Charlie Bone and Paton's Long Lost Daughter

Chapter 1

The Truth

Deep in a dark corridor at Bloor's Academy a woman with iron-gray hair, wearing a gray dress, walked swiftly to the west wing of the academy. Lucretia Yewbeam had an important message to tell to the Bloors. When she got to the door that led into the Bloor's dining hall she patted her hair, straitened up, and opened the door. There was a long polished wooden table; at the head of the table sat an ancient man whose face looked like a skull. Old Ezekiel Bloor was covered in blankets of wool. To his right was his grandson, Harold Bloor. He was a big man with a broad, grayish face, thick bluish lips, and cold, pale eyes. To the left of Ezekiel was his teenage great-grandson who was a hypnotist. Manfred Bloor was tall, but despite of his height, Manfred had a skinny frame, sallow, blotchy skin, and a face that was all bones and hallows. He had black stringy hair that was tied back into a ponytail.

"What is wrong Matron?" questioned Manfred when she entered.

"I have important news for you all," answered Lucretia.

"Fire away Lucretia," boomed Dr. Bloor.

"Before my disgraceful brother vanquished my aunt, Yolanda told me she took shape of an eight year old and went to my niece's birthday party-

"I thought you only had a nephew?" remarked Manfred.

"N0 I…I thought you already knew about Lillian's transportation to another home when she was one week old?" asked Lucretia.

"I don't know anything about that," Manfred snarled.

"I'll tell you about it later son," Dr. Bloor said sharply. Manfred muttered something about not knowing anything anymore, but no one took notice.

"As I was saying, Yolanda went to Lillian's eighth birthday party and discovered that she has two endowedments," continued Lucretia.

"What!" shouted Ezekiel spiting little pieces of Crème Brule everywhere on the table. "That girl has two endowedments…b-but that's impossible!"

"Yolanda had two," Dr. Bloor said. "That means the girl could have two."

"But that's not all, Lillian is coming to the academy when school begins, but she doesn't know her name is actually Lillian Yewbeam," Lucretia finished.

"Then what is the name she knows to be hers?" Manfred demanded.

"Melody…Melody Serpent," Lucretia said.

"But no one has asked me to take their children into the academy," confessed Dr. Bloor.

"No, not yet, Lillian might do something to her hair though, before she comes to the academy," Lucretia added.

"Why would she do something to her hair?" asked Ezekiel his mouth now empty of Crème Brule.

"She is always mistaken to be an albino that's why," said Lucretia.

"She has snow white hair like Billy Raven?" Dr. Bloor asked.

"Yes, the only difference is that she has bits of red in her white hair," answered Lucretia.

"I see, well thank you for telling us this important information," Dr. Bloor said gratefully. "You may leave."

"Yes sir," smirked Lucretia, and she walked out the door.

Meanwhile Charlie, Emma, Olivia, Gabriel, Fidelio, Tancred, Lysander, Ollie, the three adults, and the dog just arrived at Sparkling Castle, Ollie and Samuel's (Ollie's adult brother) home. Uncle Paton (Charlie's uncle) parked the mini-van in front of the neatly mowed grass.

"Well, here we are, home at last," said Ollie jumping out of the car.

"Mom and Dad are going to be surprised to see you," Samuel said also getting out of the car.

"Yeah," Ollie said looking up at the big mansion, admiring its beauty.

"Runner, rah, uf!" Charlie shouted as Runner Bean got out before Charlie did. Causing him to almost step on the dog and fall to the ground with a thud.

Everyone started to laugh.

"I guess Runner Bean is also excited to be here," Uncle Paton said getting out of the car, chuckling.

"It seems so," replied Miss Ingledew (Emma's aunt) who just got out of the car.

"Ha, ha very funny," grunted Charlie standing up to dust himself as Fidelio jumped out of the car.

"How's Sparkling Castle like?" asked Emma who got out after Fidelio did.

"It's amazing, the house is full of surprises, and adventures, there's always something new…most of the time!" said Ollie full of excitement.

"Well, shall we get our stuff from the back?" asked Tancred who spoke in an elderly way.

