I've posted two chapters in close proximity to each other - please make sure you've read Chapter 16 before you continue with this one. Otherwise, there are elements that may not make complete sense.

Chapter 17: Honesty

"It's not a door that uses a key," Bracken said, waving Seth closer. "You'll have to open it," he said, stepping aside to allow his girlfriend's brother a better look.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Seth asked, seeing that there was no notch or knob or anything aside from a distinct outline of a sealed door. His brow was furrowed as he analyzed the smooth stone wall for any sign of weakness.

"This mission was uniquely suited to you, Seth," Bracken stated. "You're a shadow charmer. I'm a unicorn – this door will respond only to darkness, not light."

"Great," Seth answered sarcastically, feeling along the wall for a catch or anything.

"I'm pretty sure that if Bracken said it's a magic door, then there's probably not a switch to force it open," Warren spoke up after watching Seth fumble around for a few moments. "I'd suggest using magic to open it."

"Yeah, because I have such a great handle on that," Seth retorted. "I don't know how to do anything on purpose aside from shadow walk."

"Try speaking to it," Bracken suggested. He motioned his hand upward and the ball of light he held in it rose to the ceiling of the dark cavern and cast an eerie glow over the space they currently occupied. "Judging by the trolls we've encountered so far, maybe it'd respond to Duggish."

"You're how old and you haven't picked up Duggish yet? Isn't that kind of a basic magical language?" Vanessa piped up from where she was leaned against the side of one of the cave walls. She was idly examining her fingernails.

"Creature of light," Bracken said flatly and without further explanation.

"Enough, you two," Warren stated, cutting off any potential response. "Don't make me pull this quest over."

"Seriously, I don't know how to speak Duggish on purpose," Seth chimed in. "Any other ideas?"

"Concentrate, Seth," Bracken insisted. "One of the ways I was able to teach Kendra to start speaking fairy languages on purpose was to first speak in them to her. Try focusing on a memory when you were speaking Duggish and when you've got the image clearly set in your mind, say 'open.' That should trigger you to speak in that language. The spell enchanting this door doesn't appear to be very complex."

Seth closed his eyes and pictured his venture into Grunhold when he'd retrieved the unicorn horn from the Centaurian maze. After concentrating for a few minutes on that memory, and still with his eyes closed, he said, "Open."

Nothing happened.

"Well, that definitely wasn't English," Warren said, patting Seth's shoulder encouragingly. "Good job."

"Next idea, Unicorn?" Vanessa asked mockingly.

"Why don't you provide a suggestion?" Bracken responded instantly.

"You guys – cut down on the negativity," Warren commanded. "You could hack at the tension in here with a knife."

Bracken murmured something under his breath and Vanessa perked up immediately, pushing herself to a standing position. "What did you say?" she asked, eyes narrowed in a glare at him.

The unicorn shook his head and returned his attention to Seth.

"Don't ignore me," Vanessa demanded.

"Are you good for anything aside from sarcastic comments and pestering?" Bracken asked, staring back at her.

"Stop it!" Seth demanded, drawing Vasilis from its sheath at his side. "You are both acting like immature children. Get over your petty grudges and move on. None of us want to be here – let's just get this over with and get out of here!" Bracken and Vanessa hushed as Vasilis simmered red at the edges of its blade. Seth rounded on the door and shouted, "Open up, you stupid door!"

The door remained stubbornly closed, which only exacerbated Seth's foul mood. He let out what sounded like a battle cry and slammed Vasilis against it, not quite expecting the result he received: the door turned shadowy and see-through, and what was behind it made Seth's stomach drop. Wraiths. A lot of them. Fifteen or twenty if he had to guess. Seth motioned for his three companions to stand behind him as he called into the semi-visible void, "Which of you will aid us in our quest?"

The wraiths stopped their aimless ambling about and rushed toward the door, seemingly unable to pass beyond it. Seth could hear their whispers.

"He can hear us," one said.

"He can see us," another one commented.

"Master," several murmured.

"Free us," one called.

"I will free you on my conditions," Seth responded.

"He bluffs," a solitary voice stated. Quite a few of the others began mumbling similar messages of disbelief.

"I'm not lying," Seth said.

The voices hushed until one spoke up, "What reward could you possibly give that would be sufficient?"

Seth's eyes narrowed. "You doubt my word? Very well. In exchange for your obedience, you will not be destroyed," he challenged. "Disobedience will lead to death." He held up his sword and the wraiths backed away from the semi-transparent entryway. Bracken drew his horn and transformed it into a pearlescent sword shortly afterward as well.

