I have been doing a lot of thought as to were to start in this endeavor. I have been praying about it for a while, and God has finally given me a good idea. I am trying to start a...prayer group I guess it is called. I am trying to get many of the young people I know together every other week to pray and studying the Bible.

I got this idea over a many of things. One being I cannot remember when Christians last got together to pray, at least from where I am. Also during the election I was on line with my friends and through the whole thing they were praying, it was wonderful! Another being that long ago God used prayer to revive our nation. And so, I am inviting all of my on line friends to pray with me.

I have set up a chat room which is protected by a password so that no one can get on unless they have it. Here is the link...http://www.chatzy.com/330709073000. PM me for the password. Now I know no one is never on at the same time, so the prayer meetings shall be held at different times. I am thinking we can start with just an hour, maybe every day, every other day. The times shall have to be worked out as we go. It is up and running now, and I am going to try and have the first main meeting this Friday at seven mountain time, I believe it is mountain type, shall I say seven in the same time zone as Wyoming. That said drop by it at any time as someone may be on, but on Friday I am hoping to have nearly everyone there and get secludes worked out and all.

What I am thinking we shall do is study a passage on prayer, the ones at the meeting can decided on a passage. The only rule to this is that they must be studied in context, that means adding at least five verses before the verse and five after, or as many as it takes so that the verse is understood. Once then we can all pray, writing down our prayers as we pray, if that does make any sense. One thing we NEED to pray for is our government, but we can also tell our own requests and pray for them as well.

I believe that is all for now, so I am going to send this off.

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I have been doing a lot of thought as to were to start in this endeavor. I have been praying about it for a while, and God has finally given me a good idea. I am trying to start a...prayer group I guess it is called. I am trying to get many of the young people I know together every other week to pray and studying the Bible.

I got this idea over a many of things. One being I cannot remember when Christians last got together to pray, at least from where I am. Also during the election I was on line with my friends and through the whole thing they were praying, it was wonderful! Another being that long ago God used prayer to revive our nation. And so, I am inviting all of my on line friends to pray with me.

I have set up a chat room which is protected by a password so that no one can get on unless they have it. Here is the link...http://www.chatzy.com/330709073000. PM me for the password. Now I know no one is never on at the same time, so the prayer meetings shall be held at different times. I am thinking we can start with just an hour, maybe every day, every other day. The times shall have to be worked out as we go. It is up and running now, and I am going to try and have the first main meeting this Friday at seven mountain time, I believe it is mountain type, shall I say seven in the same time zone as Wyoming. That said drop by it at any time as someone may be on, but on Friday I am hoping to have nearly everyone there and get secludes worked out and all.

What I am thinking we shall do is study a passage on prayer, the ones at the meeting can decided on a passage. The only rule to this is that they must be studied in context, that means adding at least five verses before the verse and five after, or as many as it takes so that the verse is understood. Once then we can all pray, writing down our prayers as we pray, if that does make any sense. One thing we NEED to pray for is our government, but we can also tell our own requests and pray for them as well.

I believe that is all for now, so I am going to send this off.

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 Well, here it is, the end. It came sooner then I was expecting so I am in a state of, well shock. But, here it is. I really hope you have enjoyed it all I have had a lot of fun writing it. I want to say a special thanks to Theynore, he was the main reason I was able to write it in two weeks. I admit it, his, shall we say, begging skills far surpass any one else's I know! That, and that alone is why I was able to write so fast. So, thank you so much Theynore! And thank you for chatting with me those long nights, I would have not made it without you to keep me awake.
 That said, thanks to you all for sumitting yourselve to my book, it was a brave act and I am forever thankful.Thank you R.K. for not throwing me into the dungeon, until I was done. And thanks to you both Pip and R.K., I am really gald you both liked the story so well, you two really encouraged me with that last comment, and made me turn red :D
 Jules I am REALLY glad you liked it so well. As for the sequal I think that is great!! As for the names, as you know you are Jules, Mark is Mark, Leah is Snicket, I am Sybil, Jane is Sarah, QueenFlora is Jane, VintageAuthoress is Katie, ThrillAuthor is Hanz, AuthorElf is Justyne, Writer4Him is Beth, Christina is Tinvuel, Gabrielle is Athiel, Meggy is OutlawedPrincess, Sam is LadyMarian, Pip is Pip, PoeticMaiden is Cherise, Ness is Ness, MrsGamgee is Rose, Ness is Alex's sister, and Alex is Scott, Laura is Laura, also none as Hannah Grace, Joy is Chris, Jo is Snicket's sister Barrie, and that is it!
 Word count, until I am able to finish the last bit, is now 75,945

Part Three Winter of Discovery and growing
Chapter Twenty Two…The truth about Spy
Winter had settled over the land, covering everything with a thick white blanket the seemed to wrap the town of Dale in its on world. It was the perfect weather for sledding, the fresh blanket of snow called out to all, asking them to come and play, and it was answered with moans, because half to the Inkling members were stuck at home with illnesses.
Sybil was one of them, and as the members who were well could not invade her house with her being sick they decided to hold their meeting on the chat room. Most of the characters were board to death as their authors were too sick to write. So Maddock held a meeting in the attic, seeing as how characters cannot catch human illnesses.
“So, how is everyone’s author doing after their little, adventure?” Maddock asked as everyone sat down and Cassandra wrote them up some cookies.
“Katie is doing much better,” Kallen said. “She has actually come up with many good ideas since then.”
Everyone had had a rough time the first week or so of getting out of the book. The characters had all felt bad and since then had been looking after their authors, all but Jordaan. His and Hanz’s relationship would always on edge it seemed, but they were happy that way and so no one bothered them about it.
Actually things had improved nicely around Inklings. The characters now understood what it was like to have rebelling characters and so had learned to behave themselves. The authors know knew what it was like to be a character and though they still writer torture scenes they were nicer about how they went at it.
The only problems that still remained really was Sarah always bringing up the perfect Thomas, Hanz’s sudden urges to pin Jordaan to the ceiling, and R.K.’s continued sulking and dungeon throwing. Both Jo and Laura had served time since getting back.
Then there was the usual, Hanz throwing confetti out the window, he no longer threw it in the attic since the day Justyne made him sweep it all up. Gabrielle was still known to bring up and complain about Reid’s death, and sometimes does things just to drive the other members crazy, all the while smiling like a sweet saint. There was the never ending battle against evil computers who ate stories out of spite. Every now and then someone, mostly Sybil, could be heard bring up the matter of Jack’s sardines.
There was the usual never ending talk of Ted DeKker and Jane Austin, the battle with flies who in spite of the bitterly cold weather refused to die. There was of course the matter of Maddock’s song which, every time it was played would make Katie sad.
Jules was still known to go about wielding his power as pirate captain while Mariella continued to try and take over the world and R.K. tried to find a way to throw them both in the dungeon. Sybil and Hanz still held the record for talking on the chat box the most, having been at it every night for months without missing a day. Justyne had discovered the way to Jordaan’s heart, through egg sandwiches. And Leah had taken up screaming for no reason and at the oddest moment. She had also taken to baking cookies, which made up for her screaming.
There was also snowball fights, missing pens, late night debates over the oddest things, and fencing matches with both swords and hair sticks. And so, all in all Inklings had returned to normal, well what is normal for authors. And that day was no exception.
The main drift of the conversation on the chat box consisted with everyone planning their upcoming Inklings Christmas Celebration which would be held next week if everyone was better.
“You had all better get better then,” Sarah, one of the well ones scolding.
“Yes mommy,” Sybil typed as she coughed.
“Sarah is not our mommy!” Gabrielle cried, she was one of those people who never seemed to get sick. “Mair is our mummy!”
“Well I am too sick to be a mummy today, let Sarah,” Mariella wrote. Gabrielle of course offered to make her some tea.
“Surely some of you must be getting over it by now!” Leah typed in capitol letters, her version of screaming online.
“I still have a cold,” Justyne said. “But I should be better soon.”
“I am doing better,” Hanz said. “It really hit me hard yesterday; I think I was ranting in three different languages!”
“That would have been interesting to hear,” Sybil said.
“I dreamed about the book again when I had it,” Jules said, he had recovered two days ago.
“Did you see Thomas?” Sarah asked hopefully. Everyone else moaned.
“I still have it bad,” Joy wrote. “I have not even gotten dressed today; I am still in my night gown.”
“I was able to get dressed,” Laura said. “I am wearing my blue jean skirt, sweeter, white socks, and my shoes.”
“I am wearing my brown skirt,” Sarah wrote.
“I am wearing a blue skirt and a white shirt,” Katie wrote.
“I am not wearing a skirt,” Jules wrote.
“That is a good thing,” Alex wrote as they all started to laugh.
“I certainly hope my captain is not in a dress!” The all capitol letters appeared again.
“Jules you are a nut!” Sybil wrote.
“Thank you, you know someone needs to bring M&Ms to the party next week.”
“Why?” Ness asked.
“Because I am eating some now and it seemed like a good idea,” Jules wrote. “While else.”
“I like M&Ms,” Sarah said.
“So do I, but I do not like the Ws,” Sybil nearly fell out of her bed laughing at Jules’s words.
“Well then Jules,” she wrote as soon as she could. “I will eat the Ws for you; I will turn all the Ms upside down!”
The conversation then drifted from everything to chocolate to writer’s block, until Spy came on. “I cannot stay long,” he wrote. “I just wanted to tell everyone that I shall revile my identity at the party next week.”
“Just like that?” Sybil asked.
“Yes,” Spy said. “I have been able to keep myself hidden for this long, I think it is now time I told. So be prepared!” And with that Spy left.
Everyone recovered very fast, and over the next few days decorated the attic. Sybil’s mom was always baking cookies and so they always have warm cookies to eat as they worked. Along with Leah’s they joked that they were all going to be fat soon.
As the day for the party neared everyone got excited. Early that morning Sybil went up and finished decorating. The members came around five; they wanted to have it in the evening instead of in the morning that way it would seem more like a party then a meeting.
Everyone dressed up for the evening, Jules and Leah as pirates, Mark as an Australian bounty hunter; he had given up on piracy. Katie, Jane, and Sybil wore dresses that looked like the styles from their books. Sybil wore a sheet over her head when she entered; reminding everyone she was a ghost. Mariella brought her back to life.
Leah brought some of her cookies, Sarah had made some sweet bread, and Justyne made hot chocolate. All around the room candles burned and Christmas hymns played from the CD player. Everything was going so well that even Jordaan could not find anything to bug anyone about. Gabrielle was acting saintly, Mariella gave up on world domination, and R.K. closed his dungeon, just for that night of course, they next day they would all go back to normal.
Half way through the party Sarah reminded everyone that Spy was supposed to come forward. “Before he does, I would like to say something,” Sybil said before anyone had the chance to say anything.
“Fire away,” Sarah said as she sat down and Sybil took her place.
Slowly Sybil looked at the others as they sat or stood about the room. She thought about the past, all that had happened, from meeting all the members to befriending them, to their adventures together. Tears filled her eyes and a smile spread over her lips as she tried to think what to say.
“I have wanted to tell you all this for a while, but it never seemed the right moment until now,” she finally began. “I am sure you all remember how shy I was when you first met me. All my life my only wish was to have one best friend, just one. I tried to find that friend many ways, but all my attempts ended with me friendless and sad. I had all but given up when I met Sarah. Sarah looked passed my shyness and before I knew it I had a best friend and sister who I could tell anything to. I was happy; I had my life long dream.
“Then I met Katie and Jane, and I was worried. Surely one could not have three best friends! That would be unfaithful to Sarah. I am not very good at these speech things,” Sybil suddenly stopped and turned red. “But my point is; I can now say I do not have just one best friend but special and you are all so wonderful and different and you have taught me so much. Through Sarah, Jane, Christina, and Katie I learned what it was to have a best friend. Through Joy, Jo, Leah, Laura, especially Laura, Ness, and Rose I learned what it meant to be a friend. Jules showed me that you can torment your friend and still have them like you.
“I will not deny that I was frightened when I realized the younger girls were looking up to me, it was a scary thing and I feared I would fail. Maybe I have in some cases, but I have never felt more honored in knowing they thought I was worthy to look up to.
“I have learned how to ask for help, and then I learned how to help others. God has given me friends and made me a friend, and never will I purposely harm those friends. I value all of yours more then life itself. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true. You all have taught me so much! Thank you; there is never a way I can repay it.”
 By then Sarah was bawling. Sybil smiled sheepishly and went and sat down in between Sarah and Laura. She handed Sarah a tissue and wrapped an arm about Laura giving her a hug. Hanz was sitting on the floor beside Justyne, she grinned at them. Then she looked over at Katie and Jane and beamed a smile at them.
Jules winked at Sybil and grinned widely. R.K. rolled his eyes as Pip, who was at his side, beamed. Of course he would say something about the speech later, say it was sappy or something, but Sybil did not care, in fact she was now very fond of the villain. Besides, he beat Villain.
Leah was giggling and probably wanted to yell but for once she didn’t, almost to everyone’s disappointment. Ness, who was sitting on the arm of Alex’s chair, she grinned widely at Sybil, probably thinking about their liking for tree climbing. Sybil suddenly wanted to yell. This was what she had always wanted. The conflicts of having friends, the having to be careful of ones actions, did not matter because having friends who forgave made up for it.
Sybil’s eyes began to glow and a grin as big as a melon clamed her face. Tilting her head back Sybil poured out her thanks to God in a silent prayer, asked a blessing on all her friends, and asked that their friendship would only grow stronger.
“Well, seeing as Sarah is still bawling,” Alex’s voice called the grinning Sybil back to earth. “I shall get this under way. Will Spy please step forward?”
Sybil looked over at Alex. “Spy sent me a message saying he wanted everyone to guess who he was first, final guesses.”
“I think Spy is R.K. or Joy!” Jules said with a sideways glance at R.K.
R.K. scowled and put Jules on his list of after Christmas victims. Joy smiled sweetly which only made things worse, making it look as though she was trying to throw them off her trail.
“I vote Joy,” Sarah said through her sobs. Sybil was tempted to whisper the name of Thomas just to set her off again, she did have an evil streak after all.
“I think it is Sybil,” Pip said with a giggle.
“I think it is Jules,” R.K. growled before Sybil could answer Pip.
Other guesses filled the air. When everyone had guessed they all fell silent and waited with anticipation, no one moved. Finally Sybil sighed and stood up. She moved to the center of the room, all eyes on her. For a long while she said nothing.
“What?” Sarah finally asked. “Don’t tell me Spy told you to tell us who he is?”
Sybil nodded her head and said, “Yes in a way he did.”
“Then who is he?” Jo asked as she looked about.
Sybil suddenly grinned. “I am Spy,” she said.
The breath went out of the room and everyone stared wide eyed at Sybil. No one seemed to know what to say, and their shock made Sybil grin wider.
“YOU are Spy?” Jules demanded.
Sybil nodded her head.
Even Pip looked stunned even though she had guessed Sybil.
(I am sorry guys, I tried to write this all out but I can’t until I know how you all REALLY take the news. So, well I guess I will find out soon enough. And so the game is up, I am the Spy, and I am very sorry Laura.)

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I am thinking I only have one more chapter to go. Word count is now at 73,604

“How did you get here?” Gabrielle demanded as the man stepped up to the rock so all could see him.
“I swam,” he mumbled. “I was thinking if I started swimming across the lake I would drown, but I wound up here instead.”
Mariella moaned as Rose asked, “Who is he?”
“I don’t have a name,” the man said gloomily. “And I don’t have a purpose in life, but I cannot die.”
Christina walked over to him and rested her hand on his arm. “Really, life is not as bad as that.”
“Then why are you here, about ready to be killed by a villain?”
Christina shook her head and knelt before him. “I know that looks bad, I know it looks like we are about to die and that everything is a disaster. But, don’t you see, we still have each other. Yes there are a lot of bad things in the world, in all worlds, but there are also good things, things worth living for. Friends, family, and more importantly one should live for God. God, who created us and loved us and sent His Son to die for us is worthy of our love, worship, and our lives.”
The man shook his head. “God is not the God of my world.”
“But He is,” Christina said. “I know this is only a book and that this world is only made up, but He is still the God of it because He created the people who wrote it,” she paused. “In a round about manner I know, but still. See, our lives are worth a great deal when we are using them to serve God, and no trial we face is too hard to bear because the Christian knows that when they die they will go to Heaven and be with their Lord and Creator and nothing can ever harm them there. That is something we all have been forgetting through all these adventures. God is still in control, even in a book, and we need to remember that and trust Him. Nothing can harm us, even here, without He giving His consent first.”
As Christina spoke the others began to realize her words were true. Not once in all their adventures had any of them prayed to God for help, because they had forgotten that God was still in control. They had been thinking the characters who were writing were in control of everything.
“How foolish of us,” Katie whispered.
“It is not to late,” Alex said.
The man watched in amazement as the authors all gathered together and knelt and prayed. And as he watched he was suddenly filled with the realization that yes there were some things worth living for, and there was also some worth dying for, and he had suddenly found both, and for the first time in his life he smiled, and joined them as they prayed.
Alex led the prayer because he was the oldest boy. “Heavenly Father we come before You in humility,” he began. “We realize that through this whole thing we have been looking at others to save us, others who are not even real, we see now that all that was folly. They did not save us; in fact they turned upon us. Now we come before You knowing that You are the only One who can save us if You so choose. If it is in Your will that we do not make it out of here then help us to always remember that You are still higher then all of this and it is all happening according to Your will. Amen.”
Once they were done praying they all stood up, feeling very much at peace. The man then addressed them. “I can see what you mean Christina, friends are worth living for, but they are also worth dying for, and I want to fight Villain for all of you.”
They tried to persuade him other wise but he refused, he was going to fight Villain because he had finally found friends and he wanted to do it for them. His only request was that they give him a name first.
“I have always liked the name Matthew,” Christina said.
The man’s eyes brightened. “Matthew,” he said. “I like that name.” And so from that day forth, at least until the duel, he was known as Matthew.
That night no one could sleep, so they gathered together and spent the night praying and talking. They told each other all about their adventures and the things they had seen. Everyone shuddered when Jo told them of the flies. Hanz and Sybil were disappointed they had missed the battle with the bats, commenting how like a DeKker book that was.
Sarah complained again because Thomas had not been real and had been a bad guy out to kill her. “He was so perfect!” she said for the hundredth time.
Prinz and Jordaan got into another argument that Justyne solved by making egg sandwiches, eggs and bread provided by Cassandra and Elsa. Jake asked Sarah if she could marry him and the character Jane then and there while Jonathan gave Timothy a long talk about how one just did not put ones author into a book to try and kill them. “Especially when that author is my wife,” he added as he looked over at Justyne who was serving the egg sandwiches while trying to convince Hanz now to pin Jordaan to the nearest tree.
Sybil and Maddock were under a tree close to Hanz and were having a long talk and finally making peace, much to Katie’s delight, she liked it when no one was mad at her brother. And everyone, at one point or another, made their way over to Spy to try and guess who he was.
And over it all Matthew watched and never once did he stop smiling. Yes, he was certain of it now, friends were worth dying for.

