Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Charlie Bone characters. They all belong to Jenny Nimmo and I am not Jenny Nimmo.
(A/N: There were a few things I forgot to say when I posted the last chapter so here they are-
As for Fidelio's family members all starting with the letter 'F'...I've done bad. I noticed after I posted the chapter that the name 'Fidelio' is Beethoven's only opera (was it his only opera or did he write more? well whatever) and it says in one of the other books that one of Fidelio's brothers name is Felix. And there is a composer named Felix Mendelssohn. I made the rest of Fidelio's siblings names start with 'F', but not composers or something. (Isn't that clever? The musicians' names are musical...LOL) Someone also said I should include their ages too...I will, but not yet.)
(A/N 2: Now, I found something interesting. In the Bible, in the book of Daniel, it talks about King Nebuchadnezzer dreaming about a tree. It also talks about Daniel having dreams about a leopard with bird wings that came from the heaven's winds. I just thought that was kind of strange because of the Red King, from Charlie Bone, being a tree or something and having leopards. And the bird wings and winds are like Emma's and Tancred's endowments. Alright, so I might be going crazy but I thought that was weird. (If you want to find out for yourself, it's in the book of Daniel, chapter 4 and chapter 7)
And now I shall shut up so you can read chapter five.)
The next morning, Charlie woke early as to not make the same mistake as last week. He ate breakfast, dressed, and grabbed his bag which had his blue music cloak in it. Charlie also went into his Uncle's room and convinced Uncle Paton to let him take the stone to Bloor's. When the bus came to his stop, he hurried on quickly. Sitting down, he started telling Fidelio everything that had happened the day before.
Fidelio listened quite well until the part about them thinking that the person who's mind was in the stone was at Bloor's and that it could possibly be Dorcas Loom.
"Nah, she couldn't be," he said. "I completely agree with Lysander."
"Why?"
"If that person was captured quite a few years back and Dorcas is only a child... I would also have to agree with what Lysander said about her being hypnotized by Yolonda. And if someone's mind was trapped in a hypnotizing stone, I wouldn't think they would be walking and talking. Would you?"
"No," Charlie said. Fidelio was very clever. All of his ideas made sense and went along with what Lysander said. Charlie changed his mind and did agree with Lysander. "I think you're right," he told Fidelio.
"Anyway, you better put that cloak on. We're at school now."
Charlie looked out the window at Bloor's Academy. Emma, Olivia, and Vanessa were already waiting for them at the gates. As soon as Charlie and Fidelio got off the bus, they met up with the three others. Charlie hoped Olivia had not told Vanessa about the stone. It was still very questionable which side she was on anyway.
"Hello," called Olivia with pink hair.
Vanessa smiled and waved along with Emma. Fidelio waved back but Charlie couldn't help himself.
"Did you tell her?" he whispered to Olivia, gesturing with his head at Vanessa. Fidelio sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Tell me what?" Vanessa asked.
"Nothing," Charlie lied. Olivia shook her head at him and mouthed "I didn't tell her."
Vanessa raised her eyebrows at Charlie but said, "That's OK. You don't need to tell me."
They all walked up the sidewalk to the entrance of the academy. Once inside, the three girls left to their departments while Charlie and Fidelio walked in the music doorway. After assembly Charlie was about to run off to his trumpet lesson but Fidelio caught him.
"I might be late from my violin lesson so don't wait for me.
"Um, OK," Charlie said.
After forty minutes of blowing all his breath into a trumpet, Charlie was told to leave by Mr. Paltry. He did leave and walked out to break with Gabriel and Billy instead of Fidelio. Charlie wondered if there was any point in telling Billy about the necklace. So far they really didn't know much about it. Eventually, Charlie figured they might as well trust Billy with it and Gabriel started talking about the stone anyway.
Soon, Olivia came up to them and gave them some shocking information.
"I've got some bad news," she said. "Manfred asked Vanessa to the dance and she said yes."
Charlie was speechless along with everyone else. He looked over at Manfred who was talking to Asa. Vanessa was nowhere to be found.
