Will looked around the little cabin as Napodi hurried off to find her father. It was small and rustic, yet had an almost homey feeling to it. The windows had no glass, the floor was simply flat dirt covered with a giant woven rug, and the wooden furniture looked very much handmade.
As he sat down on a chair at the small table, he tried to pull his thoughts together. Okay, so he had somehow been transported inside the book—that much he was sure of. How exactly, he had no idea, but at least he knew where he was.
He smiled grimly, remembering the look on Napodi’s face when he asked her where he was. After raising her eyebrows, she had told him that he was in the village Byklaw of the Septribes, in Alvalor.
This was the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him, but also the coolest! Who could ever imagine getting sucked into a book they were reading?
Lost in thought and staring out into space, Will didn’t notice when Napodi came back into the room. Next to her stood a huge man with dark brown hair and gray-ish blue eyes.
Napodi’s dad actually wasn’t that much bigger than an average man, but people often made that mistake because he simply acted big. He stomped, he boomed, and he hollered, so people always just assumed he was larger than usual. His face was lined with the stress and burdens of a single parent, but his eyes were kind, winked easily, and almost always full of a teasing amusement.
Napodi’s father cleared his throat, and Will jumped up, embarrassed.
“Refton Byklaw!” The man bowed. “So you are the boy in the strange clothes who helped the twins?” he asked in a deep voice.
“Yeah….” Will started.
“You are the one who chased off that Oiseye boy?” He pressed.
“Um, yes, but….” Will started again.
“Then,” the man boomed “You must have dinner with us tonight so we can express our thanks!”
Will started to smile, but quickly caught himself. Refton saw this and said, with a sly grin, “But first, I shall send for a healer! We cannot have our guest so painfully inclined that he cannot show expression!” And with that, he stomped out the door.
Napodi and Will glanced at each other then looked away. An awkward silence filled the room.
“I never did thank you for what you did,” Napodi said, looking at the ground, “You were very brave.”
“Oh, er, it’s—it’s really no problem,” Will stuttered, embarrassed. “The guy’s a total jerk.” They looked around the cabin in silence for a couple minutes.
“So, um, where exactly are you from?” Napodi asked shyly.
Will hesitated. What should he say? That he’s from the world outside this one which is actually a book? Sure, that was believable. He had to think quickly. Just as he opened his mouth though, Max and Millie came bursting into the room on their crutches.
“Are you really staying for dinner?” Max asked, breathing hard. Will tried to hide his sigh of relief.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Will managed a small, crooked smile.
“Yes!” Millie and Max grinned. They toddled into a different room, loudly arguing over which of them would sit by him. In came Refton Byklaw with a skinny man who was carrying a burlap bag over his boney shoulder that looked healthier than he did.
His wispy gray hair, or what was left of it, looked strangely like thin, sickly wire. His nose was flat against a face that was full of dips and pinches, and speckled with lumpy, cancerous-looking moles. His cheeks were wrinkled and sagged, and his eyes were so sunken you could barely see their cloudy grayness.
Both of the men wore clothes very similar to Napodi and the twins; coarse, brown, baggy pants and shirt, with a shimmering silver cloak tied about their necks. And, like the others, they wore nothing on their tan feet.
Lowering the bag to the floor, the healer slurred at Will to take his shirt off, and sit on a chair. For what seemed like the millionth time today, Will hesitated. He shifted his position and looked down at his feet. Then, slowly, he started to take his shirt off.
Napodi gasped when she saw the angry scars covering his back and chest. Most of them were from years ago, and long healed over except for a jagged mark, but a few looked quite fresh and dark. The unharmed space of his torso rippled with muscles from long years of hard work and perseverance.
With a hot face and shirt in hand, Will sat down in a chair.
His mouth puckering horribly like Will’s English teacher’s as he frowned, the healer decided to ignore this revelation and plunked his boney behind in a chair across from Will. Hands shaking, he took a clay bottle out of his bag and said in a slimy voice while prying off the top, “This may shting a little.”
♦ ♦ ♦
During dinner, Max and Millie, who were squished on either side of Will at the small table, talked nonstop about what had happened that day.
They were fully convinced that Will had gal-loped in on a mighty white horse, leaped off head first, and shoved his rock-hard skull into the bully’s gut. Then he scooped up their crutches, did a back flip, and handed them back with a bow.
His face feeling much better, Will gave the twins a huge grin that sent Napodi’s stomach into a double back flip. Intrigued, Napodi decided to give further thought later on this strange activity in her innards.
The food was delicious. Will didn’t know what in the world it was, but it tasted great—kind of like chicken. He shoveled it down as the twins, still talking, now bickered over by whom Will was sleeping. Refton looked at them, then back at Will. “Will you be staying the night? I am sure we have an extra hammock somewhere...unless you have other plans of course.”
“Sure, that would be great!” said Will through a mouthful of meat. “I have no plans whatsoever.” He swallowed and smiled to himself. Nope, none at all.
So, for the first time in many years, in a gently rocking hammock surrounded by others cradling deeply breathing figures, Will slept comfortably and soundly.
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I wish i could just skip forward to where it gets better. 
Hope this part doesn't kill your interest.
