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As Meggie caer raised his head briefly Gwin cli his tiny teeth, sharp as splinters of glass, as if he had recognised the hatred in Meggie’s eyes as they rested on his master Now she knehy the e of a book She understood it all: why Dustfinger thought the world too fast and too noisy, why he didn’t understand cars and often looked as if he were somewhere else entirely But she felt none of the sympathy Mo had shown for him His scarred face only reminded her of the lies he had told to lure her out to him, like the Pied Piper in the story He had played with her as he played with fire, with his brightly coloured juggler’s balls: coie She felt like running up the steps and striking his lying hts, and was avoiding her eyes Not looking at Mo and Elinor either, he put a hand in his trouser pocket and brought out a , he took out a ht as he passed a finger through it alertip

Meggie looked away She didn’t want to see hiet he was there To her left, at the foot of the steps, stood two drum-shaped iron braziers, rusty broood heaped up in theie was just wondering what the as for whendown the nave with a petrol can in his hand Reluctantly, Cockerell and Flatnose gave way as he pushed past the with his best friend again,’ he sneered as he clier lowered the htened up ‘Here you are,’ said Basta, putting the petrol can down at his feet ‘Another toy for you Light us a fire; that’s what you like best’

Dustfinger threay the spent match and lit another ‘So how about you?’ he asked quietly, raising the burning match to Basta’s face ‘Still afraid of fire, are you?’

Basta knocked the match out of his hand

‘Oh, you shouldn’t do that!’ said Dustfinger ‘It means bad luck You kno quickly fire takes offence’

For ato hit him, and she wasn’t the only one All eyes were turned on the two er Perhaps it really was the fire

‘You’re lucky I’ve only just cleaned h, and I’ll carve a few nice new patterns on your ugly face And make myself a fur collar out of yoursnarl, and wrapped hier bent, picked up the spent matches, and put them back in the matchbox ‘Yes, I’ at Basta ‘But ould I want to light a fire just noonder?’

‘Never you mind that, just do it Then the rest of us can keep it fed But ry blaze, not one of the taer picked up the petrol can and slowly cli beside the rusty braziers when the church door opened for the second tiie turned at the sound of the heavy wooden door creaking, and saw Capricorn appear between the red coluave a flattering enough i a suit as red as the church walls Only the shirt beneath it was black, and he had a black feather in his buttonhole A good half-dozen of hisa peacock Their steps seeie reached for Mo’s hand

‘Ah, so our guests are here already,’ said Capricorn, stopping in front of theue?’ He had curiously soft, curving, al his little finger along them as if to retrace them They were as bloodless as the rest of his face ‘Wasn’t it kind of ht? At first I meant it to be a surprise present for you today, but then I thought: Capricorn, you really owe that child so, and of her own free will too’

He was holding Inkheart Meggie saw Mo’s gaze linger on the book Capricorn was a tall man, but Mo stood a few centimetres taller, which obviously displeased Capricorn He stood very upright, as if that would make up for the difference

‘Let Elinor take o and I’ll try to read you back again I’ll read you anything you like, but let the two of theie looked at hio away’ But no one was paying any attention to her

‘Let theo?’ Capricorn turned to hisnow they’re here?’ The ain ‘You knoell as I do that from now on you’ll do whatever I want,’ he said ‘Now that she’s here, I’ us a deie’s hand so hard her fingers hurt

‘And as for this book,’ said Capricorn, looking at Inkheart with as ers, ‘this extre-winded book, I can assure you I have no intention of ever again letting myself be spellbound by its story All those troubleso voices, the swar stupid beasts everywhere, the s over bandy-legged brownies in the iants scared the ga pools – was there anything in that world that didn’t have the power of speech? And then those endless muddy roads to the nearest town, if town it could be called – that pack of well-born, finely dressed princes in their castles, those stinking peasants, so poor there was nothing to be got out of the from their hair – oh, how sick I was of then, and one of his e cardboard box You could see from the way he carried it that it was very heavy The stones in front of Capricorn with a sigh of relief Capricorn handed Cockerell, as standing beside hi, and bent to open the box It was full to the brireat deal of trouble finding them all,’ said Capricorn as he reached into the box and took out two books ‘They may look different, but the contents are the sauages made the search even more difficult – a particularly useless feature of this world, all those different languages It was sier?’

Dustfingerthe petrol can and staring at the box Capricorn strolled over to him and threw the two books into one of the braziers