Chapter 25: Sendoff
"How am I supposed to get home?" asked Sarah, plopping herself down into one of the armchairs in Grandpa's study.
"What's the problem?" asked Seth, who was seated in the other armchair. "We'll take you to the airport and we'll book you on the next flight home. Don't worry about it."
"But I have no identification or money. That stuff's all back at my house."
"We'll pay for your ticket," said Warren, "courtesy of the Fairbanks. As for your identification, I'll print up a phony one for you to use. We've got all we that we need for that sort of thing. And if there's still a problem, we can always use magic to help get you past airport security."
"This is all happening so fast," said Seth. "One minute I'm surrounded by two new girls. The next, Ingrid turns on us. And now, Sarah's got to go home! It's not fair!"
"I think it's just bad timing," said Kendra.
"Anyway," said Grandpa, "it shouldn't take Sarah too long to get ready. You don't exactly have much on you in the way of luggage, either."
"You mind if I go freshen up?" asked Sarah.
"Not at all. Warren, I'd like for you to come up with an ID for Sarah, and also book her on an upcoming flight to Seattle."
"Got it," said Warren, as everybody made their way out of Grandpa's study and into the hallway, save for Grandpa himself.
"I'll be right back," said Sarah, as she walked towards the first floor washroom. Warren walked over towards the stairs leading to the second floor and proceeded to climb up them.
"Seth," said Kendra, "I don't like the idea of Sarah just leaving us so abruptly. What if something happens to her when we're no longer around to supervise?"
"That's what bothers me," said Seth. "If only we could follow Sarah back to her home and keep an eye on her."
"Her parents would probably object if they knew. What we need to do is find a way to follow her around in secret. Like when the Knights of the Dawn watched over us to try and protect us from the Society of the Evening Star."
"Kendra, I can't go through with that! We've still got the matter of the Necromaster to deal with, and more importantly, my mission to stop Murdred at the request of the Singing Sisters. Besides, the sooner we kill Murdred, the sooner Sarah will be safe."
"What we need is a spy," said Kendra. "Someone who can follow Sarah around undetected. Maybe Bracken can help!"
Kendra and Seth headed outside, where they saw Bright, Clover, Bracken, Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod all gathered in the garden.
"Kendra!" cried the smaller fairies.
"And Seth," muttered Seth under his breath.
"What's going to happen with Ingrid?" asked Goldenrod.
"Why would she do such a thing?" asked Larissa. "We didn't sense any darkness from her presence."
"Not all bad mortals emit actual darkness," said Bright. "Only the worst of the worst can do so. That Ingrid's nothing more than just a common thug."
"I don't mean to change the subject," said Kendra. "But we need some help."
"What is it?" asked Bracken.
"Sarah needs to go home right away," said Seth. "And it'd be best if someone with the ability to protect her was supervising her, only without anyone's knowledge. But we can't exactly follow her across the country on a plane."
"Why not just use the Translocator to send her home?" asked Bright.
"Grandpa didn't mention it," said Kendra. "He probably doesn't want Sarah to know of its existence. Anyway, Bracken, would you mind following Sarah home in secret and keeping an eye on her?"
"Of course," responded Bracken.
"Hold on!" exclaimed Passion. "Let us go!"
"I'd rather you three didn't," said Kendra.
"Why not?" asked Goldenrod, crossing her arms.
"Well, you'd be off Fablehaven soil and out in the mortal world," said Clover. "You're small. You're not very powerful. You're inexperienced. The list goes on..."
"How are we supposed to get any experience if we aren't given anything to do?" asked Larissa.
"You were thankful when we saved you in the Demon Domain," noted Passion.
"I'm sorry, but I'm asking you three to stay out of this."
"Fine," moaned Goldenrod, as she, Passion and Larissa all flew off.
"Those three are so desperate for attention," said Seth.
"They're young," said Bright. "Go easy on them. But this is not a situation I feel that they should get involved with."
Before long, Warren had made up mock identification for Sarah, as well as booking her on an early afternoon flight from New York City to Seattle. Soon everyone was standing outside in the front yard. Without saying anything to Sarah, Bracken had informed Warren of their little plan, so he was in on it too.
"Thank you so much for everything," said Sarah. "And Seth, I'll be sure to keep in touch with you online!"
"You're welcome," said Grandpa. "I must admit, it was rather nice having you as our guest. Ingrid, however..."
"Let's not get into that," said Grandma. "Hopefully we'll find the Necromaster, wherever it is that Ingrid stashed it."
"I'm sure it's on the property somewhere," said Mrs. Sorenson.
Mr. Sorenson then glanced at his watch. "Hey, we've gotta get moving. We don't want Sarah to miss her flight!"
"Goodbye, everybody," said Sarah, as she and the other riders waved farewell to Grandpa, Grandma, Dale and Mrs. Sorenson.
Mr. Sorenson them climbed into the driver's seat of his SUV, while Warren sat in the passenger seat. Seth, Sarah and Kendra all sat behind them.
As Mr. Sorenson started the ignition, Kendra felt around her pant pocket. Bracken, in his tiny fairy form, was hiding out in there, prepared to keep an eye on Sarah once she was out of the humans' sight. As far as Kendra knew, Clover was also riding along in Warren's pocket.
