by Jenny Nimmo
"She'll be out for hours," said Maisie. "I'd go now if I were you."
"Where are you going?" asked Amy
“Ah . . . to a house quite near here," Paton told her. “And we'd like to take Charlie."
"Why?" asked Amy. "It's . . . it's not dangerous, is it?"
"Oh, Mom. Of course not," said Charlie, who had no idea whether it was dangerous or not.
"How do you know?" his mother gave Paton a wary look.
Paton scratched his head. "Well, it shouldn't be dangerous." He consulted a note that he'd pulled out of his top pocket. "It's only a few blocks away and as far as I know; it's a very quiet neighborhood."
“As far a s you know," muttered Amy "Paton, you're always going somewhere dangerous."
"Mom, please," Charlie begged.
"We have to meet a relative of Billy Raven's," explained Miss Ingledew. "The poor man's in a bad way. He has to send Paton's letters to me in case they get into the wrong hands."
Amy gave a grudging smile. “All right, Charlie."
It was still not dark enough for Uncle Paton to risk an appearance outside, but after waiting for another half hour, an obliging black cloud began to cover the sky. By the time the small expedition left number nine, heavy raindrops fell into the street.
Uncle Paton opened a large blue umbrella, which cove red him and Miss Ingledew but left Charlie catching most of the drops. Unconcerned, Charlie ran ahead. Following the road down to the park, he turned left as he’s been instructed. Here, an avenue of tall plane trees gave him some protection from the rain, which had become very heavy. He walked on for another half a kilometer until Uncle Paton shouted, "Take a right, Charlie. It's number fifteen."
Charlie rounded a corner onto a road that could almost have been described as a country lane. Leafy boughs swept over the pavement, and most of the houses were hidden behind tall hedges or overgrown shrubs.
The gate of number fifteen was badly in need of a coat of paint, and one hinge was missing. Charlie could hardly see the house — it was covered in ivy and white roses. A delicious scent wafted out from the garden, and Miss Ingledew declared that it was the most wonderful aroma in the world.
"I'll have to get it bottled for you," said Uncle Paton fondly
They pushed open the rickety gate and walked up the path to a white door. There w as no bell or knocker, so Charlie pulled a brass chain that hung at the side of the door. A chime could be heard, sounding inside the house.
The next moment, Alice Angel was standing on the doorstep. "Charlie, you came, too," she said. "Oh, I'm so glad."
Charlie was speechless. No one had told him they were going to see Alice Angel. He was rather confused. But Uncle Paton and Miss Ingledew stepped into the house and introduced themselves as though Alice were a perfectly normal person, so Charlie decided to follow them.
Alice took their damp coats and jackets and led them into a pretty living room. Because so much greenery covered the windows, the room was rather dark, and Alice immediately reached for the light switch.
"Stop!" cried Paton.
His cry came too late. The lights in the small chandelier hanging in the center of the room exploded one by one, and a shower of glass fell onto the carpet, missing Alice by centimeters.
"I'm so, so sorry," Paton apologized. "I should have warned you. How thoughtless. How remiss. Oh dear!"
"My fault entirely," said Alice. "It's too dark in here. I'll get the dustpan while you talk to Christopher."
Charlie stared into the gloom, trying to locate Christopher, while Uncle Paton and Miss Ingledew argued with Alice about who should sweep up the broken glass. Alice insisted that her visitors should make themselves comfortable while she fetched a dustpan.
As they took their seats, a quiet chuckle came from a corner of the room, then a voice said, "So, Mr. Yewbeam, you're a power-booster. I've always wanted to meet one."
Everyone peered into the corner and eventually made out a small scrawny man with thinning hair and ill-fitting clothes. The stranger got up and came toward them, extending his hand. "Christopher Crowquill," he said. "I know who you are."
While they all shook hands, Alice came back with a dustpan and brush, which Paton immediately grabbed. He began to sweep the floor, and Alice returned to the kitchen for cake and candles. When they were all sitting comfortably in the candlelit room, the cakes were passed around and Christopher Crowquill questioned Charlie about Billy Raven.
"Billy's ill, Mr. Crowquill," said Charlie.