"Oh yes, lets," said Lysander in the same tone as Tancred's. Everyone laughed at them.

"You guys are idiots!" said Olivia who got out of the van last.

"Why thank you!" said Tancred and Lysander taking a bow. Everyone laughed again.

"These two gentlemen are right, we do need to get our stuff out," said Uncle Paton getting out the keys and opening the trunk. "Everyone will carry their own stuff, alright."

Everyone agreed. After a few minutes of handing, shuffling, and grabbing they started up the long dirt road to the front door of the mansion.

"Well-we-made-it," Gabriel panted.

"I'll knock," suggested Ollie who seemed to be the only one who wasn't tired. Ollie went to face the door, for a few moments he just stared at it then he took a deep breath and rang the bell. Nothing happened. Ollie rang the bell again. There wasn't an answer. Ollie was about to ring the bell again when the big oak doors opened without warning, and there stood a scrawny woman with a kind face. Ollie quickly ran behind the closest person from him. When Mrs. Sparks spotted her eldest son she smiled and then burst into tears.

"Samuel you're a-alright. Y-you escaped f-f-from her evilness. Your father is going to b-be so glad that you came home," sobbed Mrs. Sparks as she hugged her son.

"Yes I'm alright Mom, with the help of my new friends," said Samuel moving aside so Mrs. Sparks could see the big group. "Mom this is Charlie Bone, Fidelio Gunn, Emma Tolly, Tancred Torsson, Lysander Sage, Olivia Vertigo, Gabriel Silk, our mascot Runner Bean, Emma's aunt; Julia Ingledew, Charlie's uncle; Paton Yewbeam, and-

Samuel's mother interrupted him.

"Yewbeam… you're a Yewbeam? You're related to Yolanda Yewbeam?" stuttered Mrs. Sparks.

"Yes I'm a Yewbeam and yes I'm related to Yolanda, but I don't intend to follow in her footsteps," said Uncle Paton a bit too firmly that Charlie and the others stared at him.

"Oh that's a relief, in that case you can all come in. Come on," said Mrs. Sparks with a sigh of relief.

"Wait Mom there's someone else that's here," Samuel added with a grin. Samuel went up to Paton, and pulled Ollie from behind him. "Mom you know Ollie!"

Ollie and Mrs. Sparks just stared at each other for long time. Mrs. Sparks had just stopped crying when she started to cry again only smiling

"O-Ollie…Ollie you're finally home," she sobbed.

"Don't cry Mom, please don't cry," begged Ollie. Mrs. Sparks laughed as she wiped her eyes and then she hugged her youngest son. For a long time they hugged in silence.

"Mom why didn't you open the door right away?" asked Ollie curiously after Mrs. Sparks let go of him.

"Oh, your father got stuck in the chimney again. I told him Andrew would clean the chimney but no, he wanted to do it himself," said Mrs. Sparks looking frustrated. "Any- ways Andrew and Mary are trying to get him out."

"Oh, I almost forgot. Ollie when I still thought you were dead I kept buying your favourite jam. There's a room f-

Mrs. Sparks didn't finish her sentence because there was cry of pain.

"Rrraaahhh!"

"It seems that Andrew and Mary finally pulled him out, by the way I'm Gabriela Sparks but you can call me Gabby," Mrs. Sparks added.

As Mrs Sparks ran inside to check on her husband, the eleven people and dog stepped into the hall. The hall was amazing, the hall was bright, the walls were made out of black marble, and patches of the wall were covered in snow-white drapes, the floor was white marble, and at the core of the great hall, hanging from the ceiling, was a chandelier. There were two doors in the hall, one on the west side of the mansion and one on the east side. In front of them was a grand staircase.

"Wow!" everyone said except Ollie and Samuel (Runner Bean barked).

"Ollie, why did you hide behind Paton?" asked Samuel.

"I was-er-shy," answered Ollie. Samuel rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "What, it's been a long time since I saw Mom."

Samuel gave a deep sigh and said," Come on I'll show you the way to the living room, and leave your stuff here." With Samuel and Ollie in the lead the large group took the right door. When they all entered it was just a passage to who knows where. The passage's wall and floor were same as the hall's. Only this corridor is like the ones at Bloor's, narrow, only much brighter and fancy. They passed paintings of the Sparks ancestors which Charlie couldn't help looking at.

