A/N: So I wasn't able to post this before due to my computer deciding that it didn't feel like being useful, so…yeah. Well I'll be able to update more frequently now. So, yay? On with the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fablehaven.
Familiar Faces
"Seth. Seth, wake up. SETH." Seth woke up slowly. He could hear someone, but who? And why did they have to wake him? It's not like the world was ending. He tried to roll over as a way to tell them to give him more time. He was just drifting off when whoever was waking up punched him in the shoulder. Hard. He sat up and turned so he was face to face with the one who punched him. It was Kit. Before he could ask any amount of questions she covered his mouth with her hand.
"Before you ask anything just listen. Yesterday when we went to the store you were drugged and bitten by a nacroblix. You were then taken over and when I went after you I caught a kidnapping attempt. We are currently in the back of a van. I have no idea where they are taking us. Any questions?" She took her hand away from his mouth. Kit had a pocket sized flashlight that she was shining on the ceiling so it would illuminate the entire back of the van.
The van wasn't very big. There was just enough room to crawl around. One wall which Kit pointed out was what separated them from the drivers. The wall directly opposite was the doors.
"Are you okay?" He asked. She looked tired. And he could see a large bruise on the side of her face. She nodded. Then she put a finger to his lips, she was telling him to be quiet. She pointed to the wall near the drivers and mouthed the words for her plan while also using her hands.
When the van stopped and somebody went to open the back of the van they were supposed to wait until the doors had just barely opened and then kick them open the rest of the way as hard as possible. Then they would run and try to figure out where they were so they could contact the nearest Knight.
"It's not much," Kit whispered with her lips so close to his ear they were almost touching. "But it's all I can think of. We can't kick out the taillights, I don't have my cellphone, and they put a wall in between us. So now we wait." Seth nodded. The wait was torture. Kit tried to make it go faster by pulling out cards and starting a game but neither of them could focus. They couldn't start a conversation because the drivers might hear and Kit said it was best if they assumed that Seth and Kit were asleep. Kit had to turn off the flashlight just in case they would need it later. Seth almost fell asleep a few times. But during the most recent time right before he reached sleep Kit grabbed him.
She pulled him so his ear was pressed up against the side of the van.
"What do you hear?" She asked. He couldn't hear much, a few other cars, and birds, but that was it. He told Kit.
"But they're not. Birds I mean. They're artificial." She sounded eager. But she must have sensed Seth's confusion. "They're one of those sound boxes that they put on stoplights to tell people when to cross. Meaning that there are stoplights. Meaning we're in a city. Because the car needs gas."
"How did you get that?" The two of their faces were directly next to each other.
"Because why else would they take the city route. Chances are Hugo was still able to see you well enough in his mind to catch the license plate which he would tell to Grandpa and then they can track it through traffic cameras. And then they're going to check on us, which is when we go through with the plan." Seth and Kit both rolled over to the doors and placed their feet near the doors. Kit grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back.
Seth could feel the car slow down and eventually pull to a stop. He could tell when the engine was turned off and heard the slamming over the doors. With every second his heart beat faster. He heard a click outside the doors and Kit squeezed his hand harder. The door let in the tiniest sliver of light and Seth put all the force he could muster into a kick. He could tell that he knocked someone over and before he could even let his eyes adjust to the light Kit was dragging him along across a street that like it needed to be repaired desperately and up a dirt hill where they disappeared in to a patch of woods.
"Kit! Kit wait! I can explain if you stop." Kit made a sharp turn so they were hidden by a particularly thick tree. Her eyes were wide a she was still holding Seth's hand. It wasn't hard for Seth to see that she was shocked.
"Who is it? How does he know your name?" The voice was getting louder and Seth didn't want to step away from the tree and expose them.
"It's one of my cousins. One of Vanessa's brothers." Kit released Seth's hand so she could grab a heavy looking stone.
"That's close enough Matthew." She had stepped out from behind the tree and Seth followed suit. The man chasing them had a certain similarity to Kit and Vanessa. He was at least twenty feet from them.
"Make sure nobody tries to sneak up on us while I talk." She whispered to Seth.
"Kit just listen. I had to kidnap Seth. I made a deal with the Singing Sisters and—" Kits shoulders tightened at that.
"You made a deal with the Sisters? Are you an idiot? Or does an early and painful death seem like fun?" Kit was practically screaming. She threw the rock and it landed a few feet away from Matthew.
"Stop screaming and listen for once. Please." He looked desperate. Kit nodded for him to continue. "I was desperate when I made the deal. I had no other choice. So when they told me that I just needed to grab somebody that they had made a deal with before I thought I was getting off easy. But I didn't know it was a kid. I didn't know he was a Sorenson. And to be honest if I knew you were there at the time I would have convinced your mother to send you to Lex. Okay?" Seth could tell that Matthew was trying to calm Kit down, but his words had the opposite effect. She turned around at Seth could finally tell that her eyes were gray, a furious gray, squinted up in a glare that could kill pigeons mid-air.