The drive to New York City went smoothly. After driving off the property of Fablehaven, Mr. Sorenson soon found his way onto the highway. They passed through Connecticut and into New York state. From there, it didn't take too long for them to enter the Bronx, where they crossed over into Queens via the Throgs Neck Bridge. After driving around through Queens a bit further, they had arrived at the parking lot at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
"Well, this is it," said Mr. Sorenson, as he pulled into an empty parking space and turned off the ignition.
"Normally, this is the part where I'd grab your bags from the trunk, Sarah," said Warren, getting out of his seat, "but you don't seem to have any."
Once everybody had gotten out of the SUV, they walked through the parking lot and towards the nearest terminal. Soon they had entered the building proper, which was full of people whizzing back and forth. Many of them were pulling their luggage on wheels, while others were pushing theirs around on dollies. A few were even pushing babies around in strollers.
"It's really busy in here today," said Mr. Sorenson, whose voice was hard to make out due to the volume of the crowd.
"The line we want is down that way," said Warren, pointing down the terminal.
Warren then led the group past a few other lines, before stopping at the back of the one for the Seattle flight. Now that they were actually standing in it, Kendra and Seth could see that a long line of people wound its way around several rows of belted stanchions.
Kendra felt nervous. She wanted to speak to Bracken and Clover about the situation, but couldn't do so in front of everybody.
"Warren," said Kendra, "you mind coming with me to the washroom? I'd go on my own, but this place confuses me." She then winked at him.
Warren nodded, acknowledging Kendra's wink. "Scott, you mind?"
"Go ahead," said Mr. Sorenson. "We should be fine."
As Kendra and Warren stepped out of the line, they saw that another couple had already lined up behind them. Regardless, they made their way to the hallway of the terminal.
"Come on," said Kendra, walking down the terminal, "we need to pretend..."
"That we're actually going towards the washroom?" asked Warren. "I know."
Once the line was out of sight, Kendra and Warren sat down in a pair of seats, where fortunately, nobody else was currently sitting. People were still passing by, but otherwise not paying them any attention.
"Bracken!" said Kendra. "Clover! Come on out!"
Upon hearing Kendra's command, Bracken and Clover both whizzed out of her and Warren's pockets respectively, then each landed in the palms of their cupped hands.
"What is it?" asked Bracken, looking up at both Kendra and Warren.
"Sarah's about to check in for her flight," replied Warren. "We need you out and keeping an eye on her."
"What if we need some help?" asked Clover. "Like if something bad happens?"
"Only one of us needs to follow Sarah," said Bracken. "I'll go. Clover, you wait with the humans, and if something goes wrong, I'll let you know."
"We'll leave it to you, Bracken," said Kendra.
"Good luck," said Clover.
"Okay," said Warren. "Back into hiding for now, you two. Bracken, be sure to stick around Sarah. But don't let her see you. Otherwise, she might get upset that we're spying on her without her consent."
"Got it," said Bracken, as he flew back into Kendra's pocket, while Clover did so into Warren's.
Kendra and Warren both got up and made their way back to the line that the others were standing in. They had since advanced their way through the line, and were roughly one third of the way in.
"We can't cut back into the line," said Warren. "We'll just wait it out from back here."
After about twenty more minutes or so of waiting, Sarah had finally checked in with the agent at the counter.
"Okay," said the agent, looking over Sarah's phony passport and typing something into her computer. "You are good to go. If I could just get you to place your luggage on the scale, please."
"Um, I don't have any luggage," said Sarah.
The agent rolled her eyes. "Ookay... Do you have any carry-on luggage?"
"Nope."
"She lost most of her belongings," said Mr. Sorenson. "All she has left is her wallet."
"It's not my place to pass judgement," said the agent, printing off some papers and handing them to Sarah. "Here's your boarding pass. Make sure not to lose it, as you absolutely need it to get on your flight. Thank you and enjoy your flight!"
Seth, Sarah and Mr. Sorenson then walked away from the counter, where they met up with Kendra and Warren.
"We need to go down that hallway," said Mr. Sorenson, pointing to a nearby corridor. The group then entered the hallway, where there was a moving walkway leading forward. Once they arrived at the end, they could see a security station, where passengers were lined up and needed to display their boarding passes and belongings to advance any further.
Thinking to herself, Kendra tapped her pocket gently, as to give Bracken the signal that he was to start following Sarah around right now. She then felt as Bracken vanished from her pocket, presumably to spy on Sarah from somewhere nearby.
After waiting in line at the security station for a few minutes, Seth could see that it was almost Sarah's time to pass through.
"Well, I guess this is it," said Seth.
"I had a lot of fun," said Sarah. "Even though some of it was a bit too dangerous."
"Take care," said Warren, nodding.
"It was nice to meet you," said Kendra, smiling at Sarah.
"All the best," said Mr. Sorenson.
Sarah then shook hands with everybody, but Seth turned down her offer. He just couldn't get over the fact that now, his new friend, the only other shadow charmer, save for the Sphinx, whom he knew even existed, had to leave, and so abruptly as well.
