by Emily Rodda
But though he wound the box every day after that, and examined the pictures with the glass till his eyes watered, he didn’t get what he regarded as a confirmed sighting of George Langlander.
On the second day he did see a tiny figure in a checked jacket and what looked like pale pink trousers right at the top of the front of the box – just outside a village nestled in a cleft between two low hills. Spoiler had a checked jacket, and he had been wearing pyjamas covered in faded red crowns when Leo had last seen him. But the figure was too small to be recognisable, and anyway was half-hidden by a horse pulling a large cart loaded with furniture and trunks.
So Leo went on winding and searching, winding and searching, as the days passed. The man in the checked jacket disappeared from view. The horse and cart turned and began a slow journey back down towards the town at the bottom of the box. A sea-serpent rose to the surface of the water on the coast side of the box and menaced a small fishing boat. Dragons flew across the sky and perched on distant mountaintops. Preparations for a large party began in and around the glass-towered palace high on the front of the box. Life went on in the town.
It was only towards the end of the week, when Leo noticed faint blue-grey smoke drifting from the Blue Queen’s tower room that he began to wonder if he was doing the right thing. Everything was changing so fast – much faster than he’d thought it would. And when Bertha disappeared from the farm and became visible in the centre of a crowd outside the tavern, he felt a twinge of real panic.
It had just occurred to him that if life went on in Rondo for too long without him and Mimi being present, the Blue Queen might start wondering why her butterfly spies were failing to find any sign of them. The queen thought Mimi and Leo were stranded in Rondo because the Key had been destroyed. If she couldn’t find them, she might begin to suspect she’d been tricked.
And that would be a disaster. If the queen realised that the Key still existed she’d never stop trying to get it. Never, ever …
Leo hadn’t wound the box again – until this afternoon, when he’d been forced to do it. He fervently hoped that it wasn’t too late to repair any damage he might have unwittingly done. What did the blue smoke mean? Why had Bertha left the farm?
Mimi caught sight of the magnifying glass on his desk. ‘You couldn’t help yourself, could you?’ she said bitterly. ‘You had to experiment … wind up the box, then watch to see how long things took to happen, whether you could actually see people moving, and all that. They aren’t lab rats, Leo! They’re living, breathing people! And some of them are supposed to be our friends!’
The unfairness of this took Leo’s breath away. If Mimi Langlander wanted to put the worst possible interpretation on what he’d done, then let her. And to think he’d actually been looking forward to having her home!
Angrily he watched Mimi turn the box so that she could look at the back. She was acting as if the box was hers, instead of his.
‘The Blue Queen’s up to something,’ she said, pointing to the trail of smoke drifting from the tower of the castle on the hill.
Leo wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of saying, ‘I know’. He wouldn’t tell her he’d been worrying helplessly about the smoke ever since he’d first noticed it. He wouldn’t admit that he’d been longing for her to return so that they could use the Key to take them into Rondo and warn Hal, Bertha and their other friends.
Mimi spun round to face him, her eyes dark with fury. ‘Don’t you even care?’ she demanded.
Something inside Leo seemed to snap. ‘Shut up, Mimi,’ he said, in a low, dangerous voice he hardly recognised as his own. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve got no idea what it felt like, being here alone with this for a week. You’ve been somewhere else, doing whatever “promising young violinists” do.’
He put as much venom into the last few words as he possibly could, and with satisfaction saw Mimi’s face close up as it always did when she felt threatened or insulted. It crossed his mind that the best thing he could do now was turn around and stalk back downstairs, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Mimi would be quite capable of winding up the music box and taking herself into Rondo without him, and he wasn’t going to risk that. So he stuck his hands into his pockets and stayed where he was, glaring at her.
‘We’d better get changed and go straight away,’ she muttered, getting up and moving away from the desk. ‘We have to let the Blue Queen’s spies see us, and anyway I want to find out what’s been going on. We’ll go and see Bertha at the tavern – send a message to Hal from there.’
