I learned recently (or re-learned, if you will) more about the dragon sanctuaries. For those of you who have previously read the other chapters prior to the publishing of this chapter, just a head's up, I tweaked the third chapter for the info I found. Don't get too excited - the changes are minimal, a few words here and there.
Now time to put things in perspective.
Disclaimer: Brandon Mull owns Fablehaven. I do not. Coincidentally, I also don't own Staples, or their addictive catch phrase.
"Well that was easy!" said Seth Sorenson as he forcefully slammed a palm against an invisible button.
Vanessa was last, just behind him, pulling herself up over the edge of the cliff. She shot him an icy glare.
"Yeesh," Seth grimaced. "If looks could kill. Warren, I'm pretty sure your better half just mentally pushed me over the ledge." He said very matter-o-factly.
Warren was off to his other side, grinning broadly, but with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Seth liked that Warren and Vanessa often opted to accompany him (even though he knew it was at the request of his grandparents). Still, neither one were as young as he and Bracken - if Bracken counted as young, anyway.
Warren straightened up, and walked over to Vanessa. Smoothly, he wrapped an arm around her waist. The move brought a light to the scowling Vanessa's eyes. Seth wished he had some of that guy's game.
"I suppose I should punish her for her behavior?" Warren cut his eyes at Vanessa, before turning around to face her entirely.
Seth had learned to watch for the warning signs. He walked away from the pair (who were no longer paying him any attention) to Bracken who pensively stood watching from the ledge out into the nightfall.
Bracken did not acknowledge Seth's approach. He seemed to be looking for something.
Seth glanced out at the lavender tinted skies. "Do you see anything?"
Seth waited. Bracken still didn't even look at him. Seth noticed the bags under his eyes. Bracken wasn't looking so hot.
When Bracken didn't answer after some time, Seth tried again. "Look Bracken, I know you didn't really want to come with us because you've got work to do and all, but this mission is important. All the rumors, the tape with somebody copying the list in the office, point to the Evening Star."
Bracken had at one point stated that the evidence against the Society was either coincidental or came from untrustworthy sources, therefore the mission would be pointless. Nevertheless, he had conceded to come along with the others, to investigate.
"I know you and your mom doubt the accusations, and maybe you are right. Maybe it was one of the wizards who were supposed to get the copy anyway – who knows since we can't speak with them until they're finished preparing the magic for the making of the Eternals. But whoever it was made sure that their face wasn't seen by any of the cameras. What's worse is they got past the whisper hounds." Seth huffed. He was agitated now. He had been ever since the emergency meeting the captain (aka Grandpa Sorenson) had called.
Someone had gotten past the whisper hounds, which lead them to believe that it was an inside job. Espionage and treachery were the trademarks of the Society. The Knights had thought they had removed all of the traitors, thanks to the help of the ex-turncoat Vanessa. Vanessa promised on her love for Warren that she knew of no other defectors in the Knights.
They had guessed the Society would want to stop the making of the Eternals. It fit their m-o. Seth hadn't thought they'd actually try anything though. Not since the Sphinx had bit the dust. A move so bold and so well executed as that, Stan had admitted was unnerving enough to call the secret meeting involving only the Burgesses, Bracken, the Larsen's, and the Sorensons. Well, the Sorensons minus Kendra.
Grandpa Sorenson had chosen not to distract Kendra from her studies. Seth, in a weak moment of sibling defensiveness, had argued that Kendra would want to know. Also, he didn't say anything to suggest it, but he couldn't believe that his Grandpa would let Vanessa Santoro-Burgess, with her dubious past, come to a secret meeting, but not Kendra Sorenson, his sister and the captain's granddaughter.
Bracken had firmly sided with the captain, and Seth couldn't take the both of them. Seth knew that Kendra was stressed because she thought Bracken didn't like her like she liked him – not that Seth truly cared about his sister's love life, but he thought she had to be crazier that he had suspected not to see how much the guy was into her.
Seth gave Bracken a measuring look. Nothing. Seth decided to try a different tactic.
"Sometimes I like to wear my underwear on my head, and sing tribal songs to the lord of juvenile delinquents while dancing around a bonfire with the satyrs."
Bracken didn't even blink.
"Fine. Be like that." Seth mumbled under his breath.
Bracken stirred. Blinking away haze that had shrouded his eyes, he faced Seth.
