Chapter 11: Separation
Seth stared up at the horde of large dragons that were looming over himself, Warren, Skyfrost and Firesqaull. A million thoughts were rushing through his mind, prompting his heart to beat faster and faster. What was going to happen to them?
Dominera turned her attention towards a large, light blue wyvern. "Skyboom! Show our guests the way out. You're the fastest of all of us, so perhaps you can get rid of them the fastest."
"With pleasure, Dominera," replied the light blue wyvern, speaking in a raspy, feminine voice.
Dominera flashed her purple eyes once more. In a sudden flash of light, Seth found that he, Warren and Skyboom were now back outside,standing by the fake wall that served as the entrance to Dominera's lair.
"What was that?" asked Seth.
"Dominera's power can only send us so far," said Skyboom, glaring down at Seth. She wants you out of here. Now."
Seth and Warren looked down at the steep cliff that stood beneath them. The bottom of the cliff bordered a lake.
"Yeah, we'll just swim our way across," said Warren.
"You humans are so weak," said Skyboom. Seth noticed that Skyboom actually possessed two tails, both of which were twirling around in clockwise and counter-clockwise formations. "I could kill you two right now if I wanted to. No one would know. But... Skyfrost and Firesquall agreed to stay if you two were released. And I would feel guilty around them if I did kill you. I suppose I'll get you across the lake. It'll get you away from here, if nothing else."
Skyboom reached down with the claws that were on her wings, picking up Seth in one claw and Warren in the other. She then leaped up into the air and shot across the lake at an incredible speed, the surrounding scenery blurring as they passed through it. While the far end of the lake was easily several hundred feet across, it felt as though the trip took literally three seconds, as Skyboom was now descending upon the ground on the other side of the water.
Seth and Warren were both gasping heavily as Skyboom set the two of them down in a grassy clearing.
"You are fast," said Seth, who could not recall ever moving as such a high speed before in his life.
"That was nothing," said Skyboom. "Going any faster probably would've killed you two. Now leave this place and never return. Or you will regret it."
Skyboom then jumped back up into the air and shot off back across the lake. Seth experienced a tremendous blast of wind that not only shook his entire body, but also ruptured the surface of the water and ruffled every last leaf and blade of grass in the immediate area.
"Whoa, she is fast," said Seth. "Did you feel that?"
"Sonic boom..." said Warren, as he turned away from Seth and approached the closest tree. He proceeded to make a fist and slammed it against the trunk.
"Warren!"
"God... DAMNIT!" snapped Warren, as he retracted a bleeding palm from the tree. "Can you believe what just happened?"
"Warren, I'm upset, too," said Seth, dreading to think of what was going to happen to the wyverns. "But don't hurt yourself."
"I'm pissed. But what were we supposed to do?"
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to become an angel! I tried to. Really! But I was just so startled and unable to focus the entire time..."
"Seth, even if you had become an angel, I don't think you'd have single-handedly won against so many dragons."
"Speaking of hands, is yours okay?" asked Seth, staring at the bloody one that Warren was wiping with his other hand.
Warren sighed. "I'll walk it off."
"But what are we supposed to do about the wyverns?"
Warren approached Seth, extended his arms and gave Seth a hug. Seth hugged him back.
"We'll get help," said Warren. "I'm just upset that the two of us were so helpless back there."
"How many dragons were there?" asked Seth.
"Eight, maybe? More if you count the three-headed one as three individuals."
"Did you see the dark blue one? I think it had four arms! And Skyboom had two tails. You think they help her fly faster?"
"Who knows?" replied Warren.
"And she's blue, very similar in color to Skyfrost. Even her name. Skyboom. It's so close to Skyfrost."
"Get your own prefix!"
Seth chuckled. "But, seriously, we need to call the others and let them know we're still alive."
Seth pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen. He saw that he currently had ten missed calls.
"People were trying to reach us," said Warren, looking at his own phone. "But we were out of service areas for a while."
Seth proceeded to dial home on his phone. After a few rings, somebody answered on the other line.
"Seth!" shouted Grandma, as Seth enabled the speaker phone, so that Warren could listen in. "The others told us everything! What happened?"
Seth and Warren took turns explaining as to what had transpired in regard to their abduction. They mentioned how they had flown for hours, before finally entering the lair, where they met Dominera and the rest of her clan. They also talked about how Dominera forced Skyfrost and Firesquall to stay, while the two of them got banished from of the lair.
"This is awful," said Grandpa through the phone.
"Skyfrost and Firesquall..." said Ingrid, who along with the rest of the family, had gathered around the kitchen phone.
"What are we going to do?" asked Kendra.
"We're going to get them back," said Seth. "But we're going to need help. We're going to head back home, then we'll return to... where in God's name are we, anyway?"
"We're in the Rocky Mountains," replied Warren, who was staring at his phone. "Colorado, about fifty miles west of Denver."
