Disclaimer: I do not own Inkheart or any of its characters, they belong to Cornelia Funke. I only own Toni.

(A/N: I didn't like the last version of the story too much; everything (other than the main character's name and the prologue), are completely different. :-) Hope ya'll like it.)

Once upon a time there was a young man whose heart was blackened by evil, sadness, and hate. Some say his parents abandoned him as a youth, others say he was raised by wolves, and others suggest he was simply born without a heart. As a child, this young man terrified vendors in local markets, forcing them to pay him if they did not want their wagons and trading booths burned to the ground. He stole from the rich and kept for himself and anyone who called him names would receive a nasty surprise in form a burning rag outside their children's window….This man continued to burn his enemies market stalls and homes until one day he was badly burned he began to fear fire. Without a fire to threaten others with, knives became his weapon of choice and obsession; his hate and evil continued to grow even after one of the most evil men in the Inkworld recruited him. Young Basta grew up never understanding what real love or friendship was….Until one evening.

The teenage Basta never understood what his cohorts meant when they talked of lightning striking them, of their hearts pounding out of their chests, and of meeting a woman so beautiful and fair they couldn't stand to live without them. Until one evening, when he saw a young woman dancing in the moonlight, her hair was as fine as spun silver; eyes bright as gold; and had a voice that even the most beautiful siren would envy. After the two met, Basta would visit her each night always in the same spot, in middle of a magical grove where the two began to fall in love and Basta's hard heart began to soften. Angered by this sudden change, Capricorn sent Cockerell and Flatnose to follow their leader where they found the man dancing with none other than Olivia, the Moon Princess and the only heir to the Moon's magic. Cockerell, Volpe (fox) and Flatnose were determined to catch the princess so Capricorn could use her powers to frighten his foes and make him even more powerful. If he had control of the Moon Princess, then the moon's bright light could never once again shine through the shadow and weaken the mighty beast's powers.

Basta fought to protect Olivia and during the struggle a loud scream pierced the night. The moon's light blazed so brightly some say they thought it was already morning. The ground began to shake. Volpe had stabbed his blade through the Princess's stomach and insisted this had been an accident; as she lay dying she promised Basta she would one day return. As for the others, she created a powerful curse: One day, the men would be bestowed with "gifts" that would forever reflect their true inner ugliness and if they were not willing to turn from their evil ways a fair maiden with a pure heart would carry out the curse to end their wickedness once and for all. According to legend, the Princess whispered to Basta, "My love for you is never ending, I shall return one day, I swear. When I do know this: You will know me by the final tear I cried." Basta begged the Moon Princess to fight, but already she was too weak; unable to say anything else, a tear fell from her eye. The tear formed into the most beautiful black pearl Basta had ever seen. It vanished in a bright light before it hit the ground. The moment the pearl disappeared, Olivia passed away.

Real World, 12 years later…

"Thank you for going with us, Toni!" Meggie twisted around in the van's front seat and beamed at me.

"You're very welcome, sweetie," I smiled and tried to scoot away from Dustfinger a little. Although Mo's van was large, it was filled with books, bindings, new covers, and other assorted book binding equipment. Mo and Meggie had moved into the farm beside my parents' 7 years ago; I had been 18 at the time. Mo became like an uncle to me while he and my father became best friends, both were avid readers and loved books and the stories they had to tell. Meggie was the little sister I had always wanted; like her father, she loved books. Where most girls may have spent time in the clothing departments or jewelry stores, Meggie loved bookstores. When we had first met (Meggie had only been 3 or 4) and I saw how much she loved books I decided to try to get over my hate of reading; at first I thought it would be an impossible task, but after reading Journey to the Center of the Earth I began reading more. I love romance novels and Mo always teased me that a knight in shining armor would one day magically appear to 'take me away from all this.'

I had just graduated from a local community college with my Bachelor's degree and I was taking a few months off before going to America for my Master's. I listened to Meggie ask her father again who Capricorn was. I had to admit, I was starting to wonder too.