Leo felt a tingle of excitement, but it wasn’t enough to quench his anger, or to override his natural caution. ‘I agree we have to go,’ he said in a formal voice. ‘And I know we’ll have to stay two or three days to convince the Blue Queen we’re still stranded. But this time we’re not going to get into any trouble or take any risks. We’re going to stay safely in town with Conker, Freda and Bertha. We’ll get beds at the tavern, and wander around the streets during the day. That way we’ll be quite safe. Right?’
Mimi shrugged and looked bored. ‘Don’t worry, Leo,’ she said. ‘Whatever happens, we’ll be quite safe.’
The tone in which she said this was immensely irritating.
‘And Mutt isn’t coming with us,’ Leo snapped, more out of a desire to provoke her than anything else.
To his surprise, Mimi shrugged again. ‘As if I’d take Mutt,’ she said scornfully. ‘The Blue Queen stole him once, and she’d do it again if she got the chance. Anyway, he’s really tired. He didn’t sleep much while we were away. Neither of us did.’
She pushed past Leo and disappeared into her own room, shutting the door behind her.
She’s impossible, Leo told himself. He strode to his wardrobe and pulled it open. The clothes he’d brought back from Rondo were rolled up at the back of the very bottom shelf, behind his winter pyjamas. He pulled the bundle out and put the things on his bed.
The soft white shirt was creased, but not too badly. The dull green trousers were fine. The boots, belt and brown leather jacket were just as they had been when he put them away last Sunday night. He pulled everything on and instantly felt different – stronger and more alive, as if he’d just had a mega-dose of vitamins.
He looked in the long mirror on the inside of the wardrobe door and saw that he even looked different. He looked taller, older and just more … interesting.
Another reflection appeared in the mirror behind him – the reflection of a poised, elegant young woman wearing slim black trousers, soft black shoes and a long green and gold Chinese-style jacket fastened with tiny covered buttons. The Rondo clothes had worked their magic on Mimi, too.
She was still small and thin and pale. Her fine mouse-brown hair was still cut very short at the back and above the ears, and her fringe still reached all the way down to her eyebrows. But somehow the clothes that had chosen her in Rondo made all these things look attractive and unusual, whereas the baggy jeans, the battered sneakers and the hand-me-down pink blouse with puffed sleeves had just made her look like a gawky child.
‘That’s so much better,’ Leo blurted out, then could have bitten his tongue.
But Mimi didn’t seem to feel insulted. She looked at herself in the mirror and nodded soberly. ‘I wish I could wear these things all the time,’ she said.
A gale of laughter floated up from the back garden. Mimi looked at the window impassively. ‘We’d better go, while they’re still having a good time down there,’ she said, and walked to the desk.
Leo closed his wardrobe doors and went to join her. She watched as he took a small notebook and a pen from the desk and shoved them into his pocket.
‘Good idea,’ she said. ‘We really needed a pen and paper last time.’
‘I’m sorry I wound the box,’ Leo said impulsively. ‘I was looking for Spoiler. I didn’t think of –’
‘It’s happened,’ Mimi interrupted. ‘Don’t worry about it. We can make it right once we’re t
here.’
Leo picked up the music box and wound it. One, two, three, four, five, six times. Even now, even knowing the real reasons for the music box rules, it wasn’t easy. He had to force himself to make those last three turns.
Turn the key three times only …
(Because even one more turn opens the way into Rondo.)
He opened the lid just to check the music was playing, just long enough for a couple of chimes to sound, and shut it again.
Never close the lid while the music is playing …
(Because then the music never runs down, and life in Rondo goes on.)
Mimi took his hand, and with her free hand grasped the pendant hidden beneath her jacket. ‘Think of the tavern,’ she murmured. ‘Focus on it.’
‘Where? Where in the tavern?’ Leo gabbled. ‘It has to be somewhere the blue butterflies won’t see us arrive.’
Mimi hesitated, but only for an instant. ‘Inside,’ she said rapidly. ‘Beside the storeroom, at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the bedrooms – near the hooks where we got our Rondo clothes. Have you got it?’
‘Yes,’ Leo muttered. He fixed the image in his mind. The dark little hallway. The rows of red hooks on the wall. The storeroom door. The stairs curving up into darkness. The smell of stale cider, old clothes …
‘Let us in!’ he heard Mimi say. And he felt his hand torn away from hers as they plunged into a tunnel of chiming rainbows.
