Having Tanu, Coulter, and Vanessa coming to Fablehaven was supposed to make things easier. In a way, they definitely did help. Vanessa had a lot of ideas on where to find the artifact they were looking for. Coulter did some work around the yard, as well as kept Stan company, improving both of their moods. Tanu did whatever was asked of him, but he also continued to help Dale look out for Warren.

But no matter how many perfectly capable people there were around, they still had to deal with a lot more trouble than they had signed up for. At least, it was more trouble than Dale had signed up for. He wasn't ready for it.

Somehow, Kendra and Seth seemed to bring trouble with them wherever they went. Dale had been hoping that what had happened to the children last summer was just a fluke, but then they come here and bring a demon in their wake. A demon that wanted to devour Seth, who had a tendency to walk right into trouble anyways.

Dale had thought that Seth had learned to not go looking for trouble, but then Kendra woke up to find that Seth wasn't there, and neither was Coulter. They were both gone, and so was their gear.

All signs suggested that Coulter was the traitor, but they couldn't worry about that. Saving Seth was their priority right now, and they would deal with the rest later. Dale, Tanu, and Vanessa spent a few minutes collecting gear and tools they might need before they headed out. It was easy enough to follow the tracks that Hugo left, but every step of the way Dale felt himself getting more and more anxious.

None of them knew exactly why Coulter had led Seth away, but they all had an idea as to where they were going. The grove in the valley of the four hills. One of the most cursed areas of Fablehaven. The place where Warren had apparently been headed when he'd gotten hurt.

If there was anywhere in Fablehaven that Dale thought he could find information about not only what happened to Warren, but how to help him, it was at the four hills. Ever since Coulter had found out where Warren had been heading, Dale had wanted nothing more than to go there. The only reason he hadn't gone there already was because Stan and Tanu had spent a long time convincing him to be careful about this. He couldn't be reckless.

But they were actually on their way to the four hills, and the closer they got the harder it was for Dale to focus on the task at hand. They were out here to find Seth to bring him to safety, and Coulter so they could bring him to justice. Dale had to focus on them right now, not his brother. He could always return to the four hills when they didn't have to worry about a child-eating demon. Dale knew this, it was just a lot harder to actually remember than he thought it would be.

"Are you okay?" Tanu asked quietly as he walked right next to Dale. Vanessa was a few feet ahead of them, following Hugo's tracks and leading the way. She was completely determined, it was almost frightening.

"...I don't know," Dale said honestly. He knew that Tanu wouldn't believe him if he claimed he was fine.

"I know you're worried about Warren," Tanu said. "I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now, but Seth needs our help right now."

"I know," Dale frowned.

"I promise, when all of this is over, once everyone else is safe, I will go to the four hills with you to look for a way to help your brother," Tanu said. Dale looked at him in shock, but Tanu seemed to be completely serious. He was willing to go to the valley of the four hills, which they all knew was really dangerous, not to find the artifact, but to look for a solution that they didn't even know for sure existed.

"Guys, I think…" Vanessa paused and held her arm out to stop them as well. "Is-is that Hugo?"

"What?" Dale's eyes widened. Hugo had gone off with Seth and Coulter. If the golem was there, then maybe the others were too. Dale hurried to Vanessa's side and looked ahead. They were almost at the valley of the four hills, so the terrain was a lot more overgrown and uncared for than the rest of Fablehaven. With all the greenery it took Dale a moment, but he did eventually see Hugo making his way towards them.

"Hugo!" Dale ran to the golem. He was missing an arm, looked as upset as was possible for a golem to look, and most alarming of all he was on his own. Dale felt his stomach sink. Something horrible had happened. "Hugo, where's Seth?" Even as he asked the question, Dale felt ridiculous. Hugo couldn't speak and answer him.

Hugo grunted and glanced behind him, where his footprints seemed to go. "Is that where Coulter is?" Vanessa asked. She sounded angry, but also slightly excited. Or perhaps Dale was just hearing things.

"And Seth," Dale said. At the moment, he couldn't care less about bringing Coulter to justice. He wanted Seth to be safe, that was most important.

Hugo nodded. "Show us," Tanu said. Hugo nodded again and began to hurry back. Hugo could go really fast when he wanted to, but none of them complained. For all they knew, the others were in danger. Time was of the essence right now.