"Ill?" Christopher looked alarmed.
"He'd just shown us a button he'd found, and then suddenly he was rolling about in agony. He kept mumbling about an oath and how he hadn't broken it. He was taken to the infirmary and I haven't seen him since."
"The oaths are deadly!" Christopher declared. "Florence keeps a bag full of them. They're mostly signed by people who've borrowed money. Unfortunately, once an oath has been signed Florence never returns it, even when the money has been repaid. If anyone breaks an oath, they experience a torturous pain. Sometimes, the agony is so great the victim is crippled for life. The paper is dipped in poison and then imbued with what I've been led to believe is a vicious spirit. They've made Billy sign an oath, I'll bet my life on it."
"So that's why he was too scared to tell me anything," said Charlie thoughtfully "But I think I know the name of his new home. He called it the Passing House."
"The Passing House!" Christopher clapped his hand to his forehead. "Dear me. The Passing House could never be described as a home. The Bloors use it for occasional guests: people who need somewhere to hide or others whom the Bloors want to hide. If Usher de Grey is involved, then Billy won't be able to leave the place until Usher chooses to let him go. Oh, the poor child. I must help him."
"But how can Usher keep the boy a prisoner?" asked Miss Ingledew indignantly
"My dear, he can create a force field." Christopher gazed at his knotted, careworn hands and shook his head. "He is powerfully endowed, that man, and most unpleasant. Poor Billy will never be able to break away Usher's invisible wall is stronger than iron."
This information made everyone feel so gloomy there was utter silence in the room until Uncle Paton suddenly said, "The button, Charlie. What's its significance?"
Charlie explained that Billy had found the button in the Passing House and was curious to know if it could tell him anything. "We've got this friend, Gabriel," he told Alice and Christopher, who were both looking puzzled. "Gabriel can feel things. He can see things too if he wears someone else's clothes. It gives him a lot of grief so he steers clear of old clothes and stuff most of the time. At first, we didn't think it would work with a button, because you can't put it on, can you? But then it did work."
There was an expectant hush, eventually broken by Uncle Paton, who said, "And . . . ?"
“And . . ." Charlie was unexpectedly embarrassed. "He saw a man with dark hair, trapped inside walls of glass — mirrors — and he heard a piano, but he couldn't see it. And then . . . and then . . ." Charlie described the terrifying experience of the ghost horse and the dreadful experiment in Ezekiel's laboratory
The room was immediately filled with exclamations of horror and consternation. In fact, the outraged voices became so loud and fierce, Charlie felt overwhelmed and he begged to be allowed out for a breath of air.
Alice showed him the back door, and Charlie stepped into a calm ocean of flowers. It had stopped raining at last and a wonderful steamy scent filled the garden.
"Phew! And I never told them the horse was after me," Charlie murmured.
The sight of a real gypsy caravan took his mind off his immediate problems, and he waded through the flowers until he reached a set of wooden steps leading up to the caravan door. He was about to climb the steps when a movement at the end of the garden caught his eye. To his surprise, he saw Olivia staring at him from the top of a high wall.
"Liv!" he called. "Olivia. What are you doing here?"
Olivia dropped down on the other
side.
"Be like that, then!" called Charlie. Leaping over the rain-soaked plants, he came to the wall and called again, "Liv are you there? What are you doing?" Charlie hauled himself up to the top of the wall and looked into another garden, this one rather bereft of flowers. The smooth green lawn swept up to a large white house that Charlie immediately recognized. The house belonged to the Vertigos. Alice Angel was Olivia's neighbor. How odd that Olivia didn't know her.
There was no sign of Olivia, so Charlie dropped down from the wall, picked up a shiny red apple, and went back inside the house.
"Ah, you've found an apple." Alice beamed at Charlie when he walked in. "Those apples are so good."
Things had calmed down a bit, although Uncle Paton and Christopher Crowquill were now discussing something in a quiet but agitated way
"I saw my friend, Olivia," Charlie told Alice. "I didn't know she lived on the other side of your wall. She wouldn't speak to me."
"She's having a crisis," Alice said gravely. "It sometimes happens when people fight against their true nature. I hope she accepts things soon. It will make such a difference — to all of you."
