Chapter 21: Infiltrators
For the remainder of the day, the group opted to take it easy. Since their only real option at the moment was to seemingly wait, they would be unable to proceed with their mission until a sufficient amount of time had passed.
The rest of the day ultimately went by sooner than Kendra had hoped. Although she was eager to get back to Valhale and resume their objective, part of her was worried. Of course, she had every right to be so. After all, she was going to be returning to the Rodins' home turf. And even though they would be invisible, Kendra dreaded that she would still feel uncomfortable throughout the whole ordeal.
Before too long, dinner was being served. The family sat down at the dining room table, where they were treated to having tacos for dinner.
"Sweet!" exclaimed Seth, reaching for a plate of taco shells that was on the center of the table and grabbing one for himself. "I love tacos!"
"We figured that as long as you're here for dinner, you'd probably prefer some hot, Mexican food after your little excursion to Greenland," said Grandma.
"Who needs an excuse just to eat tacos?" asked Warren, scooping some ground beef into his shell. "Normally I'd eat mine with jalapenos, but I don't want to have an upset stomach later tonight."
"I don't need to eat jalapenos to upset my stomach," said Kendra. "I'm already tense enough regarding this whole situation."
"Don't worry about it too much," said Bracken. "You'll have plenty of support on your side."
"I know. But I'm not a huge fan of sneaking around. Even if I'm invisible. I'm always worried that there's somebody out there who'll be able to sense me."
"Does Kendra even have to come along?" asked Ingrid. "I mean, can't Warren just go in on his own?"
"It's better to not go alone if one doesn't have to," replied Warren. "I need backup, and Kendra is better suited for fighting than the fairies."
"I don't intend on us taking very long either," said Bright. "I see this as being more of an in-and-out operation. If all goes well, this whole ordeal shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes."
Seth scoffed. "If all goes well. Like I haven't heard that one before."
"What about when we went to Washington to exchange the glove?" asked Ingrid. "That went pretty well, all things considered. We didn't get caught, and nobody ever found out. I think the biggest problem we ran into was finding out that the second glove was designed for the other hand. After we switched gloves and everything."
"True," said Warren. "This time the stakes are a lot higher. "We were able to slip past security at the museum by using magic. Here there's going to be guards stationed everywhere. We'll have to be very careful if we want to avoid getting detected, even if we are invisible."
"Aw man," muttered Seth. "Knowing that only makes me want to come along even more!"
After finishing dinner and waiting around for several more hours, Kendra glanced out the living room window. She could see a half moon glowing high in the night sky. Stars were scattered across the rest of the horizon, although she was unable to make out any proper constellations.
"Eleven o'clock," said Warren. "I figure that now's as good a time as any to head out."
"Understood," said Kendra, her heart now pounding with the thrill of slipping into the enemies' home turf. "Part of me is glad that we're just going to inspect the Pyruby, as opposed to flat-out stealing it."
"Agreed," said Bracken. "Come on, let's get going."
Kendra, Warren, Bright, Bracken and Clover all made their way through the house and exited out the back door. They then proceeded across the yard and came up to the dragons' cave. As they arrived, they were greeted by the other dragons.
"I really wish we could come!" moaned Skyfrost. "I mean, I understand that we can't, but we're missing out on another adventure."
"You won't be missing much," said Clover. "This is going to be little more than an elaborate game of hide-and-seek."
"No offense or anything," said Bracken, "but the fewer dragons that come along with us, the better."
"Well, I'm ready if all of you are ready," said Raxtus, stepping up before the other dragons. He then leaned forward, lowering his head towards the ground.
"Here goes," said Kendra, as she climbed up onto Raxtus' backside.
Once she was settled in, Warren climbed up after Kendra and sat down directly behind her.
"We'll see you on the other side," said Bright, as she, Bracken and Clover all disappeared in poofs of colorful sparkles.
Kendra turned her head back and watched as Warren removed the Translocator, as well as both invisibility gloves from his bag.
"This'll just take a moment, Raxtus," said Warren, eyeing both of the gloves that he was holding. "Kendra, do you want the right glove or the left?"
"Left, I guess," replied Kendra, as Warren proceeded to pass the left glove to her.
"Let's do this," said Warren, as he slipped the other glove onto his right hand and suddenly faded out of sight.
Likewise, Kendra did the same with her glove, and she too could sense that her body had also become invisible.
"Your turn, Raxtus," said Geminus.
"Got it," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to make his entire body transparent as well. From her perspective, even though she had been on Raxtus while he was invisible before, Kendra felt as though she was inexplicably floating a few feet off the ground.
"I guess we're all ready to go, then," said Warren.
"Take care!" exclaimed Geminus.
"We're rootin' for you!" chimed in Firesquall.
"Kendra," said Warren, "this may sound a little weird, but I want you to place your hand behind your butt."
"What?" exclaimed Kendra, astonished to have heard such a request actually coming from Warren's mouth.
"Sorry," said Warren, "but I can't see your hands, and we need to be in a position so that the three of us can all be touching the Translocator at the same time."
