Chapter 12: Darkness Doubled

As Seth and Kendra both passed through the portal, they felt relieved as they watched the scenery around them shift from that of a volcanic wasteland to the tranquil, peaceful garden situated on the Fablehaven preserve.

Once every last human, fairy and unicorn had emerged from the portal on the Fablehaven side, Bright exerted a small beam of multicolored energy from her horn to dispel the swirling gateway.

"There," said Bright, as she allowed herself to regress back into her fairy angel form. "Nobody from the Demon Domain will be able to follow us."

"Wow," said Sarah, looking around at her surroundings, her smile wide and open. "I haven't heard a lot about your preserve, but I've been told it's a sight to behold. To see it with my own eyes... It truly is a marvel."

"Seth," said Warren, cupping his hand around Seth's ear, "just what exactly have you told this Sarah person?"

"Would you just relax?" asked Seth. "I know we've got a bit of explaining to do, but don't worry. I'm not that stupid."

"Is something wrong?" asked Sarah.

"With all due respect," said Warren, "we're not too keen on having guests showing up unannounced. But, as long as you're here anyway, you might as well come inside and meet the others."

"As long as our work here is done," said Brillia, who had also transformed back into a fairy angel, "I think it's time that my comrades and I headed back."

"I think we've got everything under control now," said Bright. "See you all later!"

Everybody then said goodbye to the five keepers, who flew off in the direction of the naiad's pond.

"Amazing," said Sarah, watching as the five fairy angels flew off. "I've never seen any full-bodied fairies at my uncle's preserve."

"Your uncle also has a preserve?" asked Kendra, as the group proceeded to walk back towards the house.

"Uh-huh. But all the fairies there are small. Come to think of it, you'd think there'd be more fairies near the house. I can't see any at all. And yes, I do have access to magical milk."

"Actually, here comes three," said Clover, as Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod flew up towards the group.

"You're back!" exclaimed Goldenrod, as she and the others fluttered around the group.

"Who's this sweet-looking girl?" asked Larissa, as she flew up in front of Sarah's face, "she seems so... Dark!"

The blue fairy zipped away from Sarah and grabbed onto the hair that was growing down the back of Kendra's head.

"Larissa," said Kendra, who could feel that fairy was trembling in fear, "what's gotten into you?"

"She's not kidding!" said Passion, who along with Goldenrod, was cautiously floating towards Sarah with an outstretched hand, "this girl is emitting a high level of darkness!"

"Look, I understand," said Sarah. "The last time I was at my uncle's preserve, the fairies there didn't take too kindly to my presence."

"But what's wrong with her?" asked Goldenrod. "She's dark, just like Seth!"

"Where'd she even come from?" asked Passion.

By this point, the remainder of Kendra and Seth's family had emerged from the house and came running up towards the group.

"Seth!" exclaimed Mrs. Sorenson, as she ran up to her son and gave him a firm hug. "Oh my god. I'm so glad that you're back and safe."

"Thank you so much," said Mr. Sorenson, as he too hugged Seth. "All of you."

"Who is this?" asked Grandma, pointing towards Sarah.

"This is Sarah," said Seth. "I can tell you've got a few questions for us."

"I'm more grateful to see all of you back," said Grandpa. "But let's all head inside. There is much we need to discuss."

"Dinner will be ready soon," said Mr. Sorenson, as everybody, save for the three garden fairies, entered the house.

"It was crazy!" said Seth. "Both of us got captured and taken to see Murdred! But we got out, thanks to Sarah!"

"Murdred?" gasped Clover. "You met him?"

"Please, take a seat," said Grandpa, as everybody stepped into the living room. Seth made sure to sit down on a couch, next to Sarah.

"I think a couple of explanations are in order," said Bracken, arms crossed. Seth could see that virtually everybody had their eyes fixated on Sarah.

Sarah held up her hand and took a deep breath. "Um, hi. It's nice to meet all of you. My name is Sarah. Sarah Kelly. Seth and I have already met, but would you mind telling me your names?"

