Chapter 18 – Plotting

Everyone watched from within the confines of the their orbs as Matthew pressed one of the buttons on his keychain, prompting the trunk of his convertible to fling open. Hespera then used her power to levitate the orbs, along with the prisoners inside of them into the trunk, where she released her hold on them and caused them all to fall down.

Looking around, Kendra and Seth could see that there were more orbs inside the trunk than just the seven of them. Glancing around, they could see Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad, Dale, Bright all Clover and trapped within orbs as well.

"Enjoy your time alone," said Matthew. "Before long, we'll be back at my place, where we'll deal with you for good."

Matthew then slammed the trunk shut, trapping all of the prisoners in the darkness. Of course, Kendra was still able to see in the dark due to her fairykind powers, but knew that most of the others had nearly been blinded, had it not been for the light that illuminated from the fairies.

"What happened?" asked Warren, who could hear doors being slammed from the front end of the car.

"It's awful!" cried Grandma Sorenson, as they could hear the car's engine starting up, and the entire vehicle began moving. "Matthew and Hespera just stormed in here, captured us in these orbs, and locked us in this trunk!"

"Wasn't there anything you could do to escape?" asked Geminus.

"We tried!" exclaimed Bright. "But these orbs just feed off our light energy!"

"And we lack physical strength," said Dale, so we've got no chance of breaking these things by force. If they even can be broken, that is."

"I don't get it," said Lance. "Matthew was never this powerful before. How'd Hespera do it?"

"Hespera was a terrible witch," said Grandpa. "Far more dangerous than someone like Matthew. For you see, she was one of the founding members of the Society of the Evening Star."

"And I just thought she had an ego problem," said Warren. "Naming herself after that hydra at Wyrmroost. Really wish she didn't actually live up to the name."

"And now that she's free again, her power's been restored, and she's enhanced Matthew in the process. If we'd known that she'd be this dangerous, we'd have taken extra precautions. But we were lax."

"We really can't get out of here?" asked Seth. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," replied Grandma. "Nothing we've tried has worked, and our options are limited."

"I've got Vasilis on me," said Kendra. "Maybe that'll work."

"Better not," said Grandpa. "The light energy that Vasilis expels would only strengthen your orb."

"I'll try with my sword," said Warren. "Nothing magical about it."

"Save your strength," said Grandma. "We've already bludgeoned these orbs with everything at our disposal, but no dice."

"And as long as we're trapped in these orbs, we can't use magic," said Bracken. "Great."

"Even our cell phones are useless," said Grandpa. "At this size, they're too weak to function at the right frequencies."

As the car continued driving, the orbs locked in the trunk began to sway back and forth from side to side each time the vehicle turned or changed speeds, making the whole experience seem fairly disorienting and uncomfortable, as one had to adjust their balance whenever their orb rolled around.

"What about the release valve for the trunk?" asked Warren. "Cars have them for when people get stuck in the trunk by mistake."

Mr. Sorenson snorted. "We tried that too. It's impossible for us to even so much as grip the handle in the orbs. And even if we could, we'd have no way to get out still, and Matthew and Hespera would be sure to notice if the trunk just flung open."

The rest of the trip felt like a nightmare, as the car continued driving for several more hours, stopping only at what the group assumed was the occasional traffic light. Eventually, it slowed down almost to a complete stop, banked down a small hill before driving a bit further, then turned several more corners. At long last, the engine had been shut off, and the sound of car doors opening and closing could be heard.

At that moment, the trunk flung open. Standing before the knights were Matthew and Hespera, who, from what they could tell, appeared to be in an underground parking garage.

"Last stop," said Matthew. "Everybody out."

Matthew snapped his fingers, causing a duffel bag to magically appear in his other hand. Hespera then used her power to levitate every last orb into the duffel bag, which Matthew then proceeded to zip up, sealing the knights in darkness once again.

Kendra and Seth were terrified. Matthew had said that he was taking them back to his place, so they assumed that this had to be the parking garage of his condominium. But what could they do? They were all powerless against these two figures.

The bag was carried a short ways, stopping whenever they could hear a door being opened. Soon they boarded an elevator, which had to have climbed at least twenty stories before the duffel bag was carried out.

Another door was unlocked, and the bag was carried a bit further. Matthew then unzipped the bag and peered down into it.

"We're here!" he laughed. "You're lucky it's such a late hour, and we're already so tired. But you're not going anywhere! First thing in the morning, we're going to interrogate everything we can out of you knights, whether you like it or not! Have a good night, knights! If you fail to cooperate with us, you may not live to see the next one."

Matthew then proceeded to zip the duffel bag back up, and the sound of a door sliding open could be heard. The bag was then flung into what had to be a closet, after which, the door could be heard as it was slid closed, and Matthew walked off.

"Now what?" asked David.

"I don't know," replied Grandpa. "We're cut off from the rest of the world where we are now, and nothing we've tried had has any sign of success. I hate to say it, but... we're doomed."

