Hi! This is my first fan fic. Please review.

Chapter 1: The Troubled Friend

It had been a year since Charlie Bone had found his father and brought him home with his mother. So far they had been very happy together, but that day it was unusually cold and a deep sense of foreboding chilled the air. Charlie, his mother Amy, and his father Lyell were in the kitchen eating breakfast.

"Well, the break's almost over, Charlie. You'll soon have to go back to Bloor's." Amy pointed out as she busied herself about the bright kitchen.

"Oh, yippee! Another fun-filled year at Bloor's." Charlie said sarcastically, rolling his brown eyes skyward as he scooped a piece of waffle into his mouth.

"Don't worry, Charlie, it probably won't be that bad," Amy assured. She popped a piece of wheat toast in the toaster.

Just then Paton Yewbeam called down to them and said he was coming down. Charlie rushed to get the lights and turned them off just in time. But as soon as Paton entered the room the doorbell rang and there was a frantic knocking at the door.

Charlie scooped up his dirty plate and silverware and dumped them into the sink. Strolling over to the door, he called over his shoulder, "I'll get it!"

Charlie tugged open the door and furrowed his eyebrows at the sight before him. Standing there was one of his best friends, Gabriel Silk, and he didn't look too well.

Waving his arms about wildly, Gabriel explained in a rush, "Charlie, come quick! My hamsters are in an uproar and I left Billy there to try and understand them. Tancred and Lysander are there as well and I thought I should get you as well."

Charlie nodded quickly in understanding and said, "I'll be right back, Gabriel, just hold on a second."

Charlie ran upstairs to his room to grab some warmer clothes to change into. As he dashed back downstairs he passed his kindly grandmother, Maisie.

Her head jerked up from the book she was reading as she noticed him speeding past. She stared at him in question and asked, "What's the rush, Charlie?"

"Gabriel's gerbils are in an uproar and the others are there so he came over and asked me to come along, too."

"Well then, I guess I will see you later." She smiled. "When you come back I will have dinner ready and waiting."

He waved goodbye and hurried to the kitchen to tell his parents and uncle where he was going.

He made his way back to the door and said to Gabriel, "Let's go."

Before they left, Charlie turned to his friend, "Do you think that we should get Emma as well? The bookstore isn't that far away."

Gabriel shrugged indifferently. "The more the merrier, I guess."

So they stopped at Emma and her Aunt Julia's bookstore before they went up to Gabriel's house. They told Emma all that had happened and they started to head up to Gabriel's house. His house was in the Heights so it took them awhile to reach their destination. But when they did they saw Tancred and Lysander waiting outside the door to the shed.

Emma eyed the pair speculatively and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Tancred said, "Billy just told us to wait outside until he was done so there wasn't as much extra noise."

Charlie said "Well, I'm going in to check on him and see if he has anything yet."

When he got in he saw Billy on the floor holding his head.

He bent down and asked him if he was alright while the others rushed in to see if he was okay.

He said "I can hear them talking all at once and it's giving me a headache all I could make out was that something evil has come and it's a threat to all us endowed."

Lysander said "What! Not again, this always happens to us. I think we're all an evil magnet."

While the others were complaining and trying to find out some more information from Billy, Charlie was thinking.

"Why would evil pick now to pop and start causing trouble? Has something been awakened or found that wasn't supposed to be. Well for now I'm going to have to agree with Lysander. Why do these things always happen to us in particular?"

Charlie stood up and he had am I'm-about-to-make-an-announcement face on. So everyone else there just went quiet, that's when he said...

"Let the fun begin."

Well, that was my first write and I hope you like it and please review. Sorry, it's kinda short.