I apologize for the length of this chapter. It is really long, but I hope it keeps your attention enough to enjoy it. Personally, I don't like this chapter as much as the others still to come.

As for romance, who knows. I don't think Fidelio and Olivia make that great of a couple as some of you seem to but...perhaps there will be a bit of romance. I'm not saying yes or no. And for Vanessa not having any flaws...trust me, she does.

Thank you so much to the people who reviewed my first two chapters. I was so happy! This is my first story so I was glad you seemed to like it.

Anyway, here is chapter three.

When Charlie got home from Fidelio's house, Uncle Paton was home and the Yewbeam Aunt's were gone along with Grandma Bone. Charlie wasted no time in telling Uncle P about the necklace. He ran upstairs and knocked on the door to Uncle Paton's room.

"Yes?" came a voice.

"It's Charlie. I've got some news and I need to ask you something."

"May the question be why I was out during the day?" his uncle asked as he pulled open the door for Charlie.

"No, I heard you were at Miss Ingledew's," Charlie replied. "How did it go?"

"Fine," Uncle Paton said.

"Did you have any light-bulb accidents?" Charlie asked.

"A few."

"So it didn't go that well?" Charlie asked again.

"I didn't say that," said Paton a bit more sternly. "I said it went alright."

Charlie nodded. "Well, OK. Your sisters were here."

"Oh, I see," Uncle Paton said suspiciously. "What did they do now?"

Charlie pulled out the rock. "Venetia was wearing a strange necklace."

"One of her magic necklaces that she made I suppose," Paton replied.

"I don't think so," Charlie began. "I think it was a bit too powerful for her to make."

"Can I see it then?"

"No," Charlie said. He wasn't about to make the same mistake as he did with Fidelio.

Charlie's Uncle raised his eyebrows. "Why not?"

"It hypnotized me."

"What?" Uncle Paton looked a lot more interested now. "I will only look at it for a minute."

"That's what Fidelio said, but he couldn't take his eyes off it once he had looked into it."

"You shouldn't have showed it to him. I hope he's OK now. If this is what I think it is..." Uncle Paton trailed off. He held out his hand. "I must see it Charlie."

Charlie dropped the rock in his hand. Uncle Paton glanced at it and quickly pulled his eyes away.

"Powerful," he breathed. "It's got to be."

"Got to be what?" Charlie asked.

"How did you get it from Venetia?" Paton asked Charlie not bothering to answer his question.

"It sort of...broke," Charlie told his Uncle.

"How did it break?"

"I got hypnotized from it and the chain holding it around her neck just disappeared," Charlie explained.

"Hmm," Uncle Paton started muttering under his breath. "Why would she be wearing it? The girl must be born. The girl must be close. We need to find her. She must be at...Bloor's."

"Who would be at Bloor's?" Charlie asked. This conversation with his Uncle was making him more confused rather than less.

Paton ignored him. "I need to keep this stone, Charlie. I'm sorry."

Charlie let out an exasperated sigh. "Why?" he asked. "I need to show it to Gabriel." Charlie explained to his Uncle about Fidelio's plan.

"I suppose that would be fine. As long as you give it back to me when you come back."

"OK," Charlie agreed.

"Sounds like your mother just got home," Uncle Paton said. "I'm going to get back to you on stuff about that stone." He slipped the stone into Charlie's hand. "Don't do anything dumb with it," Uncle Paton warned.

"I won't," Charlie assured him. "'Night," he waved as he shut the door.

"'Night," Paton repeated. "Charlie, wait." Charlie poked his head back in. "Call your friend to make sure he's OK. That's a powerful stone."

"I think he's OK," Charlie said.

"Make sure," Uncle Paton told him.

"Alright." Charlie shut the door and ran downstairs. He was talking to his mom about her day, when Charlie remembered he was to call Fidelio. Charlie picked up the phone and punched in Fidelio's number. As soon as someone answered the phone, Charlie could hear the music in the background.

"Hello," said a little girl's voice.

"Is Fidelio there?"

Hold on. I'll get him," she said. "Fidelioooooo," the girl screamed right in Charlie's ear. "Who is this?"

"Give me the phone," Charlie heard Fidelio say. "Hi."

Hi, Fidelio," said Charlie.

