"Gabriel, Tancred, you'd better hurry if you want a ride."
"Why's your mom so angry?" asked Charlie.
"She gets angry when she's scared," Gabriel explained. "See you guys on Monday." He grabbed Tancred's arm and together they ran after Mrs. Silk.198Charlie and Billy made their way back to Filbert Street.
When Uncle Paton still had not returned by nightfall, Maisie told the boys he was probably asleep in his camper van, hundreds of miles away. "In the Highlands probably,"
she said cheerfully. "He is like a dog with a bone when he's on the trail of something. But at least it's only us three for supper. Grandma Bone says she won't be back till late."
Before he went to bed, Charlie made sure the cellar door was locked. He went to see if Grandma Bone had returned the key to the blue jug. She had. But Charlie wasn't going to throw it away. He had to go back into Badlock, whatever the consequences.
"When Claerwen is with me, I'll try again," Charlie told himself. He wasn't only thinking of the dog; he was thinking of his promise to Otus Yewbeam.
The boys soon fell asleep, exhausted by the day's events. But a little before dawn, Billy woke up. He lay199in the dark, thinking he had heard a sound in the house. What was it?
The creak of a stair? The click of a door closing?
Billy sat up. He found that he wasn't afraid. Something momentous had happened. A few hours ago, Mrs. Onimous had said she loved him. No one had ever told him that before.
Not even the aunt he had lived with after his parents had died. It was such a new sensation, Billy didn't know how he felt about it. And then, gradually, it crept up on him: a profound, comforting happiness.
And then came another sound. This time there was no mistaking it. Billy would have known Runner Bean's voice anywhere.
"Billy! Help me! Billy! Where are you?"
Without turning on the bedside light, Billy reached for his glasses. The streetlight outside cast a thin beam of light under the curtains. Billy quietly slipped out of bed and went to the door. Runner Bean continued to call him, and yet he suddenly felt reluctant200to open the door. He looked at Charlie sleeping peacefully. Couldn't he hear the barking?
Was it only meant for Billy?
Mrs. Onimous said she loved me, Billy remembered. Why did he feel that if he went through the door, he would be throwing this wonderful gift away? For minutes, he stayed where he was, his hand on the doorknob, and then the dog's call became so insistent, so desperate, Billy couldn't ignore it.
As he crept downstairs, a cold breeze whipped around his feet. He reached the hall. The cellar door key was in a jug on top of the cabinet; Billy knew exactly which one. He was about to go into the kitchen when he noticed that the cellar door was wide open. A tide of sound washed toward him: the moan of the wind and a deep melancholy howl.
B ... I... L ... L ... Y?
Billy had no choice. He must reach the voice. Dog or human? Whatever it was, it drew him toward the cellar and down the steps until his bare feet began to turn blue on the cold stone floor. From the201painting Runner Bean gazed out at him. Howling and howling.
"I'm coming," said Billy.
The wind screamed into his ear, spinning him around and dragging him to the painting, closer and closer, until his cheek was pressed against the canvas, his fingers and toes already in Badlock.
A moment later, when the wind had died, someone quietly closed the cellar door and locked it.202CHAPTER 10
MR. BITTERMOUSE
Charlie woke up to the sound of barking. At first he couldn't tell where it came from. He looked at Billy's bed. It appeared to be empty. Charlie got up and looked closer. Yes, Billy was definitely not in bed. Putting that fact together with the barking gave Charlie a surge of hope. Had Billy found a way to rescue Runner Bean?
Charlie stuffed his feet into his slippers and ran down to the cellar. The door wouldn't open. Strange. Had Billy locked himself in?
"Billy?" he called. "Are you there?"
The barking increased. Claws pattered up the wooden steps and scratched the cellar door.
"Runner!" cried Charlie. "It is you, isn't it? You're out."
He was answered by a series of joyful barks.
"What's going on?" said a voice from the stairs. 203Charlie looked up to see Grandma Bone in her purple bathrobe and pink hairnet.
"Runner Bean's gotten out of that painting!" Charlie couldn't disguise his excitement. "I don't know how it happened, unless Billy did it, but the cellar door's still locked so..."
"Better unlock it, then." Grandma Bone tightened her bathrobe belt and went upstairs again. "And get that dog out of the house," she called. "It's Sunday morning and it'll wake the whole street."
Charlie ran to the kitchen. A chair had been placed beside the cabinet. That was odd. He was certain he had pushed it back to the table after he'd replaced the key in the jug. Billy must have gotten it out, unlocked the cellar door, and then locked himself in. In which case the key would be in the cellar, not the jug. Charlie climbed onto the chair and took down the jug. The key was still there.
Thoroughly mystified, Charlie took the key and hurried back to the cellar. As soon as he opened the204door, Runner Bean leaped out, knocked him down, and covered his face with wet kisses.
"OK! OK!" Charlie grabbed the big dog around the neck and pulled himself back onto his feet. "Quiet!" he commanded. "Sit!"
Runner Bean was an obedient dog. In spite of his excitement, he did as he was told.
Charlie called into the cellar, "Billy! Billy, are you there?"
There was no reply.
Charlie went down to take a better look. The painting hadn't moved, but now not a breath of wind escaped it. Badlock appeared dull and bleak, a place of fiction, not somewhere just a step away.
"Billy!" Charlie searched every corner: beneath old mattresses, behind wooden cabinets, old doors and suitcases, and bags of trash. There was no sign of Billy. Obviously, Runner Bean's escape had nothing to do with Billy. But in that case, where had Billy gone?
First things first. Benjamin must have his dog.205While Runner Bean waited patiently, Charlie ran upstairs, dressed hurriedly, and took the big dog across the road to number twelve.
In all his life Charlie had never seen anyone as happy as Benjamin when he set eyes on Runner Bean. The noise from both of them was enough to wake the dead, let alone every household in Filbert Street. The squeals and barks of joy brought Mr. and Mrs. Brown tumbling out of bed and down the stairs.
A breakfast of sausages, eggs, and broccoli was quickly served up, and Runner Bean was given a bone almost as big as his own leg.
Charlie was hungry, but before he was halfway through the meal, he suddenly stood up.
"The thing is," he explained, "Billy Raven's gone missing, and I ought to go and look for him."
"Missing?" Mr. and Mrs. Brown laid down their knives and forks. Missing persons were right up their alley. Not one of their cases of missing persons had remained unsolved.206"If you can't find Billy, come straight back to us," said Mrs. Brown.
"Will do. Thanks, Mrs. Brown." Charlie ran back to number nine.
Maisie was up and another fine breakfast awaited Charlie: sausages, eggs, and mushrooms.
"I'm sorry, Maisie. I don't think I can eat much." Charlie explained what had happened.
"I thought I heard barking," Maisie exclaimed. "Oh, Charlie, what wonderful news."
"Except that Billy has disappeared," said Charlie.
Maisie's face fell. "Charlie, are you sure? He must be in the house somewhere. Or he could have run up the road for something. Check his clothes."
Charlie went up to his bedroom. Billy's clothes were piled neatly on a chair, exactly where he had left them. His shoes were under the chair, his slippers by his bed. "So he can't have gone far," Charlie said to himself, and once again, he tried to dismiss the thought that had persisted in entering his head207ever since he had searched the cellar.
Billy has to be in Badlock.