Dale's stomach was really bothering him. He was hungry. Warren hadn't been having a very good day, so Dale had been more focused on him at lunch time than on getting some food. He'd been able to ignore it while working, but now that he had stopped for the evening, he was ready to get some dinner.
As Dale entered the main house he immediately knew that while something wasn't necessarily wrong, it certainly wasn't normal. Dale couldn't smell dinner being made, even though most of the time Lena or Ruth were finishing up dinner by the time he got there. He also couldn't hear Lena or the Sorenson's. It seemed like nobody else was home, which was incredibly unusual.
Dale wasn't worried. It may not be normal for the house to be this quiet and peaceful this time of day, but unusual things happened in Fablehaven all the time. The others were probably just fine, and were all just busy with something. That was fine. Dale could entertain himself for the evening. It would actually give him the chance to get some research done.
First though, dininer.
Dale wasn't an incompetent cook. He wasn't as masterful as Lena was, but she'd taught him a lot, and if he had to make all of own meals, he wouldn't starve and he wouldn't get bored of overly simplistic food. However, sometimes Dale wanted something simple and easy, and since he had stuff he wanted to do that night and was feeling really hungry, he decided to make something really quick.
Dale went to the fridge and pulled out two eggs and ketchup. He then went to the pantry and grabbed an onion. Setting the ketchup aside, Dale began by chopping the onion. Once he had small pieces, Dale grabbed a bowl and cracked his eggs into it. He beat the eggs, and once they were all mixed he stirred in the onion.
When his egg and onion mixture was ready, Dale poured it into a buttered pan and began to scramble it. It only took a few minutes for his scrambled eggs to be done. Dale dished his food onto a plate, and finished it up by drenching it in ketchup. Perfect.
Dale sat down as he ate his dinner. For a few minutes Dale sat and ate in silence as he tried to think of all the powerful and dangerous creatures around Fablehaven. They'd all been trying to find a safe cure for Warren. They have been looking at things that were both natural and magical, but they weren't getting anywhere.
Dale knew that the others were starting to run out of ideas, and out of hope. Dale was feeling pretty hopeless himself, but he wasn't about to give up on his brother. Dale would do anything to protect his brother. Even things that he normally wouldn't, and probably shouldn't, do.
Dale thought he had an idea of how he could better know how to help his brother. He may not have access to a cure, but someone in his position actually had access to very little of the magic that their world had to offer. There were some incredibly powerful creatures, even just in the boundaries of Fablehaven, who may just have the power to help Warren. Or, at the very least, they may have the resources and influence to know what to do for him.
The problem with going to these creatures for help was that most of them were dark or evil, and all of them were incredibly dangerous. Going to these beings for help was risky business. One would either have to be able to outsmart the creature, or be prepared to face the consequences. Even asking the more benevolent creatures, such as the Fairy Queen, for help was probably going to do more harm than good.
Dale didn't exactly want to, but at this point he felt like he had no other choice. Right now it wasn't a matter of whether he should go to one of these creatures for help, but which one had the best chance of helping Warren with minimum risk. He'd been spending his spare time these past few weeks trying to find enough information to make a good decision.
Dale hadn't been able to find someone that he dared to ask for help yet, but he'd been able to narrow down who he knew he wouldn't ask, no matter what. Beings like Muriel and the Fairy Queen. If Muriel had at least one more knot keeping her bound, Dale would probably want to go to her for assistance, but it was way too dangerous to allow her to get down to one knot. Especially since they didn't actually know for sure if she had the power to help Warren. As for the Fairy Queen, Dale had heard way too many horror stories of what happened to people who went to her for help when she didn't think they were pure or worthy enough. He would rather not get turned into dandelion dust.
It was a little discouraging that he'd only been able to figure out what wouldn't work or who he couldn't go to, but Dale tried not to lose faith. He told himself that the more options he eliminated, the closer he was to figuring it out. He just had to keep looking.
When he was finished eating, Dale made his way into Stan's study. They kept most of their books in the living room, but the official information and records about Fablehaven was kept in the study. Dale frowned slightly when he saw the room. It had been reorganized since the last time he had been in here, which had only been a few days ago.
Dale looked in all of the drawers, cupboards, the entire room, but he couldn't find any books that might contain the information he was looking for. Actually, Dale couldn't find anything that might be considered sensitive information that would normally be kept in here. Dale frowned. Had Stan moved things?
Actually, Ruth might have. For awhile now Dale had noticed that Ruth had been looking in some of the exact same books that he'd been interested. She wouldn't tell him just what she was looking for, but he couldn't really begrudge her for that, because he hadn't exactly been open with his plans either. Dale knew that Stan wouldn't approve of asking creatures for help. As the caretaker at Fablehaven, Stan knew how important it was that they not free dark creatures who were imprisoned, or owe anybody any favors, and those were the exact kinds of things that they'd be asked to give in exchange for help. Dale knew these things too, and he was trying to be careful, but he was definitely willing to be a little less careful if it meant getting his brother back, and he didn't need to hear Stan's scolding warnings.
