Chapter 36: Pros and Cons

His eyes presently shut, the lapse that Seth was in had suddenly been interrupted by the impact of a hand being placed upon his shoulder.

Opening his eyes in shock, Seth came to his senses. He was currently lying on his bed, back in his room at Fablehaven. Not only had being afflicted by the cyclops been impossible for him to recollect, but even the experience afterwards had felt like a blur. All he could remember was appearing in the yard, then stumbling his way into the house and up to his bedroom.

Seth looked up, and could see his mother standing by his bedside, smiling down at him.

"Seth," she said. "Are you okay?"

"I think so," said Seth, as he let out a soft yawn and stood up. "What's going on?"

Mrs. Sorenson winced. "You don't remember, do you?

Seth shook his head. "All I remember was being in the maze, then coming back to Fablehaven... somehow."

"The others told us all about it," said Mrs. Sorenson, as she gave Seth a hug. "Oh, Seth! You're lucky to be alive."

"What do you mean?" asked Seth, as he wriggled his way out of his mother's grasp.

Mrs. Sorenson shook her head. "It's time for dinner. Come down and we'll tell you all about it."

Seth let out a deep breath. "I don't feel that hungry."

"Grandma made spaghetti. With extra meatballs. And garlic bread."

Suddenly, Seth could feel his enthusiasm rising. "I'll be right down!"

Seth was quick to get out of bed, wash up in the bathroom, then make his way down to the dining room, where most other members of his family were already seated. Surely enough, Seth could smell his grandmother's Italian cooking wafting through from the kitchen.

As Seth sat down, he noticed that two of the seats were empty. Naturally, these seats were where Warren and Clover normally sat.

"You feeling better, Seth?" asked Grandpa.

"I think so," replied Seth, as Warren made his way into the dining room and sat down in his usual seat. Warren was wearing a blank expression on his face.

"I'm glad you felt like dinner, Warren," said Grandma.

"Ruth, the only way for your cooking to not lure me in here would be for me to become catatonic again," said Warren.

"Warren, we understand how you feel," said Ingrid.

"The fairies are doing everything they can to help," added Kendra.

"What is this all about?" asked Seth.

"You don't remember, do you?" asked Grandpa.

Seth shook his head. In response, his sister proceeded to tell him all about what went on in the maze, and how the cyclops had transformed him into a bullfrog, and Clover into an imp. In the interim, Grandpa and Mrs. Sorenson brought in plates of spaghetti from the kitchen.

"I don't believe it," said Seth, as he twirled some noodles onto his fork. "Me being a bullfrog. And Clover being an imp."

"It's true," said Warren sternly, as he dropped the fork he was holding into a mound of noodles. "Clover is an imp now. And I don't know if there's anything that the other fairies can do to help her."

"Please try to be optimistic," said Dale. "I know how you feel. But don't give up hope. You have to be strong."

"Lot of good being strong did for me. All I did was run around aimlessly in a maze, while Clover and Seth got toppled by that cyclops. And while I'm grateful that the Bright was able to restore Seth, the fact that nothing could be done to help Clover has me feeling worried sick."

Seth looked around the table. "Well, I'm grateful. Thank you for your help, Ingrid."

Seth then leaned over and kissed Ingrid on her cheek, causing her to blush.

"And thank you Bright, wherever you are. I just wish there'd been a way to restore Clover. Is there anything we can do to help the situation?"

"There's no easy answer to that, I'm afraid," said Grandpa. "At this point, all we can do is be supportive and hope for the best."

"I understand," said Warren, as he dabbed up some tomato sauce with a piece of garlic bread, then bit into it. "We did get the Chronometer, and out of the maze, thanks to Bracken. For that I'm grateful."

"I wonder," said Ingrid. "What would have happened if Bracken hadn't found the Chronometer?"

"We'd be probably still be stuck in that maze," said Kendra, "most likely still falling victim to that cyclops, one by one."

"Yeesh," said Ingrid, wincing. "Sorry I asked."

"Don't be," said Warren. "Going into that maze was a death wish. Agad specifically warned us not to do so. But we just had to get the stupid Chronometer, didn't we?"

