Hello everyone! My name is Alyssa and this story used to be called Journey to the Fallen Preserve, but as I read over that story, I found myself like it less and less so I decided to rewrite the story. I was just planning to delete the story and not repost it, especially since Dragonwatch just came out. But then I was looking back at this story and I decided I liked it a lot and want to post it here.
Thank you to those who reviewed, including Memory Steel, a guest reviewer and fablehaven4eva!
Special thanks to Memory Steel because I thought your review was so, so funny and it really made me want to post this, so thank you for that
If you like it, please review and favorite and follow. Don't be a silent reader! Also, if you are a guest reviewer, please leave your name because I try to mention those who reviewed on my stories!
Brandon Mull owns everything!
-Alyssa
Chapter 1
Kendra couldn't believe it. She thought the days of her snooping brother were over. Kendra stormed into their room and grabbed Seth`s arm yanking him away. He had been sitting on the floor beside her bed, reading a book from under the bed. She grabbed the book out of his hand and looked at it. It was the book that Kendra wrote in all the time, it was the book that she wrote her deepest thoughts in and, however cliché was very important to her.
"Seth! Why are you reading this?" Kendra exclaimed, pushing him backwards. She sat on her bed, shut the book and slid it under her bed.
"I was interested what it was." Seth muttered, pushing himself up to sit opposite her.
"You`re an idiot Seth." Kendra said, standing up. She walked over to the door and opened, ushering for Seth to get out.
"You`re going to kick me out of my own room?" Seth said skeptically, but got up and moved to the door, "You can`t-"
Kendra cut him off, "Watch me." With a single movement she grabbed his arms, turned him around and pushed him out. She shut the door quickly and locked it, before he could try to come back in. She listened for a moment and then heard him going down the stairs. She breathed a sigh of relief and flounced over to her bed and laid down. Kendra rolled over and looked at the ceiling. She just laid on her bed, thinking about nothing in particular until she heard her mother calling her from the bottom of the stairs. She pushed herself up and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. She heard laughter floating in from the deck. She walked over to the deck door and stood for a minute, looking out the glass door. Her family was sitting around a table on the patio while Tanu stood by the grill cooking. Nothing seemed wrong and they all looked blissfully happy. Then why did she feel so strange? She shook herself and opened the door and walked out. As she did, Seth jumped up and ran over to her.
"Kendra we were waiting for you! I`m so hungry!" Seth exclaimed. She gave a faint smile and shoved his shoulder.
"It`s time to eat." Their mother announced, walking out, wiping her hands on her apron. Tanu set the burgers down on the table and everyone took their seats. They dished out the food and for a minutes light-hearted banter could be heard as everyone ate.
"We have some news for everyone." Grandpa Sorenson said, leaning forward. The rest of the family stopped eating to listen.
"We were contacted a few days ago about a preserve that was compromised and some representatives from the Knights of the Dawn and the Conservator`s Alliance are coming to check in on Fablehaven." Grandma Sorenson said distastefully.
"What? Which one?" Grandpa Larsen exclaimed, placing his fork and knife down.
"Harbor Vault. It was an attack from dark creatures. Apparently fairy magic was somehow involved." Grandpa Sorenson responded. At this, everyone turned to Kendra.
~Seth~
They all looked expectantly at Kendra who looked extremely uncomfortable.
"What?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders?
"Do you know anything about that attack?" Warren asked leaning towards her. Kendra looked away from him and in trying to not look at him, she locked eyes with Seth. He gave her a questioning glance, to which she shook her head in an I`ll tell you later way.
"Um, no I haven't. But maybe if I look over the specifics I can see if there is anything." She offered. Grandpa nodded.
"I can get the details to you after supper and you can tell us whether or not you know." He turned to Seth. "I`m also like you to take a look at them Seth. Maybe you`ll know something of the dark energy in the house."
Seth nodded mutely, he didn't think it would help. He barely knew of the specifics of dark attacks, only of what Bracken told him briefly. He was also a little worried about Kendra. She was acting stranger than normal.
