Jenny Nimmo - Charlie Bone and the Blue Boa

First published in Great Britain 2004 by Egmont UK Limited

This edition published 2010

by Egmont UK Limited

239 Kensington High Street

London W8 6SA

Text copyright © 2004 Jenny Nimmo

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

ISBN 978 1 4052 2545 8

eBook ISBN 978 1 7803 1204 0

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Egmont is passionate about helping to preserve the world’s remaining ancient forests. We only use paper from legal and sustainable forest sources, so we know where every single tree comes from that goes into every paper that makes up every book.

This book is made from paper certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), an organisation dedicated to promoting responsible management of forest resources. For more information on the FSC, please visit www.fsc.org. To learn more about Egmont’s sustainable paper policy, please visit www.egmont.co.uk/ethical.

For Gwenhwyfar, who found the boa, with love.

Books by Jenny Nimmo

Midnight for Charlie Bone

Charlie Bone and the Time Twister

Charlie Bone and the Blue Boa

Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors

Charlie Bone and the Hidden King

Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf

Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock

Charlie Bone and the Red Knight

The Snow Spider trilogy

The Secret Kingdom

Secret Creatures

For younger readers

Matty Mouse

Farm Fun!

Delilah

Contents

Cover

Title page

Copyright First published in Great Britain 2004 by Egmont UK Limited This edition published 2010 by Egmont UK Limited 239 Kensington High Street London W8 6SA Text copyright © 2004 Jenny Nimmo The moral rights of the author have been asserted ISBN 978 1 4052 2545 8 eBook ISBN 978 1 7803 1204 0 www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Egmont is passionate about helping to preserve the world’s remaining ancient forests. We only use paper from legal and sustainable forest sources, so we know where every single tree comes from that goes into every paper that makes up every book. This book is made from paper certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), an organisation dedicated to promoting responsible management of forest resources. For more information on the FSC, please visit www.fsc.org . To learn more about Egmont’s sustainable paper policy, please visit www.egmont.co.uk/ethical .

Dedication For Gwenhwyfar, who found the boa, with love.

Books by Jenny Nimmo Books by Jenny Nimmo Midnight for Charlie Bone Charlie Bone and the Time Twister Charlie Bone and the Blue Boa Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors Charlie Bone and the Hidden King Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock Charlie Bone and the Red Knight The Snow Spider trilogy The Secret Kingdom Secret Creatures For younger readers Matty Mouse Farm Fun! Delilah

The endowed children The children of the Red King, called the endowed Manfred Bloor Head boy of Bloor’s Academy. A hypnotiser. He is descended from Borlath, eldest son of the Red King. Borlath was a brutal and sadistic tyrant. Asa Pike A were-beast. He is descended from a tribe who lived in the Northern forests and kept strange beasts. Asa can change shape at dusk. Billy Raven Billy can communicate with animals. One of his ancestors conversed with ravens that sat on a gibbet where dead men hung. For this talent he was banished from his village. Zelda Dobinski Descended from a long line of Polish magicians. Zelda is telekenetic. She can move objects with her mind. Lysander Sage Descended from an African wise man. He can call up his spirit ancestors. Tancred Torsson A storm-bringer. His Scandinavian ancestor was named after the thunder god, Thor. Tancred can bring rain, wind, thunder and lightning. Gabriel Silk Gabriel can feel scenes and emotions through the clothes of others. He comes from a line of psychics. Emma Tolly Emma can fly. Her surname derives from the Spanish swordsman from Toledo, whose daughter married the Red King. He is therefore an ancestor to all the endowed children. Charlie Bone Charlie can travel into photographs and paintings. He is descended from the Yewbeams, a family with many magical endowments. Dorcas Loom An endowed girl whose gift is, as yet, undiscovered. The endowed are all descended from the ten children of the Red King; a magician-king who left Africa in the twelfth century, accompanied by three leopards.

Prologue Prologue When the Red King left Africa, he took with him a rare snake, a boa, given to him by a travelling wise man. The boa’s skin was black and silver and its eyes like beads of jet. Sometimes, the shining eyes would close, but this was a deception. In the king’s presence the boa was eternally vigilant. No thief or assassin dared to pass it. The king, who could speak its language, regarded the boa as a friend, a guardian and a wise counsellor. He loved the creature dearly. One day, while the king was absent on a hunting trip, his eldest son, Borlath, caught the boa in a net. Borlath had the cruellest heart of any man living, and his greatest sport was to torture. Within a week he had turned the wise and gentle boa into a creature that lived only to kill. It would squeeze its victims into oblivion within minutes. The king’s daughter, Guanhamara, horrified by the boa’s new and deadly nature, rescued the creature and cast a spell, hoping to cure it. Alas, Guanhamara’s spell came too late and merely weakened the boa’s fatal hug. Its victims did not die, but they became invisible. When Guanhamara died, the boa fell into a deep sleep. It shrivelled into a thing that was neither alive nor dead. Hoping one day to reawaken the creature, Guanhamara’s seven daughters (every one of them a witch) sealed the boa in a jar of liquid made blue with herbs. They also put in a bird with delicate, shiny wings. But the embalmed creatures were stolen by Borlath and passed down through his descendants, until Ezekiel Bloor, using a method recommended by his grandfather, managed to revive the boa whose skin had become a silvery blue. He was less successful with the bird. Ezekiel was now a hundred years old. He had always longed to become invisible but, as far as he knew, the boa’s hug was permanent, and he didn’t dare to let the creature hug him. The old man still searched for a way to reverse invisibility, while the boa lived in the shadowy attics of Bloor’s Academy, keeping its secret, until someone could bring it the comfort of understanding – and listen to its story.

1. Someone dangerous