"Who is this Capricorn anyway?" I leaned forward, I knew Mo was in trouble from the way he glanced away and paled anytime the man's name was mentioned. "If…you're in trouble with this guy, Mo, I have a friend in law enforcement who can help you."

"No, that's alright. No one's in trouble," he glanced at me, "We're just visiting Meggie's great aunt Elinor, just like I said."

I looked over towards Dustfinger, who was telling Meggie about Capricorn. From what he was saying, Capricorn was a fearsome man who loved to terrify people and had the man power to spread fear around the Italian countryside.

Dustfinger continued, "Capricorn has many men. Most have been with him since they were children, and if Capricorn were to order one of them to cut off your nose or one of your years he'd do it without batting an eyelash. They like to dress in black like crows – only their leader wears a white shirt under his black jacket – and should you," he paused and glanced from Meggie to me, "Or you," his gaze returned to Meggie, "Ever meet any of them, then you both make yourselves small, very small, and hope they don't notice you. Understand?" He glanced at us both.

I nodded, Meggie nodded she had gone pale and looked terrified beyond words. I leaned forward and took her hand.

"It's going to be alright, Meggie. This Capricorn fellow is far away from us. Maybe if we're lucky his own cruelty will trigger karma and that will do him in?"

"Karma?" Dustfinger glanced at me, while Mo glared at him obviously angry at the man for terrifying his daughter.

"The things you do come back to you in three's. If you do something bad, then that negative energy comes back and you'll have three bad events. If you do something good, then three good things will happen." I shrugged, "My grandmom is a hippie back in America."

"Hippie?" Dustfinger asked, looking more confused than he had before.

"Never mind, Dustfinger," Mo sighed, "Toni, please stop confusing him."

The trip to Elinor's had been long and dull but the excitement on Meggie's face when Dustfinger promised to juggle fire for her tonight was priceless. Elinor, I soon learned, did hate children and she distrusted strangers, meaning me and Dustfinger. I had no idea how she greeted Mo and Meggie, I had been grabbing my luggage, but I did know she greeted Dustfinger the way Ebenezer Scrooge greeted anyone who shouted 'Merry Christmas!'

"One stranger in my house is quite enough, Mortimer! But two?" The older woman crossed her arms and stared at Mo so harshly I thought she would burn a hole through him. She glanced past Dustfinger and towards me, "She had better not be a thief or another fire dancer!"

"She's not. Toni, this is Elinor Loredon, Meggie's great aunt. She's a book collector and she can tell you anything you want to know about almost every book that's been published. Elinor, this is Antonia FairHeart. Her parents live next door to Meggie and I. Toni's a psychologist major, she is not a thief, and she's an amazing guitar player." Mo glanced at Elinor, "She's also a big sister to my daughter."

"Fine," Elinor sighed, "Your room is beside Meggie's. But if anything goes missing I'll have you and you match stick eating friend here arrested!" She turned and walked down the hallway, I raised an eyebrow; wow, and I thought my grandfather was possessive and paranoid.

Mo sighed, "She wasn't thrilled to see me or Meggie either, Toni. I was hoping she'd be a…little nicer than this towards us."

I shrugged, "That's alright I'll just make sure to stay out of her way." I glanced at Dustfinger, "You might wanna do the same. Something tells me if it came between saving her books in a fire or us, she'd choose the books and lock us in a room together." I grunted as I picked up my gym bag and headed towards my room. I opened each door finding either a bedroom, a bathroom, a library, or another bedroom. I was about to give up when I found Meggie's bags against the wall in one room. I walked past Meggie's room and opened the door to an empty bedroom, Meggie was sitting in middle of the bed.

"Meggie, are you alright?" I asked startled as I walked in and dropped my bag at the foot of the bed. I pulled the elastic band off my wrist and pulled my shoulder length red hair into a pony tail.

Meggie looked up at me, "I just want to stay away from Elinor, that's all. She doesn't like me very much and I want to go home. Mo won't tell me what's really going on and Dustfinger won't say anything either! I heard them last night talking about Capricorn in the basement but Mo sent me back to bed." She frowned, "Did Mo tell you what's going on?"

