Chapter 23: Back at Home

Having been airborne for no more than an hour, Seth looked around at the clouds that surrounded him, the other three riders, and the the dragons. Like mountains of cotton floating in the sky, being up among the clouds was always truly a remarkable sight that never seemed to get old for him.

Looking over at Ingrid, Seth could see that she had gotten over her initial fear of falling off of Raxtus. Not that she was in any real danger of falling to begin with.

"I think we're pretty much there," said Geminus.

"At Fablehaven?" asked Sarah. "How can you be so sure?"

"It's instinct," replied Raxtus. "Kinda like how birds are able to migrate."

"What's this all about?" asked Ingrid. "I can't understand that squawking."

"We're about to go down," said Warren. "Um, but not too suddenly, Raxtus."

The two dragons then nodded, and proceeded to soar down beneath the clouds. Their speed increasing as they descended further, Seth could see the forest beneath them coming into view. Before long, they had approached the ground, where the house at Fablehaven could be seen in the distance.

Raxtus and Geminus flew up towards the yard and brought themselves to a landing, both bending forward to provide their riders with a way to get down easily.

"We're here!" said Seth, climbing down off of Geminus. "Wasn't that fun, girls?"

As Warren climbed down off of Raxtus, he and Seth noticed that Ingrid, who appeared to be terrified, was hyperventilating.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Warren.

"Holy..." gasped Ingrid. "I thought we were going to plunge to our deaths!"

Warren chuckled to himself, as he offered to help Ingrid down off of Raxtus.

"What is this place?" asked Ingrid, looking around at her surroundings.

"Welcome to Fablehaven," said Seth. "This is a preserve where magical creatures seek refuge."

"I still don't believe it."

"I can see we've got quite a bit of explaining to do," said Warren. "Right now, you should probably just meet the family. Come on!"

Seth, Warren, Sarah and Ingrid walked up towards the house and made their way onto the porch. Warren then unlocked the front door and led the others inside.

"You're back!" said Grandma, as they walked into the foyer.

"In here," said Grandpa, his voice coming from the living room. "There is much we need to discuss!"

The group walked into the living room, where Kendra, Grandma, Grandpa, Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson and Dale were all seated. Seth ran up to his family members and gave each of them a hug.

"Everybody," said Seth. "This is Ingrid. Ingrid, I'd like you to meet my sister Kendra, my parents Marla and Scott, my grandparents Stan and Ruth and my cousin Dale, who's also Warren's brother."

"Welcome, Ingrid," said Grandma, as she sniffed the air. "Um, before we begin... um you kind of... well... smell."

Ingrid huffed. "I'm sorry. It's just that I don't get many opportunities to bathe."

"We're not mad at you. But, would you mind taking a quick shower upstairs?"

"My clothes would still smell."

"I can lend you some of mine," said Kendra, eyeing Ingrid. "You look to be around my size."

"Very well," said Grandma, "Seth and Kendra, show Ingrid to the bathroom. And Kendra, go select some of your clothes for Ingrid to wear."

Kendra and Seth led Ingrid upstairs and over to the bathroom door.

"I'll be right back," said Kendra, as she scurried up to her bedroom, grabbed a change of clothes out of her dresser, then brought them back downstairs.

"I showed her which towels she can use," said Seth.

"Thank you," said Ingrid, accepting the clothing from Kendra, as she slipped through the bathroom door and locked it behind herself.

Kendra waited for Ingrid to hurry up, until she could hear that the shower was running from the other side of the door.

"Seth, who is this girl?" exclaimed Kendra. "First Sarah, now her?"

"Look, it's not anybody's fault," said Seth. "She got pulled into the Demon Domain completely by accident."

Kendra rolled her eyes.

"Look, this isn't one of those times where I'm lying just to get my own way! You've got to believe me!"

"Let's go back downstairs so that you can explain this to everyone."

Kendra and Seth walked back down to living room, where the rest of their family was still seated.

"Okay," said Seth, as he plopped himself down on a sofa and raised his hands. "You probably all want to know just who this Ingrid even is."

