It is a cold afternoon in Palermo, Italy when Mortimer Folchart and his gang wandered around the city. As usual, they're thinking of a way to get Inkheart from Capricorn's evil hands. They've learned that Capricorn found a much better silver tongue than Meggie or Mo who is as bad as him. He'll make the silver tongue read 'The shadow' out of the book to conquer the whole of Italy, or worse, the whole world. Mortimer went inside a café along Meggie, Elinor, Farid, and Dustfinger to think about their next step.
"This is terrible, Mortimer. We can't let those hooligans do what they're planning" Elinor exclaimed.
Of course, Mortimer knows that and nodded, "I know, but we have to make a plan first. We don't even have a place to stay for the night"
Everyone sighed in disappointment. Mortimer went back to his thinking while the others just sat and drank their coffee and ate their bagel.
When Meggie looked out of the café's window, she saw someone strange. A young lady, mostly in her 18th or 19th years of age, is wearing a pink gypsy clothes; a harem's pants, gold bangles and earrings. She is beautiful, with her long black wavy hair, emerald green eyes, and tan complexion. She looks like an Arabian princess from a fairy tale.
"Thief!"
Everyone looked, even Mortimer's group, when they heard the shout. It came from outside and a man in black is running, carrying a woman's bag.
"Oh my, do something!"Elinor said in a panic while shrugging Farid and Dustfinger.
But, their help isn't needed. The beautiful gypsy girl saw the man running towards her direction and kneeled on one knee as if she's tying her shoelaces. The thief tumbled down because of her and she grabbed the bag.
"Damn it" the man muttered and ran when he saw the police.
The beautiful girl stood up and handed the bag to the woman.
"Oh, thank you very much. How can I ever repay you?" the woman said and took out her wallet.
The girl just grinned, "You don't have to pay me"
Everyone from that street saw what happened and looked up to the girl.
"Wow, she's amazing" Mo finally said.
Meggie is staring at the girl, "Yes, she is. Do you suppose she's from a book?"
"Why do you say that?"
"I mean look at her clothes. Who would normally wear a gypsy's clothes? She looks like from where Farid came from"
They all looked back at the girl and saw what Meggie is trying to say. She's really out of place, like a mascot.
"Maybe Capricorn's silver tongue read her out" Dustfinger shared.
"Let's follow her, she might tell us how she escaped the village" Mo suggested and gets ready.
The others followed, leaving the money on the table. The beautiful girl is walking around the city, amazed with everything she sees. It's as if it is her first time to see electricity and other gadgets. She turned in every corner but doesn't seem to have anywhere to go. Mo and his companions tried to follow her secretly. Suddenly, they hid behind a dumpster when the girl stopped in the middle of the alley. Mo signaled them to keep quiet and slowly peeked. She is still there, standing. She then sighed and walked again.
After three steps, the girl ran.
"Shoot, she found out!" mo declared and ran after her with the others.
They turned a right at the corner of the alley and got surprised to see the girl waiting for them, annoyed.
"Why are you following me?" she asked with a British accent.
Meggie pushed her father forward to explain since it was his idea to follow her, "W-we just wanted to ask you from what book you are?"
"A book?"
Mo felt really stupid and Meggie decided to help him out, "We want to know how you got away from Capricorn's castle"
The gypsy girl looked at them suspiciously for asking such strange things.
"Follow me" she said and walked out of the alley.
The sun started to set, leaving the wide sky a blend of colors orange and pink. Shops started to open up the lights outside their stores and Piazza Pretoria became much livelier. The girl opened the door of the blue house across a restaurant and lets her guests in. At the left side of the hallway is the living room. It is simple; a glass coffee table in the middle along with a gray sofa and two couches, a small telly, shelves of cookbooks and magazines. Mo, Meggie and Elinor sat on the sofa while Farid and Dustfinger stood beside the window. The girl looked at them and leaned on the brown hall bench.
"I'm not a fictional character" she finally said.
"I really do live here"
Mortimer felt more stupid and Farid and Dustfinger tried not to laugh at his foolishness.
"I'm, uh, terribly sorry. It's just that-"mo looked at the girl's clothes.
