Maisie frowned. "There are lots of other cafes, Benjamin, dear," she said gently.
"But not Not the Pets' Cafe cafes."
Maisie didn't know what to make of this. Benjamin was a nice boy, but he sometimes got the wrong end of the stick. "I think you need to see Charlie,"
she said. "He's gone to see Mr. Onimous."
"The Pets' Cafe!" cried Benjamin. "That's where I should be." He jumped down to the sidewalk and tore up the street with his long-legged dog racing in front of him.
Maisie watched them for a moment, shook her head, and closed the door.
"Who was that?" a voice called from the sitting room. "Was it the mail? I'm expecting something."
"It wasn't the mail, Grizelda," said Maisie.
"Who, then?" Grandma Bone came into the hall. "I hate mysteries."
"It's not a mystery," Maisie told her. "It was just Benjamin Brown. He was rambling on about a cafe that wasn't for pets."
To Maisie's surprise, Grandma Bone began to laugh. "Ha-ha-ha," she cackled.
"That'll teach them."
It always worried Maisie when Grandma Bone's laughter turned spiteful.
Perhaps Benjamin wasn't so deluded after all.
Benjamin and Runner Bean were now racing, side by side, along High Street. It was still early and there were only a few shoppers around. They turned the corner onto Frog Street and came upon a dreadful scene. The Silks' old van was parked halfway down the narrow alley, and Charlie, Gabriel, and Mr. Silk were piling boxes and furniture into it. The small yard in front of the cafe was crammed with chairs, cupboards, tables, boxes, and a large iron bedstead.
Two woebegone figures sat on the bed: Mr. and Mrs. Onimous. Mrs. Onimous was weeping copiously, while her husband held one of her hands and stared stonily ahead.
"What's happened?" cried Benjamin.
"Landlord," shouted Charlie as he and Gabriel lifted a roll of carpet into the van.
"Landlord? But I thought..." Benjamin looked at the Onimouses.
"Yes, Ben," Mr. Onimous said bitterly. "The landlords kick you out if you haven't paid your rent. But we own the Pets' Cafe and we've paid our rent.
We've done nothing to deserve this. Nothing."
"So why?" Benjamin approached Charlie and Gabriel.
"The council," said Charlie. "They said the cafe wasn't safe for the public.
And the Onimouses can't live here anymore because the wall at the back is crumbling."
"It isn't crumbling," muttered Mr. Silk, throwing an angry glance at the hired mover, a sickly-looking creature with thin, sepia-colored hair. He was throwing bags from the doorway onto the muddy cobblestones. One of the bags burst open and a pile of socks and stockings rolled out.
Mr. Onimous jumped up from the bed and ran across to the mover, shouting, "Be careful! Those are our belongings."
The mover snickered and backed into the darkness of the empty cafe.
"He doesn't look like a mover, does he?" Benjamin remarked.
Charlie had to agree. He had never seen a mover before, but he was sure that men who spent their lives moving other people's furniture should be a bit more robust than the skinny individual who was flinging bags into the alley.
His assistant, however, was built like a heavyweight boxer. He wore only a white undershirt and camouflage pants, and his shoulders were as wide as the table he was now maneuvering through the door.
"I've got something awful to tell you," Benjamin said to Charlie.
"This is awful," said Charlie.
Mr. Silk closed the doors at the back of the van and said, "I'm sorry, Orvil, we can't get any more in. I'll run this load up to the Heights and come back for the rest."
"Oh, let me come." Mrs. Onimous slid from the bed and ran over to the van.
"Please, Cyrus. I want to make sure there's a place for everything in your barn. Are you sure we won't be an inconvenience?"
"Not at all, Onoria. Hop in!" Mr. Silk opened the passenger door. "And you, too, Orvil. There's room for three at the front. The boys'll watch your stuff, won't you, boys?"
"Of course!" said the boys.
"It's very good of you, Cyrus," cried Mr. Onimous, hurrying over to the van.
"I don't know how we'll ever—"
"Only too glad, Orvil." Mr. Silk got into the driver's seat and slammed the door while Mr. Onimous climbed in beside his wife.
All at once, the little man jumped out again and ran over to Charlie. "Keep this for me," he said, pressing a small gold key into Charlie's palm. "You know what it's for." He winked at Charlie and ran back to the car. Mr. Silk honked once and the van rattled down the alley and onto High Street.
"What was that all about?" asked Gabriel as Charlie tucked the key into his pocket.
"It's for the door into the castle tunnel," Charlie said quietly.
Gabriel and Benjamin looked at him as though they expected him to say more.
"It might come in handy," Charlie said with a shrug.
"Are the Onimouses coming to live with you?" Benjamin asked Gabriel.
Gabriel nodded. "It's going to be a bit of a squash, and my sisters aren't too happy about it because they've all got to sleep together. But where else can the poor Onimouses go? We've got a nice dry barn for their stuff, and some of it can go in my gerbil house, in a pinch. But we couldn't take the cafe chairs and tables. They've already been taken away."
"I wish I could have the Onimouses living with me," Benjamin said wistfully.
"Mrs. Onimous makes great pet food."
Just then the movers walked out of the cafe, slamming the door behind them.
One of them produced a bunch of keys and, carefully selecting one, locked the door. He rubbed his hands together and declared, "All done!"
As the two men passed the boys, the one in the white undershirt said, "Looks like rain, boys. Hope this stuff doesn't get wet!" He jerked a thumb at the bed. "Could be ruined."
The boys glared at him and then, as the men walked down the alley, Charlie muttered, "Thinks he's so macho, but I can see goose bumps."
The undershirt man came to a halt and looked back with a snarl on his face.
Runner Bean gave one of his famous throaty growls and the man hurried after his companion.
"This is an awful, awful day," moaned Benjamin as soon as the men were out of sight.
"You can say that again," agreed Charlie.
"I mean worse than awful," cried Benjamin, and he told them about the Not the Pets' Cafe, the peculiar twins, and the floating ladder.
"The Brankos!" Charlie exclaimed. "So that's where they live."
"Brankos?" Benjamin looked puzzled.
"They're telekinetic," Charlie explained. "I'm sure I've told you about them.
They're forever moving stuff when we're trying to do homework: books, pencils, and things. They knocked a wall down once and nearly buried me.
They're Manfred's slaves."
Benjamin was even more glad that he didn't have to go to Charlie's school.
"I bet Manfred put those Brankos up to it," Gabriel grunted. "I mean, it's like a slap in the face, isn't it, calling it Not the Pets' Cafe when he knows the Pets' Cafe was our favorite place?"
"Look!" Charlie suddenly pointed to the sloping roof of the cafe. Three bright cats had appeared at the very top; Leo, the orange cat, stood on the apex, the other two perched on either side of him.
"They've lost their home," Gabriel said sadly.
"No, they're wanderers," Charlie told him. "Their home is everywhere and nowhere. I think they're guarding the place."
"There's nothing left to guard," said Gabriel.
"There's the secret tunnel that leads under the wall to the castle," Charlie reminded him. "And I bet those movers are going to come back later and look for it. The Bloors have always wanted to find it, and now's their chance. My dad hid something very, very precious that old Ezekiel wants, and now I'm wondering if Dad hid it at the end of that tunnel."
Gabriel and Benjamin were now regarding Charlie with very puzzled frowns, and Charlie realized he would have to tell them a bit more. "There's a box," he went on. "My uncle told me about it. He thinks there's a will in it, a will that proves Billy Raven should have inherited Bloor's Academy and all the money the Bloors have stashed away."