"Eeec-er-ooo-ow!" yelled Charlie, trying to cling to a spindly shrub. It was no use; he was tumbling deeper and deeper into a dark pit.
"You didn't see my trap, did you, you stupid boy?" cackled Eustacia.
"Charlie, where are you?" called Olivia.
"Help!" Charlie clawed at the sides of the pit, but the black earth was slimy with slugs and rotting weeds.
Of all the great-aunts, Eustacia had the worst laugh. It crackled with spite. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" She stood right above Charlie, and he had a nasty view of brown tights and black underwear.
He closed his eyes and murmured feebly "Help!"
"It's too late for help," sneered Eustacia. "You're caught like a rat in a trap, Charlie Bone. Now, what shall I do with you?"
Charlie looked up. "Old women can't do this to children," he said defiantly
"Can't? But I just have," snickered his great-aunt. "And if you..." All at once, in mid-sentence, Eustacia flew into the air. It was quite astonishing. As Charlie squinted up at the large figure in the sky it disappeared in a cloud of leaves. He could hear a wind roaring above him now, gathering twigs, earth, stalks, and plants in a great whirlwind.
"Tancred," breathed Charlie as four hands stretched down toward him.
"Climb up, Charlie," came Tancred's voice, though Charlie couldn't see him through the flying debris.
"Tancred's fixed the old bat," said Olivia, "so come on up."
But Charlie couldn't even touch the waving hands. "I can't! I can't!" he cried.
Two more hands appeared: strong brown hands that could stretch farther down into the pit. "Get a move on, Charlie," said Lysander's voice. "Push it, man. Come out of there!"
This time Charlie clamped the vervain between his teeth and leaped as he reached for the brown hands. They caught him and slowly he began to climb.
Tancred and Olivia grabbed one arm while Lysander pulled the other, and gradually Charlie was dragged toward the mouth of the pit. He could hear a muffled screaming in the distance, and when he crawled out into the wind, he saw what must have been his great-aunt, covered in greenery fighting the gale that roared through her garden.
"Stop!" shrieked the green mound as Charlie and the others raced for the wall.
Lysander gave Charlie a shove from behind, and they all fell into the alley overcome with helpless laughter.
"What happened?" asked Emma, who was too small to see over the wall.
"Tancred did his thing, and now Charlie's aunt looks like a compost heap!" said Olivia.
"She'll take it out on you, Charlie," said Emma, too worried to see the funny side.
Preferring not to think about this, Charlie took the vervain from his mouth, spat out mud, and dusted himself off as they all began to run down the narrow passage into Darkly Wynd. When they got there, Emma, the only one to have thought ahead, took a plastic bag from her pocket and held it out to Charlie.
"What would we do without you?" said Charlie, dropping the muddy vervain into the bag.
"It's got roots," Emma observed. "You could plant it again."
"I'll have to find out if it works first," said Charlie.
They hurried down Darkly Wynd and out into the sunshine of Greybank Crescent. The change in temperature was dramatic. Behind them lay a place the sun had never touched. An empty forgotten place of cold stone and gloomy shadows. They all gave an involuntary shiver and turned their faces up to the sun.
And then Tancred said, "By the way Charlie, what were you looking at when your aunt came through the door?"
Charlie had almost forgotten the pebble. He pulled it out of his pocket. "This," he said.
They looked at the smooth gray stone lying in Charlie's palm.
"Looks familiar," said Lysander.
"I'm sure it belonged to Mr. Boldova," said Charlie. "The stones that sparkled in his hand looked just like this."
"You're right," said Olivia. "But how did it get into your aunt's garden?"
"It was dropped from a window" said Charlie. "I think she stole it."
Everyone agreed that this was a possibility And yet who had dropped the pebble? And why? It was a puzzle.
"There are too many puzzles," said Lysander. "We'll meet up tomorrow, right? And discuss the Ollie problem."
"What about Charlie's uncle?" said Emma. "Suppose the vervain doesn't work?"
"I'll come whatever," said Charlie.
When they reached the main road, the five friends parted, and Charlie ran home with the prized vervain. He could hardly wait to see if it worked. First he would chop some into tea leaves and take his uncle a cup of vervain tea. He leaped up the steps of number nine, opened the door and walked straight into Grandma Bone.
"What's that you've got?" she said, eyeing the plastic bag.
"Nothing er, some fruit from Mom's shop," said Charlie.
"Liar! I know what you've been doing. Eustacia called me. You're a thief!"
"No." Charlie backed out of the open door.
"Give me that bag!" she demanded.
"No!" yelled Charlie.
Grandma Bone made a grab for the bag but, at that N very moment, a large yellow dog bounded up the steps and leaped on Charlie's grandmother, knocking her back into the house.
"Runner!" cried Charlie. He ran down the steps with Runner Bean at his heels, while Grandma Bone roared from the house, "Stop! Come here! You wait, Charlie Bone! You won't get away with this."
Charlie raced up the street, panting, "Runner, where did you come from? You saved my life!" And then he saw Fidelio, speeding toward him.
"Hi, Charlie!" called Fidelio. "Runner got away from me. I guess he couldn't wait to see you."
The two boys met halfway up Filbert Street, and Fidelio explained that he had gone to the Pets' Caf hoping to find Charlie, but instead he had run into Norton Cross, who insisted he take Runner Bean for a walk.
"I forgot," said Charlie. "In fact, I keep forgetting. I'm sorry Runner." He patted the dog's shaggy head.
"So where were you? And what's going on?" asked Fidelio.
Charlie described his visit to Darkly Wynd and the reason for stealing his great-aunt's vervain.
"Wish I'd been there," said Fidelio, a little aggrieved at being left out of things. "You'd better come home with me while your grandma cools down."
Charlie thought this was a very good idea.
Runner Bean didn't, but he was so pleased to see Charlie, he was prepared to put up with a place he considered to be the noisiest in the world.
Fidelio's seven brothers and sisters all played different musical instruments, and at any one time at least five of them would be practicing. Add to this the rich bass and shrill soprano of Mr. and Mrs. Gunn, and you had a sound resembling the work of the most daring experimental composer.
"Let's go to the top," shouted Fidelio as soon as they got inside. "It's a bit quieter up there."
Runner Bean dragged himself up the stairs behind the boys, flinching every time he passed a room where a drum, or a trumpet, a horn or a cello, was being beaten, blown, or scraped.
At the top of the house, there was a shady attic where the Gunns kept their broken instruments. The two boys made themselves comfortable on a large crate, and Charlie gave Fidelio a more detailed account of his dealings with Skarpo. But he found that he wasn't yet ready to tell even his best friend about his mysterious journey over the sea.
Fidelio listened thoughtfully to Charlie's story and then he said, "You'd better stay out of your grandma's way today And let's put that plant in water before it dies."
Down they went again, passing children with freckled faces and brown curly hair who all patted Runner Bean and greeted Charlie like a long-lost brother. Into the kitchen, where a singing Mrs. Gunn was making banana sandwiches and real lemonade.
