Sorry I took so long to update. I was wondering what to do to transition to what I want to do toward the beginning conflict and it took me reading through three Fablehaven books, 5 other fantasy books, 7 seasons of Charmed, every episode of Supergirl and the Originals and so much candy I now have ADHD to find the inspiration I needed to make this good enough to publish.
In the Fairy Realm
Kendra could barely breathe. She stood before nearly all of the Fairy Realm's inhabitants and her family and friends, who'd gotten special permission to be present for the ceremony without Kendra having to beg nearly as much as she thought she would. The only ones who weren't present were Dale who'd had too much work tending to the preserve and Seth and Vanessa who, due to their current status as dark, would be turned into flower petals if they got too close to the shrine. She'd been instructed to dress like she usually would so she was wearing a red shirt, a jean and leather jacket, faded jeans and sneakers. Bracke was standing to her left and The Fairy Queen who stood before them in a white and gold dress wore a beautiful golden circlet around her head and held her hands out, a sword and shield suspended in the air above them.
"Kendra Sorenson, can you wholeheartedly swear that you will protect Prince Bracken with your life?"
"I do." Kendra said. She could tell by the way Bracken looked at her for a second and the way his cheekbones rose that he was trying not to laugh. When she realized her mistake-that she was supposed to say "I swear" instead of saying "I do" like she was getting married-she amended by saying, "I swear."
"Do you swear to defend Prince Bracken and all creatures of light from those who would seek to harm them?"
"I swear."
"Do you swear to embrace the responsibility required of you?"
"I swear."
The Fairy Queen turned to Bracken and asked, "Do you accept Kendra Sorenson as your guardian?"
"I do." Bracken said.
The sword and shield levitating before the queen shone a blinding gold as they slowly advanced toward Kendra. When they were close enough she grabbed them and her teeth rattled from the power they hummed with. When she looked down she saw she was now wearing armor. It wasn't solid, nor was it made of adamant. It was made of a gold that reflected the sun's light with extreme intensity and there were engravings of interconnected whorls that came together to form a unicorn on the breastplate. The shield and sword were also transformed from silver to the same radiant gold. She then noticed that her clothes were gone and before she could wonder where they went the Fairy Queen said the final words of the ceremony and she felt a sharp tug that nearly made her jerk to the left. It was like a lasso had wrapped around her heart and pulled her toward Bracken. She felt stronger, her hearing and sense of smell intensified so she could hear two satyrs in the audience talking about the party that was being thrown tonight and a cluster of fairies saying how ridiculous she looked in armor. But the most intense feeling was the tingle she felt when she had a particularly high amount of magic in her body. She glanced at Bracken and she could tell he felt it too. What is going on she thought.
It's called a bond she heard Bracken say. Then she realized she hadn't heard him say that. His voice was coming from her head. It happens when you become a Guardian. We can share our thoughts and some of our abilities, along with knowing when one of us is in danger.
So we can just be in each others' heads? Kendra thought back.
As long as we open ourselves to each other Bracken thought back. You might want to pay attention to this part.
The Fairy Queen finished the ceremony by saying she authorized the bond and had faith in Kendra's abilities to protect Bracken and the armor Kendra was wearing shone as it disappeared and she was left wearing her regular clothes again. She looked down and saw she was now wearing a charm bracelet with three charms in the shape of a shield, sword and chestplate. As the audience clapped The Fairy Queen turned to Kendra and said, "I already have an assignment for you."
In Atlanta, Georgia
This was when Bila always had to be the most careful. One wrong word and one of her best informants would never say anything to her again. As she sat in the chair of the hair salon, every part of the interior obnoxiously pink, Bila said to her hairdresser, "I haven't seen Freddy in a while."
"He's probably somewhere hiding from Tammy."
"What happened this time." Bila inquired, making sure to keep the curiosity in her voice minimal.
"Well I'm not a gossip," her hairdresser said, "so you didn't hear this from me, but I heard that Tammy knocked him over the head with a skillet."
Bila turned around so fast that her hair, still wet from the wash, sent drops of water flying. "Shut up."
"Could I make that up?"
"I know you're crazy enough." Bila joked.
"Shut up."
