A/N= I know, two chapters in one night, but this one is short. Even Seth and Kendra were young at one point. This is a true story, I just made it into Fablehaven form.
Hide-and-Seek
Seth and his father were going to play Hide-and-Seek. Scott knew he wouldn't need to try all that hard to find his four-year-old son, but he smiled, stood in the corner, and counted to 100, like Seth had told him to do. He had heard his tiny footsteps patter away, and he smiled again. When he finally called, "Ready or not, here I come!" he was absolutely beaming. He looked around in the easy places that normal four-year-olds would hide, like behind the couch or under a bed.
Seth wasn't there.
Scott's smile faded. He continued to look for his young son in more hard-to-reach places on the downstairs floor before moving upstairs, his pace becoming rushed.
Seth wasn't in the house.
Scott raced outside and checked the yard, calling, "Seth? Seth! Come out! The game is over!" Seth didn't emerge. Scott checked the neighbors' houses and yards, asking them all, "Have you seen my son?" with worry plain as day in his voice. The neighbors all said close to the same thing.
"He's gone?"
Scott wouldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it. This was his son, for crying out loud! How hard could it be? Maybe he just… forgot a closet inside. No, he had checked everywhere. Seth was nowhere to be found.
Scott was very, very scared now. Seth couldn't just be gone, could he?
Someone might've stolen him, Scott thought grimly. Or killed him, at worst.
And then, he ran across the street where Seth was afraid to go. He climbed the ladder to their abandoned, out-of-use tree house and saw Seth, fiddling with a twig in the corner. Scott wrapped his arms around his son, murmuring, "Were you ever worried I wouldn't come?"
Seth smiled up at his father. "No, Daddy, I knew you'd come. You always find me."