"The food was delicious Tanu!" Marla said, placing her fork and knife on her empty plate. Somehow, Seth hadn't realized that the meal was over. He handed his plate to his mom who was collecting plates. Kendra got up and went into the kitchen. This was his chance.
"I`ll do it Mom." He said hurriedly standing up and taking the stack of plates from his mother.
"Oh-Oh wow honey, thank you." Mom said, sounding shocked that he had offered. He gave a little mock bow towards them and carried the plates to the kitchen. Kendra was standing there, washing dishes.
Kendra looked at him, carrying dishes, in shock. "Did Mom make you come help me?" she asked, raising one eyebrow.
"No," Seth said, with as much dignity as he could muster, carrying the dirty plates, "I chose to. I have decided to pursue my passion of doing chores!" Unable to keep a straight face and resolve, he deposited the dishes next to the sink and plopped down at the table. "I`m just kidding."
She glanced at him, "So… what`s up?"
Seth took a deep breath, he hated to apologize, "I`m sorry for looking in your diary! I shouldn't have done it." He said this all very fast.
Kendra shook her head, "You know what? I`m not really that angry. You shouldn't have done it but whatever, you've seen worse."
"You bet I have! I remember the aftermath of the Scott Thomas incident." Seth replied grinning. Kendra just shook her head and just turned around to the sink again.
~Kendra~
After dinner the family gathered in the living and having been passed a folder full of papers, detailing the attack on the preserve and looking over them, Kendra sat down, ready to be asked questions she didn't have the answers to. A few days before, Kendra had a horrible, very strange and scary dream that she woke up from, completely terrified.
Kendra ran along a narrow pathway, which was perched on the edge of a cliff above a dark abyss, shadows reaching up from the darkness creating patterns on the wall behind her. Rain lashed the mountainside, wind howling and lightning flashing. The dark clouds above her seemed to be falling, the darkness closing in, trying to pull her in as well. Kendra didn't know what she was running from or where it was, but all she knew was that she had to keep running. Suddenly, with a deafening blast of thunder, a bolt of lightning crashed down in front of her, blasting apart the mountainside, and then she was falling. In the distance, she saw a house, dimly lit, surrounded in shadows. Dark flashes of light hit the house and with each the blow the lights seemed to dim a little bit more until, the weak lights flickered, allowing the house to be completely engulfed in darkness. She heard screams from all around her that rattled her brains and penetrated her skull. And suddenly, she felt herself go weightless for a minute and as she slammed into the ground, she woke up, still hearing the screams echoing in the darkness of her room.
"So Kendra, was there anything that you saw in the file that could be helpful?" Grandma Sorenson asked, leaning forward.
Kendra took a deep breath, "Maybe. I mean- well, is there a way a demon could have infiltrated the defenses?"
No one answered for a moment, and Tanu who, like the rest were deep in thought, responded, "This preserve, Harbor Vault, it`s very old and some of the fiercest of demons have inhabited it. But after Zzyzx, every preserve was inspected and re-armed with enchantments, so I highly doubt it. But, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to think that maybe a demon had left behind a curse that was somehow triggered by one of the creatures or even the caretakers, whether that be on purpose or on accident."
"Like the shadow plague? With the revenants nail?" Seth asked, sitting up straighter.
"Possibly." Tanu replied, leaning back in his chair.
"But what could there be on the preserve that could have triggered something like that? I went there to investigate the possible location of one of the keys of Zzyzx but it wasn't there." Vanessa inserted, who was leaning against the wall.
"When did you do that?" Seth asked curiously, squinting up at her.
Vanessa suddenly looked awkward, "Well, when I was, you know, working for the society. I was there on orders from the Sphinx, but when I reported back, he didn't really seem surprised."
Seth nodded, looking embarrassed, "Oh. Cool? I think?"