In one of the paintings there was a tall scrawny man with black hair, a neat set of clothes, and a spectacle on his left eye. Roderick Sparks was shown in gold letters at the right corner of the painting. For a few seconds Charlie stared at him eagerly, you see Charlie can hear voices of people in pictures and paintings and sometimes he can meet them.

Then a deep voice which must belong to Roderick said," Hello, I see that you must be visiting my great-great-great-great-grandsons, Ollie and Samuel?" Charlie nodded. "Very well, if you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"

"Charlie Bone," replied Charlie.

"Well Charlie Bone, I'm Roderick Sparks, brother of Selena Sparks… er you do know her do you?" he asked.

"Yeah I know her, though she didn't say anything when I met her," recalling his encounter with Selena's painting last semester.

"Well she was quite shy with anyone new, but she was a rather happy woman, well it was nice talking to you," said Roderick. Charlie stared at him for a few moments but he didn't say another word, so Charlie went to catch up with the group. They took a left five minutes later. At the end of the passage were two doors. Ollie opened one of the doors and they all went in.

The living room was amazing as the halls; it had a handsome fireplace, two elegant coaches, a glass top table between the coaches, on top of the table was a unique plant, a bookcase in the right corner and another in the left corner, next to the bookcase in left was a door, a chandelier hanged in the central of the room, a shelf above the fireplace which was covered in souvenirs, and above the fireplace was portrait of Selena Sparks.

Charlie stared at her hoping that she would say something but she didn't, it seemed that she was still shy. When they went inside Mrs. Sparks was nursing Mr. Sparks on one of the elegant coaches next to them a boy and girl looked up. When they spotted Samuel they grinned and then they spotted Ollie their grin turn to an I-can't- believe-it expression. "The boy and girl must be twins; they looked so much alike" thought Charlie. The boy and girl both had bronze hair, dark brown eyes, freckles, and sparkly teeth. Mr. Sparks on the other hand was a chubby, black haired, red nose man.

"Ollie is that you?" said the boy. Mr. Sparks stopped whimpering at once. There was a long pause. "Well is it?" urged the girl.

"Yeah it's me Andy and Mary," said Ollie.

"I cannot believe my ears nor eyes," breathed Mr. Sparks.

"Well believe it dear, because that is Ollie!" Mrs. Sparks reassured him.

"Want a closer look Dad?" said Ollie.

"Yes, I do," answered Mr. Sparks. Ollie walked up to his father; who looked dumbstruck. For long moments Mr. Sparks studied then he grinned ear-to-ear and grabbed Ollie and gave him a big hug.

"Aw, my little man finally came home!" Mr. Sparks said cheerfully.

"Dad I'm not a little boy anymore," Ollie corrected him.

"But you always be to me," said Mr. Sparks letting go of Ollie. Mr. Sparks caught sight of Samuel. " Samuel, I'm glad that nothing happened to you, and tell me how did you find Ollie?"

"I wouldn't have found Ollie without the help of my friends," Samuel said and waved a hand at the people behind him. "Dad, this is Charlie Bone, Fidelio Gunn, Emma Tolly, Tancred Torsson, Gabriel Silk, Olivia Vertigo, Lysander Sage, Runner Bean, Emma's aunt; Julia Ingledew, and Charlie's uncle; Paton Yewbeam-

At the mention of Paton's name Mr. Sparks turned red as his nose and roared, "A Yewbeam-in my house! He might be spying for Yolanda. I will not tolerate this!"

"No Dad, it's okay! He helped me become visible! He's not like his sisters," Ollie said quickly.

"Yeah he's always helping me when I need him the most," said Charlie. "Like-er-

"Like when he helped me get my dear niece from the Moons," said Ms. Ingledew.

The group yelled the good deeds Paton has done; luckily it calmed downed Mr. Sparks who felt very stupid.

"I'm so sorry, it is just all the Yewbeams I knew were horrible, wicked people, no offence," Mr. Sparks added quickly.

"Non taken, and apology accepted," Paton said.

