Disclaimer: I do not own Inkheart/Inkspell, but I do own the new character in this chapter!
A/N: All I have to say is enjoy the story!
Chapter 5
"I'm bored."
"Ditto."
Meggie and Farid were over and done with the first day's excitement, and the hours on the boat dragged by slowly. There wasn't anything they could do except... sit there.
"Let's play a game!" Meggie tried. She had tried this several times before, but the game usually became as boring as the journey after a few minutes.
"Give it a shot," Farid replied, showing no attempt to even pretending to be enthusiastic.
"How bout... uh... I Spy!"
"Meggie, all we can spy is something blue!"
"Nice start to the game Farid!" Meggie was trying very hard to keep the 'game' going. "Um..." She looked around. Dead end, everything around the boat was blue! Blue sky, blue water, and that was it.
She gave in, and sat down with her head on her arms next to Farid. Then...
"Blue!"
"Meggie, I'm sick of the ocean, don't make it worse!" Farid replied.
"No, look Farid! Land straight ahead!" and she was right. Anybody could see it with a quick glance. It was an island, and it seemed to have it's own dreary-looking blue sky surrounding it. The island seemed to be hinting 'turn around, or else!'
Meggie ran excitedly to tell her parents and Roxane, and they rushed back on deck with Meggie, for they too were hoping to see land again.
"Let's go! I need to step foot on land or my legs might turn into rubber!" Resa said, and she and Mo went to steer the ship toward the island.
"Are you going, Farid?" Meggie asked.
"I'm game if you are," he replied, giving Meggie a small smile.
Going back to the other ship, the mistress and Basta were confused. They were close behind the other ship, but couldn't believe they were headed for the drear island. The mistress knew better than anyone about the island:
"Basta, we are not to follow them. We shall set anchor a safe distance away,"
"Are you kidding? I'm following them!" Basta replied.
"Basta, Blue Nightmare— that's the island in front of us— is a dreaded place, especially for a man with as many superstitions like yourself. Those people don't know what they're in for!"
"Well then, my mistress, if your so smart, what's so horrible about the island?"
"Didn't you get a hint from the name of the island? Blue Nightmare happens to be a place where nightmares come true, and the island happens to be surrounded by blue waters and skies! So once you step foot on the island, you better hope you have a ship waiting for you when you get back!"
"Then why not just destroy their ship so they die of fright on the island?" Basta suggested. It wasn't a bad one—for an evil guy like himself— but he forgot they needed Farid for the whole mission to work, and was quickly reminded by the mistress.
However, Meggie and the others had learned nothing about Blue Nightmare.
Meggie and the rest had landed on Blue Nightmare, and were relieved to feel solid ground underneath their feet. After getting used to walking on Earth again, they started to walk around.
The edge of the island was surrounded by a thick forest, and took a while to get through. The trees blocked out the sun, but even when they reached a clearing, there were so many clouds above them, it seemed like an endless night, with no hope of the sun coming out.
They sat down to take a break. Meggie looked at her surroundings, and saw two sets of eyes spying through the trees in front of her, and then disappearing again. Making sure no one was watching, she set off to shadow them, which was no easy task. She couldn't move as quickly as the thing in front of her, but managed to stay close enough. She finally noticed it was slowing her pace, and entering another clearing. Meggie followed. It was a nightmare come true.
She screamed.
Farid was the only one that heard Meggie's scream.
"Oh, no! Meggie!" and he started running towards where he had heard her high-pitched scream.
The adults eventually noticed the two had gone, and trailed them also. However it took them much longer then the kids, therefore fell way behind.
Farid—— the light footed person he was—— was able to get to the clearing with Meggie in good time. When he came out of the bushes, he tripped immediately. He turned around to see what he tripped over, and he screamed too.
It was Meggie— but as a corpse.
Farid fell silent, the world spinning around him. He fell to the ground, but someone caught him.
It was Meggie herself!
"Farid, are you alright?" then she saw the corpse, and dropped Farid.
