Based on characters from Fablehaven© by Brandon Mull. The original characters and plot details are my property. No copyright infringement intended.
Bracken closed and latched the door again. He returned to stand next to Kendra and the unconscious dragon lying across the table.
"One more thing," he said and briefly hugged Kendra. He pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. He read the incantation that would liberate Raxtus from his current avatar. Once he finished reading, he moved back to Kendra and wrapped his arms around her again. He pulled her back further watching and waiting for the outcome of the spell.
Where Raxtus' body hadn't covered the entire table Kendra could see the edges of the carved design glow orange then red. The smell of burning wood permeated the room but she felt no heat. Exotic scents wisped in dozens of separate multicolored smoky coils from beneath Raxtus' body. They wrapped his entire body, only avoiding his nostrils, in a vivid writhing cloud of conflicting fragrances. Kendra took a deep breath of one of the wonderful scents but just as she did another scent followed that made her gag. She did not breathe deeply again.
Bracken felt her breath deep then gag and wondered if the spell could harm them. He moved back pulling her further away until he bumped into the wall. He wondered if they were still too close. He could still smell the odors but the coils of smoke remained wrapped around Raxtus, relieving his mind somewhat.
Sweet and putrid, flowery and fetid, the unusually scented and colorful smoky coils flowed separately and smoothly at first. Then it churned and blended into a thin blue gray cloud and to Kendra it now smelled like human body odor, not a stinky sweaty smell but a pleasant totally human scent. The cloud tightened around him thickening almost obscuring his features like a dense fog, and then it oozed beneath his scales and disappeared.
His body glowed with a faint bluish light for a moment and his metallic sheen was renewed.
Kendra felt better when Raxtus looked more like himself again. She moved toward him.
"We can't touch him either," Bracken told her and held her back.
"What?" She looked at him incredulously.
"Your fairy magic, remember?" Bracken reminded her. "Once he wakes up you can hug him."
Bracken didn't move the broken table pieces on which Raxtus was lying. He did pick up one of the broken legs. He used it to move the unconscious dragon enough to get his wingtip out from under his body. He hoped that it gave him a more comfortable resting spot.
With a wave of his hand and a single uttered phrase Bracken revoked all the invitations. By doing so he sealed the building from everyone except him and Kendra. He didn't want anyone getting in and disturbing Raxtus especially nosy or concerned fairies. Anyone wanting to see Raxtus now had to have an escort.
Bracken stayed with Kendra as she hovered over Raxtus until the wee hours of the morning. She was horrified at what the spell had done to his tiny avatar; she kept muttering apologies. He had to watch her constantly as she repeatedly reached out her hand to touch the sleeping dragon.
"You can't, not yet," he told her each time as he pulled her hand back. It broke his heart listening to her cry before she finally fell asleep. He would have warned her if he had known the spell would have such a devastating effect and Raxtus would look so dreadful.
He carried her home when she finally fell asleep close to the slumbering dragon. He was worried about her, as she seemed more distressed as the night went on.
Bracken sat next to her bed the rest of the night watching her sleep. The next morning Kendra woke up anxious but seemed all right after they checked on Raxtus. He was unchanged and resting comfortably. Bracken relaxed when she didn't try to touch him and after watching him sleep for an hour, she was at ease leaving him alone in the security of the warded barn.
Kendra and Bracken took Stan in to see Raxtus. They explained that he had to rest in the little barn while he was in hibernation. Kendra told her grandpa that she was concerned because he was so still.
Stan didn't know what they had done or why, only that the Fairy Queen approved it. The dragon didn't seem in distress only asleep. He agreed with Bracken that Kendra should check on the dragon during his hibernation.
Bracken and Stan got her family to agree to let her check on Raxtus every day before she did her schoolwork and chores.
After lunch, Bracken said goodbye to Kendra and her family. He had to continue the work for his mother he had put aside the past few weeks to help Raxtus.
In the little barn, Raxtus rested.
Kendra checked up on him every day, some days she checked multiple times and some days Seth came along with her. Weeks went by and Raxtus did not stir. He was breathing, slowly. His eyes moved beneath their lids but otherwise he showed no sign of life.
Kendra and Seth were beginning to worry. Didn't he have to drink or eat or something, could he just sleep like that for days and weeks? Kendra wanted to contact Celebrant again and find out how long Raxtus was going to rest, no one had said and she hadn't asked. She didn't know when to start worrying (although she already had). She tried to get in touch with Bracken but he was unavailable, he was on another errand for his mother.
