Disclaimer: I do not own Inkheart or any of it's characters, Cornelia Funke does. I own Joy, Elisabeth, and Tom. I do not own the song, it's called Imaginary by Evanascence.

I linger in the doorway

Of alarm clock screaming
Monsters calling my name...

Joy could hear the activity of the village in the real world, but she was still half way in the dream world...She wanted to stay there for as long as she could.

"Joy, honey, the dishes won't do themselves," chided her mother as she pointed to the sink filled with the dinner dishes that were piled there.

"I'll do them right now mom," Joy smiled as she went to the sink and started doing her, her mother's, and Stephen's dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher. This had been a very good dream...In her dream she had been living with her family safe and sound and life went on as usual. Her mother had done the dishes on the first 'day', Stephen did them on the second 'day', now the third 'day,' was Joy's turn.

"Hey sis," Stephen exclaimed, "when we move to Italy..."

Joy paused and realized in her dreams they were still in America...Far away from Basta, part of her heart ached life without Basta...Then again, the other part of her heart leaped for joy and sang with happiness. Her emotions were so mixed up, in the Real World and the Dream World both.

"Well?" Stephen asked.

"Wh..What were you saying, Stephen?" Joy asked as the sounds of real life started to invade her dream more. She heard the light clinks and grunts of Basta threading his belt through the loops of his suit's pants.

"I said, when we move to Italy are ya gonna do what dad suggested you do before he died? Date and look to marry."

"Stephen, I'm only twenty," Joy replied, in her dreams she was twenty again, not twenty three. Three years she had been married to Basta...Three years being stuck in that wretched village...

Joy looked up to see her mother's lips moving but no sound coming out, what the?

"Mom, what are you saying?" Joy asked.

Let me stay
Where the wind will whisper to me
Where the raindrops, as they're falling, tell a story...

"I said get up, Joy you need plenty of food in you so you'll give me a strong healthy son!" Basta's voice rasped from behind her mother.

"MOM! LOOK OUT!" JOy cried out her heart leapt in terror; she needed to wake up fully now! But she was still in the process of waking up. She watched as Stephen went from calm to terrified, the small kitchen around them jerked and turned into the cabin. She found herself moving downwards as a second story formed itself, the cabin's second story, she saw the closet door with Stephen inside face filled with terror, a baseball bat in one hand, in the other a cell phone. As she went down more, which was like going down an escalator but instead of facing forwards she was facing backwards.

"NO I WANT TO STAY!" Joy shouted, "please! Just this once, put me in acoma or something just let me stay!" Nothing answered back. "I want my dream back to how it was before, not now please! Please! PLEASE!"

"STEPHEN!" Joy cried out putting a hand towards him, the closet door slammed shut right before she lost sight of the second story.

"Joy!" Her mother's voice exclaimed, it was filled with concern, "check on your brother go!"

"Not this time," rasped Basta's voice as he grabbed her from behind.

"No, Joy!" Her mother cried out reaching a hand out to her before the woman grew transparent, then whisped away like a puff of smoke vanishing into thin air...

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!"

Basta lurched backwards, "damn it, Joy! When are these nightmares of yours going to end?" he growled.

Joy sat up in bed, her heart pounding hard against her chest, terror shook her from her toes up to her shoulders; she was filled with cold sweat, she wrapped her arms around herself panting in terror.

"I don't know, but I hope so soon..." Joy whispered, fighting back tears. Her nightmares weren't frequent anymore, not like they used to be. Now her nightmares were once every few months...But being pregnant had brought them back to being almost every single night now. They started like they usually did: Good, happy, nothing was wrong, everything was normal. Then right when the sounds of Capricorn's village and her husband started finding their ways into her dreams the nightmares began.

In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby (flowers)

I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me (flowers)...

Joy shook as she took a quick shower, dried, brushed her hair that was usually like straw, but Mortola had given her a small bottle of conditioner to use so she'd look her best. Joy put into a good and tight bun; today wasn't a usual day, today she and Basta were going with Capricorn to meet a 'business associate' of his. She grabbed the evening gown that had been selected for her, they were going to some fancy resteraunt for this meeting. Joy was actually excited for once, she didn't have to wear the same dark and gloomy ratty old dress, or bow her head and be a servant to her husband. Today she could be somewhat herself, she put on her undies,skin colored tights, another pair of undies over those incase the tights rolled down...Nothing more embarassing then going to stand up and to have your tights roll off on you. She slipped the black dress on her over herself, it stopped at her ankles where it hung daintily. Then she slipped on the black high heeled shoes and put on the small golden necklace with a diamond pendant hanging from it that Mortola was letting her way for just one day.

