Free Midnight for Charlie Bone (Children Of The Red King, Book 1) by Jenny Nimmo Page A

way."
                "Good thinking," said Charlie.
                They went to the back door with Runner Bean barking excitedly expecting a walk.
                "Your parents can sleep through a lot of noise," Charlie remarked.
                "They're tired," said Benjamin, and then he asked, "Why is it so important to open the case? Can't we just leave it locked up forever? We could dump it in a garbage can or something."
                "No way,” said Charlie. "The thing inside it was there when the baby was swapped. It's bound to help Miss Ingledew get her back. We've got to keep it safe."
                "Suppose it's something horrible that no one wants?" Charlie had considered this, but decided that it was something someone wanted very much. Why were his aunts so interested? Why was a boy with red hair asking for it?
                "Someone wants it, all right," said Charlie, "but they're not going to get it until I find the baby and, according to Mr. Onimous, the baby is at Bloor's Academy." He opened the back door, jumped down the steps, and raced across the garden.
                Benjamin watched his friend dash through the gate without bothering to look either way He was bound to be caught by that horrible aunt. Benjamin sighed. Sometimes Charlie didn't think too carefully about what he was doing.
                Runner Bean looked so disappointed about the walk he hadn't had that Benjamin decided to make him a big breakfast. The thought of grilled sausages made him feel hungry himself.
                In the middle of the kitchen table, there was a white card with the words ORVIL ONIMOUS AND FLAMES printed in gold lettering. How and when did the card get there? And why?
                Charlie had reached the end of the alley behind Benjamin's house. He was now in the street where he'd first seen his uncle boosting the lamps. A quick glance to the left and right told him his aunt was not in the street.
                "Maybe I've fooled her," muttered Charlie. He ran up to Filbert Street, turned the corner, and "Got you!" said a voice. Aunt Venetia sank her long nails into Charlie's shoulder. "You're coming with me, little boy,” she cooed nastily. "We've got something to ask you. And if we don't get the right answer, you'll be sorry Very sorry."

CHAPTER 6
    A RUINED SCHOOL BREAK
                Aunt Venetia marched Charlie home with her nails pressed firmly into his neck. Charlie ducked and wriggled all the way but he couldn't escape those steely claws.
                Grandma Bone was waiting for them in the hall, her face as hard as stone.
                "Well done, Venetia. One needs young legs to catch a villain."
                "Villain?" protested Charlie. He glanced at Aunt Venetia's red boots. Her legs weren't so very young. She was cunning, that was all. Grandma Bone prodded him into the kitchen, where he sat and rubbed his neck. His mother looked up from her newspaper. "What's going on?"
                "We've been a wicked and deceitful boy,” said Grandma Bone. "Haven't we, Charlie? And a liar to boot."
                "Have not," muttered Charlie.
                "Oh, yes, I think we have." Grandma Bone sat opposite him and glared into his face. "He's got a case that doesn't belong to him, but he can't open it."
                Before Charlie could stop her, Aunt Venetia had plunged her hand into his pocket and pulled out the bunch of keys. "What are these?" she asked, rattling them over his head.
                "Charlie, whose are they?" asked his mother.
                "No one's. That is -a friend gave them to me. They're just a game."
                "Liar," snarled Grandma Bone.
                "Don't call him that," said Charlie's mother angrily. “How do you know it's not