Sitting late at night typing away, writing in various notebooks, chewing away at my pencils and pens, I hear a disembodied voice at my side say, with decided and deliberate enunciation, "You aren't going to be able to make this work. You can't tie all of this together." I don't respond. There is a lengthy, Gavin style pause. The voice tries again, with a little more insistency incorporated into the statement. Got to give it props for persistence. "Woman, you are playing with forces beyond your kin."
I stop working. Looking at the mess on my desk - all the eraser shavings, the spilled white out – and listening to the whirr of the fan at the back of my computer, protesting its prolonged use, it is a mite bit overwhelming. But then looking at all the encouraging reviews…
"Yea well, your Ken can kiss my Barbie." Then, taking a moment to reposition myself, I begin again.
Indeed. I went there. Comment if you get the reference.
Disclaimer: I do not own the magical Fablehaven world, nor any of the inhabitants thereof. Brandon Mull owns all.
The simple answer was that Gavin wasn't alive, and neither was Kendra . She'd died somehow in a car accident. Gavin had come in place of the Grim Reaper. Now they were in Hell, or Tartarus, or some equivalent thereof. Kendra had tried to be a good girl, but she supposed somewhere along the line she'd really ticked somebody up there off. Her eternal punishment likened to Tantalus in his pool always thirsty never drinking, or the Danaïdes sisters always fetching the water but failing to retain any in their buckets. Gavin and Kendra would forever climb the stairs, but never reach the end.
Okay, maybe she was being a little melodramatic.
Kendra had tried counting the steps initially. If she'd had any hopes of escaping she would have to be anal with the planning, otherwise Gavin would stop her for sure. But Kendra had lost count sometime after five hundred through drifting into sleep in Gavin's arms. A few minutes later she reawakened, cursing herself for her ineptitude.
Shortly thereafter, she had reached the conclusion about them being in Hell. It was the only answer that made any sense.
She attempted to engage Gavin in conversation, but he wouldn't even look at her. Kendra was too fatigued to pester him. Almost dying once was rough day, but twice was leaving Kendra feeling undeniably drained. Physically, she hadn't felt this worn out since she'd put a sword through Gorgrog.
Was it her imagination or was Gavin slowing down? He'd been so hardy so far, never ceasing to linger, never tiring. Kendra looked up at his face. His eyes were roving the wall on their right.
Without warning he stopped. Had they reached the bottom? No. Kendra could still see the endless stair continuing past them.
Gavin was still looking at the wall. Kendra followed his gaze. An opening similar to the one they'd come through at the bottom of the stairs led into a room with a giant… tree?
Gavin strode into the cave. Kendra eyes widened. The roof of the cave was unseen. Dozens of spindly, ivory branches formed a sort of half cage over what appeared to be a ginormous bird's nest of the same kind of wood. Above, the branches gradually became browner in color and intertwined to form a vast tree trunk that stretched up into the oblivion. The room felt drafty, so Kendra could only assume that the tree reached the outside world. The dying embers of hope stirred in her chest.
"You'd never make it to the top," she heard Gavin say. His clairvoyance went beyond mildly irritating. "The tree extends over a thousand feet upward to the tip of the plateau. To fall would eradicate you. Fair warning." He dipped down close to her face, forcing her to look up at him. "You maybe be dumb enough to try it anyway. You're not your brother, but you do share the same genes. Lucky for you, I'm not going to give you the chance to die a horrible and painful death… at least not in that particular way." He winked and pulled back.
"We," Kendra looked around, feeling a little lightheaded, "are not in Hell."
Gavin started. Then he laughed hollowly. "Hell is a pleasanter place than you'd imagine. I spent my time there playing cards with an old southern man who favored Albert Einstein. When I told him I didn't understand why everyone was so against coming to the place, he replied that Heaven had a more favorable climate." His voice was lighter than it had been. There was a curious daring glint in his eye.
She knew he was lying. Kendra had trouble placing why, but a buzz in the back of her mind insisted that she was missing the joke. She was too tired to figure it out.
"I would have thought you would have had a treasure trove for a bed." Kendra observed softly.
Gavin's chest rumbled. "No, I've never been one of those showy dragons. Gold is actually rather uncomfortable. Subtlety and simplicity are more my thing."
Kendra glanced around. There wasn't anything else in the room besides the nest. Where would she sleep? What would she eat? How would she survive in this place?
Maybe I'm not meant to survive, she thought. She had worried that the Society was having Gavin kidnap her to exploit her powers, but now it occurred to her that maybe they just didn't want her on the opposing team.
"What are you going to do with me now?" She asked.
In answer, Gavin took several long strides toward the back of the nest. There, under a small alcove, was a rugged looking, beige steamer trunk.
He's going to cut you up into little pieces, eat half of you now, and store the rest for later, Seth's voice rang in her ears. That's how Kendra knew the situation was bad. If her subconscious had assumed the voice of Seth Sorenson, something was terribly, horribly wrong.
Gavin sat Kendra down next to the trunk, a little rougher than was necessary. He opened the lid. A solitary stair stood out to Kendra.
"It's enchanted like the knapsack." Kendra realized after a moment, sitting up to glance at the content below.
"I've noticed that pointing out the blatantly obvious seems to be a favorite pastime of yours." Gavin remarked dryly.
Kendra shot him a withering glare. "Just like the knapsack that you trapped Warren in to die."
"Ah, yes." Gavin frowned, "Warren Burgess. I heard he made it out. Pity, that."
