Inkheart

23. A NIGHT FULL OF WORDS

Meggie stayed in the hotel while Mo went to the rental agency to collect the car he had booked. She took a chair out onto the balcony, looked out over its white-painted railing to the sea shining like blue glass beyond the buildings, and tried to think of nothing, nothing at all. The sound of the traffic drifting up to her was so loud she almost didn't hear Elinor's knock.

Elinor was already on her way down the corridor when Meggie opened the door. "Oh, you are there, " Elinor said, coming back and looking rather embarrassed. She was hiding something behind her back.

"Yes, Mo's gone to get the rental car. "

"I've got something for you – a good-bye present." Elinor produced a flat parcel from behind her back. "It wasn't easy tofind a book without any unpleasant characters in it, but I absolutely had to find one your father could read aloud to youwithout doing any damage. I don't think anything can happen with this one."

Meggie undid the floral gift wrapping. The cover of the book showed two children and a dog. The children were kneeling on a narrow piece of rock or stone, looking anxiously down at the abyss yawning beneath them,

"They're poems, " explained Elinor. "I don't know if you like that kind of thing, but I thought that if your father read them aloud they'd sound wonderful. "

Meggie opened the book. She read:

Oh, if you're a bird, be an early bird And catch the worm for your breakfast plate. If you're a bird, be an early bird But if you're a worm, sleep late.

The words were like a little melody singing to her off the pages. She carefully closed the book. "Thank you, Elinor, " she said. "I – I'm sorry I don't have anything for you. "

"Oh, and here's something else you might like, " said Elinor, taking another little parcel out of her new handbag. "Someone who devours books like you should have this one, " she said. "But I think you'd better read it on your own. There are any number of villains in it. All the same, I think you'll enjoy it. After all, there's nothing like a few comforting pages of a book when you're away from home, right?"

Meggie nodded. "Mo's promised we'll join you the day after tomorrow, " she said. "But you'll say good-bye to him, too, before you leave, won't you?" She put Elinor's first present on the chest of drawers near the door and unwrapped the second. Meggie was pleased to see it was a thick book.

"Oh, never mind that. You do it for me!" said Elinor. "I'm not good at saying good-bye. Anyway, we'll be seeing each other again soon – and I've already told him to look after you. Oh, and never leave books lying around open, " she added, before turning around. "It breaks their spines. But I expect your father's told you that a thousand times already. "

"More often than that, " said Meggie, but Elinor had already gone. A little later Meggie heard someone dragging a suitcase to the elevator, but she didn't go out into the corridor to see if it was Elinor. She didn't like good-byes either.

Meggie was very quiet for the rest of the day. Late in the afternoon Mo took her out for a meal in a little restaurant nearby. Dusk was falling when they came out again, and there were a great many people in the darkening streets. In one square the crowds were particularly dense, and as Meggie pushed her way through them with Mo she saw they were standing around a fire-eater.

It was very quiet as Dustfinger let the burning torch lick his bare arms. But as soon as he bowed and the audience clapped, Farid went around with a little silver dish, which was the only thing that didn't quite seem to belong in these surroundings. Farid, however, looked much the same as the boys who lounged around on the beach nudging one another when girls passed by. His skin was a little darker, perhaps, and his hair a little blacker, but it would never have occurred to anyone looking at him that he had just slipped out of a storybook in which carpets could fly, mountains could open, and lamps granted wishes. He wore pants and a T-shirt instead of his blue, full-length robe. He looked older in them. Dustfinger must have bought the clothes for him, as well as the shoes in which he walked very carefully, as if his feet weren't quite used to them yet. When he saw Meggie in the crowd he gave her a shy nod and passed on quickly.

Dustfinger spat out one last fireball into the air its size made even the bravest in the audience step back then put down the torches and picked up his juggling balls. He threw them so high in the air the spectators had to tilt their heads right back to watch, then caught them and knocked them up in the air again with his knee. They rolled along his arms as if pulled by invisible threads, emerged from behind his back as if he had plucked them out of empty air, bounced off his fore head, his chin, such light, weightless, dancing little things… it would all have seemed easy, cheerful, just a pretty game, if it hadn't been for Dustfinger's face. That remained deadly serious behind the whirling balls, as if it had nothing to do with his dancing hands, nothing to do with their skill, nothing to do with their carefree lightness. Meggie wondered whether his fingers still hurt. They looked red, but perhaps that was just the firelight.

