Seth sat in the tree house regarding the long, dark spiral in his hand. The second term of the contract required that he find a way to purify the horn. He didn't know where to start, but now, four months later, he felt like he could talk to Bracken about it.

He had shut himself away from his family because he didn't want anyone to get killed because he loved them. The contract also stated that whomever he loved most would die from the same knife that would've killed him.

He had felt terrible the day he had to face his parents. He had broken down crying, then had ended up screaming at he hated them. Then he left the house and moved into the tree house. He had stopped coming to meals, so they started leaving his lunches and dinners in lunch bags outside of his door.

Seth cracked open his door and looked outside; he saw another lunch bag left on the door mat that Seth's dad had made him, it read, 'You are not welcome here'. On it also sat a few shiny pebbles that the Satyrs had left him.

He scooped up the stones and grabbed the lunchbox, thinking again what a terrible friend he was to suddenly stop talking to Newel and Doren. Hey still left him little tributes to let him know they were still thinking of him. He placed the colorful pebbles into a box that he kept all the stuff they had given him in.

His only company was Mi'aiq, who he had already tried to push away, but the cat would have none of it. Mi'aiq stayed by the boy's side every day, and Seth was grateful for the company.

Seth checked his calendar on the wall and noticed it was marked as a day Bracken would visit. Bracken always came by once every other week to sit outside his house and talk to him in a soothing voice. It made Seth feel horrible and guilty that he was holing himself up away from Bracken, who was obviously trying so hard to get him outside.

He sighed and picked the horn back up and tested its weight in his hand, thinking. Bracken would most likely know how to purify the horn; he was a unicorn, after all. And there was no better time to do it than visiting hours.

Seth cracked the door open and cautiously stepped outside; he scanned the yard for signs of activity and saw Bracken sitting on the grass, his head in his hands. Fairies crowded around him, fawning and lamenting over how downtrodden he looked.

Seth climbed down the ladder and walked over to where he sat. The fairies noticed his presence first and twittered amongst themselves and clingingly hovered closer to Bracken.

"Hey, Bracken."

Bracken looked up, his eyes widening in hope that Seth would say something to him; anything. He wanted to be needed. The fairies glared at Seth in jealousy and pouted, caressing Bracken's face.

"The dark horn… Is it possible to purify it?" Seth mumbled, still looking down at the ground. Bracken stood up and reached for the horn in Seth's hand, Seth moved back, "I don't want you to get hurt."

Bracken smiled at his concern but reached forward anyway and tried to take the horn, "I appreciate it, but the initial darkness that had poisoned me before has lost its affect on me."

Seth backed off a bit more and frowned in concern, looking at Bracken, "Just to be safe."

Bracken agreed and put a hand on Seth's shoulder, "Just to be safe, then."

Seth flinched away from Bracken's gentle hand, which recoiled slowly, as if not quite believing that Seth had rejected him as Kendra had just hours before. "Don't try to get close to me, okay?"

Bracken looked deflated for a second, and Seth felt a pang of regret, but then Bracken looked back up at him with his calm smile. "So, you didn't give the horn to the Singing Sisters. They wanted you to purify it."

Seth nodded and shrugged, "Something along those lines."

Bracken grimaced, "We may have to ask Navarog, things that are impure are not in my category of expertise."

He and Seth walked to the basement dungeon and went down the stairs. They made their way over to the quiet box and stopped. They realized when they stopped that they didn't have an extra person to put in the quiet box.

Bracken looked uncertain, shifting his eyes to Seth and back to the coffin, "I would go, but I don't want to leave you alone with him."

"Hey, where did Kendra's sting-bulb go? Wasn't she in the box?"

"She died." Bracken said, cutting off any further conversation on the subject. He then stepped up to the coffin and opened it, "I'll go in." He turned back to look at Seth seriously, "If anything happens, kill him." He climbed into the box and shut it, leaving Seth no time to argue. Seth went over to the quiet box and opened the door again; Gavin opened his eyes and stepped down, stretching.

"Come to have a chat?" Navarog chuckled, crossing his arms and smirking at the young shadow charmer, taking in the boy's serious demeanor and gaze. "Maybe you have smoothing darker on your mind… so spill." Gavin leaned back against a column and studied Seth.

Seth took the dark horn out from his bag and said, "The Singing Sisters asked me to purify this, so you know how?"

"The Singing Sisters asked you to do that?" He whistled in appreciation then sobered. "It's not possible. SO you may as well just give…up…" The shadows around Gavin had started to flicker, and the souls in the most dangerous section of the dungeon began to howl.

Navarog sensed the source of power was, indeed, the boy. He assessed Seth's power once more, and noted with amusement that it had grown in strength since the last time he had been with Seth.

"Out of respect for your potential as a shadow charmer…" Gavin began, relaxing the tension between his shoulders as the sounds of the howls ceased. "I will look into possibilities for you."

Seth glared harshly at the demon, "Do I have your word?"

Navarog laughed loudly and grinned maliciously at Seth, "A demon's word means nothing! You should know better by-"

"Then I'll kill Kendra." Seth hissed, his fists clenching.

All mirth vanished from Navarog's features in an instant, his muscles tensed again, "You wouldn't-"

"I wouldn't have to." Seth said coldly, knowing that he had struck a nerve with the dragon, "You see, there is a curse..."