"Really?" Charlie was baffled. "How do you . . . I mean, are you endowed, Miss Angel?"
"Alice, please." Her green eyes twinkled. "Yes. I am endowed."
Charlie would have liked to ask her a few questions, but at that moment, Uncle Paton stood and, brushing the cake crumbs off his trousers, said, "We must go!"
As they took their leave, Christopher Crowquill thanked his visitors and warmly shook their hands. "I can't tell you what your visit means to me," he said. "I have few friends left in this ill-starred city And being a jailbird has taught me who they are. Alice Angel is true to her name. She has been an angel. Not one week passed during my long incarceration that she didn't visit me. She gave me hope and now she has given me shelter. But I beg you to keep my whereabouts a secret or she will be in as much danger as I am."
They swore never to tell a soul about their visit, Uncle Paton more vehemently than anyone. "We'll be in touch," he said to Christopher. "Don't give up hope."
The white door closed firmly behind Paton as he followed Charlie and Miss Ingledew down the path. The street was deserted, but Christopher was taking no chances.
The streetlights had come on, and although it had stopped raining, Uncle Paton took the precaution of hiding his head under the umbrella, just in case he had another accident. The umbrella covered Julia as well, so neither of them saw the odd gray shape that darted into the shrubbery on the other side of the park railings. Charlie wasn't sure that he'd seen it either, but he became more and more convinced that he had seen it, and that it wasn't a fox or a dog but a gray misshapen beast. Spying was Asa Pike's favorite occupation, so if he had followed them, number fifteen Park Avenue was now a marked house.
Charlie told himself that Asa couldn't possibly have guessed why he and his uncle were visiting Alice Angel. By the time they had reached Filbert Street, he felt reassured, but there was something he needed to know, and he asked his uncle why Mr. Crowquill had called the city ill-starred.
"I imagine that for him the place is ill-starred because he was sent to prison," said Uncle Paton. "That's a terrible thing to happen when you're innocent."
"No, it's more than that," said Julia quietly "Think of all the tragedies that have happened on this ground, right from the start when the Red King's children began to kill each other. I've more than a hundred ancient books that describe the eternal struggle that has been going on here through the centuries. Good people struck down and evil prevailing.” She smiled. "But I still love the city. I think it's because, to survive among all those dark deeds, the good have to be that much brighter and that much stronger."
Charlie thought of his father, struck down and lost because he tried to fight the Bloors. "You found The Book of Amadis," he said. "Do you think it was my father who Gabriel saw caught in the Castle of Mirrors? I know he had dark hair, and I know he's trapped somewhere, and then there's the piano music."
"I can't say Charlie," Julia said gently "But it's possible."
They had reached number nine, and Paton folded the umbrella while Charlie ran ahead to turn off the hall light and any others that might be at risk.
Grandma Bone had woken up. "Where've you all been?" she called from the living room.
"Walking," said Paton.
"Walking? Is that woman here again?"
"If you mean Julia, yes, she's here," said Paton angrily. "We're going to have a cup of tea, and then I'm walking her home."
"You'd better watch out for the lights." His sister gave a nasty cackle.
"I don't think I'll have any tea," Julia said quickly. "Emma went home with a friend, but she'll be back soon."
As Uncle Paton escorted Miss Ingledew down the steps, she called back, "Emma's got a new pet, Charlie."
"What is it?" he asked.
"You'll find out tomorrow," said Miss Ingledew, taking Paton's arm. "When she brings it to the Pets' Café."
THE PASSING HOUSE
Charlie ran almost all the way to the Pets' Café. He had Runner Bean's leash in his pocket and an excellent plan in his head. The city was full of Saturday shoppers and this slowed Charlie down.
He turned onto Prog Street at the same time as Dorcas Loom and her two older brothers. Albert and Alfred Loom were broad, pugnacious-looking youths. They enjoyed robbing backpacks, tormenting cats, and tripping up skateboarders. They were also the proud owners of four rottweilers, which gained them admission to the Pets' Café. Dorcas usually waited on a bench outside. She was afraid of animals, and Charlie often wondered how she managed to live with two such aggressive creatures — not to mention the rottweilers.