"Where is she?" he asked at last.
"Flute lesson, I think," Gabriel said.
"Look at Zelda, though," Olivia said snickering.
Zelda was sitting alone on the other end of the garden. She was staring at Manfred with a look of disgust on her face. Charlie did find this a little funny. Just then, Fidelio came running through the garden gates.
Olivia told him about Vanessa and Manfred. Fidelio didn't say much about that but he did tell them something interesting.
"I was coming out of my violin lesson," he started, "and I heard someone playing a flute in one of the rooms. It was a pretty melody and the flutist was really good, so I stopped to listen for a minute to see if I could find out who it was. I sort of got...well, I don't know. It was really strange, though."
"You mean it was almost like you got hypnotized, but just barely?" Gabriel asked.
"Yes. Exactly."
"The flutist was Vanessa, wasn't it?" Gabriel said to Fidelio. Fidelio nodded.
"It must have something to do with her being a hypnotist," said Billy who had found out about her gift too.
"Probably," Charlie said as the hunting horn sounded. The four boys walked off to lunch together as Olivia went back to her drama friends with Emma.
When they all sat down at the music table, Charlie waited until Billy and Gabriel were occupied with something else to ask Fidelio for a favor.
"Fidelio, do you think you could hide the stone somewhere?" Charlie whispered. "My aunts are on to me and I'm thinking the Bloor's have something to do with it, too. They'll probably be keeping an eye on me."
"You brought it to school?" Fidelio asked quietly but then shrugged. "Could be useful somehow, I guess. Yeah, I could hide it."
"Thanks."
Later that day, Vanessa came up to Fidelio and told him she was very sorry for her flute playing.
"Olivia told me you stopped to listen to me," she admitted. "I'm sorry about the hypnotizing. Well, actually, I didn't hypnotize you because, obviously, you need to look into my eyes to be hypnotized, but sometimes it's hard to control the effect of my endowment."
"It's alright," Fidelio said. "You play very well, though."
"Oh?" she said in a puzzled voice. "Well, thank you very much. You said you play violin?"
Fidelio nodded.
"Anyway," Charlie said not wanting to get a detention from Manfred.
"Right," said Vanessa. "See you later, Fidelio."
Charlie quickly slipped the stone necklace into Fidelio's hand when no one was looking as Vanessa and Charlie ran off to the King's room. Fidelio went down the hall the other way. Charlie and Vanessa made it just as everyone was sitting down. Charlie sat down next to Gabriel and to his amazement, Vanessa sat next to Charlie. Zelda took this advantage to sit next to Manfred, who frowned at Vanessa when she wasn't looking.
Vanessa didn't seem like Manfred's type at all. Unless, she was just pretending to be Olivia's friend so that she could get inside information from them. Charlie didn't think this was the case, though. Vanessa hadn't pestered him about what they were talking about that morning, before school. She also seemed truly sorry for her accident with her flute playing.
Charlie looked around the room and stopped when he spotted Dorcas. Fidelio and Lysander were right. How could they think Dorcas was trapped in a stone? Noticing Asa looking at him, Charlie started his work.
The rest of the week passed slowly until Thursday morning. Charlie woke and went down to breakfast with Fidelio, Billy and Gabriel as usual. After assembly, he battled with a trumpet in Mr. Paltry's class. Once again, Fidelio did not get out of his violin lesson on time, but unlike last time he didn't even come out to break. Vanessa came over by Charlie and his friends after her flute lesson and said she hadn't seen Fidelio either.
Fidelio still hadn't turned up when they went in and Charlie started to worry what had become of him, until someone grabbed his cloak from behind. Charlie spun around.
Fidelio was standing behind him looking quite panicky.
"Charlie," he said urgently, not even caring to keep his voice down in the hall. Charlie put his finger to his lips as to quiet Fidelio. Fidelio gave him a pained expression. This was very unlike Fidelio to panic about something.