"But you know?" Vanessa added, tilting her head in sudden realization, "The Sphinx seemed more interested in the preserve itself, more than the artifact. It was so strange, for years he had been hell-bent on finding the artifacts. It doesn't seem like him to just learn about the preserve and not attempt finding the artifact." The room was silent for a minute until Kendra, felt like she just had to say it.
"I don't think it was that." Everyone stared at her in confusion. Seeing their faces, she hurried on saying,
"Well, by the looks of these pictures and the reports from the field agents, they described it not so much as an attack, but more like an outbreak of something. And also, only the house was harmed, if someone was planning on taking the entire preserve they would do more than just attack the house, they would send out scouts. It says here that one of the groundskeepers escaped and ran for help from the Conservator`s Alliance and the Knights of Dawn."
"But the house is meant to be the safest place in the entire preserve. Who would have the power to penetrate defenses like that?" Warren questioned.
"A demon wouldn't have that kind of power immediately. If a demon had just been released from confinement, they wouldn't be strong enough to break through the protections like that," Seth wondered aloud. "With Gorgrog, he had been fully healed and he wasn't really bound by the treaty like that. But remember, Muriel was. When she was releasing Bahumant, it took her time to break down the enchantments to the point where she could get around them."
"So, not a demon on the inside of the preserve?" Warren surmised, "Are you saying that what happened was the result of demons on the outside?"
Kendra took a deep breath, "I think that there was outside help, though not necessarily from a demon."
Grandpa Sorenson scowled, "Like who?"
"A wizard maybe, or a dragon on the payroll?"
"But who could possibly be doing all of this?" Seth asked.
Grandma looked around helplessly, "We don't know, the society was scattered after the Sphinx`s turning. But I think we`ve talked enough. On Saturday morning, we`ll go to Harbor Vault and investigate for ourselves."
"Wait, really?" Seth exclaimed, "Me too?"
Grandpa nodded faintly, "Yes Seth. Vanessa, Warren, Tanu and Kendra will be going as well. But for now, you and your sister have school tomorrow. We`ll reconvene tomorrow afternoon." That night, Kendra`s dreams got worse. Normally, her dreams consisted of very strange, but not scary things or something about the stressful things she had to do. But that night, her dreams took a turn for the worse.
When Kendra opened her eyes, she was floating above the ground, level with the clouds. She felt something by her shoulder blades move, and looked back. Trailing behind her were a pair of elegant gold wings, not unlike the wings she had seen on fairies, except these shone with a sort of ethereal quality. When she looked away from the wings, she saw that she was, in fact, wearing a gold dress that ended just above her knees, with gold dancing shoes on her feet. Before Kendra could look around at anything else, she felt herself float forward and when she glanced backwards the wings were flapping. And suddenly, in a burst of color she flew forward. Kendra put her arms out and spiraled through the air with her new wings. Below her was a sprawling expanse of land with shining little buildings below her and luscious flower and plants, caves and waterfalls, forests and streams. Birds twittered in the trees and she saw strange and amazing creatures ran across the grass and hiding caves and hanging from the trees. The whole landscape seemed to simply glow. Then in front of her, she saw a shining castle, infused with bright light. Then, as she flew forward the landscape changed, the light seemed to disappear from the land and as she watched darkness, spread across the landscape and all of the luscious and beautiful plants burned away. The animals that once inhabited the land were all gone and every sign of life was gone. Where the green grass once grew, was replaced with a floor of black and twisted remains of what was once there. And in the distance, a castle rose out of black mist, high on a hill and strangely familiar. Then suddenly, the golden wings disappeared and she started to fall, as she fell, a voice seemed to whisper in her ear, "This is what your land will become if you do not do something. If you are not able to able to stop the curse from spreading across the earth, then no place on this earth will ever be safe again."
And that`s it! Hope you guys like it! Btw, I was told by a friend that this part was very similar to a story on Wattpad, and I assure you that I did not intend on that, it had been a very long time since I even read that story and was not aware of the similarities at the time when I wrote this, don't worry, this is a one-time thing. I have things planned for this story I hope you guys enjoy that will follow their own events!