"Hey, Charlie," Fidelio said happily. "Sorry about that. That was my sister, Felicity." He dropped his voice down so that it was a difficult to hear him over the noise. "Are you alright? Did anything else happen?"

"No. I'm fine," Charlie told him. "My Uncle wanted me to check to make sure you are OK. He reckons that stone is extremely powerful."

"I'm a little dizzy and really sleepy, but I'll be fine," said Fidelio. "Is that it?"

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Charlie was glad Fidelio was OK. It must be a powerful stone if Fidelio was still dizzy. Charlie got a chain from his mom's room and hooked it on the necklace. Gabriel would check the necklace tomorrow. As for now, Charlie shoved the green rock in his drawer, hoping the day ahead of him would hold more answers to the mysterious stone. Curling up in his bed, Charlie fell asleep.

The next morning Charlie completely forgot about the necklace. As soon as he went downstairs and into the kitchen, the grim expression on Grandma Bone's face reminded him.

"Where is it, boy?" she snarled at Charlie the moment he set a toe in the kitchen. Charlie decided the best way to avoid her would be to play dumb about the necklace.

"Where is what?" he asked as he shoved some breakfast in his mouth.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," she snapped.

"No I don't."

"What did you do with it?"

"Nothing. I did nothing with it," Charlie told her.

"Aha, so you do know what I'm talking about," Grandma Bone said.

"The necklace I suppose, seeing as Aunt Venetia chased me halfway across town," Charlie said in a bored tone.

A smile of triumph crossed Grandma Bone's face. "So, what did you do with it," she asked again.

"I don't have it," Charlie assured her. "How could I have it? It was around her neck, wasn't it? She would have noticed if I grabbed it, wouldn't she?"

Grandma Bone seemed not to have anything to say about that. "Fine," she snapped. "Leave. I don't want you in this house. Your aunts will be coming over again, soon."

Charlie quickly ran out of the house, after getting the necklace, to avoid any meetings with the Aunts. It was still a bit early to head over to the Pet's Café, but Charlie had nowhere else to go. Taking the long way around the city, Charlie hoped to kill some time before heading over to the Café. Finally, he decided he couldn't delay giving Runner Bean a walk any longer.

Charlie pulled open the door to the Café and saw Tancred and Lysander sitting in a booth together. They motioned for Charlie to come sit with them after Charlie told Norton Cross that he came to take Runner for a walk.

"Hi, Charlie," Tancred and Lysander said at the same time. Charlie waved at them both.

"I need to take Runner for a walk, and later I'm meeting Olivia, Fidelio, Emma, and Gabriel here."

"We'll come with to walk Runner and we could go get Gabriel because I've got one of his gerbils," Tancred said holding up a gerbil. "He should be on his way down here now."

"Sounds good," replied Charlie.

Charlie hooked a leash onto Runner Bean's collar and followed Tancred and Lysander out of the shop.

Runner Bean was very happy to go for a run. He leaped all over and it was hard for Charlie to hold onto him. Once they were closer to the edge of town, Runner Bean chased a few squirrels up trees and barked loudly at them.

Soon, the three boys saw Gabriel walking toward them with a gerbil clinging to his shirt.

"Hi, Gabriel," they all said.

All four boys had a race back down to the Café. Lysander won along with Runner Bean and everyone was out of breath when they finally reached the door. Fidelio was already sitting at a table when they arrived. He gave them all a broad smile.

"Now all we need are Olivia and Emma," and as he spoke the two girls walked through the door together.

"Hi, everyone," Olivia called giving them all a huge wave with her arm. Emma waved too.

They sat down and everyone talked for a while. "So did you find partners for the dance?" Charlie asked Tancred and Lysander.

"Nah," Tancred said. "I think me and Sander just might end up going without partners. At least I probably am," Tancred said looking at his friend.

"I'm probably not going to get a partner either. Are you going, Charlie?" said Lysander.

Charlie hadn't really given that much thought. "Doubtfully, unless Fidelio wants to go."

"I don't think I want to," Fidelio told him.

"Alright then," Lysander said. "It's too bad us seniors have to go."

"I still say it's strange," said Tancred.

"Oh get over it, Tanc," Lysander told him. Lysander turned to the others; "Every time someone mentions the dance he says that."

Charlie remembered about the stone and explained for the third time about how it had hypnotized him. Fidelio filled everyone in on the part when Charlie arrived at his house.

