Hi, all, I know it's been a while. Life has been insane, but I`m so happy to be back. Hope you enjoy!


As Seth and Eli made their way inside, Seth found the silence that stretched between them to be uncomfortable. Seth was sure that Eli had questions for him, by the way he kept glancing at him eagerly, bouncing on the balls of feet, and Seth had questions for him too. He knew for a fact that he and Kendra`s identities had been thoroughly buried and wondered how Eli and Cassidy had figured it out. As their class arrived back to the gym the hallway outside was stuffed and overcrowded with students returning to class. Summoning his courage, as Seth and Eli began to jog around the gym as warm-up, he turned to ask him a question, only to be interrupted by the familiar sound of the fire alarm. The next few things that happened were a blur. The doors that went out of the gym were flooded by earnest students, only to not open.

"What`s happening?" Eli turned to Seth, as if expecting an answer, but he had nothing. And then, all of a sudden a sharp, splitting pain in his head forced him to his knees. Distantly, Seth was aware that Eli was by his side, saying something and that even more distantly, people were screaming. But the pain was overwhelming and constant and Seth felt like screaming.

He felt Eli grab him, pulling him upwards and was vaguely aware of people on either side of him, pushing and shoving. The pain was increasing and festering Seth felt like his head was about to split open and then-

The lights shut off, and in everyone else`s case it was the cause of more panic, but for Seth couldn't be more relieved, as mercifully, the pain in his head vanished, just as fast as it had appeared.

"Seth?" Eli`s voice was terrified, not even bothering to use his fake name, not that it mattered, and as the hands that clutched his shoulders tightened, giving him focus. He was a shadow charmer, he thrived in the darkness. He could do this.

"Do you have your phone?" Seth asked, searching his pockets for his. After a moment, Eli`s hands dropped to search for his own phone and the screens light up the darkness. All across the hallway, as students were pushing to get out, phone screens lighting the edges of the hallway.

"Come on!" Seth had to shout to be heard over the panic, and he forged out into the crowd, Eli close behind. They managed to push their way into another more open hallway, with various offshoots and Seth was about to turn back to Eli to make sure that he was following, when someone shoved into him violently, he and Eli tumbling over one another to the ground.

"Eli!" Seth untangled himself from Eli, searching for his phone. He found it after a moment of frantic searching, facedown and shined it on Eli was now bleeding from a split lip.

"Seth!" From behind him, a frantic voice called his name and he turned, shining his phone in the direction of the shout, to see a worried looking Kendra and Cassidy, struggling their way over to them.

Cassidy immediately went to his brother, who waved him off, his shirt pressed to his bleeding lip.

"We need to go. Now." Kendra grabbed Seth and Cassidy pulled up Eli and made their way after the straggling students.

"There was a surge of dark energy and Bracken thinks it was what started the fire." Kendra spoke breathlessly as they ran down the twisting hallways to the exit. The fire alarm still screamed, red lights flashing on and off.

"Bracken? When did you talk to him?" As far as Seth was aware, Bracken didn't have a phone and he knew Kendra didn't carry her enchanted bracelet to school. Kendra however, didn't have the time to answer his question as from behind him, Cassidy`s frantic shout had them both turning back. They were alone in the hallway now, and in horror Seth realized that smoke was filling it slowly, but that was hardly the most pressing threat at the moment. A man stood at the end of the hallway, perfectly calm and collected. It was the same man from outside, right down to the leather jacket and perfectly bright white shirt. He stood and stared his gaze boring into Seth. From beside him, Kendra whimpered as her hand found his, squeezing and he realized that the cold feeling was fear. Magical fear. And Cassidy, Eli and probably Kendra were frozen.

The flames began to wrap around the corner of the hallway, engulfing the man`s jean-clad legs in flames, and for a terrifying moment, the man and Seth locked eyes. Something swelled in Seth`s body that paralyzed his body. It wasn't magical fear, it was just true primal fear. A whimper from beside him forced him to take a breath. It was Kendra, her face beaded with sweat, her hand slowly reaching to grab his.

Gasping, Seth pulled his eyes away from the man, pulling his hand from Kendra`s, reaching down and grabbing Eli and Cassidy`s shoulders. The man`s eyes narrowed and the smirk dropped from his face, and without it, his face seemed a lot uglier. That seemed to stir them from their fear, scrambling to their feet, registering the flames consuming the far end of the hallway, and Kendra was able to turn, straining, as if forcing herself to do so.