Everyone in the room introduced themselves to Sarah, going around in a circle.

Warren clasped his hands together. "Okay. I'm not sure what else to say, but we might as well address the elephant in the room. Sarah, how did you end up as a shadow charmer in the Demon Domain?"

"I guess an explanation is in order," replied Sarah. "I live in Olympia with my mother and father. I won't waste time with my life story, so I'll get straight to the point. My uncle is the caretaker at the Mythic Grove preserve."

"Ah, Mythic Grove," said Grandpa, nodding his head. "I'm not too familiar with the place, but I've heard that it possesses a unique beauty that no photograph can ever truly capture."

"As I was saying," continued Sarah, "every so often, we go to Mythic Grove to visit my uncle and aunt. Because we're very close with him, he felt that my family was trustworthy and let us in on the whole secret of magical creatures. As such, he provides my family with butter made from magical milk for my family to consume."

Grandpa raised his hand. "I see. But becoming a shadow charmer... How exactly did that end up happening?"

Sarah proceeded to tell everybody her story about how she befriended a centaur, who was actually the demoness Darqina in disguise, who tricked her into becoming a shadow charmer.

"You mean, you didn't even want to be a shadow charmer?" asked Bright.

"Of course not! And what good has it done for me? Ever since that awful day, the fairies at Mythic Grove began to fear me every time I returned to the preserve. They used to be my friends. Now they want nothing to do with me."

"That's awful," said Clover. "I really wish there was some way we could help. But we're at a loss of how we could even help Seth."

"Well, how did you wind up a prisoner of Murdred's?" asked Grandpa.

"Murdred has these three adlets who work for him," replied Sarah.

"The same ones who captured me," noted Seth.

"Well, they passed through to this world from the Demon Domain, pinpointed my location and captured me. I found out that Murdred has a powerful eye which he can use to detect darkness in this world, which is how he sensed where I, a shadow charmer, was. He came for me after realizing that other shadow charmers might exist after he met Seth."

"You should be safe here," said Grandpa. "For the time being. The magic that governs this preserve should be powerful enough to block off any otherworldly sensors or portals."

"This Murdred," said Dale. "What exactly was he like?"

"He was pretty awful," said Seth.

"Very judgemental and callous," said Sarah. "He said I was weak just because I'm a girl. He's a chauvinist pig."

Grandma dropped her jaw. "Did he really?"

"Sounds a lot like Coulter," said Kendra, thinking back to how their late friend had refused to entrust Kendra with the same tasks as Seth, simply because he shared a similar opinion.

"Way worse than that," said Seth. "I mean, I didn't get that same treatment, naturally, because I'm a guy. But he seemed pretty domineering and aggressive. He wanted me to turn to the dark side so that he could harness my energy and increase his power."

"At least we're safe here now," said Sarah, placing her arm around Seth's shoulder. "Unless those adlets come back for us."

"I have reason to believe that those adlets cannot travel onto a preserve such as this by means of some unauthorized portal," said Grandpa.

"They wouldn't want to traipse onto a preserve like this one anyway," said Dale. "I've never worked with an adlet before, but I'm positive that three of them wouldn't stand a chance against all the creatures of a preserve."

"Good," said Sarah with a relieved smile. "I never want to see that stupid Murdred ever again!"

"I'm starting to wish I could be anybody else right now," said Seth.

"Why's that?" asked Sarah.

"I have a contractual agreement to fulfil. I have to defeat Murdred. If I ultimately back out, I'm the one who'll die."

Sarah squinted. "Look, I'm not exactly fond of Murdred myself, but I wouldn't go back into the Demon Domain, even if was to kill him."

"It needs to be done," said Bracken. "Like it or not, Seth is obligated to hunt down Murdred and destroy him."

"If Murdred isn't stopped," said Bright, "then your life, Sarah, will still be at risk the moment you leave this preserve."

