Inkheart by Cornelia Funke Read Free Book Online Page B

pictures of old books. She was in Elinor's bedroom. Heart thudding, she listened for noises outside; she could hear Elinor's energetic footsteps and then the sound of the library door closing for the second time. Cautiously, she slipped out into the corridor again. She was still standing outside the library, undecided, when she felt a hand suddenly laid on her shoulder from behind. Another hand stifled her cry of alarm.
    "It's only me!" breathed Dustfinger into her ear. "Keep quiet or we're both in trouble, understand?"
    Meggie nodded and Dustfinger slowly took his hand away from her mouth. "Your father's going to give the old witch that book, right?" he whispered. "Has he taken it out of the van? Tell me. He did have it with him, didn't he?"
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    Meggie pushed him away. "I don't know!" she snapped. "Anyway, what business is it of yours?"
    "What business is it of mine?" Dustfinger laughed quietly. "Well, perhaps I'll tell you sometime.
    But just now all I want to know is whether you've seen it."
    Meggie shook her head. She didn't know why she was lying to Dustfinger. Perhaps because he had pressed his hand over her mouth a little too hard.
    "Meggie, listen to me!" Dustfinger looked at her intently. His scars were like pale lines that someone had drawn on his cheeks: two slightly curved marks on the left cheek, a third and longer line on the right cheek running from ear to nostril. "Capricorn will kill your father if he doesn't get that book!" hissed Dustfinger. "Kill him, do you understand? Didn't I tell you what he's like? He wants the book, and he always gets what he wants. It's ridiculous to believe it will be safe from him here."
    "Mo doesn't think so!"
    Dustfinger straightened up and stared at the library door. "Yes, I know," he murmured. "That's the trouble. And so," he said, putting both hands on Meggie's shoulders and propelling her toward the closed door, "so now you're going to go in there, the picture of innocence, and find out what the pair of them are planning to do with that book. OK?"
    Meggie was about to protest, but before she knew it Dustfinger had opened the door and pushed her into the library.
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    Chapter 5 – Only A Picture
    For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him.
    Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted.
    Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to this agony till he sing in dissolution.
    Let bookworms gnaw his entrails... and when at last he goeth to his last punishment, let the flames of hell consume him for ever.
    – Curse on book thieves, from the monastery of San Pedro, Barcelona, Spain They had unwrapped the book. Meggie saw the brown paper lying on a chair. Neither of them noticed that she had come in; Elinor was bending over one of the reading desks with Mo beside her. They both had their backs to the door.
    "Amazing. I thought there wasn't a single copy left," Elinor was saying. "There are strange stories about this book going around. A secondhand dealer from whom I buy quite often told me that three copies were stolen from him a few years ago. All on the same day, too. And I've heard much the same story from two other booksellers."
    "Really? Yes, very strange," said Mo, but Meggie knew his voice well enough to know that he was only pretending to be surprised. "Well, anyway, even if this wasn't a rare book it means a lot to me, and I'd like to be sure it's in safe hands for a while. Just till I come back for it."
    "All books are in safe hands with me," replied Elinor, sounding cross. "You know that. They're my children, my inky children, and I look after them well. I keep the sunlight away from their pages, I dust them and protect them from hungry bookworms and grubby human fingers. This one shall have a place of honor, and no one will see it until you want it back. I don't really welcome visitors to my library. They just leave fingerprints