Author's Note: This is for nonprofit and I do NOT claim ownership of characters that are not mine (which are most). I also do NOT claim ownership of near identical characters or situations taken from other places. They are inserted here merely for entertainment purposes and used in a very different way for the benefit of the story. The way it is purely centered around Inkheart characters is the reason why this is not considered a crossover.

I know this chapter is extremely short but think of it as an introduction of sorts, as to how different this story is going to be. This is something I wrote a long time ago and decided to just go ahead and publish it on here finally.

Capricorn's Return

Three months after the events of the movie...

It was late and the bookstore was closing. Mortimer Folchart walked out of the used bookstore with a smile on his face and a book in his hand. He had succeeded in procuring a book that he just knew his daughter Meggie would love. He was also thoroughly certain his wife would enjoy it a great deal as well. The book was C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It was a fantastic story filled with all sorts of adventure and it was nice to read a story together as a family. Resa was the sole reader for them of course. Mo wasn't going to risk bringing characters out of any stories again, which could happen if he or Meggie were the ones to read the books out loud.

He flipped the hard-cover book open as he headed down the sidewalk and began to page through it. Mo had only gone a few steps when he felt the presence of someone standing in front of him only a couple of feet away. He lifted his gaze as he stopped walking and his eyes widened in disbelief, an old fear growing inside. The smile dropped from his face. Directly in front of him stood the villain from the book Inkheart, Capricorn.

The fire-raiser looked exactly as he had when Mo last saw him around three months earlier. But Capricorn was supposed to have been destroyed. Meggie had caused him to crumble and break with the words she had written and then read aloud. The next moment seemed to happen in slow motion. The book dropped from his hands and clattered onto the concrete sidewalk. Mo couldn't manage to form words. A sharp intake of breath escaped his lips, expressing his fear and shock that was causing him to be frozen in place.

"What's this? Silvertongue made speechless?"

Mo turned his head slowly towards the source of the voice. It was the red-headed one of Capricorn's men, Cockerell. Standing next to him was the one who they'd called Flatnose but now his nose was typical size, more befitting of his face.

"Flatnose, you got your nose back." Mo finally managed, regaining his composure and pushing the fear away.

"That's right. Someone managed to read me out right this time." He grinned at the bookbinder.

It was at that moment when Mo heard a very familiar voice. Basta's voice.

"Silvertongue, nice meeting you here."

"Am I supposed to believe this meeting was coincidence?"

"Course not." Capricorn said, speaking for the first time. His eyes bore into Mo and it made the blue-eyed man uncomfortable as it always had. "You know, you're a much easier man to track when you think you have nothing to fear."

"And you of all people should know," Basta spoke up. "There is always something to fear."

"That actually sounds more like you, Basta." Mo remarked and then fixed a serious gaze on Capricorn. "How did you get out? I thought you were killed, Capricorn."

"We're not really sure how ourselves. I too, thought I was destroyed, but then a voice reached me and I was back in your world again. I am grateful to be back though. I have grown ever so fond of this world of yours."

Capricorn came a few steps closer and picked up the book Mo had dropped. He handed it to Mo, who slowly took it.

"Are you going to come with us willingly or are we going to have to make this unpleasant?"

Mo remained silent, the two foes meeting each other's gazes. Finally he did speak. "You know my answer."

"That's unfortunate for your family. We'll just have to use your daughter again. Well, can't say I didn't foresee this."

Cold realization hit Mo. "What did you do?" He asked Capricorn fearfully.

"Your wife and daughter are being taken to my village as we speak. Do as I say and no harm will come to either of them. Oh and do try to remember, Silvertongue, we can always use your daughter to read for us but she will be the one to live with the consequences of what she does. Do you really want to lay that kind of burden on a child?"

"Do you?"

"I will."

Mo had no response to that. His expression reflected the helplessness he was feeling overwhelmed by, and Capricorn and his men were reveling in it with much satisfaction by the looks on their faces. But then Mo frowned and glanced around.

"Do you hear that?" Mo asked to no one in particular.

He raised the book in his hands up just as a knife came plummeting. It was a completely subconscious movement but had he not done so, the dagger would have stabbed him squarely in the chest. Mo's eyes widened as he stared at the knife firmly implanted in the book, and glancing upward he spotted a figure leaping across rooftops, soon disappearing from sight. Mo lowered his gaze to Capricorn and could tell that he was just as surprised as Mo himself was.

"Look, there's a piece of paper on it."

Mo slowly returned his gaze to the knife and tugged it out of the book. The note simply read: I know what you can do. Your death I bring on swift wings.

Mo stared numbly at the words and he couldn't bring himself to do anything else. Capricorn came closer and gently eased the piece of paper out of Mo's hands. Mo did nothing to stop him and he lowered his hands to his sides, letting the book slide from his grasp, to the ground. Flatnose and Cockerell came over to him and grabbed his arms. A van pulled up and three of Capricorn's men jumped out with big guns in their hands. Capricorn smiled, looking up from the note.

"You're quite famous it seems." Capricorn looked to Cockerell and Flatnose. "Get him in the car. Lets go."