"It's my fault you got into this whole mess," said Seth. "If I didn't have to go into the Demon Domain in the first place, I never would've been captured. And if I hadn't been captured, Murdred never would've guessed that there could've been another shadow charmer out there. Which means he wouldn't have sought you out."

"Seth," said Sarah. "You were just doing what you had to do. It's not your fault."

"Look, we'll try again," said Warren. "As long as we learn from our mistakes, they'll better prepare us for the next time we enter the Demon Domain."

"Killing Murdred shouldn't be too hard,' said Seth. "So long as we actually find him. Without getting captured, I mean."

"Oh, that reminds me!" said Sarah, reaching into her pocket, "I found this while I was being held captive at Murdred's castle."

Sarah removed the parchment that she had tucked into her pocket and unfurled it in front of the entire group.

"What is that?" asked Grandpa, as he and everybody else eyed the parchment that Sarah had revealed to them.

"I'm... not too sure. I can't decipher what's written on in it. I don't recognize the alphabet, but there's a good chance that it's not of this world."

"May I see it?" asked Kendra. "I possess the ability to decipher a number of magical alphabets."

"Go ahead," said Sarah, presenting the parchment to Kendra.

Kendra looked down at the parchment and was able to read it, as the words that were on it appeared to be written in English. "Well, I can in fact read it."

"Hey, that text is Sylvian," said Bracken, looking over Kendra's shoulder.

"Sylvian?" asked Sarah.

"The native tongue of fairies," said Clover. "While some of us has been enchanted to communicate in human languages, Sylvian is the one we were all raised on."

"What was something written in Sylvian doing in Murdred's castle in the Demon Domain?" asked Warren.

"Kendra, I hate to be the one to ask this of you," said Grandpa, "but do you mind typing out what's been written on that note?"

"Of course," said Kendra. "I can do it right now, if that's okay with all of you. The message doesn't seem to be terribly long."

"Go ahead and use my computer," said Mr. Sorenson. Kendra nodded, then got up from her seat, note in her hand and proceeded to to walk out of the living room and up to the second floor.

"Now then," said Grandpa, "Sarah, I feel that we've interrogated you long enough. I strongly recommend that you call your family."

Sarah's eyes widened. "You're right. Even with all the commotion that's been going on, I haven't actually been gone very long. But I'll call them right away. I don't have my phone on me, though."

"You're welcome to use the phone in my study," said Grandpa. "Come on, I'll show you where it is."

"Thank you," said Sarah, as she and Grandpa both got out of their seats and Grandpa led her out of the living room.

"Where's Sarah going to go now?" asked Seth.

"Back home, I presume," said Grandma. "She needs to be with her family."

"But what about the adlets? If we send Sarah away, Murdred, the negafae and the adlets will..."

"Negafae?" gasped Bright.

"Yeah, there's these two negafae whom I guess you could say are kinda like Murdred's aides."

"Are they human sized?" asked Clover. "Like us?"

Seth nodded.

"Ho boy," uttered Bracken. "If they're full-sized, that means they've been granted incredible abilities, on par with those of a fairy angel."

"There's only two of them," said Seth. "I hope."

"In the Demon Domain?" asked Bright. "They'd have a major advantage against us."

Warren, Bracken and Bright then went on to tell Seth and the others as to how the two unicorns had ultimately succumbed to the darkness of the Demon Domain, became nightmares, and were only restored due to an overwhelming force of light energy.

"Man," said Seth, after absorbing all that information. "I had no idea. I guess if we go back to the Demon Domain, I won't exactly be able to count on you guys for backup."

"I don't know how we intend to use fairy magic in the Demon Domain," said Bracken. "We're at a complete disadvantage there. And weapons like swords. Or guns," he said as he eyed Warren, "will only go so far,"

A moment later, Grandpa and Sarah walked back into the living room.

