Chapter 8 – Rescue
Having dialed her home phone number, Kendra held the cellular phone up to her ear, listening anxiously as it rang several times without answer.
"Hello?" asked the voice on the other line, whom Kendra recognized as her mother's. Unfortunately, the reception wasn't the greatest. "Who is this?"
"Mom!" squealed Kendra. "It's me, Kendra!"
There a was brief pause. "Oh my god," said Mrs. Sorenson, whom Kendra imagined had placed a hand over her heart. "Kendra, where the hell are you?"
"I... don't know," said Kendra admittedly. "I'm in danger! The society caught me! I need help!"
"We'll... we'll help you!" exclaimed Mrs. Sorenson. "But you need to tell us where you are! Any idea?"
"No. I was just driven along the highway for several hours. I don't know where I am,"
"Kendra..." said Mrs. Sorenson, "I don't know how we can help if you don't know where..."
"I know where we are!" shouted Lance from his cell. "If it'll help."
Not knowing if Lance was being truthful, Kendra felt as though she had no other choice. "Hold on, Mom. Where are we?" she asked, moving the phone away from her face.
"21 Millwood Drive," said Lance. "Denton, New York state."
Kendra immediately relayed the address to her mother. She also mentioned that she was in the basement.
"Got it," said Mrs. Sorenson. "Now Kendra, tell me-"
Kendra pulled the phone away from her face, then looked at it and saw that it had gone dead. Fear spread throughout her body. Hopefully the information had been truthful and accurate. It was up to the others to find her now.
"Who was that?" asked Lance.
"My mother. If you were telling the truth, she can use that information to get help. If not..."
"Believe me, I want to get out of here even more than you do! You're the first person I've been able to freely talk to since I got adopted."
Just then, Kendra could hear the basement door swing open, and sensed several footsteps trotting down the stairs.
"You left Kendra down here, unsupervised with Lance?" hissed Matthew, as he made his way down to the bottom of the stairs with Jake by his side.
"Relax," said Jake, pointing at Kendra. "See, she's still in her cage. She ain't goin' nowhere."
"I doubt those two are even half as dumb as you," said Matthew, as he reached down and picked up Jake in one hand, holding him in front of his face. I just know they were probably sharing secrets."
"Look," said Jake, whose neck was being clenched within Matthew's hand, "would you rather we lock her in a closet somewhere? Or maybe tie her up and gag her?"
"That wasn't what Oblivion requested," said Matthew. "Now stay down here and make sure that they don't chit-chat anymore. If you need anything, press the red button over there for assistance. To make up for you leaving your post without authorization, your relief will come by later than their originally scheduled time."
"Great," said Jake, as Matthew walked back upstairs. "Just great."
Back at Fablehaven, Bright and Clover, along with a group of small fairies, had gathered by the Fairy Queen's shrine in the centre of the naiad's pond. Seth, Warren, Dale, Grandpa and Grandma were all standing by the shore, watching them from afar.
"Let's try this one more time," said Bright, holding her hands in front of herself. "Open the path NOW!"
Every last fairy in the area exerted magical power from their hands and upon the shrine, causing it to glow in a flash of colors.
"Keep trying!" gasped Bright, struggling to access the Fairy Kingdom. After trying for a few more moments, all the fairies gave up in despair.
"It's no use, Bright," said Clover. "We can't access the Fairy Kingdom. It's like the connection between worlds won't open for us."
"Is everything okay?" asked Grandma, as the fairies all flew back to the shore.
"Something's really wrong," said Bright. "First Kendra disappears, now this! I don't like what's been happening one bit. I feel like someone is onto us. Something is very wrong."
"What could be wrong with the link between worlds?" asked Grandpa.
"We don't know," said Clover. "We've never had trouble passing through before. It's like something is intentionally preventing it."
"It might not be so bad," said Warren. "Fairies pass through our world and theirs regularly. Once the fairies on the other side discover that they're unable to pass through, they'll seek assistance. Besides, they have the Fairy Queen and the instruments on their side. Hopefully they'll sort this whole mess out before long."