"What did he do to make Gandhi snap?"
"I heard he's been cheating on her with Sammy for two years-"
"Her sister?" Bila said, whisper-yelling to simulate interest.
"And Sammy's baby was his. She caught them all having daddy day at the zoo."
"You're lying, that didn't happen."
"It did."
"Oh, god, I have to go check on her. Where did she move this time?"
"She lives in a condo downtown. Across the street from her office."
Only across the street from her office. Weird considering some of the more obscure places she'd hidden. She sat and chatted as her hair was dried and trimmed and highlighted and curled, happy to have completed part of her mission and gotten her hair done in the span of two hours.
On the Dark Island
Unsurprisingly, the rotting lean-to constructed on the island led to a pocket dimension. Inside was a giant palace made entirely of black-colored glass, the moonlight outside allowing patches of light to slip inside. Everything from the furniture, to the walls, to the windows, to the flowers in vases, even the brooms the servants used were glass. Hell, even the servants and guards were lean, human-shaped beings made of black glass. Raqqosa and Tywyll were dragged through the castle until they were put into chairs by the glass guards and the pale man said, with convincing relief and horror, "Thank god, you're back to normal."
Tywyll, now able to move, fell into her chair. Raqqosa shot to her feet and yelled, "How dare you treat me in such a way! I am to be queen of-"
"Your mother's dungeons? Yes, you would have been if not for me. Sorry for messing that up for you."
"You insolent, worm. I WILL HAVE YOU'RE ENTRAILS RIPPED OUT AND-"
"You're mute." the man said.
Raqqosa was probably yelling loud enough to break all of their eardrums if any sound had been able to come from her mouth.
"Why are we here?" Tywyll asked.
"Well what I was going to say before that-" he gestured to Raqqosa, who was still yelling, "-is that I brought you here so I could help you."
"You mean because you want something." Tywyll said.
"Both." he said. "Nothing is free."
"What do you want and why would I be inclined to help you get it?"
"I want to see the destruction of that pesky goddess inhabiting the Fairy Queen's body. I want my brother and sister demons, dark sorcerers and every other creature that lives in the night to stop being hunted to extinction by her...creations of so called 'light and goodness'. And if that's not enough to entice you to help me then how about my making sure you stay out of the Fairy Queen's dungeons...strengthening your power...giving you a place in the world to rule after Hemera and all of her followers are stopped."
Tywyll considered his words for a moment before saying, "You refer to the Fairy Queen as Hemera. You think you can kill a goddess. You call us beings of darkness your brothers and sisters. Your words can manipulate mind and body. What is your name?"
"I think you already know the answer to that question."
"Humor me."
He shrugged. "I am Demrus. You might have heard of me."
"The god of family. So the stories are true."
"Yes, they are. I fell from divinity because I lied, cheated and stole to try to keep my mother, Nox, from being charged for using her powers to harm. Ever since then I can only use my power to deceive."
"Interesting." Tywyll said.
"So, sister-"
"I am not your sister." Tywyll said calmly.
"But you are. Your life was created with my mother's power."
"I am not your sister." Tywyll repeated.
Demrus chuckled. "Alright, Tywyll. Will you help me?"
"How do you plan to kill a goddess?"
"By..." Demrus whispered his plan into his ear. When he finished Tywyll laughed.
"How wicked of you."
"I am not wicked or evil. I only want my family to be happy."
"How self-righteous. But I think Raqqosa and I will aid you."
Demrus glanced at Raqqosa, still shouting threats to no avail.
"I'll deal with her." Tywyll said.
Demrus said, "You're being awfully loud."
"AND HANG YOU AND EVERYONE YOU LOVE BEFORE I BURN YOU ALL IN A MASS GRAVE!" Raqqosa yelled, out of breath.
"How rude." Demrus said.
"Raqqosa, we need to talk. Let's go." Tywyll said, rising from her chair.
"This isn't over." Raqqosa said to Demrus.