"Okay," said Grandpa, as he sat back down in his seat. "I just got off the phone with Sarah's parents. We've decided to let Sarah stay here at Fablehaven for the time being."

"Really?" asked Seth, as Sarah down next to him again and he high-fived her. "That's awesome!"

"Wait," said Clover. "What about the fairies? Having one shadow charmer around has already been problematic. A second one will only worsen things. No offense, Sarah."

"To be frank, Clover," said Grandpa. "As long as there aren't any fairies in the area, having a second shadow charmer on the property shouldn't be problematic for either side, so long as the two parties don't cross paths with one another."

"I don't exactly want to be here forever," said Sarah. "The way I see it, if you can find a way to defeat Murdred, you might even be able to stop his negafae. They're the ones who provide him and his adlets with access to our world."

"Well, I'm open to suggestions," said Seth, as Kendra came rushing down the stairs, holding a piece of printed paper in her hand.

"This is incredible," said Kendra, as she made her way into the living room and sat down.

"What's incredible?" asked Seth.

"Well, I translated that parchment. And according to it, there's a relic out there called the Necromaster."

"Necromaster?" asked Grandpa. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"What's the big deal?" asked Seth. "What's a Necromaster, and what does it do?"

"It's some sort of mystic object that possesses the power to kill anything almost effortlessly," said Kendra, passing the note over to Warren for him to read.

"Kill anything?" asked Grandma. "I can understand why Murdred would have information on such a thing, but why would it be written in Sylvian?"

"Can negafae even read Sylvian?" asked Seth. "I don't care what they said, they just seemed like dark fairies to me."

"I'm guessing not," said Sarah. "Or else they would've done something with that note."

"I don't know where this thing came from," said Warren, passing the parchment over to Grandpa. "But no wonder Murdred would've been interested in it. If he had the Necromaster in his arsenal, he'd be virtually unstoppable."

"If this thing was written in Sylvian," said Kendra, "my question is, why? Why would fairies have any desire to ever own, let alone create, such a devastating tool?"

"Well, the note didn't really go into much detail," said Grandpa, passing the note over to Seth.

"It did talk about where the Necromaster had been hidden away," said Kendra.

"Where?" asked Sarah, eyeing the note that Seth was currently reading.

"Underneath Lake Superior," replied Seth. "Inside a vault known as the Floodmaze. Hey, you think if we had this Necromaster, we could use it to kill Murdred?"

"I don't know," replied Bracken. "If it's a magical object, it might not even work in the Demon Domain."

"Not necessarily," said Kendra. "According to the note, the Necromaster is a relic from the Demon Domain."

"So, if we had this Necromaster, we could use it to get the drop on Murdred!" said Seth. "We could take hold of what Murdred wanted so badly in the first place and use it against him!"

"I'm all for it," said Sarah. "The sooner we can stop Murdred, the better!"

Bracken blew a loud whistle using his fingers. "Now hold on a moment. The only reason we've messed up in the Demon Domain is because we either don't know what we're doing, or where we're supposed to be going. Even if we had this Necromaster, we'd still be lost."

"What are you proposing?" asked Kendra.

"That we do not make any effort towards recovering this Necromaster. It sounds incredibly dangerous, and it would not be of much use to us. What we need to do is find a method of reaching Murdred once we go back to the Demon Domain. The Necromaster, just because Murdred is so intent in getting his claws on it, is not something we need to concern ourselves with. I'd feel safer knowing that it's locked up in a vault rather than in our collection."

"Well, dinner's almost ready," said Mrs. Sorenson, as she got up from her seat. "Sarah, we've always got plenty of food, so you're welcome to join us."

"Thank you, Mrs. Sorenson," said Sarah.

"Oh, and Sarah," said Grandpa, "we have a guest bedroom on the second floor that you can use while you're staying here. We'll show it to you after dinner."

"Great!" said Sarah. "As much as I want to go home, I'm grateful that you're willing to accommodate me."

"Hey," said Seth with a grin. "What are friends for?"