He got up, shakily, and asked,
"Which one are you? I was afraid something had killed you, but then you caught me! What's going on!"
"Farid, I'm the real Meggie! I don't know how that got there!" she said facing Farid. When she turned back to face her corpse, it was gone.
"It's gone Farid!" she exclaimed. He looked too, and said,
"There's something wrong about this island!" Then Meggie asked curiously,
"Farid, what's your greatest fear?"
"Since Dustfinger died, my greatest fear has been that you would die too," Farid replied, and then realized what Meggie was saying. Then Meggie said,
"Well, I guess you came because you heard me scream. When I came into this clearing, Basta was there with his knife at the ready! When I tried defending myself, he disappeared! Just like my corpse! I guess this island is where your nightmares come true!"
"Let's go find everyone else," Farid replied. He grabbed Meggie by the hand and pulled her through the thick forest. On their way, they met many more frights, but ran away, and their nightmares disappeared quickly. In the distance, they heard other screams and grunts and tried ignoring them as best they could.
When they finally found everyone, they had found someone else too. It was a boy about Farid and Meggie's age, but he was thin and pale. He looked as if he was thanking Mo. When Mo saw them, he said,
"Looks like we've found a new companion. He's been stranded on this island for months!" Farid and Meggie felt bad for him, but replied,
"We have to leave now, this land is a place where your—"
"The boy has already explained, and we were actually going to go look for you, but let's leave now that we're all together," Roxane cut in.
Quickly and quietly, the group found their way back to the boat. The climbed aboard, and immediately set sail. Though none of them said anything, they all knew that there were many more surprises waiting for them on this journey.
There was complete silence on the ship. No one new what to say to the kid, and no one had anything to say to each other.
Bearing the silence no longer, Meggie went up to their new companion saying,
"Who are you? How did you get to that island?"
"Don't wanna talk about it..." he replied with a distant look in his eyes.
"Well, it's either you tell us the story now, or your going to have to listen to my pleading throughout the long journey," Meggie replied making his decision for him.
"Ok..."he said, and everyone sat down to listen to his story.
"Before going to island— which by the way, is called Blue Nightmare— I had lived on Silver Secret. My parents were highly respected on my island, though I cannot remember why. They used to say I was special, and had a lot to live up to, though I just believed it to be encouragement. When I was still a little kid, my parents went on a boat trip, and were caught by a storm that sunk their ship. When I heard the news, I decided to get a good reputation on the island. I eventually became known as a tough kid, who wasn't afraid of anything, though no one knew the half of it. When I heard rumors of Blue Nightmare, I decided to go there. A friend of mine brought me there on his ship, and left me there— which, was actually my suggestion. Then I was haunted by my nightmares all over the island, and eventually went mad. I wanted to leave, but no one was there to bring me back. When I saw you arrive on your ship, I followed you, hoping you would bring me with you. And you did, and now I'm here."
It wasn't a possible story, though everyone felt as if they had just heard a legend. They sat silently for a while, until Meggie said,
"Who was the person who told you your parents died?"
"I don't know who she was, but she said she had been out at sea with them, but was the only one that survived," came the answer.
"Do you have a name?" Farid asked.
"Razz," he replied, not very fondly.
One by one, they left Razz alone, doing their daily doings— well, the ones who had some. Though, whenever they passed him by, he had his head down and tears in his eyes.
The mistress had seen the new boy board the ship, which immediately set her curiosity into action. She went into her room, getting a quick potion ready.
She had to know who the boy was!
She added a sprinkle of this, a little of that. When she was finished, she sat down, preparing herself for a puff of flames coming from her cauldron. As if a movie, the flames started turning into shapes, telling the boy's story.
When it was finished, she stomped out of her room in a rage, calling Basta to her side.
"This boy must be executed!"
"What the hell are you talking about!" Basta asked.
"A boy has just boarded their ship, and he will be a disaster to our plans! We must find him, and kill him!"
"My specialty," Basta replied with a terrifying look in his eyes.