Charlie Bone and the Shadow (The Children of the Red King, Book 7) Part 4 pot

"You always invite Billy home." Manfred put

his

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hands on the table and bent forward. "So

what went wrong?"

"I... nothing." Charlie was thoroughly con￾fused. "I just forgot."

"You FORGOT?"

Was it a crime, forgetting to ask a friend

home? Now Charlie was suspicious.

"You won't forget next time, will you,

Charlie?" Manfred's eyes glinted. The coal￾black irises were quartered with flicks of

blazing light.

Charlie felt an intense pain in the center of

his forehead. Why is Manfred doing this? he

wondered. He doesn't have to hypnotize me.

I would have asked Billy home next week￾end, anyway. Having to resist Manfred's

gaze made Charlie angry. It had happened

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before and Charlie had discovered that he

could block the hypnotist. He had to look

beyond the black glare and into the mind of

Manfred Bloor.

Images swam before Charlie's eyes: a knight

in a green cloak; a stone troll; and, last of all,

far, far out on a furious gray sea, the sail of a

tiny boat.

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"No!" cried Charlie. The pain in his head in￾creased. He thought he could bear it no

longer. He would have to let go.

"You will... ," came the words. "You will ..."

"Will...?" Charlie murmured. He felt his head

sinking forward. And then another image cut

through the darkness in his head: a knight

on a white horse, red feathers streaming

from his silver helmet, and a sword whose

blade flashed like a ray of the sun.

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The dark figure on the other side of the table

began to sink. Charlie heard a distant roar,

and then the doors behind him opened, and

he was surrounded by moving, murmuring

forms. Charlie sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"You OK, Charlie?" asked Tancred, taking

the seat beside him.

"Yes," said Charlie confidently. "I'm great."

He looked across at Manfred, who had

dropped into a chair. His head lolled forward

as though he were asleep.

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Dorcas and the twins clustered around the

talents master. Joshua tapped his shoulder

and Manfred lifted his head. He clutched the

edge of the table and pulled himself to his

feet. "Get started on your homework," he

said. His speech was thick and slurred.

Avoiding Charlie's eye, Manfred limped out

of the room.

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Dorcas, Joshua, and the twins took their

usual places opposite Charlie. A few mo￾ments later, Emma, Lysander, and Gabriel

arrived and sat beside one another, beyond

Tancred. Billy rushed in and headed straight

for the empty place on Charlie's right. The

small boy seemed nervous and even more

disorganized than usual. Books kept falling

out of his grasp, his glasses slipped off his

nose, and reaching for them, his chair tipped

sideways and he fell onto the floor.

Charlie had no doubt that the Branko twins

were responsible. They often tormented Billy

with their kinetic powers. He was an easy

victim. Dorcas and Joshua began to snicker.

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"Pathetic!" Lysander glared at the twins. "Is

that how you get your kicks? Tormenting

people who can't defend themselves? Try it

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on me, Idith. Come on, Inez, knock MY chair

over."

The twins lowered their eyes and opened

their books. The ghostly African warriors

that Lysander could call up were not

something that they wanted to contest.

Dagbert Endless came in late. He sat alone,

halfway between each group. "Where's the

talents master?" he asked.

"He got sick," said Dorcas, "when Charlie

Bone was with him."

"Is that so?" Dagbert looked at Charlie with

interest.

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CHAPTER 6

THE POISONED NET

T he long, cold dormitory with its single dim

light had become so familiar to Charlie that

he almost felt at home. But tonight he found

it impossible to sleep. On one side of him,

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