Her parents and grandparents told her not to be anxious that if Celebrant knew about what they had done and was concerned at all he would do something. She decided to wait until Bracken got back to voice her anxiety. The extent of their 'failure or success' was unknown and was preying on her mind.
She had traveled the same path each morning for three weeks now. The morning was cool and damp for mid July. Crossing the wide area of the exclusion field created by the distractor spell she looked expectantly at the building as the morning sunlight skimmed over the treetops and hit the door.
"Today he will wake up and see me waiting for him," she said aloud hoping to see him sitting there eyes wide and smiling his toothy dragon smile.
"Good morning, Raxtus," she greeted him as she always did when she opened the door. She closed the door behind her and let her eyes adjust to the dim light but Raxtus was not where he should be. This time the room was empty.
"Raxtus?" she called timidly.
She spun on her heels checking the entire room. He was not there.
"Raxtus!" she screamed. There was no answer. Her breath left her as she realized something dreadful had happened.
She stood silent listening for his breathing hoping she could hear him… that he was just invisible, but she heard nothing. Trembling, she stared at the fresh heavy footprints that headed for the door. They showed clearly on the dirt floor beneath her feet but they ended at the door. She threw open the door and in the bright sunlight she looked for the track of his footprints. The thick grass outside hid any sign of which way the little dragon had gone.
She ran around the little barn calling his name and scanning the area. She saw and heard nothing. Panicked she ran to the house for help.
"Help! He's gone, he's gone," she yelled frantically as she entered the garden lawn quickly running toward the house.
Dale rushed out of the barn in response to her yelling. "Who is gone?" Dale asked, as he approached.
Grandma Ruth and Marla hurried out the door as she reached the porch.
"Raxtus is no longer in the little barn and there is no sign of him. We have to look for him," she said panting from her long run. "He wouldn't have just left without saying something."
"I'll call grandpa and your dad," Grandma Ruth said. "Lord, I wish the distractor spell wasn't there," she muttered as she headed into the house to the 2-way radio. She knew better than to ask why the distractor spell was necessary and what they had done, the Fairy Queen had approved of it. It was up to them to make it right.
"We will wait for you at the cairn," Kendra's mom Marla yelled at Ruth.
Dale, Marla and Kendra headed toward the marker for little barn. Walking slowly at first because she didn't want to stop to rest Kendra regained her breath and strength.
The waiting point was a three foot tall cairn of stones about eleven hundred feet from the south door. The distractor spell wouldn't allow anyone to find the little barn. The cairn stones marked a spot nearby.
Marla and Dale decided that Dale needed to go first to check out the area, so Kendra had him close his eyes and took his hand. Constantly reassuring him, Kendra pulled and tugged Dale, who kept his eyes closed, to the perimeter of the building. When he was out of the spell's influence, he began a thorough search of the building careful not to disturb the evidence.
"I'm going to get mom," she told him as she watched him finish his search.
Dale shook his head knowing it would just be a waste of time to bring her mother over.
"I don't know why. There is nothing to see. Nothing she can do. Wait and bring Stan over when he arrives, that way he will know what we know. He can make his decision on what to do. It is up to him, you know," Dale told her bluntly and walked to the door ready to leave.
Dale walked with Kendra into the distractor field and he began walking away very fast. He knew he was in the 'wrong' place somewhere he shouldn't be. Kendra was holding him back and he knew she couldn't hold on to him. He began to panic, it was worse than when he came in but he had his eyes open now. He broke away running toward the 'right' place, he could see it and could feel that it was just ahead of him.
Kendra didn't know where he would wind up outside the distractor field but she wasn't going to chase him. He was running every which way but back toward the little barn. Now that he was frantically trying to get away, she knew she wouldn't be able to control him even if she caught up to him. She thought that either Bracken added a little more oomph to the spell or Dale was particularly susceptible.
She walked back to the cairn stones to find her Dad and Grandpa Stan waiting with her mother. Grandma Ruth had stayed behind in case Raxtus made his way to the house.
Dale had made it out of the spell area ahead of her. He was about a hundred feet away, out of breath and puffing from the spell induced run.
"You okay, Dale?" Scott asked.
Dale smiled and nodded, still wheezing trying to catch his breath.
"Dale didn't find anything," Kendra told them, her disappointment was obvious.
"Take me in and I will see what we are dealing with. No use you bringing anyone else in if there is nothing to see," Grandpa Stan told her soothingly.