With a quick "Hi!" Charlie dashed ahead of the Looms and bounded into the Pets' Café.
"What's up, Charlie?" said Norton. "Are you being chased by the headless horseman or what?"
"You'll find out in a minute," said Charlie.
He saw Emma's blond head in the distance, and leaving Norton to face the Looms, he made his way over to her. He was surprised to find that the table was full. Lysander and his parrot, Homer, had turned up. Tancred sat beside him with one of Gabriel's gerbils, and Gabriel was feeding Billy's black rat, Rembrandt.
"Charlie, sit here!" Fidelio made space for Charlie, as his deaf cat clung to his shoulder.
As soon as Charlie sat down, Runner Bean, who'd been asleep under the table, leaped onto his lap, giving the table such a shake it tipped to one side, sending several plates and glasses crashing to the floor.
There were cries of "That dog!" "Can't you control him, Charlie?" "I was enjoying that cake!" "There goes my juice!" while Charlie yelled, "No one told me Runner was under the table."
Almost simultaneously, the Loom boys arrived, causing an even greater commotion with their rottweilers. The four big dogs began snapping at any small creature that had the bad luck to be within biting range.
The noise in the café was so loud that Mr. Onimous had to jump on a table and shout, "Quiet, please! Unruly behavior is not acceptable in this establishment."
Homer, Lysander's parrot, squawked, "Well said, sir!"
At which Alfred Loom shouted, "What's your problem, darling?"
Mr. Onimous stared at the youth in disbelief. "I beg your pardon?" he said.
"I said, “That's your problem?'" Alfred repeated.
Pulling himself up to his full height of four feet eleven inches (plus the table, which made him six feet five inches), Mr. Onimous replied, "Consider the smaller animals, sir. You can see how frightened they are. Your dogs create mayhem every time they bring you in here."
"It wasn't us, it was him." Albert Loom pointed at Charlie. "Him and that crazy yeller dog. He's bigger than ours."
Runner Bean gave a deep-throated bark and rushed at the rottweilers, while Homer squawked, "Get ‘em!"
A terrible fight ensued. Several other dogs couldn't resist joining in and the uproar was deafening. Screechi
ng birds flew up to the ceiling, cats shrieked, snakes practically strangled themselves, donkeys jumped on strangers, and an iguana ran out the door. Anything smaller just hid.
Norton was badly bitten when he tried to separate the dogs, and Charlie was knocked to the ground by a terrified Shetland pony, just as he grabbed Runner Bean's collar.
Mrs. Onimous jumped up beside her husband (thus making herself eight feet six inches) and began to bang an empty cookie tin. Her head was now touching the ceiling, and you might have thought the sight of such a huge person would subdue the mob. Not today. Only the sound of an approaching siren made any impact. As soon as the Looms heard the siren, they pulled their dogs out of the fight and left the café. Two minutes later, Officer Wood and Officer Singh arrived on the scene. Things had calmed down considerably by then, but Mr. and Mrs. Onimous were still standing on the table.
Officer Singh crunched his way over the broken dishes and addressed the proprietor. "Could we have a word, sir?" he asked Mr. Onimous. "In private."
Mr. Onimous jumped off the table, and when he had helped his wife down in as dignified a manner as possible, the couple disappeared into the kitchen with the two policemen. Norton, whose hands were bleeding profusely limped after them.
"The Looms were off like lightning when they heard that siren," Tancred remarked.
“And they caused all the trouble," added Emma. "It's not fair."
Charlie had managed to haul Runner Bean back to the table, and everyone made a great fuss over him for being so brave. Homer even shouted, "Croix de Guerre!" although no one knew what it meant.
"It's a French medal for bravery" Lysander explained. "He learned that from Mom."
They shared the cookies that were left on the table while they waited for Mr. and Mrs. Onimous to reappear. Several of the noisier animals had left, and it was now quiet enough for Charlie to hear a distinct and persistent quacking coming from somewhere. He looked down and saw a white duck sitting under Emma's chair. "So it's a duck," he said. "Your aunt told me you'd got a new pet."
"She flew into our yard yesterday" said Emma. "I named her Nancy after my mother. She died, you know."
