Chapter 37: Settling Down
Unable to anticipate whatever might transpire next, Kendra pushed open the front door to the house at Fablehaven and stepped into the foyer, accompanied by Bracken and Bright.
"They're back!" cried Mrs. Sorenson, as she entered the foyer from the living room, accompanied by Mr. Sorenson, Seth and Ingrid. At that same moment, Grandpa and Grandma came in through the hallway that led to the study, while Warren, Dale and Clover all walked down the stairs from the second floor.
"Kendra!" exclaimed Grandpa, as he proceeded to embrace Kendra in a fierce hug. "We can't even believe everything that just happened!"
"It was quite a story, huh?" asked Bright.
"Story?" asked Mr. Sorenson. "Heavens, no! We saw everything that happened on TV!"
Kendra let go of Grandpa and backed away from the crowd, stopping to catch her breath. "What do you mean?"
"Yeah," said Bracken. "I thought that Kendra wished so that no innocent people would remember any of what happened."
"It turns out that it seems to have worked for the rest of the world," replied Seth. "But everyone here is our family. They're associated with us, and are no less innocent than say Ingrid. So for that reason, your wish didn't have any affect on them."
"But everyone who was here still saw and remembered everything?" asked Kendra.
Dale nodded. "Sure did. And it was pretty terrifying, let me tell you."
"We all died a little inside when we saw Dominera step on Warren," said Grandma. "Dale literally fainted."
Dale nodded a second time, then placed his arm around Warren's neck and patted his brother's shoulder with his hand.
"But what we saw next was incredible," said Mrs. Sorenson. "You bested your horn back from Dominera and became a unicorn again. And you were able to grant wishes capable of stopping her and her pack members! And... you know rest, seeing as how you lived it."
"The last thing we saw," said Mrs. Sorenson, was seeing you and the rest of your group vanish before our eyes in front of the camera. And a minute later, the footage we were watching had changed completely. Instead of the feed that we had been watching that took place on an abandoned street, we were instead suddenly watching a news report about a Manhattan corner store that had been burglarized earlier today."
"We couldn't find any trace of Dominera's attack," said Mr. Sorenson. "Not on any other channel or online. It was like it had never happened. That all of us had just imagined it or something."
"And soon after that, everyone else suddenly showed up here," said Grandma. "We were all ecstatic to see Warren alive. Dale was still out, but he immediately sprung to life the moment he heard Warren's voice.
"I can't thank you enough," said Dale, nodding.
"What about Dominera?" asked Bright. "And the other dragons? Kendra's wishes sent them away, but we never got any closure."
"The pack is back in their lair," said Seth. "I searched for them using the Oculus, and sure enough, they were all there. I couldn't tell you what they were doing, or even so much as thinking, but they were there."
"Hopefully they stay there," said Ingrid. "Or at least, don't give us any more trouble."
"I think they know quite well what I'm capable of, considering what I did to them and Dominera," said Kendra. "And for that matter, where is Dominera?"
"Right where you sent her," said Grandpa. "She's beneath us, in the dungeon."
"Now this I've got to see."
"Might as well not keep you waiting, then," said Warren, as he proceeded to walk towards the kitchen, prompting the rest of the family to follow him.
"We went down to the basement shortly after we got back," said Ingrid. "Voorsh and Slaggo were both surprised when we told them that they might have a new tenant down there."
Warren opened the door that led to the basement and made his way down the stairs while everyone followed close behind. Once Warren reached the bottom, he stopped and waited for Grandpa, who in turn pulled out a key and used it to unlock the door.
Everyone followed Grandpa and Warren into the entryway of the dungeon. Both Voorsh and Slaggo were standing nearby, their attention drawn towards everyone who was entering the dungeon.
"I suppose you're here to show off our latest arrival," said Slaggo, leering up towards Grandpa.
"She's really down here?" asked Kendra.