"I'm very sorry," said Grandpa. "I tried being adamant towards Agad. I was hoping that I could persuade him into telling us of a safe path through the maze."

"A safe path would've been nice," said Seth. "If we'd taken it, we might've found the Chronometer without any trouble."

"But we still got separated," said Ingrid. "What were we supposed to do about that?"

"That was likely a trap," said Warren. "All of us going in at once, only to get scattered. Had we gone in one at a time, that might not have happened."

"Well, at least now we have the Chronometer," said Seth. "That's better than nothing."

"I just hope Clover is all right," said Warren. "Compared to her, finding the Chronometer is insignificant."

After everybody finished up their pasta, the table was cleared. Grandma then brought in a tub of ice cream, along with enough bowls and spoons for everybody.

"I don't have any gelato or spumoni in the house," said Grandma. "But I do have some delectable butterscotch ripple."

As Grandma started spooning out scoops of ice cream into bowls, the dinner was interrupted by the sound of somebody knocking at the front door.

"I'll get it," said Dale, as he got up and made his way out of the dining room and towards the doorway.

Kendra and Seth listened as Dale opened up the front door and escorted somebody back towards the dining room. When Dale returned, Bracken was standing there with him. He did not appear to look very happy.

"Well?" asked Warren, displaying a look of desperation on his face.

Bracken shook his head. "I'm so sorry. We were just unable to help Clover."

"What about Agad?"

"He tried too. No dice. I'm so sorry."

"No..." sighed Warren. "Will she be okay?"

No one responded.

"Uh, where exactly is Clover right now?" asked Kendra.

"She's with Bright in the entry hall," replied Bracken. "Don't worry, Bright has her under control."

"Don't worry?" exclaimed Warren. "I feel like I'm going to explode here!"

Warren jumped out of his seat and ran out of the dining room towards the foyer. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the family got up and followed him.

When Kendra and Seth got to the foyer, they looked over at Warren, who appeared to be fixated at the sight of Clover. Still an imp, Clover was inside of a floating bubble next to Bright, trying to find a way out like some sort of feral animal.

"Clover," said Warren. "No. Not you. Just... no."

"Can you let her out, at least?" asked Ingrid.

"It's best I don't," said Bright. "There's nothing anybody can do to help her. And she'll just run around the place uncontrollably. Sorry."

"I can't see her like this!" blurted Warren, who looked as though he was going to cry. He then bolted up the stairs to the second floor. Once he was out of sight, everybody could hear Warren's footsteps tromping down the upstairs hallway, followed by a door slamming.

"Can we see her up close?" asked Kendra.

"It's safe," said Bright, "but like I said before, I'm not going to release her."

"Fair enough," said Seth, as he and his sisters walked up to the floating bubble that contained Clover. Seth placed his hand down upon the solid bubble, then moved it aside so he could see in it.

An imp, Clover snapped up at Seth, only to be stopped by the surface of the the bubble. Despite the impact, Clover got right back up and continued to scurry around the base of the bubble in tight circles.

"Clover's always been so perky and cheery," said Ingrid. "This can't really be her, can it?"

"It is," said Kendra. "Although I wish it weren't."

"Regression to an imp brings a drastic change to a fairy," said Bracken. "Unfortunately, this sort of thing is beyond us. A fairy angel has never been turned into an imp in any recorded history. Not only do we not know of a way to restore her, but we don't know if a way to restore her even exists."

"I'm not any happier about all of this than my brother," said Dale. "And when he was catatonic, I didn't give up on hoping that some day, he would be be restored. But still, what can we do about Clover for the time being?"

"Well, she needs to be kept somewhere where she can't get lost or into trouble," replied Bright. "This bubble can withstand her, but it would not make a suitable permanent habitat for any creature."

"A larger bubble?" asked Seth, earning several disapproving looks from his relatives.

"Why not the dungeon?" asked Grandma. "With all due respect, it is designed to house, well... uncontrollable creatures."

"I don't like the sound of that," said Kendra. "This is Warren's wife we're talking about here!"

"Being your grandfather's wife didn't save me from being caged up as a chicken," said Grandma, glaring over at her husband.

