Read Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf (Children of the Red King, Book 6) for Free Online Page B

into the darkness. He told himself that he didn't care. What was one more day after all? He lay awake long past midnight and then, just as he was drifting off to sleep, a sound came stealing through the night. A far, far distant howl.
    There was a rustle of sheets, and Charlie saw the rounded shape of Billy Raven's white head. He was sitting up - listening. He knows what the howl means, thought Charlie, and soon he'll tell me.
    The last thing Charlie expected was an apology, but at breakfast the next morning, he got one.
    "Sorry about last night," said Dagbert, swallowing ""a spoonful of cornflakes. "I couldn't afford to get detention. The people I live with won't understand if I don't turn up tonight."
    "You didn't have to talk after lights-out, though, did you?" said Fidelio. "Charlie warned you."
    Dagbert frowned. "It's hard to keep stories to yourself," he murmured.
    Charlie almost felt sorry for him. "Well, you won't get away with it a second time. Matron's told you now, so you'll have to keep your stories bottled up."
    Yes, I will," Dagbert said pensively. "Imagine. Stories in a bottle."
    Not for the first time Charlie wondered what was going on in Dagbert's head.
    Charlie spent the rest of the day in a state of suspense. All he wanted was to hear what Billy had to ^ tell him.
    At four o'clock Weedon unlocked the main doors, and children piled out of the academy. From their dormitory, Charlie and Billy could hear the shouts that began immediately as pupils were released from the gloomy hall. Charlie peered out of the window overlooking the courtyard. He saw Dagbert Endless following the crowd. He was the only one who didn't look happy. His expression was solemn, almost apprehensive. He was the last to leave the courtyard.
    Charlie turned from the window. "They're all gone, Billy."
    Billy was sitting on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chin.
    "Before we talk about Dagbert I want to know what you heard last night," said Charlie.
    "A howl," Billy replied.
    "I heard it, too. You know what it meant, don't you?"
    Billy nodded. He hunched his shoulders and hugged himself. "It was a call for help. It was frightened and lonely."
    Charlie looked into Billy's wine-dark eyes, magnified by the round lenses of his glasses. "Do you know where the voice - the howl - came from?"
    "Not exactly. It's far, far away, maybe underground. It says it's trapped."
    "Trapped?" said Charlie. "Who's trapped it, I wonder?"
    Billy shrugged. "Charlie, I want to tell you about Dagbert," he said. "I've been trying all week, but he's always there, right behind you. He calls me a freak."
    "And Gabriel a loser, and he told Olivia and Emma they looked a mess. An absolute lie."
    Billy leaned forward. "Cook knew Dagbert's father. He drowned her parents, swept away her home, and murdered her fiance. All because she wouldn't marry him."
    "Wait a minute!" Charlie exclaimed. "I remember. Cook told me. His name is Grimwald."
    "Lord Grimwald," said Billy. "Blessed says he smells of rust and seaweed and shipwrecks and drownings. And there's a cold pearl in his heart, trapped like sand in an oyster shell. Cook's going to leave. She's frightened."
    Charlie slid to the floor. "Cook, leave? She can't. She keeps the balance here. She's the lodestone of the house. Why should she leave? No one knows who she really is."
    "Dagbert might find out," Billy said gravely.
    Charlie resolved to change Cook's mind. He would see her at supper and convince her that she must stay. Otherwise, who would care for Billy during the long school holidays? He had no home, no parents, no one else in the world to turn to. The Bloors kept promising him that he would be adopted but it had never happened, unless you counted the de Greys, who had treated Billy like a servant and kept him locked up.
    Students in detention could usually expect a cold supper in the cafeteria. But when Billy and Charlie went downstairs at six o'clock, the blue cafeteria was deserted. Chairs had been piled onto