A/N: This is just something I've had on my computer for a while now, and it takes place after Inkspell. Hope you like it!
Meggie sat on her bed. She was fourteen now. Well, almost. Her birthday was in three days. She tried to remember her last birthday. She had been thirteen. All at once, it came back.
She suddenly remembered everything about that time. It was almost three years ago when their troubles first started.
Inkheart.
That book changed her life. She remembered Capricorn, Mortola, Fenoglio, Basta, Dustfinger, Farid.
Farid! It had been almost two years since she had last seen him. He had stayed behind to bring back Dustfinger. Dustfinger, who had died.
She smiled as she thought of him. He had been there for everything that happened too.
Knock- Knock. "Meggie! Time for bed!" called Mo. Meggie glanced at her watch. It was 11:30. "Good night, Mo!" she called. She turned off the lamp on the table next to her. She fell asleep suddenly into dreams.
In her dreams, she relived everything that had happened in that world, in the Inkworld. Some part of her missed it, and the other liked her life just the way it was. It seemed like the second part always got its way.
When Meggie awoke in the morning, she felt dizzy. The room was spinning, like it did when she would spin around in circles when she was little. And it felt really hot, as if she was sitting up against the fireplace like she did when she was reading. Except this time it felt as if she had fallen in.
She tried to sit up. She had hardly moved, and, yet, she felt a sharp pain forming at the top of her head.
"Mo," she croaked. She knocked on the wall. She had the room next to his. "Mo!" she called again.
This time she heard footsteps. He was getting out of bed now. She heard her door creak open.
"Hi, Meggie," said Mo. "What's wrong?"
"I don't feel good," she moaned.
Mo leaned forward and felt her forehead. His usually smiling face was full of concern.
"I think I might have a fever," she added weakly.
"I think you might," he said. "I'll go get your mother."
He left the room in search or Resa, Meggie's mother. Even still, Meggie felt a little better. Mo had always comforted her, and just the presence of him had made her feel a little less dizzy.
Soon, her father returned with Resa, and they decided that she would not get out of bed all day, and continuing if necessary. They took care of her, and at least one of them was always sitting with her.
But no mater what they did, the fever would not go down. She remained in bed, all the heat in the house was turned off, and there were three fans in her room. If Meggie had been feeling better, she would have laughed at everything that they were doing for her. But all she could do now was offer a weak smile.
Later that night, she fell into a peaceful sleep. When she awoke, she felt much better. She still had a little bit of a fever, and a headache, and was told to remain in bed, but she was doing fine.
At about two o' clock, when both of her parents were sitting in her room, Resa reading aloud, something very strange happened.
It had felt as if the room shivered for a moment. And then… Meggie was gone. She had just disappeared. Just like three years ago, when she had disappeared into the Inkworld. But she had read herself into the book. She wasn't reading this time. She had just… disappeared.
"Where am I?" said Meggie. Her voice wasn't croaky anymore, but her head still ached. It took her a minute to realize where she was.
She was back, back in the Inkworld, a place she hadn't seen for three years.
Everything was beautiful. Sunlight, golden sunlight, shone through the tops of the trees. Flowers grew from every space, every nook and cranny that they could. Green was visible from every direction. Fairies flitted around, their little wings beating faster than a humingbird's.
Funny how everything looked so familiar even after three years.
She stood up, and, feeling a rushing pain swirling through her head, she remembered that she was supposed to be back in her room, with her parents, and Elinor, and Darius. She was supposed to be in her bed because she was still sick. She wasn't supposed to be here. This place belonged to the past, to the world of words and books.
Thinking about this made her wonder why and how she was here. She didn't read herself here and Mo hadn't either.
She took another look around. It was so beautiful here. She only wished she was feeling well enough to enjoy it. She was sure that her fever had disappeared, but her head ached, and she was starving- she hadn't been ale to eat anything while she was sick.
She walked around for a moment before she saw a fairy fly past her. It made her think. Why should she have to sit out just because she was sick? She knew that wasn't really the reason. She wasn't supposed to be here. She should be back in her bed a whole world away. She felt guilty because she wanted to be here when she didn't belong here.