When Dustfinger bowed and put his balls back in the backpack the spectators were slow to disperse, but finally only Mo and Meggie were left. Farid was sitting on the paving stones counting the money he had collected. He looked happy – as if he had never done anything else in his life.

"So you're still here, " said Mo.

"Why not?" Dustfinger was collecting his props: the two bottles he had used in Elinor's garden, the burnt-out torches, the bowl into which he spat and whose contents he now tipped carelessly out on the pavement. He had gotten himself a new bag; the old one was probably still in Capricorn's village. Reggie went over to the pack, but Gwin wasn't in it.

"I'd hoped you'd be well away by now, going back north or somewhere else. Somewhere Basta can't find you. "

Dustfinger shrugged his shoulders. "I have to earn some money first. Anyway, I like the weather here better, and the people are more likely to stop and watch. They're generous, too. Right, Farid? How much did we make this time?"

The boy jumped when Dustfinger turned to him. Farid had put aside the dish with the money in it and was just about to place a burning matchstick in his mouth. He quickly pinched it out with his fingers. Dustfinger suppressed a smile. "He's dead set on learning to play with fire. I've shown him how to make little practice torches, but he's in too much of a hurry. He has blisters on his lips all the time. "

Meggie looked sideways at Farid. He seemed to be ignoring them as he packed Dustfinger's things back in the bag, but she felt sure he was listening to every word they said. She met his eyes twice, those dark eyes, and the second time he turned away so abruptly that he almost dropped one of Dustfinger's bottles.

"Hey, be careful with that, will you?" snapped Dustfinger impatiently.

"I hope there's no other reason why you're still here?" asked Mo as Dustfinger turned back to him.

"What do you mean?" Dustfinger avoided his gaze. "Oh, that. You think I might go back for the book. You overestimate me. I'm a coward. "

"Nonsense!" Mo sounded irritated. "Elinor will be home tomorrow, " he said.

"Nice for her," Dustfinger looked impassively at Mo's face. "So why aren't you with her?"

Mo looked at the buildings around them and shook his head. "There's someone I have to visit first."

"Here? Who is it?" Dustfinger put on a short-sleeved shirt, a bright garment with a pattern of large flowers. It didn't suit his scarred face.

"There's someone who might still have a copy. "

Dustfinger's face remained unmoved, but his fingers gave him away. They were suddenly having difficulty getting the buttons of his shirt through the buttonholes. "That's impossible!" he said hoarsely. "Capricorn would never have overlooked one."

Mo shrugged. "Maybe not, but I'm going to try all the same. The man I'm talking about doesn't sell books either new or secondhand. Capricorn probably doesn't even know he exists."

Dustfinger looked around. Someone was closing the shutters in one of the surrounding houses, and on the other side of the square a few children were playing around among the chairs of a restaurant until a waiter shooed them away. There was a smell of warm food and the liquid spirits Dustfinger used in his fiery games, but no black-clad man could be seen anywhere, except for the bored-looking waiter who was straightening the chairs.

"So, who is this mysterious stranger?" Dustfinger lowered his voice to little more than a whisper.

"The man who wrote Inkheart. He lives not far from here. "

Farid came over to them, holding the silver dish with the money in it. "Gwin hasn't come back, " he told Dustfinger. "And we don't have anything to tempt him. Should I buy a couple of eggs?"

"No, he can look after himself. " Dustfinger ran a finger over one of his scars. "Put the money we've taken into the leather bag – you know, the one in my backpack!" he told Farid. His voice sounded impatient. Meggie would have given Mo a hurt look if he had spoken to her like that, but Farid didn't seem to mind. He just hurried off purposefully.