"You dare challenge us?" one of the wraiths spoke.

"Let them pass," two voices murmured.

"Free us," a few whispered.

"You've lost your opportunity for freedom," Seth responded sternly. "I am not in the mood for bargaining or second chances. Let us pass without incident and your lives will remain in tact in exchange."

Vanessa and Warren passed significant looks back and forth before they looked ahead to where the sudden sound of stone grinding on stone originated from – the door was sliding open.

"I apologize for my disobedience," one of the wraiths spoke up.

"We will pass safely through your domain," Seth answered. "Failure to adhere to my demand will result in your immediate death. You will remain in this cavern – escape will not be allowed."

"Freedom," the word passed from wraith to wraith. Their voices held longing in them.

"Perhaps the next master of darkness who passes through here will be more forgiving than I," Seth stated. "Part for us."

Bracken whispered something in Seth's ear and then they both nodded their heads.

"My companion is feeling merciful," Seth began. "We will give one of you the opportunity to be our guide. As a reward for your assistance, you will be granted freedom from this place and put to service elsewhere. The same rules as before apply, however – any treachery to myself or my companions will result in your immediate death. Are any of you willing to comply with our terms, in exchange for an exit from here?"

Three wraiths rushed forward while the rest remained behind. "Choose me, Master," the largest said. "I will serve you."

"Choose me," the other two stated at the same time.

"I choose the first," Seth said.

The other two wraiths returned to their positions with the others.

"Thank you, Master," the selected wraith whispered.

"One wrong move and my sword will have the final say," Seth warned.

"I understand, Master."

"Very well. We seek the treasure from this mountain. Lead on."

Once the small group had entered and left the small area where the wraiths had been crowded into through another magical door on the opposite side of the room, Vanessa whispered in Warren's ear, "Didn't that seem a little… evil for him?"

Warren nodded. "Keep an eye on him," he barely whispered back.

Bracken looked back at them and nodded his head as well, signifying that he heard their exchange and agreed with them.

Vanessa begrudgingly supposed that the unicorn's presence was good for at least one thing – with him nearby, magical fear didn't have any affect on her and Warren. She suspected his horn-sword would be able to destroy a good number of dark creatures as well.

Silence encased the group until the wraith came to a sudden halt.

"What are you—" Seth began, but he was cut off by the sound of a loud baby crying. A deep scent of flowers pervaded the area, which confused Seth. The wraith bolted back the way it had come from and Seth drew his sword in preparation for whatever awaited the group. As the smell of rotting flesh replaced the floral aroma, Bracken covered his nose and mouth and shouted, "It's a pontianak! Run – to the far side of the chamber!"

Seth looked behind him to make sure that Warren and Vanessa were coming, then he booked it for the opposite end of the area they currently occupied. He had no idea what a pontianak was, but assumed it was not something to trifle with.

A softer cry sounded and Bracken stopped running and whirled around in time to meet the form of a ghostly female with his sword. She had long, dark hair and sharp teeth – she looked almost vampiric in Seth's opinion. Her form vaguely reminded him of Ephira, but this was clearly a distinctly different creature.

The pontianak turned away from Bracken when he brandished his sword, and she stayed clear of the sheathed Vasilis. Instead she lunged toward Vanessa who had also drawn her own sword, but it appeared that the pontianak didn't care about the narcoblix's non-magical weapon. Warren ran to Vanessa's side right as his wife began to shudder under the pontianak's influence, however with one wave of the ghostly woman's arm he was sent flying thirty feet away. Vanessa fell to the floor and her body began seizing as the pontianak drew closer and closer to her.

Bracken ran to Vanessa as Warren was struggling to get back to his feet. The unicorn dove toward Vanessa and pushed her out of the way before the pontianak could make contact with her, then rolled over and slashed at her with his sword. The woman screamed and changed directions to again pursue Vanessa.

Seth drew Vasilis and the blade appeared to be on fire as it pulled him toward the attacking creature. "Leave her alone!" Seth yelled. The ghost didn't pay attention to him.

"Aim for her neck!" Bracken shouted as he again ran to protect Vanessa. "She has to be beheaded."

