"Ah!" Dr. Bloor rubbed his hands together.
"The dining room is just down the hallway.
This way, everyone."
As the two visitors followed Dr. Bloor a small
woman emerged from the dining room. Cook
was rounder than she had once been and her
dark hair was touched with gray, but her rosy
face still held traces of her former beauty.
When she saw Dr. Bloor and his guests ap-
proaching she stood aside to let them pass.
"Thank you, Cook," said Dr. Bloor.
Cook nodded and then gave a small involun-
tary shudder. She pressed a handkerchief to
her face and hastened away. Her heart was
pounding so fast that Blessed could hear it as
she ran down the stairs behind him.
35
"Oh, grief. Oh, horrors. It's him. It's him. Oh,
Blessed, what am I to do? Why here? Why
now?"
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Cook burst into the blue cafeteria with
Blessed hard on her heels, the handkerchief
still pressed to her mouth as though the very
air she breathed was poisoned.
"Cook, what's the matter?"
Cook hadn't noticed the white-haired boy sit-
ting at a corner table.
"Oh, Billy, love. I've had a dreadful shock."
She pulled out a chair and sat beside him. "A
man is here. He he " She shook her head.

"He knows," Billy whispered. "He wants to
tell me something, but I'm not sure that I
want to hear it."
37
DAGBERT ENDLESS
On Monday morning a new boy appeared at
Bloor's Academy. He wore the compulsory
blue cape of a music student. Charlie met
him for the first time in assembly. The music
students had their own orchestra, and today
Charlie's friend Fidelio was lead violin. He
waved his bow at Charlie just as the head of
music, Dr. Saltweather, came onto the stage.
"Who's that?" said a voice in Charlie's ear.
Charlie looked around to see a boy a few
inches taller than himself with long, wet-
looking hair and aquamarine eyes.
"Who's who?" asked Charlie.
"The boy with the violin."
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"He's called Fidelio Gunn," said Charlie.
"He's a friend of mine."
"Is he? And is he a good violinist?"
"Brilliant," said Charlie. "I'm Charlie, by the
way."
38
Dr. Saltweather raised his hand for silence,
and the orchestra struck up.
Thirty minutes later the new boy caught up
with Charlie as he left assembly. He handed

"I come from the North," Dagbert informed
him. "The far, far North. I was at Loth's
Academy but they expelled me."
Charlie was instantly intrigued. "What for?"
"There was a drowning," the boy said airily.
"Not my fault, of course, but you know how
parents are. They wanted retribution and
someone gave them my name." Dagbert
lowered his voice. "He didn't last long, I can
assure you."
"Who?"
"The snitcher."
40
They had reached the hall and Charlie was so
keen to hear the gruesome details of the
drowning, he quite forgot the rules. "So what
happened then?"
"Silence in the hall, Charlie Bone," called one
of the prefects, a cheerful girl who rarely
gave detention.
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"This way," Charlie whispered, nudging
Dagbert's arm.
They walked to a door beneath a carving of
crossed trumpets. Once through the door
Charlie said, "I'm glad Fiona's on duty and
not Manfred Bloor."
"What's wrong with Manfred?" asked
Dagbert.
Charlie didn't like the look that Dagbert shot

shiver down Charlie's spine.
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"It's English next," Charlie said. "We'd better
get to Mr. Carp's room."
"You should enjoy that, eh, Dagbert?" said
Fidelio. "A carp is a very fine fish."
Dagbert was not amused. "Show me the
way," he commanded.
42
They left the blue coatroom and made their
way through groups of children in blue,
green, or purple capes, all heading in differ-
ent directions.
Mr. Carp was stout and red-faced. He was al-
ways dressed very neatly in a striped vest
and smart gray suit. He found Charlie Bone
irritating, partly because of his messy hair
and partly because his mind always seemed
to be elsewhere. He didn't pay attention and
sometimes gave silly answers that made the
class laugh.
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"You, boy, sit there," he told Dagbert. "That's
right, next to Charlie Bone. He is to be your
monitor, I'm told. Though he needs one him-
self, if you ask me." Mr. Carp laughed at his
own joke while the rest of the class remained
silent.
Dagbert took the desk next to Charlie. On the
other side of Charlie, Fidelio raised an eye-