"I really thought it was all over, no way to get back ever again…" Dustfinger broke off and looked up at the sky. A plane crossed the horizon, colored lights blinking. Farid looked up at it, too. He had put the money away and was standing expectantly beside the backpack. Something furry scuttled across the square, dug its claws into his pants legs, and clambered up to his shoulder. With a smile, Farid dug his hand into his pocket and offered Gwin a piece of bread.

"Suppose there really is still a copy?" Dustfinger pushed his long hair back from his forehead. "Will you give me another chance? Will you try to read me back into it? Just once?" There was such longing in his voice that it went to Meggie's heart.

But Mo's face was not forthcoming. "You can't go back, not into that book!" he said. "I know you don't want to hear me say so, but it's the truth, and you'd better resign yourself to it. Perhaps I can help you some other way. I've got an idea – rather crazy, but still…" He said no more, just shook his head and kicked an empty matchbox that was lying on the Paving stones.

Meggie looked at Mo in surprise. What kind of idea? Did he really have one, or was he just trying to comfort Dustfinger? If so, it hadn't worked. Dustfinger was looking at him with all his old hostility. "I'm coming, " he said. His fingers had left a little soot on his face when he stroked his scar. "I'm coming when you go to visit this man. Then we'll see. "

There was loud laughter behind them. Dustfinger looked around. Gwin was trying to climb on to Farid's head, and the boy was laughing as if there was nothing better than to have a marten's sharp claws digging into his scalp.

"Well, he's not homesick, anyway, " muttered Dustfinger. "I asked him. Not homesick in the least! All this," he added, waving a hand at his surroundings, "all this appeals to him. Even the noisy, stinking cars. He's glad to be here. You've obviously done him a favor. " The look he gave her father as he said these words was so reproachful that Meggie instinctively reached for Mo's hand.

Gwin had jumped down from Farid's shoulder and was sniffing curiously at the road surface. One of the children who had been romping among the tables bent down and looked incredulously at the little horns. But before the child could put a hand out to touch, Farid quickly intervened, picked Gwin up, and put the marten back on his shoulders.

"So where does he live, this -?" Dustfinger did not finish his sentence.

"About an hour's drive from here. "

Dustfinger said nothing. The lights of another plane were blinking up in the sky. "Sometimes, when I went to the spring to wash early in the morning, " he murmured, "there'd be tiny fairies flitting around above the water, not much bigger than the butterflies you have here, and blue as violet petals. They liked to fly into my hair. Sometimes they spat in my face. They weren't very friendly, but they shone like glowworms by night. I sometimes caught one and put it in a jar. If I let it out at night before going to sleep I had wonderful dreams."

"Capricorn said there were trolls and giants, too, " said Meggie quietly.

Dustfinger gave her a thoughtful look. "Yes, there were, " he said, "But Capricorn wasn't particularly fond of them. He'd have liked to do away with them all. He had them hunted. He hunted anything that could run."

"It must be a dangerous world. " Meggie was trying to imagine it all: the giants, the trolls, and the fairies. Mo had once given her a book about fairies.

Dustfinger shrugged. "Yes, it's dangerous, so what? This world's dangerous, too, isn't it?" Abruptly, he turned his back on Meggie, picked up his backpack, threw it over his shoulder, then waved to the boy. Farid picked up the bag with the balls and torches and followed him eagerly. Dustfinger went over to Mo once more.

"Don't you dare tell that man about me!" he said. "I don't want to see him. I'll wait in the car. I only want to know if he still has a copy of the book, understand?"

Mo shrugged his shoulders. "As you like. "

Dustfinger inspected his reddened fingers and felt the taut skin. "He might tell me how my story ends, " he murmured.

Meggie looked at him in astonishment. "You mean you don't know?"

Dustfinger smiled. Meggie still didn't particularly like his smile. It seemed to appear only to hide something else. "What's so unusual about that, princess?" he asked quietly. Do you know how your story ends?"

Meggie had no answer to that.

Dustfinger winked at her and turned. "I'll be at the hotel tomorrow morning, " he said. Then he walked off without turning back. Farid followed him, carrying the heavy bag happy as a stray dog who has found a master at last.

