The Key to Rondo

by Emily Rodda

  Chapter 29

  The Plan

  The room behind the curtain was a vast ballroom, panelled with mirrors and ablaze with light. Huge crystal chandeliers hung from the mirrored ceiling. The floor was smooth, glossy black, and it was crowded with silent dancers – weird, monstrous beings wearing fantastical, vividly coloured clothes.

  ‘Oh!’ Bertha whispered in horror. ‘Oh, lawks-a-daisy, this is – frightful! The Blue Queen’s power is coming back! She’s creating monsters all over again. And no one knows! No one has the faintest idea!’

  Leo stared at the dancing throng, repelled yet unable to tear his eyes away.

  No two of the creatures were alike, but all danced with the same frenzied, unsmiling determination. None of them made a sound. They were all as silent as their own reflections, endlessly repeated in the mirrored walls. Even their feet skimmed noiselessly over the shining floor.

  The only sound was the rollicking music, which was pouring from a vast golden organ suspended on a platform over the dance floor. The organ was being played eight-handed by a repulsive, spider-like beast wearing a glittering purple vest and four pairs of sequinned purple gloves.

  Leo gaped, unable to take in what he was seeing. Feathers, fur, spines, horns, scales, jerking limbs, bobbing heads, clashing colours and glittering jewels mixed and mingled in front of his eyes like a vision in a feverish nightmare.

  A bulky figure with silver plumes of hair and a cluster of three bulging eyes, one purple, one red and one blue, whirled out of the throng, its arms around what looked like a giant snail standing upright. A bald man with leathery bat’s wings dragging behind him capered alongside a pencil-thin creature whose round, vacantly smiling face was framed by a stiff fringe of yellow daisy petals.

  Leo realised that Mimi was tugging at his arm. He turned to look at her. She was staring fixedly at one end of the room.

  He followed her gaze, and caught his breath. The Blue Queen was sitting apart from the dancers on a raised golden throne. She was wearing a magnificent dress of midnight blue velvet studded with tiny, glittering jewels, and her hair gleamed like white gold.

  Beside her, on a slightly lower chair, and in a rather dingy sequinned evening jacket, sat Spoiler, looking anxious, his foot tapping restlessly to the music. On her other side was an elegant marble stand on which stood a golden cage filled with dancing blue butterflies.

  And crouched miserably at the Blue Queen’s feet, wearing a gold collar that was linked to her wrist by a heavy golden chain, was Mutt.

  Leo gripped Mimi’s arm and tried to draw her back. She resisted him, holding on to the edge of the curtain and shaking her head. Her eyes were bright with tears.

  Suddenly Leo was thinking very clearly.

  ‘We can’t do anything for Mutt now,’ he breathed in Mimi’s ear. ‘You know it. You said it yourself. We’ll have to steal him back – it’s the only way. Come on.’

  She frowned, but at last let him pull her away from the curtain. He led her quickly to the foot of the great stairs. Bertha followed, for once shocked into silence.

  ‘So?’ whispered the hidey-hole from the stairway wall. ‘What’s the plan?’

  ‘We find the Blue Queen’s bedroom,’ Leo said softly. ‘It looks as if the queen keeps Mutt very close to her. There’s a good chance she takes him to her room at night. So we’ll hide in there, and when she goes to sleep we’ll creep out and get Mutt.’

  And after that, he promised himself silently, it will be Spoiler’s turn. He’ll be asleep. We’ll find him and we’ll take him home with us. See how he likes it in the modern world with no money, no home, and no one to believe him when he tells them who he is. Mimi will break the Key. I’ll hide the music box. And Rondo will be free of Spoiler forever.

  ‘The queen’s bedroom will be upstairs,’ the hidey-hole said knowledgeably. ‘That’s how it is with rich people. They like views, and also they seem to think that the higher up they are, the safer they and their jewels will be. I know these things. I’ve got a friend who specialises in hiding burglars.’

  As Bertha, Leo and Mimi looked at it, rather startled, its edges pinched slightly inwards.

  ‘Not a good friend, of course,’ it added hastily. ‘A fairly distant friend, really. Actually, just a friend of a friend. You know how it is. Some holes will mix with anyone, and you have to be polite, right?’

  ‘Right,’ Leo said quickly. His plan depended on the hidey-hole, and he wasn’t about to have an argument with it.

