Author's Note: Hello, hello! I am back at it again with another chapter and may I add how timely it is. We are almost one moth off from the last time I updated which I think is pretty good.

If anyone cares my last day of school was today! I'll be a high school senior next year! And now that it's Summer again I'll hopefully have a lot more time to update so look forward to that.

Last thing: I edited the last chapter of this fic. I realized a little after I posted it that it was weird Dante didn't have more of a reaction to the Black Prince being a character in a story so I changed things so there's more of a build-up. I think I'm gonna have Dante piece together what happened on his own instead of having his parents tell him. So yeah, hope that prevents anyone from being confused.

Now enough of my blabbing. Let's get on to the seventh chapter of this thing!

7. Setting Off (Again)

It didn't take long for the group to pack at all.

Dante, who had done all his packing early that morning had nothing to do but wait for the others to finish and the Black Prince hadn't brough much to begin with. So, it was mostly Elinor who held things up that morning and even then, it wasn't to a great extent. After all, there was little you had to bring when you were expecting nothing more than running an errand. An unusual, somewhat daunting errand to rescue Mortimer and Teresa from a potentially crazy tyrant, but an errand, nonetheless.

Elinor's luggage consisted of nothing more than a cooler for lunch, a first aid kit and a hat in case the heat became overwhelming.

At one point she had tried to pack the book away, but Dante had insisted he keep it. He hadn't gotten a chance to read it in the garden and the more time passed without him being able to read the book, the more it seemed to gnaw at his imagination. Fortunately, now that everyone else was busy, Dante finally had some time to read on his own. He read it all the way into the late morning as the mist in the garden faded away and the soft blue light of daybreak yielded to warm, golden sunbeams. It was then that Elinor finally instructed him to load the car, saying he was more than capable of lugging a few backpacks around.

Even before Dante walked through the doorframe (the door was still off its hinges and would probably remain like that for a while) he could feel the intense heat radiating from outside, see the rippling where the sun's rays manipulated the air around it. He huffed and puffed exasperatedly as he trudged on the hot gravel, not even having a free hand to shield his face from the sun.

Fortunately, Elinor's car was in a shadier place. Elinor had a pick-up truck whose home was under a peculiar area of her forest, where the trees bent down at strange angles over patches of dirt and gravel. They formed a leafy canopy brimming with birds' nests. Dante suspected they were shielding themselves from the summer as well.

As for the car itself, though Elinor claimed it had been pure white when she bought it, Dante had a hard time believing this fact. A thick layer of dust coated the truck bed, the old tires were caked in dried mud and dirt spread all over the windows, to the point where you couldn't see through into the inside of the car. It obviously didn't get very much use and Dante couldn't help but wonder what someone like Elinor would need such a large car for.

Dante placed the bags in the backseat of the cabin and turned around to go inside and get out of the heat.

Instead, he came face to face with the Black Prince.

"Wah!" Dante yelped and he burst into giggles. "Don't scare me like that!"

The Black Prince uttered a short laugh of his own. "I apologize, Dante. I didn't intend to scare you. They did tell me I was good at sneaking up on people."

"Oh yeah!" Dante said. "Just like Prince Cosimo! The book was always talking about how he was so fast with his sword that enemies wouldn't see him coming!"

"You've been reading the book," The Black Prince observed, and Dante nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, but I've only made it up to the second chapter. That book uses a lot of big words."

"I see…"

"But I can't think of any reason why the Adderhead would want it so bad. Unless he was into stories about boring princes and gangs of arsonists."

The Black Prince's eyebrows quirked, and he probably would have said something if Elinor hadn't walked up to the truck that minute.

"Curse this heat!" Elinor mumbled as she came into view. "Did you know? Summer is my least favorite season. All this extra heat and bugs in exchange for what? Extra time at the beach? Where the sand gets all in your shoes and clothes? I can't think of a more miserable time of year!" Elinor scowled at Dante and the Black Prince. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get in the car!"

"Can I ride shotgun?" Dante asked.

"I don't care," Elinor grumbled.

"Woohoo!" Dante cheered as he clambered into the passenger seat. Meanwhile, the Black Prince sidled up to Elinor.

