Fablehaven: The Complete Series (142 page)

And then, without warning, Kendra entered the room.

Seth stood frozen, his eyes dropping from his sister to the journal in his hands. What was she doing home? She should be at the day care for another hour!

“What are you doing?” Kendra accused sharply.

Seth tried to appear calm while he struggled to recover from the surprise and devise a plausible response. Meeting his sister’s stern gaze, he resisted the urge to try to conceal the journal. It was too late. She had seen it. “I wanted to make sure you’d hidden the journal in a safe place.”

“You have no right to come in here and go through my stuff,” she stated flatly.

“I wasn’t hurting anything. I was just bored.” He held up the journal. “You didn’t hide it very well.”

Kendra’s clenched fists quivered at her sides. When she spoke, she sounded barely in control. “Don’t try to pretend you’re my watchdog. For starters, Seth, you need to admit that what you did was wrong. You can’t pretend that this was okay.”

“I was invading your privacy,” he admitted.

She relaxed a tad. “Was that right or wrong?”

“Wrong to get caught.”

Her face reddened. For a moment it looked like she would charge him. Seth was startled by the extent of her reaction. “Have you done this before?” she asked, voice strained.

Seth knew he should placate her. But when people got this mad at him, even if they were right, it made him feel belligerent. “Would you believe that the first time I ever snuck into your room happened to be the one day you came home early? Talk about terrible luck!”

“I know you think that everything is a big joke. That no rules apply to you. But I’m not going to let this slide.”

He tossed the journal on her bed. “Settle down. It isn’t like I can read it.”

She huffed. “I’m surprised you would read anything on purpose.”

“You know what I like to read? Love letters. Those are my favorites.”

Kendra trembled with rage. He noticed her eyes flick to the bed. Seth tried not to smile. What was with her today? She was normally more clever than this. And less angry. “Get out,” she seethed. “Just wait until Mom and Dad get home.”

“You’re going to bring Mom and Dad into this? Are you planning on telling them about Gavin’s letters and your secret Fablehaven journal? Grow a brain.”

Face contorted with rage, Kendra rushed at him. Seth was taller than his sister, but not by much, and he found himself staggering away from her, blocking ferocious punches. What was with her? She was aiming at his face with closed fists! They had often wrestled around when they were younger, but she had never gone after him like this. He didn’t want to try to pin her down or push her away—that would just enrage her even more. Instead, he deflected the onslaught as best he could, maneuvering around so he could retreat out the door.

Fortunately, Kendra did not follow him into the hall. She lingered in her doorway, eyes fierce, hands gripping the door frame as if holding herself back from further violence. From below came the grumble of the automatic garage door grinding open. Kendra’s expression melted from angry to worried and perhaps ashamed. “Stay out of my room,” she said numbly, shutting the door.

In his room, Seth examined the bruises forming on his forearms. Something was definitely out of whack with his sister. Was she having trouble at school? Getting a B in some class? Maybe she had received bad news from Gavin. Whatever the cause, he definitely needed to go easy on her for a few days. Clearly, something had upset her enough to drastically alter her personality.

* * *

Seth awoke late that night to a gentle tapping at his window. He sat up, blinking, and squinted at his digital clock—3:17 a.m. The only light in the still room came from the face of his clock and the moonlight seeping in through the softly glowing curtains. Had he really heard a tapping sound? He plunged back into his pillow, curling up and snuggling into his comforter. Before sleep could enfold him, the tapping was repeated, faint enough that it might be only a twig scraping his windowpane as a branch shifted in a gentle breeze. Except there was no tree near his window.

More alert now that he realized the tapping had not been hallucinated, Seth scooted out of bed and crossed to the window. Pulling a curtain aside, he found Warren, looking a bit haggard, crouched on the narrow shelf of roof beyond the glass. He had already removed the screen.

Seth reached to unlock the window, then hesitated. He had been burned before by recklessly opening a window. There were creatures in the world that could disguise themselves with illusions.

Warren nodded, acknowledging the hesitation. He gestured toward the street. Leaning his cheek against the cool glass, Seth could see where Elise stood beside one of the cars they had been driving. She waved.

It might not be concrete proof, but Seth felt convinced. He opened the window. Shockingly cold air flowed past him.

Warren crept inside. As far as Seth knew, this marked the first time any of his bodyguards had entered the house. Back when Tanu was watching them, he and Seth had talked quite a bit, but it had always been outside. Only something extraordinary would have motivated Warren to drop by like this.

“You’re not going to turn into a goblin and try to kill me?” Seth whispered.

“It’s really me,” Warren said quietly, “although you probably shouldn’t have let me in, even after seeing Elise. The Society would stop at nothing to get to you.”

“Should I get Kendra?” Seth asked.

Warren held up both hands. “No, I approached you like this so we could talk in private. Elise and I are concerned about your sister. Have you noticed any odd behavior recently?”

Guilt surged through Seth. “She wasn’t herself today. Mainly it was my fault. She caught me snooping around her room and went ballistic.”

Warren eyed Seth thoughtfully. “Did her reaction seem extreme?”

Seth paused. “I shouldn’t have been in there. She had a right to be mad. But yeah, it was really extreme.”

Warren nodded as if the description fit his expectations. “Kendra snuck out of the house earlier tonight, a little after one. She went over the back fence. Elise was on watch. She spotted Kendra and followed from a distance.”