  ‘Well, I’ll go on up and have a look around,’ the hole said, and disappeared abruptly into the wall.

  This hadn’t been part of Leo’s plan at all. He’d expected the hole to be with them, providing security as they searched the castle. Glancing nervously over his shoulder at the blue curtain, he urged Mimi and Bertha up the stairs.

  They reached the first floor and hesitated. They were standing in a huge space thickly carpeted in blue. A crystal chandelier blazing with candles flooded the space with light. Broad, blue-carpeted hallways stretched away on every side. The hallways were studded with gold and white doors, all firmly shut.

  Leo realised that the plan he’d outlined so confidently downstairs wasn’t going to be as easy to carry out as he’d thought. The castle was huge. It might take them all night to find the Blue Queen’s bedroom.

  There was no sign of the hidey-hole. Leo hoped desperately that it hadn’t decided to abandon them because it regretted mentioning its ties with the world of crime.

  ‘Will we start searching here, or go up to the next floor?’ Bertha whispered.

  ‘I think we should go to the next floor,’ Leo said, very aware of Mimi’s tense silence, and trying to sound as if he knew what he was doing.

  They climbed the second flight of stairs. When they reached the top, panting, they found themselves in a blue-carpeted space exactly like the one on the floor below. The music from the ballroom was noticeably fainter, otherwise Leo could have thought that they hadn’t moved at all.

  ‘This castle certainly has a lot of rooms!’ puffed Bertha, peering dismally along the deserted hallways, with their rows of gold and white doors. ‘I suppose the queen needs them to keep all her monsters in. They probably don’t like sharing.’

  ‘Psst!’ hissed the hidey-hole, appearing in the wall just behind her shoulder.

  Bertha jumped violently. ‘Don’t do that!’ she whispered angrily, turning and glaring at the hole.

  It pulsed with silent laughter. It seemed very pleased with itself.

  ‘I’ve found the room you’re after,’ it wheezed. ‘It’s right at the top of this dump. In the tallest tower.’

  It sank back into the wall and came into view again at the foot of the next flight of stairs. ‘Coming?’ it asked, and began gliding rapidly up the stairs like a large blot of black ink, not troubling to hide itself at all.

  ‘How do you know it’s the Blue Queen’s bedroom?’ Leo panted, as he, Mimi and Bertha hurried after it.

  ‘Oh, just a few little clues,’ smirked the hidey-hole, pausing in the middle of a stair. ‘One, it’s stuffed with jewels and magic books. Two, it’s got the best view in the place. And three, it’s got a crown on the door with The Blue Queen written underneath it.’

  Exploding into wheezing guffaws once more, it slid up to the next stair, and raced on.

  Leo, Mimi and Bertha followed as fast as they could, climbing higher and higher through the castle, the music from the ballroom growing fainter with every step.

  The last flight of stairs twisted upward in a lacy gold spiral. When they reached the top, they found themselves on a small landing, facing a single, very grand door painted midnight blue. As the hidey-hole had said, the door bore a large golden crown, with the words The Blue Queen written below it in fancy script.

  ‘As if everyone in the castle wouldn’t know whose room it is!’ snorted Bertha. ‘Some people just love seeing their names in print.’

  The hidey-hole slid casually under the door. ‘All clear!�
� they heard it whisper from the other side. ‘Try the door. If you can’t open it, I can probably help you pick the lock. I’ve learned a few tricks from … ah … from a very distant friend of a friend of a friend of mine – who I hardly know at all.’

  Cautiously, Leo twisted the shining gold doorknob. To his surprise it turned easily. He pushed, and the door swung smoothly open, revealing a large room filled with dancing shadows and strange, flickering blue light.

  Leo took a step back. Mimi darted past him into the room, but still he hesitated.

  ‘Come on!’ the hidey-hole called impatiently from the flickering blue dimness. ‘First rule of successful hiding: Don’t dilly-dally!’

  ‘It’s strange that the door wasn’t locked,’ Leo murmured to Bertha, who was standing back politely, but craning her neck to see past him into the room.

  ‘The queen probably thinks everyone’s too scared of her to try to steal anything or pry into her secrets,’ Bertha said. ‘And she’d be right, wouldn’t she? No one with any sense would come here – except for us.’

