Based on characters from Fablehaven© by Brandon Mull. The original characters and plot details are my property. No copyright infringement intended.
Later that afternoon, after the situation settled down enough, they held a meeting. Kendra and Leander were resting. Ruth, Marla and Mrs. Larsen were comfortable with their physical condition. Although Seth and Bracken had answered specific questions, they hadn't told their story in its entirety.
Seth did his best to describe what had happened without lying and without letting any secrets out either.
"We went to the little barn and there was a wraith there, somehow inside the protection field. I asked it how it got there but it had already attacked Leander. When I commanded it to come to me, it disintegrated but it must have called the demon first. Kendra and Leander were in the barn when the demon arrived. Bracken and I were fighting it but it managed to send poison toward Kendra and Leander when they came out the door. I was busy watching the demon, trying to keep it from attacking again when a whooshing fireball flew at the demon and hit it in the chest. It shattered into gross looking hailstones that burned and sparked and a wind blew it across the lawn away from us."
"Did you see who cast the spell?" Stan asked.
"I have no idea where the fireball came from. I was staring at the demon to keep from being attacked." Seth answered truthfully. "I was trying my best to command the demon away or at least get it to stop its attack."
Everyone looked to Bracken. Who quickly volunteered, "I didn't see a thing either, Leander distracted the demon for a moment and I rushed to Kendra to neutralize the poison. A few seconds later Leander fell next to me and I heard the noise of the spell. I reached out and neutralized the poison in his body too. However, I didn't see who cast the spell. I couldn't tell you where it came from as I had my back to the demon. Stupid I know but I was more concerned about Kendra at that moment."
Celebrant was extremely disappointed that neither of them could identify the spell caster.
They spent hours discussing the disturbing fact that the demon was able to enter Fablehaven. Ruth brought down the journal and they checked it over, Leander's was the only new name added. Bracken insisted that Leander could in no way be responsible for the breach. He trusted him and so did his mother. In the wee hours of the morning, tired and out of options, they decided they had another mystery on their hands and called it a night.
Both Celebrant and Bracken stayed in Fablehaven. Celebrant and Maeve took a room at the old mansion with the Larsens. Occasionally the house darkened with the shadow of the two enormous dragons flying overhead but they typically stayed in their human shapes.
When Leander woke up, he was unable to do much. The powerful magic that had come at his command and poured out of his body had drained him taking all of his strength. He managed to turn his head to see where he was. He lay in a large bed and didn't recognize the room but Seth sitting next to him led him to believe he was still in Fablehaven. Seth gave him thumbs up, letting him know that everything was still good. He fell back to sleep almost immediately.
The next morning he was barely able to sit up. He couldn't lift his arms to feed himself but Seth, and Ruth had no problems helping him get food into his continuously grumbling stomach. No one forced him to do any more.
Bracken had one of the guest rooms and he was there every day healing Kendra a little at a time. Leander didn't need healing he was just exhausted. Bracken was only able to add a little strength to his body. Leander's present weakened condition was due mainly to his inexperience and startled panic that had led him to cast the powerful spell.
All the day before he laid in bed, today he was stronger now and could sit up by himself for a few minutes at a time. Kendra was doing better than he was. She was able to walk around; her symptoms were slowly fading, though climbing the stairs was still beyond her.
He could hear Bracken and Kendra walking around in her room. Kendra's voice was strong as they laughed and chatted. He wished he could get up and visit with them.
"How are you feeling?" Bracken asked as he came through the open door alone.
"Still shaky, but I think my arms are stronger today. I was able to shovel most of my pancakes into my mouth before Seth had to take over," he said and lifted his right arm and waved at him weakly before dropping it back to rest on the bed. He grimaced then laughed self-deprecatingly.
"Sorry I can't help more but channeling magic like you did drain something in your body my healing can't reach. Rest is the only cure. When you learn to use your magic, you will know how to channel energy more efficiently. It will get easier and you will get stronger," Bracken said encouragingly.
"I don't want to use it, don't even want it. If I hadn't done anything but distract the demon Celebrant and your mother would have come and destroyed the thing," Leander replied wearily and sourly. He wanted Bracken to make him laugh as he had done with Kendra, not bring up bad memories.