Vasilis collided with the pontianak mere moments later and the woman shrieked in anger and pain as she rounded on Seth and clawed his arm on her way down to the ground. Seth finished her off and her body disintegrated in flames in a matter of moments. He chose not to sheathe Vasilis and instead kept a wary eye out for any other potential foes to show themselves as he ran toward where Vanessa was laying unconscious on the ground. Warren was crouched over her with avid concern showing on his face as Bracken tried to examine her.

"Move, Warren," Bracken commanded, pushing Warren softly so that he would sit next to her and give the unicorn room to make sure she wasn't injured. Warren complied, and Bracken's hand started to glow a soft blue as he hovered it a few inches over Vanessa's body.

"She'll be alright," Bracken said after only a few seconds. "She has sustained no lasting damage."

His eyebrows quirked up as his hand stopped glowing. "Just what I thought. Do you have anything to say?" he asked Warren as he sat back and looked at his friend.

Warren was confused. "What are you talking about?"

Bracken narrowed his eyes and said, "I think it's time to wake her up." He touched her forehead and spoke in some language neither Warren nor Seth could understand. Vanessa's eyes fluttered open and she looked around fearfully, as though expecting the vampiric ghost to appear in front of her at any moment.

"You're fine," Bracken said as she turned her head toward him questioningly. "There is no threat at the present moment. We have to talk."

"She's barely just woken up," Warren protested. "Can you give her a minute to breathe?"

"In this case? No." The unicorn was obviously perturbed.

Vanessa sat up. "What has your panties all in a bunch?" she asked, still shaking from her close encounter only a few minutes prior. Warren tried to steady her and she waved him off.

"Are you going to tell them, or am I?" Bracken half-asked, half-stated.

She looked embarrassed. Her reaction surprised both Warren and Seth – they were expecting an argument to erupt between the two. "Now isn't the time—"

"You're right, the perfect time would have been before we came here," Bracken said. "Do you even understand what happened? Do you even know what a pontianak is?"

Silence pervaded the room. Vanessa was stunned but she quickly found her tongue again. "How was anyone supposed to know one of those would be here? I'm here to help as much as you are, Unicorn."

Bracken shook his head and Warren butted in, "Will someone please explain what is going on?"

"Yeah – and explain what a pontianak is, too," Seth added.

"A pontianak is a creature that kills men and feasts on their bodies. Men," Bracken reiterated. "They only go after women if—"

"I'm pregnant," Vanessa blurted out, glaring at Bracken. "I just found out only a few days ago and I wanted to wait until after we were all home to announce it. But there it is, out in the open for everyone to know. Thanks, by the way. I really wanted my news to be a happy experience, not something to make the mission more stressful than necessary."

Warren was speechless. "Whoa," Seth responded. "Umm… are you sure you should be here?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" she answered. "Seth, regardless of what anyone might think, I actually care about you. I have a lot I can add. I'm smart and I'm quick on my feet. If that thing hadn't gone straight for me, I would have been able to hold my own just fine."

"You're pregnant?" Warren asked. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I found out the day that Scott… well… I thought it was bad timing to say anything," she explained.

Warren kissed her quickly and said, "Listen to me." Once he was sure he had her full attention, he continued, "I have never been more proud of you. And I can't explain how I'm feeling at the idea of being a father. Give me a few days for that to sink in and I will be shouting from rooftops, I'm sure. But we are in a very dangerous situation."

"I'm pregnant, Warren. I haven't turned into glass."

"I know that," he said. "But listen to me. You aren't just watching out for your own skin now – there are two of you. And there are a lot of creatures out there that like to prey on expectant mothers. I don't have to start listing them, do I?"

"There are plenty of creatures that like to prey on anyone," she responded. "I promised my help to Seth, and I intend to carry through with my promise."

Warren started shaking out of frustration. Bracken stood up and decided to scout ahead a little ways. Seth spoke up. "Vanessa can stay," he said.

"What!?" Warren shouted.

"Think about it, Warren," Seth began. "We're deep inside of a mountain in Malaysia with a wall of dark creatures behind us. Bracken and I would have to escort you both out, and we don't have the time. We've got to be close to the end at this point."

"You're right," Warren relented after a moment. Directing his attention back to his wife, he said, "You hang back with me. We'll let Seth and Bracken do the heavy adventuring."

"I can take care of myself," she responded stubbornly.

"You almost died just now," Warren reminded her. "You're still shivering."

"I'm fine," she insisted.

Bracken walked back into the room and announced, "We're at the end. The next room is the treasure chamber. It is guarded by something dark, although I wasn't able to determine what it was."