  Unable to restrain her curiosity any longer, she edged past Leo and squeezed through the open doorway.

  Except for us, Leo repeated grimly to himself, following her into the room and closing the door behind him. And of course we’ve got loads of sense, haven’t we?

  As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he looked uneasily for the source of the blue light. He found it in the black marble fireplace, where tongues of blue flame flickered lazily over the coals. Before the fire stood a throne-like blue velvet armchair.

  Shuddering, Leo turned to survey the rest of the room. He saw walls festooned with drapes of midnight blue silk. He saw carved golden chairs, glass tables, cabinets filled with old books of magic, chests cluttered with jewels, silver-backed hairbrushes and bottles and jars of every shape, colour and size. He saw a long mirror in a golden frame fixed to a wall. He saw a huge bed covered by a white fur rug, in the middle of which the hidey-hole was sprawled luxuriously.

  ‘Lawks-a-daisy, what a room!’ gasped Bertha, wandering around and gazing at everything in fascination. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it!’

  ‘Told you,’ said the hidey-hole smugly.

  Mimi was standing motionless at the end of the bed. She was staring down at an empty golden cage that stood there on the floor, chained to one of the bed’s legs.

  I was right! Leo thought with a rush of relief. That cage must be where poor Mutt has to sleep.

  He moved to Mimi’s side. Mimi shivered and opened her lips for the first time since seeing Mutt in the ballroom.

  ‘This is horrible,’ she said. ‘It’s the most horrible room I’ve ever been in.’

  Leo nodded. The room was lavishly furnished and smelled of exotic perfume, but it had an evil atmosphere than no luxury could disguise. It was as if the terrible plans that had been hatched there, and the wicked deeds that had been done, had left their mark. Its thick, blue-tinged air was heavy with menace.

  ‘Ooh, look!’ Bertha squeaked, stopping at a pair of tall, narrow glass doors that faced out towards the front of the castle. ‘There’s a little balcony out here! I love balconies! They’re so romantic. I always wanted one in my sty, but mean old Macdonald wouldn’t build it for me.’

  She nosed the balcony doors open and stepped out eagerly, but almost immediately she backed halfway in again.

  ‘The dancers are leaving!’ she hissed. ‘They don’t live here after all!’

  Leo and Mimi rushed to join her. Keeping low, they peered down through the balcony rails.

  Far below, the Blue Queen’s guests were gliding across the drawbridge in sedate rows of three. The silver-haired, three-eyed dancer Leo had noticed in the ballroom was leading the silent procession, with the bald, bat-winged man and a tiny, gnome-like creature whose narrow, knobbly chin reached to its knees.

  There was no sound at all except the lapping of the water in the moat.

  ‘The music’s stopped,’ Leo murmured. ‘The party’s definitely over. ‘We’d better –’

  He broke off with a gasp. The first three guests had reached the end of the drawbridge, stepped off onto the grass and vanished in a cloud of glittering dust.

  ‘They aren’t real!’ breathed Bertha, as the next three dancers followed the first set into sparkling oblivion. ‘They’re all illusions that can’t exist outside the castle! Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried!’

  Leo’s scalp was prickling. The Blue Queen had been presiding over a lavish party at which she, Spoiler and Mutt were the only guests who were real. What kind of maniac would do that? No wonder Spoiler had looked edgy.

  Whispering to Bertha and Mimi to follow him quickly, he backed off the balcony. The hidey-hole was still spread out on the white fur bedcover, looking very relaxed.

  ‘Get up!’ Leo urged, running over to it with Bertha and Mimi close behind him. ‘We’ve got to hide! The Blue Queen will be here any minute!’

  ‘Oh, so now it’s urgent!’ groaned the hidey-hole, yawning horribly. ‘Just when I’ve got comfortable. Isn’t it always the way?’

  It slid from the bed, yawned again, and sank sulkily into the dark blue floor rug.

  Seconds passed, and nothing happened.

  ‘Where are you?’ Leo whispered, looking around frantically.

  ‘Keep your shirt on, worryguts,’ said a sleepy voice. And an inky black patch appeared right in the centre of the long, gold-framed mirror that was fastened to the wall beside the bed.

  ‘You can’t stay there!’ Mimi hissed, horrified. ‘That’s a magic mirror – at least, I think it is.’