Grandpa was right. Things really did seem hopeless at this point. Fablehaven having been destroyed, along with Kendra and Seth's friends and family now in critical jeopardy, and nobody else knowing where they were.

Seth curled down into the base of his orb, and closed his eyes. In such a short lapse of time, his life had gone from potentially healing the fairies at Fablehaven, to getting captured and being on the verge of losing everything.

"Isn't there something we can do?" asked Kendra. "The fairies in the Fairy Kingdom! Couldn't they use the Omega Star to rescue us?"

"How're they going to know to use it in the first place?" asked Warren. "We can't exactly send out a distress signal to them like this."

"The fairies are at a standstill in regard to using the Omega Star to meddle with human affairs," said Bracken. "Even if we could contact them, they'd be unlikely to budge unless they themselves were in trouble."

"But they are in trouble! If they don't do something quick, Hespera and Matthew may come up with a plan to overthrow them and obtain the instruments of eternal power. I don't know how, but after what they've done to us, I wouldn't put it past them."

"Won't the fairies realize there's a problem?" asked Seth. "I mean, if the shrine at Fablehaven got destroyed, they'd know if something was amiss. The only reason they didn't do anything when Oblivion was trying to revive Tritanoss, was because the keepers had been frozen, and the inter-dimensional barrier had been blocked off. Right? Besides, only fairies have the power to pass through the barrier. Unless Hespera's... also... part fairy?"

"Not that I'd rule out the possibility," said Warren, "but it's highly unlikely and would be a bit too coincidental for by my belief. But unless Hespera's got a trick up her sleeve, I wouldn't count on her breaching the Fairy Kingdom so easily."

"What if she's forcing fairies into doing her dirty work?" asked Seth. "Like when Navarog enslaved some fairies into activating the Essence of Immunity for him?"

"After the incident with Oblivion," began Bright, "we put in some extra security measures regarding passing through to the Fairy Kingdom from this world. Not only are the entrance points being heavily monitored, but an alarm will be sounded if an unauthorized individual were to pass through the barrier."

"What if Hespera or Matthew have a back way in?" asked Grandma. "Like how Oblivion was using her own statuette to pass through unnoticed."

"They'd still be detected," said Clover. "There's no way Matthew or Hespera could have much knowledge of the increased security, if any at all."

"I hope you're right," said Lance. "Who does this Hespera think she is? For that matter, what kind of name is Hespera, anyway?"

"The only other Hespera I know, was that hydra at Wyrmroost," replied Raxtus.

"She's got some ego, naming herself after a monster," said Geminus. "It's not even her name that scares me, only her power."

After a while, the conversation died down, and soon everyone was left to their own devices. Not that there was much for them to do, all of them having been trapped inside orbs within a closed duffel bag.

"Seth..." said a very faint voice. "Seth. Can you hear me?"

Seth looked around, but could see that none of the others were paying any attention to him. Was this Zavarok? It couldn't be, could it? He had been exorcised, hadn't he?

"Zavarok?" asked Seth in a whisper, not wanting to draw attention from the others.

"Yes, it's me," said the voice, which sounded much weaker that it usually did.

"I thought you were... gone?"

"I thought so too. Once I had been extracted from David, I could barely keep up with you guys. I followed you around as best as I could, until you wound up here."

"You realize that this whole mess is your fault, right?"

"I know. I but now that I'm free from David, I want to help if I can."

"I'm not too thrilled about receiving any more help from you. And what good are you now? You're just a floating, intangible spirit."

"Maybe I really can help," said Zavarok. "I overheard that those orbs feed off of light energy, correct?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, I'm a demon, aren't I? And you're a shadow charmer. Maybe if we combine our dark energies, it'll burst open the orb."

Seth's eyes suddenly lit up. "You really think so?"

"Might as well try it. You've got nothing to lose, right?"

Seth nodded, and placed his hands against the side of his orb. Concentrating as hard as he could, he envisioned dark thoughts surging through his body and into the orb itself. After a few seconds passed, the orb itself faded away, causing Seth to fall through, landing atop one of the other orbs.

"Seth!" exclaimed Kendra. "You're free! What happened?"

Several flashlights were shone in Seth's direction, earning several surprised gasps from the others.

"Zavarok," said Seth. "He's still here. We combined our dark energies and negated the power of my orb."

"Zavarok?" asked Grandpa, sounding astounded. "I'd love to ask questions, but the sooner we get out of here, the better."

"Okay, Zavarok, help me open more orbs."

"I don't know if I can," said Zavarok. "I was only able to open yours, because dark energy was flowing both in and out of it."

"Great," said Seth, relaying the information to the others.

"Well at least save yourself," said Grandma. "Try to escape from here, and find out where here is. Find a way to contact the other knights and get help ASAP!"

"Got it," said Seth, climbing atop the orbs to the sealed mouth of the duffel bag. He followed the zipper track over his head to the centre of the bag, where two the two sliders were touching. Seth stuck his hands between a narrow gap between the sliders and pushed one aside slightly, causing the zipper to open up only a small bit, but creating a large enough space for him to slip through.