Dale didn't know why everything had been moved, and he didn't like not knowing where all of Fablehaven's vital information was, but he had an idea of where to look for the books he'd come in here for in the first place. If Ruth had been looking in them, she might have brought them to her room.
Dale made his way to the Sorenson's room. He didn't go in there very often, but he didn't usually have reason to. He barely spent very much time in his own room, let alone anyone else's. When Dale got to the room he found that the door was open, where it usually wasn't. One glance inside showed Lenta and Stan, both looking extremely distressed. Stan was sitting on the bed, and on his lap was something that Dale had never expected to see. A chicken.
"What's going on in here?" Dale asked slowly. Stan grimaced and adjusted his position. The chicken screeched in distress and bit Stan's finger. The chicken then flapped away from Stan and scurried to Lena. Stan gave the chicken an irritated, but slightly heartbroken glare.
"I don't know why you're acting like this. I warned you that something like this might happen." Stan's words were scolding, but his tone was one that Dale had heard only a handful of times. It was a tone of raw emotion that implied that Stan almost regretted coming into this life. In the first place.
"We all thought it might work," Lena said.
"What might?" Dale asked. He felt like he was missing something important. "What happened?" He didn't ask about the chicken, but he hoped that they would know that the question was implied.
Stan sighed and put his hands on his hips. He still hadn't taken his eyes off of the chicken. "What happened was that Ruth thought she had an idea of how to help Warren,"
"A similar idea to yours," Lena gave Dale a knowing look. He may not have told her what he'd been up to, but it didn't surprise him that she knew anyway. "She's been wanting to ask the genie in the dungeon for help with Warren, and today she finally did. As you can see, it didn't go very well."
Dale's eyes widened. He hadn't considered the genie at all. He had a bit of a philosophy that creatures in the dungeon were off limits, because they had to be down there for a really good reason. He didn't judge Ruth for resorting to going to the genie. He was getting to that level of desperation himself.
Dale glanced at the chicken next to Lena. "That's...that's Ruth?"
Stan slumped slightly. He looked completely drained. "Very first question the genie asked was one she wouldn't answer, so she had to face the penalty."
Dale swallowed thickly. He knew that Ruth was smart. She wouldn't have jumped into this situation without planning ahead first. That must have been what all of her own research had been for.
A lot of good that did her.
This was a very sobering reminder to Dale that no matter how careful he was in going for help, it could still end up horribly for him. There was nothing about this idea of his that was safe, which he'd already known, but it was one thing to know something, and another to see a result right in front of him.
"Let me guess," Dale said thickly. "This isn't a curse that will just wear off."
Stan shook his head. "Knowing the genie, probably not." Dale let out a slow breath and ran a hand through his hair. They already had one person who was changed by a dark creature who they had no idea how to help, and now they had another.
Stan finally looked away from Ruth to give Dale a level stare. "I know you want to help your brother, and I know I can't stop you." Dale stiffened. He knew this tone of Stan's. He mostly just reserved it for his grown children when he thought they were about to make a mistake, but knew that they were grown adults who had to learn for themselves. "But whatever you think you can do, whoever you think you can go to for help, I'm begging you to reconsider. "You can't trust these creatures."
Dale glanced at Ruth again. Maybe this was a mistake, but he couldn't give up on Warren. Not when there was a chance that someone out there could help him. "Where are the books that were in your study?"
Stan sighed, but he could see the determination in Dale's eyes. He knew that arguing with him wouldn't change his mind. "They're in the attic."
Dale gaped at him. "What are they doing up there?"
Stan gave him a knowing little smile, but it was shaky. "It's the last place you would think of looking isn't it?" Dale nodded. "Well, we tried to take some precautions before Ruth went to see the genie. She couldn't know any sensitive information that the genie could ask about."
Well, that explained that.
"Thanks," Dale muttered as he retreated back. Time to go check out the attic.
"Be careful," Stan said quietly, but Dale barely even paused. He felt horrible about what happened to Ruth, and he knew full well that something similar could very easily happen to him, but he couldn't let that stop him. He had to help Warren, no matter the risk to himself.
A/N: This is a slightly shorter chapter. I really am trying to write about every little mention of Warren's time as an albino. You all remember how Ruth was a chicken for the better part of the first book? In the second book, Ruth tells Kendra and Seth that it happened because of a meeting with a genie gone wrong. She also said that she chanced this meeting in the first place because she thought that the genie might know how to cure Warren. I thought it was kinda sweet, so I wanted to at least mention it, talk about it a little more. I don't think I got into it as much as I had wanted, but I didn't know how else to have the chapter go, so it's got to be good enough.