"You made a deal with the Sisters too? Why would your Grandfather let you do that!"
"I needed to get Vasilis to help fight the demons from Zzyx." Kits eyes widened.
"Wait. You, you were there? You… Ohmygosh that means…" She looked mad again.
"Why was I not made aware of this!" She yelled at Matthew.
"Oh well we tried to tell you. When Nessa came to visit in May. But if I remember correctly you refused to listen when she was telling everybody else." He rubbed his hands together. "So now that we're all caught up we need to get going so we can get you to the sisters before nightfall."
"Hold on. How am I supposed to know it's you? I mean, you could be another blix." Matthew was visibly annoyed by this.
"Ask me anything." Kit pondered, with her mouth all crinkled she looked like a little kid trying t do math.
"Who's the worst driver in our family?"
"Nessa. Everybody knows she only got her license because she wore a short skirt." Kit bit back laughter. Seth made a mental note to ask Vanessa how many tickets she had gotten.
"How many times did you break Lex's arm?"
"That was not my fault. He fell off the wall." Kit rolled her eyes.
"What's my favorite animal?"
"Based on what you were staring at last time we took the twins to the zoo I'd have to say what you consider cute boys." Kit laughed and started walking towards her cousin. Sometime after throwing the rock she must have grabbed Seth's hand again because she pulled him forward. The walk back to the van was mostly silent. When they were out of the forest Seth saw that Kit had been wrong.
They had been driving along a near abandoned road and had pulled up at a desolate looking gas station. There was only one van and he could see a couple arguing near it. Matthew cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to them. The shorter of the arguing pair turned to face him and started yelling at him. Seth pulled Kit closer. The short one was yelling about how their mission could be jeopardized and how the Singing sisters were already going to be mad about Kit and how they were going to have to drive extra fast now.
Seth stopped listening to her and instead walked with Kit to the van where he followed suit when she sat down in the back. The yelling continued for a few minutes and Kit rummaged through a leather bag that Seth realized had been with her the entire time. She pulled out hair ties and started pulling half of her hair into a braid. The yelling stopped before she started working on the other half.
An angry strawberry blonde woman found a seat along with Matthew. Another man with enough muscles to give Tanu a run for his money took the wheel and started driving. A few minutes passed in silence. Seth had been thinking about how odd it was that he and kit were just going along with their kidnappers. But if they didn't then the three of them would die. Seth probably would too. Another question was bothering him. Why were the singing Sisters making him visit them now? He still had plenty of time left.
"It's probably because what they want will only be available a short time longer." Kit replied, causing Seth to realize that he had been thinking aloud.
"Oh."
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Kit woke up when Seth started tapping her face. She grabbed the hand committing the crime.
"Don't." The little punk grinned at her.
"What? You're not a five in the afternoon person?"
"I'm not a waking up person."
"We're at the Singing Sisters, that's why I woke you."
"Great." Kit made her way out of the van. She took one look at her surroundings and frowned. "Was it like this last time you came here?"
"Like what?"
"Just, dead. You can't feel any magic here. It's bleak." Seth looked around.
"I don't feel it." Kit realized what the problem was and she was very tired. Not sleepy, but tired.
"Just grab your sword and let's go." Kit still couldn't believe that the kid who had Hugo throw him in the pool for fun had one of the most powerful swords in all of history. She looked over at a trailer in front of the little body of water that held the Singing Sisters island. In front of the trailer she could see her cousin arguing with somebody she didn't recognize. It was the sentinel. She was too far away to understand what they were saying but she could tell they were yelling.
"What's happening?" Seth was behind her.
"I don't know. Come on." She took off running in that direction. As she got closer she was able to understand.
"I don't care what you say! I'm not going to leave my little cousin!" she slowed to a stop a few feet away from them.
"Matt." Their family only used each other's full names when mad. "You have to go. I'll be fine. But if you stay then the Sisters will be mad." Kit had no idea what argument she was walking into. Except for her having to stay. But her argument seemed to prove a point to Matt and he backed down. She hugged him.
"I hope Ness finds out what you did and beats up like she did when we were younger." Kit whispered in Matt's ear while digging her fingernails into his sides.
"She might have in the past because you're like her baby. But why would she do anything for the baby that's ignoring her?" Kit stepped out of the hug. She punched Matt on the arm, hard.
"Give that to your brother and tell him I'm still mad." Matt might have had three other brothers but Kit was sure the right one would get the message. Matt gave her one more smile to show that he had been kidding before and jogged back to the van.
"Weird family." The old man watched Matt's retreat then eyed Kit carefully.
"You should see the reunions." She joked. Kit saw Seth smile out of the corner of her eye.