Charlie would have run after the girls, but
Olivia's hurtful words stopped him in his
tracks. Had she
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44
always thought him a fraud? He watched the
two girls walk across the grounds. In her
purple cape, red coat, and black tights, Olivia
looked anything but a mess. Her brown hair
was streaked with black and gold and topped
with a small black velvet beret. Charlie had
been about to compliment her when Dagbert
made his fatal remark. Even Emma looked
elegant today, with her blond hair piled on
top of her head.
"Let them go," said Dagbert. "We know their
type. Airheads."
"Stop saying 'we, " Charlie said irritably. "We
don't have the same opinions at all. And
those girls aren't airheads."
Dagbert ignored this. "You promised to show
me the Red Castle. I can see the walls from
here. Come on."
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At the far end of the grounds, the deep red
walls of a castle could be glimpsed between
the trees. Now a ruin, it was difficult to be-
lieve that the Red King had once held court
there. At times, Charlie had found the ruin a
refuge, but always there was a feeling of

the people who've worn the clothes before
him." Charlie stamped his foot. "And if you
want to see the ruin, go by yourself."
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Furious, Charlie stormed away from Dagbert
and made for the school. The smell of fish
suddenly became so overpowering he almost
retched. It was a relief to get inside the hall
and close the door against the choking odor.
Charlie ran along to the blue coat-room
where Gabriel often took refuge when things
weren't going well. But instead of Gabriel, he
found Billy Raven, huddled at the end of a
bench.
"Billy, have you seen Gabriel?" Charlie asked.
Billy shook his head. He looked very
troubled.
"What is it?" Charlie sat beside the smaller
boy.
"You need to know some things," said Billy,
"about that boy Dagbert. Blessed told me -"
"There you are!" Dagbert stood in the door-
way, his face blank and the fish smell under
control. It seemed
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47
to be something he could send out or stop at
will. "You've got some freaky friends, Charlie
Bone."
"Look," said Charlie, trying hard to keep his

"A round room," Dagbert observed with sat-
isfaction, "and a round table. How
Arthurian."
Four children came in: Joshua Tilpin, Dorcas
Loom, and the twins, Inez and Idith Branko.
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"Now let me see." Dagbert stared at Joshua.
"Magnetism?"
Joshua beamed.
"Good, good." Dagbert turned to Dorcas,
who was setting her books in order on the
table. "And you can bewitch clothing?"
"How can you tell?" asked Dorcas, a large
girl with a puffy face and tangled, yellow
hair.
"I can't," Dagbert admitted. "Someone told
me."
49
"And we are telekinetic," one of the twins an-
nounced. No one could tell them apart. They
both had pale, doll-like faces and shiny black
hair. Their bangs ended in a sharp line just
above their eyes, dark eyes that never
showed a trace of emotion. "Who are you?"
the same twin asked.
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"I am a boy whose name is as endless as the
ocean." Dagbert smiled at them. "My name is
Dagbert."
The twins gaped at him. Neither of them

close to Tancred, and Gabriel sat on his other
side. Only Billy chose to sit beside Charlie.
For this he received one of the new boy's
chilly stares.
There should have been a twelfth member of
the group, but Asa Pike had not been seen
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for several weeks. Charlie found that he
missed the weedy sixth
51
year with his wispy red hair and the wolfish
yellow eyes that gave away his terrible
endowment.
Lysander was now the oldest member of the
endowed, and so he had been put in charge
of the homework room. He had inherited a
natural air of authority from his father, the
famous Judge Sage. Joshua, Dorcas, and the
twins might try to test Lysander's position,
but they were a little in awe of the tall spirit-
caller and, so far, no one had openly defied
him.
"Where's our number twelve?" asked Dag-
bert. "I was told there is a wolf boy."
"Was," said Lysander quietly. "He's no longer
with us. Get on with your work now."
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Dagbert meekly opened one of his books and
began to read.
Charlie couldn't concentrate. He gazed up at

53
"Hey! Wait for me!" Dagbert's voice came
ringing after them. "You're supposed to show
me the dorms, Charlie Bone."
"I thought Matron would have shown you,"
said Charlie.
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"She did, but I've forgotten." Dagbert
grinned as he came up to Charlie with his pe-
culiar lurching and pitching motion.
Billy Raven slipped away.
"That boy gives me the creeps." Dagbert re-
marked as he watched the retreating student.
"You probably do the same to him," said
Charlie.
"Why?" Dagbert looked genuinely surprised.
Charlie hurried on without answering. He
wondered where Dagbert would be sleeping.
Every bed in his own dormitory was occu-
pied. So there was no danger of the new boy
moving in. Or was there? Ahead of him, he
could see Gabriel Silk standing in the hall.
He looked distraught. Charlie called out to
him, but he turned away and went through a
door farther down the hallway.
54
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