I sat on the bed behind Meggie and pulled her into a hug, "No, he didn't kiddo. All he told me this morning was he was taking you to meet your great aunt and he asked me if I could come with you both. He told me your great aunt is…not quite a people person and you'd need someone to talk too when he was busy working."

Meggie wrapped her arms around mine, "Gwin has horns. When you were reading in the van, I got to pet him while he was eating. I felt horns and Martens don't have horns…do they?"

"I've never heard of a horned marten, but not all animals are the same you know," I smiled. "We're all different and we all have things that are unique to us."

Meggie glanced up at my hearing aids, when we first met she thought someone had stuck two battery backs into my ears. When I was little I had no problem with my hearing, it wasn't until I got sick when I was five that I almost lost that sense. The hearing aid amplified the sounds around me and I could hear almost everything but there were a lot of things I didn't notice. "I heard Elinor saying you can go into her library as long as you don't touch anything other than the Wizard of Oz book that belonged to your mom. Why don't we go check that out?" I slid off the bed and stood up, Meggie nodded after a moment.

"Toni," Meggie paused at the door, "Mo wouldn't hide anything from me if he didn't have too, would he?"

"No, Meggie, he wouldn't. I think he's trying to protect you by not telling you what he's thinking. Parents want to do everything they can to protect their children and they do what they think is best."

"But it's not always the best thing, like not telling me what's going on when I need to know. Mo's acting different; I know there's something wrong and…." She stopped when I opened the door.

"You wish there was a way to find out what it is and make it better," I finished for her. She nodded and I shut the door for a moment. "Meggie, do you remember on your tenth birthday how I had to go?"

She nodded, "You were really sad but you wouldn't tell me why."

"I didn't want to ruin your birthday. My father had a heart attack and we weren't sure if he was going to survive. When he got the hospital he had died for a minute and the doctors were able to bring him back. They have him a bypass surgery…he's not the same person he used to be. He can only speak in short sentences and his left arm doesn't work. But other than that, he's okay. If I had told you, you would you have been so busy worrying that you wouldn't have enjoyed your birthday."

"Yeah….But….What about you? Have your parents ever not told you something?"

I nodded, "More times than I can count," I opened the door again and walked towards the library with her. "The time I remember the best was when I was nine years old. I had just gotten home from school and there was a man walking through our house taking pictures and writing things down. My mom and dad told me he was a family friend who hadn't seen us in a while and he had a fascination with photography. Something didn't seem right and I kept asking but they repeated the same story. It wasn't until I graduated high school that they told me the man worked for an appraisal company...My parents had to sell off over half our farm so we could survive."

"I'm sorry," Meggie shoved her hands into her pockets as we entered the library.

"I'm not, if they hadn't have sold it you and Mo would have never moved in. That land stood empty for so long. The house your living in was actually a guest house my father and his brothers built long before I was born."

Meggie sat down on the window seat, "Do you think Mo will tell me one day what's going on?"

"Maybe when you're older," I shrugged, "I really don't know. What I do know is this: Your father loves you more than anything else in this entire world. No matter how angry or frustrated you get with him, never forget that."

Spending the day under Elinor's scrutiny hadn't been easy; almost every time Meggie, Dustfinger, or I turned around she was there glaring at us. When I had attempted to read one of her books she had grabbed it away from me and snapped at me to keep my grubby hands off a priceless masterpiece. Now, hours later, I was sitting in my bedroom reading a paranormal romance novel while Dustfinger fire juggled outside for Meggie. He had invited me too but I was determined to have at least an hour to myself with my book without Elinor Loredon sticking her nose into my business. I made myself a promise that if the woman were to ever visit my parents' farmhouse I would make her feel extremely uncomfortable.

The outside music suddenly got louder and I realized it was because the front door had opened. I dog eared the page of my book (something Mo and Meggie hated) and climbed off the bed. I was still in my denim jeans, my lilac purple Smurfs 'So many boys, so little time' t-shirt, and white socks. I would change into my pajamas after Elinor locked up and turned on her burglar alarm. I opened my bedroom door and walked out, either Meggie wanted to tell Mo or I about the fire juggling or she wanted a drink. I could see a strange shadow moving through the hallway.

