Read Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors for Free Online Page B

met an excited Billy Raven coming the other way
    "I'm being adopted. Manfred just told me."
    "That's great!" cried Charlie.
    The small boy touched his white hair. "I wonder why they want me. I mean, they could have chosen any boy Someone nicer-looking, someone different."
    "Who are they?" asked Charlie, suddenly concerned for Billy
    "They're called de Grey Mr. and Mrs. de Grey They're a bit older than I expected, actually Manfred showed me a photo. But he says they're nice and very kind. And they've got a lovely house. I'll have my own room with everything I could want, even a TV he says. Imagine, my own TV."
    Charlie would have liked to see the de Greys' photo. He might have been able to learn a little more about them if he'd heard their voices. "Did Manfred give you the photo?" he asked.
    Billy shook his head.
    "Well, it's great news, Billy."
    Charlie was about to continue on when Billy suddenly asked, "Did you bring your wand to school with you?"
    "Yes, I —" Charlie stopped. "Why do you want to know?"
    "I just thought, you know, it would be good if you had it with you — to protect you, kind of thing. Do you keep it in your bedside dresser?"
    "No." Charlie kept his precious wand under his mattress, but he wasn't going to tell Billy He'd said enough already.
    "No. It'd be too long for the dresser," said Billy. "Under the mattress, then?"
    Charlie felt uncomfortable. Was Billy still spying for the Bloors? "I've got to run, Billy" he said quickly "Got to get my lines to Manfred's office. See you later."
    Charlie hurried on. All the activity in the school had shifted to the dormitories, and the great flag-stoned hall echoed with Charlie's solitary footsteps. For the second time that day he opened the ancient door leading to the Music Tower. He stepped into the dark passageway and surveyed the rough stone walls. Halfway down, on his right, he saw a small recess. Charlie crept along in the gloom, until he came to a narrow set of shelves crammed with drab, serious-looking books.
    "Hmmm. Are you a door, then?" Charlie pushed one side of the bookcase, then the other. Nothing moved. Perhaps it wasn't a door at all. One by one, Charlie began to remove the books, searching for a knob or a handle to open the supposed door. But there was nothing.
    "What are you doing?"
    Charlie almost jumped out of his skin. A figure in a purple cape came gliding toward him. "Why are you here?" asked Tantalus Ebony.
    "I was looking for Manfred's office," stammered Charlie.
    "I see." Mr. Ebony gave Charlie a look of such overwhelming hatred, Charlie had to step back, dizzy with shock. A suffocating brew of smells filled his nostrils: stale air, candle wax, rotting things, mildew, and soot.
    "You do well to be afraid, Bone," said the teacher coldly "You're a troublesome little devil, aren't you?"
    Before Charlie could reply the man's features seemed to dissolve, and an array of completely different expressions crossed his pale face. For a fraction of a second, Charlie felt that from behind the changing masks, someone gazed out at him with infinite tenderness. He was sure that he had imagined this, however, when the look of haughty indifference returned to the teacher's face.
    "You wanted the office." Mr. Ebony pressed a knot in the wood at the top of the bookcase. Immediately it swung aside, revealing the dim interior of" a small office.
    "Thank you." Nervously Charlie stepped inside.
    "I'll leave you to it, then. Toodle-oo." The extraordinary teacher's voice changed completely He waved his long fingers and rushed away humming a slightly familiar tune.
    Charlie looked around the room. It was very tidy A photograph of a younger-looking Dr. Bloor with a small boy and a dark-haired woman hung above the mantelpiece. Manfred and his parents. Beneath the window, there was a desk and an adjustable leather chair that faced the courtyard beyond. Charlie stepped up to the desk and put his lines on a stack of papers. He was about to turn away when something caught