Please note: This is 20 years after Inkheart, not Inkspell because I have not read that yet, so I cannot say that this is even near how Cornelia Funke would picture it. I did this for an extra credit book report.

Inkheart - 20 Years Later...

When Meggie opened her eyes, the digital clock on her nightstand said 5:00 AM. Only after she rolled over intending to go back to sleep did she realize that the clock's alarm was going off. Meggie sat up, stretched, and smoothed the covers before switching off the alarm and slipping out of bed. She could hear the rain pelting against the roof. Meggie stopped to glance out the window of her top floor apartment. She had lived in the city of Rome for ten years now, teaching various forms of literature to aspiring writers in high school while writing on the side. However, Rome wasn't her home. Her home was a large foreboding structure by a lake in southern Italy, and, today, she was going home.

Her hand swept over the silver lettering of a book.

"SILVERTOUNGE

Meggie Folchart"

She didn't even have to look at the cover to see what it said: she knew it by heart.

Meggie flicked on the light switch as she entered the bathroom. Scrutinizing herself in the mirror, she ran a hand through her fair hair. Twenty years... had it been that long? It still felt like it was only yesterday. The fear was still there, but subdued. Perhaps publishing a book about it had took some of the fear away. Meggie sighed and passed her fingers over her lips. She could still feel Elinor's strong hand as it pressed against her lips, quieting her as Capricorn's men took her father away for the first time. Meggie sighed again. At least she would be going home soon.

The digital clock on Meggie's nightstand said 7:00 AM when she finally locked the door to her apartment and headed down the hall towards the elevator. It was like when she watched her father lock the door to their farmhouse and how she felt as if they would never return. Every step she took brought back memories. Maybe it was the rain, or the fact that she was going home that brought them back. Meggie didn't know. Entering the elevator, Meggie recalled the hotel that she, Mo, and Elinor had stayed in after escaping Capricorn's village. As the doors closed and the elevator journeyed downward, Meggie closed her eyes and tried to just think about home: just about home.

Meggie had been driving along the coastal road for about two hours by the time the car's clock said 10:00 AM. To her left and right were the brightly painted houses that dotted the coast. The sea glistened in the distance, reminding her of the first time she saw it. She was twelve then, and had been riding in the car with Elinor and Dustfinger, but that had been twenty years ago. Soon the bright houses to the left receded and steep dark hills took their place. Meggie looked at them for a moment, but quickly turned her head away, recalling how she, Mo, Elinor, Dustfinger, and Farid had trekked up hills like those through brambles, bushes, trees, and snakes in escape of Capricorn's men. Meggie decided to just focus on the road ahead of her.

The car's clock said 11:17 AM when castle ruins started appearing all over the landscape. Meggie remembered Elinor's stories about each castle. To her right, Meggie could still see the brightly colored houses, and in the distance she spotted several small coastal villages. Meggie remembered Fengolio, and his sad fate as she tried to picture him in her mind's eye. Where was he now? She wondered. Did he like it there? How about Pippo, Paula, and Rico, Fengolio's grandchildren? They would be in their twenties by now. Meggie wondered if they remembered her.

At 12:00 PM Meggie stopped for lunch. Looking out the window of the café she was eating in, Meggie saw a man juggling in the town square. Meggie instantly remembered Dustfinger. Where was he now, and how was Farid, the boy who had left with him? One o'clock: back on the road again. By 3:00 PM, Meggie was nearing her destination.

It was 4:30 PM. Meggie looked at the wrought iron gate before her. Once, the spiked fence scared her, but it welcomed her as she got out, opened the gate, and proceeded to drive through. The rhododendron bushes had been trimmed since she was here last, but the driveway was as long as she remembered. Once it finally came to an end, Elinor's gray station wagon was still there, as well as Mo's car and another that Meggie didn't recognize. Meggie parked beside the station wagon, and stepped out of the car. The moment she stood to her full height, a blue fairy flew into her hair, chattering excitedly. Meggie smiled and made her way to the front door of the mansion before her, nearly stepping on a little glass man on her way. She rang the doorbell, as her eyes overlooked the sign in the window that clearly stated,

"IF YOU INTEND TO WASTE MY TIME ON TRIVIA,

YOU'D BETTER GO AWAY NOW."

The door was opened a few seconds later by an elderly, sturdily built woman with pebble eyes, gray hair, and small feet; it was Elinor. Her wrinkled face cracked into a smile as she saw Meggie, and she let out a shout of joy before hugging her tightly. Soon afterwards, Mo and Meggie's mother, Teresa, appeared at the door and hugged Meggie along with Elinor, laughing all the while. Meggie was reminded now of when, in the end, when all was over, and Capricorn was just a ghost of the past, her family was reunited. She was home, and she was happy. Meggie had always liked stories with happy endings.

Again, please note: This is 20 years after Inkheart, not Inkspell, because I have not read that yet, so I cannot say that this is even near how Cornelia Funke would picture it. I did this for an extra credit book report.

caw out.