"Good. " Capricorn dropped into his chair again with another heavy sigh. "How long will we need for the preparations? It all should be done properly, I think. "
"Two days. " The Magpie climbed the steps and took up her position behind him. "If you want to summon the men from the other bases, that is."
Capricorn frowned. "Yes, why not? It's time to show everyone a little example. Discipline has left much to be desired recently." He looked at Basta as he said this, and Basta bowed his head as if all the misdemeanors of the last few days weighed heavily on him. "The day after tomorrow, then, " Capricorn went on. "When darkness falls. I want Darius to carry out another experiment with the girl first. Get her to read something out of a book, anything – I just want to make sure that fairy didn't turn up by pure chance."
Basta had wrapped Tinker Bell in his jacket again. Meggie wanted to put her hands over her ears so as not to hear the feeble tinkling sounds the fairy was making. She pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling and looked up at Capricorn.
"But I won't read aloud for you!" she said. Her voice rang out through the church at twice its usual volume. "Not a word! I won't read you out any treasure, and I certainly won't read out some kind of – of executioner!" She spat the word into Capricorn's face.
But Capricorn only toyed with the belt of his dressing gown, looking bored. "Take her away, " he told Basta. "It's late. The child must get some sleep. "
Basta prodded Meggie in the back. "You heard. Go on, get moving."
Meggie looked up at Dustfinger one last time, then walked uncertainly down the nave ahead of Basta. When she passed below the second net she looked up again. The unknown woman's face was still hidden, but she thought she could make out her eyes, and a slender nose… and if she imagined the hair somewhat lighter in color -
"Go on, I said!" snapped Basta.
Meggie obeyed, but she kept looking back. "I won't do it!" she cried when she had almost reached the church porch. "I swear! I won't read anyone here. Ever!"
"Oh, don't swear oaths you can't keep!" whispered Basta as he pushed the door open and led her out into the brightly floodlit square.
40. THE BLACK HORSE OF THE NIGHT
He bent down and lifted Sophie from his pocket… She was still in her nightie and her feet were bare. She shivered and stared around her at the swirling mists and ghostly vapors.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"We is in Dream Country, " the BFG said. "This is where all dreams is beginning. "
Roald Dahl, The BFG
Fenoglio was lying on his bed when Basta pushed Meggie in through the door. "What have you done to her?" he demanded of Basta, swiftly getting to his feet. "She's white as a sheet!"
But Basta had already closed the door behind him. "You'll be relieved in two hours, " Meggie heard him tell the guard. Then he was gone.
Fenoglio put his hands on Meggie's shoulders and looked in her face with concern. "Come on, tell me. What did they want you for? Is your father here?"
Meggie shook her head. "They've caught Dustfinger, " she said. "And a woman. "
"What woman? Heavens, what a state you're in!" Fenoglio drew her over to the bed, and Meggie sat down beside him.
"I think she's my mother, " she whispered.
"Your mother?" Fenoglio looked at her in astonishment. His eyes were bloodshot from his sleepless night.
Distractedly, Meggie smoothed down her skirt. It was dirty and crumpled. No wonder, she'd been sleeping in it for days. "Her hair's darker now, " she stammered, "and of course Mo's photo of her is nine years old… Capricorn has her in a net, and Dustfinger, too. He's going to have them both executed in two days' time, and I'm supposed to read someone out of Inkheart to do it, that friend, as Capricorn calls him. I told you. Mo was supposed to be going to do it. You wouldn't tell me who the friend was, but now you must!" She looked pleadingly at Fenoglio.
The old man closed his eyes. "Merciful heaven!" he murmured.
Outside, it was still dark. The moon hung in the sky in front of their window, with a cloud drifting past it like a tattered dress.
"I'll tell you tomorrow, " said Fenoglio. "That's a promise. "
"No! Tell me now. "
He looked at her thoughtfully. "It's not a story for this hour of night. You'll have bad dreams afterward. "
"Tell me!" Meggie repeated.
Fenoglio sighed. "Oh dear. I know that look from my grandchildren, " he said. "Very well, then. " He helped her up to her bunk, put Mo's sweater under her head, and pulled the blanket up to her chin. "I'll tell it to you the way I wrote it in Inkheart, " he said quietly. "I know that passage almost by heart. I was very proud of it at the time. " He cleared his throat before he began, whispering the words into the night. "But one being was feared even more than Capricorn's men. He was known as the Shadow, and he appeared only when Capricorn called him. Sometimes he was red as fire, sometimes as gray as the ashes into which fire turns all that it devours. He leaped from the ground like flame flickering up from wood. His touch and even his breath brought death. He rose up at his master's feet, soundless and faceless, scenting the air like a dog on the trail, waiting to be shown his victim. " Fenoglio swept a hand over his forehead and looked at the window. It was some time before he went on, as if he were recalling the words to mind from long ago. "They say, " he continued at last, "that Capricorn had the Shadow made from his victims' ashes by a troll, or the dwarves who know all that fire and smoke can do. No one was certain, for it was said that Capricorn had those who had brought the Shadow to life killed afterward. But everyone knew one thing: The Shadow was immortal and invulnerable and as pitiless as his master. "
Fenoglio fell silent. And Meggie, her heart beating fast, gazed out at the night.
"Yes, Meggie, " Fenoglio said at last in a low voice. "I think Capricorn wants you to bring him the Shadow. And God have mercy on us if you succeed. There are many monsters in this world, most of them human and all of them mortal. I wouldn't like to have an immortal monster on my conscience, a monster spreading fear and terror here for all time. Your father had an idea when he came to see me – I've already mentioned it to you, and it may be our only chance, but I just don't know how it will work yet. I must think hard. We don't have much time, and you ought to get some sleep now. When did you say this is to happen – the day after tomorrow?"
Meggie nodded. "As soon as dusk falls, " she whispered.
Fenoglio passed a weary hand over his face. "Don't worry about the woman, " he said. "You may not want to hear this, but I don't think she can possibly be your mother, much as you may wish she were. How could she have come here?"
"It was Darius!" Meggie buried her face in Mo's sweater. "The stupid man who can't read aloud well enough. Capricorn said so: He read her back out of Inkheart and she lost her voice coming out of the book. She's back, I'm sure she is, and Mo doesn't know! He thinks she's still stuck in the story. "
"Well, if you're right, then I wish she really were still there, " muttered Fenoglio, pulling the blanket up over her shoulders again with a sigh. "I still think you're wrong, but believe what you like! And now go to sleep. "
But of course Meggie couldn't sleep. She lay there with her face to the wall, listening to her own heart. Worry and joy mingled there like two colors running into each other. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw the nets and the two faces there among the cords, Dustfinger's and the other face, blurred as an old photograph. Hard as she tried to see it more clearly, it always faded again.