Seth reached through the open zipper and climbed out of the duffel bag. "This is it," he said down to the others. "I'll see what I can do from here."

The others all wished Seth luck, as he eyed the crack between the bottom of the closet door and the floor. He slid down the side of the duffel bag and scurried over to the crack, then examined the door with his flashlight. He discovered that it was a bifold door, which meant that it might be possible for him to nudge it open.

Seth stood to one side of the door and pushed against it with all the strength that he could. The door then slid open slightly, giving Seth enough space to slip out into the hallway.

With the hallway already lit up, Seth shut off his flashlight and gazed at his surroundings. The hallway seemed massive in contrast to his shrunken size. Part of him wondered why being released from the orb didn't cause him to also revert back to his normal height.

Seth proceeded to creep down the hallway, his feet stepping through the floor of wall-to-wall carpeting, which felt as though he was walking on cotton.

Upon reaching the end of the hallway, Seth found himself standing before the living room, where he could see Hespera sitting on a couch. Afraid of getting spotted, Seth slipped behind the pot of a large floor plant for cover.

"And how do you propose we go about doing this?" asked Matthew from the living room, whom Seth failed to notice when he had glanced at Hespera.

"I have a plan. It involves a demon. And if it works, we've essentially won."

"What demon?" asked Matthew.

"Navarog. Oh yes, we can. For you must know I have plan."

"Navarog?" asked Matthew. "You're the greatest witch in existence, and you want to enlist a demon who's been banished and weakened?"

"I'm willing to go to any length. For I can restore Navarog's strength."

"Problem. First of all, according to Snitch, Kendra wished that Navarog could never hurt anybody."

"A loophole I know all too well. I'll restore his power with a counter-spell."

"And what about the fact that he's been banished to the knapsack forever?"

"We've heard that the knapsack had been burned to a crisp. So technically the knapsack no longer exists. The room that it hosted no longer connects. By no means a knapsack, as I would suspect."

"I think I get it," said Matthew. "The wish was to banish Navarog to inside the knapsack. However, while the physical knapsack no longer existed, the room it was associated with still does, so the wish managed to send Navarog there. But since the wish specifically mentioned banishing Navarog to the knapsack forever, the forever part may have been rendered meaningless. But, are you sure?"

"Magic words are always exact. Learn your magic. Study the facts. No knapsack. No clause. The forever term is at a loss."

"Okay, so Navarog could maybe be released from the kna- that room. How're you gonna get him out and into the fairy world?"

"You claim that Oblivion found him when he was in the Fairy Realm. But he failed to rescue him, as he was overwhelmed."

"Yeah, Oblivion discovered that the vents from the knapsack were connected to the Fairy Kingdom because he sensed Navarog's presence. But he didn't bother with rescuing him. I guess Oblivion might've figured that Navarog was helpless. But, how're you going to get into the Fairy Kingdom or the knapsack? Oblivion never revealed his secret to anyone."

"Have no fear. I'll find a way. But tomorrow is another day. For now I wish to go to sleep. Leave me be. And not a peep."

"Oh, all right," said Matthew, as he stood up from the armchair he had been sitting in. "We'll discuss this more in the morning."

As Matthew walked over toward the hallway, Seth dreaded that he would be spotted, even though he had concealed his entire body. Matthew then flicked off a light switch, darkening the living room. As he continued through the hallway, he banged his fist on the closet door and laughed wickedly, then entered another room and closed the door behind himself.

At least Matthew was gone. But Hespera was still there. Although the only light in the room now was coming in through the window, Seth could still sense what was going on. He watched as Hespera levitated a nearby leather bag over to herself and rummaged through the contents. She pulled out a potion and proceeded to drink it. Seconds later, she fell down onto the couch and was out like a log. No doubt she had just swallowed a sleeping potion.

Seth proceeded to walk around the condominium, hoping to find a way out. It seemed hopeless, as the windows were all closed, and were unreachable at his shrunken height. The front door was out of the question as well. He could try using a phone, if he could reach one, but even if he were to call for help, Seth had no knowledge of his location.

"Hey, Seth," said Zavarok. "Over here!"

"Where's here?"

"The bag by Hespera!"

Seth scurried over to the bag, which was sitting on the floor next to the couch that Hespera was on. Even though she had taken a sleeping potion, Seth still dreaded that he might somehow wake her up.

"Maybe you could use a potion?" said Zavarok suggestively.

Seth climbed into the bag, which was still opened, and shone his flashlight at the contents within it. There were several potion vials, all of which had been labelled.

"Which one do you suggest?" asked Seth, examining the various labels.

"I don't know. I never really learned how to read English, even when I was in David."

"Aha!" exclaimed Seth. "I found one that's really worth using!" "

"What's it say?" asked Zavarok.

Seth smiled. "According to the label, it seems that I've found a dragon potion!"