"Look," said Grandpa, holding up his hands, "people who are regressed into imps, or chickens for that matter, think differently than normal."

"But the dungeon?" asked Seth. "Come on! The dungeon here is no Living Mirage."

"She will be safe in the dungeon," said Grandpa. "And Voorsh and Slaggo will be mindful of her."

"We might as well put Clover away," said Bright. "Would you mind escorting us to the dungeon, Stan?"

"Not all all," said Grandpa. "Follow me."

Grandpa proceeded to lead Bright and Bracken, along with Clover through the house towards the stairs leading to the basement. The rest of the family opted to sit down in the living room until Grandpa and the two fairy angels returned a few minutes later.

"Clover's been given a cell in the dungeon," said Grandpa. "We didn't tell Voorsh and Slaggo the truth about Clover, but they'll respect her like they do any other... err... guest."

"Is there anything else we can do for you?" asked Bright, looking over at the rest of the family.

"I can't think of anything," said Grandma.

"Okay," said Bright. "We'll be returning to the Fairy Kingdom. "We both need to recover."

"Wouldn't it be better to keep Clover in the Fairy Kingdom?" asked Ingrid. "Even as an imp?"

"We talked about it downstairs," said Grandpa. "Keeping her in the Fairy Kingdom will do her no good. And if she stays here at Fablehaven, Warren can at least visit her whenever he wants. Although I imagine he'll need to calm down a bit before he's ready to confront her."

"Understood," said Bracken. "Goodnight, everybody!"

Bracken and Bright then left the house through the front door.

"Poor Warren," said Ingrid. "I wish there was something we could do."

"Best to just let this whole thing run its course," said Mr. Sorenson.

"Hey, we still have ice cream!" said Seth. "At least there's still that!"

The kids made their way back into the dining room where several bowls of melting ice cream were sitting on the table.

"Aww," moaned Ingrid, "it's melting!"

"That's all I had left," said Grandma, picking up the bowls. "I'm sorry about that."

"Isn't there some dessert in the house?" asked Seth. "Bet that would cheer Warren up!"

"Just fruit," said Grandma, as she loaded the bowls into the dishwasher. "Nothing wrong with that."

"Doesn't taste as good," said Seth, as Grandma started the dishwasher and made her way upstairs, along with the other adults.

"Let's just forget the whole thing," said Ingrid. "It's too bad, though. A nice dessert would've cheered Warren up for sure."

The kids then made their way upstairs and into their bedrooms. Although it was not very late, they had all had a long, tiring day. After getting changed into their bedclothes, Kendra, Ingrid and Seth were all soon fast asleep.

The following morning, Kendra found herself being interrupted from her sleep by people pushing against both of her shoulders. She then opened her eyes and saw both Seth and Ingrid, each of them standing on one side of her bed.

"What time is it?" groaned Kendra, as she looked over the clock on her nightstand. It read 6:05. "It's so early!"

"I just had a brainstorm!" exclaimed Seth. "Let's bake a cake! We should have all the ingredients. That's bound to cheer Warren up!"

"Right now?" asked Kendra. "It's not even time for breakfast!"

"Who cares?" said Ingrid. "It'll make Warren happy, won't it?"

"Is anybody else even up?"

"Just Dale," said Seth. "He's probably out tending to his chores. But think of it. Once Warren wakes up, he can have some delicious cake. And it'll mean something, since we made it ourselves, as opposed to letting the brownies do it, or just buying something at the store."

"Making it ourselves does sound intriguing," said Kendra. "And it's so thoughtful! Count me in!"

Once the kids got dressed and freshened up, they headed down into the kitchen. The lights still off, it meant that nobody else had woken up except for Dale, who was no doubt outside somewhere.

"Grandma's got a cake recipe around here somewhere," said Kendra, as she perused through a collection of recipe cards in a drawer. "Found it!"

As they went down the list of ingredients, the kids had soon assembled everything that the card had requested, and set them all out on the counter, along with various pieces of cookware.

"This is gonna be fun!" exclaimed Ingrid. "I haven't baked anything like this in years!"