"But if you hadn't acted Kendra would be dead. If you had only distracted the demon, all of us might have died before they arrived. What you did was heroic," Bracken replied emphatically, reminding him what his action accomplished.
Leander wanted to believe Bracken was exaggerating. He was convinced the only person in danger of dying had been him, once Bracken reached Kendra. The spell had erupted spontaneously in reaction to the terrifying thought of losing his friends, especially Kendra. He was grateful he hadn't known the potentially lethal consequences of casting unfamiliar magic. Though in hindsight it felt good knowing he had rescued his friends.
"I'm glad I helped you get to Kendra and she didn't die but … I was beginning to believe I was just human, a little unusual that I could turn invisible but still human. Now …?" he shrugged.
He didn't tell Bracken that again he felt no magic, no hint of the power that had flowed through him so forcefully. He wondered if he had burned himself out with that one inexperienced blast. Rest, Bracken told him, all he needed was rest. Still, he hoped the magic had burned out, that it would never come back.
Days went by and Leander spent most of his time resting, practicing control of his facial expressions and thinking. Mostly he just needed to rest, but they all assisted with friendship, laughter was a good healer too.
The guest bedroom was becoming a hub of activity and he enjoyed the constant visitors. Celebrant and Maeve also made a few short visits to check on his recovery. They wanted him to know they were appreciative of his efforts and his role in finding Axezeles. He always exaggerated being tired and needing to sleep so they wouldn't stay too long. They seemed very happy together and he was content. They would be just fine without Raxtus.
Everyone accepted that Raxtus was dead. Even without a body there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Raxtus was gone. Seth and Kendra had told Leander that they were planning a memorial for Raxtus. He decided it was one event he didn't want to attend. Bracken agreed to find him a place to stay for a while. Later he could come back and accept Ruth's offer to stay at Fablehaven. When she brought meals to his room, she told him how she would love to have him live there with them. She always commented how he was 'such a sweet boy', making him blush furiously.
Since Kendra was doing so well, Grandma Larsen was worried why Leander's recovery was taking so much longer. Bracken explained to her that his was the nastiest case of poisoning. He had cured Kendra quickly and was hovering over her not knowing Leander was even hurt until he fell. Leander's exposure to less poison did severe damage because it remained in his body longer. She readily accepted his explanation.
Leander's problem now was to find something to do with his new life since he didn't have to pretend to look for the dragon. He didn't want to think about magic, given that there was no indication of the magic returning. He wanted to focus on being a normal human with a normal life. He felt the same as he had before the wraith attacked him, just human. Of course, he wasn't totally normal though because he knew about the sanctuary system but many normal humans dealt with that reality all the time. Couldn't he fit in, somewhere?
He couldn't live at Fablehaven forever, could he? Ruth said he could stay if he wanted. Kendra and Seth were going to grow up. Their grandparents were grooming them to take over as Caretakers some day. He could stay on and learn a job, maybe… eventually take a position on the staff. Due to his hoard, he didn't need money so he would just be here to help. He could actually pay them to let him live here.
He looked forward to having a long and happy relationship with his friends. Both Seth and Kendra would outlive most other human's since their magical abilities endowed them with an extended lifespan but they would eventually die. Bracken, of course, was virtually immortal and would be there when Leander died, hopefully of old age. A strange but comforting thought.
He assumed he was going to remain a 'boy' for a long time. This was a condition they would have to figure out how to explain to the current caretaker's without letting them know he was a dragon. Seth would help him come up with an explanation sometime in the future, like getting hit with some spell that stopped him from showing signs of aging. He would look like a sixteen year old for a hundred years, and then he would look like a seventeen year old boy for as long. Growing up was going to take a long time. He told Bracken he would deal with it and he would. Wasn't frustration and moodiness part of being a human teenager? He had that part down well enough.
If Bracken and Kendra married and had children, he was unsure where their children would fall in the hierarchy of the fairy realm. He didn't know if they would be immortal like their father or have a lifespan somewhere between Kendra and himself.
Someday when Seth and Kendra were gone, and it broke his heart to think of such a thing, perhaps he could continue to work with their children and grandchildren when they became Caretaker's of Fablehaven. He even had a vague thought of having a family of his own one day.