"Meggie? Everything okay?" My stomach twisted, something was wrong. It was at times like these I wished I could hear better, I turned up my hearing aid's volume. The shadow stopped and I realized the shadow was four separate shadows. Oh shit. It wasn't until one of the dark figures opened the door of the library that the light cast out revealing the shadows to be three tall (one short), strong, and armed men. They all wore black suits and shirts except for the short man in front who wore a snow white shirt under his black jacket and a blood red rose tucked into the buttonhole. My mouth went dry and my heart jumped into my throat. Capricorn's men. What the hell are they doing here?

The short man, the leader of the black jackets, turned towards me and held up a shot gun. My heart raced and I almost thought about jumping to the floor.

"Step into the light," he rasped, "Slowly or I'll shoot."

I swallowed and put my hands into the air, I took a tiny and slow step forward and another. I walked into the edge of the library's light. I could see Mo standing up, looking startled and terrified. The man lowered his shotgun slightly and his eyebrow raised as his dark eyes traveled up and down my form.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" He growled softly, "We were told an old hen, Silvertongue, and a kid were here. We weren't told about you."

"C'mon, Basta," the giant with the flat nose exclaimed, "We're here for the Silvertongue, not for a woman!"

"Shut up," Basta growled over his shoulder. His gaze returned to me, "We're taking her too. She's pretty and would brighten up the village…" he started as Mo came up.

"Toni run!"

Mo didn't have to tell me twice, I turned and ran towards the kitchen, intent on getting to the back door. Although I was running fast I felt as if gravity were against me, each step seemed to take forever. Each second turned into a minute. I felt as if I had weight in my shoes. Is this what terror did to a person? I had almost reached the kitchen door when a long and muscular arm suddenly wrapped around my waist and knocked the wind out of me. I was turned to face towards the flat nosed giant before I was thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

I coughed and wheezed while multicolored stars burst in front of my vision. It wasn't until the giant entered the library that my senses returned. Before I could hit or kick him he set me down onto the ground between himself and a shorter man with an eye patch.

"…As I was saying, Silvertongue, our visit is necessary. There are two very, very valuable things in this room, you and the book. Capricorn has been searching for you for a long time. We've torn up most of this stinking country looking for you. We almost had taken one of those metal birds overseas….Which would have been unlucky."

My heart pounded as I looked towards Mo. He was standing up but frozen in place, his fingers were clutching the back of his chair so tightly that his knuckles were a bright and pale white. He glanced at me then back at the black jackets.

"I told you, I don't have the book! I have nothing here that you'd want. Just leave us alone."

"Don't have what we want? Silvertongue," Basta grabbed a knife from his belt and flipped it open. "We have exactly what Capricorn wants. You and the book and I even got something that I want," he glanced at me.

"I told you, I don't have the book! It's not here!" Mo insisted.

"Of course it's here!" Basta growled, "Should we get your little daughter from the garden to show us just where? Or would you rather find it for us yourself."

"My daughter! What do you know about my daughter?"

"Oh, we know all we need to know," Basta looked at the shelves and ran his fingers across the books. "So where's the book?"

I tried to sneak out but Flatnose's grip on my shoulder tightened and the other man took hold of my other shoulder. He gave me a glance that seemed to shout 'don't move!' I hoped Meggie was alright.

Mo sighed and put his head down then ran his fingers through his hair; he looked so stressed and tired. "I'll give it to you! But I'm going with you, because I want that book back as soon as Capricorn has finished with it." He looked back up, "Toni is to remain here."

"All the better. We were told to bring you anyway," a man replied as he limped forward towards Mo, "You have no idea how Capricorn longs to hear your voice. He's got great faith in your abilities, Capricorn has." He glanced at me, "As for the girl…I'd rather leave her here too, but we both know how Basta gets around pretty women."