Joy opened the box that was on the bathroom counter to find a pair of black elbow lengthed silk gloves with lace patterns where the opening of the glove was. She took off her wedding ring and put the glove on, then put the ring over the glove and back onto her ring finger. She put on the other glove, then took the dark purple silk wrap and draped it around the curves of her elbows. She put on the make up that Mortola had supplied her with, followed by a small pearl band that went around her bun. She looked up in the mirror and paused she thought she looked ok, the dress clung to her every curve, including the growing swell of her baby bump. She found herself wishing she could go back to bed and back to the dream world where she could be with Stephen and her mother, then shook her head, today was...Going to be a good day. She would make it be a good day.

Don't say I'm out of touch...

She hoped Basta would like it...She stepped out and heard a gasp.

Joy looked over at her husband, he stood there, mouth wide open, "Joy..."

"Do..I like alright?" Joy asked in concern, she knew she wasn't out of touch with the real world, that many women dressed like this when going on fancy dates. But reality in this village wasn't like that, here the only things fancy were Capricorn and Mortola's rooms, and the Church which was more...Scary then fancy. Reality here was chaos, Capricorn trying to control the villages around the southern end of Italy; forcing people to pay him or die and have their house burned to the ground; and most of all this search for this man or thing, SilverTounge, that Capricorn was desperatley seeking for. Life here was chaos.

With this rampant chaos - your reality...

Basta stared at her, "Damn your beautiful...I knew you were beautiful when I first took you and each time I see you...But...Shit...Even...Roxanne couldn't look this beautiful...Ever..." He sat down on the edge of his bed, actually looking weak for the first time in his life. Joy found herself shocked by his reaction and wondering who in the blue blazes was Roxanne?

"Oi, Basta, yer gonna be late you and Joy...Oh Mother of White Ladies..." Gasped Cockerell's voice as Joy turned to look at him. Cockerell's eyes were huge and fixed on her, "shit...You...Damn..You're...Shit...you're...Gorgeous..."

"Oi, she's pretty but she looks like Queen Asteroida," sneered Flatnose, he was glad when the rebels went up against King StarBlaze and Queen Asteroida and killed them, then took the Inkworld as theirs. Noone knew what happened to their daughter, Princess FireStar, for a moment Flatnose wondered if he was staring at her.

"She's MINE," Growled Basta, "let's go Joy!" He snapped getting out of his daze, "keep up with me." He exclaimed as he stalked off quickly, Joy was pratically running to keep him in her sight.

I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge...

The 'joys' of reality were back, though Joy sadly as she slipped into the limosuine next to her husband. Capricorn sat on the seat of the otherside of limosuine while Cockerell climbed into the driver's seat, Flatnose had to pratically crawl into the car since he was so tall and huge.

"Ah, Joy," exclaimed Capricorn softly as he looked her up and down, "you look lovely today. Perhaps it was a mistake marrying you to Basta?" He questioned. Basta looked as if Capricorn had just slapped him, Joy lightly squeeezed his hand.

"It wasn't-" Joy started.

"Someone this beautiful I should have at my side," he commented calmly, his colorless eyes met her dark brown ones, "of course...The lifestyle in the village doesn't allow you to always look like this...But if I change my mind on you still being Mrs. Basta that will change and you will look like this every day at my side."

"But..But.." Stammered Basta. Joy looked over at him, he was pale, he looked lost, afraid, sad, and like he was being punished for some terrible crime he didn't commit.

"I have not made any decisions yet, Basta," commented Capricorn softly, "I shall observe Joy on our outing and make my decision based off that. If I do decide to have her as mine I must take her personality and brains as well as her beauty. I do not know if I feel like doing that."

The nightmare I built my own world to escape...

Joy had worked hard to make herself look beautiful for Basta not Capricorn! It was nearly two hours now and they were still on the road. Basta was leaning into her and clutching her arm tightly as he slept. What Capricorn had told her had made her feel more violated then Basta had made her feel on her forced wedding night. She fought against falling asleep, afraid what her dream world held for her...She blinked as she tried to keep awake...the sways of the limosuine as Cockerell made turns here and there didn't help either...she couldn't...Keep her eyes...Open...She tried, she struggled, she looked down at Basta who was snoring...