In Atlanta
Bila was in front of a large condominium. She looked across the street and saw a sign reading Smith & Associate's Medical Facility. After entering the building it only took a few minutes of smiling and batting her eyelashes at a bellhop willing to point her in the right direction and steal a master key card. When she entered the small living room she saw the only constant in all of Tammy's homes. The room-reeking of jasmine and rose air freshener that did nothing to conceal the stench of hidden herbs and lingering sulfur-was crammed with furniture, rhyming dictionaries, low tables and knick-nacks that some would dismiss as simple collectibles if they didn't know about woman who lived there. There were maps of the world and every continent framed on the wall, rendered to seem like only beautiful artwork. It took a few moments to search the place and find out it was empty. Bila sat on the sofa and waited for thirty minutes before the door opened and Tammy walked in, stopping dead when she saw who was inside.
"Before you could say a word of that spell," Bila said as she detached the wickedly sharp heel of her shoe, "this would be in your throat."
"What do you want?" Tammy shut the door, looking paler than usual.
"A little spell."
"And I'm supposed to help you after you tried to kill me last time?"
"I try to kill a lot of people. Besides, what did you think would happen when you tried to ask out my brother?"
"I obviously made the mistake of thinking you're not insane."
"Well, don't make it again." Bila reached into her purse and pulled out a severed hand from one of the demons she killed last night and threw it to Tammy, who caught it. "I need you to spell this. Make it point me toward the most powerful dark presence in the world. And make it a little less disgusting while you're at it."
"And then you'll leave and never come back?"
"I'll only come back when I need something for the people I actually care about. Kind of like your husband."
Tammy was about to say something before Bila waved the heel around. She sighed and began rifling through her kitchen for herbs. "You know I need a dragon scale to-"
"Catch." Bila said as she threw the red scale, which she wore as a necklace at Tammy. "And I don't have all day."
"Please." Tammy was digging through the false bottom of a drawer. "What do you do with your life?"
"Only save the world and the people in it."
Tammy began to put all of the ingredients into a bowl and dropped the hand and scale into it. She lit a match and dropped it into the bowl before chanting as if in a trance:
Help me as I scour
to find a tremendous power
If it isn't found it will be unbearable
for this is a power dark and terrible
And let all behold as this totem turns to gold
With a flash of dark green light and a cloud of smoke everything inside the bowl disappeared. The demon's hand rose out, encased in gold with the index finger outstretched. Tammy grabbed it out of the air and tossed it to Bila. "Is that good enough for you?"
Bila caught it and examined it. "Does it have to smell like sage?" Bila said at last, putting it into her purse.
"If you want it to work, yes. Now get out."
Bila tilted her head as if weighing the pros and cons of killing the witch. She put her heel back on and stood up, prowling slowly to the kitchen counter. "Speak to me like that again and I don't care how useful you are to have around, I'll kill you. And stop moving around all the time, you know I'll just find you again." Bila said before leaving.
In the Fairy Realm
"This is going to be difficult, but what isn't?" Bracken said.
"It's going to be impossible." Kendra said. "I've read the stories. The Talismans of Celene were scattered in the farthest reaches of the world."
"Nothing is impossible if you try."
"Where do we even start?"
"I think we should find a seer."
"A seer?"
"Neutral beings who can see memories of the past."
"Where would one be?"
"The last one I remember was in...no, he would't have lived this long."
"Wait, you said they're neutral, right?"
"Yes. Why?"
"I remember one of the books I was reading at Fablehaven when I first found out about the magical world. It said that when someone is good they're instinctively drawn to places of goodness and away from places with negative energy and the opposite is true. So, wouldn't neutral beings want to go to places known for not being either good or bad?"
"That makes sense."
"And when you think of neutrality what's the first place that comes to mind?"
"Switzerland?"
"Yes. We should start looking there."
"See, nothing's impossible."
"Don't say that yet. We don't know if they're really there and even if they are we still have to find a way to actually locate the seer."
"That will take a lot of luck."
"Luck." Kendra mused. "I can ask Tanu if he can make a potion to give me luck, and maybe to heighten my instincts."
"It could work." Bracken said thoughtfully.
"It could?"
Bracken smiled. "It can. I thought I was supposed to be the wise one."
"People your age do start to think a little slowly."
Bracken's smile turned into a grin.
"Now let's go to the Fablehaven shrine so we can get started."
