Charlie Bone #5

CONTAINS C.O.M. SPIONLERS! Continue on your own will. You have been warned.

I do not own any part of the original Charlie Bone plot or its Characters.

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X Charlie Bone
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Charlie Bone rolled out of bed and groaned. It was 10:50 Monday morning, and he was already late for about four things, including breakfast, the bus, start-of-term assembly, and school. Got up out of the tangled blanket and went down for breakfast.

"CHARLIE BONE, YOU GET BACK UPSTAIRS THIS INSTANT! TARDINESS DOES NOT DESERVE BREAKFAST!"

There was no need to ask who that was. Grandma Bone, a stiff old lady clad in grey, was the only one Charlie knew that could yell that loud this early in the morning. Reluctantly, Charlie trudged back up stairs.

Uncle Paton was at INGLEDEW'S bookshop for some "early studying" and Amy Bone, Charlie's mother and only parent, was at work in the local grocery store, so Charlie hurried out the door to reach the bus.

"Don't forget your cape, Charlie!" called a tired Maisie from the porch, holding a sapphire cape and a paper bag that smelled suspiciously like cinnamon buns. Maisie smiled as she handed him the bag.

"Bye, sweet. Don't let those terrible Yewbeam aunts get to you!" she whispered as she hugged him tightly. He waved back as he sprinted down Filbert Street to the nearest bus stop.

It turned out that the bus was just as late as Charlie was, so he got there just in time. As he got on the bus and sat next to his best friend and former piano teacher, Fidelio, he felt a small twang of guilt. Did he know the news of Olivia? The other children of the red king were informed, but Fidelio? 'I'd better ask' Charlie thought to himself.

"hey, Fidelio, have you heard the news about…" Fidelio interrupted. "Olivia? Ya. She seems exited." he seemed sad, though, his eyes had a downcast look, and- if it weren't just Charlie's eyes- his hair had lost some of it's cheery red hue. He stared glumly off into the window, and looked back, a look of terror on his face.

"Charlie, that school's on fire! Over there, look!" But it wasn't just any school- it was Charlie's old one. Odd enough, the fire had a purple-ish tinge. Could this fire be the result of an endowment? The blue bus stopped, and Charlie felt the urge to get off the buss and try to put the fire out, even though he could do nothing to help. Nonetheless, Charlie followed Billy and Gabriel of the bus. On the other side of the burning school, a green bus could be seen stopped, with three children in front- Tancred, Lysander, and Emma, all endowed. The green-caped trio rushed over to the blue bus.

"Any news on who started the fire?" asked a boy with blond hair. Tancred Torrson, who was also endowed, could bring storms. Charlie shook his head. "Any way of stopping it?" Lysander laughed a nice, warming chuckle. "See that flame? That's no normal fire, that is. Someone in there's endowed. So, if the fire wasn't meant to kill and destroy, we're all set!" Billy Raven, a small albino bay with white hair and deep red eyes, spoke up. "And if it is meant to kill and destroy?" Billy was also endowed. He could converse with animals. The six looked to the school, then to the bus. The children had there faces pressed to the windows. All of them but Fidelio whose hair- or was it just a trick of the light? Was brown.

Mentally shaking his attention back to the fire, he asked the question again. "just that." Answered Lysander. "it would continue to destroy everything 'till the maker commands it to stop."

As if his words were magic, the fire stopped, and the school looked exactly like it would every other Monday morning, except that it was empty. As he re-entered the bus, something his uncle told him came back form the subconscious. Ben Brown sure is an odd boy. Maybe he is a child of the red king after all…

Could Ben have gotten back from Hong-Kong yet? Could he've started the fire? It was a possibility.