“Kendra knows she isn’t supposed to go anywhere without you guys,” Seth interrupted. “Why would she try to give you the slip? It isn’t how she operates.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t fit her behavioral pattern, but it gets much worse. Elise followed your sister to a public mailbox, where Kendra deposited a letter. You understand, Seth, our mission is to protect you from outside influences, and part of that mission includes protecting you from yourselves. Once Elise made sure that Kendra was safely back in the house, she verified that I was on guard and returned to the mailbox. She got inside, located the envelope Kendra had mailed, and checked to see what information it contained.”

“You guys go through our mail?” Seth asked, unsettled.

“Routine screening,” Warren assured him. “We have to make sure you don’t accidentally leak compromising information. Especially when a letter is mailed under such suspicious circumstances. We don’t check the mail you send through us to your grandparents—just communication to outside parties.”

“I assume Kendra messed up?”

Warren held up an envelope. “The message she sent was no mistake. Have a look.”

Seth accepted the envelope. Warren clicked on a flashlight. The envelope was addressed to T. Barker at a post-office box in Monmouth, Illinois. “Any idea who this is?” Seth asked.

“No clue. Doesn’t ring a bell?”

Seth considered the question. “I can’t think of any Barkers. As far as I can recall, we don’t know anybody in Illinois.”

“Read the letter.”

The envelope had been expertly opened. Nothing ripped, no evidence of intrusion. It could easily be resealed and mailed. He removed the folded paper inside and read the following:

Dear Torina,

They keep a close watch on me here. I’m not sure if I’ll find another chance to forward more info. I’m unsure whether they have the phones tapped, so I’ll probably stick to mail. By the way, so far so good. Nobody suspects, although Seth has been a pain.

I have key information. They found one of the artifacts! The Chronometer is in their possession at Fablehaven! They also have a journal from Patton Burgess. He claims to know the location of other artifacts. Those locations are not described in the journal, but are hidden at Fablehaven in a secret room beyond an area in the dungeon called the Hall of Dread.

I’ll try to write again if I learn anything essential. Before I finish here, I will try to hide Patton’s journal near the old tree house at the creek along Hawthorn Avenue.

Faithfully yours,

Kendra Sorenson

Seth looked up at Warren. “What is going on?”

“Good thing we screen letters, although we never expected a note like this. Imagine the consequences if this message fell into the wrong hands.”

“It looks like her handwriting.”

“I’m confident that Kendra wrote it.”

“Is Vanessa out of the Quiet Box? Maybe she was controlling Kendra in her sleep.”

Warren shook his head. “I considered the possibility and contacted your grandfather. He checked. Vanessa remains in her prison. But that sort of thinking may be along the right lines.”

“Somebody must be blackmailing her or controlling her. She would never just betray us! Not on her own!”

“I can’t imagine that she would. Yet it is tough to read this letter and not see a deliberate attempt at crippling betrayal. Elise doesn’t know Kendra very well. She wants to take her into custody.”

Seth stood up. “She can’t lock up Kendra!”

“Simmer down. I’m not saying that is the only option. But whatever the method, given all that is at stake, immediately silencing Kendra has become necessary. I don’t want to incarcerate your sister, but we have to get to the bottom of this.”

“Do we confront her?” Seth wondered aloud. “Spring this on her and watch how she responds?”

“I’d love to hear an explanation. I haven’t managed to conjure up a reasonable one.”

“Unless somebody is using mind control.”

Warren shrugged. “After reading that letter, nothing would shock me. Whatever we do, we mustn’t disturb your parents.”

“You want to confront her right now?”

“We can’t wait on this. Besides, moving now should catch her off balance. If she’s a little groggy, it may help us extract honest answers.”

“Okay.” Seth led Warren to his door. “You’re right that we don’t want to wake Mom and Dad.”

“They don’t appreciate strange men visiting their home in the middle of the night?”

Seth chuckled darkly. “It wouldn’t be a good scene.”

“Let’s go find out why your sister is mailing potentially disastrous letters.”

Seth led Warren into the hall and tiptoed to Kendra’s door. He gently tried the knob. “Locked,” he mouthed. He leaned close to Warren. “We don’t need a key. Just a pin or a paper clip. Something skinny to poke in the hole and pop the lock.”

Holding up a finger, Warren removed what looked like professional lock-picking gear from a pocket. He quietly inserted one of the slender instruments into the tiny hole by the doorknob, and the lock clicked. Pocketing the tools, Warren swiftly opened the door and strode into the room with Seth right behind him.

Kendra sat cross-legged on her bed reading a letter. She looked up, annoyed at first, then perplexed as she recognized Warren. “What is it?” she asked.

Seth closed the door.

“You’re up early,” Warren said.

“I’ve had trouble sleeping,” Kendra replied, folding the letter.

“We need to talk,” Warren said.

Kendra shifted uncomfortably. “Why?”

Warren held up the envelope she had mailed earlier in the night.

For a moment her face betrayed pure terror. Then she scowled. “How dare you go through my personal—”

“Don’t even try it,” Warren cut her off. “I need honest answers right now or we’re carting you away. There was nothing personal about this note. It was naked treachery. Why, Kendra? We need an immediate explanation.”

Kendra’s eyes darted around the room as she flailed for a response. “I wasn’t sending it to an enemy.”

“I never said you were,” Warren replied. “Sending this type of information to anyone outside our circle of trust would qualify as a major betrayal. I have never heard of Torina Barker. Who is she?”

“Please, Warren, you have to trust me, you know I would never—”