"Really?" Seth complained.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Seth folded his arms, explaining, "I was asking if you were alright. You were zoned out."
Bracken shook his silver tresses. "I was daydreaming. It was like… I thought I saw…" Bracken wrung his hands in front of his chest.
Something was really upsetting the guy. Seth switched modes, putting aside his juvenile impatience to assume the role of shadow charmer/Knight of the Dawn on a dangerous assignment.
Seth asked Bracken in a deeper, more serious tone of voice, "Bracken, what do you think you saw?"
Bracken visibly forced his hands by his side and met Seth's eyes. Seth was surprised to see a fair degree of certainty in the unicorn's eyes. "Kendra. I saw Kendra."
*.*.*.*.*.*
Seth watched Warren pace back in forth in front of the campfire, muttering to himself. Warren never paced.
Vanessa caught Seth's eye. Her look confirmed it.
"Crap." Was all he managed to say.
Warren stopped pacing. He looked at Bracken. "You're sure this dream thing…"
"A vision." Bracken interjected. "Now that I've considered it, I'm certain it was what those in fairy kingdom call," Bracken said a word in a language that Seth didn't understand. "In your tongue, the translation amounts to "a meeting of the minds". I would describe it as vision that can ensnare the receiver of the distress call at any moment."
"Distress call?" Vanessa prompted.
"Kendra was dreaming, and her subconscious was greatly troubled. Please understand, the amount of misery Kendra was experiencing must have been phenomenal for her to be able to put out the magic energy involved in this process unconsciously." Bracken looked each person in the eye before continuing. "Being fairy kind, Kendra retains a strong connection with those of the fairy kingdom. Her mind perceived me as the closest subject, and reached out to me. She and I weren't long in contact before she awoke abruptly. You can see the evils of the situation, I trust."
Seth nodded slowly. "Kendra is closer to us than she is to Fablehaven. She's in trouble, apparently in a lot of trouble. We have no idea how to find her, or what the cause of trouble she's in is."
"It's worse than just that." Vanessa chimed in quietly. Seth noted she had paled significantly. "Kendra is not simply closer to us than she is to Fablehaven. She's closer to us, than any other creatures loyal to the Fairy Queen."
Seth blanched. The Fairy Queen had a wide variety of subjects who populated various areas between where they were in Venezuela to the preserve in Connecticut.
"What's more," Bracken said, looking from Vanessa to Seth, "we all know that Stan and the others would never let any harm come to Kendra while they were alive. The question stands, what has happened to the inhabitants of the Fablehaven preserve?"
That was enough to quiet them all for a while.
Warren kicked a rock into the blazing flames, stirring both the embers and the people. He spoke.
"We need to try to get in contact with Stan asap."
Vanessa slung her bag off of her shoulders. After a moment of fumbling through it, she bore her cell phone.
"No service," she established, to Seth's dismay. Seth had his coin that allowed Bracken and himself to communicate in his pocket. His hand fiddled with it, while his mind wished fervently that he had left it with his grandparents.
"There is another way." Seth watched Bracken shoot a look of bewilderment at Vanessa. He too was caught off guard. His hopes were quickly diminished though when he looked at Warren.
Warren's lips quivered. He had whitened considerably. He was avoiding eye contact. His disposition reminded Seth disturbingly of when he had been under the enchantment of a revenant.
"What kind of way?" Seth asked Vanessa cautiously.
She squirmed uncomfortably. Her eyes stared at the ground. She tried to say something, but the words were unintelligible. Vanessa was always so calm and collected; Seth had never seen her like this. He found her nervousness very disconcerting.
Vanessa dug back into her bag and produced a shimmering, bleached scroll. Seth heard Bracken make a strange noise, somewhere between a hiccup and a gasp.
Additionally, Vanessa retrieved a pen that appeared to be glowing, as if it were made of light. The tip was the only truly distinguishable part, marked by a vibrant red.
"Vanessa Santoro-Burgess." To Seth's alarm, Bracken's voice had taken on a lethal edge. "You have precisely one minute to explain yourself before I take you into custody under the law of the Fairy Queen's realm for murder." His eyes held a fire that made Seth question if the paper in Vanessa's hands would instantly spontaneously combust.
"I knew this would be your reaction," she mumbled. "Stan had a similar one."
"For good reason," Bracken stated coldly.
"What is going on?" Seth stood to his feet.