Chapter 3
Trouble at the Black Sheep
Gotcha!’ a triumphant voice bellowed in Leo’s ear. He had barely registered that he was on his hands and knees on a wooden floor when someone seized his arm and hauled him to his feet.
Leo forced his eyes open. Dim, hazy shapes swam around him. For a split second he didn’t know where he was. Then he remembered.
He was in Rondo. He was – or he was supposed to be – inside the Black Sheep, where he’d be safe. But someone was shaking him, shouting at him.
Spoiler, Leo thought. Desperately he tried to free himself.
‘Oh, no, you don’t!’ the voice yelled. ‘You’re not getting away. You’re going straight to Officer Begood, you are!’
It took a moment for the words to penetrate Leo’s panicking mind. When they did, he realised that his attacker couldn’t be Spoiler. Spoiler wouldn’t go near Officer Begood, the Rondo policeman.
Leo stopped struggling and blinked in the dimness, trying to get his bearings. He could hear the dull roar of voices and the clinking of glasses from somewhere not too far away. He could smell spices, apple cider, and the faint, lingering odour of cooked cabbage. As his eyes slowly came back into focus, he saw that he was standing beside a door marked ‘Storeroom’. Pinned to the door was a large notice reading: No Admittance Except On Tavern Business. Trespassers Will Wish They Had Never Been Born.
THIS MEANS YOU!
Dismayed understanding flowed through Leo. Groaning softly, he twisted his neck to see who had grabbed him.
His captor was a lanky young man with popping pale green eyes, straw-coloured hair that stuck out at odd angles all over his head, and very large ears that had turned bright red with excitement.
‘Yoo-hoo, Master Jolly!’ bawled the young man. ‘Master Jolly, come quick! I got one!’
‘Wait! I’m not –’ Leo gasped, but it was too late. A grey glass door at the other end of the corridor burst open, releasing a blast of light and sound from the room beyond. A very stout, balding, red-faced man came hurtling through the doorway. He had reached Leo and his captor before the door had swung shut again.
The man’s shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows. A purple scarf was knotted jauntily beneath his second chin. His trousers were held up over his round belly by wide green braces.
It was Jolly, the landlord of the Black Sheep, blue eyes snapping, chest heaving, his usually happy face distorted into a ferocious snarl.
‘I caught him red-handed, Master Jolly!’ yelled Leo’s captor, jiggling up and down and grinning so broadly that it looked as if his thin face had split in half. ‘Crawling around in the shadows, he was, like the sneaking thief he is! But I spied him, I did, with my little eye. And I grabbed him!’
‘Good work, young fellow-me-lad!’ shouted Jolly, slapping him on the back. ‘I had my doubts about hiring you, I’ll admit, but you’ve earned your pay today, dally-buttons you have!’ He lunged forward and took charge of Leo with gleeful efficiency.
‘Shall I run and get Officer Begood?’ the young man asked eagerly.
‘Begood’s still out of town,’ Jolly said. ‘He went straight up north from the Crystal Palace ball last night to fetch a prisoner, they tell me. There’s been some kerfuffle in Hobnob.’
‘Kerfuffle?’ gasped the young man. ‘What kerfuffle, Master Jolly?’
The door at the end of the corridor swung open. ‘Jolly!’ a female voice shrieked over the din. ‘I need help in here!’
‘I hear you, Merry!’ Jolly bawled. As the door swung shut again he jerked his head at his assistant. ‘Get back to the bar and give Merry a hand,’ he ordered. ‘What were you doing out here, anyway?’
The young man’s ears went so much redder that they looked as if they were about to burst into flames. ‘I-I just came to see how the g-glow-worms were feeling, Master Jolly,’ he stammered. ‘I was that worried about –’
‘You’re here to work, not fiddle around with the light fittings, you silly young parrot!’ roared Jolly. ‘You get back where you belong and leave those glow-worms alone! They only got sick after you came – it’s probably you that’s upset them. Go to Merry! Go!’
The young man wheeled round, loped rapidly along the corridor and shot through the glass door, falling over his own feet as he did so and landing on the other side with a thump.
