Fablehaven I (29 page)

whelp. I have a long memory.

Your actions require retribution, Grandma warned.

Muriel was striding away again. You speak to deaf

ears.

You said you’d tell us how to find our Grandpa,

Kendra called.

Muriel laughed without looking back.

Hold your tongues, children, Grandma said. Muriel,

I have commanded you to depart. Your defiance is an act

of war.

You issue evictions in order to build a case for wrongdoing

and thereby justify retaliation, Muriel said. I do not

fear a feud with you.

Grandma turned away from Muriel. Kendra, come

here. Grandma pulled Seth to her in a tight hug. When

Kendra drew near, she embraced her as well. I am sorry for

misleading you children. I should not have guided you to

Muriel. I did not realize this was her final knot.

What do you mean? Kendra said. You heard us talking.

Grandma smiled sadly. As a chicken, thinking clearly

becomes an exhausting challenge. My mind was in a haze.

To interact with you like a person, even for a moment,

required tremendous concentration.

Seth nodded toward Muriel. Should we stop her? I bet

the three of us could take her.

If we attack, she will be able to defend herself with

magic, Grandma said. We would forfeit the protection

afforded by the foundational covenants of the treaty.

Have we messed things up? Seth asked. Setting her

free, I mean.

Things were already dismal, Grandma said. Having

her on the loose certainly complicates the situation.

Whether my assistance can compensate for her interference

remains to be seen. Grandma looked flushed. She

fanned her face. Your grandfather left us in quite a

predicament.

It wasn’t his fault, Seth said.

Grandma bent over, placing her hands on her knees.

Kendra steadied her. I’m all right, Kendra. Just a little

woozy. She stood up experimentally. Tell me what happened.

I know undesirable beings entered the house and

took Stan.

They took Lena, too, and I think they turned Dale

into a statue, Kendra reported. We found him in the

yard.

Grandma nodded. As caretaker, Stan is a valuable trophy.

Same with a fallen nymph. By contrast Dale seemed

unimpressive and was left behind. Any clue who took

them?

We found some footprints near Dale, Seth said.

Did they lead you anywhere?

Have you any idea where Grandpa and Lena are being

held?

No.

Muriel probably knows, Grandma said. She has an

alliance with the imps.

Speaking of Muriel, Kendra said, where did she go?

They all looked around. Muriel was no longer in sight.

Grandma frowned. She must have special means of hiding

or traveling. No matter. We aren’t equipped to deal with

her now.

What do we do? Seth asked.

Our first order of business is to find your Grandpa.

Learning his location should dictate how best to proceed.

How do we do that?

Grandma sighed. Our nearest option would be Nero.

Who? Kendra said.

A cliff troll. He has a seeing stone. If we can successfully

bargain with him, he should be able to reveal Stan’s

location.

Do you know him well? Seth asked.

Never met him. Your grandfather had dealings with

him once. It will be dangerous, but at present he is

probably our best alternative. We should hurry. I’ll tell you

more on the way.

Trolling for Grandpa

Have you ever heard people conversing while you’re

falling asleep? Grandma said. The words reach you

from a distance, and you can barely glimpse the meaning.

That happened to me in a motel once when we were

on a trip, Kendra said. Mom and Dad were talking. I fell

asleep, and their conversation turned into a dream.

Then to some degree you can grasp my state of mind

as a chicken. You say it is June. My last clear memories are

from February, when the spell was enacted. For the first

couple of days I remained fairly alert. Over time, I lapsed

into a twilight consciousness, incapable of rational

thought, unable to interpret my surroundings as a human

would.

Weird, Seth said.

I recognized you kids when you arrived, but it was

through a clouded lens. My mind did not reawaken until

you let those creatures in through the window. The shock

jolted me out of my stupor. It was a struggle to cling to my

elevated consciousness. I cannot describe the concentration

it required to write that message to you. My mind

wanted to slip away, to relax. I wanted to eat the delicious

kernels, not arrange them into bizarre patterns.

They traveled along a wide dirt road. Rather than head

back toward the house, they had continued on the trail

beyond , venturing deeper into the forest. The

trail had eventually forked and then intersected the road

they were currently following. The sun blazed overhead,

the air was heavy and humid, and the forest remained

unnaturally silent all around them.

Kendra and Seth had brought a pair of jeans, but they

turned out to be from Grandma’s skinnier days, and were

not even close to fitting. The tennis shoes belonged to

Grandpa and were several sizes too big. So Grandma now

wore a bathing suit under her robe, and her feet remained

in slippers.