"Everybody this is my dad, Harvey Sparks, and my twin cousins, Andrew and Mary Sparks," Ollie said.

"Hi," the twins said a bit shyly.

The group either said "hi", "hello", "how have you been", "it's a pleasure", or "what's up".

"You dears must be hungry? I'll go help Amelia prepare lunch, and I'll ask George and Dean, if they could put your stuff in your rooms," Mrs. Sparks said cheerfully. And she walked out of the room. Charlie and his friends (including Runner) went to talk to Andrew and Mary. Paton, Samuel, and Miss Ingledew talked to Mr. Sparks. Twenty minutes later Mrs. Sparks came back with a tray full of finger sandwiches. Behind her was a young woman with red hair, and freckles all over her face, was also carrying a tray of finger sandwiches. For hours they just sat there getting to know each other and eating finger sandwiches. It was a quarter after ten when Charlie started to feel drowsy, and it seemed the others did too. Mrs. Sparks showed them to their rooms. When Charlie, Fidelio, Gabriel, and Runner Bean got to their room they didn't bother to look around, or take off their clothing, they just crawled into their beds, and fell asleep.

When the three boys and dog woke up, the first thing they did was to explore the place with the rest of their friends. They discovered four bathrooms, ten rooms, and one of them was filled with jam (you can imagine the look on Ollie's face), a huge library, a great dinner, a grand kitchen, a parlour, and a humungous, stupendous back and front yard. Ollie, Andrew, and Mary introduced the mom and dad of the twins, the maids, and the butlers who all smiled and said that it was a pleasure to meet them. Then the ten kids played for the rest of the day and when it was dark they were all so tired that they didn't eat that much. Charlie's room was the last to fall asleep, but right before Charlie could fall asleep he remember the day when Yolanda said something he would never forget. "You don't have much luck with the ladies, do you Paton? First, your mommy, then your beautiful wife, then your beautiful daughter, and now your lady friend," Yolanda said.

"How do you know about my daughter?" Paton had said.

"Well, for one thing Grizelda told me about her," Yolanda sneered. "And also I went to her birthday party as her little friend and found out Lillian has two endowedments, one was Charlie's and the other was the ability to sense danger and some of her dreams come true-

"How is she, where is she," interrupted Paton.

"She's fine, except that she is miserable, and for where she is… I'm not informing you. Besides she'll be going to Bloor's Academy, and will be introduced to Ezekiel Bloor. He will try to convince her to work with us. You'd be much better off working with us too, you know."

"What?" Paton had thundered.

"You heard me, and so did that little wretch standing in your shadow," and those were the last words of Yolanda Yewbeam.

Charlie never new Paton had a wife and a daughter. He wondered if Yolanda was telling a lie about the stuff she had said. "Yet Paton asked for the girl, so that must mean that Yolanda was telling the truth. But then how come my mother never told me that I had a cousin and had another great-aunt. Maybe she didn't know about them?" thought Charlie. "And that Lillian girl, has two endowedments just like Yolanda." It was all a puzzle and another adventure for Charlie.

For the last few days it was nothing but fun! Ollie was right there was always something new. They found a big kitchen, an amazing library, an enchanting dinner, a studio full of paintings, four charming bathrooms, twelve grand rooms, one of them, which was full of jam (you could imagine the look on Ollie's face), and a huge, huge, huge backyard with a refreshing pool, and a green shed. Charlie and the rest of the kids never had so much fun, they all wished it could be like this forever, but they all knew it couldn't. Like the other night, Charlie's room was the last to fall asleep, and like the other night, Charlie would think about the stuff Yolanda had said. Then the last day came so soon for them and they all tried to make the best of it. Charlie noticed that Paton looked pale and miserable. The others noticed this and became worried that something was wrong with him. They asked him if he was all right and all he would do is nod.

It was night and Paton still looked pale and miserable, Charlie became even more worried. There were all in the living room including the twin's parents, maids, and butlers. They were all laughing and talking all except Paton and Charlie.

"What's wrong Charlie?" asked Fidelio.

"I'm worried about my uncle. He's been gloomy for some time," Charlie said apprehensively. "I think what Yolanda had told him affected him solemnly."