"Excuse me, Elinor," he said in that pleasant voice of his. "But I'm afraid we may have to delay our departure for another minute or so. There's one more person who'd like to join us on this trip, you see."

"What?" Elinor asked, flabbergasted. "But we were the only people in the house! Who else could possibly be coming?"

That's when Dante heard it. A thump, thump, thumping upon the gravel road. Bit by bit he came into view, starting with a dark snout peeking through the trees and next, a furry brown face until his whole beary bulk was sitting right next to the car.

"Elinor," the Black Prince said, beaming. "Meet my companion, the bear."

Elinor didn't say a word, only letting out a squeak as she gazed at it with large gray eyes. Why, they were so big they looked like a cartoon character's!

Dante on the other hand, was quite happy to see the bear. "You're back!" He shouted excitedly. "Remember me?" It seemed that the bear did remember Dante for his response was to approach the car and sniff at his face through the open window. He licked his pale cheeks and Dante giggled.

"No way, absolutely not," Elinor said, shaking her head. "I am not allowing a wild animal to ride in my car."

"But the bear's no wild animal," The Black Prince argued. "He's perfectly behaved, and he quite likes taking road trips. Isn't that right, my friend?"

The bear gave a friendly snort in response.

"I don't care if he can dance or juggle or sing show-tunes!" Elinor shouted. "It's a bear and I'm not allowing it anywhere near my car! What if it has rabies!?"

"Don't call him an "it" Ms. Loredan," the Black Prince said quite seriously. "And I can assure you that the bear does not have rabies."

"I'm not sure I believe you," Elinor retorted.

"Oh, Elinor, please?" Dante asked, clasping his hands together. "I've met the bear before! He's perfectly friendly! And besides, if the Adderhead's as dangerous as the Black Prince says he is, don't you think a bear would be good self-defense?"

"It won't make a difference either way," The Black Prince argued. "Even if we leave without him, he'll follow us, track us down. He hates to be without me, and his sense of smell is good to the point of being uncanny."

The bear snorted again as if to second the Prince's sentiment.

Elinor huffed. She looked from Dante's pleading blue eyes, to the Black Prince's steady brown ones, to the bear's blank black gaze. He was sitting nicely, fluffy brown butt planted flat on the gravel road.

Finally, she sighed.

"Where would he even fit?" She finally asked.

"In the trunk!" Dante said, pointing to the back of the car. "There's lots of space back there and he'll be in the fresh air."

It was the obvious solution and one the bear approved of. He lifted his bulk off the ground and inspected the back of Elinor's pick-up truck, sniffing all around the car. Then slowly, carefully, he climbed in. The car rocked a little as he did so, causing Dante to yelp.

"Comfy in there?" The Black Prince asked. The response was a friendly growl.

The Black Prince smiled at Elinor.

Elinor sighed an exasperated sigh. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." She shoved the Black Prince. "Hurry up and get in the car. I'm not driving with a bear any longer than I have to."

Dante's trip to Elinor's house had been quite pleasant, all things considered. Dante's trip from Elinor's house to the Adderhead's base was less so.

Far less so.

This was due to a variety of factors, the first of which was his physical discomfort. The camper van he rode in with his parents, while not the most spacious place in the world, was still a pretty comfortable place for long-distance travel and Dante had been quite spoiled, for he had never travelled more than an hour in anything else. Elinor's pick-up truck was a different world in comparison. The front seats were cramped and though he spent almost thirty minutes making a valiant effort, he just could not adjust the seats in a way that was comfortable for him.

Then there was the heat. Oh god, the heat. Summer was fast approaching, and Dante felt it as he sat in Elinor's cramped car. Cranking up the air conditioner was hardly effective when you were in such an old car and opening the windows only made his ears ache from the intense wind.

So that was how Dante spent his trip to the Adderhead's base. Cramped and hot, knees squashed under the dashboard.

But such discomfort was the least of his problems at that moment.