Grandma raised her hands, staring as she opened and

closed them. Strange to have proper fingers again, she

murmured.

How did you become a chicken in the first place?

Seth asked.

Pride made me careless, Grandma said. A sobering

reminder that none of us are immune to the dangers here,

even when we imagine we have the upper hand. Let’s save

the details for another time.

Why didn’t Grandpa change you back? Kendra asked.

Grandma’s eyebrows shot up. Probably because I kept

laying eggs for his breakfast. I like to think that if he had

taken me to Muriel in the first place, I could have prevented

all this nonsense from happening. But I suppose he

was searching for an alternate cure for my condition.

Besides asking Muriel, Seth said.

Exactly.

Then why did he have Muriel cure me?

I’m sure he knew your parents would return soon,

leaving insufficient time to discover another remedy.

You had no idea Seth had become a mutant walrus

and been restored by Muriel? Kendra said.

I missed all that, Grandma said. As a hen, most

details escaped me. When I urged you to take me to Muriel,

I assumed she still had two knots remaining. Only when I

looked up and observed the single knot did I begin to

fathom the actual predicament. By then it was too late.

Incidentally, how did you end up as a walrus?

Seth and Kendra related the particulars about turning

the fairy into an imp and the subsequent retribution.

Grandma listened, asking a few clarifying questions.

As the path curved around a tall thicket, a covered

bridge came into view up ahead. Spanning a ravine, the

bridge was composed of dark wood. Although aged and

weathered, it appeared to be in reasonably good repair.

Our destination draws near, Grandma said.

Beyond the bridge? Kendra asked.

Down in the ravine. Grandma stopped, studying the

foliage off to either side of the road. I am suspicious of the

stillness in these woods. A great tension rests upon

Fablehaven today. She resumed walking.

Because of Grandpa? Seth asked.

Yes, and your newfound enmity with the fairies. But I

worry there may be something more. I am anxious to speak

with Nero.

Will he help us? Kendra asked.

He would rather harm us. Trolls can be violent and

unpredictable. I would not solicit information from him if

our situation were less dire.

What’s the plan? Seth asked.

Our only chance is clever bargaining. Cliff trolls are

cunning and ruthless, but their avarice can be a weakness.

Avarice? Seth asked.

Greed. Cliff trolls are miserly creatures. Treasure

hoarders. Cunning negotiators. They relish the thrill of

besting an opponent. Whatever agreement we reach, Nero

will have to feel like the undisputed victor. I only hope we

can determine something he values that we are willing to

part with.

What if we can’t? Kendra said.

We must. If we fail to reach an arrangement, Nero will

not let us leave unscathed.

They arrived at the brink of the ravine. Kendra placed

a hand against the bridge and leaned forward to look down.

It was surprisingly deep. Tenacious vegetation clung to the

steep walls. A narrow stream trickled along the bottom.

How do we get down there?

Carefully, Grandma said, taking a seat at the edge of

the precipice. Rolling over onto her stomach, she started

backing down the slope feet first, looking ridiculous in her

robe and slippers. The incline was not completely vertical,

but most of the descent was quite steep.

If we fall, we’ll tumble all the way to the bottom,

Kendra observed.

A sensible reason not to fall, Grandma agreed, moving

carefully downward. Come along, it looks worse than

it is. Just find solid handholds and take it one step at a

time.

Seth followed Grandma, and then Kendra started

down, desperately hugging the side of the ravine, taking

tentative steps, hunting blindly for the next place to rest

her foot. But Grandma was right. Once she got going, the

climb was less difficult than it appeared. There were many

handholds, including scrawny bushes with well-anchored

stems. After proceeding gingerly at first, she grew in confidence

and increased the speed of her descent.

When Kendra reached the bottom, Seth was squatting

near a cluster of blossoms at the edge of the stream.

Grandma Sorenson stood nearby. Took you long enough,

Seth said.

I was being careful.

I’ve never seen somebody move an inch per hour

before.

No time for bickering, Grandma said. Kendra did

just fine, Seth. We need to hurry along.

I like the smell of these flowers, Seth said.

Come away from those, Grandma insisted.

Why? They smell great; take a whiff.

Those flowers are perilous. And we’re in a hurry.

Grandma waved for him to follow and started walking,

picking her way carefully along the rocky floor of the

ravine.

Why are they dangerous? Seth asked, catching up

with her.

Those are a peculiar class of lotus blossoms. The smell

is intoxicating, the taste divine. A tiny nibble of a single

petal carries you away into a lethargic trance populated by