"Well... yes," said Grandpa. "She's a complete stranger. And unlike Sarah, she doesn't have any association with the Knights of the Dawn."

"Look, she's homeless. The only reason she even wound up in the Demon Domain was because Xillch carried her in by accident when Helwic and the adlets were looking for victims to use for an elixir that they wanted me to drink."

"I understand that you wanted to help her. But a person like Ingrid has no business at Fablehaven! She can't stay here!"

"Please!" said Seth. "What else are we supposed to do?"

"We'll talk about Ingrid later," said Grandma. "Now, what were you saying about an elixir?"

"I don't know what it was all about," said Seth, "but they were putting together some elixir that, had I consumed it, would've turned me evil against my own will. If it weren't for Sarah's help, I might've had to drink that elixir."

"So they wanted you to turn evil," said Warren. "But, why?"

"Because I'm a shadow charmer. I don't understand it myself, but Helwic claimed that if a shadow charmer were to drink this elixir and become evil, Murdred could increase his power through theirs, and he would become strong enough to raid our world."

"And how did you escape from the Demon Domain, anyway?" asked Kendra.

"I found a wand," said Sarah. Seth nodded in agreement. "I think it belonged to one of the negafae. I wasn't very good with it, but I was able to use its power to free Seth and Ingrid and get us back to this world."

"This wand," said Grandpa. "Where is it?"

"I'm not sure," said Sarah, feeling around in her pockets. "I think I might've lost it during all the commotion after leaving the Demon Domain. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," said Seth. "You rescued Ingrid and myself, twice!"

"It's probably for the best, anyway," said Grandma. "The wand of some negafae doesn't sound like the sort of thing I'd want any of us to get involved with."

"So, where do we go from here?" asked Seth. "If we go back to the Demon Domain and get captured again, I could be a goner!"

Warren smiled. "Seth, you seem to be forgetting something. We've got the Necromaster."

"That's right!" exclaimed Sarah. "I recall hearing about that!"

"Well, we traveled to Lake Superior," said Kendra, "and with the help of our old friend Mariana, we..."

"Mariana?" gasped Seth, who couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You met up with Mariana? Without me?"

"We didn't really have all that much of a choice," said Warren. "So we traveled to Duskreef Lagoon and met up with Mariana. From there, we dove down into the Floodmaze."

"Mariana," moaned Seth, "I would've loved to see her again."

The group continued to tell Seth about their adventure in the Floodmaze, the exploits of which only continued to make Seth more and more jealous.

"You guys fought a five-headed eel? No fair!"

"It was not a five-headed eel," stated Warren, "it was only five one-headed enormous electric eels. That lived in a massive turtle shell."

Seth shook his head in disbelief. "Why'd I have to miss all the fun? Stupid Murdred."

"Well, at least now you guys have the Necromaster," said Sarah.

"If only we understood how it works," noted Warren, holding up the triangular relic. "Mind you, we haven't really had any opportunity to test it out."

"Can I see it?" asked Seth, extending his hand.

"I'd rather you didn't," said Grandpa. "The last thing we need is for a shadow charmer to be handling an item like the Necromaster. No offense to anyone present. But, the darkness within your bodies along with the properties of the Necromaster could be a dangerous mix."

"I understand," said Sarah.

"The only problem we've run into so far," said Warren, "is that the Necromaster doesn't seem to be emitting any sort of dark vibrations."

"Well, maybe I should touch it, then," said Seth. "If this thing is a tool of the Demon Domain, then perhaps a touch of darkness would reignite its spark, similar to how Kendra's touch can restore de-powered artifacts."

"Okay," said Warren, setting the relic down on the coffee table. "Just touch it quickly and get it over with."

Seth reached forward and placed his fingertips onto the relic, covering both the golden frame and sapphire embedded within it. A moment later he removed his hand, but could not sense that anything had happened.

"I don't think that did anything," said Seth.

"Don't worry about it," said Warren, picking up the Necromaster. "I'll look into this whole thing a bit later. Let's just take it easy right now."