"I got it," said Kendra. She then proceeded to place her right hand against her backside in such a position so that her palm was facing backwards, while her fingertips were being pressed against Raxtus' scales.
Kendra then felt the Translocator being placed against her fingers. "Here we go," said Warren.
A moment later, Kendra could hear the sound of the Translocator clicking. No doubt Warren was turning it. Suddenly, Kendra could feel her entire body being pulled through space, making her feel momentarily disoriented.
Once the sensation ended, Kendra could see that she was now in an icy cave. Looking around at her surroundings, she could see that they had now arrived at the entrance to Valhale. More specifically, they were standing on the large ledge that was situated at the bottom of the long tunnel that led into city.
Kendra gazed down at the city of Valhale and the uncountable number of icy buildings that lined its streets.
"Well, we're here," said Raxtus in a whisper. "I don't know for sure, but I don't think that there's any Rodins nearby."
"At least none that could've noticed us," added Warren.
"I'm not sensing anyone else nearby," noted Kendra, who didn't get the impression that anybody was watching them."But Warren, why did we travel all the way out here, and not somewhere closer to the Pyruby?"
"I just wanted to play it safe. Invisible or not, we might cause too much commotion if we suddenly appeared next to a group of those guards."
"Okay then," said Raxtus. "I'm going to fly off towards the castle."
Although Kendra was unable to see it, Raxtus proceeded to take off into the air and flew over the city of Valhale. Unlike what had happened on their previous trip, there did not appear to be signs of any Rodins pursuing the group on cormorants. Instead, this flight was undoubtedly not attracting any unwanted attention whatsoever.
Before long, Raxtus had approached the front of the castle, and slowed down considerably. Looking down at the ground in front of the castle, there appeared to be no less than twenty polar bears standing guard near the entrance.
"Looks like they amped up the security around this place," said Warren.
"Great," said Kendra. "Now what do we do?"
"There may be a lot of guards, but none of them are directly blocking the entryway," said Raxtus. "I might be able to slip past them if I'm careful."
"You may be small for a dragon, but couldn't they sense you if you get too close? Maybe we should cause a distraction to divert their attention."
"No," said Warren. "If something strange happens, they'll get even more suspicious."
"I've got an idea," said Raxtus, as he proceeded to land near the entrance to the castle, roughly twenty feet away from the nearest guard.
"What's your idea?" asked Warren in a soft whisper.
"I can't see any guards inside the castle. They're all outside."
"So how do we get past the outside guards?" asked Kendra.
"Well, we've already been inside the entrance, and we know now that it's safe. We transport ourselves there."
"It's worth a shot. Are you confident the inside is clear?"
"I've got better eyesight than a human," said Raxtus. "Trust me."
"Okay," said Warren. "Kendra, your hand, please."
Kendra put her hand behind her back again, and felt it brush up against the Translocator. After hearing it twist, she found herself still on Raxtus' back, but now she was inside the entrance to the castle. Looking around, Kendra could only see one guard stationed at the entrance to each connecting hallway.
"Better in here than out there," said Warren in a whisper. "You remember the way, Raxtus?"
"Yeah. But what about the guard?"
"Leave him to me," said Bright, speaking through telepathy. "Watch this,"
Kendra turned her attention over toward the guard who was standing next to the hallway that the group had passed through on their first visit. The polar bear who was standing guard let out a heavy yawn and proceeded to lower his head.
"Not bad," said Warren.
"It'd be too much of a strain on our power to put all these guards to sleep," said Bright. "But the occasional guard isn't so bad."
Raxtus proceeded to walk over towards the hallway where the drowsy polar bear was standing. As they approached the guard, Kendra saw that the bear's eyes were now closed, and he let out another yawn. He didn't so much as even notice that an invisible figure was making footsteps right next to him.
Raxtus continued down the hallways of the castle. Every time a guard came into view, one of the fairies used their magic to put them to sleep as they had done with the first.
Before long, they had reached the hallway with the entrance to the room that contained the Pyruby. Unsurprisingly, there appeared to be at least twenty or so polar bears standing in front of the entrance, blocking it.
"Guess it's still here after all," said Warren. "But those polar bears... There's a whole sleuth of them here."
"You fairies think you can put all those guards to sleep?" asked Kendra.
"It might be a strain," said Bracken through telepathy. "But we'll try anyway."
A moment later, all of the polar bears that were standing guard started to collapse one by one. Before long, there was a huge pile of polar bears blocking the entrance to the room.
"That did it," said Kendra proudly.
"At a price," said Clover.
Raxtus continued on towards the spot where all of the polar bears had fallen down. As a few of the bears were physically blocking the entrance to the next room, the fairy dragon had to bend down and shove some of them out of the way.
With no bears lying in his path, Raxtus stepped into the room where the Pyruby was currently resting atop its pedestal.
"This was almost too easy," said Kendra.
Without any warning, Bright, Bracken and Clover all appeared next to the group. The three of them appeared to be a little weary.