Though he was able to chase it away at Elinor's house where he was preoccupied with his mission and the Black Prince, Dante's longing for his mother and father once again crept into his heart as he drove past the vivid grassy fields, sapphire seas, and grand old castles of the Italian countryside. It weighed on his heart like a heavy stack of books, bringing his heart down to his stomach where it beat wildly. It kept him from enjoying the color villages they passed and eating the sandwiches Elinor had packed. Not even his video games could cheer him up, for no matter what gamecard he inserted into his Gameboy, his console would never hold his attention for long and he'd often end up staring into space as the menu screen music played.

He's a tyrant. Anybody under his rule, he crushes with his iron fist. He will kill the poor and enslave children if he thinks it will further the goals of him and his nasty empire. The Black Prince's words rang out in his mind over and over again. Could the Adderhead really be as awful as he'd said he was? The Black Prince didn't really strike Dante as the type to lie. But could such evil really exist? Outside of video games or books?

"Dante!"

He jumped at the sound of Elinor's voice. When he turned to her, she was scowling.

"Turn that game off! Or at least turn the volume down! I'm so tired of all that incessant beeping!"

Dante blinked. Looking to his GameBoy he saw that it was still on in his hands, displaying the game over screen for Super Mario Land. "Sorry," he muttered, stuffing it back in his backpack.

Was he ever going to get rid of the sinking feeling in his heart?

But then he noticed the worn, green paperback. Inkheart; of course! The book that the Adderhead was so obsessed with, though he didn't know why. He'd still only gotten to the first two chapters.

Perhaps it was time to read the third.

Dante pulled the book out of the backpack and turned to the page he had left off on. It took a while because he hadn't left a bookmark and there was no table of contents, so he had to find it.

When he did, something fishy caught his eye.

Chapter Three, it read. The Black Prince.

Dante blinked. He scratched his head and pursed his lips into a thin line. He read it again.

Chapter Three: The Black Prince

Though he wasn't far in the book, Dante was far enough that he had taken notice of some of the story's most important patterns. For instance, the fact that each chapter was named after the viewpoint character. The first chapter, Cosimo centered around the beautiful prince of Lombrica as he went through his day training with his friends and arguing with his father about the ideals of their kingdom. The second chapter, entitled Capricorn was quite different, depicting the head of a band of arsonists as they ransacked yet another village.

So, what could this chapter be about? Surely, it didn't center on the Black Prince. The Black Prince, his Black Prince, sitting in the car with him right now.

Dante quickly shook his head, and the idea came from his mind. No, that wasn't possible. This was a fantasy book about characters in a fantasy medieval setting. The Black Prince was real and living in the modern day. There was no way the book was about him.

There's probably a more logical explanation, Dante reasoned. Perhaps The Black Prince loves this book so much that he named himself after his favorite character. Many kids in his class insisted on nicknames such as Frollo or Peter Pan. Perhaps, the Black Prince was just like them.

But as he read on things got even stranger, for the book began to describe a young man with dark skin who was quite charming and exceptionally good with knifes.

"Hmmmm…" Dante wondered to himself.

"Oh, that's it!" Elinor shouted, breaking the silence in the car. Her voice was so loud Dante jumped.

"It's so quiet in here! All these beautiful sights and nothing! What, did you both lose your tongues!?"

"No, my tongue is still intact Ms. Loredan," The Black Prince said. "I've simply been in a state of contemplation. Facing someone like the Adderhead can be quite scary and was simply mulling over all the possible ways it could go."

"Do you think it will go well?" Dante asked him.

He paused for a bit before answering, looking into Dante's bright blue eyes before returning his gaze to the world beyond. "I believe we'll be alright," he finally said.

"Real reassuring that," Elinor snarked.

In an attempt to change the subject, Dante directed his next question at her.

"Hey, Auntie Elinor. You mentioned all the beautiful sights! What's the thing you find most interesting?"

"The castles of course. Take that one for instance!" She was pointing to a castle high up on a hill they were driving by. "That used to be the home of a nasty king. Legends say he was constantly picking fights with other kingdoms and reveled in the bloodshed of each battle."

