Eighteen year old Patten Burgess loved coming to Fablehaven to visit his Uncle Marshal. Fablehaven was like a second home, and Marshal, a second dad after his real dad died when Patton was three. It was a warm July day, not a cloud in the sky. Patton sat outside, happily sitting in the sun and listening to the fairies talk. Since he had become Fairy struck he used his new talents to his advantage. It was the first day of his stay at Fablehaven and Patton was planning on enjoying it. Patton wanted to go to the hidden pond, however Marshal had said not to wander off into the woods without him, but Patton reasoned with himself that it wasn't very far and he knew the way.

The pond was his favorite place because the naiads who lived there were fascinating to Patton. No matter how much he tried he could not understand their ways, which just made him want to learn more about them. As Patton walked down the pier a voice floated up from the water.

"Oh! Here he comes again. The LANDlubber." Several giggles followed this comment. Patton said nothing. He had previously learned that they only started making fun of him, once they realized they couldn't lure- him close to the water. Patton had been hanging around the naiad's pond for so long that he knew many of the naiad's names and he could put faces with the names. When a face with long blond hair and hazel eyes poked her head out of the water, Patton smiled and said,

"Hello Zolie." Zolie scowled and her head disappeared. No other faces came up so Patton just sat quietly, staring into the depths of the pond, trying to watch the naiads swim around. Once Frindle came to try to pull him in, but seeing that Patton was too far away she dove back under, her green eyes flashing angrily.

Suddenly, a jet of water shot up and sprayed Patton in the face. As he spluttered and wiped the water out of his eyes nine heads surfaced, all laughing loudly. Patton fake glared at them.

"What was that for?" Narinda, a naiad with blondish-brownish hair and ice-blue eyes smirked then signaled to her sisters to go under water again. Patton was surprised. In all the times he'd come, the naiads' had never paid him enough attention to do something like this. He was also surprised that they had all come up at the same time. Usually it was hard to get ONE naiad to come to the surface. They normally stayed far below in their watery domain. No naiads' had ever showed this much interest in a mortal before. An hour later, Patton decided he needed to start heading back, so Marshal wouldn't worry. As he turned and walked back towards the manor, Patton heard the naiads start talking about him.

For the next few weeks, Patton continuously visited the pond. When his stay at Fablehaven was over Patton hugged Marshal, then reluctantly followed his mom out to the car. In October, Patton celebrated his eighteenth birthday and Marshal came out for the party.

"Eighteen huh. Pretty soon you'll be able to run Fablehaven all by yourself." Marshal told Patton as he handed him a present.

"Really?" Patton asked, his eyes growing larger, "You think I'll inherit Fablehaven?"

"I'm absolutely sure of it!" declared Marshal, winking at his sister, Patton's mom, Caroline. In February, when his mom planned another visit to Fablehaven in May, Patton begins marking off the days on his calendar. However, a few days before Patton was supposed to leave for Fablehaven, a couple of his friends planned a two day camping trip and invited most of Patton's closest friends. Now Patton had a problem. He couldn't tell his friends that he already had plans to spend the week with his uncle on a magical preserve with mythical creatures, but he had been counting the days since February. On the other hand the camping trip sounded really fun. Some guy bonding time.

"It's so hard to decide." Patton groaned when his mom asked him about it.

"I know honey but you need to give your friends an answer." Later that night, as Patton pulled on his blue and white striped pj's he thought about the camping trip and the visit to Fablehaven, and by the time Patton had fallen asleep he had his answer. The next morning Patton walked downstairs and hugged his mom.

"Did you decide?"

"Yeah, I want to go to Fablehaven." Upon hearing this Caroline Burgess started unexpectedly laughing. Patton jumped back, startled. Noticing that she had scared her son, Caroline tried to stop laughing.

"Sorry Patton. It's just that you spend so much time at Fablehaven I wonder if you're preparing for when you will run it." Patton grinned

"How did you ever guess?" Caroline smiled.

"Just remember Patton that you're going to collage this fall." Patton sighed.

"I remember." Patton didn't care about going to collage. All he wanted to do was be the caretaker of Fablehaven and you didn't need a collage degree for that. Caroline interpreted the sigh.

"Just go and get a degree in case you don't become the caretaker of Fablehaven. That way you'll be safe just in case." Patton nodded absently and went to the phone to call his friends. The day before Caroline and Patton were supposed to leave, Caroline got an emergency call from work. She needed to drive up to New York and help organize the supplies that were going to be delivered. When Patton heard about this he tried to reason with his mom.

"To get to New York you have to drive through Ohio so you could drop me off on the way." Patton suggested hopefully. Caroline laughed at how much her son didn't want to miss his trip. Caroline made some calls to her work and Marshal and then announced to Patton that he would still get to go to Fablehaven as planned. Patton grinned and ran upstairs to pack his bags. When Caroline and Patton drove up, Marshal was sitting on the porch waiting for them. Patton jumped out and grabbed his bags while Caroline rolled down the window to talk to Marshal.

"Thanks for being willing to keep him for a few extra days until I get back." Marshal grinned.

"No problem. It gives me more time to train Patton as caretaker." Caroline pursed her lips.

"Do you really believe that he'll be caretaker? He's really excited and I don't want to let him down. ."

"I'm one-hundred and one percent sure, Carrie!" Marshal exclaimed. They both abruptly stopped talking as Patton walked over. After a quick goodbye, Caroline drove off and Patton and Marshal walked to the house arm in arm. All morning Patton followed Marshal around, learning how to run Fablehaven. That afternoon while Marshal took a nap, Patton walked to the naiad's pond. As Patton walked down the pavilion, he spotted a head with dark hair and violet eyes watching him. When she realized she'd been seen, she ducked back underwater. Patton reached the end of the dock and heard his name whispered, followed by giggles. As Patton stared down into the blue/gray water he saw a figure emerging. When a head with long dark hair and black almond shaped eyes poked out, Patton smiled.

"Hello Lena." The dark-haired naiad just looked at him, clearly not appeased by how far he was from the edge.