"I don't know how we're going to find you!" said Kendra. "I don't think any of us have ever been out in the Rockies before. And on top of that, I can't use the Oculus to search for anyone. I tried it earlier, but it didn't work because I'm no longer fairykind. It was really messed up..."
"What do you mean?" asked Seth.
"Don't worry about looking for us," said Warren. "Even if you had our coordinates, we'd be waiting around for a long time. There's a highway not too far from our location. We'll make our way to Denver and take a plane home."
"All right," said Mr. Sorenson. "Good luck."
Once Seth hung up, he and Warren made their way through the rather barren countryside. After walking for about twenty minutes, Seth still felt miserable.
"Who knows what they're doing to Skyfrost and Firesquall right now," said Seth.
"I don't even want to think about it," said Warren.
"We're not going to get home for hours!"
"Look on the bright side. At least the dragons didn't eat us."
"We taste awful, apparently. And the only reason Navarog ate humans was because it was the demon part of him that craved them."
"Yet Raxtus ate Navarog. Or Gavin, at least."
"That's unusual, especially for a fairy dragon," said Seth.
"Well, fairy dragons are pretty unusual. Must be an imbalance in Raxtus' palate."
"I just wish Raxtus was here. I hate having to walk all this way. We don't even have access to a vehicle!"
"I'd settle for the Flintstones' car right now," said Warren. "I already miss Firesquall."
Seth and Warren continued trekking across the hilly countryside for what had to be the greater portion of an hour. Once they reached the top of a large hill, they looked down and saw a highway that was running along the bottom, perpendicular to the direction they had approached from.
"We made it," said Warren. "Route 70."
Seth and Warren made their way down the hill, then stopped by the side of the road. Seth watched as a vehicle blurred past them every second or so, whether it was heading east or west.
"We're hitchhiking?" asked Seth, who saw that Warren was holding out an arm with his hand in a thumbs-up position.
"Unless you'd rather walk."
"But isn't hitchhiking supposed to be dangerous?" asked Seth, watching as several cars ignored Warren.
"I just survived being with all those dragons. There's nothing that anyone driving along here could do that would intimidate me now. And if anyone's stupid enough to give us trouble, I'll kick their ass."
After several more cars passed by them, Seth watched as an approaching vehicle actually pulled over onto the shoulder a few yards ahead from where he and Warren were standing. A black pickup truck, it slowly drove over to where they were and stopped.
Seth watched as the passenger side window lowered. Looking out at the two of them from the driver's seat was a older man wearing a grey and black checkered flat cap. The man sported a grey mustache, and if Seth had to guess his age, he assumed the man was in his early sixties.
"Hello there," said the man, who sounded a little confused. "What are you two boys doin' all the way out here?"
"Our car was totaled on a side road not too far from here," replied Warren. "No point in calling Triple A. Are you heading to Denver?"
"Sure am. You poor boys. I'd be more than happy to give you two a lift. Except, I've only got one free seat, and there's two of you."
"We can share the seat," said Seth.
"I can't have the two of you sharin' one seatbelt. But you're welcome to ride in the back. Whereabouts in Denver are you trying to go?""
"Denver International Airport. We can rent a car there."
"Not that far from where I need to go. I can drop you two off."
"Wow," said Warren. "Thank you so much."
Seth and Warren walked around to the back of the truck, where the tailgate had already been lowered. As they climbed onto the back, Seth noticed that the entire bed was completely empty.
"Oh sure," muttered Seth, as Warren lifted up the tailgate and closed it. "Instead of sharing one seatbelt, we get to ride in the back where not only are there no seatbelts, but there are also no seats!"
"Just be glad this guy was nice enough to give us a ride," said Warren, as he sat at the front of the bed by the rear window of the cab. Seth joined him. "Okay! We're good to go!"
The truck started up and began to pick up speed. The ride started off smoothly, although there were a few turns here and there that caused Seth and Warren to slide around a little bit. But the two travelers had little trouble remaining in seated positions. After all, they were used to riding around on the backs of wyverns. To Seth, this truck ride felt like a breeze in comparison.
Roughly half an hour later, Seth could tell that they had now entered Denver, as the passing countryside had slowly become overtaken by low-rise residential and commercial buildings. The truck continued down the freeway as it passed through the city, until it eventually went down an off-ramp. After passing a few large buildings, the truck pulled over in front of one of the terminals of Denver International Airport.
"This is it," said Warren, as he got up and jumped over the driver's side of the truck and landed on the road. Seth followed his lead, just as the driver lowered his window.
"You're a life saver," said Warren, as he removed a wad of bills from his wallet and passed them to the driver.
"All this?" asked the driver. "Well, okay. Thanks! Hope you two can get everything settled."
He has no idea what we're going through, Seth thought to himself, waving to the truck as it began to drive away.