The next morning Cassandra and Elsa got together and created a special sword for Matthew. Once they had written it into the book Matthew set to work practicing with it. Meanwhile Villain had sent two of his men to find a good spot to hold the duel; these two men being none other then Paul and Peter.
The authors passed the day in talking to Matthew and trying not to go crazy from the wait. But finally afternoon came, after they had been served a meal of cold ham and cheese a man appeared and told them to follow him to the arena which was nothing more then a clearing in the tree that had been roped off.
Villain stood in the center of the arena, and when he saw the man all the authors and characters were hugging and shaking his hand Villain rolled his eyes. The man did not look like much and Villain doubted he would put up much of a fight.
Matthew hugged Christina especially tight before he turned and stepped over the ropes. He walked up to Villain with his head held high and not sign of fear on his face.
“And who might you be?” Villain asked as he turned his nose up at the man.
“I am Matthew.”
“I did not know they had a character named Matthew, are you a character?”
Matthew shifted his feet. “I am the character of a character. Well, rather the character if several characters…” his voice trailed off as he thought about it. Come to think about it, that was rather weird.
Villain rolled his eyes. “I could care less, I only want someone to fight and I don’t care if he is an author, a character, or a ghost!”
Matthew drew his sword. “Well then, shall we fight?”
Villain yanked his sword from the sheath with a great flourish. He sneered at the man before him and said, “When you are ready.”
Matthew dropped into a stance and raised his sword right as Villain swung at him. Matthew deflected the blow and countered with one of his own, and so the battle was on.
Villain was very surprised to find that Matthew knew how to handle a sword and handle it well. He blocked blows and threw in his own so fast Villain had trouble keeping up with them. He jabbed and lunged and countered and blocked and for each move Matthew matched it and threw in an extra one.
The authors and characters all watched, very hopeful as things looked to be going in their favor. They even began hoping that it would be to the first blood and that Villain would not end up insisting on the death.
Spy stood under a near by tree watching the whole thing gravely. He knew what kind of man Villain was, and he was watching closely waiting for the moment of deceit, waiting so that when the moment came he could jumped forward and help.
Matthew managed to keep Villain’s sword at bay for fifteen minutes, keeping it so that not even once did it come near enough to cut him. The next fifteen minutes he had a little harder time with it and was nearly cut once or twice; but by then end of the half hour both agreed to a rest.
As Matthew made his way over to the authors Sybil started to quote lines from Prince Caspian. “Does his highness need repose?” she growled. “Five minutes?” she then asked in a tired voice that was full of pain. “Three!” she growled.
Sarah rolled her eyes at her friend and Hanz snickered.
“How is it going?” Alex asked as Ness handed Matthew a cup of water.
“It is going easy, that is what is bothering me,” Matthew said as he drank deeply. “I fear he is up to something.”
Leah shook her head and patted his arm. The realization that they were sending this man to his death was getting to them. Matthew smiled at them all and said, “Remember, I am not real.”
“You are real to us,” Rose said with a gentle smile.
Matthew’s smile beamed like a ray of sunlight as he said, “Then I am truly happy and now I can die in peace!’
After a few more moments he returned to the arena and walked over to Villain. “Shall we finish this?” Villain asked with a scowl.
Matthew smiled. “Yes, let’s.”
The first part of the duel had been strategic, look for weak spots; the second half was more intense as the two men went after each other exerting all their strength, their blades flying only inches from their flesh.
It was Matthew who drew the first blood, cutting Villain right on his finger. Villain stared in surprise at the wound, and true to Spy’s words, ignored his own rule as he attack Matthew with the intent of killing him. Matthew held him at bay, and once looked back at the authors who were watching pale faced. His look assured them that this was still what he wanted to do
The combatants where now moving quickly over the arena, both loosing and gaining ground. After awhile though they stood rooted in one place their blades flashing so fast it was amazing neither was kill, let alone cut. The authors and characters watched in utter amazement as they tried to keep track of whose blade was whose.
The fight ended when Villain twisted his blade under Matthew’s and stabbed the man in the chest. Matthew’s face drained all color as Villain yanked his blade back out.
“No!” Christina cried as Matthew fell to his knees.
Villain turned on them and laughed. “You really thought this man could kill me and free you all? You fail to see my power! No man alive can stop me! And now you shall all live here and be my slaves to the end of your days!”
Maddock moaned and growled, “I cannot believe we made him!”
Over head the sky darkened over with black rain clouds. Thunder rolled in and lightening flashed, a tree was struck and caught fire.
Villain laughed, lifting his laugh so that it mixed with the earth shattering thunder. The ground began to shake violently and the authors and characters were tossed to their knees as lightening struck dangerously near.
“You shall all pay!” Villain laughed.
And during all of this Matthew fell over as he struggled to draw his breath.
Spy crawled over to him and rolled him on his back as a bolt of lightening struck behind him. “Matthew!” Spy looked into his face. “Don’t die, you can’t die.”
Matthew’s face was deadly while, his eyes gazed over. Rain began to fall in torrents, wetting them all through.
Seven men began to move forward on the authors as the wind picked up and yanked their hoods back. “Thomas!” Sarah yelled when she saw his face. He did not answer her but drew his sword as an evil sneered crossed his face. “Don’t do this Thomas!”
Hail started to fall from the sky, pelting the helpless authors as the ground continued to shake so bad they could not stand.
“We have to stop him!” Jules yelled.
Mark drew his sword as Hanz grabbed his pistols. The ground started to split open and both boys were nearly swallowed whole.
“You have to do it,” Spy was still telling Matthew. “You have to do it for them!”
Matthew looked up into his face and for the briefest moment he was able to see the face under the hood. He smiled. “I was not expecting it to be you.”
Spy smiled. “Neither will the others,” he said.
“Help me up,” Matthew asked weakly. “And then run.”
The ground shook more violently as they stood. Pain tore through Matthew as he struggled to get his feet under him. At first he did not think he would make it, until he heard voices yelling over the storm, “God is still in control! We look to Him from who comes our help!”
The storm roared louder and drown them out, but Matthew did not care, he had heard all he needed to. Once he had his feet under him he ordered Spy to flee, and then drew his dagger. Lightening struck close by and came inches from hitting him. Matthew did not let it stop him.
Slowly he crept over the ground until he was behind Villain, he raised his dagger and it flashed in a bolt of lightening, and then he drove it home.
Hanz had fallen into the hole and was clinging to the side of the jagged rocks as Jules tried to pull him up. Maddock was trying to get a good aim on Villain so he could throw his dagger. All around the other characters and authors were fighting to stay alive, both from the storm and the Rangers, when all the sudden it stop.
The rain stopped, the hail followed it, the clouds vanished and the earth ceased to shake. Just like that it was over. Jules pulled Hanz up and then they all looked over at Villain. He was lying face down upon the ground, dagger in his back, and Matthew fallen over him. Both were dead.
Spy slowly walked toward the authors, his head was lowered as he said, “It is over; we can go home.”
Then, before anyone had time to think, or even greave over Matthew’s death, they found the land changing. Sarah and Sybil grabbed each other’s hands and held fast as the land faded and changed from an island into a small attic room with two girls sitting at a computer. And, in spite of all that had happened to them, this was by far the weirdest.
“You’re back!” Cassandra and Elsa leaped up from their chairs and ran to hug their authors. “We were so worried!”
No one said anything; they were all too stunned and could not think. Had it all really happened? Or was it all a dream? No, it surely could not be a dream or that would mean they had all dreamt the same dream.
For the longest time they all just sat or stood not uttering a sound. They were sad, but they could not remember why. Something bad had happened, someone they liked a lot had died, but they did not remember who or how. After a while though it did not seem to matter. Sarah decided she did not need to know who he had been, only that he had been a friend. And so she started to cry.
The others slowly started to weep as well, even the characters. It was not the babyish sort of crying either, but heart broken sobs over a dead friend and no one could blame them for that. They cried until they had no tears left, and then they sat in silence again. And as they sat all their adventures came back, all but Matthew who no one ever remembered though Gabrielle, Mariella, Beth, and Christina all remembered the man who had never smiled once in his life.
As they remembered they were reminded that God was in charge of all things, the bad and the good. And so for this reason they all smiled, and then their smiles grew until they were laughing. A joy swept through the room and they all laughed in glee.
Katie grabbed Jane’s hands and spun her about the room, stopping only long enough to pull Christina into their circle. They laughed and spun, and realized they were in their night gowns. When this fact was realized everyone else realized they were still in the night clothes as well. And that reminded them that they needed to get home.
As the authors left and returned to their beds Maddock looked at the characters and said with a smile, “Well, all and all I think that turned out rather well. In fact I am thinking of writing my own book.”
The characters all glared at him and he said with a charming smile, “No, I won’t put any of you in it; I was thinking I would use those Rangers though.” And from somewhere in the book Thomas’s eyes lit up and he grinned.

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Word count 70,554

The ship had run aground, it had happened so suddenly there was nothing any of them could do about it, one moment they were sailing over clear waters, the next they were stuck on a sand bank. Mark scowled at his brother as Jules leaned over the bow of the ship and looked down.
“We are stuck,” he finally announced.
“What gave you that crazy idea?” Mark demanded.
“Oh put a sock in it Mark,” Jules muttered.
Leah shook her head at the brothers and asked, “What should we do?” She looked out past the bow of the ship and saw nothing but water.
“Send out an SOS,” Jules moaned as he started pacing.
“That is our brilliant captain’s plan?” Mark asked with a scoff.
Jules rolled his eyes. “I was being sarcastic Mark.”
“I think it might work!” Jason suddenly exclaimed, breaking up what would have been a fight when he did so.
“What might?” Jules demanded.
“The SOS,” Jason said.
“We can send it to the girls!” Galdorn said when he caught on, his eyes glowed in hope.
And so they sent about, trying to get help from Cassandra and Elsa, but all their yelling only left them with sore throats and the knowledge that the girls could not help them out of this one.
“So what do you suggest we do, sit here?” Mark asked as he glared again at Jules.
Jules rolled his eyes again and said, “Really Mark, you sound like you are goin to start a mutiny too!”
“Give me one reason why I should not!” Mark suddenly snapped.
Jules stared at him hard before he answered. “Because I am your older brother and your captain!”
“You are an author who killed his character and was put in their book!” Mark cried and drawing his sword added, “And I will be captain if I take over this ship!”
Jules drew his own sword and the characters stared in disbelief as they realized what was happening. They were about to say something when a sharp gasp came from behind them, they all turned and gasped in horror when they saw a dark man had hold of Leah, knife at her throat.
“Villain!” Jules growled. “Let her go!”
Villain laughed. “The gallant Jules wants to save his first mate I see, and what about you Mark?” he asked with a sneer.
“Don’t you even think of harming her!” Mark snapped.
Villain laughed again, this time louder. “If either of you wishes to save her then sheath the swords, and come with me!”
“Come with you were?” Jules demanded. Villain looked over the side of the ship and Jules followed his gaze until it rested upon a small boat.
Jules looked over at Mark, and then at Leah. Leah seemed to be begging him to try and take Villain on while Mask’s look plainly said, “We have to obey for her sake/”
Jules groaned and said with a snap, “Fine! We will come!”

They ran through the woods not daring to stop. They really had no idea where they were going, just that they had to get there fast. Or maybe it was the feeling that they had to get away from the Rangers fast. There is something very sad in knowing someone you were trusting was really a bad guy plotting your death and in a way they wanted to be as far away from the men who had done just this to them.
They ran until they reached a hill that rose above the trees, this they climbed and then sat down enjoying the cool, rich green grass. For a long while no one said anything, they sat in silence that was both peaceful and sad. When they did speak it was in soft, whispered tones that blended with the soft breezes.
“How can this be a place of danger?” Cherise said sadly. “How I would long to live forever in a place like this!”
Katie lay back on the grass, pillowing her head on her arms. She sighed heavily and whispered, “So do I, I am so inspired here.”
Sarah and Jane said nothing because there was nothing they could say. And so they stayed there for so long they seemed to forget all else about them as the peace of the land lured them off to sleep. They felt into a light doze that, a moment later, they were yanked out of.
Sitting up they all looked about, trying to see what had disturbed them. They moaned when they saw him, Villain, standing over them. “Come now,” he said with a smile. “Do not look so surprised! You knew I was going to return and finish this did you not?”
“Leave them alone!” Reamann snapped as he stood and drew his sword. Kallen stood on his right and Jake on his left.
Villain shook his head. “You don’t get it do you? You cannot stop me with swords and bows and arrows, or even guns for that matter,” he smiled as he remembered Hanz’s attempted to shot him.
“Then how do we stop you?” Jane asked, she had stood up and was facing him off.
Villain smiled at her as he said, “By coming with me, you will soon see how this must end!”
Authors and characters looked at each other but they knew there was really nothing they could do but go with the man. And so, in the end they agreed, though they did so with great reluctance.

They had to free R.K.; that was their only thought. No matter what they had to free R.K.. As they ran toward the torture room this one thought driving them on, they began to wonder how they would free him. Pip was in no shape to fight, in fact she could barely stand!
The cat hissed as he thought about Rufus, there was nothing he would like to do better at that moment then sink his teeth into that rat. Trojan, the cat, and Mark reached the torture room first as Sam and Meggy had stayed behind to help Pip. The characters burst into the room just as a big man snapped his whip again which landed on R.K.’s back. From the looks of it he had already been whipped a lot and had not he been tied up it is very likely he would have fallen over.
“Let him go!” Trojan snapped as the cat’s eyes landed on Rufus who was over seeing the whole thing.
Rufus laughed at them as the man snapped the whip again. The authors came running in at that moment and Meggy and Sam lowered Pip to the floor so they could draw their swords.
“You don’t stand a chance!” Meggy snapped at Rufus. “Let him go and we will not sick kitty on you!”
The cat licked his jowls though he did not like being called kitty.
Rufus laughed as the man with the whip turned and looked at them with an annoyed glance. They recognized him though they had only seen him once before; he was none other then Villain.
Villain laughed at their expressions and Rufus laughed with him, though Rufus’s laugh was cut rather short when the cat saw that none one was looking at him and pounced. Rufus yelped and tried to draw his sword but it was too late. The cat smiled at him and said, “Never mess with a hungry cat when you look like dinner.” And then he ate him. If was not a pretty sight, but after all, the cat was, well a cat and Rufus was a rat and that was the nature of things.
Villain was not very pleased at having one of his men eaten, but he did not waste his time with the cat. Instead he told the authors and characters to surrender to him.
“Give us one good reason why we should!” Sam demanded.
“Because I have R.K., and as you can see to have him torture causes your friend a great deal of pain,” and he looked at Pip as he spoke.
The others looked over at Pip as well, and then over at R.K., and then at Villain. Trojan looked ready to toss his sword into the man, but instead he growled, “This is why no one likes you!”

It should go without saying that he got the others as well. Through trickery and deceit he managed to capture them all. He led them to an island, one he had made special for this purpose. Sure it seemed a little crowded with all the Inkling members and their characters on it, but he was not the sort to complain.
Villain gave them a day to rest and share their adventures with each other. Sarah and Sybil found each other and clasped each other in a tight hug. Villain rolled his eyes at them and then left, there was one last person he had to get before the group was complete, and he was only to be found in the real world.
The next day Villain called everyone out into the main square were he addressed them. Standing up on a plat form he said, “I must say with great reluctance that I am pleased with you all, you have preformed much better then I thought you would, in fact I thought you would all be done in on your first adventures, but you proved me wrong.” No one smiled at him, in fact all they did was glare.
No matter, at least they were listening. “As you can see you all have failed the first requirements of the game, which was to kill me,” he smiled because it was so obvious that he was still alive. “But also none of you died, and so that brings us to a problem. Now, I can either let you all go, or I can do you all in right now. Thankfully for all of you I am not the sort to just knock off a bunch of young authors, but I am also not the sort of man who will just let you all go either.”
Still no one spoke. What was wrong with them all? Cat had their tongues? “So then, to settle this matter I have come up with a plan, a duel. You guys must choose someone to fight me, we shall be civil about it and only do it to the first blood. I do not care who you pick, I am willing to face any of you.”
He looked them all in the eye but they did not blink and every one of them returned his gaze. That was good, very good. “If I win you all stay here as my prisoners for the rest of your lives. If the person facing me wins you all go free, simple enough don’t you agree.” Still no one answered, they showed no emotion.
Villain rubbed his hands together and listened to the dry sound. He allowed himself to smile gleefully as he added, “Also I have gone out of my way to bring to you someone you all know.” He looked over his shoulder and nodded his head. The cloaked figured, dressed in brown pants, loose shirt, bare feet, long cloak, and hood, stepped forward and up to his side. The figure said nothing and moved very stiffly.
“I present to all of you, Spy,” Villain said as he rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Spy pulled back from the touch though he did not glance up at Villain.
The Inklings all gasped as they gazed for the first time upon Spy. They could not see his face as the hood covered his features. Villain liked their reaction, he liked it so much he laughed as he dismissed them. Spy was very eager to leave Villain’s side and move down with the Inklings, he followed them as they made their way to the beach to try and decided who should face Villain. He stood quietly in the back and did not saying anything as he listened to them talking.
“I should be the one to do it,” Maddock was the first to speak up. “This whole thing was my idea and I should be the one who gets us out of this mess.”
Theobald shook his head. “No Maddock, Sybil needs you, I should be the one to go.”
“You sound as though he is going to kill you,” Sybil scolded. “He said it was to the first blood, not the death.”
“I would not trust him on that if I was you,” Spy spoke for the first time.
All eyes turned on him, their looks full of uncertainty. “Villain is one of the worse bad guys in all of history, he is known for not keeping his word. I doubt highly he will let his opponent live, and I doubt even if the man you choose was to draw first blood he would not keep his word and let you all go.”
“What do you suggest we do then?” Mark asked warily.
“The only wait out of this is for Villain to die, like he said,” Spy said gravely.
“How do we do that, and how do we even know we can trust YOU?” Mariella snapped.
Spy lowered his head. “You can’t.”
“I thought you were one of us,” Beth said. “How can you be one of us if we are all here?”
Spy sighed heavily. “I am one of you, in your world. This is Villain’s world, and he was able to bring me here in the form of someone else.”
Everyone looked confused and said nothing for a long while. “You mean, if we were to remove your hood we would see which one of us you are?” Gabrielle finally asked.
Spy nodded his head. “Yes, only you cannot remove my hood, it goes against the rules of this land and is therefore impossible. Just like Jake could not fight the man with a gun nor Hanz could shot Villain. Villain made rules and we have to listen to them.”
“Why?” Jules demanded. “Why can’t we break them.”
“They won’t break,” Soy said gravely. “Here, try it, come try and remove my hood.”
Jules walked up to him and grabbing the hood pulled back hard, it refused to move. “See?” Spy asked when Jules stopped his pulling. “We have to obey because we can do nothing else.”
“And to get out we have to kill Villain?” Laura asked in a whisper.
“I fear so, though you must keep in mind he is just a character, killing him would be no different then killing one of your characters in your books.”
For a long time no one said anything, Spy let it all sink in before she added, “Also, I fear that the man who kills Villain will die.”
That hit hard. They all stared at each other, stunned by the realization.
“What if a character was to kill him?” Jason finally asked.
“Then the character would die for real, his memory and existence would be forever lost,” Spy shook his head sadly as he spoke.
“That is better then one of our authors dying though,” Cael said gravely as he looked at Beth.
“What if I fought him?” R.K. asked.
Spy rested a hand on his shoulder as he sat on the beach. “I fear that will not do R.K. though your gallantries wonderfully thoughtful. But you see, you and Pip are connected as you have both learned from the torture chamber. If you were to die R.K. then Pip would die.”
R.K. scowled at this but he looked sideways at Pip and gave a half smile. He knew he could never risk Pip’s life, even if they didn’t get along all the time, no more like they hated each other, though deep down they both knew they were fond of each other.
“Let me face him,” Jordaan said. “I die anyways.”
“Well so do I,” Maddock said before anyone could say anything. “So why not let me face him?”
The other characters all stepped forward then and gave reasons as to why they should be the one who faced of Villain. All too soon order was lost and everyone was arguing. Spy sighed heavily and moving over to a tall rock that jutted out of the sand he whistled loudly and called them all back to order.
“Do behave yourselves or I shall face Villain.”
“If you were to face Villain would the one who you are die as well as you?” Rose asked wondering if she had worded it right even as she said it.
“Yes, if I was to die then the Inkling who is me would die as well,” Spy said gravely.
“You seem to know a lot about all this,” Jo said as she looked up at Spy.
“Yes I do,” Spy admitted. “It is because Villain told me many things, and other things I learned while I was in the land. It turns out when you are in a new body you learn things quickly. But that does not matter, what matters is Villain and who should face him.”
“I do not think a girl should be forced to fight him,” Prinz said as he looked at the girl characters.
“I agree,” Spy said. “This is a man’s position.”
“It should be someone who knows much about sword fighting,” Cedryck added.
The characters who did not know much about sword play stepped back with the girls. The also decided he should be well into manhood, being that he would have already lived much of his life as opposed to the young men.
After many hours of work they had it narrowed down to a few men, but where still indecisive. Spy was going to suggest they sleep on it. The duel was for afternoon the next day; that would give them plenty of time to choose though in the end Spy feared they would have to resort to drawing strays. He sighed heavily, this was not how he had been hoping things would turn out; though there was really nothing they could do about it at the moment.
      Spy placed his fingers to his lips and was about to whistle again and call everyone back to order when a quiet but loud voce said from the back, “Send me to fight him, I will go!”
Everyone turned to see who had spoken and some of the writers gasped in wonder at what they saw.

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Jules, thanks for pointing that out, I knew I had gotten Sonega in the wrong place but could not remember where, so thank you.
 As for R.K., you do not know how glad I was to read that, I was so sure you were going to have my head. I wanted to draw out the good byes but was afraid you woul dnot like it, now that I know you do I will do that when I edit it. Pip as for the rat names I can change that later if you like, I just had to find one to use so I could keep writing. As for the others coming to your aid, the rats, they can't yet, it would ruin the story, but I think I will add it later. R.K., you get to find out what they did to you in the next part. :D. No Pip, sadly I did not get the ecard, but thank you for the thought and the congradulations. R.K. please do not stab computer screens though I am sorry about your internet, that can be annoying. If you want a copy Pip I can send it all to you in an email. And so, without farther ado, Chapter nineteen.
 Oh yes, word count is now at 67,456

Slim was attacking again, and this time the other pirates joined in. Mark, Leah, George, Jason, and Galdorn all drew their swords and rushed at the men and the fight was on. The six were of course badly out numbered, but in the end this did not seem to matter as they held their own with surprising skill. They did not kill anyone, but instead would shove them over board.
The fight had only been going about ten minutes and already half the mutinous crew was floundering in the water, yelling and threatening the captain and his men. Not that their yelling did any good, only added to the confusion on deck where the others were all yelling and screaming for effect.
Leah, who was wielding her short sword with the skill equal to any man, screamed as well, though it was more like a batter cry then a scream. The pirates could not help but snicker at the sight of the little girl howling and waving her sword about. Those that snickered though soon found themselves gasping for breath when that little girl ran at them and shoved them over the side.
Mark was on the other end of the ship fighting beside Galdorn, rather fighting with him and taking all his irritation out on the pirates. “How could you do it?” Mark snapped as he lunged at a man. The man jumped backwards and Mark ran forward and shoved him over.
“I am sorry Mark, really, we didn’t know if an author dies in a book they die in real life!” Galdorn said as he helped Mark tossed three men over at once.
“I don’t care! You still should not have done it, and when I get my pen back I may just kill you again!”
Leah found herself back up against the main mast, she was swinging her sword and managing to hold back the men who kept rushing her though she knew she would not be able to manage for long because they kept coming in fast and never gave her a moment’s break.
George saw the peril she was in and rushed forward and bravely beat the men back far enough for her to escape. Then together they fought, and though neither said it Leah knew George was sorry and George knew Leah had forgiven him.
Jason and Jules also managed to make peace, but theirs happened when Slim managed to disarm Jules. Once he had the pirate captain disarmed and had tossed his sword over the side of the ship he lunged at him. Jules jumped back and tripped, landing on his back and hitting his head on the deck. He lay for a moment, too stunned to move, as Slim rushed upon him.
He prepared to deliver the fatal blow when Jason jumped out of nowhere and rammed Slim on the side. Slim was taken off guard and crashed to the deck, then before he could rise Jason and Jules were upon him, and tossed him over. Once the others saw their ring leader go over they all jumped ship, and the authors and characters remained the victors.
Cassandra and Elsa wrote in life savers for the pirates to hold on to, and once Jules saw that they were safe from drowning he sailed away yelling up to the sky, “Maybe make them an island!” Which the two girls did once the ship was out of sight.
And so Jules and his crew sailed away delighted with their victory, little knowing it was going to be short lived.

