Mo tenderly stroked the bridge of her nose. "Ah, so you noticed, " he whispered back. "Yes, I thought that might help. Perhaps the savage old pirate won't feel we're calling to him then, I told myself, and he'll stay where he belongs. Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Why do you think?" said Elinor, answering instead of Meggie. "Why is she looking so admiringly at her father? Because no one ever read aloud like that – even apart from the money. I saw it all, the sea and the island, as clear as if I could touch it, and I don't expect it was any different for your daughter. "
Mo had to smile. He kicked aside a few of the coins on the floor in front of him. One of Capricorn's men picked them up and surreptitiously pocketed them. As he did so, he looked at Mo as uneasily as if he feared a word from him might turn him into a frog or one of the beetles still crawling around among the coins.
"They're afraid of you, Mo!" whispered Meggie. She could see the trepidation even on Basta's face, although he was doing his best to hide it by assuming a particularly bored expression.
Only Capricorn seemed to be left cold by what had happened. Arms folded, he stood there watching his men pick up the last of the coins. "How much longer is this going to take?" he asked finally. "Leave the small change where it is and sit down again. And you, Silvertongue, open the next book!"
"The next book!" Elinor's voice almost cracked with indignation. "What on earth's the idea of that? The gold your men are shoveling up there is enough to last you at least two life times. We're going home now!"
She was about to turn around, but Flatnose, who had finally remembered he was meant to be guarding Elinor, seized her arm roughly. Mo looked up at Capricorn,
Basta, smiling unpleasantly, laid his hand on Meggie's shoulder. "Get on with it, Silvertongue!" he said. "You heard. There are still plenty of books here. "
Mo looked at Meggie for a long time before bending to pick up the book he had chosen first: Tales From the Thousand and One Nights.
"The book that goes on and on forever, " he murmured, opening it. "Did you know the Arabs say no one can read it right through to the end, Meggie?"
She shook her head as she sat down beside him on the cold flagstones. Basta let her, but he planted himself right behind her. Meggie didn't know much about The Thousand and One Nights except that it was really a book in many volumes. The copy that Darius had given Mo could only be a small selection. Were Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in it, and Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp? Which story would Mo read?
Meggie thought she saw contradictory feelings on the faces of Capricorn's men: fear of what Mo might bring to life and, at the same time, a wish, a yearning almost, to once more he carried away by his voice, transported far away to a placewhere they could forget everything, even themselves.
There was no smell of salt and rum when Mo began reading this time. The air in Capricorn's church grew hot. Meggie's eyes began to burn, and when she rubbed them she found sand sticking to her knuckles. Once again, Capricorn's men listened to Mo's voice with bated breath, as if they were turned to stone. Capricorn alone seemed to feel nothing of the magic. But his eyes showed that even he was spellbound. They were fixed on Mo's face, as unmoving as the eyes of a snake. His red suit made his pupils look even more washed out, and his body seemed tense, like a dog scenting its prey. But this time Mo disappointed him.
The words offered up no riches, none of the treasure chests, pearls, and swords set with precious stones that Mo's voice conjured up, shining and sparkling, until Capricorn's men felt as if they could pluck them from the air. Something else slipped out of the pages, though, something breathing, a creature made of flesh and blood.
A boy was suddenly standing between the still smoldering braziers where Capricorn had burned the books. Meggie was the only one to notice him. All the others were too absorbed in the story. Even Mo didn't see him, far away as he was, somewhere in the sand and the wind as his eyes made their way through the labyrinth of letters.
The boy was some three or four years older than Meggie. The turban around his head was dirty, his eyes dark with fear in his brown face. He blinked and rubbed them as if he could wipe it all away – the wrong picture, the wrong place. He looked around the church as if he had never seen such a budding before, and how could he have? There wouldn't be any churches with spires in his story, or green hills like those he would see outside. The robe he wore went down to his brown feet, and in the dim light of the church it shone blue as a patch of the sky.
Meggie wondered: What will happen when they see him? He's certainly not what Capricorn was hoping for.
But Capricorn had already noticed the boy.
"Stop!" he commanded, so sharply that Mo broke off in mid-sentence and raised his head.
Abruptly, and rather unwillingly, Capricorn's men returned to reality. Cockerell was the first on his feet. "Hey, where did he come from?" he growled.
The boy ducked, looked around with a terrified expression, and ran for it, doubling back and forth like a rabbit. But he didn't get far. Three men immediately sprang forward and caught him at the feet of Capricorn's statue.
Mo put the book down on the flagstones beside him and buried his face in his hands.
"Hey, Fulvio's gone!" cried one of Capricorn's men. "Vanished into thin air!" They all stared at Mo. There it was again, the nervousness in their faces, but this time mingled not with admiration but with anger.
"Get rid of that boy, Silvertongue!" ordered Capricorn angrily. "I have more than enough of his kind. And bring Fulvio back. "
Mo took his hands away from his face and stood up.
"For the millionth time, I can't bring anyone back, " he said. "The fact that you don't believe me doesn't make that a lie. I can't do it. I can't decide who or what comes out of a hook, nor who goes into it. "
Meggie reached for Mo's hand. Some of Capricorn's men came closer, two of them holding the boy. They were pulling on his arms as if to tear him in half. Eyes wide with terror, the boy stared into their unfamiliar faces.
"Back to your places!" Capricorn ordered the angry men. A couple of them were already dangerously close to Mo. "Why all this fuss? Have you forgotten how stupidly Fulvio acted on the last job? We almost had the police down on us. So it's the right man to have gone. And who knows, perhaps this lad will turn out to have a talent for arson. All the same, I want to see pearls now. And gold and jewels. After all, they're what this story is all about, so let's have some!"
An uneasy murmuring rose among the men. Nonetheless, most of them returned to the steps and perched once more on the worn treads. Only three still stood in front of Mo, staring at him with intense hostility. One of them was Basta. "Very well, so we can dispense with Fulvio, " he said, never taking his eyes off Mo. "But who is this wretched wizard going to magic into thin air next time? I don't want to end up in some thrice-accursed desert story and find myself going around in a turban all of a sudden!" The men standing near him nodded in agreement and looked at Mo so darkly that Meggie almost stopped breathing.
"Basta, I won't tell you again. " Capricorn's voice sounded menacingly calm. "Let him go on reading, all of you. And anyone whose teeth start chattering with fear had better go outside and help the women with the laundry."
Some of the men looked longingly at the church door, but none ventured to leave. Finally, even the two who had been standing beside Basta turned without a word and sat down with the others.
"You'll pay for Fulvio yet!" Basta whispered to Mo before he restationed himself behind Meggie again. Why couldn't he have disappeared? she thought.
The boy still hadn't uttered a sound.
"Lock him up. We'll see if he can be of any use to us later, " ordered Capricorn.