"Or he was under some kind of spell," muttered Charlie.
"It might not have been the king's cloak, Gabe," said Lysander, standing up and rubbing his cold bottom. "I mean, we know your dad writes thrillers. It could have been a manuscript or a load of books."
Gabriel shook his head. "It was the cloak."
"What makes you so sure?" asked Lysander.
"Because the horse was there," said Gabriel, "the white mare, Queen Berenice.
She was standing just beyond the hedge, waiting for the man, whoever he was."
The others stared at him for a moment, and then Lysander said, "Come on, we'd better get going."
They left the castle courtyard and began to run across the grass toward the school door. Just before they stepped into the hall, Charlie said, "Did you ask your dad about the stranger, Gabe?"
"He told me I'd been dreaming," Gabriel said.
5. FIRE IN THE TUNNEL
Charlie had often wondered about the Branko twins. He knew where all the other endowed children lived; he even knew about their parents, although he hadn't actually met them all. But the Brankos were a mystery. This was because they ran a store called Fine and Fancy, the sort of shop that Charlie generally avoided.
Mr. and Mrs. Branko prided themselves that almost anything at all could be purchased in their store, as long as it wasn't a live animal and you didn't mind your food in a can. The Brankos didn't like animals.
Mrs. Branko looked like a large, tired version of her daughters. Before she was married she had been Natalia Dobinsky, a woman renowned for her telekinetic powers and a few other, more peculiar talents. Not only could she move things with her mind, she could also produce anything—from cans of Peking duck to breadfruit, boiled cauliflower, and curried spiders.
Mrs. Branko liked to wander the store, encouraging her customers to spend more than they could afford, while her husband remained behind the vast oak counter.
Bogdan Branko often wondered how he had come to marry Natalia Dobinsky. He had forgotten how they had met. He was a small, mild man with a slanting-back sort of face, his receding chin blending into a flat nose, and a wrinkled caved-in forehead that disappeared beneath thin strands of sandy hair. Bogdan had been very surprised when the exotic Natalia had chosen him above all her other suitors. Lately he had begun to wonder if it was because of his appalling memory. If you can't remember how you came to be married, you're inclined to blame yourself rather than your wife. You're also likely to forget all the appalling things she has done.
Beneath Bogdan's counter were boxes containing everything from size 20
ballroom dresses to fur-lined rain boots. If a customer asked Mr. Branko for anything out of the ordinary, such as a pair of rainbow-striped stilts, Bogdan would delve beneath the counter while Mrs. Branko stared at it, from wherever she happened to be in the store, and the stilts would obligingly materialize within an inch of Mr. Branko's desperately delving hands.
Every Saturday morning, the Brankos would receive a visit from their benefactor. In other words, the person who had loaned the Brankos enough money to buy their store and who would, every now and again, give them a little more money to refurbish the place with fancy lights, brocade seats, and extra shelves.
This Saturday, Natalia was even more restless than usual. The benefactor would be coming to inspect the small cafe that he had suggested the Brankos should open at the back of the shop. "Just a few chairs and tables," he said,
"a good coffee machine and some nice herbal teas.
I'll leave the choice of food entirely to you, Natalia." He gave her a knowing wink.
The benefactor also suggested that Mr. and Mrs. Branko should change the name of their shop. From Fine and Fancy to Not the Pets' Cafe.
Natalia and the benefactor seemed to find this suggestion absolutely hilarious, although Mr. Branko could see nothing at all to laugh about.
However, before he forgot the new name, he managed to telephone a sign writer and today the new sign would be going up.
It was 8:30 a.m. The shop was due to open at 9:00 a.m. Mrs. Branko had instructed the twins, Idith and Inez, to tidy the shelves, and they were now sitting on the counter, rearranging the cans telekinetically. The twins didn't always get along with each other, and today they were both becoming increasingly angry as cans that Idith had just arranged on the bottom shelf were sent flying up to the top shelf by her twin.
Mr. Branko sat in a corner, reading his newspaper while, outside, two men on ladders hammered the new sign into place.
At that very moment, Charlie's friend Benjamin Brown was walking down Spectral Street with his dog, Runner Bean. They were heading, in a roundabout way, for the park.
Benjamin lived opposite Charlie on Filbert Street. They had been friends since they were four years old, but Benjamin wasn't endowed, so he didn't go to Bloor's Academy, for which he was truly thankful.
Benjamin was almost at the end of Spectral Street when he saw two men on ladders fixing a sign above a shop door. He stopped to watch the men and remembered that the shop had once been called Fine and Fancy. Benjamin read the new sign, and his mouth dropped open. He rubbed his eyes, not quite able to believe what he was seeing.
"Not the Pets' Cafe?" he said in a loud and shocked voice. Then he repeated himself in an even louder and even more shocked voice, "NOT THE PETS' CAFE?"
Runner Bean gave three hearty barks in sympathy.
"What's your problem?" said the man on the left-hand ladder.
"Not... not... not..." Benjamin stuttered as he pointed to the sign.
"Move on!" said the other man, hammering the last nail into the sign. "You'll give the place a bad name."
"It is a bad name," cried Benjamin, and Runner Bean barked in agreement.
"That dog can read," said the first man with a nasty laugh. "Not the Pets'
Cafe! Ha-ha!"
Both men came down their ladders, folded them up, and began to fix them onto their van.
Benjamin stared and stared at the sign, and then he became aware that two girls were glaring at him through the shop window. They had very pale faces and very black hair. One of them stuck her tongue out at Benjamin. This brought on a storm of howling from Runner Bean. A woman appeared in the store doorway. She looked exactly like the girls, except that she was bigger and a lot older.
"We don't open until nine o'clock," the woman said coldly. "If you want to come in, you'll have to wait. And get rid of the dog."
"I don't want to come in!" Benjamin backed away. He pointed at the sign. "Why does it say "Not the Pets' Cafe?"
"That's my business," the woman replied.
Benjamin suddenly felt compelled to look at the two girls. There was something very odd about them. He could almost feel the intense concentration in their dark eyes. Runner Bean's hair was standing up like a brush. Benjamin shook his head and shivered. The girls were staring at one of the ladders, and the ladder was sliding off the van. It hovered for a moment and then began to move toward Benjamin.
"STOP!" roared the black-haired woman, glaring at the girls in the window.
"Wrong time."
The ladder gave a shudder and slid back into place.
The two workmen looked at each other in disbelief. "What was that?" one muttered.
"Wind," snapped the woman and strode back into her shop.
Benjamin had seen enough. He tore down the street, with Runner Bean bounding and barking beside him. They didn't stop running until they had reached number nine Filbert Street.
Benjamin leaped up the steps and rang the bell, calling, "Charlie! Charlie!"
The door was opened by Maisie. "Good heavens, Benjamin Brown, what's the trouble?" she asked.
"There's another cafe, Mrs. Jones," Benjamin said breathlessly. "Only it's Not the Pets' Cafe."