At dawn, mo's group decided to leave already and to go to the wayless woods where elara would take them back to Italy. They said goodbye to dustfinger and his family and Meggie couldn't stop crying when she hugged Jehan and Brianna. Mo hugged dustfinger, who became a really good friend to him. "Thanks for everything"
"It was nothing" dustfinger answered and looked at Farid.
Farid is carrying Gwinn, looking glum. He really got close to dustfinger and learned dragon's breath because of him. Dustfinger smirked and mussed Farid's hair.
"Take care of Gwinn, alright?" dustfinger said.
While they're saying their goodbyes, elara looked around and couldn't find her daughter anywhere, "Where's Inez?"
Meggie stopped crying and answered her question, "She wanted to say goodbye to some friends"
Dustfinger looked down and he knew very well where Agi is. He's just sad that he couldn't see her leave.
Adeon woke his parents that early so Agi could at least say goodbye. Queen viola hugged her tight and king primo is crying like a little kid.
"Take care, my dear" queen viola said.
"And we'll drive away all the princesses until you come back" king primo added.
Agi laughed and tried not to cry---again. Her eyes are still a bit sore from her crying in the woods.
"But that might take awhile" Agi explained.
"That's alright, we can wait"
Agi gave them one last hug before adeon accompany her out. Adeon helped her up on fern and he went up himself. As fern walks out of the castle, Agi looked back at the king and queen that treated her well.
On the way to the woods, Agi is hugging adeon tight until they could reach their destination.
"Do you really love me?" Agi whispered.
Adeon could already see the sun rising from the horizon when Agi said that. The light made Agi's eyes sparkle like gems.
"Why, of course I do" adeon said sweetly and sincerely.
"How come you never asked me to marry you? It's not like I want to, but you know how other princes are---"
"We both know that this day would come. Look, we're not yet even married, and it's already hard saying goodbye. What more if you did become my wife"
"I'll never forget you, buffoon"
Adeon smirked and kissed her sweet smelling hair, "Neither do I, dimwit"
Elara just finished making a big circle on the ground with white sand when Agi and adeon arrived. She smiled at her daughter, but Agi looked away and stood beside Meggie and Farid.
"Is everyone here?" mo asked and looked.
Meggie, Farid, and Agi are present. Elara went to the circle and she instructed the four to follow.
"Is everyone ready?" elara asked.
The four looked at one another and nodded, Agi was quite hesitant, though.
"Wait!" adeon shouted and went in the circle, clutching his sword, "I want to help defeat Capricorn"
Mo wanted to refuse, because adeon might just get hurt or what, but he saw that adeon also wanted to have a little more time with Agi. Mo sighed and just nodded. When they were getting ready, someone disturbed them--- again. They all turned around and saw dustfinger, exhausted from running, joined them.
"You'll need some good help, silver tongue"
Finally now that they're all ready--- no more distractions--- elara instructed them not to leave the circle. She took a pouch of gray sand and threw it at the center. With a blink of an eye, they weren't in inkworld anymore. Everyone looked around and felt scared. They were back in Palermo, Italy, at the Piazza Pretoria, and everything was trashed and dead silent. Not really dead silent, they could hear the sea from afar. The windows of shops are shattered into pieces, chairs and tables were broken and lying on the ground, and not a single soul seen. Capricorn had started his plan and got rid of all the people in Italy.
Meggie gasped in fright, "What happened to Elinor? Did the shadow kill her?"
Adeon and dustfinger looked bleak when Meggie asked that.
"Anyone the shadow passes by---dies" adeon said.
Mo feels so terrible that he's gotten out of the book too late and Meggie cried. Agi approached Meggie to cheer her up. For the first time, Agi has something to say that isn't negative.
"Don't worry, they're alive" Agi said proudly.
All of them warily ran around the street towards roone's house. Elara looked at the blue building and remembered visiting sometimes. When they went in, it was the same as they left it; trashed. Mo and the others watch Agi crawl on the floor, knocking on the floor.
"What are you looking for?" Farid asked.
"My grandpa once showed me a secret door. Move the other furnitures" Agi said.
Everyone gets going and starts to move bookshelves, sofas and tables. Elara is about to help out when she saw something on the floor; an ID. She picked it up and saw the name and the pictures.
"It's Sacha's ID" elara said.
Upon hearing that, Agi left what she's doing and looked at the ID her mother is holding. It has the name Alexander Izzenhoward, which is Sacha's real name, with a picture of a good looking twenty two year old man with blonde hair and green eyes.
"How could this be? S-Sacha is in England?" Agi said bemused.
"I found it!"
Farid's voice came from the kitchen and everyone went there. Under the table's red carpet is a door. Mo opened it and found a staircase. Dustfinger found a flashlight on the sink and handed it to mo.
"I'll go in first and you guys follow" mo said.
Mo took a careful step and flashed the light on the stairs made of cement.
"Careful, the stairs has six big steps and very steep" he warned.
When he got down, Meggie followed then Farid and elara. Suddenly, they heard voices approaching the house. Everyone hurried in and dustfinger, being the last one, pulled the carpet over the door and closed it. Just in time, two black jackets came in; flatnose and cockerell.
