Based on characters from Fablehaven© by Brandon Mull. The original characters and plot details are my property. No copyright infringement intended.
"I guess I'll just have to let nature take its course and find clues to what I am," he said after no one spoke for many minutes.
"I want to find the girl in my dream. Maybe she could tell me something. I wish I knew more about her," Leander said and continued to worry. "I didn't dream of her when I was sleeping last night."
"The room is warded, even if she could get to your dreams she wouldn't be able to get through the wards. You are going to have to sleep somewhere other than this room if you want to see if you can contact her in your dreams," Bracken informed him wondering now how that was supposed to work when according to his information it could only occur when the dragon was still in the egg. Had Celebrant lied to him?
"Where would be a safe place?" Leander asked.
"The little barn is still protected. The distractor spell will keep everyone out but us. You will have to let us take you in because it will repel you now also," Bracken said wearily his head on his crossed arms now resting on the table.
"Well I guess it's time for Leander the tracker to start his search for Raxtus the missing dragon," Leander said, wanting to get started finding the mysterious girl that could reach him in his dream.
"You got his name in the register?" Bracken drowsily asked Kendra.
"Yes, that is all done; both Raxtus and Leander are written there," she affirmed.
"We need to let them know that you are welcome to stay with me," Seth said. "That way you can get an early start each morning." He thought of any excuse to have his friend remain close to him.
"So let's go and get me introduced to everyone," he said eager to start his search.
"I guess I need to be the one to do the introductions," Bracken said yawning yet again as he lifted his head from the table. "Let's see. I think we should go out to the woods on the other side of the garden and come in as if we are coming in from the gate. Humans can't come through the shrine. After that you will be able to come and go from the gate as you wish," Bracken said thinking about how to handle the situation the best for Kendra and Seth. He wanted everyone to be comfortable including Leander.
"So I need to be invisible to get to the gate, how am I going to become visible without twenty fairies seeing me? They follow you everywhere, Bracken," Leander asked concerned about his secret now.
"Oh no! No, no. We will go pick you up from the airport, Kendra and I will take my truck to get you," Seth chimed in, shaking his head, totally ignoring everything Bracken said. "You can hide in the backseat until we get out of Fablehaven.
"Bracken, he needs to see more of the world just to get his head on straight, he's pretty clueless," Seth rolled his eyes, he needed to set these guys straight. "Sorry Leander, there is a lot that you have missed being a dragon all of your life and not just breakfast, zippers and showers."
Kendra blushed at his reference and wonder what Leander had thought of the shower. It was obvious that he had taken one since she had seen him last night, but Seth had given him the most dreadful clothes to wear, worse than the ones they had taken from Warren's cabin. He looked like a baggy hobo.
"No matter how many movies you watched as a dragon you need 'hands on' experience. We can show you around town and show you things you need to know about the area. Maybe take you for lunch at our favorite place. Teach you how to eat and act like a teenage boy," Seth laughed.
"You will need a suitcase and clothes to wear. Grandma would be very suspicious if you didn't have piles of dirty laundry every night. Especially if you are searching the preserve every day, it is hot work believe me. You will need shampoo and deodorant… toothbrush. Stuff like that. Do you shave yet?" Seth looked closely at Leander's face. "Probably not. If you did you would already have stubble 'cause you haven't shaved in… what? …three days… since you became human."
Leander just stared at him as if he was speaking another language, which of course Seth was, he was speaking young human male.
Kendra gawked at Seth too. He was a fount of information that she would have never thought of. Leander would need all the belongings and equipment of both a human and a tracker.
"You are right. Somehow, I need get some of my hoard. I'll need money if I have to buy stuff," he said thinking about his new needs. "Somehow I need to go to my cave and…"
"You have a hoard? Why didn't I know about that? I could go for you," Seth perked right up, remembering the one he had looted before.
Kendra cringed. "Okay, Seth how much is it going to cost him for you to go and get his money?"
"What? Kendra you hurt my feelings. Do you think I would charge my friend for my services?" Seth feigned a hurt look.
"Oh, now I'm really worried. Leander you better have him bring the whole thing or you will go back and it will be all gone," Kendra said in warning.
"Kendra!" Seth yelled outraged.
"See, I caught him!" she laughed humorlessly and stared at Seth.
"I don't have anywhere to put it, besides it is quite substantial and probably better off where it is. Even if Seth finds out where it is I trust him," Leander said looking at Seth significantly.
