"Runner Bean!" cried Charlie.
How had his best friend's dog followed him into a painting? It couldn't happen.
But he had.28CHAPTER 2
THE MELTING DOG
minutes after Charlie had traveled into Badlock, his best friend, Benjamin Brown, a small, tow-haired, anxious-looking boy, left his house at number twelve Filbert Street and crossed the road to number nine. His dog, Runner Bean, trotted behind him.
When Benjamin rang the bell at number nine, the door was immediately opened by Charlie's grandmother Maisie.
"Benjamin, love," cried Maisie, drawing him into the hall. "I hope you can do something.
Charlie's gone."
"Gone, Mrs. Jones? Gone where?" Benjamin dutifully wiped his shoes on the doormat.
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be standing here asking you to do something, would I?" Maisie closed her eyes and scratched the back of her neck. "Whatever am I going to tell his parents?"29"I don't expect you'll have to tell them anything," said Benjamin. "Perhaps my mom and dad can help, being detectives."
Benjamin instantly regretted saying this. His parents were working on a very important case. They had just left the house; Mrs. Brown disguised as a man, and Mr. Brown disguised as a woman. Benjamin didn't much like it when his parents dressed like this; they hadn't even explained the circumstances that demanded the fake mustache (for Mrs.
Brown) and the blond wig (for Mr. Brown), they had just told Benjamin to go over to Charlie's house, where Maisie would give him lunch.
"Actually, I'm sorry, I don't think my parents can help," Benjamin apologized.
"I'm pretty sure they can't." Maisie turned away and led Benjamin down a dim hallway.
"This is one of those disappearances that normal people couldn't hope to solve."
"But I'm normal," Benjamin reminded her.30Maisie sighed. "Well, I know. But you're a friend, and you could get one of the others. The endowed ones - or whatever they call themselves."
"Children of the Red King," Benjamin said quietly.
They had reached the cellar door, which stood wide open. Maisie beckoned to Benjamin and pointed into the cellar. Benjamin looked down into the murky underground room.
Maisie nodded encouragingly. Benjamin didn't like cellars, nor did Runner Bean. The big dog began to whine.
"Do I have to?" Benjamin asked.
"It's down there," said Maisie in a hushed voice.
"What is?"
"The painting, dear."
Benjamin uttered a very slow "Ohhh" as he realized that Charlie must be traveling. "He hasn't really disappeared, then."
"This time he has," said Maisie solemnly.
Benjamin stared into the cellar. He descended three or four steps until he could see the whole room. A dim light hanging from the ceiling showed31him a unused cabinet, broken chairs, curtain rods, piles of newspapers and magazines, and large black plastic bags filled with bulging objects. And then he saw the painting. It was standing against one of the walls, beside an old rolled-up mattress.
A small shadow flickered over it, and Benjamin saw that a white moth was hovering around the lightbulb. All at once the moth swung away and vanished. Benjamin went to the bottom of the steps and walked over to the painting. Runner Bean scrabbled down after him. He was panting very heavily and occasionally emitted a nervous whine.
The painting gave Benjamin the shivers. He was, as Maisie had admitted, a normal boy, so he experienced none of the insistent tugs that Charlie had felt, nor did he feel or hear the moaning Badlock winds. He did, however, get the impression that the almost photographic reality of the painting showed a place that had not been imagined but copied faithfully. It existed. Or did, once. With its dark towers, sunless sky,32and looming mountains, it was certainly a hostile, sinister country.
There was a green scrawl in the bottom right-hand corner of the painting, badlock. If Badlock really was a place, it was not somewhere that Benjamin would have wanted to visit. So why did Charlie go in? It was deserted, and as far as Benjamin could remember, Charlie had always needed first to hear a voice, and then to focus on a face, before he entered a picture. And in all the time Benjamin had known about his friend's endowment, Charlie had never actually disappeared. His physical presence had always remained in the present, while his mind roamed the world behind the pictures.
"What d'you think's going on, Ben?" asked Maisie, from the top of the steps.
Benjamin shook his head. "Don't know, Mrs. Jones. Where's Charlie's uncle?"
"Paton? At the bookstore," said Maisie. "Where else?"33"Think I'll go over there. Mr.
Yewbeam will know what to do." Benjamin turned toward the steps.
Runner Bean didn't follow his master but stood before the painting in an odd stance, his head to one side, as though he were listening to something. He gave a low, mournful howl. And then, before Benjamin's very eyes, the yellow dog became a smaller, paler version of himself.
"Runner?" Benjamin leaped toward his dog. He touched the tip of Runner Bean's tail, which was standing out as stiff as a broom, but in less than a second the tail had melted away and with it the whole of Benjamin's beloved dog.
"RUNNER!" Benjamin shrieked, just as the front door slammed.
"Oh my goodness!" Maisie clapped a hand over her mouth.
She was roughly pushed aside by Grandma Bone, who had suddenly appeared beside her.
"What on earth is going on?" demanded Grandma Bone.34Benjamin stared up at the two women. Maisie was shaking her head, her eyes were very wide, and her eyebrows were working furiously up and down. She seemed to be warning him. Distraught as he was, Benjamin began to think, fast. It was always understood by Charlie and himself that Grandma Bone must know absolutely nothing about what went on, especially if it had anything at all to do with Charlie's traveling.
Grandma Bone had caught sight of Maisie's eyebrows wriggling. "What's the matter with you, woman?" she snarled.
"Surprise," said Maisie. "So surprised. Thought we heard a rat, didn't we, Benjamin?"
Benjamin nodded vehemently.
"I thought I heard a bark." Grandma Bone glared suspiciously at Benjamin. "Where's your dog?"
"He... he didn't come with me today," said Benjamin, almost choking with distress. Could Grandma Bone see the unwrapped painting from where she stood? He didn't think so.35"Unusual. Not to bring your dog. Thought it was your shadow?" The tall woman turned on her heel and walked away, adding, "I'd come out of that cellar if I were you. It's more than likely the rats'll get you. Where's Charlie, by the way?"
"Gone to the bookstore," Maisie said quickly. "And that's just where Benjamin's going, isn't it, Ben?"
"Er - yes."
Benjamin dragged himself regretfully up the cellar steps. He felt that he was betraying Runner Bean, leaving him trapped inside the awful painting. But what else could he do?
Charlie's Uncle Paton would provide an answer. He usually knew what to do when things went wrong.
Maisie saw Benjamin to the door. "Take care, dear," she said. "I don't like to think of you alone in the city without your dog."
"I am eleven," Benjamin reminded her. "See you later, Mrs. Jones."
"I hope so, dear." Maisie closed the door.36Benjamin had taken only a few steps up the road when he became acutely aware that part of him was missing. The dog part. He'd been without Runner Bean before, when his parents took him to Hong Kong. But this was different. This was in a city where almost nothing was ordinary. Without warning, people could suddenly disappear, streetlights could explode, snow could fall in summer.
Ingledew's Bookstore wasn't far from Filbert Street, but today it felt as though there were a huge gap between Benjamin and safety. He was halfway down High Street when he saw two children on the other side of the road. Joshua Tilpin, a small, untidy, sullen-looking boy, shambled beside his taller companion: a boy with a pale, greenish complexion and an odd, lurching walk. Dagbert-the-drowner.