"What did that old hag said to him?" asked Lysander, butting into the conversation.

"I'm not sure if I should tell you guys. I mean it might not be a good idea to tell you something that might make Uncle Paton feel worse then he is right now," Charlie said awkwardly. "It would be better if Uncle Paton said it himself-

"Say what," said a voice which sounded really familiar to Charlie.

"Hey Mr. Y, what brings you to this bizarre conversation?" Tancred said a bit too quickly. Charlie turned around to see Paton crouched down beside him.

"Well, I over heard Charlie saying that it would be better if I said something myself. What exactly is something, Charlie?" Paton said curiously. Charlie's mind raced; if he said nothing Uncle Paton will might think that it's something bad, and if he said that the something has something to do with his daughter it might be even worse.

"Charlie!"

"Huh," Charlie said a bit dazed.

"Well aren't you going to tell me what is the something?" Paton asked.

"Er-um…the something is…um-

"Oh, just tell him Charlie," urged Olivia.

The room had gone quiet as Charlie sighed deeply and then said, "The something has something to do with your daughter Uncle Paton." Everybody gasped. "It's just you been looking pale and miserable all day and all week, I thought that the conversation with Yolanda might've affected you a lot."

Paton had gone extremely pale. "Yes, the conversation with Yolanda did indeed affected me a great deal, but I really don't want to talk about it," Paton said roughly.

"You have to talk about it, to get over it, and anyways I want and have the right to know about my long lost cousin and aunt," Charlie said a bit bossily. Paton stayed silent for a long time, and then he sighed and said, "Alright…I'll tell you the whole story." Everybody sat down to listen to the story. Paton took a deep breath and began his story.

"About nine and a half years ago, I married the most the beautiful girl I ever known. She had gleaming black hair that was most of the time tied back, her eyes were hazel, she had lips like an angel, and the kindest face you could imagine. Her name was Meg Cho-

"What?" yelled Tancred. "Her name couldn't be Meg Cho, I had a cousin named Meg Cho. She was a weather-monger just like me, only she died years ago, but then you described her perfectly!"

"I already knew that she was your cousin Tancred, she talked a lot about you, since the day you were born," replied Paton with a small smile.

"So this means I'm related to you, right?" asked Tancred. Paton nodded. "Wow!"

"Anyways, like Tancred said, she was a weather-monger and went to Bloor's academy when she was a kid. That's pretty much how I got to know her," Paton said. "But I never had the courage to talk even when Lyell introduced me to her, you see Meg was Lyell's best friend.

"Did you ever talked to her?" asked Charlie.

"Yes I did, my first time talking to her was my last year at Bloor's Academy. I was eighteen and Meg was thirteen," Paton said a bit embarrassed. "After the first time I wasn't afraid to talk to her anymore, we got to know each other. But just when we started to grow fond of each other, I left Bloor's and I never saw her again not even during the weekends. I was around the age of twenty-six when we met again. When I was twenty-seven I asked her to marry me, which she gladly agreed to. When I told Lyell and Amy the news, they were thrilled, but the Yewbeam sisters though, were furious. They said Meg was a waste of my time, she's a no-good stupid girl and other stuff that made me so angry that all the light bulbs in the house shattered," Paton said furiously. Tancred had cursed under his breath when he heard the insults that the Yewbeams had said. "But I still married her, and we bought a house far from the Yewbeam sisters. Soon Meg had a baby girl on May fourth, and we named her Lillian. She was beautiful as Meg, except she had gray eyes. But what was strange was that she had snow-white hair-

"What's so strange about that, Billy Raven has snow-white hair?" said Emma.

"You didn't let me finish; in her snow-white she had bits of red. The doctors thought they were bloodstains, but they weren't. Meg seemed happy that they weren't bloodstains; she said that only person that has ever had the same kind of hair like Lillian was on her father's side of the family. The man's name was Klahador Cho.

"Whose he?" asked Gabriel.

"Well, by Meg's information, he was a powerful wizard, and a brilliant one too. He was the only member in the Cho family who was able to control his wand," replied Paton.