"Sarah," said Seth, opening his arms. Seth then threw his arms around Sarah, and gave the fellow shadow charmer a firm hug. "I'm going to miss you."
"Me too," said Sarah, hugging him back. "Just when I was getting to know you, too."
Not wanting to let go of Sarah, Seth embraced every second of their hug. Suddenly, not knowing what came over him, Seth puckered his lips and gave Sarah a kiss on her lips. Startled by the surprise, Sarah smiled back at Seth and kissed him in return.
"Don't be sad," said Sarah. "I enjoyed being with you. All of you. But, I really do need to get back to my life in Olympia."
"Sarah, there's never going to be someone else like you," said Seth. "Maybe, once we're both finished with our education..."
Sarah smiled. "Say no more."
"Next!" said the attendant at the security station.
"That's me," said Sarah, letting go of Seth. "The rest of you, thanks for everything!"
"You have any carry-on luggage, ma'am?" asked the armed guard, once Sarah turned to face him.
"Nope,"
"Then please empty your pockets and put your belongings, including your shoes, onto the conveyor belt."
Sarah took off her shoes and placed them on the conveyor belt. As she stepped into the body scanner, she stood still as the machine scanned her, failing to go off. Soon Sarah had gone through to the other side of the security station and was now out of sight from the group.
"Well, it's all up to Bracken now," said Kendra.
"What'll we do?" asked Seth.
"Well, Bracken's keeping an eye on her. We can still keep in contact with him since he can telepathically communicate with a fairy angel like Clover. He could be gone a long time, though.
"It's Bracken!" cried Clover, poking her head out of Warren's pocket.
"What's the matter?" asked Kendra.
Clover squinted her eyes. "I'm listening. She says that he's following Sarah, but that Sarah didn't stop at her gate."
"Maybe she doesn't know where to go?" asked Warren.
"It's not like that," said Clover. "According to Bracken, she's not paying any attention to her boarding pass or any of the gates. He wants you guys to come over!"
Seth was starting to feel very nervous inside upon hearing this revelation.
"But, how're we supposed to get past security?" asked Seth, looking at the guard who was standing by the station.
"Since Bracken's not too far way," said Clover, "I can transport you closer towards him. You three ready?"
"Ready," said Warren, nodding in response. "We'll come back for you, Scott."
Clover then flew out of Warren's pocket and emitted a powerful green flash of light, which engulfed Kendra, Seth and Warren. Suddenly, they found themselves standing in a hallway, only this one was located on the other side of the security station.
"I don't care if anyone noticed us," said Seth. "We have to find out what's going on!"
Clover squinted her eyes again. "Bracken and Sarah are down that way," said Clover, pointing down the hallway in one direction. She then flew onto Warren's shoulder and clung onto his jacket.
"Where the heck is she going?" asked Warren, as he, Kendra and Seth scurried down the hallway.
Seth then looked at the signs that were hanging from the ceiling. "Sarah's going the wrong way! The gate that she wants is back in the other direction!"
"I see her up ahead!" said Kendra, pointing out that Sarah was walking down the hallway, no more than about fifty feet ahead of where they were.
"Lucky for us there's a lot of people around here," said Warren. "The last thing we need is for Sarah to spot us."
"What's so bad about that?" asked Seth.
"Well, she might get wary if she notices that we went through the trouble of bypassing security just so that we could spy on her."
"Okay," said Clover. "Bracken says that she's entering a washroom."
"A bathroom?" exclaimed Kendra, bringing herself to a halt.
"Is that all?" asked Warren.
Seth snorted. "Wow. And here we were, getting all worked up over the fact that Sarah was actually in some sort of trouble! It's okay, Clover. Tell Bracken to not follow her in there."
"Bracken's going in anyway," said Clover. "Just to be sure."
"He really shouldn't go in the women's room!" said Seth, darting over towards the washroom which Sarah had just entered.
"Seth, wait up!" said Warren, as he and Kendra ran behind him, trying to keep up.
Seth then turned down a small corridor, where the doors to the men's and women's washrooms were located. Putting aside his usual instinct and intuition, Seth pushed the door to the women's room open and barged inside.
"Seth!" cried Bracken, once Seth had turned around the corner and into the main area of the bathroom where all the sinks and toilet stalls were. The tiny fairy flew up to Seth and hovered in front of his face.
"Dude, quiet," said Seth, as Kendra and Warren entered the bathroom behind him.
"Where's Sarah?" whispered Warren.
"That's the problem!" said Bracken. "I was hesitant to follow her in here, but I decided to do so anyway."
"She not here?" asked Kendra.
"No! I wasn't in time to see what went on, but when I entered the room, I could see some sort of black portal closing up along the far wall!"
"Black portal?" asked Kendra. "No, it can't be!"
"I saw a black portal before," said Seth. "Sarah used that wand to produce one. She thought it belonged to a negafae. But she lost it.
"Then perhaps," said Bracken, "Murdred was spying on Sarah this whole time. And once she was alone in this washroom, the negafae opened a portal up right here, and the adlets pulled her through."
"Sarah..." said Seth. "No!"