice, soft and unfamiliar:
I wish you wouldn't do this, Mostyn.
Her mother's gone. I don't have a choice
. This voice was definitely male.
Of course you do.
Will you take her, then
? said the man's voice.
You know I can't,
replied the woman.
Charlie looked at his mother. "Who said that?" She looked puzzled. "Who said what, Charlie?"
"Is there a man in here?" he asked.
Maisie giggled. "Only you, Charlie."
Charlie felt clawlike fingers sink into his shoulder. Grandma Bone leaned over him. "Tell me what you hear," she demanded.
"Voices," said Charlie. "I know it sounds silly but they seem to be coming from this photograph."
Grandma Bone nodded. "What do they say?"
"For goodness sake, Grandma Bone, don't be ridiculous," said Maisie.
Grandma Bone gave Maisie a withering look. "I am not being ridiculous." Charlie noticed that his mother had gone very quiet. She pulled out a chair and sat down, looking pale and anxious.
Maisie began to bang pans about, muttering, "You shouldn't encourage it. It's all garbage. I won't have it..."
"Shhhh!" hissed Charlie. He could hear the baby crying. The strange woman spoke again.
You've
upset her. Look at the camera, Mostyn. And please try to smile. You look so gloomy.
What do you expect?
said the man.
A camera shutter clicked.
There. Shall I take another?
Do what you want.
You'll thank me, one day,
said the woman behind the camera.
If you really intend to go through with this, it's the only thing you'll have to remember her by.
Hmm.
Charlie noticed that a cat peeked out from behind the man's chair. It was an extraordinary color: deep copper, like a flame.
From far away Charlie heard his mother's voice. "Shall I take the photo back, Charlie?"
"No," murmured Charlie. "Not yet."
But it seemed that the photograph had nothing more to say The baby fussed for a moment and then was quiet. The gloomy man stared silently at the camera, and the cat...? Was that a purr? Maisie was making such a noise with the pots and pans it was difficult to hear anything else.
"Hush!" commanded Grandma Bone. "Charlie can't hear."
"It's all nonsense," Maisie grumbled. "I don't know how you can just sit there, Amy and let your crazy mother-in-law get away with it. Poor Charlie. He's just a boy He's got nothing to do with those silly Yewbeams."
"He's got their blood," said Charlie's mother, quietly. “You can't get away from that."
Maisie couldn't. She closed her mouth in a tight little line. Charlie was very bewildered. In the morning he had been an ordinary boy He hadn't been touched by a magic wand or banged his head. He hadn't had an electric shock or fallen off a bus, or, as far as he knew, eaten a poisoned apple. And yet, here he was, hearing voices from a piece of photographic paper.
To set his mother's mind at rest, Charlie said, "I don't think it was anything, really I just imagined it."
Grandma Bone leaned even closer and breathed into his ear, "Listen tonight. Things work better after midnight."
"He'll be asleep by then, I'll have you know;” said Maisie, who had ears as sharp as a rabbit's. "It's all garbage."
"Hah!" retorted Grandma Bone. "Just you wait!" She walked away leaving a scent of mothballs and mint drifting around the kitchen.
"I didn't hear anything," Charlie said when she had gone.
“Are you sure?" his mother asked anxiously.
"Honest. I was just doing it to tease Grandma Bone." He was trying to convince himself as well as his mother.
"Charlie, you're a wicked boy," Maisie said happily as she banged a meat cleaver into a meaty bone.
Charlie's mother looked relieved and opened the evening paper. Charlie slipped the photograph back into its envelope. He felt exhausted. Perhaps a bit of TV would help him to relax. But before he could escape, the doorbell rang and Grandma Bone could be heard saying, "It's Benjamin Brown, isn't it? Charlie's in the kitchen. And you can leave that mangy Baked Bean outside."
"It's Runner, not Baked," said Benjamin's voice, "and I can't leave him outside. It's raining."
"Dogs like rain," said Grandma Bone.
Benjamin and his dog appeared in the kitchen. Benjamin was a small, pale-faced boy with hair the color of damp hay Runner Bean was a large, long-nosed dog also with hair the color of damp hay For some reason Benjamin was always being picked on by other boys. People stole things from him, tripped him, and laughed at him. Charlie tried to help his friend but, sometimes, Benjamin was beyond help. Sometimes, in fact, Charlie thought that Benjamin didn't even notice that he was a victim. He lived in a world of his own.
Runner Bean, smelling the meaty bone, rushed straight to Maisie, and began to lick her ankles.
"Get off me!" she yelled, swiping him on the nose.
"You are coming to my party aren't you?" Benjamin asked Charlie.
"Of course I am," said Charlie, immediately feeling guilty about the birthday card.
"Good, because I'm getting a game that needs two people to play it." Charlie realized that no one else would be at Benjamin's party This made him feel even more guilty Runner Bean began to whine, almost as if he guessed that he wouldn't be appearing on Benjamin's birthday card.
"I'll be there," said Charlie cheerfully He hadn't bought a present yet. He would have to rush out to the store before he began his quest. But what quest was that? Something seemed to be hijacking Charlie's thoughts.
"Want to come for a walk with Runner?" Benjamin asked hopefully.
"OK."
Maisie shouted something about supper as Charlie and Benjamin left the house, but the wind howled around their heads and a clap of thunder drowned her words. Runner Bean yelped as a chestnut hit his nose, and Benjamin managed to smile at last.
As the two boys and the dog ran into the wind, leaves flew in their faces and stuck to fur and clothes. Charlie felt better in the open air. Perhaps it really had been a trick of his imagination. He hadn't heard voices at all, it was just some silly nonsense that he'd made himself believe, and Grandma Bone had encouraged him, just to annoy Maisie and upset his mother.
"Yes," Charlie cried happily. “It's all garbage."
"And leaves," said Benjamin, who thought Charlie meant the litter being blown down the street.
“And leaves," sang Charlie. He saw a newspaper flying toward him and stuck his foot out to catch it. But the paper lifted in a sudden gust and wrapped itself around his waist. As he pulled it away from him, a picture on the front page caught his eye.
A mean-looking boy stood on the steps of a gray building. He had a long, narrow face and a wispy mustache grew above his thin upper lip. His dark hair, parted in the center, had been drawn back into a ponytail.
"What's that?" asked Benjamin.
"Just a boy,” said Charlie, and yet he had the suspicion that this wasn't just any boy.
Benjamin leaned over Charlie's arm and read, "Manfred Bloor, age seventeen, was rescued from a fire at Bloor's Academy yesterday Manfred said he was lucky to be alive."
"No, he didn't," said Charlie breathlessly.
"What do you mean, he didn't?" asked Benjamin.