I stared at the limping man with the goatee and wondered if he realized his habit of repeating himself. My gaze traveled over to Basta and I quickly glanced away when I noticed he was staring at me again. He reminded me so much of a younger version of Costas Mandylor, only more rugged and with an aura of hate and menace surrounding him.

Basta suddenly spoke again, "That's right – the replacement Capricorn found for you makes a terrible hash of it. Look at Cockerell there," he nodded towards the limping man. "He's limping, and Flatnose's face has seen better days. Not that he was ever much of a beauty." He smirked and seemed to enjoy the look of anger in the giant's eyes. Personally, I wished he had kept his trap shut, Flatnose's fingers curled so hard into my shoulder that I hunched over in pain and tears gathered in my eyes.

"Please let go," I winced.

The giant snarled at me and loosened his grip before turning back to Basta, "Don't just stand there talking, Basta, we haven't got forever. How about it – do we take the kid as well?"

Mo looked as if he was about to lunge forward and strangle the giant, "No! My daughter stays here or I won't give you the book!"

The one with the eye patch finally laughed, "Oh yes, Silvertongue, you'd give it to us all right, but don't worry. We weren't told to bring her. A child would just slow us down, and Capricorn's been waiting for you long enough already. So where's that book?"

Mo looked at the men and then glanced at me; he seemed to be apologizing. It's not me you need to apologize too. You owe Meggie an explanation. I thought and hoped that the look I was giving him communicated that. He looked away from me and went to the middle of the bookshelf. He pressed one of the olive branch decorations carved into the shelf and a panel popped open. He took hold of the book and handed it to Basta who handed it to Cockerell.

"Not a bad hiding place!" Basta smirked, "Wrap it up, Cockerell, and take good care of it. After you, Silvertongue, let's go." He motioned for Mo to walk out before him.

"Let Toni stay here," Mo exclaimed commandingly, Basta flashed him a silly grin.

"Capricorn is getting what he is wanting, as I said before, and I'm about to get what I want." Basta walked over to me as the other men filed out of the library. I looked around and grabbed a book, I didn't care how 'prized' it was to Elinor. I swung it at him.

Basta laughed, "Well, we have a fiery little wild cat here, don't we?" He knocked the book out of my hand and before I could raise my fist to hit him, he grabbed my wrist forcibly twisted me around so my back was to the front of his body and wrapped his free arm around my waist. "Listen here wild cat," he hissed in my ear, "This is a day to celebrate, we found the wizard and the book and I've been the one to do most of the searching. I want a reward for that and I am sure Capricorn will agree with me….I'm considering you my reward. Now either you cooperate and walk with me or I'll carry you out. What's it going to be?"

I glared at him and pried my arm out of his wrist, "I'll walk."

"Good choice," he snarled and pushed me forward. I stumbled out of the library and as we passed Elinor's bedroom I could have sworn I heard Meggie crying. My heart almost broke at the sound, but I didn't want to put her in danger. Stay safe, Meggie. When we walked out of the front door, Basta's arm wrapped around my waist; I tried to pull away and then drag my feet but Basta simply tightened his grip. Basta walked quickly down the driveway to a long black car; the man with the eye patch climbed into the back seat first followed by Mo then Cockerell. Basta opened the front passenger side door and Flatnose began to climb in.

"You sit in the back with Silvertongue!"

"It's too cramped back there, Basta!"

"I don't care! I'm not having a chance of letting this little wild cat out my sight! One of those imbeciles would allow her to run, I won't."

Flatnose had a long glaring contest with Basta until they heard Meggie's screams for Mo coming closer. Finally the giant climbed into the back seat and Basta shoved me into the front passenger seat and slammed the door shut. As the car backed out of the driveway and onto the road, I saw Meggie fall and skin her knees. I jumped up and grabbed the handle, I assumed Mo tried to do the same since the three men guarding him snapped at him to stay still and forced him back into his seat. My door locked and Basta's arm pinned me back into the seat.

"You'll see her soon enough," Basta whispered so quietly I wondered if I had been hearing things.