"What if fairies can still enter our world, but not theirs?" asked Grandma. "It would be like a one-way trap."
"Sooner or later, they'll realize something's wrong," said Warren. "I hope. It's not like we can send them a distress signal."
"Kendra's alive!" shouted Mrs. Sorenson from the path leading to the house. Everyone turned to face her, as she and Mr. Sorenson ran over to the edge of the pond. The news forced Seth's eyes to light up.
"Where is she?" asked Grandpa. "What happened to her?"
"She got kidnapped," said Mr. Sorenson. "She managed to call Marla. And she said that the society is back and they've kidnapped her."
Grandpa sighed. "No..."
"She did get us an address," said Mrs. Sorenson. If you can get there fast enough, maybe it won't be too late."
"We'll make preparations immediately," said Grandpa. "Come on, everyone,"
What's going on?" asked Clover, as the group darted back towards the house. "Who's gonna go after Kendra?"
"You fairies, Seth and Warren. "I'll try to call for reinforcements, but time is of the essence, and we are unable to contact the Fairy Kingdom. However, you and Bright should have enough power between the two of you to at least infiltrate wherever Kendra is being held."
"Hold on," said Warren, "how do we know what we're supposed to do to find Kendra at this address? What if she's been relocated by the time we arrive?"
"It's the only lead we have," said Grandma. "Use any means of deception necessary during this mission. The sooner you can save Kendra, the better."
Within fifteen minutes, Seth, Warren, Bright and Clover were all packed up and ready to leave. Warren had gotten in the driver's seat of his car, while Seth sat down on the passenger's side, with the fairies in the back.
Prior to leaving, Warren had found driving directions to the address off of the internet, and had a good sense as to where he was heading. He described the town of Denton as a somewhat rural community with a population of roughly one-thousand people or so, not much larger than Crossroad Pass.
The group had left Fablehaven at roughly noon, and spent the entire afternoon driving westward on various highways towards Denton. Concerned too much about Kendra to think about anything else, the group made as little conversation as possible throughout the trip. Thankfully, traffic wasn't too bad, and they stopped only twice; once for a quick pit stop, the other to fill up on gas.
At roughly a quarter after seven, Seth glanced at the GPS on the dashboard and located the car's coordinates. "Hey, Warren. Looks like we've almost reached Denton."
"At last," said Warren with a smile. "This trip had better been worth it."
At the next exit, Warren got off, then drove down a country road, soon passing a sign that read Welcome to Denton. After another minute or so, they had reached a rather lush area, full of several large estates. Keeping an eye on the GPS, Seth could see that their destination was practically around the block, when Warren pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car rather abruptly.
"We don't want to attract any more attention than necessary," said Warren, twisting his key out of the ignition. "We'll go on foot from here."
The group followed Warren to the next intersection, where Warren pointed down the road to the right. "If my guess is correct, then the address should be right down that way."
Looking back, Seth could see the sun setting beyond the horizon, which meant that they were walking eastwards. Before long, they were walking alongside a tall, iron fence, which surrounded one of the estates. Warren looked up at the nearby gate, then smirked.
"21 Millwood Drive," said Warren. "This has to be the place."
Seth gazed through the bars of the fence, and saw a large mansion situated in the middle of the estate. It was uncertain to him, but this was in fact the very house that Kendra had been taken to.
"So, how do we get in here?" asked Seth.
"They're probably not big on solicitors," said Warren, "a direct approach will never work."
"Is there no distractor spell?" asked Bright. "This feels too easy."
"Maybe," said Clover. "Or maybe not. It's possible that being fairy angels, we're shielding our companions from the spell with our power."
"The society should know by now that it'd take more than a distractor spell to stop us," said Warren. Course, we've always had Kendra on our side. Not sure how much they know about you two."