Warren, who had been amazingly quiet while his wife was being charged with murder, was the one to answer him. He gazed into the smoke curling in wisps above the fire.
"What Vanessa is holding is a living document, Seth." His eyes flickered up to meet Seth's. "A living document."
Seth still didn't understand. He looked at the scroll Vanessa held.
"I don't…"
Vanessa held up the document, as if for him to take it. For a brief instance, his skin made contact with the material. He recoiled immediately. Horror seeped into him. Skin. The scroll was made of skin. No human glittered like that though, or was that pale.
"A star," Seth realized.
Vanessa nodded solemnly. "It's called a starskin journal."
"Thirty seconds," Bracken said with a strained voice.
"I was given this by the Sphinx, who I now believe inherited it from Nagi Luna. Any qualms you have could have been settled with her, were she not dead." Vanessa had lost all semblance of discomfort, and was now speaking with the utmost confidence. "I find it to be as vulgar as you do. I kept it only because I knew it was potentially very useful. You cannot and will not take me into custody."
Bracken disagreed. "Even the possession of such a document is treasonous."
"I have sworn no fealty to the Fairy Queen's crown, so treason is not my concern." Vanessa's tone was deadly cold.
"You do not want the Fairy Queen as your enemy," Bracken replied, with matching enmity.
"Right because she'll be oh-so-very gracious when I let her prodigy, her son's girlfriend, die when I had the means to save her," Vanessa snapped.
Bracken looked aghast. He was torn between duty and love. Seth felt for his friend.
"I have an idea," he piped in. "Why don't we use the starskin journal for the duration of our trip, but afterwards Vanessa can promise to get rid of it."
Vanessa arched an eyebrow, but nodded her consent. "I would be willing to acquiesce on those terms."
Bracken scrutinized Vanessa for a moment.
"Every minute wasted here with us now, could mean the difference between life and death for Kendra," Warren reminded him.
"Very well," Bracken said at last. "For Kendra. I have one condition though. Vanessa," he breathed in deeply. "You will allow me to dispose of the journal and the pen myself."
Vanessa nodded, a little too vigorously. Seth couldn't blame her. The starskin journal was revolting, but the idea of destroying it was too much.
"Great," Seth said. "How does it work?"
Vanessa held up the pen. "There are scant few of these scrolls in the world. Each scroll has a counterpart. The material is s- comes from a Star who abides here on earth. Two pieces of paper are taken from the Star, and the blood from the Star's veins in used for ink."
"The pen itself is crafted from moonlight, unremarkable and not novel. Several people own moonlight pens. Bracken could make one now, if he so desired."
"Stars, like unicorns, have the ability to communicate telepathically over long distances. The scroll retains that ability. Write anything on the starskin journal, and the counterpart will receive the message. Obviously starskin journals are considered contraband, but they have their purpose. They have been proven to work across worlds." This was accompanied with a faintly indignant glance in Bracken's general direction.
"Stan Sorenson received the counterpart?" Bracken looked stricken.
"Only after an extremely long argument. Stan may find the starskin journals distasteful, but he accepted that we may have no other means of communicating so far away."
"I could have made something else." Bracken rubbed his temples.
Vanessa shook her head. "You didn't say you were coming for sure until the last minute. And when you did join up, you were too sullen about being away from Kendra to have thought of it."
The unicorn reddened, but said nothing else. He couldn't argue with the facts. Seth was glad he wasn't the only one who had noticed Bracken's alteration in demeanor. But he hadn't put two and two together like Vanessa had.
"Is he watching for messages from us?" Warren asked.
Vanessa nodded, replying, "He's supposed to be checking every hour. That is, as long as nothing has happened to him. I will first ask him a question only he, or one of the family members, would know the answer too. Seth, I'm going to need a question."
Seth sucked in his lips. What would only Grandpa know the answer too? Seth thought back to his first days at Fablehaven. Grandpa had been a stickler for the rules back then. He had given Kendra and Seth so many of them. Seth told Vanessa what to write.
Vanessa wrote in a scrawling hand,
Stan-
When Kendra and Seth first arrived at the preserve you gave them one explicit rule.
What was the reason that you gave them for this rule?
The words faded slowly into the page. Soon it was blank as before.
"Now we wait." No sooner had the words escaped her lips than the reply came.
Vanessa-
Seth and Kendra were told not to go into the woods because there were ticks that carried lime disease.