"We're coming," Vanessa announced, pushing herself up to standing and walking over to the unicorn. "Thank you for ruining my surprise," she stated.

Bracken grasped her arm to prevent her from venturing further. "Look, Vanessa," he began. "If I found out that my wife was pregnant and in extreme danger, I would do anything in my power to protect her. I'd imagine that Warren agrees with me. I didn't force you to speak because I find a weird sense of enjoyment in spoiling all of your news – I put you in that situation because full disclosure is the only way to go into a mission and be able to trust each other through it. Now that we know there are five members of this group instead of four, we can appropriately accommodate."

She yanked her arm out of his hand and said, "Thanks, but I still don't appreciate it."

Bracken rolled his eyes and motioned Seth forward as Vanessa sauntered away from the entry into the next room and stood next to Warren. "Seth, whatever force is in there is likely to be highly intelligent. It's possible that we can enter the room and retrieve what we need without incident."

Seth nodded his head roughly. "Alright," he said. "Intelligence versus brute force at this point, got it." He sheathed Vasilis and the scratches on his arm started to sting without the influence of the sword coursing through his body. He clutched at his arm and Bracken immediately reached out, hand aglow like it was when he was examining Vanessa.

"I didn't realize you were injured," he said. "I'm sorry for overlooking that. The good thing is pontianaks do not have venomous nails – a few moments here, and you will be good as new."

Seth's skin felt like it was simultaneously crawling and burning as he watched the shallow wounds close and the scars fade. "Amazing," he said after Bracken was done, holding his arm up to check it out.

"Are you ready?" Bracken asked, holding his hand out in front of him to let Seth go first.

"Now is as good a time as any," Seth agreed. "By the way," he said, turning around to make sure that Warren and Vanessa both heard him as well, "I was harsh with the wraiths because I'm dealing with a lot right now. My dad just died and I'd rather be at home with my family than halfway around the world, exploring this stupid cave. Also, I couldn't think of a reward to give them that would satisfy fifteen or so wraiths without setting them free on the nearby villagers. I heard you whispering earlier."

"It was a good bargaining chip," Warren said. "You had us convinced, too."

Seth opened the door to the treasure chamber carefully. He could sense a sinister presence – he couldn't tell if it was a being or a curse – as well, but whatever it was didn't show itself. Yet.

The room was a decent size, although not as large as Seth had imagined. When the Singing Sisters had said he would be treasure hunting, he'd pictured an ancient Egyptian burial chamber and imagined a large room like that, filled with gold and precious gems. This room had some gold, but mostly it held artifacts.

Seth entered the chamber and Bracken followed closely behind him. Warren and Vanessa stood in the hallway, and Bracken signaled for them to stay put while he and Seth scanned the place.

The amulet they were looking for was hanging on the far wall. There didn't appear to be anything protecting it.

"Something's wrong," Seth said. "It shouldn't be this easy, should it?"

"An amulet that prevents the wearer from dying of anything but natural causes and simultaneously grants an extended life?" Bracken asked. "No, I would imagine it would not be easy to retrieve something like that." He narrowed his eyes and deeply scanned the room. "I don't sense any spells protecting it or anything else in this room aside from at the immediate entrance, for that matter. Did the Sisters give you any warnings?"

"They just said that there would be difficulties to overcome and told me where to find the amulet. That's all. Oh, and one of them fawned over me a little and another one of them sounded like she'd be happy to see me fail and die."

Bracken furrowed his brow in concentration. "I suppose we should just take it, then, and find out if there are consequences afterward." They both looked at each other skeptically and walked forward toward the charm, ready to draw their swords at the first sign of trouble.

On the way to the amulet, Bracken stopped to look at one of the other items in the chamber closely. "What's up?" Seth asked.

Bracken shook his head in amazement and said while smiling, "It's the potential answer to a huge hurdle in my personal life," he responded vaguely, pocketing whatever he had picked up. There was no consequence to Bracken's actions, so Seth shrugged his shoulders and figured that maybe the treasure wasn't cursed after all. He still didn't plan on taking any souvenirs.

Sure enough, when he pulled the amulet off the wall, nothing happened. He draped it around his neck and then turned to Bracken and said, "Well, that was anticlimactic. I guess we can leave now." Bracken shrugged his shoulders in response, but remained vigilant for any possible threats that may yet appear.