"Let's just get into that house," said Clover, holding her hands towards Warren. "I can make both you and myself invisible for a few minutes, without consuming too much of my magic. Bright, do the same for Seth."
Bright and Clover released their magic upon Seth and Warren respectively. Seth looked over at Warren and watched as he disappeared. Seth then examined his body and saw that he was still visible.
"It didn't work!" said Bright.
"First the flying, now this!" said Warren.
"It's my stupid shadow charmer power," said Seth. "It's probably rejecting your fairy magic."
"Clover and I will go on ahead," said Warren. "Bright, see if you can come up with something else."
Although he couldn't see them, Seth watched as Clover disappeared and presumably floated over the fence, flying off towards the mansion with Warren.
"Let me try something," said Bright, unleashing more magic upon Seth. "Maybe your inner shadow charmer would prefer this?"
Seth felt his body shrink down tremendously. His legs became smaller than the rest of his body, while his hands seemingly disappeared. He could feel some strange fuzz growing all over his body, while something grew out of his nose, as well as his backside.
Once the transformation was complete, Seth peered up at Bright through the grass, who was looking down at him.
"It worked!" she gasped.
Unable to speak, Seth merely cawed.
"I turned you into a raven. I figured since ravens tend to be associated with darkness,,,"
Seth flapped his wings and then shook his head, showing that he didn't know how to fly. To him, Seth's new body felt incredibly awkward.
"Never mind that," said Bright, as she reached down and picked up Seth, then made herself invisible. Just spread your wings out and pretend you're flying."
Seth did as such, then felt as Bright took off into the air and flew over towards the house. They had soon passed over the vast front yard, when they reached the mansion itself.
"Over here," said Clover, leading Seth and Bright over to a large window sill on the first floor. Like Bright, Clover and Warren were still invisible.
"Seth?" asked Warren. Even though Seth could see them, he imagined the kind of look that Warren and Clover had on their faces.
"Now to get through the window," said Bright. "This should be easy now since we're right next to it."
In what seemed like a flash, Seth could sense that he was now inside the window, and was now in a hallway of the house. He still seemed to be positioned in Bright's invisible hands.
"Where do we go from here?" whispered Bright. "I don't know where the basement is."
"What about Seth?" asked Clover. "He can still be seen!"
"I dunno. Seth, just keep close to the floor and stay out of trouble. We're not going to abandon you."
Once Bright set him down on the floor, Seth listened for the others' footsteps, which he realized weren't very loud, as to not attract unwanted attention, and did what he could to follow them.
"Where's the basement?" asked Warren softly. Although the others could not see him, he appeared to be peering through the keyhole of a random door.
"How should we know?" replied Clover. "You want a written invitation or something?"
"A written invitation would be dandy. Perhaps it would give us directions."
After wandering for another minute or so, Seth watched as one of the invisible figures peeked down another door.
"These stairs lead downwards!" Bright whispered quietly.
As Seth followed the other figures down the stairs, he could see them suddenly reappear before his very eyes. Additionally, he could feel his body shape-shifting as it somehow grew back into its natural human form. However, the transformation had caught him off guard, causing him to lose his balance and topple down onto his friends, who in turn all fell down to the bottom of the stairs.
"What... happened?" asked Warren, who examined his surroundings while rubbing his head.
"Seth's transformation wasn't supposed to just wear off like that," said Bright.
"Guys!" shrieked Kendra in awe from her cell. "Help!"
"Hold on!" exclaimed Clover, as she charged towards the cell with the rest of her group
"Kendra, it's you!" said Bright, as she stared into the cell at Kendra. "It's not an impostor."
"Who's there?" asked Lance.
"Lance?" asked Seth, who didn't know what to think upon hearing his former so-called friend speak.
"No time to explain," gasped Kendra. "Just get me out of here!"
"Think you can blast open the cage?" asked Warren, looking at Clover and Bright.
"I'm not sure you should try it," said Kendra, "it's been reinforced by magic."