Kendra wanted to hurl profane, unladylike insults at him - but imaginary Seth's warning was still fresh in her mind, restraining her from doing so.
"In you go." Gavin nodded toward the trunk.
"What if I say no?" Kendra challenged.
Gavin's eyes narrowed. "Well I guess I could throw you down there." Kendra tensed.
He tapped his lower lip as if considering something. "Or," his eyes slid slyly over to her, landing just above her thin waist, traveling over her chest, slowly, deliberately, stopping at her eyes. "You could always stay up here with me."
Kendra flinched. She crawled over to the trunk, avoiding Gavin's bemused expression. There was a rail for her to grab a hold of. The stairs were wrought iron, painted in a creamy color. Carefully she stepped down into the room. The squealing protest of the rusty stairs did not serve to reassure her.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs she looked around. She had been wrong. It was nothing like the knapsack. The room in the knapsack had been a kind of storeroom. The room she was in looked like it belonged in a cheap seaside motel.
The walls were covered in pale blue striped wallpaper, decorated with a few portraits of lighthouses. Illumination was provided by antiqued copper sea lanterns. A kitchenette featuring a mini-fridge, two cabinets, and a small sink took up the left hand side of the room. The right held a queen-size four-poster with navy blue valences and matching coverings. The floor was white(ish) tile. There was a gigantic wooden wardrobe, with intricate paintings on either side, of a stormy sea with a lone lighthouse on a rocky island in the midst. At the back of the room, Kendra saw an unusually long dressing partition.
She went forward to inspect it. Behind the wooden panels a wooden toilet sat in addition to a very unclean looking clawfoot bathtub. She reached forward and pressed lightly on the handle of the toilet. It flushed. At least the enchanted plumbing was working.
Kendra shivered without warning. The room was quite cold. Vents (far out of reach) blew hard. She guessed that the other end was connected to Antarctica.
Kendra pulled her face back from the partition to see that Gavin was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs.
How had she not heard him coming down the stairs? "There's food and bottled water in the fridge. A change of clothes," Here he gestured toward a small crate at the foot of the bed, "can be found in there. I will be down to check on you after I've rested. Remember what I said when we first arrived." He wagged a finger at her mockingly like a parent scolding a child for an act of mischief.
Kendra nodded once. Gavin turned away from her and placed a hand on the rail. He paused.
"I am being generous in letting you stay here Kendra. Never forget that. You will rue the day you cause me to regret my kindness." With that parting he went back up the stairs, which creaked as they had when Kendra had come down. How…? She shook her head. He was probably just trying to mess with her mind.
She heard the top of the trunk shut with a thud. He was gone. Finally. Kendra walked over to the chest at the end of her bed and opened it. A blue and white gingham night dress was on top of the clothes. Kendra picked it out and set it to the side. She rummaged through the rest of the contents. Two pairs of high-waisted khaki shorts - loaded with pockets - a silky, gaudy floral dress, a set of elastic tan undergarments, one plain blue t-shirt covered in permanent stains, and a red tank-top.
She held up the dress. It was apparently made for a bustier, taller woman than herself. It smelled faintly of citronella. She folded the dress back up, and placed it back into the chest.
Kendra went over to the wardrobe. Inside were men's clothes: various button-up Hawaii shirts, blue-jean overalls, cargo pants, a florescent yellow rain jacket, accompanied with a strong musky scent.
If Kendra had been made to guess, she would have said the outfits belonged to an elderly couple. Based on the décor, whoever they were they had liked the seaside, perhaps they'd even lived on the coast. Why would Gavin have an enchanted trunk that belonged to some old people who lived on the coast?
Kendra explored the "cabin" – that's what she had decided to call it from there on out, because it had a nicer ring to it than "cage" or "prison" – till she had garnered questions aplenty. As she put on the soft gingham nightgown and crawled between the scratchy, warm flannel sheets she resolved to get her answers after she'd slept some.
As she lay there acutely aware of the aching tiredness in her bones, she thought of her family. They would be worried sick. She hoped the Society hadn't done anything to them. It comforted her that Gavin had kidnapped her off of the preserve. Perhaps the Society hadn't found a way to break past the wards protecting her home just yet. She hoped Seth was alright (wherever he was) and Warren and Vanessa… and Bracken. She prayed silently that they would all get home safe and sound, and would work out a way to come and rescue her. She couldn't fathom how she was going to escape out of the sanctuary by herself.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, curving down her jawline, skimming her throat till it rested just above her chest, over her heart. Alone with a murdering psychopath who was hell-bent on revenge was not how Kendra had wanted to spend her summer. Kendra tried to focus on Bracken's smiling face, but kept finding the image slipping away from her, fading into shadowy memories of her past. Series of images like video streams kept wavering into and out of her consciousness. Mostly they were of things she would rather forget. Like what had happened at Lost Mesa and at Wyrmroost.
No matter how hard she tried Kendra couldn't hone in on something light-hearted. Exhaustion eventually overtook her, thrusting her into a swirling pool of nightmares, dropping her unwittingly into many unpleasant memories. Always she was mindful of the feeling of being watched by a pair of smoldering red eyes.
*Reviews work* (cringes at the number of mistakes, thinks about revising and re-uploading… Looks at calendar…. Well there's always time for going back and editing in the future) Apologies for past and future grammar and content errors. I won't give out excuses. It is what it is.
*Rereads other chapters* At this rate I'm going to have a hundred chapters... I could speed things up a bit and give more away at a time….. Guess I better make them into a hundred really good chapters. ;) Stay tuned for more.