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word count...63,559

Before Jules really knew what had happened he found himself facing a pirate’s sword. He had come to an agreement with Slim, he would fight him if his men would back down. Then he did a very honorable thing, he made Slim agree that if he won he would not harm Leah and Mark. Slim agreed adding that if he won he was going to make Jules walk the plank.
Mark left the helm and joined Leah as they watched Jules fate, there was really nothing either could do. The duel started without warning, Slim attacked Jules and the young pirate found himself fighting off blows that would have ended his life. Jules was doing quite well nonetheless.
Slim was amazed that for someone so young Jules was able to ward off the blows so well. Jules on the other hand was having a very hard time against the much taller man, though he refused to show it knowing it would only make Slim press harder.
For a long time neither moved, they stood in one place, their blades flashing at great speeds. Then Jules lunged and Slim stepped back at the unexpected movement. Jules moved forward and soon Slim found himself on the defense as Jules advanced on him, not giving him an inch to recover.
Slim scowled knowing that is Jules won this duel he would never be able to show his face to another pirate again. He tried to lunge and instead was pricked in the shoulder. He leaped back and hit Jules’s sword full force in an attempt to knock it out of his hands.
The blow was powerful and for a moment Jules almost did loose his sword. Slim saw this and advanced while Jules had his guard down for a brief moment. Jules regained his guard in time to deflect a blow to his head, but then he found himself on the defense line.
Slim laughed about the whole thing, relieved because he was now certain that he would win. He did not expect Jules to jump up on a barrel though, nor did he expect Jules to jump off the barrel and kick it at Slim. The barrel hit Slim and he was knocked flat on his back, before he had a chance to raise he found Jules’s sword at his throat, one thrust and he was a dead man.
Jules looked up at the men who were gawking at the sight. “This will be the fate of any man who dares mutiny against me again,” Jules said in a commanding voice. “Now take this man below and lock him in the hold.”
Two men stepped forward to do their captain’s bidding when there came a flash of white light and a man came crashing to the deck. He plowed into Jules knocking him flat on his back. Before anyone had time to recover from the surprise at the man’s sudden appearance there were two more flashes of light and two other young men dropped to the deck. They sat on the deck for a long moment, too stunned to move.
“Get off me!” Jules snapped to the man on his chest as Slim rose to his feet and picked up his sword.
The man moved off of Jules and nearly lost his head when Slim attacked, he did not care who he had to take out to get at Jules. The man jumped out of the way and snapped, “Can’t you give a guy even a moment to recover?”
“Jason!” Jules snapped. His eyes flashed with anger and relief all at the same time.
Sonega and George had by then stumbled to their feet. The found themselves surrounded by pirates who were looking at them as though they were ghosts. Mark took one look at his character and thundered, “You are dead when I get my hands on you Sonega!” Sonega decided he would rather take on the pirates then Mark.
However they had more pressing matters at that moment, mainly the mutiny and Slim who was still trying to get at Jules.

Cael, Meg, and Anna knew what they were getting into long before they got there. However the moment they found themselves in the black forest with yellow eyes watching them, they wondered if they had made the right choice.
By the time the three characters had arrived the four girls had armed themselves with sticks and rocks, they had given up on the man, he did not seem very willing to help. However, the moment they saw Cael, Meg, and Anna they froze, and then without thinking nearly pummeled them with sticks and stones.
They might have done it to had not Cael turned his head at that moment making it so that Beth, who was behind him, could see his features. The rock she was holding slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground with a thump. Both Cael and Anna turned to see what the noise came from and were surprised to see their authors behind them.
Cael’s face turned as red as a tomato and Anna lowered her head in shame. Meg shifted her feet and did not say a word.
“Cael!” Beth cried and she seemed to forget that her predicament was his fault. She rushed over to him and gave him a hug.
Cael turned redder but was glad that Beth had forgiven him.
Anna, hoping to seem something of the same treatment, lifted her head, only to find Mariella was giving her a scolding look. Anna slowly walked toward her stammering, “I am sorry, I did not really want to kill you.”
Mariella looked confused because she like the others did not know about the killing author in books fact. Cael and Beth joined the others as the wolves again started their howling, only this time it was sharper and louder. The man looked up long enough to say, “We are done for, they have decided which one of us is to go first, now they are coming.”
Once more Beth picked up her rocks and Cael drew his sword. Gabrielle shook her head and said gravely, “I would feel better if we were all armed.”
Even as the words left her mouth swords appeared at their sides in sheaths, all but Cael who already had a sword.
“What?” Mariella asked as she drew her sword and blinked in surprise.
“That was unexpected if not rather cliché,” Christina said as she thankfully drew her own sword.
Anna smiled as she said, “We may stand a chance after all!” Then she yelled, “Thank you Cassandra and Elsa!”
The man burst her sudden joy when he looked up at them and said, “Don’t you see? Not even swords can help you this time!”

Rufus shoved open the door, it swung back on its hinges, squeaking, and banged against the wall. He paused in the door way for a moment to look at his prisoners, then he slowly entered. He walked tall and commanding knowing full well that he had won, and wanting to make sure everyone else knew it as well.
He stopped in the middle of the floor and rising his head an inch higher said, “As you can well see you are now all captives, captives that I intend to torment! However, being that I am a gentleman I plan to only torment one at a time, and I will let you four choose who gets to go first.”
The captives looked at each other with wide eyes, though they were not wide from fear, more like amazement. How were they supposed to choose who was to go first? They were thinking over this when R.K. snapped, “Oh hang it all! Take me!”
The girls all turned and looked at him in wonder. He glared at them. “What? I may be a villain but I am not heartless, yet. Besides we are all going to get tortured, might as well go first! And what have I to loose, I am not real remember?”
Pip blinked several times but could not think of anything to say, which was probably a good thing being as R.K. would not have put up with last minute speeches on how brave he was being or anything like that.
Rufus laughed at the villain and ordered his men to unchain him. “How grand, the man is going to go instead of the girls, he is going to play the hero! But know this, all your gallantries are useless, I shall not let them be just because you are trying to act brave! They will all pay!”
R.K. was forced to his feet and, with rats on all sides of him, was made to march out of the room. The whole way he kept muttering under his breath about how he would like to get them into his dungeon some time and show them what a REAL dungeon and torture room was like.
As the door closed upon the retreating figure of R.K. Meggy could not help but say, “He is rather brave wither he will admit it or not.”
Pip nodded. “I have always been fond of him, he is one of a kind.”
Sam was about to say something when Mark, Torjan, and the sassy cat who had no name, stepped out from the shadows along the walls. They did not get the warm welcome they might have been expecting. Instead the three girls threatened them, not that there was much they could do being that they were chained up.
“We came to get you out!” Mark said once the girls were silent long enough for him to speak.
No one said anything else because at that moment a loud cry drifted into the hall and Pip’s face went white with pain.
The cat actually looked worried when he saw her face and demanded, “What? Are you sitting on a tack?”
“No,” Pip glared at him as she winced in pain. “They are tormenting R.K….” her voice trailed off as another yell reached their ears.
Meggy understood before the others. “R.K. is part of Pip,” she said thinking how weird it sounded as she said it. “If they torment him they torment her!”
Torjan did not need to hear more, he turned and began to try and pick the lock to the chains. The cat moved over to free Pip as Mark, who seemed to be an expert at this sort of thing, managed to free Sam. Once all three girls were freed Mark turned to the door to pick that lock, only to have it swing open on him. Rufus entered the room and glared at them all saying, “Did you really think I would let you escape?”

Cherise, Katie, Jane, and Sarah broke for a stand of thick trees as arrows were continually rained down upon them. It was amazing done of them were shot as they sought cover behind the trees. Once they were in the stand of trees they continued moving until there were well out of range. By then the sun had set and the moon was casting her light over all the land.
“What should we do?” Cherise asked as she leaned against a tree to catch her breath.
“Do you think they are still back there?” Jane asked.
“I would think they would be,” Sarah said softly. “They are probably waiting for us to return.”
“But why would they think we would return?” Katie asked.
“Because if we don’t go back and warn them the Rangers are going to walk right into an ambush,” Sarah looked back they way they had come as she spoke.
None of them said anything for a while. They knew Sarah’s words were true, they knew they had to go back and warn the rangers if they could. But they also knew going back would mean death. In the end they all stood up and once more made their way back to the archers.
They had not gone far before three men and one woman came running through the trees. They ran up to the girls and before the authors could do anything, they grabbed them and whispered, “Don’t go back!”
“Kallen?” Katie asked in wonder as she recognized her character’s voice.
“Reamann!” Jane gasped in amazement.
Sarah grinned widely at Jake and her character Jane, and then scowled at Jake and scowled him.
“What are you four doing here?” Cherise asked once everyone was somewhat over their shock.
“We have come to save you four,” Reamann said as he smiled again at Jane. How he could ever have done this to her he was not sure, looking at her he was again reminded of her sweetness and he vowed he would never do anything like this to her again. He always vowed he would be a saintly character from that day forth.
“Come we must get you out of this forest,” Jake said hurriedly.
“We can’t leave yet!” Katie gasped. “We have to warn the Rangers or they will be killed!”
Jake looked over at Kallen who was looking at Reamann, who was looking horribly ashamed. He lowered his eyes and looked down at the ground, not wanting to meet Jane’s eyes.
“What?” Cherise asked. “What is wrong?”
“Well,” Kallen looked like he wanted to sink into the ground.
Jake was staring off into the trees so he would not have to look at either Sarah or Jane who was glaring at him.
“The problem is…” Reamann started. He was interrupted as a hooded man stepped out of the trees and said, “The problem is, you all are our prisoners!”
“Isaac?” Cherise asked in disbelief.

“What should we do with them sir?” a man stepped up to the head dwarf, that’s what the men were, dwarfs but they were of an older and rougher bred then most.
“I would say lock them up, but that is too easy,” the leader said as he looked the five girls up and down. “They seem like a sturdy lot, put them in the mines!”
Rose glared at the man but said nothing, just let the dwarves lead her off with the others. They went farther under ground until all hope of escape was crushed under the rocks. Once they had gone so low even the lights had trouble making the darkness flee they stopped.
The dwarves handed each of the girls a pick and a light and said, “Work here, make the tunnel go lower.”
Then the dwarves left and the girls set to work. They had not been at it long when C, Justin, Cedryck, Sonega, and Thaddeus appeared. The girls all stopped working to stare at them as they crashed into a wall, they were not used to the sudden dimness of the cave.
“How did you guys get here?” Jo asked once the character’s eyes adjusted to the darkness.
“Through the computer,” Thaddeus said as he ruefully rubbed his head which he had smacked against the wall.
“Can you get us out?” Laura asked hopefully.
Thaddeus looked over at her, relieved that she was not throwing things at him. “That is why we came, to take you back home!”
“We would not even be here if it was not for you guys!” Rose said as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at Cedryck. His face reddened and he tried to beg forgiveness. She rolled her eyes at him but once the story was out she forgave him.
The others did likewise and once they had made peace began to try and find a way out of the cave. This was easier sad then done, and in the end they realized they had to head back up, back toward the dwarves. No one was really looking forward to this but there was really no other way to go about it.
 Slowly they moved up the tunnel, moving as quietly and quickly as was humanly possible. Still their feet crunched over the rocks and to them they thought they were making enough noise to raise the dead.
“We are going to get caught!” C hissed though he knew there was nothing they could really do.
Justin rolled his eyes and whispered, “I will go ahead and scout everything out a bit so we will know if anyone is coming.”
This he did, only to make it about five feet before he ran right into seven dwarves.

They were creeping through the dark trees when they ran into each other. Jordaan tumbled backwards into Prinz who shoved him to the ground, needless to say he was still irritated with him.
On the other side Alex, who had run into Jordaan, lost his balance and was caught by Justyne and Hanz, they shoved him to his feet and prepared to fight off whoever was in front of them. Thankfully, at that moment, Maddock muttered, “Klutz.”
“I am not!” Jordaan hissed while Theobald tried to clamp a hand over Maddock’s mouth.
“No way,” Hanz moaned.
“Not them!” Sybil muttered.
The characters froze, and then slowly stepped into the moon light. Alex, Hanz, Sybil, and Justyne glared at them, though their faces softened a bit when they saw Jonathan, Prinz, and Theobald.
“So I guess tossing us in here to die was not enough,” Alex finally said breaking the silence. “Now you had to come in and make things worse?”
“No,” Damrin lowered his head and looked repentant. “We came to help you out.”
“By plowing into us?” Hanz demanded as he glared at Jordaan.
Jonathan ignored the scowls and walked over to Justyne, she grinned and hugged him. Timothy hung back with a pale face and a worried look.
Prinz stepped forward, scowling at Jordaan as he passed him, and bowed to Hanz. “We saw your danger and came quickly, what are your orders?”
Sybil was busy glaring at Maddock who for once looked half way ashamed. Theobald moved over to her side and said, “I am sorry Sybil, had I known I would have come sooner.”
Sybil smiled. “I know you would have Theobald.”
 Damrin looked over at Alex who still looked annoyed but also like he would forgive his character for all the trouble he had put them through. Alex then remembered that they were being followed. “We need to get out of here,” he reminded the others.
Hanz nodded his head and explained what the characters already knew. “They will be upon us soon,” Hanz concluded.
“Then we must flee, come morning we shall stand and fight them,” Prinz said as he reached into his cloak. “I brought your pistols with me,” he added as he handed the weapons to Hanz.
Hanz grinned and stuck them in his belt. Then once more they set off. They walked until  the sun rose, lighting the world in soft rays. It was nearing seven when they entered a small clearing.
Moving quickly they prepared to cross it, they made it to the center when an army of heavily armed men stepped out of the trees, bows aimed and ready to fire.

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I wish my other books went this fast! Maybe they can go this fast, I believe I have foudn the key to unlocking my fast writing skills, or shall I say I hope I have. But no matter, here is the next part, enjoy. I believe I am nearing the end if it :). Word count is now at 60,371

In the Inkling’s meeting room Jason, George, and Galdorn were taking their places at the laptop to finish their part of the tale when a banging came at the door. All the characters froze, at first fearing it was Mrs. Forbes wondering were her daughter was.
“What should we do?” George asked wide eyed.
“Nothing,” Maddock hissed. “We will simply return to our books until she leaves!”
They were moving to do this when a voice growled, “What is going on in there? Open up this moment!”
Timothy’s face went white as a sheet when he heard his brother’s voice. “We are done for!” he moaned.
Jordaan clamped a hand over his mouth and snapped, “Shut up!”
The banging continued followed by other voices, they soon recognized Theobald’s, Elsa’s, Prinz’s, Cassandra’s, and Jane’s voices. Cassandra was Rose’s other character and Jane’s was Sarah’s.
“What do they want?” Thaddeus muttered.
“Probably nothing good,” Cael scowled at the door.
“Open up!” Prinz was yelling; it was a wonder they racket did not awaken the house.
“Should we?” Anna asked Maddock. 
Maddock looked thoughtfully at the door before answering, “Yes, we cannot have them getting suspicious, hide the computer first.”
Jordaan closed the laptop and hid it behind a chair as Maddock walked over and opened the door. The six characters marched into the room and cast everyone piercing glances. The moment Prinz’s eyes landed on Jordaan the young man knew he was in trouble. Maddock fared no better under Theobald’s gaze.
“What is going on here?” Prinz demanded after a long pause for effect.
“Nothing,” Timothy said as he avoided looking at his brother. “We were just talking, hanging out as they say.”
Jonathan marched over to him and stood face to face, Timothy tried to keep his face from reddening or his eyes from darting about.
Elsa and Cassandra looked gravely at George, Anna, and Meg who looked ready to sink into the floor, guilt plastered all over their faces. Jane cast one look at Jake, one that was full of shame, and he nearly started bawling. He might have had not Maddock glared at him.
Theobald moved in on Maddock, looking him right in the eyes and having a stand off. For a long time no one moved as the two stared at each other, but finally Theobald said, “Sybil is missing, and I want to know were she is.”
Jonathan glared daggers at his brother. “The same goes for Justyne, I have looked over the whole house and have not seen here.”
Prinz turned to the other characters. “I have also discovered Hanz missing, when I went to see if he was at someone else’s house we found that author missing as well. Upon furthering our search we found that all of the Inkling authors are missing, and we have a feeling you all are behind it. Now, tell us where they are and what you have done!”
Jordaan ground his teeth. “You are blaming us for nothing!” he snapped. “As though we would be so cold hearted as to do something to our authors!” One look from Prinz and he fell silent.
Theobald squared his shoulders and exerted an authority he hardly ever used. “Tell us now and we shall go easy on you!”
The older characters cast each other worried glances while the younger ones looked ready to run and hide. Cassandra and Elsa moved in on the younger ones, talking to them in soothing words, making them feel at ease, and then asking them what had happened.
Jake however fared the worse. Once Jane saw his look of guilt she pounced on him like a cat on a mouse. “Oh Jake how could you?” she said as she cast him a heart broken look. Her eyes filled with tears and she rested her trembling hand on his arm. “And I thought you were so much better then this! Oh how can I ever look upon you again?” and for effect she began to cry.
Maddock moaned, he knew Jake, and therefore everyone else, was done for.
Jake grabbed Jane’s hand and holding it fast said, “Jane I am so sorry! Please forgive me, we meant no harm, honestly we didn’t!”
Jordaan snickered and Prinz grabbed the front of his shirt and growled, “What have you done?”
Theobald drew his sword and pointed it at Maddock’s chest. “Tell us!” he snapped.
Maddock glared at Jake who was still holding fast to Jane’s hand. “Thanks a lot; and you call yourself a man!”
Theobald pressed the tip farther until Maddock could feel it pricking his chest. “Alright!” Maddock snapped at the young king. “Give us a break; it i
“It isn’t like we have killed them or anything!”
“Not yet!” Jordaan said with a grin.
Prinz reached up and grabbed the young man’s ear, giving it a hearty yank. Jordaan yelped in pain and then feel silent.
Maddock moaned and flexing his shoulders said, “We put them in a book.”
The six characters froze, their eyes widened and their faces turned odd shades.
“In a book?” Elsa gasped.
“How could you?” Jane snapped dropping her sobbing act.
Theobald looked tempted to run Maddock through. “What were you thinking?” he snapped as his eyes flashed.
“What processed you to do a crazy thing like that?” Cassandra demanded; she glared at Cedryck who lowered his eyes in shame.
For a long time no one said anything as the guilty characters tried to think up good defenses and the non guilty ones tried not to kill the others. It was George who broke the silence, he sat down on the floor and started to cry, and it was not a childish cry but one that comes after you have betrayed your best friend.
“I tried to kill Leah!” he wailed. “She doesn’t deserve it even if she did kill me with a cheery tree!”
Theobald’s face twisted as George’s words reached his ear. “You tired to kill them?” he gasped as he took a step back.
Prinz released Jordaan who fell to the floor at the sudden lose of balance. Jane looked ready to cry for real that time and Cassandra sat down hard on a chair, too stunned to stand. Jonathan and Elsa glared darkly at their brothers.
Maddock looked closely at the six and finally asked, “What’s up with you guys? It is just in a book, it isn’t like we are rally killing them; we just want them to know what it is like being a character!”
Theobald’s eyes blazed like a fire as he glared at all the characters. “Don’t you all know that if you kill an author in a book, they really die?”

Slim was still standing before Jules; he had drawn his sword and was smirking evilly. Jules did not need to ask to know what he was thinking. However, he did ask. “What is the meaning of this? Drawing a sword on your captain?”
“I would call it mutiny,” Slim said with a sneer. “If it weren’t for the fact that you are not my captain!”
Jules drew his own sword. “I am captain of this ship, and you are a crew member of this ship, that makes me your captain, and I will not have mutiny on board my ship!”
“Are you willing to put force behind those words boy?” Slim asked and the men behind him drew their swords as well, they all sneered and Jules knew he, Leah, and Mark were in trouble.

Maddock sank down into a chair and rested his head in his hands. No, it could not be true! He had not just signed the death warrant of all the Inkling authors, had he?
“Where is the computer?” Prinz was demanding.
C ran and retrieved it. He set it on the desk and opened the top. The screen blinked to life and the story appeared. C looked closely at it, and then gasped in horror.
“What?” Reamann demanded; he did not like the sound of that gasp.
“Something was added to the book, something we did not write,” C said, his face had drained all color.

The wolves did not come charging out of the trees like the girl’s expected. Rather they ran to the edge of the tree line and stopped, they could see their yellow eyes upon them.
“What are they doing?” Christina asked as she looked over at the wolves.
The man looked up, looked at the wolves, and then over at Christina. “They are deciding which of us to attack first; they can be very strategic when they choose.”
Beth looked up at the dark trees and then slowly lowered her eyes again, whispering as she did so, “We are going to be eaten by smart wolves.”

The characters blinked as the words appeared on the screen. George felt a shiver race up and down his spine as he whispered, “What is happening?”
“Can’t you tell?” Elsa demanded. “The characters you made have revolted on you! They are writing the story now!”
“Can they do that?” Anna asked with wide eyes.
“If characters can put their authors in a book then I am certain character’s characters can revolt.”

Meggy opened her eyes and found a very bright and sharp light shinning right into them. She quickly clamped them closed and moaned.
“Meggy?” Pip’s voice drifted over to her ears. “Is that you?”
“Yes,” Meggy moaned again. “Are the others here?”
“R.K. is; he has been complaining the moment he woke up.”
Meggy opened her eyes and looked about. She was lying on a cold, hard floor and the light over her head was a bare bulb hanging from a wire. “Where are we?” she asked as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. She realized her feet were chained to the wall.
“In a dungeon,” Sam muttered. Meggy turned her head and saw that Sam was on her left and Pip and R.K. on her right.
“How did we get here?” Meggy asked.
“Can’t you guess?” R.K. muttered. “Those rotten rats drugged our food and knocked us out; they carried us here while we slept.”
Sam moaned and rubbing her head said, “Now they plan to torture us.”
“Lovely,” Meggy muttered as the sound of pattering feet filled the hall.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Jake asked as he rested his hands upon the table.
“We can write ourselves into the book and go and help them out, other then that I fear there is nothing,” Theobald said gravely.
“How will we get written in?” Sonega asked.
“And if we go in won’t we be at the mercy of the other characters?” Kallen asked.
“And how will we get back?” Jason added.
“Someone will have to stay behind, they can write us all in,” Prinz said after a moment’s thought. “We will most likely be at the character’s mercy, but the one that stays behind can help us by any means possible. As for getting out I am thinking we will all be released when we kill your villain.”
“But who will stay behind?” Justin asked as he looked at the others.
Yes, that was the problem, who would stay?

A bucket of ice cold water was thrown on the five girls. They woke up quickly and came up fighting, swinging at unseen things in the dark. A harsh, deep laugh stopped them. “This is why I like humans,” an earthy voice said with a laugh. “They are ridiculously funny!”
“Who are you?” Jo demanded. “Show yourself!”
“With pleasure my lady!” the voice laughed. A blue light flashed as the next moment the glow filled the cold cave.
The girls blinked in the light and struggled to adjust their vision. When they finally cleared the black spots from their eyes they almost wished the light would go out again. Before them stood an army of short and heavily muscled men, all of whom were armed with short swords and clubs.
The leader, the man who had spoken, smiled at the girls and said with a laugh, “Welcome to our home. I hope you enjoy our stay seeing as how you will never leave here alive!”

The others were still arguing about who should stay behind when those words appeared on the screen. Cedryck slammed his fist down on the table and snapped, “Enough of this! They need us now! If not one else will stay then I will!”
Everyone looked up and the six who were still annoyed at the others for getting their authors into this mess, forgave him.
“You can’t stay behind,” Cassandra said as she smiled at him. “They will need your help, but me on the other hand, they can spare me! I will stay behind!”
“And I will stay with her!” Elsa volunteered. That comforted Cassandra who did not much like the thought of having to stay alone and help the others keep alive.
“Okay then,” Prinz said as he smiled at the two girls for their bravery. “Write us in.”