"I've got another trick," said Bright, as she pointed her index finger through the bars of Kendra's cell and unleashed some magic upon her. Kendra immediately shrunk to the size of a mouse, clothes and all. Almost instinctively, Kendra ran through the bars to her cell. Once she passed through, Bright restored her to her former size.
"Thank you," panted Kendra, throwing her arms around Bright.
"We still have to get out of here," said Clover.
"What about me?" asked Lance, grabbing the group's attention.
"What're you doing in there?" asked Seth. "And why should we help you after all this?"
"You don't understand, Seth," said Lance. "Please, it's not what you think!"
"Let him out," said Kendra. "Please. I trust him. He's the one who gave me the address."
"You'd better be right," said Clover, as she shrunk Lance with her magic, giving him the opportunity to pass through the bars to his cell. Once he was out, Clover enlarged him back to his original height.
"THANK YOU," squealed Lance, as he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hold your applause," said Clover. "We need to get out of here now!"
Everyone then scurried back up the stairs to the first floor hallway, where Ashley was standing, as though she had been waiting for them.
"Well, well, well," said Ashley. "You're in such a hurry. But don't leave now. The party's only just begun!"
"Some party" said Warren. "I'm the one who had to bring the punch,"
As he said the word "punch," Warren had quickly propped his arm back and smacked his fist into Ashley's cheek. The force of Warren's blow caused Ashley to stumble back into the wall.
"Showed her," snorted Warren.
"You really shouldn't have done that," said Lance.
"MATTHEW!" screamed Ashley, as she shape-shifted her body into that of a rhinoceros. Almost immediately, she began chasing Warren, who hadn't even drawn his sword, down the hallway.
"Leave him alone!" shouted Clover, as she shot Ashley with a blast of magic, regressing her body into that of a tortoise's.
Warren then drew his sword and poised it down in Ashley's direction.
Suddenly, Warren's body shrank down into that of a hare's. Standing behind Warren was Matthew.
"Tortoise beats hare," said Matthew. "Observe."
Still a tortoise, Ashley allowed herself to shape-shift into a jaguar, and began to lunge at Warren, who just wasn't fast enough to dodge her. He was then pinned down to the floor by Ashley's claws.
"Don't even think about it," said Matthew, as he knocked down Seth and the fairies to the floor with a powerful blast of magic.
"We can't reach him!" said Bright, just as Ashley was about to rip Warren's head off with her other claw.
Without any warning, the outer wall crashed open, drawing everyone's attention away from Warren and Ashley's conflict, including the two of them. Before the debris could even clear, Raxtus suddenly appeared, standing inside of the hole he had just created.
"What's going on here?" he asked, unable to recognize Ashley, Matthew or Lance, who were astonished to see him with their own eyes.
"Who is that?" gasped Matthew.
"Raxtus!" exclaimed Kendra.
"A dragon?" asked Ashley, still a jaguar. "That's not fair!"
"So what?" snarled Matthew, holding his hands in the air as energy cackled between his fingers. "I'll turn that dragon runt into a suitcase."
"Enough!" shouted Bright, as she shot a powerful rainbow out of her hands, which hit both Matthew and Ashley, blasting them far down to the end of the hallway.
"Can we please get out of here?" asked Lance. "It'll take more than some rainbow to stop those two."
Seth looked down and saw Warren, who had been partially maimed by Ashley's claws, trying to climb up Clover's leg. Clover then unleashed some magic upon Warren, restoring him to his human self and healing him in the process.
"Thanks," said Warren, bending up onto his own two legs.
"Lance has the right idea," said Bright. "Clover and I can't fight with magic forever, and who knows who else is hanging around here."
"You don't wanna know," said Lance. "Just be thankful that Oblivion himself isn't here."
Kendra and Warren climbed onto Raxtus' back, while Bright and Clover wrapped their arms around Seth and Lance's bodies respectively. Without saying another word, the group of seven took off through the hole and flew across the front yard of the estate.