Olivia noticed his odd behavior, and beckoned all of them, Fidelio, Charlie, Emma, Vanessa, Gabriel, and Billy, to follow her. She led them down a passageway and into a vacant classroom.
"My violin is gone," he sighed. "My brand-new violin that cost...a fortune. If I don't find it before we have to go home tomorrow..."
He sat himself on top of one of the desks in the classroom. "My dad'll kill me," he moaned.
No one really knew what to say. Emma told him it would probably turn up soon, but he didn't seem to believe her. Gabriel suggested looking again, but Fidelio already had looked for about and hour if not more. The minutes ticked by until their next class.
"Sorry everyone," Fidelio said, a few moments later. "Let's go to class before we're really late."
Vanessa slid off the desk she was sitting on. "No way, Fidelio," she said to him. "I'll stay and look for it with you until we find it and I think everyone else will, too."
"Even if it means I have to skip English class," she added as an after thought.
Everyone agreed on helping him look. Gabriel and Billy had a math test and everybody insisted they go.
"Us three girls will start in the tower. It's a black case with your name on the tag, right?" Emma asked once they got into the music room. Fidelio nodded and lead Charlie to the string's room. He put his ear to the door.
"No one's in there," he whispered even though there wasn't anyone else in the larger room.
Fidelio pulled open the door and closed it behind them once they were both inside.
"Charlie," Fidelio breathed. "My violin wasn't the only thing in that case. The other day you asked me to hide the stone, so I put it in my violin case because it has a lock on it. Kind of a dumb idea, really. Anyway, the only two people in the room when I put it in there, were Vanessa and Asa. I didn't event think why Asa was in the music room, but I bet he saw me. I bet he knew I had it."
Fidelio spoke much calmer now, but he still didn't look like himself. "I shouldn't have put it in there, but now it's probably in the hands of Manfred and the rest of the Bloor's and who knows how much they know about it."
Charlie didn't know what to say. The Bloor's probably did know more then Charlie about that mysterious stone.
"So, what now?" Fidelio asked. This seemed strange to Charlie. Fidelio was usually telling Charlie what to do now, not Charlie telling Fidelio.
Charlie shrugged. "Keep looking I guess."
"Don't we basically know where it is" Fidelio said to him. The two boys stared at each other. Charlie watched a smile spread across his friend's face.
"I know!" Fidelio exclaimed. "Since Vanessa and Manfred are...well, you know...let's ask her to try and get the stone and the violin from him."
"You said Vanessa and Asa were the only two in the room when you put the stone in your case, right? Well, what if Vanessa took it?"
"Charlie, I know you don't exactly trust her, but she seems perfectly fine. In fact, if you want to do something about this stone, I would think she could be very useful to...to keep on our side."
So Fidelio was thinking sides, too? He wasn't even endowed. Then again, he had a lot of endowed friends. It would have surprised Charlie if he weren't thinking about sides.
Charlie felt there was no need in reminding Fidelio that Vanessa might not be on there side seeing as she was friends with Manfred.
"Let's tell her what we think, then," said Charlie. Fidelio smiled a little and began to walk out the door. Charlie followed. They found the girls in the tower close by Mr. Pilgrim's room.
"We think we know who took it," Fidelio announced.
"Who?" Olivia asked right away.
"Manfred," Charlie said without hesitating.
"No." Vanessa shook her head. "He wouldn't."
"There was something in it he would have wanted," Fidelio said. "Besides a violin," he added, trying not to give away to much information. Emma, guessing what it was, looked at them with an open mouth.
"Oh, was there?" Vanessa said suspiciously. Charlie didn't like her tone of voice. He looked at Fidelio who shook his head.
"Umm, yes. We were wondering if you could try and get it from Manfred," Fidelio said to Vanessa.
"Nope. I won't do it."
"Please," Olivia begged, catching on to what was in the case.
"I told you, Manfred would not take it," she said stubbornly.
Fidelio sighed. She was not making it easy for him. "What if I said Asa took it and gave it to Manfred."
"Asa Pike?"
Charlie nodded.