 Sarah was sitting under a willow tree that grew beside the river. Katie and Jane were sitting on a fallen log that had fallen over the river, they were dangling their bare feet into the clear cool water. Cherise was lying on her back in the warm sun.
They had been walking for a full day and night, and had only now stopped to rest by another river they had come upon, this one was not being watched by trolls thankfully. The Rangers had left the girls alone for a while, giving them a chance to rest after they had eaten. However the sun was starting to set and the girls could not help but wonder where they had gone.
Katie and Jane looked back at the other two girls, suddenly aware that dusk was coming, and coming fast. “Were do you think they are?” Katie voiced everyone’s thoughts.
“Do you think they ran into trouble?” Cherise asked as she sat up.
Sarah shuddered at the thought, but before she could voice her concerns an arrow flew through the air and landed at her feet.

Jake nearly climbed through the screen when he read the words and Maddock and Timothy had to hold him back.
“No Jake!” Maddock snapped. “You’ll break the computer if you go in like that!”
“I don’t care!” Jake snapped. “They are shooting arrows at my author! No one does that to her!”
Maddock moaned as Jane sighed, “My hero.”
Timothy was about to say something when more words appeared on the screen, stopping them all.

They came when Justyne was on guard. She saw them as the moved through the trees, shadows darker then the night shadows of the woods. Quickly she leaped to her feet and ran to alert the others. She shook them all awake and told them about the shadows.
Hanz drew his sword and whispered to Alex, “Should we stand and fight or find a better position to hold them off?”
Alex looked about them. “Our position is good, but it is the lack of light I do not like. They seem to be able to move well in the dark were we would have some trouble. I think it would be better to lead them on until the sun rises.”
Sybil drew out her sword and then tied the sheath around her waist again. She stood up and whispered, “Let’s be off then.”
Though they all plainly heard the sound of running feet behind them, and they knew the chance of them escaping alive was ten to one, if not impossible.

Jonathan’s face twisted in fear as he read the words. Prinz glared at Jordaan and for probably the first time in his life Jordaan felt bad for Hanz. He turned to Cassandra and Elsa and said grimly, “Write us in, now.”
Both girls turned to the computer and sitting down began to write. They were very nervous about doing it, but they also knew they had to, their authors were depending on them!

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Word count. 57,687

Alex sat down on a rock to remove a stone from his shoe. Justyne shaded her eyes and looked into the trees, she had a feeling something was out there watching them, and she had a feeling he was not a friendly someone, not if he was in a book their characters were writing.
Sybil was leaning against a tree, moving her overly long sword in small circles, she seemed lost in her own world for a  time, seeming to have forgotten that she was in a book being written by a man who wanted her dead. The truth was though she as missing Sarah and was wondering what she was doing at that moment.
Hanz, who had gone to scout ahead, returned as Alex was putting his boot back on.
“Did you find anything?” Justyne asked eagerly.
Sybil’s head snapped up and she walked over to join the other three. She struggled to sheath her sword as she walked but this was impossible as long as the sheath as at her waist. The sword was not that long, it was just that Sybil was short and so the couple added inches on the blade made it too long for her.
Hanz saw her trouble and helped her sheath, then made his report. “I saw tracks, but they were days old. Whatever they belonged to has been long gone.”
“That is it?” Justyne asked as she looked about again.
“What kind of tracks were they?” Alex asked.
“That was it,” Hanz told Justyne, then said to Alex, “Some kind of beasts, come I will show you.”
The others followed Hanz into the woods where were very quiet, all but for the wind. He led them to a patch of dirt and pointed at three tracks in the loose earth. The tracks were far apart showing that whatever had made them had been big. Also they were shaped funny, they almost looked human, except the human would have been walking on the side of his feet and would have had claws at his toes.
Sybil looked at the tracks for a long while before she said very softly, “Whatever made those, I am not sure I want to meet him.”
The others did not really blame her though they did not know half of her nervousness was because with her over active imagination she had already pictured the beast, and was certain Maddock could make something equal to it.
“We really have nothing to fear,” Hanz said reassuringly. “Like I said, they are days old.”
Justyne said nothing, but she looked over her shoulder, her face was grave.
Alex cast her an uncertain glance and then said, “Shall we continue?”
Hanz nodded his head and took up rear guard while Alex led the way, being as he was the oldest. They moved quietly and quickly, listening to the wind play through the trees. Sybil could not help but smile as the wind ruffled the loose strains of her hair. She shoved down her doubts and reminder herself of Hanz’s words. The tracks were days old!
They had been walking for a few hours when they realized they were all thirsty. They had long since left the brook and so had not had anything to drink for a long while. So, it was a great delight when they heard the sound of a river crashing over rocks. They all ran toward it and were therefore very thirsty by the time they reached it. Eagerly they knelt down and drank.

“Make them fall in!” Jordaan cried gleefully.
“That is too predictable!” Timothy muttered as Maddock glared at the two.
“I know what I am doing!” he grumbled as he turned back to the screen. “You two have to wait for your turns!”
Damrin grinned as he looked at the screen. He wanted to suggest that Maddock have something pop up out of the river and eat them, but instead he held his peace and waited until he could write something.

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My word count is now at 54,618

Every author knows there is nothing more annoying then flies buzzing about one’s head while they are trying to write. And so, when the girls heard that low buzzing coming their way they knew they were in trouble. All authors know what buzzing flies sound like.
Jumping off the rock Ness and Jo joined the other girls on the ground. “That sounds like flies,” Laura said as the girls dropped down beside them.
Joy shuddered as she said, “Flies?”
“Ugg!” Rose grunted. “Flies are terrible!”
“Muse killers!” Jo said as she looked up at the sky.
The buzzing was getting louder. Ness looked at the other girls and said, “Should we wait for them to come?”
Though they were not really scared of the flies it seemed foolish to just wait around for them to come and get them. Not all flies are nice, and in books being written by characters it is certain that they will not be nice at all.
The buzzing grew louder; the ground seemed to be vibrating with the noise. Jo shook her head. “Those are not normal flies, come on, we need to get out of here!”
Quickly they looked around for a place to hide. At first they saw nothing and they were beginning to think they would have to stand and face the flies when Rose saw a black hole in the side of a tall hill. Though they could not be sure that it would be a place to hide it beat standing out in the open doing nothing, so they all ran for it.
Behind them the buzzing was growing so loud it seemed to be filling the air. All the earth seemed to be vibrating with the noise, they ground seemed to be shaking, this making running next to impossible. Laura stumbled and fell once, and Joy stopped to help her up, then once more they raced toward the black hole.
Ness was the one who dared to look back; the sight she saw made her skin crawl. Behind them the sky had turned back from the horde of flies that were sweeping toward them like a huge storm cloud. The very thought of all those flies crawling though her hair, no more like dancing, flies like to dance in author’s hair, was enough to make her scream. It wasn’t the scared kind of scream; no it was an angry, irritated scream that escaped her lips.
The other girls looked back and felt their skin crawl too, which came as no surprise. The sight also made them run faster. They had nearly reached the black hole when the first of the flies landed on them, crawling slow and lazily up their arms, dancing through their hair, running races about their ears and doing all in their power to annoy.
The girls swung at them as they ran, but the flies managed to escape getting hit as only flies can. The hole was very close now. They pushed on harder; they could see the black hole looming toward them, growing bigger with each step.
Rose was the first to reach it. Without a glance back she dove through the low opening, she was quickly followed by Joy and Laura, then Ness and Jo. Jo saw a rock leaning against the wall. Running to it she ordered the others to help and they rolled it over the entrance of the hole, locking out the horde of flies proceeded to beat against the rock trying to get in.
Some had managed to get in before the rock was rolled into place. These buzzed about in a loud, annoying manner and got on the girl’s nerves. There was a light filtering into the cave, and by it Jo found a stick, this she grabbed and proceeded to beat the flies.
The other girls found sticks as well and with a vigor they attacked the rather large flies until every last one of the annoying bugs were dead. They were about to throw down their sticks then, only to realize how much like swords they looked and felt like. So they decided to keep them.
“Now what shall we do?” Joy asked as she looked back at the rock. The flies were still beating against it.
“Go down into the cave I guess,” Jo said who, being the oldest, had sort of taken charge.
The girls stuck their sticks into their belts and with mumbled agreements followed Jo down, deeper into the cave.

C ran a hand through his hair and leaning back in his chair asked, “Now what should happen?”
Thaddeus shook his head and muttered, “Something bad, something really, really bad!”
“Oh that is real creative,” Justin muttered.
“I don’t see you coming up with anything!” Thaddeus countered.
“I can come up with something better then, bad, really, really bad!” Justin scoffed.
“Oh put a sock in it!” Cedryck snapped.
Sonega crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. “Once you four are doing going at each other’s throats I have a plan!”
The others turned to him and he smiled. C seemed to understand when he saw Sonega was holding a notebook. Yes! That was a perfect plan! Why he had not thought of it before C knew not, all he knew was that he was now about to get back at Jo!

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 I tried to refrain myself and act very civil about it all, but shall we face it, I cannot. So, in this moment of childish glee I beg everyone forgive me and do not think I am bragging as you are all doing so wonderful with your books. That said, please excuse the following...
 YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did it!!!!!!! I reached the word count!!!!!!!!!!! *Dances about and wishes it were raining so she could dance in the rain* Oh, I need cake and icecream, hehehehehehe...:D  *Grins so wide her teeth nearly fall out*
 Ahem, sorry about that, I lost my head for a moment. However, I am off now.

 Sybil

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Word count is now at 51,408

Katie stepped out from behind a tree, Jane, Cherise, and Sarah right behind her. They gasped when they saw a girl standing in a clearing, she was dressed in a light blue dress and her long golden locks fell to the middle of her back. She was playing a violin was and gently swaying with the music.
None of them moved as they watched her. She was a beautiful girl, her face was white, her cheeks were a light pink, and her lips, which were turned up into a smile, were a very light red. Her long, black eye lashes rested lightly against her cheeks. The music was filling the clearing like a soft, light mist. The girls felt enchanted by it.
Slowly, almost against their will, they all four moved forward, drawn by the music. The moved within ten feet of the girl and then stopped. She did not open her eyes or acknowledge them; she seemed unaware of them at all. The music was slow, but it was picking up pace.
Suddenly the girls found they had to dance, and without realizing it they began to dance about the clearing, almost as though they were being carried by the music. How long they danced they did not know, in fact they seemed to have forgotten all about everything else but dancing. For all they knew they had been dancing forever.
They may have continued dancing forever had not a sharp and harsh sound broken through the music. The girls froze as the girl with the violin screamed loudly. They looked over at her, feeling dazed and somewhat lost and saw in horror that the girl had dropped her violin and was screaming in pain.
Before any of the four girls could react a wild looking band of men ran out from the cover of the trees and grabbed them. The girl saw the men and howled in a violent rage, but there was nothing she could do. In fact it happened so fast the four girls could do nothing as the men yanked them back into the trees.
Katie, Jane, Cherise, and Sarah stumbled along beside the men, too dazed at first to realize what was happening. When it finally sank in that they were probably being kidnapped they began to fight and struggle. The men, who were hooded and cloaked, ignored their efforts at escape and continued running.
Finally they reached a waterfall, and the men pulled the four girls behind it into a cave before they finally released them. The girls huddled together, holding each other’s hands, as they looked at the band of seven men who were standing before them.
“Who are you?” Katie finally asked, she could not take her eyes off the men.
 “We are the Rangers who keep these lands,” one of the men said as he stepped forward.
“Keep it?” Sarah asked as she raised an eye brow.
“Protect it,” one of the other men stepped forward. “Guard it.”
“From what?” Jane asked softly.
“From beasts and robbers and highwaymen, and giants, and, well you name it we guard the people from it,” a third man said with a toss of his head that nearly caused his hood to fall off.
“Why do you hide your faces?” Cherise asked.
A pause and then the man who had first spoken said, “It adds to our mysteriousness.”

“Adds to their mysteriousness?” Reamann asked; he shook his head at the sentence.
Kallen snickered and Jake rolled his eyes. “Give me a break guys, I am new at this!”
Kallen laughed. “Really? I would not have guessed!”
Jake sat back in his chair and glared at the two characters. “If you don’t knock it off I will go no farther, or I will have the Rangers do away with them now!”
Reamann shook his head. “Someone is a little touchy today.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “I am not!”
Kallen grinned. “Are so.”
“I am not, I just hate being stuck with you two; you guys are so old fashioned!”
Kallen looked at Jake’s army uniform and then at his own clothing. “Of course we are different books!”
Reamann clamped a hand on Kallen’s shoulder. “Be quiet,” he muttered. Then turning to Jake said, “Please continue, we shall not utter another word.”
Jake turned back to write as Kallen grinned widely.

Cherise looked over at Katie who shrugged her shoulders. Sarah was grinning widely.
“Are you good guys then?” Jane asked.
The first man, who seemed to be the leader, nodded his head. “Of course we are; that is why we saved you from Alicia.”
“That was the girl’s name?” Katie asked the man.
He nodded his head.
“What was she doing? I mean, she did not seem dangerous,” Sarah said as she looked at the seven men.
“That is why she is, there is no point in being dangerous if you look it,” the third man said with a snicker.
The first man turned in his direction and said, “Be quiet Thomas!” Then turning back to the girls the man said, “She lures people into her clearing by playing her violin. Anyone who enters her clearing cannot help but start dancing, and once they start they do not stop, until they are dead.”
The girls shuddered at the thought.
“And you saved us,” Sarah said with a dreamy sigh.
“Of course we did, you did not think we would leave you there did you?” Thomas asked with a laugh.
Katie and Jane looked at each other but for a long time no one said anything. Finally Cherise asked, “Can we know your names?”
The leader pointed to Thomas and said, “You know him already.”
Thomas bowed as the man pointed to another man. “This is my second in commanded, Jeremiah.”
Jeremiah stepped forward, removing his hood as he did so. He smiled at the four girls.
Thomas seemed to remember his hood then and with a great flourish tossed it off as the man introduced two brothers, Paul and Peter. The brother’s removed their hoods and bowed to the girls. Next there was Gilbert and then Benjamin. The leader’s name was Isaac.
The girls then introduced themselves.
The men were all very handsome, there is no need to go into details, just imagine the most handsome man who have ever seen and then imagine him ten times handsomer and you have the Rangers. And on top of being handsome they were also gentlemen and were very thoughtful and kind.
They led the girls back into the cave were there was a table. There they sat the girls down and served them a tasty if not simple meal of smoked meat and cheese and bread. Once they were done eating they moved over to a fire Isaac had lit and Thomas pulled his fiddle from a bag.
Sitting on a rock he began to play for the girls as they sat about the fire. Sarah’s eyes lit up like rockets as Thomas played and sang, he could play wonderfully well and he had a great voice, it was deep and rich and filled them all with excitement.
In an attempt to make the other girls feel at ease the men moved over to talk to them while Sarah moved closer to Thomas so she could catch every strain of the music.
Gilbert sat on a rock by Katie and, staring into the fire, asked, “So Miss Katie, what do you enjoy doing?”
Katie smiled and tossed a stick into the fire. “I enjoy reading, and writing, and dancing in the rain.”
“You like reading?” Gilbert asked excitedly. “I enjoy reading myself!”
Peter was talking to Cherise and Benjamin was talking to Jane. The other Rangers were sitting about cleaning their swords and talking in low tones, if they talked at all. Everything was peaceful and relaxing, and after a while the gentlemen asked the three girls if they would like to dance. By then Sarah had started to sing with Thomas and so the night passed peacefully without the music enchanting them and leading them to their deaths.
The next morning they left the cave. Isaac explained that the forest was full of enchantments and dangers. But he said if they reached the other side they would be safe. He also explained that with the dangers this would be next to impossible, and he and the other Rangers offered to take them through.
The four girls agreed to this and so the little party set out.
Over head the sun shone down from a cloudless blue sky. Birds were singing in the trees, but they were not singing the songs from earth, no their songs were new and different and full of wonder. It was almost as though they were in an orchestra and each note sounded as though it was being played by ten different interments all beautifully blended together.
The wind was moving through the leaves stirring them until they too seemed to be singing with the birds. A brook was bubbling down a little hill and added its music with the rest.
Sarah sighed happily and Katie and Jane linked arms. Cherise smiled and let her poetic mind wander over it all. “How can such a lovely place be full of danger?” she whispered as the wind played with her lovely, long brown hair.
Peter smiled almost sadly. “The world is full of unseen dangers and sorrows that are often hid behind smiling faces and forced laughs.”
“Don’t be so gloomy!” Paul rolled his eyes at his brother. “Let them enjoy it for Pete’s sake!”

“Pete’s sake?” Kallen asked. “I doubt they would say that!”
Reamann looked ready to intervene but one glare from Jake hushed Kallen. Reamann sighed as Jake continued his typing.

Peter smiled at Cherise who knowingly returned his smile. Though they were both enjoying the lovely forest they found a certain delight in looking beyond it and seeing what it was hiding.
Jane stepped up on a fallen, moss covered log and balanced as she walked across it. “This looks like the land from my book,” she told Benjamin. “Except without the lovely music playing everywhere.”
Benjamin took her hand as she jumped off the log, helping her down. He said nothing as she ran over to a patch of flowers and pulling them began to weave a wreath. She turned back and smiled at him.
Stepping up to her side he said, “I should like to read your book sometime Jane, I am certain it is well written and exciting.”
Jane placed the wreath of white flowers on her head and said, “I do hope it is. Oh I would love for you to meet Reamann, he is one of the best characters that has ever lived, he is so very brave and kind.”

Reamann’s face reddened and he stopped reading for a bit.

Nothing very exciting happened until the group reached a small river. It was shallow and clear and could have been easily crossed on foot. However, there was a small white bridge that stretched over it and it seemed a waste to not use the bridge seeing as it was there.
Isaac led the way over the marble bridge, the others slowly following. Everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts and where quite taken off guard when a short, fat, and ugly man, stepped onto the other end of the bridge and said with an ugly laugh, “You shall go no father!”
Isaac and the Rangers drew their swords while turning to go back the other way. Everyone knows it is death to cross a troll’s bridge. They did not make it far back before another man appeared and laughed at them. “No one escapes!” he said.
Thomas rolled his eyes at them. “You don’t think we can take on two little men?” he asked the trolls.
“Hear that brother?” one of the trolls said. “He called us little!”
“That is an insult!” the other troll snapped. “Now you shall pay!”
“Pay, pay, you shall pay!” the other chanted.
As he chanted the river began to rise and bubble furiously. The bridge rose with the river until it was towering twenty, and then thirty feet in the air. It changed from white marble to black steal. The river had also changed to black and was now roaring right below them, slashes of water wet them to the bone.
The Rangers moved so that they were on either side of the girls, being that the girls were now in the middle. Isaac was facing the troll who appeared to be the leader.
“Lower this bridge and I shall let you live!” Isaac yelled over the roar of the river.
The troll laughed. “You are a funny little man! As though I would listen to you! No, I think I shall push you all off and then lower the bridge!”
His brother laughed with him and clapped his fat hats. “Lovely idea my brother!” he cried gleefully.
Paul, who was closest to the non leader troll, looked over at Peter who in turn looked at Isaac. Isaac nodded his head at Jeremiah and then at the two brothers. Both brothers grinned and without a word ran at the one troll while Isaac and Jeremiah ran at the other.
Benjamin, Thomas, and Gilbert ran to join the other Rangers but did not make it far before five big bats swept down from the gray sky and right at the girls.
Katie yelped and Sarah looked for something to throw at them all the while thinking of Ted DeKker. Cherise and Jane ran to either side of the bridge in an attempt to get away from the bats knowing full well there was nothing about they could use to fight them off. Katie removed her shoe and threw it.
Benjamin, Thomas, and Gilbert raced back, swinging their swords at the bats as the girls wished they had daggers or anything to fight with. Gilbert stabbed one of the bats and it crashed into the roaring river.
Another of the bats swooped in and grabbed Sarah by the shoulders lifting her five feet off the ground before Thomas saw and tossed his dagger into the bat. It dropped Sarah and Thomas caught her as Benjamin killed another one.
The last two bats looked at their fallen buddies and with a roar of anger swept in to finish their attack. Meanwhile Isaac and Jeremiah had reached the leader troll and were engaging him in combat. Trolls fight with short heavy swords that can remove a man’s head from his shoulder’s with one blow; that is if the troll can reach the head.
This troll was one of those rare ones that are very wily and can jump very high and balance on things very well. Isaac was finding it hard to keep his head, literally, and Jeremiah was finding it next to impossible to fight, being every time he swung at the troll it would move and he would almost remove one of his captain’s body parts.
The troll was enjoying this a great deal as was his brother who was moving about so fast the brother’s were nearly tired in knots. Also the last two bats were stronger then their three companions had been and the three fighters received a good numbed of scratches from the little, rather big, beasts.
One of the bats pounced on Gilbert, pinning him the bridge. Thomas ran to his friend’s aid only to be tripped by the other bat. Sarah and Katie, who were nearest, leaped on this bat and were tossed about until they lost their grip. They flew a few feet and were squashed against the bridge railing.
Katie and Cherise ran to Gilbert’s aid and were kicked, they fell back and where grabbed by Thomas as Benjamin ran his sword into the back of the bat on Gilbert. The other bat tried to grab at Thomas while his arms were full, he was not expecting Thomas to pushed the girls into Benjamin’s arms, and turn and ram his sword into the bats chest. Not that it matter, there was not much he could do, seeing as by the time he realized what was happening he was dropping to the ground dead.
Meanwhile Isaac had tripped the troll while he was in mid air, and he found himself impelled on Jeremiah’s sword point. His last words were, “Now you know why I dislike humans!”
Peter and Paul were not doing so well. They had both gone for the troll at the same time, only to wind up bashing heads. They both fell to the bridge with a crash and sat for a moment, too stunned to stand up.
The troll rushed them, waving his sword over his head and was inches away from removing Peter’s head when a Paul lifted his sword and tossed it like a javelin. The blade hit the troll and the force knocked him back and pinned him neatly to the bridge.
The moment he breathed his last the river went down and the bridge lowered and turned white again. For a moment everyone sat or stood, too stunned to move as once more music filled the air and everything returned to its deceiving loveliness.
Isaac leaned back against the railing and was the first to break the silence. “Is everyone alright?” he asked.
“All but us,” Peter said as he ruefully rubbed his head.
Isaac rolled his eyes at the brothers and then looked over at the girls as though to assure himself they were unharmed. They were standing up and looking into the water as though looking for the bats. They saw nothing but small bubbles and pure white rocks. And they had a feeling these dangers were only the beginning.