"That wasn't easy," said Bright, wiping her forehead. "Casting all that magic from a distance while we were concealed took more energy than usual."
"Hey, at least we're here now," said Warren. "That's what matters."
"We'd better not take too long," said Clover. "Our spell on those guards won't last too long, and we might not be able to down them all again."
"It doesn't help that the Pyruby is in fact emitting dark vibrations," said Bracken. "Now that we're closer than we've ever been before, I'm more than sure of it."
Kendra felt as Warren got down off of Raxtus. He then removed the glove he was wearing, bringing his body back into view. Raxtus obliged by making himself visible again. Not wanting to be left out, Kendra took off her glove, and could now see herself as well.
"You think this thing is safe to touch?" asked Warren, as he walked up directly in front of the Pyruby.
"Hard to say," said Clover, who was eyeing the relic from a distance. "I mean, Empress Polara was touching it, and she seemed to be using it just fine."
"How bad are these dark vibrations that you fairies are feeling?" asked Kendra, who had now gotten down from Raxtus. Standing a few feet away from the Pyruby, she held up her hand towards it. "I don't feel anything unusual, and I'm fairykind."
"Whatever it is, it's something only us true fairies are able to sense," said Bracken.
"I'm not sensing anything either," said Raxtus.
"What exactly are you fairies sensing?" asked Warren. "I mean, I get that it's darkness, but how bad is it?"
"It's pretty bad," replied Clover. "Nothing we can't endure, but it certainly feels potent. I can't really explain, because I've never felt anything quite like this before. So I can't compare it to anything."
"Is this darkness really a big deal?" asked Kendra.
"Probably," replied Bright. "For all we know, this darkness could've been seeping out of the Pyruby for years. It could very well have infected the Rodins in ways we can't even imagine!"
"The Rodins didn't seem that evil," said Raxtus. "They were savages to us, but they were just being territorial. I wouldn't hold anything against them."
"Good or bad," said Bracken, "this darkness that we're sensing can't be good. I think what we should do would be to try and dispel the darkness. We may not be able to directly cleanse anything that its already spread to, but we could at least stop it from making things worse."
"But we're just going to leave it here?" asked Kendra.
"That might be for the best," said Bracken. "They may not be our friends, but the Rodins are in far greater need of heat than Hope and Air Flair."
"But Empress Polara won't share the Pyruby with anybody!"
"You're right, Kendra," said Bright. "But if we at least eradicate this darkness, it might cause the Rodins to be less... well... mean."
"Feels like such a waste," said Warren. "We went through all this trouble, and the Pyruby is sitting right here. We could get away with it so easily. But, I do see the point you fairies are trying to make."
"I guess it's settled then," said Clover. "We'll do what we can about the darkness coming from the Pyruby. And then we'll leave it."
"Okay," said Kendra. "I mean, we can always check in on the Rodins later if we really want to."
Bright, Bracken and Clover all gathered around the pedestal that was holding the Pyruby. They then proceeded to hold their hands over it. Next, they closed their eyes.
Suddenly, the hands of the three fairies all began to glow brilliantly. Colorful sparkles then proceeded to rain down from the fairies' glowing hands and onto the Pyruby. Several seconds later, the sparkles and glowing hands came to a halt.
"I think that should do it," gasped Bracken, as he wiped his brow.
"What's wrong?" asked Kendra, placing a hand on Bracken's arm.
"What we've done has taken a lot out of us," replied Bright. Like Bracken, she and Clover also appeared to look rather flush.
"Are you guys okay?" asked Raxtus.
"We will be," replied Clover, whom Warren placed his arm around.
"What about the Pyruby?" asked Warren. "Is the darkness that you were sensing still there?"
"I think it's safe to say that we managed to curb it. We're not able to sense it, but it's hard to say whether it's actually still there or not."
"Well, at least you managed to do something," said Raxtus. "And by getting rid of the darkness, even if it does come back, at least that's an improvement for the time being."
"Hopefully this leads to something better," said Bracken.
"If this plan ultimately fails," said Warren, "we can always transport ourselves back to this very spot, grab the Pyruby and flee."
"I'd rather if it didn't come to that," said Bright. "Now can we get out of here already. The magic we cast upon those guards might wear off any minute."
Warren nodded, then removed the Translocator from his bag and twisted it. Once everybody was touching the artifact, they found themselves being whisked out of the castle and pulled through space.
Suddenly, Kendra found that the group was standing back in the yard at Fablehaven.
"I guess we're done," said Raxtus.
"I really need to rest," said Bracken.
"Me too," added Bright. "Come on, Bracken, let's go home. Goodnight all."
Bright and Bracken then proceeded to walk off in the direction of the naiad's pond. Warren and Clover then bid the group goodnight, and headed off towards Warren's cabin. Kendra headed over towards the house, while Raxtus flew over towards his cave.
Once Kendra entered the house, she was greeted by the rest of her family. She gave them a brief rundown of what had happened during their trip to Valhale, then made her way upstairs, where she got ready for bed and soon fell asleep after retiring to her bedroom.