At this point, the sound of Ingrid's footsteps coming down the stairs drew everyone's attention over to her presence as she entered the living room. She was now wearing a fresh set of Kendra's clothes, including a jersey and jeans. Her hair, although still in need of a good trim, was still wet, but not greasy. At the very least, Ingrid no longer appeared to be grungy, and her odor appeared to be gone.

"You look nice," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"Um, thank you," replied Ingrid. "This is all very kind of you. But what were you saying about magical creatures?"

Grandpa closed his eyes. "All right, then. Ingrid, I will be right back. I need to get something for you."

Everyone waited as Grandpa got up from his seat and walked out of the living room. He could then be heard walking into the kitchen, as well as opening the door to the fridge and a cupboard. Grandpa then returned to the living room a moment later, holding a glass of milk.

"Ingrid, you need to drink this."

"Why?" she asked.

"Just do it," said Seth. "You need to drink it to..."

"Let Ingrid find out for herself," said Grandpa. "Ingrid, will you please drink this milk?"

"Okay," she said, accepting the glass from Grandpa. Looking suspicious, Ingrid glanced down into her glass at the milk, then proceeded to drink it down.

"Wow," she said, after taking a long sip. "That was delicious!" She then went on to swallow the rest of the milk in her glass. "I've never had milk that tasted like this before."

"Before we go on," said Grandpa, "I'd like it for you to tell us about yourself, if you don't mind."

"You don't want to know about me," said Ingrid hesitantly. "My life is awful. My parents are dead and I live on the street. You guys have a large, loving family and this gorgeous home. Way to rub it in."

"Look, Ingrid," said Seth. "We're just trying to be hospitable. Isn't there anything in your life you appreciate or look forward to?"

"Why do you care?" blurted Ingrid. "So you can one-up me on whatever it is I tell you? There is nothing that matters to me. Literally, nothing. Oh sure, I have a birthday coming up, but so what? Everyone has a birthday! And I have no one to celebrate it with, because my parents are dead!"

"Well, we could always..."

"I don't want a stupid party. You want to help so badly, buy me my parents back and a new home."

"I think we should change the subject," said Grandpa. "Come outside, Ingrid. There's something that you need to see."

"I don't care."

"Please," said Grandma. "This is something that you won't regret."

Grandpa then gestured for everyone to follow his lead. He proceeded back into the kitchen went out the back door.

"This is a large place," said Ingrid, looking around as they stepped out onto the back patio. "Are we going on a stupid tour or something?"

"Hey everybody," said Passion, as she, Larissa and Goldenrod flew up towards the group.

"Who is this person?" asked Goldenrod, as she and the other fairies fluttered around Ingrid.

"Whoa!" gasped Ingrid, studying the trio. "Are those... are those fairies?"

As soon as Ingrid spoke, Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod all came to a halt in unison.

"This can't be real," said Ingrid, slowly extending her hand towards Goldenrod, who quickly reared away from it.

"She can see us?" exclaimed Larissa.

"Ingrid," said Dale, "these fairies are Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod."

"So, you can bring in more humans, but not more fairies?" asked Passion.

"We'll talk about this later, girls," said Grandpa. "Right now I want Seth to see something."

Grandpa led the group across the yard and over towards a large pond situated on the perimeter.

"I don't get it," said Grandpa. "I'm sure she was right here."

"Who's here?" asked Seth, looking down into the pond.

Without any warning, a small figure, no larger than one of the fairy dragons, leapt out of the water. After falling back in and surfacing, everyone could see who it was; Mariana, only she was presently a whole lot small than her normal size.

"Mariana?" gasped Seth. "Is that you?"

Mariana nodded, then went over to the edge of the water and poked herself out, allowing Seth to give her a hug.

"I missed you!" said Seth, giving a firm hug to the diminutive leviathan. "But, how'd you get to be so small?"

"It was our idea," said Bright, approaching the group with Clover at her side.

"Are they..." began Ingrid, "fairies too? They're huge!"

"Fairy angels, technically," said Clover. "You must be Ingrid. I'm Clover, and this is Bright."

"Fairy angels?"