"Let`s go! Hold on to me!" Seth shouted to the three, responded and they began to run, and as they did, the adrenaline seemed to help the others fully recover from their shock of magical fear, whipping down the hallways, away from the fire. Seth had no idea how a fire had suddenly occurred in an area, that only moments before, had been completely smoke-free.

As they ran, the air got clearer and clearer as they got away from the fire, and as they approached the entrance of the school, firefighters in full gear came up to them, ushering them out of the school towards nearby waiting ambulances. The paramedics got to work, strapping oxygen masks on each of them and Kendra reached out and took his hand, squeezing it and he finally let himself relax, just a little. Cassidy and Eli were nearby, but none of them talked about what had just happened.

"Elizabeth! Evan!" Seth turned to see Warren, Vanessa and Bracken running towards them, all looking worried.

"Are you alright?" Bracken reached them first, gripping Seth`s shoulder and grabbing Kendra`s hand. Despite everything, Seth saw Kendra blush a little before she nodded. Bracken looked at him, waiting for an answer and he nodded too. Because of the mask, neither could talk, which was frustrating, especially considering how Warren and Vanessa came up to them, also worried, they only thing they could do was nod or shake their heads. Nearby, Cassidy and Eli watched closely, and Vanessa, noting their presence went to go talk to them.

Eventually, a paramedic and an assistant principal came over to where he and Kendra were. The principal pulled Warren aside to talk to him and the paramedic took his pulse, blood pressure and pronounced him healthy, and did the same to Kendra. Bracken stayed with them, eyeing Cassidy and Eli dubiously. As soon as the paramedic walked away, Bracken stepped close.

"What happened in there?" As Kendra launched into a whispered explanation, Seth directed his attention to Vanessa who was approaching with Cassidy and Eli.

"How`d you get here so fast?" Seth asked Bracken, just as Warren returned from his discussion with the principal.

Bracken shrugged. "I have a few contacts in this world. They informed me something was happening, so I went to Fablehaven. I was just able to catch Vanessa and Warren before they left."

Warren`s face was still and serious, and simply gestured for them to come with him, and as they began walking to the parking lot past the crowds of students, Seth saw a few of his friends laughing and talking like they always did. They were alright. That was good.

"The principal has given us permission to take you guys home. Something happened at Fablehaven." Warren glanced at Cassidy and Eli. "I assume you two are Cassidy and Eli Adler? Still gonna head back with us?"

Cassidy stepped forward, "Yes we are, if that`s still okay with all of you."

Warren glanced at Bracken who stepped forward. "I`m Bracken. Mind if I conduct a little test?" Seth resisted a smile, recognizing the question as one that Bracken had asked him a long time ago.

Eli narrowed his eyes "A test?"

Bracken smiled calmingly. "Nothing to be concerned about. I just want to confirm your intentions."

Cassidy elbowed Eli who still looked doubtful. "Of course we don`t mind. We want to prove that you can trust us."

Bracken nodded, holding his hand out to Cassidy first. "It won`t hurt. Just take my hand and try to relax."

Cassidy took a deep breath, and took Bracken`s hand. As they stared into each other's eyes, they both relaxed a little, and Bracken smiled a little before shaking Cassidy`s hand and letting go. Not saying a word, he offered his hand to Eli, who despite looking nervous, took his hand.

Bracken stepped back. "Thank you. I feel your intentions are true and you mean no harm to us." There was a bit of an awkward silence, before Warren broke it.

Warren cleared his throat, "Well now that we`ve got that sorted out, we really should get going."

As Seth piled into the passenger seat of Warren`s car with Kendra and Bracken in the back, Cassidy and Eli with Vanessa, Bracken and Kendra resumed the conversation then been having before, about everything that had happened at school, Seth laid his head against the window and closed his eyes. He knew more bad news was waiting for them when they got home, and was already exhausted by it all.


Thank you to Yakall, Melissa Waters and By myself alone for the support! It means so much to me!

Also, very important! I don't where everyone who reads this lives, but most places around the world are being affected by COVID-19 (the coronavirus). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do all you can to keep you, your family, friends and community safe by taking proper precautions, especially around those who are immunocompromised. That being said, the MOST IMPORTANT thing we can all do is NOT PANIC. Panic helps nothing, just clouds judgement.

Also, don't be those people who take all the toilet paper, cause now the rest of us just don`t have any.

Stay safe people, and I`ll be back soon! I`m off from school for a little bit, so I have more free time.

Much love!