Author's Note: Sorry about the wait, guys! I had a lot of stuff going on and a lot of writer's block, so it felt like this chapter took a long time to finish. And it's not even that long…anyway, it's here now, hope you enjoy!

XIXIXIX

The young woman happily greeted her friend, whom she hadn't seen since he had gone off to the mountains, to help her brother with the dragons there. Her excited smile vanished when she saw her friend's grim expression, and noticed the morose-looking teenage boy standing a few yards back.

"What's wrong?" the young woman asked. "Where's Chuck?"

Her friend looked up at her, comparing his own grief to hers. "He's gone. Arlin and I found Gavin here up there, all alone in the ashes. The whole place was burned to the ground."

The young woman searched her friend's mournful eyes for comfort, a lump forming in her throat. "You mean he's…he's dead?"

Her friend's head dipped in a melancholy nod. Her vision blurred with tears.

"But Gavin survived," her friend said, trying to sound more hopeful than he felt, pulling the boy up to stand next to him. "He withstood an attack from a very powerful dragon."

"It wasn't w-worth it," the boy stuttered sadly. "My dad's d-dead now and I c-c-couldn't do anything."

The young woman swallowed her own heartache for the loss for her brother and tried to sympathize with the boy who had lost his father.

"Don't worry," she said. "You must be pretty tough to deal with that."

Gavin shook his head. "Maybe. But n-not enough."

The memories were coming back to Layla in moments. The moment she met Devon. The moment she first encountered a dragon. The moment Chuck subdued a dragon that was attacking her. The moment she and Devon and Chuck became Knights of the Dawn. The moment she learned that Chuck was dead.

"It hasn't even been that long," she said to herself. How could she have forgotten so much so soon?

Suddenly, a large CRASH! snapped her out of her pondering. The door flew open and a woman with frizzy brown hair stepped in, apparently in her fifties, looking flustered and in a hurry.

"You a prisoner here?" she asked.

Layla blinked. "Um, I suppose. Who are you?"

"Your means of escape. You?"

"Layla Hutchinson."

"By any chance are you related to Bradley Hutchinson?"

Layla's face brightened. "You know Bradley? Is he here? Where is he?"

The woman ran back out the door, Layla on her heels. "Bradley should be fine for now. But you're not. You wanna see him again, you've gotta stick with me. Oh, and don't mind the dragon. He's on our side. Where're the other guys?"

Layla smiled and began to lead the way.

XIXIXIX

After risking a few priceless moments to grab her cell phone out of her smashed car, Kendra was running full speed down East 3rd Avenue, with Lena, Joy and Bradley running right after her.

Kendra quickly called Bracken, who was still at Fablehaven.

"Kendra? Where are you?"

"Monmouth, Illinois," Kendra said breathlessly. "Getting chased by a karkadann. How fast can you get here?"

"A karkadann?" Bracken asked incredulously. "Who are these people?"

"Some very well-connected psychos," Kendra yelled over the roar of the karkadann. She glanced back at the creature, which was almost right on top of them. Lena looked back too, followed by Bradley.

"We're not gonna outrun it!" Bradley yelled. "Duck!"

"What?" Lena screamed.

"Get in the middle of the street and duck!"

Lena decided that Bradley might have some idea what he was doing, squeezed her eyes shut and followed his instructions, pulling Joy along with her. Kendra followed suit, and the karkadann thundered right over them. Lena stood up.

"Wow," she panted. "That was really smart."

Joy nodded. "Good plan."

"In hindsight, that would have been the obvious thing to do," Lena said.

Bradley grinned as they watched the karkadann run forward a bit longer before slamming its feet down to try and stop—which failed, and the enormous beast crashed into a parked car.

Lena laughed triumphantly and was about to give Bradley a high-five when the karkadann stood back up, snorted, and charged back at them, completely unharmed but very angry.

"Bracken, we kind of need you here right now," Kendra said. "The karkadann is now thoroughly ticked off and I don't think ducking is going to work again."

"Off the street!" Joy shouted, pulling Lena onto the nearest lawn. Kendra and Bradley did the same.

"Why can't I think of any obvious solutions?" Lena lamented as the karkadann charged straight past them again.

"This won't work forever," Kendra pointed out. "It's gonna—"

The karkadann appeared in front of Lena. She flinched as it snorted in her face, blowing back her hair and splattering her T-shirt with mucus.

"Ew," Bradley muttered, recoiling a little.

"Ya think?" Lena retorted, standing completely still so not to startle or anger the creature that stood before her.

The karkadann sniffed, its beady pupils dilating.

"Hey! Rhino-butt!"

The karkadann turned and snorted at the man who had yelled. Lena looked around the karkadann's hindquarters to catch a glimpse of their rescuer.

"Uncle Seth!" she cried excitedly.

Seth gave her a knowing smile and a two-fingered salute. "How-de-do, ma'am."

The karkadann roared again. Seth put his hands on his hips. "Excuse me, but that is no way to talk in the presence of a lady. Much less three ladies. Now, if you're that intent on chasing someone for absolutely no reason—catch me if you can."

With that, Seth took off running. After several moments, the karkadann was able to turn and charge after him. Seth turned a corner, and the large creature stumbled and slid for a bit before managing to follow him. A second or two later, Lena, Kendra, Joy, and Bradley ran after the sound of confused, frustrated roaring and Seth's triumphant laughter.

"By the way, you didn't have to call," Seth said as the others gawked at the karkadann, which was now caught in an enormous net. "We left as soon as we noticed you were gone. We arrived, like, two minutes after you did."

"'We'?" Kendra asked

Bracken stepped out from behind the karkadann and pulled tight one of the knots. "Yeah, I'm here too."

"Dad!" Lena cried as she and Kendra both ran up to hug him. Bracken wrapped his arms around his wife and his daughter and squeezed.

"Aww, group hug!" Seth announced, pulling Joy and Bradley in as well. The karkadann made a doleful-sounding groan, as if disappointed it wasn't allowed to join in the multiple embrace.

"By the way, who're these guys?" Seth asked, breaking up the group hug.

"I'm Bradley," said Bradley, holding out his hand for Seth and Bracken to shake.

"And this is Joy," Lena said. "We were all kidnapped by the guys who sent the karkadann after us."

"A unicorn, Lena?" Joy asked skeptically. "You were not exaggerating when you said your family was 'as light as you can get'. And you must be Lena's uncle, the shadow charmer."

Seth smiled. "How'd you guess?"

"Joy's a shadow charmer, too," Lena said.

"You're one of the good guys, right?" Seth asked.

Joy's lips curled upward in a half-smile. "I suppose so."

"Awesome." Seth raised his palm for a high-five from Joy, but she did made no move to respond.

"Um, Joy's also blind," Lena said cautiously.

"All right, that's cool," Seth said, putting his hand down. "So, where to next?"

The answer was unanimous. "Home."