Chapter 10 – Dust!

"Dust," Fenoglio began, pronouncing it so clearly that every letter rang out through the tent, "Is a very complex being." Meggie and Farid exchanged glances. "It can do things that no other creature could ever even attempt, but it-"

"Wait," Meggie interrupted, "You said creature; Does that mean its alive,"

"Meggie, just listen please," Fenoglio groaned, "but in answer to your question, yes, dust is alive; a lot more alive than we thought. Dust is what allows you and your father to read the characters out of books; dust is what controls the system of reading; dust stops people slipping through the pages while they're so engrossed in a book, they don't know what's going on. Dust is very important. More important than many people ever realize, most people don't even know what dust is," he said, gesturing to Meggie and Farid who were both looking completely baffled, "ok," he sighed, "ok. I'll explain. Well," He paused, "I'll try, it's just it's…it's very complicated,"

"Well I expect you both know what dust is; the powdery substance that covers books, I also assume that you have never wondered what it does, what the point of it is," seeing their blank faces, Fenoglio carried on trying to stop the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile, "No matter, no matter," he said, "not many people question why it's there, just take no notice of it and carry on reading. When I was writing Inkheart however I became intrigued by the substance, it was always there camouflaging my work, and so I decided to phone a book-binder, I decided that if anyone knew what dust's purpose was then a book-binder would. So I phoned him up and it was then that I found out everything I know about the stuff."

"Dust can do incredibly powerful things to books and when anyone; whether it be you, your father or anyone else, reads someone out of a book it interferes with the system. When any living thing is read out of or into a book it automatically gets covered in dust. Not normal dust obviously," he added hurriedly, seeing Meggie about to protest, "Invisible dust. No-one can see it, not under a microscope, not even under a mega-microscope, It's 100percent completely invisible." Fenoglio stopped briefly to take a breather and Farid's voice piped up from the bed.

"How does this have anything to do with me seeing Capricorn in the woods?" he asked vigilantly, staring up at the old man's wrinkled face out of his dark eyes.

"Ah, well I was just coming to that," Fenoglio answered, "you see… when a person gets covered in dust, usually it just means that injury's are easier to heal, for instance; if you fell over in a world that was not your own, then you would be less likely to develop a cut or graze or something like that; but now it seems that dust is becoming more powerful, there have been many signs for this and when your father survived that attack against the Adderhead a few weeks ago I was almost sure I was right." Meggie's forehead was creased and she was squinting at Fenoglio, perplexed.

"What do you mean," she said, shaking her head, "What does any of this have to do with Farid seeing Capricorn?" Fenoglio looked up to the ceiling, and rubbed his eyes.

"Everything," he uttered simply, "Meggie, I think the reason your father survived that attack and the reason Farid, you saw Capricorn in the woods, is that the dust has become more powerful than ever. Instead of preventing minor injuries it has now risen to much higher levels, I think that now as soon as you are read into another book and get coated in dust, you become immortal, as long as you are in a world that is not your own." Fenoglio glanced at their astonished expressions and groaned, clawing at his head. "I knew I shouldn't have told you, Mo told me not to and I -"

"Mo," Meggie croaked, "You told Mo about this too."

"Well of course," Fenoglio said, bewildered at her tone of accusation, "Of course I told your father, I told him as soon as I saw that blasted fairy in the forest."

"What Fairy?" Meggie inquired, finding the full use of her voice back.

"The flaming one you read out of that book…thinker whatsit wasn't it…"

"TINKERBELL!" Meggie exclaimed.

"Oh yes, that's it…bloody fairy….very vain isn't she. I was taking a stroll in the woods and I saw her there, showing off to all her flaming friends, every now and then she would look in the lake to check her reflection; the others got bored after a while and flew off without her. Got ruddy grouchy then she did, worse than my grand-children ever were, she kicked the oak-imp next to her into the lake and went off in the corner to sulk." Meggie was intrigued by this piece of information, she had thought Tinkerbell had just disappeared with the rest of the fairies; it was nice to know that she was safe here; even if she was a bit conceited.

"If your right about this dust thing…" Farid suddenly spoke, "…then does that mean that…" he stopped, licking his lips as if he didn't want to say what he thought, "…doesn't it mean that…Isn't there…couldn't it…" he closed his eyes and breathed out the words…

"Is Dustfinger still alive?"