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It didn't take long to get to Fablehaven; their home was only a mile and a half from the front main gate. After Kendra and Bracken were married, they decided to find a place of their own off of the magical preserve. They felt it would be nice to have a home a short distance away from everyone they could call their own.
They are both still deeply involved in magical life, with both Bracken and Kendra acting as ambassadors for the fairy queen and The Knights of Dawn. Kendra would also take on caretaker duties especially following the death of Grandma Sorensen three years prior. All of these things were in preparation for her to one day take over a magical preserve. The different wars and rebellions with the dragons and the society of the evening star caused a shortage of qualified and willing caretakers; thus, a new generation was trained to take over as caretakers. Among the ranks included Kendra, Seth, Warren and Vanessa, Mara, Knox, and even Tess and Eve. There were others, of course, but no one that Kendra and Bracken knew well. Yet despite all the new blood, there still weren't enough volunteers to make sure all of the preserves were taken care of.
The group drove up the long driveway in the SUV that had been a college graduation gift from Grandma and Grandpa Larsen to Kendra ten years ago. The main house's noise traveled across the yard as Bracken, Kendra, Tanu, and Ashlyn made their way across the yard's boundary line to the back door. Tanu leads the way opening the back door without knocking as the rest of the group followed him in.
The room was full of people Seth and Knox were surrounded by their parents and grandparents, offering congratulations and welcoming them home after a successful mission.
Seth saw Kendra across the room. It was easy for him to see everyone. Seth was easily the tallest person in the room by at least two inches, and Warren and Tanu were not short men. Seth pushed past the group of parents that had him cornered. As he made his way over to Kendra, he continued to pause and talk with people who addressed him directly. When he finally got to her, he picked her up and spun her around in a fierce bear hug.
Bracken panicked as Seth spun his wife around in a vice-like grip.
"There's my little sister," Seth said as he set Kendra down and motioned the height difference between the two of them. Seth then noticed Bracken and set Kendra on the ground, where Bracken put a protective arm around Kendra. He tried to discreetly examine her for any sign of injury, but Kendra shot him a glare that told him to knock it off.
"What's going on with you two?" Seth asked, noticing their odd behavior. "Trouble in paradise?"
"quite the opposite, in fact," Bracken said smugly. Kendra shot him another glare that meant death and grabbed his hand.
"If you tell anyone, I swear you will be sleeping on the couch for the next week." Kendra thought.
Bracken gulped visibly. He obviously received her message.
"Of course, darling, I wouldn't dream of telling anyone."
"Good"
Seth looked between them " I hope you two are not doing the whole mind-talking thing again, are you? I hate it when you do that. I always feel like I am missing something important."
"Don't worry about it," Kendra placated.
"whatever," Seth said, rolling his eyes. "Have you guys heard anything about the new mission Grandpa has planned? I've heard that it involves werewolves," he teased.
"I haven't heard anything," Bracken said. I guess we won't have to wait long to see."
Bracken gestured to grandpa, who was making loud coughing noises to get everyone's attention. When that hadn't worked, grandpa nodded at warren, who put his thumb and index finger to his mouth and whistled. The sound echoed around the room and was impossible to miss.
The room went still. Everyone gathered in the central room warren guided Vanessa to a love seat where they sat down. Kendra sat between her mom and Bracken on an oversized couch. While Seth took up residence in the lazy-boy and popped up the leg rests and took a pocket knife from his belt and a block of wood and began to whittle it, scraping wood shavings to the floor.
"Before we begin," grandpa started. Then he saw Seth and the mess he was making. "Seth, will you cut that out! We just vacuumed."
Seth huffed in indignation but put the block of wood and pocket knife away.
"Anyway, as you all know, your efforts to rebuild after the multiple cataclysmic events have been admirable. However, our efforts will continue to remain in vain if we cannot prevent the previous perpetrators from gaining ground. The Society of the Evening Star must be dismantled for us to gain any semblance of peace once again. We must go on the offensive this time rather than react to whatever catastrophe they cook up next."
Bracken pulled Kendra closer to him, bracing himself for stan's following words.
"Warren, Seth, Tanu, and I have devised a plan to eliminate the threat of the Society of the Evening Star."
Kendra looked across the room at Seth, who remained passive and bored and didn't look up from tracing the lazy-boy's leather arm.
"We have received intel on the new leader of the society many of you will be familiar with is work if not his name. The leader is a wizard who goes by the name Addanc."
Kendra felt Bracken go still next to her and his breathing slow. He obviously recognized the name.
"He is a mighty dark wizard. We have come across some of his work, including Valrog and the cat-like beast that once guarded the key here at Fablehaven. " Warren explained.
"He has been out of the mainstream conflict until recently when he came forward and took the position as the new leader of the society."
Kendra stilled. She had known that according to Raxdus that Valrog had been the product of dark magic. She hadn't known who the sorcerer was, but she had no desire to meet him.
"Addanc is notorious for his work in polluting creatures with dark magic, typically from a young age. For example, when Valrog was kidnapped, and his egg was imbued with enough dark magic to alter his nature."
Kendra's face went white. The voice of her grandfather was drowned out by the buzzing in her ear. Her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her that if Addanc found out about her child, there would be no telling what the wizard might do or how he could harm her baby. Her breathing became shallow and fast. Kendra tried clenching her hands into fists to keep them from shaking.
It didn't take long for Bracken to notice, and without hesitation, helped Kendra stand. Without any explanation to the others in the room, he guided Kendra to stan's office and shut the door behind him.
Kendra sits down in one of the chairs and tries to regulate her breathing as tears began streaming down her face. She felt so weak when she cried, and Kendra hated when she cried in front of other people. Bracken was a rare exception.