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 This is the chapter you are in R.K., I am ready for whatever you throw at me, I am not scared of you :P or your dungeon so there!!
 Word count is now at 48,433, my counting was off last night, sorry to whoever I told that I was 500 away from 50,000, I was not thinking when I guessed.

Sam stood in the middle of the floor and looked up at the rafters over head. Rats ran across them and for some reason that did not surprise anyone, after all why should there not be rats that were likely to drop down on their heads at any given moment.
Behind Sam Meggy, Pip, and R.K. where standing, each taking in different parts of the hall. There were doors lining the hall way, but most of them seemed to be locked, one or two were opened a crack and light was trying to sneak out. However, the moment it reached the hall it froze, not daring to go past the door frame as though there was something in the hall it feared.
Meggy rammed her fists onto her hips and said with a toss of her head, “Well this is fun, now what?”
Pip looked down the hall and suggested they see what was at the end of it. Sam led the way and the others followed with R.K. bring up the rear so that he could mutter in peace. If he was stuck here he was determined to make the time as miserable as was within his power to do so.
Meggy and Pip moved up beside Sam, both walking on either side of her. None of the three were daunted by the blackness of the hall nor the big hairy spiders that would drop down from the rafters to dangle in front of their faces. The rats were now running about on the floor, running in and out of their feet.
R.K. liked the rats, they reminded him of his rats and he liked his rats. What he liked even more was his dungeon, which is where he wanted to be right now, and he muttered as much, but no one listened to him, they were too busy trying to see what was at the end of the hall. Why they would even care was beyond him.
The tree girls left the hallways and found themselves at the foot of a spiral stair case that wound up into blackness. There was no way around the stair case, all they could do was go up or back, they opted for up even though it would be a long climb.
Grabbed the dusty railing Pip placed one foot on the first stair and was surprised when a cloud of thick dust rose up to choke her. Pip leaped backwards as the dirt filled her lungs and sent her into a coughing fit that knocked her to her knees. Sam and Meggy ran to her aid and the dust filled the room, and came after them.
There was nothing for it but to breathe it in, and the next thing they knew they were all four hacking and gasping for breath. They were all on their knees, tears rolling down their eyes. They finally realized all attempt to draw a breath of clean air in that place was impossible and so they made their way to the front door.
R.K., who had been in the rear and in turning and ended up at the head, was the first to reach the front door. He grabbed the door handle and struggled to turn it; it was locked, and locked tight. Desperation seized them as they realized they need air and fast. They all turned and without giving time to thought stumbled toward one of the cracked doors.
Meggy fell against the door, shoving it open. The others stumbled in behind her and crashed to the floor, as the door swung closed and locked fast behind them, leaving them in darkness.
“Oh yes,” R.K. muttered as soon as he had regained his breath. “This is so much better then the dust!”
“Shut up!” Pip growled as she stumbled to her feet. “At least you are still alive!”

Torjan smiled as he muttered, “Yes, you are alive, for now!”
Mark rested his elbows on the table and glared back at a sassy cat that was watching him with bright yellow eyes. It was licking its paw as it eyed him, seeming to be in doubt that the man could fulfill the task before him.
“Now what should we do with them?” Torjan asked as he paused for a moment.
“Lock them in there for good!” Mark said eagerly.
The cat glared at him and ignoring him addressed Torjan. “Put something in there with them,” he said with a sneer, if cats can sneer.
“Like what? They are not scared of anything,” Mark reminded Torjan. “The spiders did nothing to them”
“We need something bigger then spiders,” the cat said with a hiss.
“What do we need then?” Torjan asked as he rolled his eyes.
The cat’s eyes brightened. “I have an idea.”

Something brushed up against Pip’s leg. Something else climbed up Meggy’s back, as another one a launched themselves from the wall and onto R.K.’s head. Another one ran up one of Sam’s arms and down the other. Sam and Meggy stood while wondering the same thing, “What on earth are they?”
The patter of small feet filled room and R.K. growled, “Rats, they are rats!”
One of the rats pulled up short and stropping before the tall man who was still sitting on the floor, said, “And who are you?”
“R.K.,” the villain said as he lowered his piercing eyes on the rat whose outline he was able to see as his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him.
“I thought as much,” the rat muttered.
Pip moved over to the rat and looked down at him. “Oh, this is unexpected! You are the general to the rat army I made up all those years ago. Well, I guess it was a rodent army.”
Pip knelt before the rat and looked deep into his red eyes. He stared back at her unblinking.
“What do you want?” Pip finally asked.
The rat smiled as he rested his hand on a long, thin sword. “I am glad you asked my creator,” he said in a surprisingly deep voice for a rat. “We have been living in here for some time, me and my men. The other rodents of my army have long since vanished, and as you well know, a rodent army is not much good without other rodents in it,” the general paused.
“You want us to help you find the rest of your army?” Sam asked the tall rat.
He bowed, and as he did so Meggy thought she caught an evil glint in his eyes. “If you would so honor us,” he said in his low voice.
Pip looked over at Meggy and Sam, and then they looked at R.K. who had by then stood up. “Might as well,” he muttered. “It isn’t like we have much of a choice. I mean we are stuck here, might as well spend our time doing something, even if it is looking for rodents.”
“Okay then!” Pip said as she turned back to the rat. “Led the way General…” she paused realizing she did not remember his name.
The rat looked her in the eye, his irritation plan. “Rufus,” he reminded her with a sharp tone.
“Yes, General Rufus,” Pip did not let his tone of voice get to her. “Led the way!”
Rufus turned away from the door and moved off into the shadows. The others followed without a word as rats stepped out of the shadows and followed them. Some moved up beside them and some in front so that before the four knew it, they were surrounded by rats.
This would not have bothered any of them had not the rats kept looking up at them with hateful red eyes that reflected in the dim light. The four returned their gazes without so much as batting their eyes, but this only seemed to make the rats madder. Everyone knows that if a rat is mean there is nothing he likes better then scaring people, and if that person does not get scared he gets mad, and one can never be sure what a mad rat will do.
How long Rufus led them no one was quite sure, but finally they came to a dead end. This R.K. of course commented on. “Great, now what are we supposed to do?” and he scowled at the wall that rose before them as he spoke.
Rufus turned his head and looked back at the villain. Had he had been in a more irritable mood he may have run up the man’s shoulders and done him in. However, he turned back to the wall and ignored the villain as he began to tap on the wall.
Pip looked over at Meggy and Sam. Sam was grinning.
“I bet there is a secret passageway,” she said as her eyes glowed in the dimness.
Meggy rubbed her hands together in joyful expectancy. Pip allowed a grin to pull up the corners of her lips. Secret passageways were always good!
Thump, thump, the hallow noise filled the room. Rufus rested his hand on the spot and began to push. Meggy, who was closest, would have helped him, but one never helps a rat, especially when that rat has a sword. A low creaking filled the hall as Rufus continued pushing, slowly light began to enter the hall and before anyone knew it they were standing in a lit room, blinking at the sudden burst of bright lights.
None of them had time to look around their new surrounding before a man appeared. He was tall and sharp, sharp nose, sharp eyes, and a sharp chin. He looked the dirty party up and down and then turned his sharp nose in the air as he said in a sharp voice, “Would you like me to throw them out Master Rufus?”
“You will not!” Rufus said with a growl. “These are my guest Jeaves, and they will be joining us at dinner!”
Meggy looked at the sharp man and realized he was a butler, characters are not that great at naming characters, and so, obviously had given his butler a typical butler name.
Jeaves looked back at Meggy, Pip, Sam, and R.K.; he said nothing but made it apparent he was not pleased with their appearance. However he said nothing but turned and left the room, saying, “Dinner will be ready shortly.”
Everyone then walked into the room and Rufus shoved the secret door closed behind them. They room they were in had a tall ceiling, a large roaring fire place, thick, deep red carpet, a long, low couch rested before the fire and in the center of the room was a long table that was set for dinner. The china plates and polished silver wear gleamed in the light.
Their feet sank into the carpet as the moved about the room, looking at the many pictures that lined the walls. Most of the pictures were of scowling men and women who looked as though they had eaten a lemon just before having their picture painted. Meggy pointed this out and R.K. said, “Painting pictures took a great deal of time, are you saying they ate a lemon every day before sitting?”
Meggy rolled her eyes at the man and moved to the other side of the room.
Sam was looking at an old clock that was no longer ticking, when Jeaves re-entered the room. He gave them all a wary look as though he was worried they were going to tear the room to shreds. He cleared his throat loudly and they all turned to look at him. “Dinner is served,” he said his sharp eyes flashing.
The doors opened behind him and several men and woman entered bearing silver platters.

“Silver?” Meg asked.
“Why not?” the cat demanded as he looked up from the screen and glared at the girl.
“Well, this is a rich man, would not gold be better, it would show his status in life and show that he thinks he is better then everyone else,” Meg explained.
“You’re saying a rat would care about status?” Trojan asked with a shake of his head.
“Rufus is not the master of the house I thought,” Meg reminded the other two.
The cat scowled, but moving the mouse back backspaced the word silver and entered gold. “Happy?” he demanded.
Meg smiled and Torjan rolled his eyes. The cat hissed under his breath and continued writing.

“That was odd,” Sam said as the silver platters turned to gold right before their eyes. Jeaves rolled his eyes at her as the servants placed the platters on the table.
Everyone took their seats and the lids were removed off the platters. After the food was dished onto the plates the servants and Jeaves left, saying they could ring for him if they needed anything. Rufus bowed his head to the man as the door closed, and then he dug into his food.
Meggy picked up her fork and knife and cut off a slice of meat. There was steak, fresh bread, corn, bread pudding, and a slice of sharp cheese on her plate. Her cup was filled with some kind of drink that looked like hot coco but tasted more like creamy milk.
Slowly the three authors and the villain ate, and even R.K. had to agree that the meal was very good; in fact it was so good they had seconds. They may have had thirds to but everyone knows that is rude and everyone knows not to be rude around rats.
The rats ate quickly and showed no manners as the devoured the food. They drank by sticking their heads right into their cups, slurping loudly and not caring how noisy they were. They dropped a lot of their food on the floor, but two dogs came in and ate it all.
Sam shook her head at the rat’s rude behavior and bad table manners, but there was really nothing anyone could do about it, the rats did have swords after all. And really, no one can expect a rat to have good table manners, in fact to find a rat with manners at all is as rare as rain in a desert.
No sooner had the rats finished eating then Jeaves returned. He glared at Meggy, Sam, Pip, and R.K. as he called the servants to clear the table. He seemed to think those four were the messy ones and not the rats.
“Shall I serve dessert?” Jeaves asked Rufus once all the plates and platters were removed.
Rufus looked over at his guests and Pip was dead certain she saw an eager gleam in his eyes. What was he planning in that deceptive brain of his? Rufus looked her in the eyes as though daring her to guess. Finally he turned back to Jeaves. “Yes, dessert would be good.”
Jeaves bowed, scowled at the authors and villain and took his leave. The rats all went to clean up and so the four were left alone for a moment.
“I do not trust Rufus,” Pip said once they were alone.
“Neither do I,” Sam said. Meggy nodded to show she agreed.
“What can we do about them?” Sam asked as she held up her hands. “We are unarmed after all.”
Pip rubbed her chin and Meggy leaned back in her chair. R.K. scowled and said nothing.
“I do not think there is anything we can do at the moment,” Pip said after a long silence. “Just keep an eye on them. They out number us and if we were to try anything we would probably end up dead.”
Sam nodded her head and Meggy stood up and started to pace. “Do you think he really needs our help?” she finally asked.
Pip shook her head and said thoughtfully, “I cannot be sure; he seems to be in earnest about that, but one can never tell with a rat.”
“I say we poison them all,” R.K. finally muttered.
“With what?” Sam asked with a shake of her head. “Have you forgotten we are unarmed? We don’t have anything, even poison that we can fight with.”
Meggy moved to the fire and with a grin picked up the fire poker. “We have this!” she said with a gleam in her eyes.
Pip broke into a grin and Sam could not help but grin as well. Meggy bent over and placed the poker close to the fire so that the tip would get red hot. They then made a plan as to how to get someone over to the poker in case the rats tried anything. They had just taken their seats again when the rats returned. They were soon followed by Jeaves and the servants who set the dessert down.
Dessert consisted of a light, fluffy cake and soft cookies. The drinks were sweet but not too sweet. The rats once more devoured their food, but the authors and villain ate slowly so they could enjoy the taste. They had just finished one helping when the rats served them another and they ate that too so as not to upset their hosts.
Once they were done everyone moved to the fire and sat down to enjoy the warmth. While they were sitting there a heavily drowsiness fell upon R.K., Pip, Sam, and Meggy. They tried hard to fight it but slowly felt themselves dropping off. As they struggled against the sleepiness Pip suddenly mumbled, “How are you guys trapped here when you are masters of the house?”
Rufus laughed as he watched Pip fight against sleep. Her eyes were falling and she was having trouble keeping them opened.
“It was a trap!” Sam said as she tried to rise. She suddenly felt foolish for not having seen it before.
Meggy grabbed onto the couch and rose to her feet, only to fall to the floor with a crash. She did not rise again but fell into a deep sleep. Sam fell beside her and Pip beside her. R.K. fought the longest but in the end he too fell beside his author. As his eyes closed he cursed himself for not having seen any of this before. Now they were all done for, and there was nothing he could do for Pip or the others.
“Not that I care,” he muttered, though deep down he knew he really did.
Rufus and the rats laughed as they stood over their fallen captives. The General rubbed his paws together and said with an evil gleam in his eyes and a cackle in his voice, “We have succeeded master, they are yours!”

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 Jules you made my day!!!! That part about Mark was great, see, it DOES go to his head, as you shall soon see. Thank you, that was just what I needed. I am honored you both liked the chapter, and that Slim is creepy. That makes me happy, being that you both still like me.
 Word count is now at 45, 314

It was strange being in a place where you had no clue what you were supposed to do in it. Christina, Gabrielle, Mariella, and Beth wandered about for an hour before they came upon a man sitting on a log. He was by another lake and had his long legs in the water; he did not turn as the girls approached.
“Should we leave him be?” Mariella whispered.
Christina seemed to think that would be a good idea. Gabrielle however walked up to the man and touched his shoulder. The man stirred but did not look up at them.
“Excuse me sir,” Gabrielle finally said.
The man did not answer; he continued looking out over the murky water. Gabrielle shook his shoulder and then yanked her hand back with Beth said in ghastly tones, “I wonder if he is dead?”
“Don’t do that Beth!” Gabrielle gasped.
“He looks dead,” Mariella said thoughtfully.
“Very dead,” Christina added.
Gabrielle took another step back, they were right, he DID look dead! “If only that were true, I could be a happy man,” the voice that spoke startled them all. It was a low voice and so depressing it made them all want to despair, why they knew not.
“You’re alive?” Beth finally managed to ask.
“Yes, sadly enough, alive and in good health,” the man turned as they spoke. He had a round face that sagged in a frown. His eyes were full off sorrow and no sign on his features spoke that he had ever smiled once in his life.
“Who are you?” Mariella asked after she studied his face.
He blinked dully, and moaned, “Who cares, who really cares. I am me and that is all that matters. Like is dull and pointless and I am one of the dull and pointless people who are stuck here, that is all that matters.”
“You are a bundle of joy,” Beth muttered.
“Joy, what is joy? That bubble and bounce some people have that drives them on through life, blinding them to the real world. They go through life thinking everything is fine and dandy, thinking there are things worth living for. But in the end they all find out the truth, oh yes they learn that life is pointless.”
Gabrielle looked over at Beth who looked at Christina and Mariella. No one knew what to say, then again, there was probably nothing to say to a man like this. He was watching them dully. Finally he said, “You see, you do not know what true men look like, you four are like the rest of the world.” And he turned his back on them.
“What an odd man,” Christina whispered as the four girls turned away.
“That is putting it mildly,” Mariella said as she cast the man a backwards glance.
They had not gone ten feet when a sign rose up from the misty ground. It read, “No one can leave the forest until they make the man smile.”
Gabrielle scowled at the sign. “Why am I not surprised?”
“I am going to get Cael for this!” Beth said with a sigh. “If he thought the drawing and quartering was bad he has seen nothing yet!”
“How are we supposed to make him smile,” Christina voiced the question they were all thinking.
“Threaten him into it!” Mariella said flashing eyes.
“We can’t do that Mari-mummy,” Gabrielle pointed out. “That would just make things worse!”
“Obviously the man refuses to smile, unless we were to stand him on his head.” They all looked at Beth who was smirking over her own idea.
They all stood about and thought over the matter for a long while before returning to the man who was still sitting on the log. Only now he was sighing, and it was the most depressing sigh anyone had ever heard. They looked at each other again and knew they were about to take on the impossible.
“What is your name?” Mariella tried again as she walked up to the man and rested her hand on his shoulder. “Surely you have a name.”
“No, my mother did not think I was worth naming,” the man moaned.
“Everyone has a name,” Christina said kindly.
“I don’t, because I was not worth the time. I am surprised my mother even bothered having me.”
“It wasn’t like she had a choice, you were coming out one way or another,” Mariella muttered.
“Oh,” the man’s head shot up, and then slowly dropped. “I had never thought about that, but it is true, so true, so sadly true.”
Mariella rolled her eyes and Christina intervened. “Surely you have something you enjoy?” she gently pressed.
“No, I like and enjoy nothing because there is nothing to like and enjoy, all is sorrow and gloom, and depression, there is nothing worth living for, and I wish I could die!”
Christina moaned and Beth moved in. “We are not saying life is all fun and games, there are trails and sorrows, but that is no reason to want to die.”
“How old are you?” the man asked.
“I am fifteen,” Beth answered almost warily.
“You are young then, you still have much to learn,” and once more he turned his back on them.
Beth moaned. “It is hopeless!” she whispered to the others.
“I agree,” the man moaned. “Life is hopeless; I should jump into the lake and drown.”
“Now knock it off!” Gabrielle suddenly snapped. “How can you even think such a thing?”
“Easy, very easy, and it would be easy to do as well.”
“Why don’t you?” Mariella could not help but ask even though she did not want him to do it.
“Because if there is one thing worse then life it is being a dead character with nothing to do for the rest of…whatever,” he had either gotten side tracked or did not care to finish his train of thought. “Maybe I should spend my life finding a way out of this book.”
“You do not like it in here?” Beth pounced on the man’s soft whispered thought.
The man looked at them but said nothing.
Gabrielle stepped forward. “We can get you out of here you know,” she said gently.
“How would you do that?” the man sighed and once more looked back over the water.
“We are authors,” Mariella said with a grin.
“Authors in a book? That is a first,” the man was mocking them.
“We really are!” Gabrielle snapped. “We were put in here by our characters and we cannot get out.”
“Then if you can’t get out how can you get me out?” the man pointed out.
“They told us we have to make you smile, then we can get out of the forest and then back with the others. We have to stop a villain then we will be freed.”
“And then?” the man asked.
“Then we return to our world,” Beth said happily.
“And me?”
“Easy, once we are authors again we will take you out of this book and put you in one you would like!” Gabrielle grinned at the plan.
The man turned at an angle and looked at them with dull eyes. “Any book I would like?” he finally asked after he studied them.
“Any, you just tell us before we leave and in you go!” Beth promised.
The man rubbed his chin and said thoughtfully, “I have always wanted to be an explorer, maybe find a lost treasure or something.”
“We can do that,” Christina said with her bright smile.
The man nodded and asked softly as he stood, “And, could you give me a name?”

Cael glared darkly at the screen. This was not what he had been expecting and the sudden twist annoyed him. How dare one of their characters do something like this? This was unheard of, not that he had not done something like it himself. But that was beside the point.
“What should we do with him?” Cael asked Anna and Meg. He had not been looking forward to working with two girls, but what could he do, and as it turned out they were that bad of partners.
“I say we have him struck by lightening,” Anna said without blinking.
“We can’t just kill him, we need him,” Meg reminded.
“But he is rebelling; he was not supposed to agree to help them!” Cael glared at the screen again, but all it did was reflect his glare back.
“What do authors do when characters do this?” Meg asked.
The other two cast her meaningful glances and she fell silent. That was right, she was one of those characters, and she was killed for her rebelling, that was why she was here, writing about her author. She blinked several times, this was getting confusing. Now a character, of a character, was rebelling on, a character.
“Oh, this is getting a little out of hand!” she gasped.
Cael smiled as he said, “And we are going to stop him!”
The effect of his sharp words were ruined when Coridin, Jo’s character, cried, “Cael smiled!”
The next moment everyone was staring at Cael who had dropped his smile and was frowning again. “He smiled, I saw him smile!” Coridin continued repeating and those who had seen made a big deal out of it.
Cael, needless to say, found no amusement in their making a big deal out of his smile; after all, it had not even been a real smile!