"So Charlie brought the necklace for Gabriel to try on," Fidelio concluded.

"Me?" Gabriel looked concerned.

"Don't worry," Charlie told him. "My Uncle said it would be alright. He wouldn't let me do anything dangerous"

"OK," said Gabriel slowly. "I'll put it on."

"Thanks, Gabriel." Charlie pulled the necklace out of his pocket. "Don't look at it," he warned everyone. Charlie reached his hand across the table and handed the stone to Gabriel. Gabriel clamped the hypnotizing part in his palm.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered.

Everyone held his or her breath while Emma helped Gabriel clip the chain around his neck. They all watched Gabriel's face turn from anxiousness about putting on the necklace to terror.

"Oh," he shivered and yanked on the necklace breaking the chain. "That was terrible."

"I'm sorry, Gabriel," Fidelio said quickly. "It was my idea. I should have known that it wasn't a very smart one."

"I shouldn't have brought it," Charlie told him.

"It's OK," Gabriel said. "It was very confusing though."

"Did you feel like you were being hypnotized?" Emma asked.

"Not really. It was definitely the strangest I've ever felt though."

"How did you feel?" she asked again.

"Hmm. It's hard to explain. I did feel evil and happy. So I guess that person was happy being evil," Gabriel told them all.

"They're dead now, but I can tell they live on. I don't understand it, but I can feel it. That's all."

Everyone was silent, watching Gabriel. "Here you go, Charlie," he said after a while trying to get the six pairs of eyes off him. Gabriel gave the necklace back to Charlie. "I better go now," he told them.

"See ya, Gabriel," they called after him.

"Me and Tanc should go, too," Lysander said. "Bye."

"Emma's coming to my house for a bit," Olivia told Fidelio and Charlie. "Do you think we could meet up later and maybe figure out more about this necklace?"

Fidelio looked at Charlie. "Do you want to come over to my house," he asked Charlie.

"Yeah," he replied. "My aunts are probably over now."

"See you there, then," Olivia called as she followed Emma out the door who was also carrying one of Olivia's white rabbits.

Soon after they left the Café, Charlie and Fidelio made their way to the Gunn house.

"Aren't you usually busy on Saturdays?" Charlie asked Fidelio.

"I am, but today is my birthday so I get a day off everything," Fidelio told him.

"Why didn't you tell us it was your birthday?"

"I got the violin I wanted, last week, so basically I'm OK for now," Fidelio smiled one of his charming smiles. "It cost mom and dad a fortune. I really like it though."

"Happy birthday, then," Charlie said.

"Thanks."

"Fido," someone yelled behind the two boys. Charlie turned to see Olivia running up the sidewalk towards them with Emma sprinting behind her.

"Fido, wait," she yelled again. Charlie turned to Fidelio.

"Olivia's calling you," Charlie told him because he apparently didn't notice.

"I no," Fidelio replied continuing to ignore her. "I wish she would stop calling me that. I'm not a dog."

Olivia quickly caught up to them along with Emma. "Hey, Fidelio," she said.

Fidelio spun around. "What?"

"I was calling you," Olivia informed him.

"You were not."

"Whatever," she said guessing what he was a little annoyed about. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could come over quickly and give me some pointers on my singing. I'm getting ready for a really big play audition and I have to sing for it. You come too, Charlie."

"Why do you want me to give you pointers?" Fidelio asked her.

"You're a fantastic musician. You would know best."

"So you're not singing A Cappella, and you want me to tell you if you're singing in key?" he asked.

"Right. Usually I can tell, but it's a really big audition so I wanted to make sure," said Olivia. "Besides I'm not too good with music."

"Do you want me to come over now?"

"Could you?" she asked.

"Sure," he said. "Come on, Charlie."

They walked to Olivia's house, which was fairly close to Charlie's. "Come on in," said Olivia when they got to the door. "Come up to my mom's studio. There's the most space in there."

"Your mom has her own studio?" Charlie asked Olivia, amazed.

"Yeah. Well she is a movie star after all," Emma said for Olivia.

"Why can't you just ask her to listen to your singing?" Charlie said.

"She's not home and she won't be for the rest of the weekend. My dad couldn't tell me anything about music or acting," replied Olivia. "Here, you can sit here."

Olivia pulled out three chairs and handed a few sheets of music to Fidelio.