"So that means that your daughter is a witch, and maybe a powerful one too," remarked Fidelio.

"Indeed she might be extremely powerful, but I forgot to tell you all, Meg had said that someone had stolen the wand from Klahador a long time ago, so I guess we won't be able to know if Lillian does have any powers," sighed Paton.

"Uncle Paton can you tell us the rest of the story," begged Charlie.

"Alright, alright. Now where was I…oh yes, after Lillian was born I had to go to my father's house because there was some kind of an emergency. And when I came back, the house had caught on fire; Lillian amazingly survived the fire as though she was protected by magic, which I have no doubt. Unfortunately-

"Meg got ran over by a car trying to catch her dog," Tancred said miserable.

"No, Meg never died like that, Meg died in the fire. The firemen found her body all burnt where the living room once stood," Paton almost choked on these words, and while Tancred listened, a tear ran down his cheek. "I wasn't that sad when I should've been, because I still had Lillian, who by the way was just one week old when that all happened. I went to Grizelda's house, where I found Amy, Grizelda, Masie, and you Charlie in the living room. We talked and talked about what happened that dreadful night and Charlie even though it was a bad time to play with Lillian you kept on playing with her," Paton said with a smile. Charlie felt a bit foolish.

"I had spend the night there, with Lillian by my side, but when I woke up Lillian wasn't there. I knew Lillian's disappearance had to do something with Grizelda so I marched into her room and demanded where she was. Grizelda acted as though she didn't have a clue what was I talking about, but I knew that the Yewbeam sisters were in the disappearance of my daughter. After that day on, I was miserable, and I looked for Lillian during the night even till this day," Paton finished with a sigh. Everyone stared at Paton, touched by his story especially by Tancred and Charlie who almost burst into tears.

"Does anyone have any questions?" asked Paton. Some people raised their hands. "Olivia."

"So Lillian was only one week old when all that happened?" asked Olivia almost in a shout.

"Yes, she was only one week old. Andrew?"

"So you think that Grizelda, your sister, and the rest of the Yewbeams gave Lillian to another family?" enquired Andrew.

"I don't think so, I know so. Yolanda said that she went to Lillian's party, and where's a party there's a house," Paton said confidently. "Mary?"

"Do you know where Lillian is?" Mary asked.

"No, but I do know that she is going to Bloor's Academy. Charlie?"

"Do you think Yolanda was saying the truth when she said Lillian had two endowedments-

"Lillian has two endowedments!" everybody yelled.

"But that's impossible, yet maybe it isn't, I mean Yolanda had two, too. But it's still bizarre!" Samuel exclaimed.

"Yes I know, as for your question Charlie, yes I think Yolanda was saying the truth," added Paton. "The only problem I have is that I can't go into the academy and look for her, because the doors are always locked until the week ends. Besides I don't even know what department she's in; art, drama, or music."

"Don't worry Uncle Paton we'll look for her at the academy. We'll find Lillian or die trying, and if we don't die trying then we'll hang our heads in shame. Now whose with me?" Charlie asked putting his hand out.

"I'm with you Charlie," Tancred said at once, and he put his hand on Charlie's.

"So are we," Emma and Olivia requested, putting their hands on top of the two hands.

"You can count me in," Lysander said determinedly and adding his hand on the pile of hands.

"Us too," said Fidelio and Gabriel, putting their hands on top of the others.

"Ruff," barked Runner Bean who amazingly put his paw on the stack.

"Then it's settled. We'll start looking for Lillian when we go back to the academy," Charlie said confidently.

"Yeah!" everyone shouted.

"Thank you, you have no idea how happy you've made me," croaked Paton. Mrs. Sparks let out a yelp that made everyone jump.

"What's wrong Gabby?" asked Mrs. Ingledew.

"It's already one in the morning. You dears really have to get some sleep for your journey home," remarked Mrs. Sparks. No one noticed that it was so late, but they knew now. Everybody got up all at once and left one by one. When Charlie got into bed he thought about the crazy night he just had. He felt worried, scared, and determined all at once.

"We're going to find you Lillian, and when we do we're going to bring you straight to Uncle Paton," Charlie said to himself then fell asleep.