Suddenly they came to a clearing. All of the brush of the valley of the four hills was gone. It was a grove...the grove. Dale felt shivers go down his spine and his hair stand on end. He had no idea if the chill was from the grove itself, or just his own thoughts and fears getting the better of him.

Hugo didn't enter the clearing, and Dale got the feeling that he actually couldn't. Anywhere that had protections that kept the golem out, it wasn't anywhere that someone should go out of their way to go. But...But this had to be the place where Warren had gone. This chill, this fear, it was all something that Warren had dealt with, and much worse. Dale was just standing outside the grove, Warren had gone in there, and whatever he'd found in there, it had cursed him.

Dale felt his breath quicken and his hands shake, and it had nothing to do with the cold. He was afraid, but there was another feeling that he felt much stronger. Anger. His brother, his little brother, had just been doing what he'd been told, and now he was hurt and Dale felt useless in how to help him.

He wouldn't just sit out here and twiddle his thumbs when the very thing that had hurt Warren, possibly the only thing that could help him, could be just a few feet in front of him. He couldn't. Without thinking twice about it Dale ran towards the grove, completely determined to find whatever had done this to Warren. If Dale couldn't find a way to cure his brother, he at least wanted to avenge him.

Dale was just inches from entering the grove when he felt a large, firm hand grab his arm and pull him back. "Dale, no!" Tanu said harshly.

"Let me go!" Dale shouted. He struggled, but Tanu's grip was strong. "Get off!"

"Absolutely not," Tanu used his larger size to his advantage to drag Dale back. "You can't go in there,"

"It's dangerous,' Vanessa said. "We don't know what's in there, or what it can do,"

"I know exactly what it can do," Dale growled. He tried to fight out of Tanu's hold, but the man had a grip of iron. He didn't let up at all.

"Which is why you shouldn't go in there," Tanu tried to reason with him, but Dale wasn't in a good mindset to listen to logic or reason. His emotions were in control, and his emotions wanted him to do whatever he could to help his brother. "Dale, think about it, if you go in there you might find a way to help Warren, or you could end up exactly like him."

Tanu was right, Dale knew he was, but that wasn't what was important to him at the moment. "I don't care!" Dale bucked. Tanu's grip tightened and he whirled Dale around to face him.

"Dale, stop," Tanu wasn't scolding as much anymore, he was pleading. Tanu sounded terrified, and Dale didn't think it had anything to do with the grove's influence. "Please, your brother needs you aware and around right now."

Dale made a sound that was a gross between a gasp and a sob. He felt all the fight drain out of him. He was still desperate to help his brother, but...he couldn't. He couldn't do anything. Physically, he was so close to helping his brother, but Dale had never felt farther away.

"I can't...Warren…" Dale let out a low and pained desperate growl.

"We'll figure something else out," Tanu said gently, apologetically. "But it can't be this...I'm sorry."

"Guys, we have work to do, remember?" Vanessa said impatiently, though not unkindly. "We need to find Coulter." They also had to help Seth. Dale knew they did, but he couldn't stop thinking about Warren. He couldn't focus on anything else.

"Right," Tanu loosened his grip on Dale, but he didn't let him go completely. "Look for any tracks from Coulter and Seth, going in or out of the grove. Vanessa nodded and began her search. Dale heard what Tanu said, but he didn't completely process it. They were just words that had little meaning.

Tanu walked around the perimeter of the grove, pulling Dale behind him. Dale knew that he should be looking for ways to help Seth before he got into some really serious trouble, but his mind just kept going back to how he was failing his brother.

Dale felt like he was failing everybody, and he didn't know how to make it stop. There was nothing he could do.


A/N: I could have written about Tanu, Vanessa, and Dale finding albino Coulter and realizing that Seth hadn't come out of the grove, but I hadn't thought it necessary. This is just a shorter chapter to expand on a single line in the second book. When Tanu was reporting about what happened when they went looking for Coulter and Seth, he said that when they were near the grove they had to physically restrain Dale. I wanted to go into that a little bit. It's not a long chapter, but it's more then the line I based it on.

Next chapter should be longer, because it's based off of two bits of information from the books, and it's a really important moment for the brothers.