"Yes, my clothes. That explains it. But, I'm guessing you guys are… Silver tongues"
"Only me and my daughter here, Meggie"
The girl smiled at Meggie, seeing herself as a young girl, and shakes hands, "Hi, I'm Agi"
When they're about to discuss more about silver tongues, they heard the front door open. Agi looked a bit surprise, "He's early"
"Agatha, is that you?" an old man called out.
He went in the living room to see Agi with other people. The old man is wearing a white apron over his blue polo and brown khaki pants, and a thick reading glasses hanging around his neck. His height is just right, with the same green eyes as Agi's, messy gray hair, and a wrinkly thin face. He's about the same age as Elinor.
Agi went to him, giving him a tight hug, "Hi grandpa"
The old man looked at his granddaughter's company strangely. It's not like her to invite people older than her or half her age.
"Who are they?" he asked curiously.
Agi looked at them with a smile, "Uhm, this is Meggie and uhm… I actually haven't asked the others their names yet"
"Ooh, sorry. My name is Mortimer Folchart and this are Elinor, Farid and Dustfinger" mo introduced.
"I'm Roone Izzenhoward, Agatha's grandfather. Dustfinger, such a strange name"
"That's because he's from a book"
Roone looked impressed at the blonde guy, "Amazing. Before anything else, here Agatha, buy yourself new clothes. You look like someone from a circus"
Agi felt so embarrassed and just took the money and walked towards the door.
"Are you sure you can go alone? You might get lost"
Mo suddenly had an idea, "Dustfinger can accompany her"
Dustfinger stood up, giving mo and irritated look, "What are you saying?"
"Haha, just do it for the old man" mo said secretly behind his gritted teeth.
Dustfinger rolled his eyes and approached the girl.
"By the way, your father called and asked about you" Roone added.
Agi's left foot is already out when her grandfather mentioned that. Dustfinger saw Agi's angry expression. She took a deep breath and faced her grandfather with a fake smile.
"Tell him I'm dead, I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that" she said then closed the door.
Everyone felt awkward for hearing their family affair and roone feels so terrible. But he suddenly turned cheerful for the sake of their guests.
"So, do you guys have a place to stay?"
"We're actually looking for one" mo shared.
"But the hotels in this blasted neighborhood are full!" Elinor added.
Roone laughed at her and took off his apron, "Well, all of you could stay here. You can even eat in my restaurant just across, for free"
"Thank you so much, sir"
Elinor left to go to the said restaurant to have some wine and steak along Farid and mo. Farid saw that Meggie isn't following.
"Meggie, aren't you coming?" Farid asked with his Arabian accent.
"Uhm, you go ahead. I'm not yet hungry" Meggie explained.
So the others left to have dinner and Meggie is left with the old man. Roone is actually flipping through the pages of a cookbook, thinking of adding new dishes to his menu.
"Excuse me, sir" Meggie timidly disturbed, "But, why does Agi know things about silver tongues?"
Roone smiled at the young girl's question and closed the cook book.
"Let's go upstairs" he said.
The hallway at the second floor has a grandfather's clock and the walls have pictures of his family. He opened one of the doors and lets Meggie go in first. Meggie realized that it is a little girl's room because of the dolls, crayons, drawings, and little clothes.
"This is Agatha's room" he said.
Meggie looked startled and looked back at the things, "But, these are for little girls"
"Well, she was gone for years"
"Gone?"
Roone pulled out a brown chair while Meggie sits on the bed to hear the story.
"It happened ten years ago" he started, "Little Agatha permanently lived with me when she was nine. My son, her father, told me she was having problems adjusting with her new mom. You see, her real mom left"
"I found out that her mother had a strange gift; she had powers" roone shared.
""Like a witch?" Meggie asked curiously.
Roone nodded and continued, "These powers were inherited by Agatha, but I never treated her differently. For me, she is still the Agatha who loves to read and make stories of adventures. Then I found out she is also a silver tongue. Amazing, even her made up stories come true. One day, she was reading a book aloud and instead of the characters coming out, she went in. I felt so bad that she disappeared. My poor only granddaughter. And last night, I'd seen her wandering around the streets."
Meggie is so amazed. Ten years she was gone, just like her mom.
"Can I stay in this room?" Meggie asked.
"Of course you can. She also have books you can read" roone said and left.
Meggie took the 'Little Mermaid' book from the small desk and stayed on the bed to read. Now that everything is clear, there is still something bothering her.
Why did she say that her dad will be happy if she's dead? She thought.