Seth left the room and held the door open for Bracken – but when the unicorn tried to follow, what appeared to be lightning struck him and continued to course through his body. Bracken cried out in agony and Seth ran back into the room in a panic and knelt down beside the unicorn who was still suffering as electricity jumped through his arms, legs and torso. Without hesitating, Seth pulled the amulet off and did his best to drape it around the unicorn's neck while avoiding getting electrocuted himself.

Once the amulet touched Bracken's chest, the electricity fled the unicorn's body and he laid on the ground shaking and gasping for a long while. Seth wasn't sure whether it was safe to touch him or not, so he maintained a reasonable distance away from his friend and hoped beyond hope that Bracken would be alright. After at least a full minute with no sign of electricity anywhere, Seth crept forward and prodded Bracken's shoulder. Nothing happened to Seth, so he crouched over Bracken and checked for a heartbeat. He failed to find one.

That was all Seth could handle. "What am I supposed to tell Kendra!?" he yelled at the unicorn. "We just lost our dad. You're not next! Not here, not now! Remember what she said!? She said we both had to go back to her! Come back!" Seth shook Bracken's shoulders. "You're supposed to be virtually invincible! What's wrong with you? You're going to let a stupid spell take you out!? What about your family! What about all of us!? Huh?"

He grabbed Bracken's horn and started to poke him with it. "Fix yourself! Heal! Come on!" Seth continued to yell, desperation sliding into his voice.

The door to the room slid open and Seth heard footsteps behind him. "Seth," Warren's voice interrupted. "Vanessa said to give Bracken his horn."

"Right, because she's totally got his best interests at heart," Seth responded. Still, he complied because he didn't have any better idea. He'd take pretty much any suggestion right now.

Seth placed the horn in Bracken's right hand and crossed his fingers. After a few seconds, the horn started to glow. Seth's attention was completely focused on the welfare of his friend – more like his brother – and hope started to well up inside of him. Bracken's body started to glow a faint blue soon after, which intensified as more time continued to pass. Warren and Seth watched as slowly, Bracken rolled onto his side and rested for a little while before pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Remind me… to thank Vanessa," he said. His voice was raspy. "That was something I don't want to do again."

"What happened!?" Seth demanded. He was trying to avoid crying tears of anger and relief – he'd already cried enough tears for the rest of his life in recent history as far as he was concerned.

"I believe the curse will let anyone inside, but will not let them leave unless they are wearing the amulet," Bracken surmised. "Therefore, I suggest that we take turns leaving."

"Are you up to walking?" Warren asked.

Bracken shook his head. "I need a few more minutes," he said. "That was the closest to death I've come in a long time. I'm a little rattled."

"I think we're all a little rattled," Warren responded. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"I completely agree," Bracken said. He leaned against a wall in the room and closed his eyes. His horn and body continued to glow. "Sorry," he spoke up after a length of time had passed. "Healing goes much faster if another unicorn is handling the process. It's more difficult to heal yourself than it is to heal other people. Which is good and bad – it forces us to rely on each other from time to time, but in situations like this one..."

"Are you alright?" Seth asked. The break in event and conversation had allowed him to calm back down again.

"Yes," he said. "Not one-hundred percent, but well enough to help get us all out of here. I'll go first." He paused and looked at Seth. "I didn't do that on purpose. You understand that, right?"

"I know," Seth answered. "I was just… freaked out."

Bracken patted Seth's shoulder and said, "You thought quickly back there. If you hadn't put the amulet on me… Well. Thank you." He looked forward toward the exit and said, "Here goes nothing. Let's hope it doesn't happen again."

The unicorn was able to pass through the door with no problems this time around. He smiled and tossed the amulet to Seth, who walked through without issue as well. Seth then tossed the amulet to Warren, who was also able to exit.

As the group started to head back toward the entrance of the cave, Seth realized that Bracken had hung back to walk with Vanessa. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he did see them stop walking temporarily and shake hands. They even looked like they were maybe smiling a little bit.

Seth knew his heart would heal. He knew things would get better. And he was beginning to understand how deeply he felt for his companions. Regardless of blood relation, they were all family to him.

Family. He idly wondered if he would come home to a mountain of brownies again. The thought made him smile for the first time in what felt like forever.

There will be lots of Bracken/Kendra fluff in the next chapter. I had to bring Seth back for a while.

I hope these chapters came across how I tried to portray them. I did what I did for many reasons, lots of which will come up in future chapters.

Until next time!

AerinM