  ‘Who cares?’ yawned the hidey-hole. ‘I’d like to see some spook try to interfere with me. Anyway, I’m not moving. Mirrors give you the best view. Second rule of successful hiding: If there’s a mirror, use it.’

  It stretched itself till it covered the whole bottom half of the mirror.

  ‘Well, are you getting in or not?’ it said rather indistinctly. ‘Take it or leave it.’

  And at that moment, the muffled sounds of footsteps and arguing voices seeped through the bedroom door.

  Bertha, Mimi and Leo leaped for the hidey-hole and tumbled inside it.

  ‘Well, that’s more like it,’ said the hole, and sank beneath the mirror’s surface.

  Just as the door flew open, the Blue Queen, carrying Mutt and the cage of blue butterflies, swept into the room.

  Chapter 30

  The Mirror

  Leo was astounded to find that despite being in the hidey-hole he could see the queen’s bedroom as clearly as if the mirror was a blue-tinted window. So this was what the hidey-hole had meant when it had said that mirrors gave you the best view.

  ‘I am sick to death of your whining, George,’ the Blue Queen shouted over her shoulder. ‘Go to bed and leave me alone.’

  ‘But you don’t understand,’ moaned a voice that Leo recognised as Spoiler’s. ‘You blame me for failing you, but I couldn’t help it. I had the girl in the palm of my hand, but then the boy –’

  ‘That is enough!’ the queen snapped. ‘I have heard it a hundred times! Leave me in peace!’ She nodded at the door and it slammed shut. Dismayed, Leo heard a lock clicking into place.

  With a deep sigh, the queen put down the butterfly cage and went to the end of her bed, taking off the gold bracelet that fastened Mutt’s chain to her wrist.

  She bent, and the chain rattled. They heard the cage door opening, then closing again with a clang. Mutt whined piteously. Leo felt Mimi stir beside him, and touched her arm warningly.

  ‘You hate me, tiny dog, do you not?’ the Blue Queen said in a hard voice, straightening up and staring down into Mutt’s cage. ‘You wish to leave me, and return to Mimi Langlander?’

  She kicked the cage contemptuously and turned away. ‘Well, too bad for you,’ she spat over her shoulder. ‘You will never see that ugly little fiddle-player again. I am your mistress now!’

  Inside the mirror, Leo could feel Mimi trembling like
a leaf buffeted by a gale. He understood how she felt. He was hot with rage himself. It was all he could do to prevent himself from bursting out of the hidey-hole and throwing himself at the sneering woman who was now walking towards him.

  The Blue Queen smoothed her eyebrows and bent closer to the mirror.

  ‘Look out,’ breathed the hidey-hole. ‘She’ll see you if you’re too close to the surface.’

  Leo, Mimi and Bertha shrank back. The Blue Queen thrust her face forward, inspecting it carefully. Leo could see every pore of her skin, every fine line of discontent that marked her brow and dragged down the corners of her mouth. He held his breath as the queen’s white hand moved to stroke the silken strands of her pale blonde hair.

  ‘Magic mirror, tonight I do not need to ask you if I am still the most beautiful woman in the land,’ the queen purred. ‘Tonight, a hundred beings have told me so already.’

  A hundred phantoms you created to flatter you, thought Leo in disgust.

  But he stayed absolutely still and didn’t stir until the queen, apparently satisfied with her reflection, had moved away, kicked off her shoes, and lain down on her bed.

  ‘Oh, why is everything left to me?’ the queen sighed, yawning. ‘There is so much to do – so much to think about. And I am tired. So tired …’

  Her eyelids fluttered closed. She began to breathe evenly.

  Mimi moved forward. Leo’s heart lurched.

  ‘Wait!’ breathed the hidey-hole. ‘Third rule of successful hiding: Don’t make your move too soon.’

  Mimi drew back, but she didn’t relax. Leo could feel her crouched beside him, tense as a stretched rubber band.

  The minutes ticked by. The only movement in the room was the slow rising and falling of the Blue Queen’s chest, and the only sound was the sound of her breathing.

  It was warm inside the mirror, and as roomy and comfortable as the hidey-hole had promised. The dim blue light was restful. All there was to see was the quiet room and the sleeping queen. Even the blue butterflies were still.

  Bertha’s head nodded. Her eyes closed. She was falling asleep herself. Leo hoped fervently that she wouldn’t snore.