"Yes," replied Voorsh. "But we really don't appreciate having prisoners being locked away without our consent."
Kendra winced. "Uh... I'll try to be more careful in the future."
"Can we just let Kendra and the others see Dominera already?" asked Dale.
Slaggo huffed. "Fine. Come with us."
The two goblins led the group down a corridor that was lined with cell doors on both sides. At the end of the corridor, they made a left turn and soon stopped in front of one of the doors.
"Your friend is in there," said Voorsh, as Kendra peered through the barred window of the door. On the other side of the door, Kendra could see Dominera sitting in one of the far corners of the room. Dominera, still in her Asylha form, was now back to being the size of a normal human.
"You!" snapped Dominera, as she stood up from her spot and charged towards the door. She clasped each of her hands around one of the window bars and attempted to pry them open, but was having no success.
"How do you like it in there?" asked Kendra, smiling in admiration.
"This isn't fair!" huffed Dominera. "I shouldn't be locked up in this prison! I should be the one controlling all of you! I am a powerful dragon! Not some weak, puny human! I hate my human form! I should be the one in control here! It is my birthright!I demand that you change me back and release me this instant!"
"Let me think about that. NO!"
Dominera growled. "No one refuses orders from me. You hear that? No one! When I tell someone to do something... They don't hesitate. They don't talk back. They just do it."
"Not anymore," said Kendra. "I've stripped you of all your power, and there's nothing you can do..."
Kendra proceeded to clasp her own hands over Dominera's cold knuckles and made sure that her grip was quite firm. She then glared directly into Dominera's blue eyes, both of which contained a slight hint of purple. "...so get used to it!"
After a few seconds of squeezing Dominera's hands with her own, Kendra let go and backed away from the door.
"Kendra," said Dominera. "I have a question for you. You possess incredible power. It impressed even myself. Why have you not used it to conquer this world?"
Kendra looked down and began to take several deep breaths. "I don't want to rule the world."
Dominera growled. "What kind of fool are you? Having all this power and just letting it go to waste?!"
"Because no one being should control the world. "It belongs to everyone. Every creature. Every... thing. Not only that, but I don't even want the burden of being in change of the whole world. And if I had to be in charge, I'd want everyone to be happy. I wouldn't want them dead, or living in fear of me."
"But why not?" asked Dominera, who sounded as though she didn't understand where Kendra was coming from.
"I just don't," replied Kendra. "I guess that's what separates people like me from people like you. And because you're not a dragon anymore, the word people is fitting."
"You lousy human! If I were a dragon, I'd crush every last one of you right now!"
"You don't like being a human?" asked Kendra. "Would you prefer to be a toad? Or a snail? Or an oyster? It can be arranged."
Dominera growled.
"Come on, Kendra," said Grandpa. "We've seen enough for now. Let's go. Besides, you can visit Dominera later. I have a feeling she's probably going to be down here for a very long time."
The group proceeded to turn around and walked away from Dominera's cell. As they turned around the corner, Dominera continued to yell obscenely towards the group.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP?" roared a loud, gravely voice from everyone's rear, obviously one of Dominera's new neighbors. The reverberation that had echoed through the dungeon due to the shout, had startled everyone enough to make them flinch, stopping them all in their tracks.
"I think we're going to need a silencer charm for Dominera's door," said Slaggo.
"Agreed," said Grandma. "Even the other prisoners don't deserve this."
The family made their way back to the entrance of the dungeon and continued upstairs, closing the door behind Slaggo and Voorsh.
"Well, it looks like everything is back to the way it should be," said Mr. Sorenson, once everyone gone back upstairs to the kitchen.
"Yeah, finally!" said Seth, stretching his arms. "Now we can get back to... uh..."
"School?" asked Ingrid, sounding somewhat unenthusiastic.
"Tomorrow," said Mrs. Sorenson.
Seth glanced out the window, which faced the north side of the kitchen. The sun had almost set by this point, leaving little more than a small orange glow behind the trees to the west, in contrast to the rest of the darker sky.