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Seth stepped forward. He looked official in Kit's opinion. It reminded her of when her mother used to be a Knight. She would take Kit to the preserves with her, leave Kit at the Main Houses then go out and save the world. Or at least that's what Kit thought she did.
"Well I'm going to take you both to the Sisters. Not much else to do." Seth and Kit exchanged a look, but followed the old man anyways. Seth stepped onto the raft second then held out his hand for Kit. The ride to the island was actually kind of pretty, Kit wished that she would have had enough time to draw and she would have sketched it. She even had her good colored pencils in her bag.
When they got to the shores of the island hopped off. They said good bye for the moment to the sentinel and walked towards the center of the island, everything started blurring together. Next thing she knew they were already at it and Seth was asking her something.
"What?"
"I asked if you had anything to help me see, like butter, or magical gum or something." Kit thought about it for a second.
"I have eye drops." She started rummaging through her bag for them. Seth groaned.
"I hate the eye drops." Kit rolled her eyes.
"Well in these situations you take what you can get. Which are these. Unless you'd like to borrow the lipgloss I made. It may take a while to take effect but your lips will be sparkly and smell like French Vanilla." She pulled out the eye dropper and handed it to Seth. He popped open the bottle and tilted back his head. Kid rolled her eyes when he winced. Sure they were bad but from what she remembered not that bad. He gave them back to her.
One of the trolls (or at least she was pretty sure that's what it was) said something she couldn't understand.
"Come on." He said he was still blinking rapidly, it had to have blurred his vision because if it weren't for Kit he would have fallen down the stairs.
"Thanks." He mumbled.
When they reached the foot of the stairs Kit started to hear singing. Seth stopped and asked the Troll something in a language Kit didn't understand. The overgrown reptile looking creature replied and pointed to the room. Kit leaned back against the earthen wall of the underground tunnel , but the Troll pushed Kit and she took it as having to go in with Seth. He tried to whisper something reassuring to her but she didn't catch it.
When Kit saw the maggots she nearly screamed she hated bugs. If she saw a spider she was as far away from it as she possibly could be within seconds. The Sisters knew when the two of them walked into the room, they looked up. Seth whispered in her ear and pushed her along. What was wrong with her? She had been fine yesterday. But seeing Matt had shaken her, seeing him had reminded her of everything that had happened.
"You shouldn't have gotten involved. Your presence complicates things." The tallest one tried to claim her attention. The Sisters were glaring at her.
"Sorry." She couldn't think of anything else.
"What do you want?" Seth was trying to call attention away from her.
"We're calling in your favor." The flabby one was glaring at her. It took Kit a second to realize that it was because Seth's hand were on her shoulders.
"But why now? I had a year left and it's only been two months. What could be so important?"
"The item we want is on a fallen preserve and is being pursued by others. We needed to move now or it would be out of our sight. "
"Which preserve?" Kit couldn't help asking, maybe it would be one of the ones that she had been to…
"Rio Branco."
"What do we have to get?"
"It looks like a compass. We'll give you a map and that's all you need to know about it." The tallest one replied. "We'll have one of our servants draw you up a map."
"So are we just supposed to get there by ourselves?" Seth asked.
"Don't worry about that part. I have connections." Kit reassured him. She would be able to get them to Brazil somehow.
The next twenty minutes blurred for Kit. Once again they were outside, and walking back towards the raft. Kit took the time to study Seth. He was so…odd sometimes. It was like he kept forgetting how he was supposed to act. He could go from being cheerful to moody in seconds. Kit could tell that it was a problem his grandparents knew about. When he had turned all moody at dinner once they exchanged the look where it was like they were talking by just looking at each other. He noticed she was staring.
"What?" He was smiling again
"Nothing I was just thinking. We're going to have to go quite a ways, and we're going to need to get supplies for a trip. So I think we should hit up the nearest store and get stuff."
"Are you going to use some of your connections to pay for it?" He teased. Kit held up a finger and rummaged through her bag before pulling out a plain looking wallet. She opened it and showed Seth that it was filled completely with bank card.
"Let's see there's one of Vanessa's bank accounts , my kidnapped account. There's account that Daddy set up if I'm ever broke and I don't know where I am…" She trailed off listing all of the accounts she had access to.
"Your family is weird." Seth said.
"When you've been in the business as long as my family has you like to try and be prepared." She shrugged and put the wallet back into her bag.
"And you're trusted with all that money?"
"They can track my spending. Well it used to be that my cousins, Ness and her brothers, shared the accounts. But when they got older they started to become more independent and open their own funds. So right now they're all mine. At least until my sisters get older."
"I don't really care which one we use. But I have a quick question. They said back there that we aren't allowed to involve anybody else. What about when your family starts tracking your spending? They're going to catch up to us." Kit sighed.
"We'll think it up as we go along. But you do realize what thwarting our guardians efforts constantly will mean right?"
"What?"
"We're going to be grounded for so long when this is over."