Maybe he could become a real tracker and travel the world looking for the lost or stolen. He had already helped the Fairy Queen with bequests she had given Raxtus and he knew he had a natural knack for it. He had been to every sanctuary and he knew them all very well. He had even gotten an introduction to the Living Mirage. Except working by himself or being alone again wasn't tempting, he liked being with his friends.
Right now, the best prospect for a job was working with Seth, who needed a new partner. He would like working with Seth, and being a tracker would add to their 'portfolio of services' as Seth called it. They had already been discussing the possibility the last few nights before Seth went to bed. Actually, Seth liked the idea very much; he had been doing most of the talking and was desperately trying to get Leander to agree. Leander had been too tired to commit to anything so he kept putting any decision off, but now he was seriously considering it.
He knew the magical world intimately, what he didn't know well was the human world. Their trip into town had showed him how much he didn't know. As a dragon, he had only gotten hints and glimpses of it as he had sat invisible watching movies at the drive-ins. He had seen limited interaction at football games in open stadiums, concerts in outdoor arenas and eavesdropping on conversations.
Becoming human had changed everything. His new awareness was so unlike what he had expected. Now awash with human hormones and emotions, his brain translated people's actions another way. He knew he would react differently to the exact same stimuli. His friends would assist him, especially Seth. Any question he asked he would get an answer because Seth would talk about anything. Kendra would keep him from being a rude lout and if he needed extra help, Bracken was always the ancient voice of reason.
Raxtus was supposed to be dead so he couldn't revert to his dragon form, it was too dangerous. Even if he couldn't do magic any longer, the hint of it might still show up in his dragon form if he was scanned by another dragon. Since he could still turn invisible and if he needed to fly, he would catch a plane, he didn't have to use his dragon form.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to go back to the little barn and renounce his dragon form. It would hurt his friends too much for one thing. If his magic came back and he could cast spells like that massive chaotic mess he threw at the demon, he didn't want to know the power he would have wielded if he had renounced Raxtus. The reason wizards renounced their dragon form was because it released all the magic to their human body. Their magic power multiplied significantly. It was a terribly frightening thought that his magic strength might have doubled. Keeping Raxtus as a viable part of himself would restrict his magic power if it came back. He doubted that he would ever want to revert to Raxtus again so he would remain dormant. He meant what he said – he didn't want be a wizard.
Hoping the magic wouldn't return, he had to find alternative ways of protecting himself and his friends. His invisibility was great but if he worked with Seth he would need to learn to fight. He could no longer take the coward's way out. Happily, simple survival was no longer the focus his life.
With access to his hoard, he didn't need a real job to survive and acquire the things he needed. Working with Seth sounded like the best idea. He wondered what kind of adventures they could find by themselves.
He smiled thinking their first 'job' together would be to get some of his hoard. Seth would be impressed and jealous when he saw it. At least he hoped Seth would be impressed after he raided that other dragon's hoard. He knew Seth would try to figure out ways to get part of it but he didn't know how protective dragons were of their hoard. That part of his dragon nature hadn't changed. Still he would make sure he compensated Seth for his assistance. The mission would take some complex planning to get into and out of Wyrmroost unseen. Then he remembered he could take Seth to the little treasure room. That room they could empty and Seth would feel satisfied that Raxtus was a very rich dragon. It held treasure that would not be difficult to turn into cash. Seth would know how to go about converting the treasure into a fat bank account, leaving the rest for his hoped for future.
Leander had made up his mind just as Seth brought up a tray with food for the two of them. They ate quietly for a few minutes before he accepted Seth's offer to be a partner. Telling him that first he needed to learn self-defense and how to fight. Seth was very excited and began to ramble on about the things he had done and what Leander could expect when out on the hunt.
Leander finished off his dinner, listening to Seth chatter away. He was full, happy and knew what he was going to do with himself for the next few months or years.
A normal life, he thought dreamily, wondering what it will be like.
That evening he fell asleep dreaming of being Leander, not Raxtus, alone in his treasure cave. The smell of gold and sulfur filling his senses and his father didn't come crashing in.