The welcome back party

I don't own fablehaven. Suggestion by wolf lover27

Warren crept into the grove flashlight scanning the ground. The air was different in here, chilled and carrying nervous energy. He had gone ten feet in the grove's borders when he noticed movement.

It was a humanoid shape limping and coming towards him. Warren gulped. He shined his flashlight on the creature and was met with what he knew from research, was a revenant. It raised a bony hand at him, and he was stuck. Frozen in place.

Terror like none other filled him, his thoughts slowed, and then there was nothing.

Warren's new state of mind was like one half in a dream half in consciousness. It was mostly foggy, and he couldn't think properly. Time lost meaning.

There were a few instances where he was closer to consciousness than ever before. In the foggy haze he would make out a young face. It was like thousands of spotlights shining on it. Her details were blurred, but he could make out bright green eyes. Then it would stop and Warren would again feel like a passenger in his own mind.

The bright green eyes visited a few more times, each giving Warren a feeling he didn't know what was. He would poke at this sensation and watch it with metaphorical eyes. This feeling was hope, hope that one day he would be whole again. He couldn't understand what that meant in his current state of mind, but he liked the feel of it, the idea.

Warren snapped back. He felt dizzy and sore. He started to walk around loving the feel of it. He supposed something terrible had happened to him, as was his luck. He walked onto the observation platform atop a cottage. He stretched and rubbed his arms.

He needed to find out what was happening. He thought back. He was about to enter the cursed grove, and when he stepped a foot inside, then there was something walking towards him. The memory just ended. It was almost as if some of it had been taken away or refused to be remembered. He remembered the terror however, unlike anything he had felt before, even worse than Aunt Getty's slobbery kisses. He shuddered.

"Warren!" A voice hissed. Warren jumped and turned toward the sound of her voice.

"Who's there?" he asked. His tongue felt strange in his mouth, sort of like a piece of lead.

The voice didn't talk for a moment before quickly sputtering word out "You can talk! Oh my gosh! What happened?"

"Of course I can talk. I'm sorry-who are you?"

"I'm Kendra." Oh good, that clears everything up he thought dryly.

"I'm going to need a little more to go on." He squinted in her direction.

"I'm Kendra Sorenson. Stan and Ruth are my grandparents."

"If you say so. What compelled you to hide in a tree in the middle of the night? Can you tell me how I got here?"

"Meet me at the back door," Kendra said. " I'll be there in a second." Warren went into the house and out the door.

Standing in the doorway, he studied her. She was the face with the green eyes. "It's you," he said in curious wonder. "I remember you."

"From when you were mute?" she asked.

"Was I mute? That's a first. Come inside."

Kendra entered. "You were a mute albino for a few years." That couldn't possibly happen surely it had been a couple hours.

"Years? he exclaimed. What year is it?"

She told him and he looked flummoxed. They walked to the table in the main room.

He ran a white hand through his thick hair, then stared at his palm. "I thought I was looking sort of bleached," he said, flexing his fingers. "The last thing I remember was something coming toward me in the grove. It could have been yesterday. I was overcome by a panic like I had never known, and my mind withdrew to a dark place. I felt nothing-there, hemmed in by pure terror, disconnected from my senses, retaining a groggy semblance of self-awareness. Near the end I saw you, wreathed in light. But it felt like hours lapsing, not days, certainly not years."

"You've been catatonic," Kendra said. "There is a revenant in the grove, and everybody who goes there ends up like you did."

"I haven't wasted away too terribly," he said, patting himself. "I feel a tad slimmer, but not withered like I should be after years in a coma." He could totally attack the desserts now, he mused.

"You could move around, but always in a daze," Kendra explained. "Your brother Dale made sure you got exercise. He took good care of you." Dale ever the responsible brother, Warren smiled.

"Is he here?"

"He's locked in the dungeon with my grandparents," Kendra said. "The entire preserve is in danger. Members of the Society of the Evening Star have taken over the house. One of them is a narcoblix, so I've been awake for a couple of days straight. They are trying to get the artifact." The Star was back?

He raised his eyebrows. "You're saying there isn't going to be a Welcome-Back-from-Your-Coma Party?"

Kendra smiled. "Until we rescue the others, I'm all you get."

"Sooner or later, I want cake and ice cream. You mentioned the artifact. Do they know where it is?"

They talked, planned, and finally went off on an adventure sure to be fun, with some cookies for the road.

*Really hope I didn't disappoint…Thank you thank you thank you! It means so much! "Kindness is spreading sunshine into other people's lives regardless the weather" and let me just say the forecast is sunny all week. Thank you to jaylalovesreading, wolf lover27, Jesus saved even me, and by myself alone, your's is up next. I know I'm not the best writer, but your support helps continue my dreams and hey if I'm gonna start anywhere, might as well be ground 0. Stay safe and happy*