Okay, my first Inkheart trilogy fic! Be nice with reviews? Thanks.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
Chapter 1: Stripping the Mask
"Fenoglio, has it ever taken you this long to find the right words?" The old turtle shook his head. Meggie sighed. "Farid is miserable! He hasn't said a word in two months." Fenoglio nodded, but Meggie was sure he wasn't paying attention to her. His head had been in the clouds since his creation's death. After all, Dustfinger did add a lot of action to the story.
Meggie walked away. He wouldn't have been any help anyway.
She decided she would go talk to Farid.. She couldn't find him in the camp. Meggie had asked Roxane, but the beautiful woman had nothing to say. She was in mourning over Dustfinger, and blamed Farid for the loss of her husband's life. Meggie wandered for almost an hour, muttering how much she hated Cheeseface until she found Farid. He was sitting by a small creek with Gwin. She sat down beside him and stroked Gwin's silky fur. The marten snapped at her and she didn't even notice when her finger began to bleed.
Farid looked at her and his deep eyes plunged into her heart. Then, unexpectedly, he threw his arms around her and whispered in her ear, "I miss him!" She felt fresh tears run down his brown cheeks. She welcomed the embrace, for she was happy to hear his voice again.
"I know he'll come back!" she pulled away and looked into to his dark brown eyes. "You know Dustfinger wouldn't want us to mourn over him, but rejoice that he was nice enough to give his life."
Then, it was like a switch had turned on in Farid. He leaned down and splashed water in her face. She splashed him back then they began to run. They ran and ran until they had no breath left.
"Do you really think he'll come back?"
"I'd bet my life on it! Although I don't think it will come from Cheeseface." They laughed and he kissed her lightly on the mouth. Then the mask slipped away, all the emotion flooded into his face.
"We should get back to camp, it's getting dark." Farid said as she laid her head on his shoulder.
She nodded but said, "Just a little bit longer."
"You're right, the night's too beautiful to abandon." So, they laid down and looked up at the stars.
"You know what the stars remind me of?" Farid asked timidly.
"Clue me in." She said looking at him.
"Your eyes. People always said they looked like pieces of the sky." Meggie blushed. She hoped he hadn't seen, but she heard Farid chuckle.
"Isn't it a bit late for the lovebirds to be out in the woods?" The voice was recognized at once, and the two jumped up in surprise. They whirled around and saw a white body floating in the air.
"DUSTFINGER!!!" The two shouted and ran over to hug him, but to no avail as they ran right through him.
"Hey, that tickles!" he chuckled and said "So how chaotic is it?"
"Dustfinger… how…when…WHAT ARE YOU?" Farid choked.
"Okay, okay, I'm glad to see you too. The white women agreed to give me a ghost form so that I could see you guys. Now, is Roxane okay?" he asked, determined to weasel as much information out of them as possible.
"She's fine, but cranky. And she wants to wring Farid's neck!" Meggie answered indignantly .
"Just like her." He laughed and said, "I'll take you guys back to camp."
"How long have you been watching us?" Farid asked.
"Hmmm, let me think. I may have seen a kiss and I may not have," he said as Meggie and Farid blushed crimson red.
As they walked Farid asked, "How can we get you back to normal form?"
"You must talk to the white women." he said calmly. Meggie took a sharp intake of breath and grabbed Farid's hand, but quickly pulled away when she saw Dustfinger staring at them.
Wanting to occupy Dustfinger some other way than he and Meggie, Farid asked, "How do we summon the white women?"
"Why, your fire, of course!" They walked the rest of the way in silence and were thankful when they reached the camp.
Okay, thanks for reading! Please review. And it may be a little while before I update because I haven't worked on chapter two in a few days and I'm in school too. Sorry about that! But please review anyway? Thanks.