The fairy flew past her again, as if trying to convince Meggie to follow her.
It won't help just sitting here, she thought. I might as well enjoy myself.
She chased the fairy, running through the woods as if it was nothing but grass. She saw a small waterfall that went into a river. She reached her hand in. It felt colder than melted ice, but that didn't bother her. She splashed it around. She ran through the woods again, like a little girl playing a one-person game of tag, running from no one, but sorrow.
Meggie ran through everything like it was a dream that would evaporate as quickly as it had appeared to her. She saw a little bear cub and ran towards it. She knew she shouldn't, but she felt like nothing could hurt her right now. She picked it up and swung around and she saw a bear-like smile appear on its face. They were playing when a deer came up to them. It was young, hardly old at all. It had seen the fun and wanted to play. They were followed by a few other creatures.
Meggie felt like a storybook princess. Maybe Snow White or Sleeping Beauty when they played with all their forest friends.
She was having such a grand time that she did not see the eyes watching her.
Farid watched the girl as she played in the woods. He did not know who she was, but she made him smile. She sat there for a moment thinking. Then a fairy flew by, entrancing her. She chased it like a little girl would chase a butterfly. She splashed the icy water of the river as if they were warm as the day around her. She ran through the woods as gracefully as a deer would. She played with the creatures there as if they were her best friends in the world. She walked slowly through the woods, a little bear cub on her shoulder, a deer following beside her. She hummed a quiet tune to herself, one that sounded vaguely familiar.
He saw Dustfinger crouched in the bushes next to him, watching her as if he was trying to figure out who she was.
Farid inched closer to get a better look through the dense bushes. He stepped on a small twig and he cursed as it broke in half.
The girl and her music had stopped, the spell broken. She looked around, her face alarmed, as if fear had replaced her joy.
Farid and Dustfinger stepped out, along with Orpheus, the writer, who had been with them. The girl gasped.
Farid studied her. She had a beautiful, pale face, but her cheeks were rosy from playing around. She had long, golden hair almost down to her waist. She wore a white skirt and a sky-blue shirt, one that matched the shade of her sparkling blue eyes exactly. A smile lit up her face as she saw who they were.
Farid didn't recognize her until he looked at her eyes. They were blue, like the sky. "Meggie?" he asked, unsure. She smiled again and laughed, nodding. Her laugh sounded lovely to him.
Dustfinger had looked at her trying to figure out who she was. When he realized it was Meggie, his eyes widened. He had thought it was Resa. Well, maybe not exactly Resa, but a dream or something like it. He looked at her. She looked exactly the same as Resa. She was about the same height as Resa, the same eyes, the same everything. She laughed like Resa, and he imagined that Resa would have loved playing with all those animals as her daughter had done.
The only thing different was her hair. Resa had darker hair, maybe from being around all those horrible people for so long. Meggie's hair was the exact color of gold, as he imagined Resa's hair might've once looked like.
Farid threw his arms around her. Dustfinger himself seemed to be surprised to see her, and he was never surprised about anything. Or at least, that's what it seemed like. He wouldn't have been able to imagine Meggie coming here, let alone her being so different. She, however, could recognize him easily. Two years hadn't changed much of him. He was a bit paler and thinner, but other than that, he was the same.
"What am I doing here?" asked Meggie. "I read you into the book," said Orpheus. "Just like you read me into the book." Dustfinger and Farid looked incredulously at him. "I wanted to see if I could get her to come," he said. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to get your hopes up." Meggie nodded as if she understood.
"How long has it been?" asked Orpheus. "Two years," answered Meggie. She wondered why they were asking her all these questions, instead of telling her why she was here. "So you must be…" said Dustfinger, trailing off. "Fourteen today," she told them. "Well, happy birthday," said Dustfinger. "It must be nice, taking a trip somewhere on your birthday," he said smiling. She returned the smile. Then she coughed. She obviously wasn't completely well yet. "Are you alright?" asked Farid. She nodded and smiled again, happy to find that the most beautiful dream she'd ever had was, in fact, no dream at all.