Elinor then proceeded to recount countless medieval battles all of which were violent and unforgiving, full of death, bloodshed, and terror. When at last she stopped to take a breath, the Black Prince remarked. "You certainly are passionate about these violent tales. It's almost as if you were born in the wrong story."

"I think the saying is 'born in the wrong time,'" Elinor said. "But I suppose you are right. I've always felt life in this day and age was too comfortable. Too boring."

Born in the wrong story... Dante turned to face the windshield lost in thought.

Something wasn't adding up here.

By the time Dante and the others had reached their destination night had long fallen over Italy and the sky was black as pitch.

They had only made one pit stop in the meantime to go to the bathroom and get gas in a small village. It wasn't long before a gaggle of kids were swarming them, fascinated by the friendly bear and the Black Prince who was more than happy to show them his knife throwing tricks. Dante had fun talking to them and even encouraged one really young boy to go up and pet the bear. It didn't go so well though for when the bear sneezed it startled the child so much, he fell, landing on his bottom. Though Dante found it a little funny, he held in his laughter (with great difficulty) as his parents approached. He watched as the mother held the boys in his arms and as the father made jokes that got the boy to laugh. He stopped giggling as a great weight settled on his heart.

But now that village was gone, swallowed by the same night that had swallowed all the other villages and castles and mountains they had passed before. All that existed in the world now was a road that was rapidly declining in quality. Dante could feel the bumps as they drove along the cracking concrete.

"We should be close now," The Black Prince said. "Just keep your eye out for an apricot grove and then turn onto a dirt road. You can't miss it."

"Says the one who's not driving in the dark," Elinor muttered but she found the apricot grove and soon the dirt road with no issue. Dante clutched his backpack as the sound of dirt crunching over tires rang out in the darkness. He could feel them getting close now.

Dante didn't know if he was ready to meet the Adderhead yet.

"Hey, what gives!?" Elinor shouted. Dante looked through the front windshield (Elinor had cleaned it before they set off) to see a gate with a DO NOT ENTER sign on it illuminated by the bright headlights of Elinor's pick-up truck.

The sign filled with a slight sense of foreboding, but the Black Prince remained jovial. "Don't fret, Ms. Loredan," he said. "I know just how to get past this gate." And without warning he hopped out of the car.

"Wait!" Dante called but the Black Prince ignored him. He was doused in the blazing glow of Elinor's headlights. Elinor rolled down the window.

"I want to know what he's saying," she said with a sidelong glace at Dante. In a moment he rolled down his window too.

But the Black Prince said nothing of value. Instead, he cleared his throat and shouted, "Dustfinger! Dustfinger! Dance for me," into the night.

"What!?" Elinor shouted, absolutely bewildered. Dante couldn't help but sympathize.

"We're not lost, are we?" Dante asked but just as soon as the words left his mouth, he noticed something. Another light, much dimmer than Elinor's but still strong enough to cut through the darkness, was approaching. It was coming from a flashlight, Dante realized. And holding a flashlight was a boy!

"Now, who's that?" Elinor asked in her usual harsh accusing tone. Dante squinted his eyes. Though he was in the path of the truck's great, bright beams he was still a bit too far away for Dante to see him clearly. He looked really big, probably about fourteen or fifteen.

Were teenagers working for the Adderhead?

The Black Prince was coming back! He looked quite at ease as he slipped back into the cramped backseat of Elinor's pick-up truck. Elinor put her hands on her hips.

"What was that all about?" She asked.

"Just a friend of mine," the Prince explained. "He's going to open the gate for us. Then you'll just have to go on until you see a fire. You can't miss it."

A fire, Dante thought, how peculiar. But the gate was opening slowly and surely with an ominous, grating sound and his eyes were back on the road again.

The drive was a bit slower once they passed the gate for the road beyond it was long and winding, sloping down a hill filled with trees that blended with the darkness. Dante and Elinor had left their windows open, and the sound of crickets and owls filtered were carried on a cool, evening breeze into the car.

Near the bottom of the hill, they spotted it. A soft, flickering light that was quickly recognized as a fire. The Black Prince told Elinor to stop the car soon after. Their destination was a peculiar place. A clearing in the woods revealed a small bath of tents of varying colors and sizes arranged in a circle around a blazing bonfire.