That night the full moon hung round and orange in the sky. Before they went to bed, Mo pulled back the curtains so they could see it – a brightly colored Chinese lantern among all the white stars.

Neither of them could sleep. Mo had bought a couple of well-worn paperbacks that looked as if they had already passed through the hands of several people. Meggie was reading the book full of unpleasant characters that Elinor had given her. She liked it, but at last her eyes closed with weariness and she fell asleep. Beside her Mo read on and on while the orange moon shone in the foreign sky outside.

When a confused dream woke her with a start sometime in the night, Mo was still sitting up in bed, the open book in his hand. The moon had disappeared long ago, and there was nothing but darkness to be seen through the window.

"Can't you sleep?" asked Meggie, sitting up.

"It was my left arm that stupid dog bit – and you know l sleep best on my left side. Anyway, there's too much going around in my head."

"There's a lot going around in my head, too. " Meggie turned to the bedside table and picked up the book of poems that Elinor had given her. She stroked the binding, passed her hand over the curved spine, and traced the letters on the jacket with her forefinger. "You know something, Mo?" she said hesitantly. "I think I'd like to be able to do it, too. "

"Do what?"

Meggie stroked the binding of the book again. She thought she could hear the pages whispering very quietly. "Read like that, " she said. "Read aloud the way you do and make everything come to life."

Mo looked at her. "You're out of your mind!" he said. "That's what has caused all the trouble we're in."

"I know. "

Mo closed his book, leaving his finger between the pages.

"Read me something aloud, Mo!" said Meggie quietly. "Please. Just for once. " She offered him the book of poems. "Elinor gave me this as a present. She said nothing much could happen if you did."

"Oh, did she?" Mo opened the book. "Suppose it does, though?" He leafed through the smooth white pages.

Meggie put her pillow close to his.

"Do you really have any idea how you might be able to read Dustfinger back into his story? Or were you making it up?"

"Nonsense. I'm useless at telling lies, as you know."

"Yes, I do. " Meggie couldn't help smiling. "Well, what's your idea?"

"I'll tell you when I know if it works. "

Mo was still leafing through Elinor's book. Frowning, he read a page, turned it over, and read another.

"Please, Mo!" Meggie moved closer to him. "Just one poem. A tiny little poem. Please. For me. "

He sighed. "Just one?"

Meggie nodded.

Outside the noise of the cars had died down. The world was as quiet as if it had spun itself into a cocoon like a moth preparing itself to slip out in the morning, young again and good as new.

"Please, Mo, read to me!" said Meggie. So Mo began filling the silence with words. He lured them out of the pages as if they had only been waiting for his voice, words long and short, words sharp and soft, cooing, purring words. They danced through the room, painting stained-glass pictures, tickling the skin. Even when Meggie nodded off she could still hear them, although Mo had closed the book long ago. Words that explained the world to her, its dark side and its light side, words that built a wall to keep out bad dreams. And not a single bad dream came over the wall for the rest of that night.

The next morning, a bird flew down and perched on Meggie's bed, a bird as orange as the light of last night's moon. She tried to catch it, but it flew away to the window where the blue sky was waiting for it. It collided with the invisible glass again and again, bumping its tiny head, until Mo opened the window and let it out,

"Well, do you still wish you could do it?" asked Mo when Meggie had watched the bird fly away until it merged with the blue of the sky,

"It was beautiful!" she said,

"Yes, but will it like this world?" asked Mo, "And what's gone to replace it in the world it came from?"

Meggie stayed by the window as Mo went downstairs to pay their bill. She remembered the last poem that Mo had read before she fell asleep. She picked up the book from her bedside table, hesitated for a moment – and opened it.

There is a place where the sidewalk ends And before the street begins, And there the grass grows soft and white, And there the sun burns crimson bright, And there the moon-bird rests from his flight To cool in the peppermint wind.

Meggie whispered the words aloud as she read them, but no moon-bird flew down from the lamp. And she must have been just imagining the smell of peppermint.