Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock (Children of the Red King, Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page B

dog?"
    Benjamin didn't look back. Joshua and Dagbert must have raced across the road and followed him.
    "You're not frightened of us, little Ben, are you?" Dagbert shouted. "Where's Charlie?"
    Almost tripping over his own feet, Benjamin bounded into a cobblestoned square. In the center of the square stood an old single-family house. It was surrounded by a low wall and a weedy garden. Nailed to the gate was a weathered board that read Gunn House. The rest of the board was filled with music notes: crochets, quavers, minims, and semibreves, though one hardly needed the musical notation to know that a family of musicians lived here. The noise coming from within the house made it obvious. The walls shook with the sound of drums, violins, flutes, cellos, and singing voices.
    Benjamin pressed the doorbell, and a deep recorded voice announced, "DOOR! DOOR! DOOR!"
    The Gunns' door-voice always unnerved Benjamin, but then a tinkling bell would have been drowned by the music, and visitors would have waited on the step in vain.
    The door was opened by Fidelio Gunn, a violin in one hand and a bow in the other. "Hi, Ben, where's Charlie?" said the freckle-faced boy.
    "Hey!" came a shout behind Benjamin.
    "Charlie's - er - can I come in, PLEASE?" asked Benjamin.
    Catching sight of Benjamin's pursuers, Fidelio said, "You'd better."
    Benjamin leaped into Gunn House and Fidelio slammed the door.
    "What's going on, Ben?" Fidelio led the way into a chaotic kitchen. A gray cat was eating the remains of a breakfast that still hadn't been cleared from the table, and a woman, in a long colorful skirt, was singing at the sink. A small girl, also freckle-faced, tuned her violin beside her.
    "Pianissimo, please, Mom!" Fidelio shouted. "Mimi, take your violin somewhere else."
    Mrs. Gunn looked over her shoulder. "Benjamin Brown," she sang. "What a surprise! Can't believe my eyes! Where's the dog of impressive size?"
    "Where's Charlie Bone?" asked Mimi, plucking a string.
    "Look, Benjamin is a person in his own right," said Fidelio. "He doesn't have to have an appendage."
    "A what?" said Mimi, plucking another string.
    "An attachment," replied her brother. "Benjamin's dog is not permanently attached to him, nor is Charlie. Sit down, Ben."
    Benjamin pulled out a chair and sat down. Feeling hungry, he picked up a piece of dry toast and took a bite out of it.
    "Pudding has just licked that," Mimi informed him.
    Benjamin eyed the gray cat and sadly replaced the toast.
    Fidelio took a chair beside him and leaned forward, his elbows on the table. Mimi stopped plucking at her violin and perched on the other side of the table. Mrs. Gunn hummed softly while she scraped at something in the sink.
    "What's happened, Ben?" asked Fidelio. "It's not just those morons outside, is it?"
    "No." Benjamin looked at Mimi.
    "Mimi always knows what's going on," said Fidelio. "You can't keep secrets from her, but she can keep a secret, can't you, Mims?"
    "My lips are already sealed." Mimi gave Benjamin a big, sealed smile.
    "OK." Benjamin began his story rather slowly, but then the drama of Runner Bean's disappearance got the better of him, and he poured it all out in a tearful rush.
    "I can't believe it." Fidelio sat back. "Charlie's never taken a dog with him before. I didn't know he could."
    "He didn't take him," wailed Benjamin. "Runner Bean vanished long after Charlie went in. At least I think so. But Charlie's never gone right into anything, has he? He always stays outside. It's only his mind that goes in."
    "Until now," Fidelio remarked. "Perhaps his endowment is developing."
    Benjamin shook his head. "Something's wrong, Fido." He got up and walked over to a window that overlooked the square. "My stalkers have gone. I think I'll take a chance and run up to the bookstore. Charlie's uncle will know what to do."
    "Has he... has he... has he... popped the question?" sang Mrs. Gunn.
    "Excuse me?" said Benjamin.
    "Uncle Paton. Mr. Yewbeam." Mrs. Gunn dropped her musical tone