Dante's blue eyes darted around curiously. This didn't look like the realm of an evil tyrant.

"Is this the Adderhead's base?" Dante asked.

"No. It's mine," The Black Prince said with a smile.

"Huh?" Elinor and Dante chorused.

"Don't worry, don't worry," The Prince said with a chuckle. "I'll explain everything very soon. But for now, I think it's time you met my army."

Elsewhere, in a place not far from Dante, Elinor and the Black Prince, Resa sat atop a bed of straw, her back to the harsh stone wall.

Resa didn't know how long she'd been there for. She'd woken up in this dungeon, while the sunlight filtered through the door. It had faded now and through the thick walls she could hear the distant chirping of crickets. She didn't know how many hours had passed in the interim. How many hours she'd spent unconscious, body sprawled out in the dungeon.

Because that's what she had been. Unconscious. She knew for a fact that she hadn't simply gone to sleep.

Resa closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. Mo, Dante, Elinor. The names of her family rang out in her mind. She knew Dante and Elinor were safe. The Adderhead's men had spared them and though it hurt to think of her sweet loving son without his parents he knew Elinor would be more than willing to take care of him.

But Mo had been kidnapped she had no doubt that he had already met with the Adderhead. No doubt he wanted to exploit his special skill. What before had seemed like a beautiful gift was now a curse. Resa's heart ached for her husband. She hoped he wasn't suffering too much.

Please don't kill him, she begged within her thoughts. Please don't kill him.

Gradually, another face swam to the surface of Resa's mind. One faded from years of separation. But it was not forgotten entirely for how could a mother possibly fail to recall their own daughter? Especially when she had such vivid blue eyes and bright golden hair.

"Meggie," Resa whispered. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't think of her. She had only been three when it happened. When the Folcharts' lives had forever been changed. Not for the first time, she wondered if she was alright. What she was doing now. If she was okay, or even alive. She conjured an image of a girl, about eleven… or twelve maybe… living in a cottage with two loving parents who adopted the toddler they saw in need, spending her days picking flowers and inventing games to play with the other children in the nearby village, perhaps wondering where she came from and where were birth parents were…

BANG!

Resa jumped, eyes flying open just in time to see Mo face plant onto the hard concrete ground.

"You'll never read for us; you say?" A voice was saying. A thin, nasally voice. Resa looked up to see a figure doused in shadow, standing in the doorway. Only his bright silver eyes and nose reflected any light as they shined under the moon.

The Piper.

"I have a hard time believing that," The Piper said. "The Adderhead has broken every soul that's ever stood in his way, and he'll break yours too! Don't think you're special just because you can read ghosts and rust out of books."

"Leave him alone!" Resa said, rushing to her husband's side. She took her husband in her arms. He looked and felt positively spent.

In contrast, the Piper looked alive as he gave Resa a nasty smirk. "So, the girl is finally awake," he observed in that annoyingly haughty voice of his. "You better watch out, little birdie. The Adderhead has grand plans for you too."

"Get out!" Resa shouted. "Go away!"

The Piper uttered one last, mocking laugh before shutting the heavy wooden doors behind him. They closed with a BANG even louder than the sound they had made when they opened.

"Resa…" Mo said weakly. Resa looked down at her husband, noticed how tired his eyes were. His lips looked dry. "You're alright."

"Of course, I am," she said, taking his face in her pale hands. "You don't have to worry about me."

"You don't have to worry about me either," Mo retorted. "I didn't read a word for the Adderhead, did you know. He got absolutely nothing from me today."

"Hopefully, it'll stay that way," Resa said. "I don't know what the Adderhead's plan is, but I never want to see it come to fruition. I never want to see him succeed."

"At least Dante is safe," Mo whispered, wrapping his arms around his wife.

"Yes. At least Dante is safe."

Author's Note: So yeah, that was the chapter. As you can see we shifted POV's a little at the end, got to see more into Resa's mind. Hope you enjoyed that; if you're more open to it I could shift POV's more in the future; just give me your feedback and I shall write accordingly.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and see you next time!