Based on characters from Fablehaven© by Brandon Mull. The original characters and plot details are my property. No copyright infringement intended.
Kendra walked into the kitchen and sat in the chair next to her grandmother who was peeling a huge sack of potatoes. Kendra picked up a peeler and began assisting her grandmother.
"Grandma, I was wondering about Warren's cabin. While I was cleaning up I was trying to figure out how old it was. I was wondering who built it. Do you know?" Kendra asked innocently.
"Hmm, I believe Patton's uncle built it but I'm not sure when it was built," she replied. "We can look it up in the history."
Kendra peeled for a while then she sighed. Repeating her worried actions of the last few weeks seemed like a good idea. If she suddenly became happy after so many weeks of unhappiness, her family would consider her either suspicious or really crazy.
"What's the matter Kendra? Didn't you have a good visit with Bracken?" Ruth asked. She knew why the girl was sighing. She had hoped that Bracken's visit would have eased the girl's mind a bit.
"Yes, but something he said got me thinking again. You know I'm worried about Raxtus, what if he got out of the sanctuary and can't get back in. Maybe that is why we can't find him. Maybe he is confused or invisible trying to find a way back in. Is his name in the register?"
"I don't remember his name needing to be there because he usually came through the shrine but we may have added it after the shrine was destroyed. We added so many during that time. If it isn't in the register it should be," Ruth said, surprised that they hadn't thought of it earlier. "You could be right. Let's finish these potatoes and go check. I'll add it if it needs to be, then we will take a look at the history," she said and finished the potato she was peeling.
Ruth thought Kendra's worries might have some merit. At least now she was coming up with legitimate concerns instead of her earlier, childish what ifs.
"That reminds me Bracken had a request to add someone to the register also. He's got a tracker coming to see if he can find Raxtus. That's what he told me when he left. He said to tell you he would be back later with more information.
"He wrote down his name, I've got it here somewhere," she said fumbling around feeling for the note. "Here it is." She pulled the note from her back pocket and laid it on the table in front of her grandmother.
"Nicely acted," a whisper came from nowhere. It was so soft she was sure that her grandmother hadn't heard it but this time it didn't tickle either of her ears so she couldn't tell where it came from.
Leander was no longer in Seth's room. He could follow her and Grandma Ruth everywhere they went. This wasn't good; there were secrets that shouldn't be shared. One of them was where they kept the register.
She gasped at his whisper.
"What?" Grandma asked in response to her gasp.
"Oh nothing, just a paper cut," she lied and stuck her finger in her mouth.
"So Bracken hired a tracker? Huh, he must also be worried to go to that trouble," Grandma said as she took a quick look at the paper then went back to peeling potatoes. "I guess it's the next logical step," she said to the potato in her hand.
Kendra half laughed at her grandmother's joke. She saw movement from the corner of her eye and turned looking at the stairs. She saw Leander. He flashed in and out of visibility giving thumbs up to Seth who stood at the top grinning like an idiot at her.
Grandma had her back to the stairs and didn't see anything.
Boys are such…children, she thought. She got up from the table and walked to the door looking up the stairs. She saw them both go up the second set of stairs toward Seth's room. Seth was shaking with laughter; she could just hear it now. She felt much better knowing that it was one of her brother's stupid jokes not Leander being sneaky. It was probably payback for having Leander ask him about the toilet.
Kendra helped her grandmother start the potatoes cooking before they headed upstairs to add names to the register.
"I don't know why we didn't think of this earlier. We had to add Celebrant to the register so he could come and search for Raxtus himself. So I need to add this one too, huh? Leander Day, tracker. What do you know about this guy?" she asked as she searched for Raxtus' name.
"Nothing. Bracken decided it was time to really start looking so he found a tracker. He gave me his name for the register," Kendra hedged. "I guess he must be good if Bracken wants him. He will probably explain when he comes back."
"Here's his name sweetie; don't worry any more. He could get back in if he needed to," she said soothingly to Kendra.
Kendra breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Leander's name also go into the thick register.
"The tracker must be really good; I hope that he does find him. It is terrible not knowing what happened to the little dragon. Him being able to go invisible has made this even harder, but it has kept Celebrant from burning this place to the ground looking for him," she said as she locked the register in its hiding place.
"He wouldn't have; would he?" Kendra asked surprised and shocked.
"I don't know but he was really frantic when he came looking. He thought we weren't doing enough, yelled at Bracken about something. He learned better when the Fairy Queen sent a message to him.
"Oh goodness," she said looking at the clock on the wall. "I didn't realize it was so late. Let's finish getting supper ready before the potatoes are done," she said heading down the stairs. "We'll check the history later."
After dinner, Seth and Kendra managed to smuggle only a chicken leg and two rolls for Leander to eat. Leander's stomach continued to grumble and Seth had to keep him from trying to chew up the bone.
"We don't eat bones," he pulled the leg bone out of Leander's hand before he put it back into his mouth again. "Our teeth and stomachs aren't designed to handle it."
"Thanks, I didn't know," Leander replied. "I'm so hungry."
"I'll get you some more food after everyone goes to sleep. I usually sneak down about midnight for a snack," he promised Leander.
Leaving the kitchen just after midnight, Seth carried a plate of food, crept back up the stairs quietly in the shadows. He liked using his stealth skills even if it was only sneaking food to his room in the middle of the night. He opened the door to his room and listened for any movement downstairs, he heard nothing. He silently closed the door and flipped on the light.
"Come and get it," Seth said softly as he pulled the napkin off the plate of food.
"I'm starving," Leander whispered, reappearing in the middle of the room his stomach grumbled loudly. He took the overfull plate and sat down at the table and began to eat.