“So, if you smile then we can get out of here,” Beth was saying. “That is simple is it not?”
The man looked at them all, and then his eyes widened.
“What?” Gabrielle asked in dismay.
“I do not remember how to smile; in fact I do not think I have ever smiled once in my life!”
“Of course, of course,” Beth moaned as she flopped down on a rock. “I mean that would have been too easy would it not, just have the man smile and all will be better, well it turns out he can’t!”
Christina shook her head sadly and Mariella got a thoughtful look on her face. “Maybe if we did something very evil you would like it so much you would smile.”
The man looked closely at her to see if she was serious but could get nothing from her expression.
“Mari-mummy, world domination does not work in books, especially books being written by our characters,” Gabrielle said as she looked kindly at the man.
“What if we gave him a name?” Christina suggested.
The man looked over at her as she stood under a tree. The branches hung down low and the leaves, dark, silvery green, brushed over her hair. “What kind of name?” he asked doubtfully.
“A dashing name!” Beth exclaimed.
“And one that is easy to say,” Christina said. “Seeing as this is his first name.”
“It should have a nice sound to it,” Gabrielle threw in.
“And one that can strike fear into an enemy’s heart,” Mariella added all the while thinking, “If his face does not fill them with fear I doubt his name could do any better.”
For a long while no one said anything, they all started to think and think hard. But really they had no idea whatsoever as to what to name the man. Mostly they were thinking, “What kind of name would make him smile?”
“I like Phillip,” Beth finally said.
Gabrielle wrinkled her nose. “No, Phillip is too common.”
Beth rolled her eyes but went back to thinking.
Names where then tossed out such as David, Daniel, and so forth. But these were all too common wherein Lorin, Dilus, and so forth were too complex for a first name.
“This is harder then I thought!” Mariella said after a while. She had been pacing but she finally dropped onto a stump and sat in gloomy silence.
“See, it is hopeless, no one can name me,” the man moaned and moved back toward his log.
“Enough of that, this moment!” Gabrielle scolded him. “I am not going to put up with your constant complaining about life being so rough and unfair! We are going to find you a name; we just want it to be the right name because we like you!”
The man shook his head. “No, you don’t like me, you just need me. It is alright, you can tell me the truth. I can handle it; it is nothing I am not used to after all.”
Beth moaned. “We do like you! We would like you more if you were not so depressed, but we plan to help you get over this!”
“There is no hope for me, none at all, you four might as well give up, I would not blame you one bit,” the man sat back down on his log and turned his back to them.
Mariella jumped up and ran at the man, probably with the intent of pushing him in the lake. Gabrielle and Beth grabbed her, holding her back as she fought in their arms.
“Might as well let her go,” the man was saying. “At least then I would be done away with and no longer an unnamed burden to everyone.”
“Let me at him!” Mariella gasped. “I will show him how to smile!”
“Claim now Mari-mummy!” Gabrielle was saying.
Their racket was short lived in a low moan cut through the fog which had grown thicker. Everyone froze and the girls looked at each other. The man lifted his head out of his hands and groaned aloud.
“What was that?” Mariella asked after the silence had returned.
“The wolves and they are coming this way, though that is no surprise. I knew when I died it would be at the jaws of them, they are killers but they also like to kill slowly so that you suffer a great deal first. I always knew I would die in agony.”
Beth rolled her eyes and then looked at the other girls. Their faces all showed a mixture of fear and uncertainty, they all remembered what the villain had told them and though they thought it could not be painful being as none of this was real, they were still not excited about the idea of being eaten by mean wolves.
“Should we run?” Gabrielle asked the man. He just moaned and mumbled something about drying by being eaten alive and how it might be better then drowning but who could really know as no one could be eaten alive and drown.
“We should stay and fight them!” Mariella exclaimed with a flash in her eyes.
“With what?” Beth pointed out. It was true they had no weapons whatsoever.
Mariella tossed back her head and yelled, “Come on you guys help us out here! I am sorry Anna! Can’t you forgive me and help us?”
A bolt of lightening struck close to Mariella and caused loose ends of her hair to stand on end. “That is not funny!” Mariella yelled up at the sky.

In the Inklings room Anna was laughing gleefully and maybe a bit insanely, as she said, “Revenge is so sweet!”
Maddock looked over at the screen as he walked by; he read a few lines and shook his head. “You three are rather creepy!”
Cael looked up at the ring leader and said grimly, “You have not seen anything yet!”
Maddock shook his head and moved on all the while grinning as he thought over his plans for Sybil.
At the computer Meg was moving into place while Cael and Anna watched on eagerly, adding advice when it was needed. Even Cael could not resist another smile as they moved the wolves into place and set their plan into action. Oh how their authors were going to suffer! And they were so deserving of it. Cael looked at the two girls and they all seemed to be thinking the same thing, revenge was sweet, very, very sweet!

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 To Laura, yes sorry about the last chapter, I was trying to get everything settled. You are in it more but not for another chapter or so, you will see how it goes later on. No, no one is allowed to push RK in the pond, sorry, but he is under my special care because I have something MUCH better planned for him! Anyways, here is chapter eleven, it is about Leah, Jules, and Mark. All the rest of you have to wait for your chapter, sorry.
 P.S. I am trying to not make you out to be a girly girl Leah...I have a standard for girls in my books and I believe you have reached that. My standard is girls who can save themselves, but are not to proud to be rescued. So, if you scream in it at all it is only because I think anyone would scream in such sistations. Anyhow, enjoy!
 P.S.S. To the person with no blog, sorry about that, I give you permission to clobber me with a lage stick. That was rotten of me, I will try not to do that again :D
 My word count is now 42,648

Jules rest his fist on his hips and looked out over his crew, HIS crew. He grinned at the realization. This was his ship and they were his crew! At his side stood Leah, who had kept her position as first mate, Mark was about some where, Jules was still trying to find a good position for him.
“Where are we off to Cap’n?” a tall shinny man asked as he sauntered up to the main deck where Jules was standing.
Jules pushed his three cornered hat back and let the wind blow through his hair. Good question, he was new to this world was really was not sure what pirates did here, he supposed they looked for treasure like all pirates.
“You won’t happen to have a treasure map on you?” Jules finally asked.
The man grinned, revealing rows of missing teeth, the teeth he still had were black. “Eww,” Leah whispered and Jules had to agree.
“O’ course I do Cap’n! I am a pirate after all!” as he spoke the man yanked a roll of leather from his back pocket. This he handed to Jules with a bow.
Jules looked sideways at Leah, both thinking the same thing, how cliché! But neither said anything, one does not offended pirates after all, even if you were the captain. Jules moved over to a barrel and unrolled the map. 
Leah rested her hands on the edge of the barrel and looked at the map while Jules rubbed his chin and muttered things like, “Interesting, very interesting!”
“What is?” Leah asked.
“It seems the treasure is on a small island north of us, and it looks like it is close. The only problem is, if it is so close, why has no one ever sailed to it before?” Jules turned and looked at the man, directing his question to him.
The man grinned almost idiotically, and said, “Our Cap’n is a smart one he is!”
“Well,” Jules asked when the man paused. “Why has no one sailed to it?”
“They have Cap’n, and they all died; every last one of ‘em!” the man laughed, crazily.
“He is insane,” Leah whispered.
Jules looked at the man and then at Leah. “I would agree, if it were not for the fact we are in a book; that is being written by our characters.”
Leah smirked as Mark swung down from the rat lines and landing by his brother grinned widely. “Cool! No one EVER came back alive? Man that would be a great adventure! Are we going Jules?” he looked hopefully up at his brother as he spoke.
Jules looked at the man, then at Mark, then at Leah. Mark obviously wanted to go, the man seemed to care less, and Leah seemed content to follow Jules if he went or not. Jules finally shrugged his shoulders. “Aw why not, we are in a book after all, what is the worse that can happen?”
Leah grinned. He was right, what was the worse that could happen? After all no one every really died in books, because they were just made up! In the Inkling’s room they did not know their characters were grinning and laughing at their poor authors.
Jules turned to the man and was about to say something when he realized something rather, important. “What is your name?”
“Slim,” the man said with a grin.
Mar cocked his head to one side. “Not very pirate-ish if you ask me.”
“I didn’t,” the man said without blinking.
“I am sure our names aren’t very pirate-ish if you ask me,” Leah said.
Slim grinned wider.
Jules shrugged. “No matter, sail toward the island Slim,” he said with authority.
“Can’t” Slim said dryly.
Jules raised an eye brow. “How dare you tell your captain you can’t do something!” he tried to thunder. “Sail toward the island! Now!”
Slim grinned like a loon. “Can’t, I don’t know how to sail.”
Jules’s shoulders dropped. “Great, just great! Can anyone else sail?”
The man grinned. Jules, understandably, was getting annoyed with him. “Where is the rest of the crew?” Jules demanded.
“About,” the man answered lazily.
Jules drew his sword and pointed at the man. “Find them, or you will walk the plank!” he roared.
The man shrugged his shoulders and sauntered off without a word.
“I don’t think he was impressed,” Mark said as he moved away from Jules. Though he was not scared of Jules he was not about to take any unnecessary risks.
Jules moaned and rammed his sword into the deck. He was about to turn on his brother when a grin alighted his face. “Say Mark, you don’t have a task yet, how would you like to be helm’s man?”
Mark whooped and without another word raced up to the wheel and steered the ship to the north. The wind filled the sails and about removed Jules’s hat from his head. He clamped it tightly on with one hand as he sheathed his sword with the other.
Leah ran to the bow and let the wind play with her hair and she leaned out over the railing. This was exciting; she was aboard a pirate ship, sailing off on a grand adventure to find treasure! Nothing could get better then this, except a trip to Narnia.
Below, on the lower deck though, trouble was brewing like a pot of coffee. Already the crew was starting to doubt their young captain, and already there was a hint of mutiny in the air! And Slim was at the center of it.
Jules joined Leah at the bow of the ship. He stood beside her, arms crossed over his chest, trying to look commanding. The truth was he was not really sure what a captain should do when not plundering and digging for treasure. He turned and looked back at his crew, and was surprised to see some of the men approaching him.
They stopped in front of him and eyed him. Mark looked down at them from the helms and Leah turned and scowled at them.
“Cap’n,” one man said almost nervously.
Jules bit back a smile. The man was nervous, this was good; it meant Jules held a certain amount of fear with the men. “Yes?” Captain Jules snapped.
“Well Cap’n,” the man looked back at his comrades. “We, we are not too sure, about your decision, about going into the north, we heard there is an, an evil thing in the waters,” the man was stammering like mad as he spoke.
Jules looked up at Mark who grinned and then over at Leah who shook her head. He then looked back at the men. “Like sea monsters?” he finally asked.
“Aye Cap’n,” the man replied nervously.
“I don’t believe in sea monsters,” Jules said confidently with a toss of his head that nearly removed his hat from his head.
Slim laughed from down below, though it was a quiet laugh. “You will Cap’n, you will.”

Jason’s fingers froze. He looked at the screen and blinked several times. The other characters were milling about the room while Jason, George, and Galdorn wrote the scene for their authors. The plan was simple; each character got to write out the part for their authors, thus keeping another character from being mean to the wrong author.
However, the gallant Jason had come to a dead end. He looked side ways at the boy George and Galdorn. “Now what?” he asked.
Galdorn rubbed his chin ruefully. There was nothing he wanted to do more then have a sea monster pop up and eat all three authors then and there, but then there would be no tormenting which was half the fun. He looked sideways at George.
George looked at the screen and sighed. “This would be easier if Leah was not so nice most of the time.”
“She killed you by having a cheery tree fall on you, a LITTLE cheery tree,” Jason reminded the boy.
George’s face reddened when he remembered. “Put them in a storm,” he said with a scowl. “Storms are good, and I want to have Leah swept over board!” And for such a little boy he gave a loud evil laugh.

The clouds did not roll in, one moment there was blue sky and the next there was black clouds. Just like that. Jules clapped his hat onto his head and looked up at the clouds, he knew well enough that a storm was coming, no was already upon them.
Leah was running up to the helms deck and Jules raced after her, they joined Mark who was having a hard time steering the ship through the wild waves.
“How did it hit us all the sudden like that?” Leah asked as the wind whipped her hair wildly about.
“We are in a book remember?” Jules yelled above the wind.
“A book being written by our characters!” Mark yelled.
Jules looked up at the clouds and shaking his fist yelled, “When I get my hands on you Jason you are dead!”
A gust of wind drowned his words. Slim joined the three and after casting Jules an odd look asked lazily, “Orders Cap’n?”
“Drawn in the sails!” Jules said quickly, though he really was not sure what to do. “Have every man tie himself to the ship!”
Slim shrugged his shoulders and wandered off to deliver the news. Leah looked at the man and muttered, “Seeing as he is not real I hope he is swept over board!”
Mark laughed as Jules kicked off his shoes and raced to the rat lines, for this being his first time sailing he kept his footing on the slippery deck very well. Leah raced after him while Mark struggled to keep the ship above the waves that wanted to consume her, no easy feat to say the lest.
Jules reached the rat lines before Leah and began climbing up in them; Leah followed clinging to the wet ropes for dear life. Over head the sails snapped wildly in the wind, the crew seemed to have vanished somewhere and the three felt oddly alone.
Jules was not sure he would know how to bring a sail in, but he was not going to let the ship and crew, if there were even on board, go down to Davey Jones’ Locker without a fight.
Waves, taller then the ship, washed up over the deck and had he not been hanging on Jules would have been swept off the ship. Down below the waves did sweep Mark off his feet but the young man cling to the wheel and managed to keep aboard the wildly rocking ship.
Leah however, who was clinging just as desperately to the lines as Jules, suddenly heard a snap, and before she knew what had happened she found herself at the mercy of the waves, which were not very merciful. She might have drown then had not Jules looked back and saw her go over.
He was about to go after her when the snap of the sails reminded him of why he was up there. “Mark!” he screamed above the thunder, wind and waves.
Mark only faintly heard his brother’s voice, but he looked up and saw Jules pointing at the ocean. Looking Mark gasped when he saw Leah in the waves. Giving up with the helms Mark grabbed a rope and raced to the side of the ship while Jules returned to battle the sail.
While Mark tired one end of the rope about the railing and the other about his midsection Leah struggled to keep afloat as nasty sea water, which tasted even worse then real sea water, filled her mouth. She tried to spit it out, but that did not work at all.
Another wave washed over both Leah and the ship. Jules was knocked over and would have fallen had not his foot caught in the rat lines, he found himself trapped, hanging upside down as the waves beat against him. Mark did not have a chance to dive over the ship, a wave swept him over and out to sea and when the rope suddenly went tight the breath was knocked out of him and for the first time all three feared they had failed and that they were now going to die in a book.

George stopped writing. Galdorn nearly fell out of his seat and Jason moaned. “I can’t do it,” George groaned. “Poor Leah!”
Jason ran his hands through his hair and whispered, “Cheery tree death!”
George said nothing, but he did start writing again.

Jules, with much work, managed to grab the rope again. Fighting both waves and wind he pulled himself up and once more set to work at pulling the sail in.
Below Mark had caught his breath and was fighting his way to Leah’s side and she fought to keep afloat. Lightening lit up the sky, striking dangerously close to the struggling pirates. Jules was certain a bolt was going to hit the ship and blast it to a million pieces, living them at the mercy of the ocean.
Mark was now ten feet from Leah, and she was now trying to swim toward him, but this was almost a useless attempt that did nothing more then tire her out. By the time Mark was able to reach her both were so worn out they did not think they would be able to get back to the ship.
Jules had by then reached the sail and was fighting it as he tried to draw it in. With every attempt the sail would slap him and he would almost loose his grip on the ropes. One time he nearly did fall, and in a desperate attempt to save himself he grabbed the sail, and managed to pull it in where he quickly secured it.
He then made his way to the deck and did his best to pull his brother and first mate it. No sooner were all three safe on board then the storm stopped, just like the storm in the Bible. For a long while the three of them lay on the deck, too tired to stand. Finally Jules sat up.
“This is insane!” he muttered as he removed his hat which had managed to not be knocked off in the storm.
“Why are they doing this to us? Doesn’t it seem a little vengeful; I mean all we did was kill them…” Leah’s voice trailed off.
Mark moaned. “We are done for!” he muttered. “Galdorn is not the forgiving type.”
“Neither is Jason,” Jules said as he stood up.
“George,” Leah lowered her head as she spoke. “I never thought George had it in him.”
“Well, being killed by a little cherry tree isn’t very, gallant, kind of an embarrassing death if you ask me,” Mark said as he stumbled to his feet.
Leah shoved her hair out of her face. “True I suppose.”
Jules and Mark offered her a hand up and pulled her to her feet. They then looked out over the ocean and said nothing for awhile. “Do you suppose we can say we are sorry and they will let us go back?” Leah finally asked though she was not at all scared.
“I doubt it,” Jules muttered. “They mean to make us stick this out I am guessing.”
“And to think, I actually created the guy!” Mark looked up at the sky and scowled.
“Well, what should we do?” Leah asked after a pause.
“We sail on toward the treasure I guess,” Jules said thoughtfully. “Maybe along the way we will find the villain and can stop him, and get out of this!”
“How can we just kill him though, that is a little, cruel,” the brothers looked at Leah as she spoke. They had not considered this. It was one thing writing death scenes for people who were not real; it was another matter actually having to kill someone just like that.
“We will deal with him when we meet him,” Jules said after a long pause. “Right now I think the only thing we can do is sail on.”
Mark made his way back to the wheel, his wet pants wrapping about his legs and making walking hard. Leah set to work wringing out her dress while Jules looked toward the north. He was starting to think the characters had gone insane, this by far passed anything that had ever happened to an author before, and he was sure of it. Holding a sword to an author’s back was one thing, trying to kill them in a book was another thing all together.
While Jules was thinking about this Slim appeared on deck and wandered over to Jules, the other pirates who had also appeared; stood behind him and watched.
“Where on earth were you?” Jules demanded as the man stopped before him.
“Not on earth,” Slim said with that annoying grin of his.
Jules let the comment pass. “We could have used you here you know.”
“Ye are still alive Cap’n, no need to fear,” Slim grinned widely.
 Jules looked passed the grinning man and at the other pirates who were shifting their feet and glancing from Jules to Mark to Leah. The three returned their looks undaunted. Slim locked gazes with Mark as though wanting to send him a message with his look.
Jules glanced from the crazy man to his brother and watched as Mark’s face changed. Behind Slim the pirates were grinning more and more widely, and Jules had a feeling mutiny was in the air. Little did he know there was also the hint of a duel.

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 Sorry to leave everyone hanging, I should have 11 up by tomorrow.
 R.K., knock it off before I whack you. You are driving me bananas and if you don't stop Jack said he is going to take you on, and he is not every well tempered may I add. I mean, it, you are this close from a beating. And I am not changing anything, and I am not telling you what happens to you and I am not listening to a thing you say so there. Need I remind you that I have to go at this thing like mad, I will edit it later, and don't worry, if I publish it I will take you out if you like though I think you are cool. And the other girls are not frilly, why do you think I put Pip with them? I know she does not write mysteries but she fit there. Now, KNOCK IT OFF YOU VILLIAN!!!
 Yeah Jules, it is weird, but oh well, it is about authors after all :D

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Word count is now up to 39,686. I am going out of town till Monday, so it is most likely to stay there until I return, and it was just getting to the exciting part! Oh well, I suppose I shall have to wait till I return...until then I bid thee all adieu