"Can someone explain why Mariana's so small all of a sudden?" asked Seth.

"Well, we brought her back here after going through the Floodmaze, because she really wanted to see you, once you made it back," said Clover.

"But we didn't have anywhere adequate enough for a an aquatic creature of Mariana's size to properly reside here," said Bright. "This pond was simply too small for her."

"So we asked Tiara if we could borrow the Sizeshifter and shrink her down. Just while she's visiting, of course."

"Hold on," said Ingrid. "You guys just shrank that blue snake thing?"

"She's not a blue snake thing," said Seth. "Okay, she's blue. And serpent-like, I suppose. But not a blue snake thing!"

"But, you're saying that this creature used to be a whole lot larger, and that you actually shrank it?"

"I don't think she gets the whole magic thing," said Clover. "Ingrid, over here!"

Everybody glanced over at Clover, who vanished in a cloud of green sparkles.

"Now I'm over here," said Clover, causing everybody to turn around and face the new spot where she was standing.

"How'd you do that?" asked Ingrid. "That's impossible!"

Clover then snapped her fingers and transformed herself into a swan in front of everybody. Ingrid appeared to be in awe.

"It's magic," said Bright. "You know, I can turn you into a swan if you're still not convinced."

"Enough showing off," said Grandpa, prompting Clover to revert back into her fairy form.

"That's... incredible," said Ingrid.

"Agreed," added Sarah. "I've never seen anything like that, even at Mythic Grove."

"You haven't seen anything yet," said Seth.

"We're not going to get carried away," said Grandma. "With all due respect, Ingrid, the main reason we're telling you all this, is so that you don't lose your mind after everything you've been through today."

"I get it," said Ingrid. "Thank you."

Just then, one of the reindeer walked up towards the group.

"What's up with that deer?" asked Ingrid.

"Well," said Dale, "there are normal animals here as well. Like caribou."

"Hey, Dancer," said Seth, as the reindeer shook its head. "I mean Prancer!" The reindeer then nodded.

"It can't be," said Ingrid, as her eyes lit up. "Is that really one of Santa Claus' reindeer?"

"Seth," grumbled Grandpa, glaring at Seth. Seth and Kendra had been told to keep the whole reindeer situation a secret from everybody outside of Fablehaven.

"I don't believe it," said Ingrid. "It is one of Santa's reindeer! Normal reindeer would never understand English! So Santa is real!"

"Yes, he's real," said Grandpa begrudgingly. "Let's leave it at that."

"You don't understand," said Ingrid, as her eyes started to water up. "It all makes sense."

"What do you mean?" asked Kendra.

It was the first Christmas after I had lost my parents. Being homeless, I was living on the street, and it was very cold out that year. I was miserable. I thought I would freeze to death one night. But on Christmas Day, I woke up encased in the most comfortable sleeping bag, along with a brand new pillow. Ones that I hadn't gone to sleep with. Attached to the pillow was a note that said For Ingrid, Love Santa Claus."

"You're kidding," said Grandma.

"I always thought it was just an act of kindness by some random person who found out my name. I didn't think that it was actually from Santa Claus."

"That actually makes sense," said Kendra. "When Santa Claus asked to have his reindeer stay here, he stated that he only gives presents to a handful of desperate people, since he can't possibly give presents to everyone. I guess that year he felt you were deserving and gave you a gift."

"But why?" asked Ingrid. "More than one Christmas has passed since then, but I never got another present."

"There are a lot of desperate people out there," said Grandpa. "Santa is only one person, he can't help everybody."

"But... I'm actually Jewish. Why would he help me?"

"Santa may be a Christian figure," said Mrs. Sorenson, "but he doesn't discriminate against other faiths or backgrounds. He just wants people to be happy."

"He did make me happy," said Ingrid, wiping away her tears.

"I can see we still have some explaining to do," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"Well, it's starting to get late," said Grandma, looking at her watch. "I'm going to head inside and get started on dinner. You girls are both welcome to stay the night, but we really need to figure out what to do with both of you. Especially you, Ingrid."

"Understood," said Ingrid, as she lowered her head.