They all looked at Seth. He nodded his head. Vanessa bent her head and began writing once more.
Stan-
Bracken has had a meeting of the minds with Kendra. We know that she is in trouble. What has happened?
They had to wait a little longer than before for the response, presumably because it was lengthier.
Vanessa-
Kendra was abducted from the preserve approximately forty-eight hours ago. Regrettably, it took us over four hours to discover her absence. We do not know who or what took her. We do not know why she was taken. The Larsens have returned early, and have helped Dale, Ruth, Hugo, and I to search around the preserve. There is no trace of her, except her car was left in the driveway, with a rather large dent in the front.
We have refrained from contacting anybody because of our previous suspicions. We assume the Society is involved.
The news of the meeting of the minds, if you mean it as we understand it to mean, is most unfavorable, but at least Kendra is alive.
Find out what you can.
We are expanding our search, exhausting all leads, and calling in favors.
Let me know when you find out something.
At least Kendra is alive, Seth thought hollowly. As much as she annoyed him, unless it was of his doing, Seth didn't want anything terrible to happen to her. He needed to find her soon.
"What a coincidence that Kendra should go missing and wind up so close to us." Vanessa said with a meaningful look at Warren. Seth felt his stomach do a dance.
Warren went to kneel in front of her. "Seth," he started, not looking away from Vanessa, "where did our information come from again?"
"Well," Seth ran a hand through his hair, "I called in a favor."
"From?"
When Seth had completed his bargain with the Singing Sisters, he went through a series of life-changing adventures. Many glorious victories were his for the taking. Equally as many sobering, near-death encounters were known to him as well. He came to know sufficiently his strengths, unearthed his most crippling weaknesses, and, he thought (though nobody else seemed to) he had matured a great deal.
At one point he had done a favor for a powerful being. He hadn't wanted to, but it was the only advantageous option at the time. She promised him one unconditional favor reserved indefinitely.
When Grandpa Sorenson had confronted them about the problem with the Society, and when they had no other leads, Seth had known it was time to call in his favor.
Grandpa Sorenson would not have approved of who Seth was dealing with, Seth knew. While Seth did not trust the source, he did believe that the source had given him accurate information. She had told Seth that the Society had a new master and he could be caught unawares in the jungles of Venezuela. That was all she had given him.
Seth had told Grandpa that he found this out from a friend that he couldn't reveal. It had taken a lot of bravado to convince his grandfather of the reliability of the information. At the time it hadn't felt like lying so much. He'd been eager to prove himself further to his family. Seth had considered that the only reason his Grandpa had taken his word on the matter was that he was developing some trust in Seth's judgment. Now Seth was mentally kicking himself, feeling miserably guilty from head to toe.
"The Swamp Hag," he said looking at the ground, thinking about melting into the shadows of the night.
Warren just sighed. Vanessa moaned. Bracken put his face in his hands.
If his first misadventure with Muriel had taught him nothing, he should have known otherwise not to go messing about with crazy old women living in confinement on the Fablehaven preserve. Seth ran a hand through his hair.
"But why would the Swamp Hag send us here? How would she have known about Kendra?"
"Whoever is in charge of the Society of the Evening Star now is more cunning than we first believed," Bracken inhaled sharply. "We've played right into their hands."
"What?" Warren and Vanessa turned their heads simultaneously.
"The list of the Eternals. Seth, Kendra, Warren, and Vanessa are a few of the ten names that appear on the semi-final list. The rest are knights who have proven their worth less recently."
Warren finished for him. "If I were an evil mastermind I would go for the opponents that I felt were the biggest threat first, and worry about the rest later."
Seth didn't know whether or not to feel flattered or really, really ticked off. Given the occasion, he went with the latter of the two.
"We need to warn Stan." Vanessa began briskly composing an explanation.
"Where do we go from here?" Vanessa shook her head at her husband. He sat beside her. Together they whispered in hushed, urgent tones as she continued writing.
"I only hope," Bracken said, face still in his hands, "that we are not too late."
Yeah. Seth hoped the same thing.
A big thanks to everyone who has reviewed the story so far. Rest assured, there is more to come. I'm not sure how much, but I promise I won't leave you all hanging (... provided I don't die, the world doesn't end, and the world wide web doesn't crash or something *superstitiously knocks on wood to prevent any of these from happening*).