The talking failed. In fact it failed so badly they were tempted to kill Timothy, and he was tempted to lie down and take it. It happened the next day when Pip comment, “It is strange tormenting our characters almost to the point of death and not killing them.”
And so, the contest was on again, this time to see who could write the saddest death scene. In the background they played sad songs, one of which was The Old Village Lantern, which Katie had dubbed Maddock’s Song as it fit his death. By the end of the day there was a stack of papers that contained the character’s tragic deaths.
Once the authors had left the characters, the renegades again, gathered together to read the scenes, all the while scowling at poor Timothy.
Maddock handed the scenes out and everyone read theirs to themselves before sharing them.
“I am down,” Kallen muttered. “No surprise there!”
“Is it in a pond?” Reamann could not help but ask.
“Is that supposed to be funny?” Kallen demanded.
Reamann shook his head. “No, I am sorry, that was rotten.”
“How do you die?” Kallen asked.
“In my true love’s arms with five arrows stick in me.”
“Ouch!” Kallen groaned.
“Wow!” Jake exclaimed from where he stood. “Sarah is more violent then I thought! She has me shoot in the back five times, and once in the head, the one to the head is the one that does me in!”
“I am drawn and quartered,” Cael muttered sulkily.
“That is nothing!” Jordaan scowled darkly at his papers. “Hanz shoot me in the leg, then runs me through with a sword, and then has me beheaded! He probably would have hung me had I not lost my head!”
Maddock rolled his eyes as Timothy muttered, “I am mistaken for my brother and hung!”
Maddock slammed his fist down on the table and hushed all the characters. They all looked at him expectantly.
“This is crossing the line!” Maddock snapped. “Killing us just for fun! This is unheard of!”
“What do we do?” Jordaan asked, full well knowing the answer.
Maddock grinned and walking over picked up a pen. “We are revolting, tonight!”
***
Sybil’s first waking thoughts were, “Something is wrong.”
She looked about and realized she was in the attic! She knew she had stayed up late writing death scenes, but she also knew she had gone to sleep in her own bed. So, how had she gotten here? Had she been sleep walking?
Someone moaned and Sybil swung her head around, her eyes landed on Sarah. Sarah was here? Slowly looking about Sybil gasped, everyone was here! All the Inklings were fast asleep in the attic! Something was definitely wrong!
“Sarah!” Sybil hissed. “Sarah wake up!”
Sarah sat up and rubbing her eyes asked, “Why are you in my room Sybil?”
“I’m not!” Sybil moved off the couch and over to Sarah. “We are in the attic!”
“How did we get here?” Sarah asked. She then saw the others. “How did THEY get here?”
Sybil blinked several times and then standing up yelled, “Wake up everyone!”
All around the room the other kids sat up.
“Where are we?” “How’d we get here?” Filled the room.
Sybil was in a slight daze when a shadowy figure moved into the candle light. Everyone looked up at him, all thinking the same question he answered for them before they even had the chance to ask. “My name is not important, all that matter is you know who I am,” the man said. He was dressed all in black, black paints, shirt, and cloak with a hood that hid his face, tall black boots and a long sword in a black sheath.
“And who are you?” Alex asked when the man paused.
“I am your villain.”
All eyes turned to Alex.
“Not HIS villain,” the man said in a voice that caused chills to race through them all. “I am your villain, Inklings villain!”
“R.K.?” they all asked.
“NO!” the man thundered. “I am not R.K.! I have no name!”
“Why are you here?” Hanz asked when the man paused. “Who made you?”
“Your characters,” the man said with a sneer.
“Our characters?” Sybil gasped.
“Yes!” the man laughed. “Haven’t you guessed it? You are in their book!”
“WE are in a book?” Jules cried.
“Yes!”
“But why, how?”
The man sighed. “Let us just say they got tired of being abused, so they revolted. They have gathered together and are writing this little tale, and you all are the characters!”
“They can’t do that!” Sarah cried.
“But they have!” the man laughed.
“You mean, we are in a book?” That was hard to take.
“Yes,” the man was getting annoyed.
“How do we get out?” Laura asked softly.
“When all of you die, or one of you kills me.”
“Die?” Joy gasped. “We are supposed to die?”
“Or kill me.”
“Why?” Rose asked.
“Because you are characters now!” the man was enjoying his little game.
Jules drew his sword, only to find it was a real sword. The man laughed. “You cannot kill me know Jules, it won’t work.”
Then, before Jules could do anything, the man vanished. The kids stood blinking in the candle lit room, not sure what to do, say or even think. In fact, it was so strange they stood there for half an hour without daring to move.
Meanwhile, in the real Inklings attic Maddock and the others were snickering over their story. They had nabbed Sybil’s laptop and were taking turns writing. It should be stated here that none of them really wanted to kill their authors. See, when a character is killed he never really dies, he just hangs around with the author for the rest of their days. However, this is a little known fact, when an author is killed in a book they really die, being they are authors. Unfortunately the characters did not know this.
Back on the book the authors were still trying to make sense of it all when the room they were in began to shake, as though a giant was outside rattling it. The authors were all knocked to the floor as the windows shattered. Everyone covered their heads as broken glass covered them.
How long the rattling continued they knew not. But when it stopped and they finally lifted their heads they were very surprised to find themselves in an open meadow. There was a big sign in front of them that read, “Welcome to Dale.”
“Dale?” Justyne shook her head. “They brought us back to town?”
“This looks nothing like Wyoming,” Katie said as she stood up and brushed off her dress. That was when she realized that she was dressed in a greenish brown dress, cloak, and was wearing a sword. She also discovered she was bare footed.
Looking around everyone found they were al in the same colored clothing. Though of course the boys were wearing pants and shirts, and tall boots.
“This is getting a little weird,” Sam said with a shake of her head.
“A little?” Jules muttered.
They stood there for a moment, all looking at each other, before they climbed to the top of the small hill. Looking down they saw paths that wove through the meadow. Each of the paths where marked with huge signs so they could not be missed. Everyone walked over to them and read the signs.
“For pirates,” one sign read. Everyone looked over at Jules and Leah.
“What is THAT supposed to mean?” Jules asked.
Suddenly under the words, “For Pirates” appeared the words, “If you are a pirate take this path. If you are the bother of a pirate take this path as well.”
Jules shook his head. “Me thinks our characters are a little slow.”
“I suppose we are to go down that path?” Leah said a little fearfully as she looked at Jules and Mark. She had a sudden regret that she had signed on as first mate.
“What if we refuse?” Jules asked. A bolt of lightening struck the ground behind him.
All turned to Mariella but she looked as shocked as the rest.
“If we refuse we get struck by lightening, how creative,” Mark muttered. Another lightening bolt silenced him.
Leah and Mark moved closer to Jules. They looked down the path nervously, and then with a glance at the others, slowly began to walk down it. Everyone watched until they disappeared from view.
Once they were gone the others moved to the next sign. It read, “For Antagonists.” Beth, Mariella, Gabrielle, and Christina stepped forward. They did not need a lightening bolt to warn them.
Once the four of them had stepped out of sight the rest moved to the next sign which read, “”For Mystery Writers.” Sam, Meggy, and Pip walked down that path.
“For kind writers.” This one was hard to figure out, but while they were debating small lettering appeared below it which read, “Ness, Rose, Laura, Joy, and Jo.”
This was much debated, but another bolt of lightening settled it and the five hurried off. The next sign was for “GOOD writers.”
Sarah, Katie, Jane, and Cherise took this path. At first they thought Sybil was to follow, but a small message appeared and said no. “She is a GOOD writer,” Katie muttered as the three girls crept off.
Once more the ones left moved down to the last sign. This one read, “For Adventurers,” and below that read, “That means all the rest of you.”
By then Sybil was confused, knowing full well that Sarah was also an adventurous writer. The truth was the characters were just as confused about it as the authors. In the end they had decided that in real life Sarah was more romantic then adventurous and Sybil was more adventurous then romantic. Though they agreed it would be easier if the girls stuck to only one or the other in their writings.
And so, looking at each other as though to make sure they had each others support the last four walked down the last path, not knowing what would happen next.
Down the first path Jules, Leah, and Mark were slowly making their way, they felt no need to hurry and meet whatever it was that was down there. However, they had not gone far before they heard the sound of crashing waves. They all looked at each other, rather Mark and Leah looked at Jules as though he should know the meaning to it.
Jules shrugged his shoulders and continued walking, the other two followed him closely and as they walked they were surprised to find they were actually thinking of him as their captain.
Soon they came to the edge of the meadow and were very surprised to find the ocean stretching out before them. Once more Mark and Leah looked up at Jules who shrugged his shoulders. He was about to say something when a ship sailed up to the beach. Yes, up to it, this is possible in books.
As they watched a man dressed as a pirate, leaped over the side of the ship and said with a sweeping bow, “We have come for you captain!”
Leah and Mark looked at Jules, then at the man, and then at Jules again. Jules was grinning from ear to ear. He returned the man’s bow while saying, “At last! Now we shall have some fun!”
***
Christina, Beth, Gabriella, and Mariella found themselves in a black forest. It was rather a depressing place, but in an almost peaceful way. It was hard to explain, all they could say was that it was dark but was not scary, it was mysterious.
Over head a raven flew past, dull sunlight snaked its way through the place trees and landed in small patches on the ground. There was a lake shimmering somewhere through the trees, they could see the blue of the water. Slowly they made their way past the dark trees with their dark green leaves, and up to the lake.
A thin mist was rising above it and as the watched it began to cover all the lake. The mist continued moving until it covered the forest as well, and soon the girls found themselves in a thin gray fog. But even then they were not scared. It was more like they were filled with wonder.
“What an inspiring place!” Christina breathed softly.
***
Meggy, Sam, and Pip, who for a time seemed to have shaken R.K. all together, stood before an old castle that rose above a purple moor. A mournful wind was howling about it as though weeping for some sorrow that had taken place within its walls.
“Oh! Do you suppose we are supposed to go in there?” Sam asked, her eyes were shinning in excitement.
Meggy grinned. “Of course, or it would not be in our path would it?”
Pip looked at her comrades and with a flashing grin said, “Shall we be off then?”
“Oh yes we shall!” Sam exclaimed and with that led the girls up to the castle, where hasty words were soon eaten, for they met R.K. at the front door.
“You!” Pip cried. “You are one of the ones who got us into this!”
R.K. held up his hand and scowled. “I am not! They would not let me because I am partly an alter ego, now I am stuck in here with you all! For ‘Eaven’s sake! Haven’t I been through enough in my life already?”
“Oh hush up and come on!” Meggy said as she pushed the door open. As can be expected it creaked on rusty hinges. The girls all grinned, but R.K. frowned and wished he was tormenting someone in his dungeon rather then following three girls into an old castle.
***
Cherise, Sarah, Katie, and Jane found themselves in a thickly treed forest. Over head the sky was pure blue with big white clouds drifting lazily about. A warm breeze wafted over them, and a golden light shown down upon them. It was the perfect scene of peacefulness.
“This isn’t so bad!” Sarah said with a sigh as sweet music filled the air. With a smile the girls began to walk toward it, wondering what could play so sweetly.
***
It was hard to say what was more confusing, the jagged rocks sticking up out of the flowers or the over cast sky that the sun was shinning out of in all its glory.
“This is a strange land!” Jo said with a soft whistle. She shoved her hair back from her forehead and looked about.
“What are we supposed to do here?” Rose asked as she shook her head.
Ness climbed up on a rock and sat down, swinging her legs. “Maybe we are just supposed to wait until something happens?” A cool wind blew bits of her hair in front of her face.
“Wait for what though?” Laura asked as she looked over her shoulder. Everything looked harmless enough, but one could never be sure, not in a book!
Joy climbed up beside Ness, looking all about but not saying anything. She agreed with the others, it was a strange land they had found themselves in. Everything seemed to be opposite, the flowers being so pretty and the rocks so dull. The shy gray while the sun shown. The wind blowing and yet everything so still. If something was to happen, it would surely happen here!
***
They were in the mountains, jagged mountains that rose above green plains. They were climbing up the mountain, and the higher they went the clearer the air became. It was hard to describe, but air that clear almost seemed like crystal.
They did not seem to have been climbing long before they reach the top. All about them there was patches of snow and the wind was cool though not cold. A creek was bubbling past them as it made its way down the mountainside. Tall pine trees reached for the sky as though wishing to grasp the clouds as they drifted past.
Something about the air stirred within them all the sudden need to do something, something brave and heroic. However, there is very little to do up on a mountaintop.
“Do you suppose the villain is up here?” Alex asked as he looked about and through the trees.
“I suppose he could be anywhere. I believe our characters are going to use him to try and kill us,” Hanz said as he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Do you suppose all of our characters are behind this, or just the renegades?” Sybil asked.
“I KNOW Jonathan is not behind this!” Justyne exclaimed.
“I doubt very much that Prinz is behind it,” Hanz said.
“Nor do I think Theobald would do this,” Sybil said with confidence. “I believe then we still have a chance. Once the others find out what the renegades have done they will get us out!”
“If they find out,” Alex added.
Hanz and Justyne nodded as they turned and walked into the forest, and right into a trap.

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Word count now at 36,815

It is hard to say what started many of the things that went on in Inklings. Wither it was ponds or turtles or villains in one way or another strange things kept happening in Inklings, and the next event, the one before the grand adventure that changed their lives, was by far the oddest.
It happened one rainy summer day when everyone was up in the attic. R.K. was sulking because everyone was behaving and he had no one to torment no matter how much he tried. However, he had his eyes on Laura, mainly because he was board stiff. He had threatened to throw her in the dungeon, so she was keeping as far away from him as possible.
Other then that fact everyone was loitering about doing nothing of great importance. At least that is what all outward appearance said. Deep down, trouble was brewing.
The trouble started that day when Justyne came in to the attic room; she was followed by Sybil who went to get some cookies. The moment she entered she tripped and would have dropped the plate had not Justyne turned and grabbed her. Looking down Sybil groaned when she realized she had tripped out Jules’s sword, which was lying in the doorway.
Jules denied having put it there, but no one would believe him.
It was only after everyone had grabbed a cookie that they noticed Justyne had a new character with her. He was a tall man, and rather handsome as far as characters go. His name was Jonathan, and he was Timothy’s older brother. He was one of those nice obedient characters who would chop off his right arm before revolting.
The whole ordeal came about more as a joke then anything else, but when one jokes in Inklings disaster strikes, more for the characters then the authors.
Sybil was sprawled out on the rug below the couch, busily typing away. She was only a few pages from the end of her book and Maddock was insisting she finished, not to mention the two other Fates. For a time she was lost to the world, until she heard Timothy wail in agony.
Looking up Sybil received a glare from Maddock, he being annoyed at the interruption that was causing more delays in the end being reached.
“What is wrong with him?” Sybil looked up at Justyne who was grinning almost evilly.
“I threatened to marry Jonathan so that I would be his sister-in-law!” Justyne grinned at her distraught character.
Sybil looked over at Timothy who was trembling in his chair. She grinned and with a laugh said, “Aw come on Timothy, don’t you want a sister?”
Timothy’s face paled and he moaned like he was going to die. Hanz rolled his eyes at him. “Come on, bear it like a man!”
Timothy moaned louder as Justyne grinned evilly, she was enjoying his distress, in fact she was so much enjoying in she decided to carry her threat through. It is kind of hard to plan a last minute wedding, but they somehow pulled it off.
Hanz grabbed a Bible that was sitting on one of the tables and before anyone could stop them the wedding was under way.
Timothy watched in horror as Alex, Mark, and Jules lined up on one side and a few of the girls on the other side. Hanz stood in front of Justyne and Jonathan as Sybil rose to her knees, she would have stood up but Maddock had drawn his sword and was standing over her. If she won’t write then he wasn’t about to let her up!
“We are gathered here today to join together this authoress, and her character…” Timothy groaned and begged, “Please no! Don’t do this to me!”
Hanz glared at him and continued, “In holy matrimony.”
“This can’t be happening!” Timothy wailed.
Maddock rolled his eyes. “Grow up Timothy!” he muttered. “It isn’t that bad!”
Timothy looked at him in agony and asked, “How would you like it if Sybil married one of your brothers, and became your sister!”
Maddock’s face drained all color and he looked over at the wedding. “I protest!” he cried as Timothy grinned in relief. At least someone was on his side.
“Can it!” Hanz growled. He then continued. “Do you Justyne take this man as your lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, as long as you both shall live?”
Justyne grinned evilly as Timothy wept, after all, all men are allowed to weep at least once in their lives and Timothy had a good cause. “I do,” she said with a glance at Timothy.
Jordaan moved to his friend’s side and patting his shoulder glared at Hanz, he may have stood up for him, but getting pinned to the roof had made him more wary.
“Do you Jonathan,” Timothy looked at his brother pleadingly. “Take Justyne as your lawfully wedded wife.” Sybil lost it. Unable to contain herself any longer she burst into a fit of giggles, and continued to laugh through the rest of the wedding until tears rolled down her face.
Hanz shook his head at her but continued. “To have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live.”
“Don’t Jonathan! Please!” Timothy wailed.
Jonathan did not heed him. “I do,” he said, and in one final cry of agony Timothy fell over the chair and lay there unmoving. Jordaan shook his shoulder as Maddock went over to help revive him.
Justyne and Jonathan grinned, and for the first time in history a fifteen-year-old girl married her character, having the ceremony preformed by a sixteen-year-old boy. Once this sank in the others could not help and join Sybil, who was still laughing uncontrollably on the floor.
Maddock glared at them all and whispered to Jordaan, “This is getting crazy, we should stop them.”
“How?” Jordaan asked.
Maddock’s blue eyes shone. “Trust me my friend, I have an idea!”
After the rain let up everyone moved out to the yard, Justyne and Jonathan sat on the swing and talked in low voices. Katie and Jane joined Sybil and watched as she finished the final scene in her book. They gave a sad sigh as Maddock and Carlyss danced under the moonlight having declared their love. All in all it was a good way to end the book and led up to the second, but they all three felt a twinge of sorrow as the realization sank in.
Suddenly Katie dropped her head in her hands and cried, Jane joined her followed by Sybil and they wept for a few moments, the others left them alone in their sorrow. And it only goes to show that one day authors can be dancing with glee and the next weeping.
***
Hanz did not get on the chat room until around ten that night. So for an hour Sybil had sat up arguing with Maddock. Needless to say she was delighted to talk to her brother.
“Well, is Maddock behaving now that the book is done?” Hanz asked.
“No!” Sybil glared at Maddock as she typed. “He is worse, he now wants to take over the second book!”
“You really do need to kill him,” Hanz said. “Kill him in the last book.” And those words sealed Maddock’s fate.
The last book! Of course! She could give him a heroic death at the end of the last book, she could have him dead, and no one could kill her because it would be in the last book! The thought grew until she decided she would do it. By then Hanz had left, but soon after Beth and Gabrielle got on.
Sybil was giggling and sad all at the same time, because deep down she was rather sad at the idea of killing Maddock. By then he had moved back and was watching her warily. 
“What are you doing up so late?” Beth asked.
“I am plotting Maddock’s death,” Sybil wrote, she was certain both girls would be thrilled.
“WHAT!” Gabrielle’s reaction was not quite what Sybil was hoping for. “How can you kill Maddock?”
“Well, it is in the last book. I am thinking he is going to die saving his daughters!”
“You can’t kill him!” Beth wrote.
“Why not?” Sybil asked.
“He is Maddock! You can’t kill him! It’s just not right!”
Gabrielle backed Beth up with hearty consent and Sybil began to panic. Beth and Gabrielle didn’t even like Maddock that much, if they reacted like this, Katie was going to have her head!
After a while Sybil typed, “Now I am sad! Poor Maddock! I am going to kill him!”
“Quick!” Beth urged. “Go write the scene while you are still in the mood.”
Sybil did not argue but opened her document and wrote quickly. And so by the time the clock hit midnight Maddock was a dead man. He read the scene as Sybil wrote it, the whole time he was scowling, but he said nothing.
The scene was rushed, as was to be expected. So the next morning Sybil sat down and redid it, making it even sadder, and knowing full well she was signing her death warrant.
Hanz was one of the first that arrived at the meeting. When Sybil saw him she walked over to him and announced, “I did it, I killed Maddock!”
Hanz smiled. “I am proud of you sister!”
Sybil shifted her feet and murmured, “Katie is going to kill me!”
“I will back you up,” Hanz promised.
By then the others were arriving and Sybil felt very nervous. Once everyone was there they divided up again, Sybil going off with Katie and Jane. They talked over their stories, Jane and Katie telling of the progress they had made. Then it was Sybil’s turn.
“Are you ready to cry?” she asked as her face turned nearly as red as her hair.
“Why?” Katie was already suspicious.
“First, promise we will always be friends, no matter what?”
Jane and Katie promised while casting each other worried glances.
Sybil lowered her eyes and then whispered, “I kill Maddock.”
Jane’s jaw dropped and Katie’s face went white. “What!” Jane suddenly yelled, the others all turned and looked at them, knowing full well Jane never yelled.
“It is in the last book,” Sybil tried to defend herself. “He dies saving his daughters.”
Jane shook her head. “How could you!” she cried. Katie said nothing, just looked ready to faint.
“It fits in the books very well,” Sybil said feebly.
“You can’t kill him!” Jane wailed. “You can’t! If you kill him I will kill Reamann!”
Sybil sat, frozen to the ground, she suddenly felt like a murderer before a judge, and it got worse when Katie dropped her head into her hands and broke into deep sobs. Jane continued to glare at Sybil until she too joined Katie crying.
By then the others had gathered around and heard the news. Jules rested his hand on his sword and looked ready to draw it. Sybil stood up and backed away from him. Hanz stood in between the two as Sarah moved to Sybil’s side. For a moment it looked as though she was joining to have sympathy on her friend and stand by her, until the realization sunk in.
“Jules had me your sword!” Sarah bellowed.
Sybil backed away until she ran into a tree. She was dead, even Hanz could not help her now, she was as dead as a door nail. Jules drew his sword though seemed uncertain as to what to do. Mariella was holding her turtle and looked ready to call down lightening bolts, even Christina was shaking her head and saying, “You can’t kill Maddock!” And the whole time Jane and Katie wept.
Sybil suddenly sighed. She was done for, so she might as well just die. And so she did something out of character, she fell to the ground. Everyone looked at her and then at each other. Sarah ran to her side, “Are you alright?” she asked.
“No,” Sybil did not lift her head. “I am dead.”
“Dead?” Laura asked.
“Yes, I died of sorrow, now you can all go away, because you can no longer kill me.”
“You are talking,” Jules said as he lifted his sword.
“I am a ghost,” Sybil sat up slowly and looked gravely at them all. “I am Sybil’s Ghost, and I am nicer then she was.”
Sarah shook her head. “You have lost it!”
Sybil grinned though she did not feel much like it. It is hard to grin while your friends weep, and when you know you caused it. That night the girls parted, looking like three of the saddest beings that had ever walked the earth.
Meanwhile Maddock started to sulk and as a means to get back at Sybil moved in with his sister were he lived in her basement for weeks with the rabbit she had named after him. They got along well, but for a week Sybil was unable to get anything written.
During that time it took a lot of work, both from characters and authors, to get Maddock to move back in with Sybil. When he finally did come back he seemed to be in better spirits, for the time being. Little did any of them know the disaster that was brewing right under their noses.
It started the day Jane, who was by then speaking to Sybil, who was still a ghost or so she clamed. They were arguing over whose villain would end up tormenting their hero the most.
“Mine is so evil!” Jane was saying. “He is so mean to Reamann!”
“Well I have a really nasty one! He is worse then Reid ever was!” Sybil threw in.
And so it continued until Jane said, “We should see who can torment their character the most!”
Sybil eyes lit up and Maddock scowled, until he remembered it was Theobald who would be tormented this time.
Sybil grinned evilly and said, “All right, you are on! I am certain I can torment Theobald ten times worse then you can torment Reamann!”
“We shall see!” Jane laughed as she rubbed her hands together.
It was never remembered afterward by either when this became a contest and when the others were drug in. All that is known is that by the end of the week Sybil and Jane had drug the other authors into their little contest of seeing who could torment their character most.
Maddock was not pleased to find out that for this contest Sybil would be using him and not Theobald. All he knew that was if this kept up he was going to have to do something, he was not about to take this sitting down! And if the others had any say in the matter, neither were they!
In fact, it was during the meeting in which the scenes were being written that Maddock called Jordaan to his side.
“What?” Jordaan asked as he stood beside the scowling man.
“Them,” Maddock motioned to the authors all bent over their work. “This is getting out of hand!”
“But what can we do?” Jordaan asked sulking.
Maddock grinned. “Gather the others, tonight we are going to have our own Inklings meeting!”
Jordaan smirked. Revolt was in the air!
***
 Maddock stood in the middle of the floor that night, the other characters gathered around him, all eyes on him. In one hand he was clenching a stack of papers. Once the room was quiet he looked every character in the eye and said as he waved the papers about, “Do you know what these are?”
A few nodded their heads. “These are our torment scenes!” Maddock exclaimed.
Scowls passed over every face. When Maddock and Jordaan had called the meeting together they had been sure to gather only the renegade characters. No point in asking the obedient ones.
“Now if you ask me, when an author starts tormenting characters for fun that is getting out of hand! We have been putting up with them for long enough, this is pushing it!”
“What should we do?” Thaddeus asked. “I mean, they are our authors.”
Others mumbled their agreements.
Maddock grinned. “I think it is time we revolted, and took over Inklings!”
Some gave hearty agreements while others seemed more reluctant, Timothy was one of them. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I am all for a revolt. But if you ask me, we need more to go on then just being tortured.”
“What do you propose we do?” Maddock asked.
“What if we just talked to them?” Timothy suggested.
Maddock scowled and Jordaan scoffed, but Timothy held up his hands. “We have to give them a chance, we have to show them we can behave well.”
Maddock shook his head. “There is no hope for Sybil.”
“Same with Hanz!” Jordaan growled.
“Well, then show them we have the character to at least give them a chance, if that fails, then we can take over!”