"Joy? Honey you can't just stand there staring into oblivion," chided her mother, "you're going to be late for class!"

Class? Joy blinked and found herself back in America, in her old room. The bedroom was medium sized, it had a small desk in the corner of the room where her tote bag that held her books, notebooks, pens, pencils, and her laptop and a flash drive sat. Behind her was her iron bed that looked like something out of the old stories of Camelot and King Arthur. Her wicker armoire was filled with her undies, socks, jeans, shorts, skirts, and pajamas in the drawers. Behind the doors hung her shirts and blouses.

Class? Then it hit her, before they had moved to Italy she was squeezing in enough classes the first year to get close to her AA degree.

"Thanks mom I love you!" She smiled, rushing out of her room she paused to find her mother sitting with a young woman. She realized she was helping the woman connect with a lost loved one, the ability to talk to spirits had been passed down from generation to generaton, only Joy was certain it had skipped her. Not once in her life had she ever seen a ghost, or spirits as her mother insisted she called them; she hadn't seen one or communicated with one, heard one, or even felt one. She was deaf to the world of the dead.

She snuck out to her car and smiled, she had to sell it before they moved to Italy. They didn't have enough money to ship it over with them, she had sold Old Blue (her car), and bought a small motorcycle and taught herself to ride it.

"Hey Old Blue!" Joy beamed as she climbed into the small blue car, "I missed you." Telling a car you missed it was insane, but well...Who would believe her if she said she saw Darius read people out of a book? She started the car and drove towards the Community College, she turned on the radio and sang to the song on it. Everything was going great, as usual, until she was about to pull into the college, the college faded away replaced by the cottage.

"No...Please No...Not now, please no...Just one time let the dream stay good...Please," Joy whispered, squeezing Old Blue's steering wheel hard, she wasn't going to lose her car to this dream! No way. Before she could beg the dream to change again the ground literally gave in around Old Blue sending the car and her within it falling into the deep depths of the Earth.

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming...

Joy shrieked and screamed as Old Blue fell and fell and fell without stop, she was beginning to think she and the car were falling into the world of the insane. Then the car landed with a thud and a bounce, her heart pounded...What..The...Hell?

Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights...

She leaned forward over the steering wheel and stared at the scene in front of her, around her was a limestone cave. But looking through the windshield she saw a large opening in the cave, the size of a movie theatre screen, and on it she saw herself but she was happy.

"That's it, come on now sweetie, just a few more steps," she was smiling.

Joy's heart clenched in fear who the hell was she talking too? Did Basta break his legs and she was having to retrain him to walk? Fear clenched her heart, sometimes her dreams did come true...

Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming...

Joy gasped, not in fear, but in happiness and shock. The scene fully unblurred, she saw herself squatting down with Basta behind her looking thrilled. A baby boy, maybe around a year old, was taking small steps toward her.

"Laaa..." His mouth open in a wide smile as he took another shaky step, he shook a little and looked like he was going to fall before he wobbled and took another step. He looked at Joy, his dark brown eyes filled with love and happiness, "Laa!"

"That's it!" Joy beamed as he walked into her arms, she swirled the baby boy around and hugged him close.

"He walked to us!" Basta gasped, "my son walked!"

"Oh Basta," Joy beamed with happiness as she kissed the baby's cheek.

"Mama..." Beamed the baby boy.

Joy put a hand over her mouth as she watched the happy scene, tears fell from her eyes, if the dream was right that was her son. Her baby boy. HER BABY. Not everything was bad and sad, she had a happy miracle coming, her baby! "Thank you," she whispered.

"You needed to see that," another voice said from beside her.

Joy jumped and turned to see a short blonde haired woman with green eyes sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

"Who...Are you?" Joy asked in confusion.

"My names Elisabeth," she replied, "and yes, it's spelled with an S, I think my mother was drunk when she named me. I'm a spirit, I've been trying to get through too you since you first arrived in the village, your first bunch of nightmares you had back then were your own, these nightmares you've been having are from me."

"From...You? Why?" Joy asked in confusion. Did this woman have any idea what she had put Joy through? The sadness, the terror, the wish she would never sleep again.

"I'm sorry," Elisabeth replied, "yes, I read your thoughts spirits can do that. The only way I could finally get through to you was to give you the nightmares, you saw me a few times.."

Joy paused and remembered, "you're the woman whose been here and there and vanishing I thought I was losing my mind!"

