Part 1 of 2. Brandon Mull owns Fablehaven. Please enjoy!
"How was the flight?" Warren heard his brother`s voice from the door of the main house. He turned to see both Ruth and Dale exiting house, both fully clothed and seemingly wide awake, despite the late hour.
"Awful." Vanessa responded, shutting the trunk of the car after having taken out her last duffle bag. She and Tanu were both laden down with their luggage. Dale chuckled, coming down the stairs to take some of the bags from Vanessa.
"Sorry to hear it. You got home earlier than we expected." Ruth added, also walking down the stairs to greet them. She hugged Warren tightly, and then moved to hug Vanessa and Tanu. Dale clapped Warren on the back and shook Tanu`s hand and nodded to Vanessa.
"Stan`s inside, and he wants to talk to you about the mission before you got to bed." Ruth motioned to the door, "Follow me."
Warren, Vanessa, Tanu, Mara and Elise had been on a mission to the Rio Branco preserve to help reconstitute the preserve after its collapse during the hunt for the artifacts. Even though the demon Lycerna, had been eradicated there was much work to do, something that both Mara and Elise were still working on accomplishing. However, the three of them had been needed for a shorter time than expected and were allowed to go home. Either way, they had been gone for 5 months, longer than any of them had been away from Fablehaven since Zzyxx. There had been regular phone and skype calls but the distance had been felt by everyone.
"Where are the kids?" Tanu asked as the group came inside, noting the absence of both Kendra and Seth from the entryway. No matter the hour, both kids always stayed up to greet whoever was getting home from a mission.
Ruth glanced at Dale who shrugged, "Asleep. They`ve… had a long day." He replied vaguely, placing the bags down by the stairs, motioning the rest of them to do the same.
"Stan is in his study, he had some last minute things to follow up on." Ruth said, turning to walk towards the study. But, as they made to follow her, stopping by the kitchen to ditch the various empty bottles and fast food containers they had collected in the car throughout the 7 hour drive from the Knight`s airstrip, Warren began to notice some very strange things. As they went to the study, he began to notice the increased amount of medical supplies scattered around the house as well as the numerous pill bottles, crutches and even two wheelchairs sitting in the living room. He could see that both Tanu and Vanessa had taken notice of the same things, both looking confused. The sight only got stranger as they entered the study, Stan`s desk burdened with stacks of papers and yet again, more pill bottles that sat atop his desk. Stan was on the phone, face full of concentration, writing on a pad of paper.
"Can we make their follow up-"Stan cut off as he looked up, seeing him, Tanu and Vanessa.
"I`ll have to call you back tomorrow, thanks Johnny." Stan immediately hung up the phone, standing up, his face taking on a more cheerful countenance.
"It is so good to see you all!" Stan exclaimed, motioning for them to sit down. "How was your flight?"
"It was awful. What`s been going on here?" Vanessa asked skeptically, taking a seat on the couch next to Tanu, leaving Warren to sink down in an overstuffed armchair.
Stan glanced at Ruth, face betraying a hint of worry and quickly looked back, sitting back down in his chair.
"It`s been… interesting. But anyway, let`s talk about the mission!" Stan attempted. As they debriefed, he began to notice that Tanu`s eyes kept straying to the pill bottles on Stan`s desk, eventually resting there permanently, a deeply concerned look on his face.
"Stan, who is taking oxycodone and fentanyl?" Tanu asked, leaning forward and locking eyes with Stan, "Because no one in this house should need these, certainly not in the dosages prescribed on the bottles. And furthermore, the names seemed to have been taken off the bottles."
Warren also sat forward, "Stan, what`s going on?" The tension in the room increased dramatically, all three of them now concerned.
Stan let out a deep breath, head dropping into his hands, shaking his head. He glanced at Ruth who leaned against the wall, looking grave, and Dale who had come into the room, seemingly finished with taking their bags upstairs who simply crossed his arms, leaning on a small end table.
When Stan looked up again, it looked like he had aged ten years.
"There… there has been an incident here at Fablehaven. And as you may have guessed, it was one of a more serious nature."
Stan sighed, "Kendra and Seth were injured, quite badly in fact." Warren felt his heart drop into his chest at Stan`s words.
Stan continued, "Kendra and Seth were walking back to the yard from playing tennis with the satyrs when a particularly strong group of imps attacked them. Kendra and Seth engaged the imps, but were outnumbered and eventually overpowered. Seth`s leg was broken and his right hip was dislocated. Kendra was thrown to the ground trying to protect Seth and was beaten until the satyrs arrived and chased them off. But… they almost choked her to death and caused severe internal bleeding."
"What?" Vanessa gasped, voice weak with shock.
"But they are both fine!" Ruth interjected, glancing at Stan impatiently.
"Ah yes! They are! Once we had discovered what had happened we brought them to Johnny Chase and he and his team were able to fix them up." Stan surmised.
Tanu looked critical, "Johnny Chase? The Knight`s doctor?"
Ruth nodded, "It was too much of a security risk to bring them to a regular hospital so we called in a few favors."
"Do you know him?" Stan asked critically.
Tanu nodded, seemingly not willing to speak about it further.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Warren asked a beat later as it all sunk it.
Ruth and Stan exchanged looks, "Well, that was a choice that Kendra and Seth both made. They didn't want their condition to get in the way of your mission, and honestly with what they've been through, we thought it better to do what they asked."
"But we…" Vanessa started. Ruth held up a hand to stop her.
"Believe me. I know. But it's late, and you can see them for yourselves in the morning. Alright?"
Warren looked at the others who looked as bad as felt, but he knew Ruth was right, the kids were asleep, and there was nothing that they could do now. He found himself nodding as well as Vanessa and Tanu.
The three, plus Dale stood up, bid goodnight to Ruth and Stan and headed out to the hallway. Warren and Dale split off from Tanu and Vanessa and headed to their cabin. The night air was still and cool, and as he and Dale walked Warren`s mind filled with thoughts, questions and most of all, guilt.
Even as Warren got into bed he found that he couldn't quite sleep comfortably, knowing what he did now about Kendra and Seth, but after a while of tossing and turning, he drifted off into a restless slumber.
And that`s it for part one! I am in the process of writing part two so hopefully that will be up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that!
Also, I know I`ve been gone for a long time, but I`m really going to try and update as regularly as possible!
Thank you to sapphiradi for the review!