Kendra took him to the building, holding his hand pulling him along with his eyes closed. He wasn't as resistant to going as Dale had been.
He checked the perimeter for evidence of any kind before going through the door. Inside he walked a grid, checking the dirt floor of the little barn, noting the various imprints in the dirt.
Kendra watched him methodically pace the floor hoping against hope that he would trip over an invisible but sleeping Raxtus but nothing blocked his pacing.
He casually glanced at the broken table but carefully followed Raxtus' footprints to the heavy grass just outside the door. Squatting in the dirt at the edge of the lawn he looked for signs of crushed grass leaves where the next foot print should have been and was disappointed.
"No sign, no sign at all," he sighed and stood up. "Let's go back. There is nothing else to do here," he said and shook his head. "Sorry sweetheart, I'm sorry I don't have better news for you."
He took her hand, closed his eyes and they walked quickly back to the cairn stones.
"There is nothing to show which way he went, so let's search the surrounding area. Ask the local inhabitants if they have seen him. I don't know what else to do. If he is invisible there is nothing we can do until he wants to be found," Stan said when they returned to the group waiting on them. Resigned to the fact that Raxtus was missing, they had to start a search for him.
When asked the local fairies had seen nothing. Stan figured that he had to have left the building either invisible or in the middle of the night. Since there were no footprints he must have taken flight immediately, meaning he could be anywhere.
Everyone was looking for Raxtus. Everywhere they went they looked and called. Whoever or whatever they met they asked if they had seen him. The biggest problem was if Raxtus were invisible, no one would find him. Other than the very small group no one really knew what they had been doing in the little barn, only that Raxtus was involved with his father's and the Fairy Queen's permission. Only they knew that if he was in his new avatar form he would not be recognizable. You couldn't miss even a small platinum dragon but what did he look like now? That really concerned them.
Seth sent the satyrs Newel and Doren to tell every creature that anyone of them could contact him if they saw Raxtus or even a stranger. They were readily agreeable but headed down the path toward their part of the forest.
Kendra thought that the lazy creatures probably just went back to their TV shack and settled in for the day.
Seth also found Nero the troll and asked him to spread the word to the darker entities at Fablehaven about the missing dragon. He told him that he would return the favor if they found him and reported it to him quickly. Nero laughed but did what the young shadow charmer asked.
Bracken came back when the fairies spread the word to the Fairy Queen that Raxtus had disappeared. He had all the fairies looking for the dragon. If they found him or even traces of him, they were to go to the shrine and let Fairy Queen know immediately.
Bracken's hardest challenge was calming Kendra. Before she had felt responsibility for the dragon's former avatar's tortured appearance now she was extremely fearful for his safety and she blamed herself for leaving him unguarded. After a few hours of comforting her and there was no information on his whereabouts from those searching for him, he reluctantly left. Bracken went immediately to Wyrmroost; he needed to relay the troubling information to Celebrant.
Distressed by the news, Celebrant himself flew over all of Fablehaven looking for his son. He left after a few days with Bracken's and the Fairy Queen's promise that they would immediately relay any information they found.
Everyone was confused and alarmed by Raxtus' disappearance. Weeks went by and all reports coming in were that no one had seen anything.
Kendra walked the long path to Warren's cabin asking every creature she passed if they had seen the small dragon, even ones that couldn't have answered, like blue jays and rabbits.
"Have you seen a small silver white dragon? He's not scary," Kendra asked an unfamiliar fairy, a gnome and a wood nymph.
The fairy shook her head, giggled and flew away. The gnome panicked, squeaked and ran away and the wood nymph totally ignored her as if she hadn't spoken at all.
It had been over a month since Raxtus had disappeared. She was so worried about her friend she didn't sleep well at night.
What if what they had done to him had killed him? What if he was invisible permanently? What if this? – What if that? She constantly worried day in and day out. There were so many unanswered questions and no one to ask. Her mother and grandmothers found things for her to do to keep her occupied otherwise she would have just sat around and cried over her 'what ifs'.
Bracken's continued absence was also adding to Kendra's stress. He left three weeks ago after the initial sweeping search for Raxtus and a disastrous confrontation with Celebrant that his mother had to settle. She received several affectionate messages but he had not returned to Fablehaven for a visit.
Ruth had her go to the cabin to get things ready for Warren's upcoming visit. Her hope was that maybe preparing the cabin for someone else Kendra cared about would expand her point of view. If not at least it gave her something to do besides moping around the house all day.
