Jac rode up on his bike in time to see three police cars stationed outside the Larson's house. Bridgette's dad, Riley, held her crying mother, Darcy in his arms.

"Riley!" Jac called, jumping off and dropping his bike on the ground. "Riley, what's happened?"

"Bridgette's gone," he said dolefully, which started Darcy on fresh round of tears, and she threw her arms around Jac, her silky blonde hair falling around him.

Untangling himself from Darcy, Jac stood stunned. "Br-Breezy's gone?"

An officer walked up. "Mr. and Mrs. Larson," she started. "I'm officer Mantez. There's no trace of your daughter. The only thing is a note she left lying on her chair."

Something clicked in the back of Jac's mind. "A note? Whaddid it say?"

The officer looked him over; her brown eyes seemed to penetrate him. "It just said she'd be back later."

"And that's it? All that was there?"

"No, it was lying next to a book."

"What book? What book was it?" he tried to keep the excitement contained. She's done it. Bridgette's figured out a way.

"If it's important, Inkspell."

Jac raced past the officers, up the two flights of stairs, and into Bridgette's room. Lying open on her bed was in fact, Inkspell. He picked it up, walked over to her bed-a circular one that hung from the ceiling-, and sat down and started reading where Meggie and Farid landed in the Wayless Wood. Only they forgot one important character: Bridgette.

Jac looked around the room. Everything was Bridgette, from her colors of orange and lime green, to the various photos around the room: mostly of her and Mercury, Bridgette's giant Bloodhound.

The two next to him popped the most. The first picture, black and white, was of the two of them. They were both outside under an oak tree. Darcy, a part time photographer, was on the porch when she had snapped the picture. Bridgette was standing on a branch, a habit she had, and Jac was below on the ground. She dropped down and landed on his back, momentarily scaring him, until the hysteric giggles reached his ears. The picture showed a smiling Bridgette on his back, and him smiling up.

The second was a mainly black and white picture of Bridgette sitting on the ground holding a tiny Mercury, gazing up at the camera, a haughty smile on her face.

He remembered that day too; it was when Bridgette had first gotten Mercury after saving for about a year. She had brought her over to Jac's, Mercury loping along beside her. Bridgette had named her after one of her favorite book character's dad, only he couldn't remember who.

Mercury bounded into the room, nose to the ground; she sniffed, as though she couldn't see, until she was facing Jac, and put a droopy-feared face into his lap.

"You know it too, dontcha girl? You know Breezy, our Breezy, is gone."

Jac laid back on her bed and flipped over onto his stomach. Memories. They all flooded back to him; the time they had gone camping, when she had scored all the points in the soccer game against a snooty private school; when he had fallen out of the tree, broken his arm, and she had laughed until she couldn't breathe. Then after about ten minutes she started to get worried, and walked over to check on him. "I hate you," he said when her red face appeared above him, and threw a pine cone at her with his good arm; the time when she tried chasing him, and fell, making them both tumble down the stairs.

He didn't mean to, he didn't want to, but it happened anyways. The tears came, silently at first, until he heaved and sobbed. She's figured out how to get in, but what about getting back?

"Gods, Breezy, why did you do this?" he managed to say out loud, using one of her words. I'm sorry Breezy. I wish I'd never said those things. I wish you were back. I wish I…I was a better friend.

A hand was placed on his back. He willed himself to stop crying, and looked up to see Officer Mantez. Her brown eyes, which had been hard outside, were soft now. "I'm guessing she was a close friend."

Jac nodded, slowly sniffling. She hugged him briefly, before Riley walked in. "Jac, why don't you take Mercury 'til she gets back?"

Jac wiped his eyes, grabbed Mercury's leash, and snapped it on her. He ran down the stairs, grabbed a sack of food from the Larson's pantry, and dashed out the door.

He sprinted down to the end of the road, faster and harder than he ever remembered, Mercury beside him. There Jac turned into the woods, stopping only when he got to the tree they had spent most of their time under, the tree where yesterday's fight had taken place.

Jac threw himself onto the ground, and didn't even try not to cry. He let the tears flow; he sobbed until he thought there was no way he could keep it up, but it did.

^..^

Meggie and Farid turned as a girl landed with a thud beside them. She had curly light auburn hair pulled into a ponytail, and when she turned, shining green eyes. She looked like she spent a lot of time on exercise: slim and curvy. The girl had clear creamy skin.