"Why?" she gasps, "every time," sniff, "there is something good," she sniffs again, and this time Backen is ready, and he hands her a tissue, "it is always ruined." Kendra's breathing is erratic now as she begins to sob.
Bracken pulls her close and holds her close as she clutches his t-shirt as if it is the only thing keeping her on the earth. They stand there for a minute, just holding each other. There is no need to say anything about the heaviness in his chest. They both feel and understand the overwhelming fear of what could happen not to them but to the little life now growing in Kendra.
Bracken pulls away from Kendra so that he can look at her. "Kendra, I can't imagine knowing exactly why this had to happen now, but I like to think that the light that we share can get us through all of our dark days. Besides, if we didn't have the hard days, we wouldn't appreciate the moments of joy. I know that whatever happens, we will face it together and find a way to get through it."
There is a soft knocking on the door, and Bracken lets go of Kendra to open the door. He opens the door a crack and see's Marla, Kendra's mother standing there.
"Is everything okay?" She asks.
Bracken looks back at Kendra to make sure that it was okay to let her in. Kendra gestures for Bracken to open the door and let her mother come into the room. Bracken opens the door further, and Marla slips in without missing a beat.
"what's wrong?" Marla asks, scooping Kendra into a hug that causes Kendra to break into a fresh wave of tears and sobbing. Marla lets go so that she can look at Kendra's face.
Kendra motioned her mom to sit down in the chair next to the one she had been sitting in, and they both sat down.
Kendra sniffs again and wipes her nose with the tissue Bracken gave her earlier. "This isn't how I wanted to tell you, and we were hoping to wait before telling anyone," Kendra said with a small smile through her tears," but we're pregnant."
"Really, how far along are you?" Her mother says, her voice rising in volume and tone, her eyes beginning to collect tears.
"Mom! You can't yell. Besides, we have no idea. We found out only this morning." Kendra whispers, trying to calm her mother, though she should have just presumed that she would get such an excited reaction when she thought about it. Kendra had been excited too until about five minutes ago.
"Have you been feeling okay?"
"Yes, mom. I'm okay. You really don't need to worry about that. Bracken has been amazing already." Smiling up at her husband, who was standing directly behind her.
"So you're worried about what might happen to the baby if The Society finds out your pregnant."
Kendra looked down and nodded, "We both know that the society is not above kidnapping children or parents if it means accomplishing their goals."
"You'll have to be careful," her mom agreed, "but you know that you can rely on your family to take care of you if needed." Marla put a hand on Kendra's shoulder.
"Now more than ever, I know I have to do everything in my power to dismantle the so that my child will have a better world to grow up in and won't have to fight so hard for some semblance of peace," Kendra said. The determination in her voice making the decision final.
"Oh Honey, you can't guarantee that any more than your father and I or your grandparents could protect you or Seth. All you can do is prepare them to face whatever life has in store for them and support them as they fight their own battles." Marla said, brushing the hair from her face.
"Imagine what would have happened if your father and I tried to pull you and your brother away from Fablehaven."
Kendra chuckled, "Seth would have found a way to sneak back to Fablehaven anyways."
Marla gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes, indicating that she had imagined a similar situation. `
"You're right," Kendra sighed. "I just wish there was more that I could do."
"There is. It sounds like our best bet is to make sure Addanc is put out of commission before you give birth. Not to mention taking care of yourself," Bracken chimed in after remaining silent, " and like I said before, as long as we face this together, we will do just fine."
Kendra smiled and reached up to hug Bracken with one arm while hugging her mother in the other arm.
There were no guarantees about the future, just the guarantee that her family would be there like they had been all along
"Come on, we should probably be getting back to the rest of the family. Hopefully, we can eliminate Addanc as a threat before things become dire."
"yeah," Kendra replied, wiping away the last few remaining tears. "We should probably get going. They're probably wondering what happened."
With that, Bracken opened the office door and took Kendra's hand as they walked back to the primary family room side by side. Kendra's face was still puffy from crying, but they sat down as if nothing had happened.
Everyone tried to avoid eye contact with Kendra and Bracken, hoping not to embarrass Kendra, except for Seth, who, after making eye contact with her, silently mouthed, "are you okay?"
Kendra nodded subtly back to him. Not wanting to worry him yet, she would tell them later.
"Sorry," Kendra blushed "what did we miss?"
"Not much," Grandpa admitted as he pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "We thought you would want to be here for the next part since it partially concerns you, so we decided to wait."
Stan continued to lay out an elaborate plan. "Anyway, as I was saying, we," stan gestured to Warren Seth and Tanu. "came up with a plan that could trap Addanc hopefully for a very long time."
Grandpa continued. "To trap him, though, we would have to find a way to render his powers useless. It requires a potent potion that could be either injected via poison dart or consumed, which would probably be the harder of the two. Unfortunately, the ingredients that it takes are scarce and hard to find. They include but aren't limited to a bottle of dragon breath weapon, Borealis crystals, and of course, fresh walrus milk."
A few people snickered at the last ingredient, except Seth. He was muttering something along the lines of "I'd rather face the dragon than milk a giant walrus. Then he'd shutter, shake his head, and mumble, "I will never do that again."
"We have located most of the necessary elements at a preserve in Alaska. We are in contact with the caretakers to retrieve them."
"We thought that Bracken, Knox, Seth, Kendra, Tanu, and Ashlyn should be able to handle the mission. We will speak to the six of you privately about the details of the mission later."
Bracken let out a breath that he didn't realize that he was holing and clutched Kendra's hand. While Kendra thought about all that would have to be done. Just to obtain the different ingredients, they would be risking their lives once again. However, this time was different, Kendra thought with a smile. This time they were the ones that we're one step ahead.