Charlie Bone and the Hidden King

By: Sinnuo

Chapter Three: Letters and New Problems

Rating: PG

Summary: Charlie Bone is back at Bloors Academy. The tension between the Children of the Red King is terrible. New faces, old faces, and more magic and adventure than Charlie could have imagined…Witches, books, fights and the battle of the Children of the Red King is what awaits Charlie…

Later that night, Charlie Bone awoke with a jolt. He rubbed his eyes and looked around him. He was in the sanatorium, still in his school uniform. He was lying on a hard, uncomfortable bed. Typical of the Bloors. It was quite dark outside, and he glanced at his watch: 6:47 pm.

What had happened to him? All he remembered was walking with Olivia to Manfred's office. Oh yes, he felt some pain in his head. His hand lifted automatically to his head to see if it felt all right.

Well, it certainly felt all right, because his fingers got tangled in his wild bushy hair. So then what had knocked him out? Questions, he knew, that would be answered quite soon. He had just begun to stand up when a voice barked, "No. Sit back down!"

Out of the shadows came his great Aunt Lucretia, one of Grandma Bones' sisters. Her white hair was piled up on top of her head, and she was wearing a standard black school cloak. In her hands she held a bowl, full of what looked liked steaming hot water. Charlie recognized the sweet smell, but before he could ask what it was, he felt his self dozing off, and was shook back awake again by Lucretia, who was pinching her nose.

"Is that…Vervain?" asked Charlie.

His Aunt nodded. "Yes. Hold your head back, and keep yourself steady."

Charlie tilted his head back, and the next moment felt the hot water trickling into his hair. It felt very soothing, and it took Charlie all he had in him not to fall asleep. His Aunt carried away the bowl, and said, "You'll be free two go in about half and hour."

Charlie waited in silence for about half an hour, and then got up. He had one more question to ask Aunt Lucretia before he left.

He knocked on a large door near the exit and went in. Aunt Lucretia was folding a letter, a grin unfurling on her face. Her head shot up when she heard Charlie. She quickly slipped the letter into her drawer.

"It's rude not to knock!" she snapped.

"I did-" began Charlie indignantly.

"What do you want?" his aunt interrupted.

"I want to ask you a question. Do you know what happened to me? I mean, who did it and what did they do?" he asked.

His aunt paused. She sat stock still a moment, and then said. "It looked like a curse Charlie. A powerful curse. You better watch your back. Otherwise you might be spending a lot of time in here this year."

Charlie shuddered involuntarily. He began to ask what type of curse when a voice shouted, "Lucretia! Lucretia! Are you there?"

Aunt Lucretia shot a glance at Charlie. "You're free to go." She then walked out of the door, slamming it shut. Charlie quickly seized the opportunity. He went to her desk drawer and fumbled around for the letter. He grasped and shoved it into his pocket. He then opened the doors, and went out into the dark hallways. So much was on his mind. What was the letter about? Who had attacked him? Why?

He walked hurriedly to his dormitory. A grand father clock on the staircase told him it was 7:20 p.m. So he'd missed supper. There was really no point of going to the Red King's room; he'd had no homework given to him. Instead, he went to his dormitory, and pulled out the letter. It was written on thick paper, written in purple ink. Charlie began to read it:

Dear Lucretia,

Today I ran into a curious problem with your plan. It seems that the man will fall out of his stupor. Manfred Bloor is needed.

But it should work if the 'spirit', comes along with Manfred. You still haven't told me how he can control the thing as well. But with the power of Manfred and the spirit, we should be able to get things under control.

Yours Sincerely,

Melissa Damon.

PS. I think I ran into your great nephew today. Small boy, with rough hair? He was in a blue cape.

Charlie put down the letter. So this Melissa Damon person was trying to put a person back to sleep. And she'd run into his this morning? Who was she talking about?

Excitement welled up in his chest. Could it be his father? Could Lyell Bone really be coming out of his stupor?

He hoped so, for his mother's sake. He was thinking about his dad when the door of the dormitory burst open. Fidelio Gunn, Gabriel Silk, Lysander Sage and Tancred Torrson all came charging in through the door.

"Hey guys!" Charlie exclaimed, and stuffed the letter in his pocket. There was no point in letting the guys see this.

"You're okay!" yelled Fidelio.

"Yeah, I just had a bit of Vervain put on my head."

Gabriel nodded. His floppy brown hair swayed as he nodded. As usual, his expression looked forlorn and sad. Tancred's spiky blonde crackled with electricity and said, "Tell us what happened!"

Charlie explained in a nutshell what had happened. After he had finished, Lysander, the African, frowned thoughtfully.

"But who'd do that to you?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Charlie thinking back over his enemies. Grandma Bone, Eustacia, Lucretia, and Venetia. Manfred and Ezekiel. Dr Bloor. Asa Pike, the were-beast. Joshua Tilpin, Inez and Idith Branko. Dorcas Loom. He was pretty sure that Billy Raven wasn't his enemy.

Phew, he thought, I have a lot of enemies.

His thoughts flashed to that morning.

He tripped over, and fell at the feet of a person. He stood up to apologise, and came face to face with a middle-aged woman, with long blonde hair, which was loose down her back. She had emerald green eyes, which bored into Charlie.

Charlie couldn't help himself, and stared into the cold green eyes.

The woman stared back at him, smirking. "Watch your step little boy, you wouldn't want anything...bad, coming your way would you?"

Charlie shook his head, transfixed by the woman's eyes. The green shone out at him, inviting him in. Charlie felt himself getting light headed.

Who was this woman? What did she want?

The woman, with a flick of her long blonde hair, turned around, and walked out into the drizzling rain.

That was the woman that was keeping his Dad asleep? And trying to curse him, and maybe take him to the Bloors, and be forever hypnotized like his father…