Charlie Bone Short Story

A/N: Ok, my first story, so I'm a little nervous. I don't want any flames please, but constructive criticism is welcome. Basically I was re-reading the Charlie Bone series and got inspired. Hope you like it! Review please.

Disclaimer:

Me: Much to my chagrin, I do not own Charlie Bone. If I did, there would be more Fidelio/ Liv.

Chapter One: A girl named Ria

Charlie had just escaped from number nine. He didn't know how long he could avoid Grandma Bone, but he would try for as long as he could.

Charlie thought about the events of that morning on the way to the Pet's Café. He had been coming down the stairs, about to go to the café, when Grandma Bone had intercepted him. " You have a school paper to do young man!" She had yelled. " Already done" mumbled Charlie, pulling on his coat.

" I don't believe you. You're a liar, we all know that!" This statement wasn't exactly true. Charlie wasn't very prone to lying all the time. Conversations with Grandma Bone were the exception.

" I'm not lying. I'm going out now." Charlie continued toward the door, but Grandma Bone stepped in front of him. " You're not going anywhere!"

" Leave him alone Grizelda!" Uncle Paton to the rescue! He was standing at the top of the stairs, wearing a long black coat with the collar turned up. On top of his head was a black fedora, with a dark green length of silk around the rim.

The following fight had turned into a blazing inferno of thrown words, from which Charlie had fled from, as if his heels were on fire. He never liked to be around when Uncle Paton and Grandma Bone were at it.

Recalling this episode, he nearly ran into Fidelio on the corner of frog street. It was Saturday, so Charlie wasn't expecting to see any of his friends at the café. And yet, here was Fidelio. " Hi Charlie!" said Fidelio cheerily. " What are you doing over here?"

" Uncle Paton and Grandma Bone are at it again" said Charlie. Fidelio nodded understandingly. He was no stranger to Charlie's reports of fights in number nine.

The two boys continued on to the Pet's Café. To Charlie's surprise they found Olivia and Emma there as well. " You two? What are you doing here on a Saturday?"

Olivia, looking slightly offended, said " What, Charlie Bone, no hello?" Emma grinned and looked at Charlie and Fidelio. " We came here to say hello to Mr. Onimous and the Flames. We couldn't think of anything else to do, so…." Her sentence trailed off as if she didn't know what else to say.

Just then Mr. Onimous came over to their table carrying a tray of what looked like bird seed that was covered in multi-colored chocolate. " Mrs. Onimous says that you all look too thin, and to get you something to eat" he said merrily, setting the tray onto the table.

Charlie was just about to ask how bird seed would make them less thin when Gabriel walked in. " Good grief" said Charlie exasperated. " Is there a meeting that I didn't hear about?"

" I just wanted to get my gerbil a treat" said Gabriel, sitting down. A conversation followed this statement, a conversation that Charlie didn't really follow. He was thinking about the coincidence of all of them meeting here at the same time. He knew that his Uncle Paton didn't believe in coincidence, but if it wasn't coincidence what was it?

Just as he had this thought a girl ran in. " Hey Gabe, can I have that extra gerbil that I asked you to bring?" Fidelio asked Gabriel. Gabriel handed Fidelio a gerbil while Charlie finally registered that what Fidelio had said meant that this meeting had been planned. Than he thought about the direction Fidelio had been heading.

Fidelio would have had to walk in the direction that he had been heading to get to Charlie's house. Had Fidelio been coming to find Charlie?

Fidelio walked over to the girl and handed her the gerbil that he had gotten from Gabriel. The girl smiled and followed Fidelio over to the groups table.

Fidelio grinned and said " Guys, I want you to meet my sister, Ria."