"Thank you for that Leander. See Kendra, not everyone thinks I'm bad," Seth said noticing the implications in Leander's glance. Yeah, he trusts me… to a point. He's still a possessive dragon.
"Not everyone knows you like I do," Kendra said seriously.
"Where is it?" Bracken asked. Both Leander and Seth looked up at Bracken suspiciously as if he was trying to steal their gold mine.
"I'm only asking because if it is in a sanctuary Seth will need a reason for going and maybe we can come up with a reason for him being there," he explained fending off their suspicious stares.
"It's …" Leander started to answer the nonspecific question with a nonspecific answer.
"Never mind," Seth interrupted. "It will take me a while to get the hoard no matter where it is and you need to be here today. I will buy you a suitcase and some clothes. You can pay me back later," Seth volunteered. "You don't need to have a brand new suitcase so we can go to the resale shop and get an old one. Check out the clothes there too, you can't have all new clothes either," he added.
"You are just about the sneakiest boy, Seth Sorenson. You know all the tricks don't you," Kendra said amazed at his sensible but wily reasoning. "Do you just sit around and think of this stuff?"
"No, it just comes naturally!" he replied indignantly. "Do you want my help or not!"
"Sorry, you are right," Kendra apologized, conditionally. "I'll stop picking on you … for now."
"You are going with us Bracken. We will need you to identify your new tracker at the airport. Have you tried the food at the new restaurant in town?" Seth went on without a second look at his sister.
"I guess we should be going if we are going to do this today," Bracken agreed but he was so tired he couldn't manage to get up.
"Bracken, you are about to fall out of your chair, you need a nap before we go. How long have you been awake?"
"Um, too long, counting last night's multi-sanctuary dash," he answered sleepily.
"The airport is two hours away if we leave after lunch it will be soon enough, since we really aren't going there. They wouldn't let him start searching until tomorrow morning anyway. Take a nap and we will discuss our shopping trip," Kendra told him knowing he would recover quickly with a short nap.
"Sounds good to me I'm almost asleep already," Bracken yawned.
"Use my bed," Seth offered and helped him up out of the chair.
Bracken staggered the few feet to the bed and collapsed. He fell asleep immediately.
Two hours later Ruth brought lunch up for the three of them and fortunately, she brought up enough for four. Leander's stomach had been growling almost constantly by lunch time. Kendra was worried that it would grumble while her grandmother was in the room but during the time Leander was invisible there were no sounds from him.
Seth moved the books out of the way, as she sat the tray of food on the table.
"He looked so tired when he came in this morning to talk to us about the tracker," Ruth commented looking over at Bracken sound asleep on Seth's bed.
"As soon as he is rested we are going to pick up the tracker from the airport," Kendra told her.
"Oh? He didn't tell us that part," she looked at her granddaughter questioningly.
"I guess he was too tired, it must have slipped his mind," she smiled innocently.
"I'm glad he is getting some rest," she smiled in return.
"Oh, we were boring him with our school work. I think he fell asleep in self defense," Seth told her jokingly.
As soon as she left the room, Leander and Seth set about eating almost the entire tray of food. Kendra had to snatch a few items for herself and Bracken before they ate it all.
Shortly before three o'clock when Kendra thought that Bracken's nap was sufficient she woke him. They filled him in on what they had talked about doing in town while he ate the sandwich Kendra had managed to save for him.
"Okay, I'll meet you at the truck. Someone will have to open the door for me. It would look suspicious for it to open by itself," Leander said anxious to get going and then he abruptly disappeared.
"Ha ha! That never get's old, wish I could do that," Seth laughed and headed for the door.
The three of them walked down the stairs and found a rare sight Grandpa Stan and Dad reading reports in the study.
"Dad we are going to take Bracken to the airport to pick up the tracker. We will probably eat dinner out too. We will be back with him after eight," Kendra said, quickly calculating the round trip to the airport and added an hour for dinner.
"Sure Honey. Bracken, are you sure this guy can find something we haven't?" Scott asked looking up from his reports. He had heard second hand about the tracker. He wanted to get it straight from Bracken.
Scott and his father were out doing their early morning chores when Bracken had told Ruth and Marla about the tracker earlier that morning.
"I'm sure that if Raxtus is out there this tracker will find him," Bracken said confidently.
"Okay, drive safe and we will see you when you get home. I look forward to meeting this tracker," he replied nodding and looking optimistic.
"Dad, I want to offer to let him stay up in my room, that way he can get an early start on his search tomorrow. Bracken says he is a cool guy," Seth said quickly.
