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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