After preheating the oven, Kendra, Seth and Ingrid all took turns mixing the various ingredients together into the bowl, and had soon produced a rich, creamy batter.

"We should do this more often," said Seth, as he lifted the mixer, allowing the chocolatey batter to drip off from the blades and into the bowl. "You know, as much as I love licking the blades, lets let Ingrid have both. It's only fair."

"You're so nice," said Ingrid, as Seth removed both blades from the mixer, then handed them over to Ingrid, which she then proceeded to lick the batter off of. "Mmm, it's pretty good!"

Kendra then poured the batter into a pan, making sure to scoop as much of the remainder as she could from the bowl using a scraper.

"And you can lick the scraper, Seth," said Kendra, passing the plastic implement to her brother. "I like it when you're in such a good mood."

Kendra then opened the preheated oven and slid the cake pan into it. Now that it was baking, they proceeded to mix together the ingredients needed to make the frosting. Once it was ready, they set it aside and proceeded to load what dishes they could into the dishwasher, then hand-washed the rest of it.

Soon the smell of chocolate was wafting from the oven. At this point, Grandpa entered the kitchen, looking surprised to see that his grandchildren were cooking up a storm, and so early in the morning as well.

"What's going on in here?" he asked.

"We're baking a cake," said Kendra. "We want to help Warren feel better. But don't worry, we've got everything under control!"

"Why so early?"

"We wanted to surprise Warren," said Seth. "And I figured, it's best to do everything early, before he wakes up."

"I see," said Grandpa. "Well, as long as you don't make a mess, and you know what you're doing, I don't see the harm in this. Anyway, Grandma will be down soon, but I'm going to help her get breakfast ready. As long as your cake's still cooking, you kids mind lending me a hand in setting up?"

"Not at all," said Ingrid, as the kids set the table and got several other things ready so that Grandma could prepare breakfast.

While they got everything ready, the kitchen timer buzzed, prompting Kendra to remove the cake from the oven.

"Let's let it cool for a bit," said Kendra.

"Hide it in the cupboard," said Seth, "so that Warren doesn't accidentally see it!"

"I'll turn on the exhaust fan," said Grandpa, "so that he doesn't smell it, either."

Grandpa then turned on the fan, just as Grandma entered the kitchen. The kids explained to her what was going on, and she proceeded to start cooking breakfast. By the time breakfast was ready, Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson and Dale had all sat down in the dining room.

"That just leaves Warren," said Ingrid. "He's usually at the table by now."

"He needs a bit of space right now," said Dale.

"Just as well," said Seth, as he sprinkled some blueberries onto his oatmeal. "We still need to frost the cake before he sees it."

Soon everybody at the table had finished their breakfast, with no sign of Warren showing up. After the table had been cleared, the cake had cooled down significantly. Ingrid then removed the cake from the pan, placing it on a serving plate.

"You two are a lot of fun to cook with," said Seth, as he spread some frosting across the cake. "This is almost as fun as going on adventure. And a lot safer too!"

"Safer, yes," said Kendra. "Healthier? I'll get back to you on that."

"If we need to burn off the calories, we can just go on another adventure," said Ingrid.

Before long, the cake had been frosted. Although they lacked icing, Grandma did have some glittery sprinkles to decorate the cake with.

"It looks pretty good," said Kendra, admiring the cake.

"But Warren still isn't down yet," said Seth.

"Let's just bring the cake up to him," said Ingrid.

After getting a plate and some utensils, the kids proceeded to carry through the house and upstairs, stopping in front of Ingrid's bedroom, which Warren was currently occupying.

"Warren?" asked Seth, as he knocked on the door. The was no answer.

"Is he okay in there?" asked Ingrid.

"Warren, you in there?" asked Kendra. Still no response.

"He's still here, right?" asked Seth, now starting to feel worried.

Ingrid then opened up the door to her room. Warren was nowhere to be found.

"Where is he?" asked Seth.

"Oh no," said Ingrid. "Look over here!"

"What is it?" asked Kendra.

"There's a note on his bed," said Ingrid, picking up a note that had been on the bed. "Warren isn't here."