"Sorry, I just couldn't get a midnight snack too early; someone might not be asleep yet," Seth said apologetically and handed him a fork.
"Umm?" was all that Leander could say with his mouth full, chicken leg in one hand and roll in the other, he knew how to eat these. He looked cautiously at the fork in Seth's hand.
"Just use it like a shovel so you don't get your fingers dirty," Seth said laughing and sat it on the table next to the plate. It was fascinating to Seth that you could almost tell what Leander was thinking just by watching his face. Every thought and emotion was plain, unsullied by a lifetime of misleading others about his true feelings.
Leander chewed the chicken meat in his mouth and looked at the fork uneasily.
"You won't accidentally change back into a dragon when you fall asleep will you?" Seth nervously asked Leander the question that had been on the tip of his tongue all evening.
"No, I don't think that is possible, it is a seriously controlled act of will to change. Don't worry about that happening," he said when he had swallowed his mouthful of food.
"Are you going to sleep in your boxers or do you need some pajamas."
"What are boxers? What are pajamas?" Leander asked looking at Seth.
"Ok… I guess you need pajamas," Seth said rolling his eyes. "Uh, boxers are underwear. Don't ask me why we wear clothes under our clothes. I'm not sure where it came from but we just do.
"Pajamas are clothes specifically to sleep in," Seth said digging in his dresser for pajama bottoms. "I'm wearing my boxers," he said pulling a pair of pajama pants from the drawer.
Leander's stomach grumbled but before he took another bite, he picked up the fork and stabbed at the food. He pushed the fork under a pile of green vegetables and shoveled them into his mouth. It worked and the green stuff tasted good too. He chewed and tried it again.
"Here, use these. Good thing we are about the same size. When you're done with your food, go take a shower and put these on," Seth said and laid the pajamas over the back of one of the chairs.
"I'm going to sleep," he yawned broadly, pulled off his jeans and flopped into his bed. "Oh yah 'n turn out the light before you go to sleep," he said as he pulled the covers over himself and closed his eyes.
Leander hungrily ate the food on the plate half listening to Seth as he mumbled his final words. Now Seth's soft slow breathing was the only sound in the room besides his chewing, swallowing and the fork hitting the plate.
His second real meal as a human, and it was wonderful. He chewed each bite with relish enjoying the flavors, very happy with the tastes, smells and textures. The various consistencies and spices of each different portion were something he had never experienced as a carnivorous dragon. Food had just been food, well actually just raw meat. Now each mouthful was an event. As his final bite went into his mouth he felt full but also felt satisfied and happy.
He swallowed and remembered Seth told him to take a shower. Earlier he had asked Seth to show him how the bathroom worked when Kendra had been hesitant. When Seth did, Leander knew the reason for her reluctance. Even Leander blushed when Seth explained the other use of the zipper on his jeans besides taking them off. Seth could talk about anything, he had no fear but it seemed nothing embarrassed him either.
Seth had taken him to the bathroom and explained the toilet, the sink and the shower. He flushed the toilet and turned on the faucets of the sink and shower to show him how they worked. He also explained about waiting until the water heated up so you could adjust it and not get scalded or chilled. He told him what soap to use and where to use it. He was even thorough enough to explain how to dry his hair with a towel.
Leander picked up the pajama pants and quietly walked down the stairs to the bathroom, closed and locked the door as Seth had warned him to do before he turned on the light. He turned on the hot water in the shower. He stripped off his t-shirt. When he pulled on the bow in the gauze belt, it unraveled and his loose jeans fell to the floor. He used the toilet while waiting for the water to heat.
Everything was so different, so strange but exciting in its apparent routineness. He looked at his new body in the mirror – his normal body – he looked normal, human normal. He couldn't help but smile. Humans did this kind of thing every day and he could look forward to doing this now that he was human.
He felt the air heated from the flowing water in the shower so he turned on the cold water and adjusted it to a temperature he felt comfortable with and stepped into the shower. A shiver of pleasure ran down his back as the pressure from the warm spray of water tingled on his skin.
He used the soap and washed his body. Fingers, hands, silky soap and the rough texture of the washcloth, it all felt strange and wonderful on his smooth skin.
He no longer had rough scales but he didn't really remember that part anyway. He realized he couldn't remember what it was like to be a dragon. He didn't know how to be a human yet but he had forgotten what it was like to be a dragon. Should he be concerned?
No, I'm happy, he thought as he sat on the floor of the tub and scrubbed his feet.
When he scrubbed the soles of his feet, it tickled. Though he didn't know what tickling was he felt the extraordinary shiver as his foot sought to escape his own hand and a silly laugh formed in his throat. When he tried again it happened again, even his other foot did it. He was delighted as another strange and wonder human experience happened to him.
Washing his hair was a pleasurable experience too until his fingers tangled in his long hair as he worked the lather into his scalp. He was amazed how it hurt to pull on a strand or two but wasn't so bad if he tugged on a handful of his hair. He had never had to deal with his hair before.
He rinsed off all of the soap and stood in the spray enjoying the feeling until the water started to run cooler, he quickly turned off the water. He dried off and pulled on the elastic waist pajamas. He wrapped his clothes up into a bundle and turned off the bathroom light. He slowly opened the door and guided by the faint light from above quietly climbed the stairs to Seth's room.
He closed the bedroom door and turned off the light. In the dark he dropped his clothes on the floor at the end of the bed and crawled under the covers. It had been a long day but he was wound up, his mind was still racing. He thought about his new life as a human and yawned. His body, warm and relaxed from the shower and full of food, had other ideas. Lying on the soft bed his eyes closed, his head nodded and Leander fell asleep.