‘Right, you young villain!’ Jolly growled to Leo. ‘You can go into the cupboard under the stairs till Begood gets back. We’ll see how you like it alone in the dark with the big black spiders. Ha!’
‘We weren’t trying to burgle your storeroom, Master Jolly,’ Leo managed to gasp. ‘We were just –’
Jolly’s eyes bulged. ‘We?’ he roared, looking wildly around. ‘You mean there are more of you? Where are they?’
Dragging Leo with him, he strode to the storeroom and threw open the door. Dozens of small, golden-brown creatures that looked exactly like gingerbread men, right down to their black currant eyes and the three currant buttons dotting their chests, scattered, squeaking and giggling. ‘Pesky dots!’ Jolly growled, slamming the door again. ‘So, your gang isn’t in there, you villain. Where is it?’
‘Here,’ said a voice coolly. And Mimi moved out of the shadows at the bottom of the stairs, looking very elegant and composed.
Jolly goggled at her. Mimi obviously didn’t look like his idea of a burglar. I suppose that means I do, Leo thought gloomily. It must be the leather jacket.
Mimi lifted her chin. ‘We came to see Bertha, your model, Master Jolly,’ she said in a severe tone. ‘We’re very good friends of hers. But this corridor is so dangerously dark that my cousin tripped and fell. He could have hurt himself very badly.’
Jolly glanced uneasily at Leo, who tried to look like an innocent victim.
‘And then,’ Mimi went on, ‘before he could even get up, your assistant attacked him!’
Jolly dropped Leo’s arm as if it were scalding him. He pulled a large white handkerchief from his pocket and hastily began to scrub at the greasy finger marks clearly visible on Leo’s jacket sleeve.
‘Many apologies … unfortunate misunderstanding,’ he mumbled. ‘The boy … all his fault … only started yesterday … can’t get good help these days. And the lights … all the glow-worms back here have gone off sick. Tummy trouble – and that’s a powerful bad business inside a light fitting, let me tell you. I’ve been meaning to get some substitutes, but I’ve been rushed off my feet since –’
‘Can you show us to Bertha’s room, please?’ Mimi broke in crisply.
Jol
ly, however, wasn’t a man to be pushed too far. He made an obvious effort to pull himself together. ‘Bertha’s not seeing anyone just at present, lass,’ he said stiffly. ‘She’s fair tired out, she says. All the interviews, and so on.’
‘Interviews?’ Leo exclaimed, temporarily forgetting his ‘innocent victim’ role.
‘One after the other!’ said Jolly, unbending a little. ‘This place has been crawling with reporters ever since Bertha got here.’
‘Reporters?’ Leo wished he could stop repeating everything Jolly said, but he couldn’t help it. He felt very confused.
‘Reporters from everywhere,’ said Jolly. ‘The Rondo Rambler, The Herald, Palace and Bower, Coast Watch, The Vampire … There’s even a mouse from The Squeaker here – this business has kept the messenger mice hopping, as you can imagine.’
‘Oh – yes,’ Leo said weakly. ‘So – the tavern’s full of –’
‘Full as a goog!’ said Jolly with great satisfaction. ‘I couldn’t give you a room if you offered me a bag of gold and three wishes on the side.’
Leo glanced at Mimi. He wasn’t surprised to see her glaring at him. Life in Rondo had gone on without them all right – and gone quite a long way, by the sound of it.
‘Why are the papers so interested in Bertha all of a sudden?’ Mimi asked bluntly.
‘Don’t you know?’ Jolly demanded, with a slight return of his former suspicion. ‘I thought you were friends of hers.’
‘We’ve been out of town,’ Leo said lamely.
‘For much too long,’ Mimi snapped, frowning at him.
Jolly pulled a folded newspaper from the back pocket of his trousers. He shook out the folds and thrust the battered paper at Leo. ‘There,’ he said. ‘This was the first report. There have been loads of others since then, of course.’
The page, boldly headed The Rondo Rambler, featured a large and very badly painted picture of Bertha smiling coyly beneath her flower-laden hat. The headline above the picture read: HERO PIG FOILS BLUE QUEEN’S KIDNAP PLOT.