Seth and Warren then entered the terminal and proceeded to walk down a busy hallway. They then reached a line of people that twisted around several rows of stanchions, where they proceeded to line up. After about twenty minutes of waiting, they had reached the front of the line. From Seth's perspective, this was actually going to be the second surprise airplane flight he'd be taking within a twenty-four hour period.
Warren went ahead and purchased two tickets on the next possible flight to New York City. Fortunately, the two of them were carrying enough identification to get through protocol. As they did not have anything in the way of luggage, the process went by fairly smoothly.
Seth and Warren then made their way through the security checkpoint, which was easy, given that they had no bags, weapons or even any magical trinkets on hand. They continued through the airport and reached their gate, where they at last were able to sit down. As much as Seth enjoyed riding on Skyfrost, it was not the most comfortable position for him to be in. Coupled with all the walking and sitting in the back of a truck, it was a relief to actually be sitting in a proper chair for once.
After waiting about another half hour, Seth and Warren were finally able to board their plane. They found their seats in the business class section and Seth plopped himself down in the aisle seat.
"Hey, don't you want the window?" asked Warren.
"I don't care," said Seth. "I've done enough flying today. Looking out at the sky will only make me miss Skyfrost. In fact, just close the blind. I'm tired."
"Okay then," said Warren, as he sat down next to Seth and pulled down the window blind.
Once the plane had taken off and was flying smoothly, Seth realized just how tired he truly was. He lowered his seat as far back as it would go, shut his eyes, and fell asleep.
Sometime later, Seth found himself being awoken by Warren, who had been shaking his body with one hand.
"Get up, Seth," said Warren, as Seth opened his eyes, now feeling somewhat rejuvenated. "The plane's getting ready to land."
Seth raised his seat back up, then unbuckled his seat belt. At this point, Warren opened up the window shade, revealing that it was now nighttime. Of course, given that they had been gone for a while, and had crossed two time zones, it was perfectly understandable.
Once the plane had landed and Seth and Warren had gotten off, Warren pulled out his phone and proceeded to make a call.
Back home at Fablehaven, the family had already eaten dinner and cleaned up. They had been awaiting a follow-up call from Seth and Warren for hours now. In the interim, Grandpa had been hard at work in his study, trying to delve up any information that he could on Dominera.
Kendra, who had been trying to relax with her family in the living room, was caught off guard when she heard the phone ringing. After the second ring, Grandma had answered it.
"Warren!" exclaimed Grandma. "You and Seth are back? Oh, that's a relief! You're at JFK Airport? Great! You want to speak to Kendra? Sure!"
Grandpa handed the phone to Kendra, who in turn held it up to her face.
"Hey," said Kendra.
"Kendra, you remember JFK Airport, right?"
"Yeah..." replied Kendra, thinking back to the several instances that she had been through the place.
"Seth and I are heading towards the entrance of Terminal 8 right now. Can you find a way there using the Translocator and meet up with us?"
Kendra's face lit up. "Now that I can do! I'll be there in a few minutes. See you soon!"
"What is it?" asked Mr. Sorenson, as Kendra hung up.
"Warren wants me to travel to the airport with the Translocator to pick up him and Seth. It's nice to know that even though I'm no longer fairykind or anything, there's still things I can do."
"Should I come?" asked Ingrid.
"If you want," said Kendra. "It's just going to be in-and-out this time."
Ingrid sighed. "I guess you're right. I'll let you have this one."
"Okay," said Kendra. "I'll be back soon."
Kendra made her way upstairs and into her grandparents' bedroom. She opened up the door to their cabinet and took out the Translocator. With the image of the busy concourse of JFK Airport in her mind, Kendra wound up the artifact and allowed it to transport her out of her grandparents' bedroom.
A moment later, Kendra found herself standing next to a wall, and was bombarded by the noise of a crowd. Seemingly dozens of people were rushing back and forth through a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, toting suitcases, strollers and loaded trolleys, among other things.
Fortunately it appeared as though nobody had noticed Kendra's sudden appearance, as they were all seemingly preoccupied with something else, whether it was having conversations with one another, trying to find their way around, or they were busy doing something with their phone.
Kendra found her way through the concourse and exited through a set of sliding doors to the sidewalk at the entrance to the terminal. Surely enough, off to one side was were Seth and Warren had been waiting for her.
"Kendra!" gasped Seth, as he ran up to his sister and gave her a hug. "I'm so glad to see you!"
"You two look so weary," said Kendra, as she let go of Seth and hugged Warren.
"We've been through a lot today," said Warren. "Unfortunately, it feels like all this has only been the tip of the iceberg."
"Come on, let's get out of here. But let's find a better place to do that."
Kendra, Seth and Warren went back into the airport and entered the nearest washroom. Despite being a women's washroom, they all entered anyway. Thankfully, there did not appear to be anyone else in the room. Kendra pulled out the Translocator and wound it up once more, sending the group of three out of the airport washroom and back to the living room at Fablehaven.