"No, you're not," Elisabeth replied softly, "your gift was just starting to awaken. Your gift allows you only to talk to spirits in your sleep, not in the awake world." She paused, "I put you through all those nightmares for two reasons, one because your dreams always have your mother and brother in it and you're doing the same old things you used too. You have to realize that things won't ever be the same again, you've changed Joy...More than you know. Not in a bad change, in a good one, you're a very strong woman. The second reason I gave you those nightmares was to let you know how I felt."

"What? I don't understand, I never did anything to you-"

Elisabeth looked at Joy which caused Joy to quickly stop.

You didn't, Basta did. I've seen how he treats you, horribly. I was so angry at him I thought he couldn't put anyone through more pain than he put me through. Then I saw you, and I saw how he treated you...I knew then how very wrong I was." Elisapeth looked over at Joy again, "you still don't know who I am do you?"

"No, I don't..." Joy replied.

"I was the owner of the wedding ring you're wearing," Elisabeth replied.

"Oh my God!" Joy exclaimed, "oh God! Elisabeth I'm so sorry I-"

Elisabeth held up her hand, "you've no reason to apologize," she exclaimed, "it was Basta who gave you and forced you to wear the ring. My anger is at him, not at you, you're a victim, as was I. You're almost to where your destination is, I have enough time to show you what happened to myself and my husband, look through the cave entrance there." She pointed.

The goddess of imaginary light...

The entrance to the cave glew brightly then was replaced by Elisabeth, she was wearing the same attire she was wearing now, only it looked to be in better shape. She was wearing a powder pink low cut tank top, a pair of Daisy Dukes, and hiking sandals, the wedding ring caught the flame's light and sparkled.

"Tom, I'm scared," Elisabeth exclaimed her voice hoarse as she sat on the tomb beside her husband in the crypt Basta had thrown them into.

"I am too, Elly," replied her husband, Tom, as he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her close. Tom looked to be nearly six feet tall, he had black wavy hair, olive colored skin, and dark brown eyes. He wore a light blue work shirt, jeans, and hiking boots. Elisabeth had golden blonde hair, light green eyes, and a cherubic face, there was a small red scar under her right eye.

"I don't understand, why are we here?" Elisabeth asked.

"Because of my stupidity," replied Tom with a sigh, "Damn, Ellie, I'm so sorry. I...Came to this village a few months ago...I didn't have enough money to pay for the wedding you deserved."

"Tom, I- WE - didn't need anything grand, just having a judge marry us I would have been perfectly happy!"

In my field of paper flowers...

"NO!" Replied Tom loudly, "that wouldn't be good enough. Elisabeth, you're beautiful, you're kind, you're loving...I...was scraping pennies together to keep my father in that nursing home, he was dying...and your parents are both..Gone...I mean...Even together we couldn't have scrounged up the money. I heard from a friend about this village and how the owner was rich, I...Came...Here...and...After being roughed up a little and thrown down here for a day or two, the old man, I believe his name is Capricorn, spoke with me. He agreed that he would pay for the wedding, but in turn I had to pay him 5 thousand dollars back in six months..."

"Five THOUSAND dollars in SIX MONTHS, Tom?" Elisabeth gasped, "there's no way! We aren't rich, I'm a secretary for a low-paid attourney and I barely make two hundred a week, and...You...You.."

"I know," Tom sighed, "I'm a clerk for the courts and I just make enough to help keep the roof over our heads. But I'm in love...I thought...That...I thought that if I didn't get the payment into him time that he'd take me...Not you too. Damn it, Elly, I'm so sorry." They had both been hiking when Basta and a tall giant with a flat face had found them.

"The love birds making nice nice?" Smiled Basta cruelly as he walked into the crypt, unlocked the caged and grabbed Elisabeth.

And candy clouds of lullaby (flowers)...

"No! Please! Leave her alone she didn't know-"

"Orders have been given," smiled Basta, as he kissed his knife. "But I think Im going to have fun before I finish her off."

"NO!" Tom shouted, trying to lunge out for Elisabeth before the cage door slammed shut and Basta quickly locked it. Elisabeth screamed, struggled and cried as Basta dragged her into a corner. Joy closed her eyes, she knew exactly what Basta was doing to that poor woman...The same thing he had done to her on her forced wedding night. Disgust make her stomach churn. Only she didn't die after he was done, she looked up just in time to see Basta's hands throttling Elisabeth's throat, then when she was passed out he slit her throat and killed her. He went over to the cage and opened the door.