"Oh, OK. Now, what do you want me to do?" she asked, happy to help.
Everyone laughed. It was obvious she didn't like Asa either.
"Well, it would probably be in Manfred's room or the prefect's room," Fidelio told her.
"Oh," she said in a disappointed voice. "Guess you're out of luck then."
"What? Can't you get it?" Charlie asked.
"Of course not. I can't go in Manfred or the prefect's room."
"Hmm, I guess not Manfred's room, but maybe if you ask, he'll let you in the prefect's room."
"Well, if you don't find it before we leave tomorrow, I could pretend like I left something here and possibly convince Manfred to let me in and, if I'm lucky, I could sneak around and try to find it."
"Would you really do that for us?" Emma asked her.
"Sure," she said. "Let's just hope I don't get in too much trouble."
Vanessa sounded more like Olivia than herself. Sneaking around and trying not to break rules was Olivia's specialty. Everyone thanked Vanessa.
"I'll do that, then," Vanessa said about their plan. "As for now, we better hurry to our work rooms."
All of the friends hurried out of the tower and into the hall where they ran into Zelda.
"And where have you been?" she smirked.
"Looking for something," Olivia said.
"What might that be?" Zelda asked.
"Nothing," Charlie said, trying to act innocent.
"Ha! As if you, four were up to nothing. Tell me what you were looking for," she demanded.
"Fidelio's violin," said Emma, not wanting to cause trouble. Zelda turned her eyes on Fidelio and smiled in and evil sort of way.
"Aww, has Fiddling Fidelio lost his fiddle? What ever shall we do?" Zelda laughed a little.
Fidelio's face turned pink but he kept staring into Zelda's eyes as he gritted his teeth.
"Oh Zelda, you're so funny aren't you," Vanessa said sarcastically.
Zelda turned to Vanessa who she seemed to have just noticed. "Look who's with these four, Mrs. Bloor-to-be. Why aren't you with your boyfriend?" Zelda let out a pure evil laugh.
Vanessa's face turned a dark red, but she quickly pushed her embarrassment to the back of her mind and smiled at Zelda.
"Me, Mrs. Bloor-to-be? Well, maybe if you're lucky you'll get to be Mrs. Bloor. You seem to want to so much," Vanessa said, stressing the word 'so' a little too much for Zelda's liking.
Vanessa turned and headed in the direction of the King's room while Zelda stood dumbstruck in the hall. Charlie kept staring at Zelda who smiled and turned her gaze on the bag, which was swung over Vanessa's shoulder. Vanessa's flute case was pulled out of her bag as if held up by invisible hands. The flute case, that Zelda was staring at, smashed to the floor and opened, sending the pieces of the flute rolling down the hall.
Vanessa went for her flute. She didn't get far, when her purple drama cloak flew over her head, obscuring her vision. She pulled the cloak out of her eyes, while Zelda laughed.
"Telekinetic powers," Vanessa said while she approached Zelda. "How pathetic. How about some hypnotism?" Vanessa walked right up to Zelda and stared into her eyes. Anyone could have guessed what she was going to do next. Zelda seemed to not be able to look anywhere but at Vanessa. The laughing smile on her face was replaced by a fearful frown.
"No, Vanessa," Emma yelled running forward. "Don't."
Her words were drowned out by Zelda's bloodcurdling scream that sent chills down all their spines. With a loud thump, her limp body hit the stone, hallway floor.
Vanessa clapped her hand to her mouth. "What have I done?" she moaned and started to back away from Zelda. "I don't think I'll be going to the King's room for homework."
"What should I tell Manfred?" Emma asked quietly.
"Tell him...tell him...umm...tell him the truth." She ran off down a hall.
(A/N 3: Yes, I have more to say. Who knows when I can get on-line and post again. My internet isn't exactly working (shows fist to comp. screen) so I might not be able to post for a while, then again I might. It's so unpredictable! (LOL) And I even left you with a bit of suspense. (I wonder what will happen next ) Pls R&R anyway!)