The floor on the kitchen creaked and mo instructed the others, who are still standing on the stairs, to be quiet.
"I swear a saw a figure of a man from the window" flatnose said and looked around.
Cockerell slapped flatnose on the head in annoyance, "You idiot, that's impossible. Everyone is dead."
"Yeah, but I hope silver tongue comes back. I really want my nose to be fixed"
"That'll be impossible. Now that Capricorn killed Jacques, they're stuck in the book"
Flatnose and cockerell left the house and the others felt relieved.
"Capricorn killed him" Agi muttered.
Dustfinger didn't sound surprised, "Once he's done with what he wants, he'll dispose you"
They continued going down the steep stairs again when one of them suddenly tripped and caused to push and pull people down.
"Who stepped on my skirt?"
"Who pulled me down?"
"Where's the flashlight?"
Their voices echoed around the dark room and everyone moaned in pain.
"Uh, dustfinger, a little help?" mo asked, trying to feel where the flashlight is.
But, dustfinger is quite busy. Agi fell on him
"Who are you?" Agi asked.
It is totally pitch dark that Agi still has to ask for who it is.
"Dustfinger" he moaned.
Agi felt terrible for landing on him and she got up. She reached her hands towards him, like a blind girl, and tried to feel his face.
"I'm so sorry for falling on you" Agi said.
Dustfinger just smirked and pulled Agi for a sweet kiss. Now isn't that just the most romantic thing? Kissing in the dark. It made Agi's right foot go up.
Mo finally found the flashlight and opened it just before dustfinger finished kissing Agi. He flashed the light on dustfinger's face and smiled sarcastically, "Thanks for the help"
"Sorry---I was --- preoccupied" dustfinger said.
The underground is as big as a mine. They have to walk the long corridor to get to where they're supposed to go. When they reached the end, they found a big metal door, and mo signaled them to keep quiet. He firmly got a grip on the knob and everyone is on the guard with whatever might attack. Mo quickly opened it and an old man charged him with a golf club.
"No, wait, wait,stop! It's us!" mo shouted before he gets swat with a club.
Roone puts his club down and smiled in delight, "You're alive!"
Meggie ran inside when she saw her great aunt elinor and Agi hugged her grandfather and cried.
"Oh Agatha, I thought I lost you again" roone said.
Elara looked at them happily and roone recognized her. Roone let go of her granddaughter and approached elara curiously.
"Bless my soul, it's really you" roone said.
Roone hugged his daughter-in-law he thought had vanished forever.
Agi didn't know if she'll be happy for them or not. She went in the big secret room made of soil, along dustfinger and adeon, when she saw a young man standing in front of them. His white long sleeves polo is bedraggled with dust and so are his black khaki pants. The blonde man didn't know how to react when he saw Agi.
"Is it you, Agi?" the young man asked.
Agi remembered Sacha's ID and ran to him crying, "Sacha!"
It really is Agi's beloved protector and older brother. Sacha cried hard too since he's been waiting for this day to come.
"I'm-so-s-sorry for leaving you, Sacha" Agi soobed without letting go of him.
Sacha's hug tightened everytime he hears Agi's voice. Even the others, got a little teary eyed when they saw them. Sacha also hugged his mother tight.
Roone closed the door and showed elara someone. The room is quite big with a supply of five gallons of water and bags of foods. Beside those things is a man lying on a camping bag. Elara recognized the then blonde haired guy with gray eyes whose hair is now gray. She slowly caressed his face and the man looked at her, like he saw an angel.
"A-Albert?" elara muttered.
Roone sat in one corner and Sacha and Agi went to see the weak man. Agi remembered him as the man who hated her and wanted to kill her. She felt so scared and hugged Sacha tight.
"A big wall fell on his legs when he saved elinor from those monsters" roone said.
"I thought albert and Sacha still lives n England" elara asked.
Sacha sighed and sat beside elinor with Agi, "We do, but we suddenly felt unhome"
Sacha wiped his tears from his crying before telling his long lost mom and sister what had happened to them the past few years.
"Dad remarried this certain Jacqueline Abbot" Sacha said, "Do you remember her, Agi?"
Agi remembers well. She was a tall skinny brunette who looks like a parrot wih green eyes and a very bad temper.
"I wish I couldn't" Agi whispered.
Sacha smirked and continued, "Three years after Agi moved with grandpa, Jacqueline and dad fought almost everytime. Just last year, Jacqueline filed for a divorce and left with half of dad's millions. Our house in London didn't felt accommodating anymore and dad brought two tickets for Italy. When we got here, this is what happened."
Elara felt terrible that albert was fooled by some gold digger.
"She never---loved me like you did" albert said hoarsefully and in pain.
Elara holds his hand tight and listened to what he has to say.
Albert snickered a little, "Why do I always have to learn the hard way? Once, I met a girl who loves me more than anyone else. But, what did I do? I abandoned you because I thought it'll be a shame to the family. And little Agi, you've grown to be a beautiful girl. I've always tormented you and I am sorry, truly I am, for breaking such a great family"
Agi looked at her father as a different man. The man who abused and tormented her is now this weak old man who is regretting everything he had done. Agi cried again and finally went to her dad to hug him.