"This is what I'm singing," she said. "You two," she gestured at Emma and Charlie, "can follow along, too."

Charlie gave a snort of laughter. He could barely read any music let alone more difficult pieces like Olivia was singing. Charlie figured Emma wasn't too clever with music, either.

When Olivia started her song and began to sing, Charlie didn't need to look at the notes to tell that Olivia had an excellent voice. He noticed that Emma, too, looked at Olivia in awe. Charlie glanced at Fidelio who was staring at the sheet, tapping his foot, and mouthing the words. Charlie wondered if Olivia would make any mistakes.

Olivia finished and Emma breathed, "Wow. That was so good Olivia."

Olivia gave a huge smile. "What did you two think?" she asked.

"Good," said Charlie. "Really good."

"Almost exactly perfect," Fidelio told her, impressed.

"Almost?" Emma asked.

"One mistake," Fidelio showed Olivia the music. "You need to drop down a third, here." He pointed at a part. "You were holding it out as all the same note. It's just a sixteenth note, so don't make it long. It's barely noticeable anyway."

"Thanks for being so critical," Olivia joked. "I really do appreciate it, though."

"Sure," he said. "Glad to help."

"So, what now?" Emma asked.

"Is it still OK if we go over to your house?" Charlie asked Fidelio.

"Yeah, all three of you can come."

They all left Olivia's house, and walked over to Fidelio's. Charlie told Emma and Olivia it was Fidelio's birthday, so they both wished him a happy birthday. Like Charlie, they thought Fidelio should have told them.

Fidelio yanked open his front door and led them through the noise and into his attic where they could discuss the stone necklace.

"Gabriel told us one good thing," said Emma when they finally got in the attic. "He said the person who had it is dead now, so I suppose we don't have to worry about that."

"Do we?" Fidelio asked. "He also said they live on somehow. Did your Uncle say anything useful, Charlie?"

Charlie almost forgot about what Uncle Paton was muttering about. "Not really," Charlie said. "It was confusing. He did say something about someone being at Bloor's, though. I think he was going to look something up and get back to me on it."

"I wonder who could be at Bloor's," said Emma.

"That's what I mean. Uncle Paton didn't tell me much," Charlie told them. "If we meet tomorrow, I might have more information."

"Can't," said Fidelio. "I'll be busy. Could you fill me in on Monday?"

"Of course," Charlie assured him.

"Thanks," said Fidelio, gratefully.

"Maybe Tancred, Lysander, and Gabriel will be there again," Olivia said. "I bet they want to know what's going on after today."

"I bet they would," said Fidelio.

"I better go," Emma told them. "My Auntie Julia is expecting me."

"Same here. I've got to leave, too." Olivia and Emma got up to leave. "See you tomorrow, Charlie. And you on Monday, Fidelio."

Fidelio invited Charlie to stay for lunch. He happily accepted. It amazed Charlie how Fidelio's noisy family, that always had people practicing, could become so quiet when they all came down for lunch. Charlie had never met all of Fidelio's brothers and sisters so Fidelio introduced them.

"This is Felicity. She plays the harp. And Felicia. She plays the violin, like me. She also plays trumpet. Franklin is still learning piano but he can play the French horn. Felix has a rock band. He plays the electric bass, saxophone, and the drums. Faye plays the piccolo and oboe, but she sings too. And this is Faustine she plays viola and clarinet."

Fidelio pointed to each of his siblings as they walked in the door to the dining room. All the Gunns beamed at Charlie with the same freckled faces, brown eyes, and shiny, brown, wavy hair. "Who's missing?" Fidelio said at last.

"Feodor," the girl called Faye told him.

"Oh," Fidelio said as the smallest boy walked through the door. This boy didn't have a smile on his face. "That's Feodor. He plays the cello and he's quite good. He'll be going to Bloor's when he gets older, for sure. A few of the others might, too."

Feodor looked up at Charlie and Fidelio and stuck out his tongue. "He's got a horrible temper," Fidelio whispered to Charlie.

"That's right," Feodor told Charlie, sitting down at the table.

"Don't mind him."

"Anyway, let's eat," said Felicia. Everyone thought that to be a great idea and sat down at the table to eat. After spending about another hour at Fidelio's house, Charlie decided he had better get home and find out what the Yewbeam Aunts were up to now.