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I may add more to this chapter later on. Word count is 33,946

Maddock, Jordaan, and Timothy continued their planning as the authors worked out all the details for their picnic. When they day finally dawned Maddock was more excited about it then Sybil. He nearly drug her to the park, they were the first one’s there, soon followed by Katie and Kallen.
Sybil hugged Katie and giggled excitedly. Maddock grinned at his number one fan and with a sweeping bow asked, “How are you Katie?”
Katie grinned. “I am doing well Maddock, how are you?”
“I would be better if a certain someone stopped tormenting me,” Maddock looked sideways at Sybil who just rolled her eyes.
Katie shook her head and hooked her arm through Maddock’s. “You can stay with me today then, I will keep you safe!”
Sybil shook her head. “Poor Maddock, hiding behind a girl!
Katie nearly glared. “You be nice to him Sybil! The poor man has been through enough already!”
Maddock grinned. “Thank you Katie, if only you were my author.”
Kallen looked at Maddock as though he was insane while Katie said, “I can’t be your author, but I will be the next best thing, I will be your sister!”
Maddock’s face brightened and he said, “Oh! That is great, as you know I only have brothers! I have always wanted a sister, and you are the best sister anyone could ask for!”
And so, Katie and Maddock adopted each other, and if having a character for a brother was weird, it was only to get weirder.
Pip showed up a little later with her uncle who unloaded the boat. Once he had it in the pond he bade them all good by, telling them to have fun. The others had arrived by then and were eagerly waiting to go out in the boat.
“Who should row us?” Sarah asked. She was probably wishing her Prince Charming would but everyone knew he was not there.
The boys all looked at each other, and deciding to play the gentlemen agreed to take turns rowing the boat. And so, the fun began. Jules of course took out his first mate and his brother, and they rowed about the lake plundering other ships. Mark stood in the bow and laughed evilly, telling Jules where all the ships were.
While they were out in the water Sybil walked around the lake with Justyne and Hanz. Under one of the trees Jane and Katie where sitting talking in low voices. Christina sat with them, listening to all they said though not saying much in return. Sam was talking to R.K., who actually seemed to being somewhat kind.
Pip was talking to Gabrielle and Beth while listening to Mariella yell at Mark, telling him to not rock the boat or he would dump everyone into the pond.
Gabrielle giggled at her and said, “You are a good mummy Mari!”
From one of the trees Ness and Rose laughed at Mariella’s expression as Laura looked up from her book and grinned.
“Mariella? A mummy?” Joy asked. “But she is planning world domination!”
“Yes but she is always looking after us, like a mummy!” Gabrielle was enjoying herself. “She is our Mari-mummy!”
Mariella grinned and said, “And if anyone does not behave I will strike them with lightening! WAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Gabrielle hid behind Beth. “Mari-mummy is scaring me!” she wailed.
By that time Sybil, Justyne, and Hanz had rounded the lake and were walking toward the tree Katie, Jane, and Christina were under. That was when Sybil made the fatal mistake of saying, “It would be rather easy to kill him.”
Katie’s head shot up and her eyes landed on Sybil who suddenly felt like a cornered deer in the hunter’s sights. Hanz and Justyne followed her gaze and both understood. Katie looked over at Maddock who looked a little worried, though he of course was just doing it for show, and Sybil knew she was a goner.
Maddock turned to look at the pond, an evil sneer spread over this lips and he would have laughed like Mariella had no one been around at that moment.
The fun really started a few minutes before lunch, when Sybil and Sarah decided they want to row the boat alone. Most everyone stood on the bank to watch them, it was well worth it.
Sarah sat in the front of the boat while Sybil took the back. They pushed out and with no skill at all plunged their oars into the water and set about rowing, in circles. Try as they might they could not get the boat to go straight. They tried to match their speed, tried to dip their oars in and different times, and only succeeded in making the others laugh till they could barely stand.
By lunch time they had only managed to nearly make themselves sick. As the others helped them back to the edge of the pond Alex said, “Once we are done eating someone will have to show you know to really row!”
“I can really row!” Sybil exclaimed.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “You can’t row half as well as Aragorn!”
Sybil shook her head and said, “Then I will be sure and get him next time for you!”
Sarah giggled. “Okay.”
After lunch Alex offered to row for a bit. Sybil talked with the others for a bit and then took to walking around the pond again. Over head the warm summer sunshine was shinning down from a deep blue sky. The warm breeze blew across the pond and wafted over Sybil, gently playing with her hair and seeming to whisper in her ears.
She was so distracted by the sights and smells of summer she failed to notice the figure creeping up behind her. Slipping out of the trees the barefooted girls moved closer to Sybil, not making a sound as she crossed they grass. Five more feet and she would be upon her unsuspecting victim.
One moment Sybil was on the grass bank, they next she was surprised to find herself flying though the air, and landing in the pond with a huge splash. Sybil came up fighting, splashing and trying to grab whoever had pushed her in, but all she found as air.
Opening her eyes she looked up and was surprised to see Katie and Maddock standing above her. Katie had her hands on her hips and a scolding look on her face, Maddock looked like he was trying not to laugh.
Sybil rubbed water out of her eyes and demanded, “What was that for?”
“No one threatens my brother and gets away with it!” Katie cried as she cast Sybil her best attempt of a glare.”
Sybil climbed out of the water glaring at Maddock, muttering, “Rotten, revolting character.”
Katie giggled and offered Sybil a hand up. Sybil grabbed her friend’s hand and allowed Katie to help her out.
“Promise you won’t threaten my brother any more?” Katie asked as Sybil wrung water out of her dress.
Sybil looked at her wayward character and muttered, “I will do my best to refrain myself.” She then walked off trying to dry off her dress and hair.
Maddock bit his bottom lip to keep the smile from appearing on his lips. Oh yes, this was going better then he had hoped. He looked over at Timothy and Jordaan, both of whom were awaiting his word. He gave the signal a little later when it was Sybil and Justyne’s turn to go out in the boat.
“I will row them,” Hanz offered and Maddock could not help but grin. Yes, this was just what he was hoping for!
Hanz, Justyne, and Sybil had just piled into the boat when Maddock came running up with Timothy and Jordaan. “Can we come?” Maddock asked hopefully.
The three friends looked at each other and Justyne said, “Of course you can!”
Maddock grinned, and it did look like a genuine grin, as he and the other two piled into the boat. Hanz, who was sitting in the middle, grabbed the oars and set out while Sybil looked rather warily at the three characters. She always felt certain nervousness around revolting characters.
Maddock was sitting in the stern of the boat with Jordaan; Timothy was sitting at the bow. For a long while they rowed about in peace while enjoying the bright summer day. None of them said much, they just enjoyed the stillness and the peaceful lapping of the waves against the side of the boat. However this was not to last.
Just when the authors where fully wrapped in the stillness and tranquility of the scene, something started to happen to the boat. It began to rock back and forth, and before anyone realized what was going on the boat flipped, spilling them all. Sybil gasped as for the second time that day she found herself in the pond, only this time she had been thrown in by Maddock!
The moment Sybil’s eyes landed on him she swam after him, trying to yell and swim at the same time, and only managing to get her mouth filled with water. Maddock reached the back first and sought out his sister as Justyne and Hanz pulled the boat to the bank. Timothy and Jordaan had wisely vanished.
Prinz ran to the bank and helped Justyne and Hanz out. “Where is he?” Prinz asked. “Tell me where he is and I will make that boy regret he ever messed with you Hanz!”
Hanz smiled. “Do not worry about him Prinz; I can take care of him later on.”
Justyne grinned as well as she began to plan a way for have her revenge.
Meanwhile Sybil was trying to find a way to get Maddock away from Katie long enough to get back at him for his sneaky trick, or pond dunking. Little did she know Katie was watching every move she made, she was even going so far as recruiting Jane.
Meanwhile, it is hard for villains such as R.K. to sit back and watch all the evil proceedings and not jump in on the fun, and this is just what R.K. did, in his own evil way.
It really started when Hanz and Sybil were sitting under one of the many trees and Hanz said, “You really have to do something about him, he is really starting to rebel. At this rate he will pull all your other characters with him!”
Sybil shook her head gravely.
“You really should kill him,” Hanz said again, only this time that she did not dare tell anyone, even Hanz, for fear that Katie would be close by.
Sybil looked all about her, but seeing no one let herself relax a bit as she continued to work out her plan in her mind.
“You really must do something,” Hanz was still pressing for Maddock’s demise.
Sybil grinned at the thought of such a thing and once more Maddock felt nervous. Though he calmed down when he saw Katie slipping through the trees. She would stop Sybil, and when she did Maddock would find a way to honor her, maybe give her a medal.
Hanz stood up and stretched his legs; he walked over near the pond. Sybil lay down in the glass and closed her eyes. She quickly opened them when she heard a splash and sitting up looked around to see what she had missed. She heard a sputtering and ran to the pond.
On reaching it Sybil was amazed to see Katie had pushed Hanz it. “Be nice to Maddock or else!” she said as she looked down at the boy.
“Katie!” Sybil gasped as Hanz climbed out onto the bank.
“He started it!” Katie said and with that she turned and walked off with Maddock.
Sybil watched them go and muttered, “He is not going to let me live this one down!”
Hanz glared at him and cast Sybil a meaningful glance. She was reminded of her new plan, but could she do it? It would work well with the stories, but could she do it?
A few days later Sybil came running out into the yard and surprised everyone by grabbing Katie and Jane’s hands and spinning them around the yard while cutting an odd little jig.
“What happened?” Jane asked with a giggle.
Katie laughed and danced with Sybil even though she did not know the reason for her friend’s joy.
“I did it!” Sybil laughed gleefully. “I killed Reid!” She called out to everyone.
A hearty cheer sounded and Hanz threw more paper he had torn to bits. Reid was dead!
“How did you do it?” R.K demanded and so Sybil read the scene, telling how Maddock and fought the man and in the end had dagger into the man’s throat.
“Gruesome!” Joy said with wide eyes.
Katie and Jane grinned. Both were happy beyond words that the villain was finally dead. Gabrielle was the one who really took everyone off guard when she cried out in agony, “How could you?”
 “How could I want?” Sybil asked her green eyes wide.
“How could you kill Reid?” Gabrielle demanded.
“He was an evil bad guy!” Katie exclaimed.
“He was misunderstood!” Gabrielle glared at them. “He should have lived!”
“He was a purely evil man and Maddock killed him!” Katie said, her eyes were glowing.
“He could have turned good!”
“No he couldn’t! He tried to kill Maddock after all!”
Sybil watched, wide eyed, as Reid was argued over, in the end Katie said she was going to push Gabrielle into the pond and Gabrielle said if Katie did that then she would pull her in after her. The matter was never fully agreed upon before they had to move on. And though the whole meeting Gabrielle and Katie kept glaring at each other, and Sybil had a feeling she had started a war, if only she knew.
Maddock obviously was enjoying the whole thing, anything that brought attention upon him he liked. All these adoring girls were going right to his head.
However, by then Theobald was starting to see what was going on and felt that it was time he stood up for his author though he had no idea how he was to do that. How did one stand up for one’s author?
As Theobald pondered this, the time came closer to when Maddock would try and take matters into his own hands. He smiled as he thought about his plan. This was going to be easy, so easy! In fact it was almost going to be too easy, even kind of boring.
However, it was not over yet, and as Maddock thought about it he thought about all the things he could do. But first he had to gather more of the others to his side, and that was not going to be easy with some. Not that he was too worried, he was Maddock after all!
Rubbing his hands together Maddock went in search of Jordaan, knowing Jordaan would help him.

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Word count 31,434

Sybil was lying on her back, the sun shinning down upon her, warming her right through. She closed her eyes and smiled. She was not in this position long before she was interrupted by Hanz and Sarah, who entered the yard talking very quickly.
Sybil opened one eye and watched them as they neared. “The Circle books were by far the best,” Hanz was saying.
“I would agree, though I like Obsessed a great deal.”
“I have not read that one yet.”
“You should, it is really good.”
They stopped over Sybil and looked down at her. She grinned and then closed her eyes, but opened them when Sarah said, “As for Sybil, she has not so much as opened one of his books!”
Hanz gasped and Sybil opened her eyes. “Who?” she asked.
“Ted DeKker, the greatest author ever!”
Sybil rolled her eyes. “I bet he can’t beat Jack Cavanaugh!”
Hanz shook his head. “You have never read any of DeKker’s?”
Sybil shook her head. “No, they look rather, weird.”
Sarah moaned and Hanz shook his head gravely. “You poor girl, not knowing what you are missing out on!”
Sybil looked at the two of them and slowly closed her eyes. “Then tell me.”
Sarah sat down and Hanz leaned against one of the near by trees. “Well, I will tell you about the one I just read, Thr3e.”
Sybil moaned softly and without opening her eyes said, “Fire away!”
“Well, it is about a man named Kevin who one day gets a phone call from a man named Slater. Slater tells Kevin he has to confess his sin or he will blow his car up. Well, Kevin has no idea as to what sin he is to confess, and the car is blown. After that Slater hunts him and his friend Samantha down, threatening them until finally Kevin goes after him. By this time they are being helped by a lady named Jennifer. Anyways, to make a long story short, Kevin finds Slater but his captured. Sam comes to help him and is captured. Slater then tells Kevin he has to kill either his insane aunt or Sam. Then while all this is happening Jennifer shows up.”
Sybil opened her eyes as Sarah paused. She grinned and continued, “Jennifer enters the room to see Kevin sitting on the floor, holding one gun on his aunt and one on his own head.”
Sybil sat up. “What?” she demanded. Hanz smirked because he too had read the book.
Sarah grinned like a loon. “Yes! See, Kevin was Slater, and Sam!”
Sybil shook her head. “What?”
“He had multiple personality disorder…”
“Thanks to his insane aunt!” Hanz added.
“Kind of like Pip and R.K., but this wasn’t just for fun or anything, and he didn’t know he was Sam and Slater.”
Sybil ran her hand through her bangs and moaned. “Man that is weird! But it sounds like a good book!”
Sarah laughed gleefully and Hanz grinned, they both had a feeling that they had run Sybil over. A few days later when Sybil found DeKker’s book, “Black,” at the library, she eagerly got it and read it, quickly. By the end of it she was begging for more, and was a new Ted DeKker fan.
It was about this time that Hanz started a new story, a thriller. Jordaan was upset about it, thinking he would not get as much done in his book, but Hanz fixed him by pinning his cloak to the roof with his sword. Needless to say Prinz was fine with the whole thing, he knew Hanz would not leave them.
Hanz read his story last that day, as the sun was setting, casting its last faint rays through the trees. The meetings were known to run late, merely because they liked to sit out under the trees in the cool dusk. But that night, it was different. Tonight, as they listened to a tale that would knock anyone off their chairs, they could not resist the urge to look over their shoulders as the darkness kept closer.
By the time Hanz had finished they were all gasping for breath and shivering.
“Okay, next time you are reading first! While it is still light out!”
Hanz grinned and Sybil gasped, “I now know the next Ted DeKker!”
Later that night Sybil was delighted to find that Justyne was on the chat room as well as Hanz.
“We should have another battle,” she sleepily suggested. “Have you found your swords Justyne?”
“Yes, one or two of them, now if only my enemies would stop stealing them.”
Sybil pried her eyes opened and yawned widely. She was ready to drop off and so moved to her bed, taking her laptop with her. She lay down and continued talking as the clock neared eleven.
“How is your book coming along Justyne?” Sybil typed, she was having trouble finding the letters.
“Very well, I am editing it you know, I am hoping I have it ready to publish by Christmas.”
“That is what I was hoping for too,” Hanz typed.
Sybil rubbed her eyes. “I nearly have mine written, all I have to do is edit it really, we should try and publish them at the same time.”
Her eyes drooped and she leaned back on her pillow. For about five minutes she drifted off, then woke up with a jump and stared at the screen. A question was staring back at her. “What do you say Sybil?”
Say to what? Sybil quickly read the last messages and grinned. Hanz and Justyne were adopting each other as siblings and wanted to adopt her too.
“That would be fun!” Sybil typed, she felt more awake now.
The three of them spent the next hour working out all the details, and then Justyne went to bed.
“How late are you staying up?” Sybil asked as Justyne bide her new brother and sister good night.
“Not sure,” Hanz answered. “I want to finish this chapter.”
Sybil grinned. Surely one chapter won’t take that long. “I will stay up with you then.”
“Thanks!” Hanz said before returning to his book.
Sybil opened her document and slowly wrote while talking to Hanz every few moments. Around one she felt herself drifting off.
“Maddock drew his sword and…” she drifted off for a moment. “There was a monkey, in a dress. He was coming at Maddock with a pole, a sharp pole, he was going to kill him!”
Sybil opened her eyes and looked at her computer. Once more she tried to write. “And said, ‘Reid you coward! Give me one chance at fighting you!’ Reid…” once more she drifted off. “He was a monster, and he hated monkeys. When he saw the monkey in the dress he was reminded that he hated dresses too, because They had put him in a dress once, and then They laughed at him. That changes a guy. ‘You will die monkey!’ he yelled as he pulled out his pistol. Why bring a sword when you can bring a pistol?”
The wind stirred the canopy on Sybil’s bed and woke her up, it was one thirty. “How is the chapter coming?” she asked Hanz.
“Good, I am now five pages into it, I am shooting for ten.”
Sybil stared at the words until they sank in. “What page are you on?” Hanz asked.
Page? Oh yes, those things she wrote on. She counted, then wrote, “Page three.” She had been on page three at midnight! “It is going a little slow.”
“Oh well, as long as you keep at it!” Hanz encouraged.
Sybil grinned and once more tried to get more written. She was able to keep it up for half an hour, and then she lost it. “Page four,” she sleepily typed. Before this she had warned Hanz, “If I vanish do not panic, it just means I fell asleep.”
She went back to her story, she stared at the words. Maddock was fighting Reid in a duel for Carlyss’s life. It was supposed to be a grand scene. She tried again, and her eyes fell like a ton of bricks. “Reid stepped to the side, avoiding a blow from Maddock’s…” she fell asleep. “Maddock’s monkey. Why did Maddock have a monkey and not a parrot was beyond her, after all most pirates had parrots. Katie wanted to ask him, but she wasn’t sure he would like her too. More then that, she wanted to ask how Maddock had gotten his monkey in the dress.
“Jules was getting suspicious of Maddock, he wanted to be the only pirate in Inklings, in the world! But Maddock was taking over, just like Maddock took over everything. Jules would have taken him on, but every time he glared at Maddock Katie ran to his aid. Her and the monkey.
“The monkey’s name was Molly, she was a sweet monkey who liked to be held and petted. She liked to sit on Maddock’s head and throws nuts at people, and then when they glared at her she would look innocent and blame the squirrels, because everyone knows squirrels throw nuts, even Washington knew that!
“The ride on the ship was long, and Jules would not let Maddock steer, so Maddock was board and had nothing to do but play with Molly, but she did not like his games, she just like to throw nuts and dance, everyone knows monkey’s in dresses are good dancers.
“So, to keep Maddock from loosing his sanity Katie told him her whole life’s story in a slide show…”
Sybil’s eyes snapped open and she came up fighting. She nearly tossed her laptop across the room. Settling back into her bed she looked around, and then focused on her laptop. Hanz had left a message.
“Sybil? You there?” Then a half an hour later. “I guess you fell asleep. Good night non blood sister, see you tomorrow.”
Sybil looked at the clock, it was three in the morning. She moaned, and turning her computer off rolled over and fell asleep thinking, “I should put that dream into a book.”
***
Sybil yawned and swung her feet back and forth as the leaves fluttered about her. Smiling she leaned her head back against the tree trunk and closed her eyes, letting the breeze play with her read hair. Bits of hair had escaped her braids and were tickling her face.
“Sybil?” Ness’s called, unexpected, nearly caused Sybil to fall out of the tree.
Looking down Sybil saw Ness standing under the tree. “I am up here!” Sybil called.
Ness tilted her dark red head back and grinned. “I will be right up!” she called as she grabbed onto one of the branches. The next moment she was sitting on a branch beside Sybil.
“You are early today!” Sybil said with a grin.
“Yeah, Alex was reading and I decided to go for a walk, and I ended up here!”
Sybil giggled. “How is your book coming along?”
“Very well, if Justin would behave.”
“Oh! Has he joined the renegade characters too?” Sybil shook her head as she spoke.
“I am afraid so, although not all the way, there is still hope I think.”
Sybil grinned. “That is good to hear!”
“How about your book?”
Sybil sighed sadly. “I am almost done with it.”
Ness’s eyes widened. “Really?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes, I am afraid so, I am rather sad it is ending.”
Ness nodded her head. “There is something sad about ending a book!”
Sybil nodded her head in whole hearted agreement.
When Sybil announced the nearing end at the meeting a little later, there was a mixture of sadness and joy. Only authors knew how sad and exciting it was to finish a book.
Before everyone started reading Pip stood up and announced, “My uncle has a boat, and he said we could barrow it and go rowing in the pond!”
This was meet with hearty and Hanz, who had been tearing up a piece of paper for know particular reason, tossed the bits into the air and said, “Hurray! Confetti and fanfare!”
“We need to pick a day to do it though so my uncle can get the boat there,” Pip was saying.
“We should do in next week,” Sarah said. “That way we can plan a picnic on the same day.”
After a bit of debating they picked the day and eagerly looked forward to the upcoming event, though everyone cast Beth and Gabrielle glares.
“We won’t push anyone in!” Gabrielle promised. Beth promised the same.
R.K. folded his arms over his chest and muttered, “I won’t believe that until I see it!”
The characters were equally excited over the news and looked forward to the picnic as much as the authors, though some of them did not admit it.
As everyone was leaving Jane told Sybil, “That last chapter was really good! You have really started to torment Maddock!”
“I know, it is fun,” Sybil admitted with a grin.
“Wait till you meet my bad guy!” Jane’s eyes shone with a mischievous light. “I am really going to get Reamann! I am basing my villain after Reid.”
Sybil shuddered and grinned. “I can’t wait to hear it!”
“You two are so evil to your characters,” Justyne scowled as she walked over to them.
“You torment your characters all the time!” Hanz called from a few feet away.
Justyne grinned. “I do, poor Timothy has been through so much!”
“Oh how evil we are, tormenting our poor characters and then laughing over it!” Sybil giggled even as she spoke.
Maddock looked over at Timothy, Reamann, and Jordaan. Jordaan rolled his eyes at the three of them and muttered, “Hey I have it worse then any of you, I am killed!”
“But you die a hero!” Timothy moaned. “I think I die an old man!”
“I die an old king,” Reamann said as Maddock added, “I die an old man too.”
“See, we die in the most dullest ways, Jordaan goes out in a blaze of glory!”
Jordaan grinned slightly, and nodded his head. “That is true, I guess. But you guys really don’t know what it is like to be killed by your author.”
Maddock nodded his head. “That is true. We should be more understanding, and beat Hanz up for his cruelty.”
They all looked over at Hanz who happened to be distracted as he talked with Sybil and Justyne. Reamann realized Jane had left and ran off to find her. Timothy, Jordaan, and Maddock all looked at each other, then back at their authors, and then grinned again.
“We should do something to them,” Maddock whispered to his comrades.
“Like what?” Timothy asked. “They are our authors, we can’t do anything to them!”
“Yeah, if we did I would not be the only character that dies!”
Maddock grinned wider. “Oh ye of little faith. Trust me you two, I think I have a plan for us all to get revenge. And it involves a pond, and a boat!”
Timothy rubbed his hands together and Jordaan grinned so wide it was amazing his teeth did not fall out.
“Now I am REALLY looking forward to the picnic!”
Maddock grinned almost evilly. “As am I!”

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