"He may have different ideas about where he wants to stay. Dad what do you think?" he was doubtful about Seth's strange offer.
"I was planning on putting him up in one of the guest rooms," Stan said, thoughtfully. "Bracken, how old is Leander?"
"He is 16, Seth's age. I know that seems very young for me to be so sure of his talent but he is very skilled when it comes to tracking. Sort of like Kendra and Seth are very skilled with their abilities. The wards in Seth's room wouldn't be a problem," Bracken said to reassure them. He made sure he compared him to Seth and Kendra so it was assumable that Leander was human.
"Then he is welcome if he's agreeable," Stan granted.
"Great!" Seth heard the soft happy whisper in his ear.
Yes, Seth mouthed and smiled.
Kendra stood with the truck door open while she waved goodbye to her mother who was looking out the kitchen window. She put her foot on the running board so when the truck reacted to Leander's weight entering the vehicle it looked like she had made the truck rock. He slid into the backseat and Kendra hopped into the seat next to him.
A few miles down the road from Fablehaven Leander reappeared next to Kendra. They had been talking to him. His disembodied voice filled the truck still Kendra flinched when he reappeared.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he apologized as she reacted with surprise at his sudden appearance.
"That's ok, it's not like I didn't know you were there," she replied, blushing at her silliness.
When they reached the city they went to the resale shop and found a decent used suitcase and some fairly nice used clothes that fit Leander just fine, especially for doing dirty tracking work. They looked better on him than the baggy clothes that Seth had loaned him and he was still wearing.
Kendra made them stop at a local department store. She thought he needed to arrive at a new job in nice new clothes. She didn't want Seth to lead Leander too far down the gross boy track.
She found a shirt and some jeans that did him justice. When he emerged from the dressing room for Kendra to check the fit, several girls stopped to stare. She smiled and arched her eyebrows at him when he noticed the audience he had. He blushed attractively and retreated to the dressing room.
They purchased his toiletries, underwear and socks and still had over three hours before they needed to head home.
Seth thought that the electronics shop and hardware/sporting goods store in town were great places to shop for gear for a professional 'tracker'.
Next door to the electronics shop was a Laundromat on one side and the hardware/sporting goods store on the other. Kendra convinced them to wash the clothes, even the new ones. She and Bracken sat close and talked waiting on the clothes to wash while Leander and Seth went shopping in the electronics store.
They found an inexpensive GPS for Leander, and Seth found a few things he wanted. Leander followed Seth around trying to look like he knew what was going on.
Leander stuck his head in the door of the Laundromat as they passed and let them know they were changing stores.
Kendra and Bracken joined them in the hardware store while the clothes dried; Bracken put a spell on the dryer so no one else could open it.
Leander was full of questions and Seth was full of answers. Kendra burst out laughing several times at their choice of topics. Bracken just smiled and shook his head but added good advice when Seth's seemed a little shaky.
Seth bought him a backpack with self-contained water pack and a few items Seth thought he would need if he were going to be roaming around the sanctuary for hours every day, including a compass, flashlight and matches and some emergency food. Kendra laughed to herself; Leander was getting a new and more expensive version of Seth's old survival kit. They used up their time until the clothes were ready.
Kendra had Leander go to the men's room in the Laundromat to put on the new clothes for his arrival in Fablehaven. He couldn't arrive in Seth's old stuff or in the resale shop hand-me-downs. If he was a professional tracker he needed to look good on his first day at work. They returned to the truck and packed his suitcase with the toiletries and freshly washed and folded clothes.
The new well decorated restaurant in town had good food. Leander spent the entire time watching the wait staff coming and going from the kitchen, asking how the whole thing worked. Finally, Seth asked the waitress if he could take Leander to the kitchen.
The young woman led the way flirting with them the entire time. Seth noticed her apparent flirting but Leander was clueless.
On the way back from the kitchen, Seth introduced him to public restroom etiquette. Seth returned laughing and the stunned expression on Leander's face was hilarious.
The ride home they filled with tracker stories they had heard and acting lessons for Leander and Kendra. They thought up questions someone might ask and the appropriate answers. They laughed, joked and were having a good time.
When they turned on the road toward the sanctuary, they got serious and as they got even closer, the mood became tense.
Kendra was only slightly nervous about their plan. Bracken and Leander were very smart and Seth was sneakier than anyone she knew and he believed it would work.
Although they knew better, they all held their breath as they drove slowly hoping that Leander would be able to make it through the gate. When nothing happened, there were four deep breaths and a renewed determination that this would go well.