Meggie looked at her skeptically. It wasn't everyday a girl just magically emerged out of thin air. Then again, it wasn't common you read yourself into a book.

"Um, hello?" Meggie said.

The pretty girl turned and stared disbelievingly at them. "Hey."

"Sorry to be rude, but how did you get here? And, who are you?" Meggie asked.

The girl shrugged. "I was wondering the same thing." Her brow furrowed. "Actually, I shouldn't be here at all. I should just wake up and find it was all a dream. Only, I have a scary feeling it's not. That kind of hurt when I… fell. But anyways, I'm Bridgette Larson, from Sugar Hill, Georgia, United States."

Meggie nodded. "I guess it's only fair I introduce us. I'm Meggie Folchart, and this is Farid."

The girl named Bridgette nodded. "I know."

"How?"

She smiled momentarily, but then it disappeared. "That's a long story, one that would take a while to tell. Then it still wouldn't be finished."

Meggie stood. "We have time. You are coming, right?" Farid shot her a glance.

"We have too. It wouldn't be right to leave her alone."

"Oh, I don't know. You'd be surprised at what I know." Bridgette mocked.

Meggie turned. "What do you know?"

Bridgette smirked. "Just what will happen; the future."

"How?" Farid asked.

"Part of the story," She stood up, brushing the dirt of her jeans. Bridgette's eyes narrowed. "Funny, I wasn't wearing jeans."

She began walking, and Meggie and Farid ran to catch up.

"Are you going to tell us?" Farid asked.

Bridgette smiled. "Maybe, partly at least. I guess it started earlier this afternoon, when I was talking with my best friend, Jac. We were under the giant Maple tree in the woods, near the meadow where we always go. I asked him if he ever wondered if there was a such thing as other worlds. He, of course, thought I was crazy."

"Why did you think that?" Meggie asked.

"You have no idea what it's like in Sugar Hill. There's about a total of three thousand people, and absolutely nothing to do. Well, I guess the few tourists like it. But if you live there…" she shook her head.

"Now take New York for example. There's excitement. But it's filthy. And dangerous," she smiled furtively. "And all the more fun."

"Jac and I both like to read, that's kind of how we met. But the book I was thinking about was Inkspell."

"Inkspell? What's that? I didn't know Fenoglio wrote a sequel." Meggie said.

Bridgette grinned slyly. "Oh, you're right, he didn't. Possibly because he didn't write Inkheart to start with."

Meggie looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. I might tell you later."

They both looked at the strange girl, confused.

She shrugged. "Inkspell is the sequel to Inkheart. The book I was reading when I… managed to land here."

Meggie and Farid both gazed at her expectantly, but that was all she said. "Is that all?" Farid asked.

"For now it is," was all Bridgette answered. "When the time comes, I'll tell you more."

"You said you were from Sugar Hill, but then you said New York. How is that possible?"

She smiled. "My parents own their own business. They have to go to New York City a couple times a year. Lucky for us that my mom's uncle had an apartment there, which we inherited when he died. Unlucky for him though."

Farid grinned. It sounded like something the boys from his world would say.

Meggie looked at the girl. "Oh. What do you mean dangerous and more fun?"

Bridgette shrugged. "Just that.

"My parents don't know I'm here. They wouldn't believe me if I told them though. They'd just say, 'Get your head out of the clouds, Bridgette.', or 'Honestly Bridgette, grow up.'" She shook her head again. "Then there's Jac. He didn't believe that there were other worlds, but I did. He can be so, so," she stopped and thought for a moment before continuing, "Serious. Jac can be such a killjoy, a wet blanket. It seems like all he thinks about is school and soccer. Our team was doing really good, winning in fact. He doesn't care about a social life or things like that." She paused, her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my gosh."

Farid looked at her like she was crazy, and Meggie almost laughed. Obviously, Bridgette saw it too. "Oh you think I'm a nut too!" she cried, laughing. "Maybe I am. I found myself talking to a book earlier. A book! Nothing else to talk to. Mom and Dad are always at work it seems, and so it's just me and the housekeeper."

It was humorous watching her gripe. She had such amusing facial expressions. Maybe it won't be bad, Meggie thought.