"And it's almost bedtime, too," said Seth. "And after everything, I am beat."
Mr.s Sorenson sighed. "You know, you kids have been through a lot these past few days. You deserve a rest. In honor of your efforts, I'm cancelling class tomorrow."
"Really?" asked Seth, whose face suddenly lit up.
"Me too," said Warren. "Tomorrow you kids can do whatever you want."
"All right!" exclaimed Kendra, earning looks from everyone, as she usually was one who always looked forward to school. "Hey, even bookworms like to take it easy once in a while!"
"This calls for a celebration!" said Clover. "Anyone here up for cake and ice cream?"
"Sweet!" exclaimed Seth, as the kitchen phone began to ring.
"Hold on a moment," said Grandpa, as he walked over towards the counter that the ringing phone was situated upon. He proceeded to remove the phone from its cradle and held it up to his face. "Hello? Yes, this is Stanley Sorenson speaking."
A moment later, Grandpa's mouth dropped open in awe. "Oh my god. I... I get it."
"Stan, what's going on?" asked Grandma. "Who is that?"
"It's Chief Williams," replied Grandpa, covering the mouthpiece of the phone with his hand. "He knows about what happened."
"Oh no!" gasped Kendra. "Why does he remember all this even after my wish?"
"Probably for the same reason we do," replied Dale.
"You wished for everyone who was innocent to not remember the incident," said Bracken. "And if this is the real Chief Williams... he may have been a victim, but he got caught up in this whole mess. He wasn't just an innocent bystander."
As Kendra absorbed Bracken's revelation, Chief William's voice could faintly be heard coming out of the phone's earpiece, too hard to properly interpret from a distance. Grandpa then held the phone back up to his head. "You want to meet up with me? At the police station? I don't know... Dominera told you about Fablehaven?"
"Oh dear," sighed Grandma.
"I understand," said Grandpa. "I'll look into it. See you later."
"Dad, what is this all about?" asked Mr. Sorenson, as Grandpa hung the phone up.
"Chief Williams wants to talk with some of us. I normally would never condone revealing our secret to anybody. But this man is involved with law enforcement, and these are extenuating circumstances, so I'm prepared to make a big exception. He deserves to know the truth."
"Look, I can just get my horn back from the Fairy Queen and wish for him to forget about all this," said Kendra.
"That might be a little tricky at this point," said Bracken.
"Well, I propose that we meet up with Chief Williams like he requested," said Grandpa. "Assuming this is the real deal, and not Qualvor in disguise, there won't be a whole lot that he can do to us."
"When does he want to meet us?" asked Seth.
"As soon as possible," replied Grandpa. "Grab your jackets."
Grandpa called for Kendra, Seth, Ingrid, Warren, Bracken, Bright and Clover to follow him through the front hall, and then outside into the front yard. From there, they walked over to the driveway, where the family's SUV was parked.
"Can't we just take the Translocator?" asked Ingrid, as Grandpa opened up the front passenger door and sat down inside.
"Remember who we're dealing with," said Warren, as he got into the driver's seat. "He barely knows anything about the magical world. We need to make our transportation as normal and low-key as possible. So there can't be any Translocator or dragon riding for this."
Bracken, Bright and Clover all disappeared, as Kendra, Seth and Ingrid all climbed into the back seats of the SUV. Warren then started the ignition, and the vehicle was soon cruising down the driveway that led to the front gate of Fablehaven.
After coming out of the forest and driving down the highway for a short time, the SUV had reached Crossroad Pass. Upon entering the rural town, Warren had soon parked the SUV in a lot outside the police station, where the passengers all got out of the vehicle.
"I'm really nervous," said Seth, who, like the other members of his group, had barely spoken throughout the entire ride. "Are we really going to go through with this?"
"This man has been through a lot," replied Grandpa. "And there's not a whole lot we can do to remedy the situation without relying on magic that I'd rather we didn't."