"Elly...Elly...no...No...Not my Elly," sobbed Tom, his eyes glazed with tears, he was lost without her. Joy could tell he didn't care anymore. Basta smiled cruelly to him before jerking his blade-

The image ended.

"You didn't need to see that too," Elisabeth exclaimed, tears rolling down her cheeks, "I realized that when I was about to give you another nightmare this time it was me who was doing wrong. You live in fear for your family each day afraid Capricorn will hurt them. I realized it was I who was being the monster, and Basta...You're still afraid of him, but you've learned to love him...I...I realized," she sobbed, "it was I causing you the fear. Me giving you all those terrible and horrible nightmares! I should have found another way to communicate with you, I wanted to make it up by showing you a quick glimpse of your son!"

"Oh Elisabeth, I'm so sorry what happened to you and Tom...I..." Joy too was crying, "Basta'a a monster, part of me hates him, but the other part..."

"You can't help but to love him, Joy," whispered Elisabeth as she wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand, she sniffled, "what choice do you have? You're miserable in that village that you shouldn't be in and he's...In his own way...Your calmness...You're relief and a bit of happiness too..Right?"

Joy nodded.

Elisabeth took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, "but I came to tell you that you need to realize that you've changed a lot and that there's gonna be a lot of scary times ahead. But you're strong and you need to remember that and you need to believe in yourself and follow your heart as well as your mind. I also came to tell you that you're mother and brother are fine. You're brother has been promising that when he gets old enough he's going to find a way to get you back."

"Elisabeth thank you..."

I lie inside myself for hours...

Elisabeth paused, "but I also know you lie inside yourself for hours."

"Wha-What?" Joy stammered.

"You lie inside yourself for hours each day, I've seen it," Elisabeth whispered, "when you're doing laundry, or dishes, or helping Rosalita, the cook, and so much more...You just...Dissapear into yourself. You need to stop doing that...I dissapeared inside my own self after I died for so long. I just thought over and over and over again of my death, your mother helped me through a lot of it, but I couldn't go...I was about to go...Where my husband was when my ring came off my finger and I saw it placed on yours...I knew I had to find a way to communicate with you, at first I was angry at you, then I realized it wasn't your fault, then I saw Basta...On you're wedding night...Rape you...I...I knew how that felt. But I still didn't get a grip and I gave you all those nightmares these last few months. Will you forgive me, please?"

"Of course I forgive you! Elisabeth, nothing I'm going through right now is as bad as you went through...I mean you were k-"

"It didn't hurt."

"What?"

And watch my purple sky fly over me (flowers)...

"Dying," Elisabeth replied, "it didn't hurt. The truth is I was already passing out from fear and hurt and...from being so violated by Basta. He choked me and I heard him grunt, 'don't like killing women like this. But I dont got a choice on this one...Doing you a favor and knocking you out before I kill you.' The words he said terrified me, but I only half way really paid attention to them. After I passed out I found myself in this odd, but really comforting place, it was like it had a purple sky...I was lying in such beautiful flowers...Then it faded away into darkness and nothingness and I felt something cold and slick against my throat..." she paused, putting a hand up to her throat, "I heard a little bit of Tom's voice...Then...Nothing...It was over, just like that. I found myself watching Tom's death which made me more angrier than my own death did."

"Murder," replied Joy.

"Thank you, Joy," Elisabeth smiled, "I can join my husband now, don't worry, I think Capricorn was drunk there..." Joy watched with wide eyes as the spirit slowly vanished, Elisabeth smiled to her again, waved and stared at something, "TOM! OH TOM!" She beamed before fully vanishing...

Don't say I'm out of touch
With this rampant chaos - your reality...

Joy opened her eyes, not at all terrified. Capricorn immediatley stated she drooled when she sleeped therfore he cared nothing to take her away from Basta, which thrilled her husband to no end. The business associate was actually the president of a large chain of banks who was terrified of Capricorn and doing whatever Capricorn demanded of him. The dinner went well, Joy found herself smiling and being herself, fully herself, for a little while...How good it felt. The nightmares were over now, she knew, finally over.

I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge
The nightmare I built my own world to escape...

As Joy stepped back into her and Basta's house later that night again she realized that she was just going to have to tough it out. She was strong, and she was doing good, it was time to take control of her dreams. Maybe she didn't have control over what went on around her, but she could control her dreams; she also pledged off hiding inside herself. People who stumbled into the village were going to need a kind face to look for through the terror, and someone to stand up for them. She knew that was her job and she was going to do it, and she was going to do it well...