The world tilted, the beautiful, green trees disappeared, and everything went black.
When Meggie woke up, her head pounded, and sleep blurred her eyes, "Where am I?" she thought, trying to make her lips form the words she wanted so badly to say, but not being able to. She groaned, moving first her pinky, then her ring finger on her left hand.
A warm hand stilled her wriggling limbs, and a voice whispered Hush in her ear.
I must be asleep, Meggie thought, becoming content with that explanation. But then she heard a loud crash, and she knew she wasn't dreaming.
"Meggie tried to scream, but no sound came from her lips. It felt like something sticky was keeping her from speaking, and the hand from any movement.
What's going on? She thought, tears seeping out of the corners of her still closed eyes.
"Listen to me, Meggie! Stop that!" a weirdly accented voice whispered loudly, wiping her eyes with a strong, but gently, hand.
Meggie licked her lips, but met resistance. Tape. There's tape over my mouth!
She tried to open her eyes again, but made sure they were just thin slits, so as not to let the not yet named voice know she was awake. How did she know that they weren't the bad guy? How did she know that they were the good guy?
As if the world was divided into good and bad. Meggie laughed at herself a little bit, surprised at her childishness. She was almost fifteen, caught up in a story of evil and wonder and hate and love, and she'd learned that there were no carefully defined lines. There were overlaps, cracks, and areas where the right and wrong were obscured.
A boy, maybe two or three years older than her, stood over her, one hand still lightly placed on her fingers. He was looking around, as if he could see through the mucky darkness. All Meggie could see of him was his strongly muscled arms and rusty red hair. But his pose, like he was ready to fight, scared Meggie.
What had happened? Just a little while ago she'd been collecting firewood for Mo and Resa and Farid, when the world stopped. Now she was lost, as if she was…in another world.
Meggie swore slightly to herself. No, this definitely wasn't Inkworld, nor was it Earth. She could feel that now. Earth felt kind of like smog and smelled like dirt and leaves, Inkworld of war and strange flowers. This felt light, almost, like she could be lifted up and cast away like a feather at any given moment. It smelled like wood smoke, but there could be a fire burning. As much as it felt light, it looked heavy, as if the eyes took all the weight off the brain. It muddled her senses, made Meggie drowsy and unsure of herself.
The boy turned back towards Meggie, and she closed her eyes, just so she could barely see him. His eyes were very green, like the leaves on a beautiful flower back in Inkworld, and his chest was finely muscled. It was obvious he'd had to work all his life, not just by his physical strength, but by the firmness of his movements. He was stubborn too, Meggie could tell by the look about his eyes, which eyed her thoughtfully.
"Alright, Meggie, I'm going to take off that gluante, now, but do not scream" he whispered in the same, odd accent. It sounded French, with a little twist of something otherworldly.
Meggie nodded, figuring she could slip away when he was asleep, or scream if he hurt her. The glu-whatever was going, now.
The boy leaned closer, carefully taking the stuff off Meggie's mouth. He smelled like something she couldn't quite place, something that was enrapturing.
Think about Farid, she told herself, trying to fix his face into her mind. But try as hard as she could, the red headed boy kept wiggling his way into the picture she was trying stubbornly to create.
"Who are you? Where am I?" demanded Meggie as soon as the stuff was off her lips. She only saw it briefly before the boy cast it aside. It was blue, and looked like water, somehow in a shape.
"I can't tell you who I am, or you might go tell." The boy answered patiently.
"Where am I then!" Meggie cried, raising her voice.
"Hush! Do you want to make me sorry that I took the gluante off!"
"Just answer my question," said Meggie, lowering her voice again and sitting up. Dizziness overtook her and she moaned against her will.
The redheaded boy came closer, leaning her against a hard substance, "Take It easy, will you! We're in the Cave of Masquer."
"Where is this Cave of Masquer? And how did I get here?" Meggie spoke quickly, stumbling over her words. What was wrong with her today?
"You have a very beautiful voice, Meggie. The cave is located in The City of Dreams, about a mile north of the Windy Place. I…I don't know how you got here. I think I sung you out of…a story?"
"Sung me out?" Meggie cried, burying her face in her hands.
"Yes, it's quite strange. I found this songbook, and every day, it's add another line. It was ll about you, you and Farid the odd looking boy and The Bluejay who is your father and the beautiful, speacheless Maiden who is your mother. I never could remember her name. Anyway, I was walking through this forest, and all of a sudden a message appeared. It said, "Please, Anthony, my daughter, Meggie, is in danger. Sing this…And Meggie flew out of her story with the words of the Songbird, and into a place she did not know, but in which she was safe."
"So you did it?" Meggie cried.
"Yes," the boy said earnestly, "And the forest disappeared, and a traveler picked us up and took us here. We're about a week's ride from the forest where I sung."
"Have you never heard of someone lying to get me out of the way! So he could…could kill my family!" Meggie said, inches away from Anthony's face, anger flushing her cheeks red.
"Yes, I have, Meggie, but from what I've read, you are in danger in that world!" Anthony replied, anger boiling up inside him. How dare this beautiful, stupid girl accuse him of taking her out of a dangerous situation! How dare her!
Meggie turned so that she was facing the wall. It was damp, and a little bug, who was glowing a opurple color, chattered insistently at her.
"I want to go back with Resa and Mo and Farid!" Meggie cried, spinning on Anthony.
"Well, the cruel punishment of watching over you has been laid on me! So I say no!"
"No!" Meggie screamed, "No! I want to go home. You have no right to pluck me out of Inkworld! None at all!"
"Just as you have no right to wish characters out of books!" Anthony screamed back.
"I would have you know-" Meggie began, but Anthony never heard what she would have him know, because at that moment, a huge shake rattled the ground they stood on.
"We should've been quiet. I'm sorry, Meggie," whispered Anthony, suddenly looking ver frightened. He took her hands, tiny in his, and turned his back to the enterance of the cave. Little bugs soared around him, all shapes and sizes and colors, until there was a crowd of them, and Anthony and Meggie were in their own little sphere. The bugs became walls, and the walls became pictures, movies, memories. Of Mo, laughing at something Meggie had told him, of Resa, in a net far above her head, of Farid, so close, so close, about to kiss her…
"Addie," whispered Anthony, his eyes fixed on a spot behind Meggie. They were literally drowning in memories. What was happening?
Meggie's sub consciousness screamed at her, like a caged animal, but she was in a different world. The bugs, so beautiful enchanted her. She could stay here forever, forever and always. Grow old here, her hair turning gray, watching memories like a movie, like the one she'd gone to see with her childhood friends. Child, so far away…she could grow up here, have everything she needed. The bugs whispered to her, sung to her, told her all the wonderful things she could experience.
Suddenly, Anthony closed his eyes. The bugs spoke louder, more urgently, Come in, Anthony, the seemed to whisper. But Meggie could hear them. Why couldn't she hear anything they were saying to Anthony before? Anthony pulled on Meggie's hands, even as the swarm closed in. She looked down, only to seem Anthony pulling off his shoe, his eyes still clinched shut. The shoe, brown and worn, looked lonely, its ties undone. Anthony tugged on Meggie's hands and they burst out of the circle.
"What was that?" Meggie whispered, still holding onto Anthony's hands. Anthony let go, gesturing wordlessly towards the spot where they'd been standing, the spot where he'd left his lone show. The bugs, so beautiful from the inside, but so ugly from outside, grew louder, and louder until they dispersed, leaving the shoe, cut open, barely recognizable. Anthony touched Meggie's pale face, where several gashes oozed blood.
"There are dangers in this world, too," he whispered, and everything spun for the second time that day.