"You guys let me keep your secret when I found out by accident," said Ingrid. "As well as Mom and Dad. And Lance."
"I know," said Warren. "But this chief is a man of authority. Trying to provide an explanation for everything might not go over so smoothly with him."
The group walked around to the front of the police station and entered the building's front lobby, where they walked up to the reception desk.
"Oh, hello," said the policewoman who was seated behind the desk. Kendra was quick to recognize her as the same officer who had been there on the group's previous visit. She turned to face Warren. "I remember you. You're the guy who dropped off that key yesterday."
"Oh, yeah," said Warren, as he nodded slowly. "Did you figure out who it belonged to?"
"Excuse me," came a voice from one end of the room. Everyone turned their heads and saw that it was none other than Chief Williams.
The chief's presence had startled the group. Even though this was supposedly the real deal, the facade that Qualvor had employed earlier bore a perfect resemblance to the man standing before them.
"Chief Williams," said Grandpa. "Uh... hello."
"All of you, please come this way," said Chief Williams, as he led the group down the hallway. They entered a door that stood partway down the hall. They had entered what appeared to be a small meeting room consisting of little more than an oblong conference table with a few chairs in the center.
"Please take a seat," said Chief Williams, as he sat down at the head of the table. The others all sat down in response.
"Oh boy," said Grandpa. Where do we begin?"
"Before we start, I just want to say that everything we discuss in here will remain completely confidential. This room is not being bugged or monitored in any way. I promise. And, to get the ball rolling, I'll start."
"How did you get into this mess?" asked Warren.
"Yesterday, while I was on patrol, my squad car was forced off the road and pulled into the woods just outside of town. I know this must sound strange, but a mysterious figure forced me out of my car and made me drink this unusual milk. And that was when I saw the most amazing, yet at the same time terrifying sight I had ever seen in my life. Suddenly, there were these two enormous dragons standing before me."
"What did they do?" asked Kendra.
"The white dragon, Dominera, used this magic of hers to transform the red one into a perfect duplicate of myself. Dominera told me to bring my wife, Patricia, to her, and that she would destroy me if I defied her. I was terrified. But I felt like I had no choice. Who was I supposed to tell? So I picked up my wife and brought her back to Dominera. This time, Dominera transformed a green dragon with three heads into a duplicate of my wife. God, this whole story must sound crazy to you folks."
"Not that much," said Seth, shaking his head.
"So you and your wife got impersonated," said Ingrid. "Then what?"
"Dominera then did something to Patrica and I. She said that my family and I had to leave Crossroad Pass until further notice, gave me a sack of money, and told us to not contact anyone. And for some reason, I gave in. I still had control over myself, but I couldn't bring myself to defy Dominera's command."
"That sounds like a form of mind control," said Warren.
"That doesn't make any sense," said Seth. "Why wouldn't Dominera just kill or capture you if she didn't want you around?"
"I don't think she wanted the burden of having to look after me," replied Chief Williams. "She wanted me alive in case there was a problem, but still out of the way. What was I supposed to do? It wasn't until less than an hour ago that Patricia and I realized that we had control over ourselves again. We returned to town and I when I got back to the station, I was lambasted for not showing up for work today. I couldn't explain what had happened, no way any of the other officers would've believed me."
"How did you end up calling us?" asked Grandpa.
"I was informed that yesterday, I had made a false arrest, and had brought two suspects into holding without filling out any paperwork. Normally, such an offense would've been grounds for losing my job, but when I returned, none of the staff here made a fuss."
"Probably more mind control had been at work, said Warren.
"Whatever it was, I'm thankful for it," said Chief Williams. "Anyway, it turned out that the fake me had impounded a car belonging to Mr. Stanley Sorenson. I knew that Dominera had to have been behind it. On top of that, the two suspects seemed to have vanished."
Grandpa sighed. "We can explain everything."