Fablehaven: The Complete Series (222 page)

“Oh-ho,” Graulas said, sitting up, the tone of his voice deeper and richer than Seth had ever heard. In place of infected skin, short gray fur covered his arms. The drooping wattles had vanished from his face, leaving him with the head of a ram to match his curled horns. His misshapen body had become symmetrical, and now appeared muscular rather than lumpy. He stretched his thick arms forward, examining them. “Oh-ho-ho-ho!” he laughed exultantly.

“Feeling better?” Seth asked.

Graulas pounced at him, seized a shoulder with a hairy hand, and hoisted Seth off the ground effortlessly. Before Seth could react, the demon quickly tore the Translocator from his pocket, then dropped him on a pile of rubble. Landing roughly, Seth lost hold of the teapot, and the demon snatched it up. From his supine position, Seth stared up at the broad, bestial figure towering over him.

“Honestly?” Graulas rumbled. “This is the best I’ve ever felt.” His rejuvenated voice had more growl to it than before.

“What are you doing?” Seth cried. His elbows were bleeding, and his back ached where a wooden knob had jabbed it.

“Many things, now, many things, thanks to you.” The demon flung sand from the teapot over Seth, and his injuries vanished. “After all of these years, against all odds, I am now free! She was right. She may not be utterly sane, but she was right.”

“Who was right?”

“Nagi Luna.”

It took Seth a moment to find words. “You know her?”

“She contacted me using the Oculus,” Graulas said. “She has not yet held it herself, but she can borrow some of its power when her captor uses it. Which is often. She harbored hopes of an opportunity like this for a long while, but only felt certain after she met you.”

“What have I done?” Seth mouthed.

The demon grinned better than any actual ram could. “You still don’t fully understand. Of course you don’t, or this would never have happened. Seth, this disease has plagued me for thousands of years. It is what slowly ruined me. The sickness was my prison much more than this cave. Only the Sands of Sanctity could have healed me. I am old, yes, but now I am far from dying.”

“And you have the Translocator.”

“You begin to see. This area was designed to hold me in my weakened, diseased state. Now that I’m whole, I could probably defeat the barriers that contain me. But thanks to your thoughtful tribute, that will not be necessary.”

Seth groaned, hiding his face in his hands. “Why am I so stupid?”

“Not the common breed of stupidity,” the demon corrected. “You’re too trusting. Too independent. Too good of a friend, even to one who is by nature your enemy. These attributes were used against you.”

“What happens now?”

“I will acquire the Chronometer and return to Living Mirage. I have been there before, you see, centuries ago. And at the end of his long years of scheming, the Sphinx will lose control of his endeavor. Before long, the demons of Zzyzx will be free according to
my
terms.”

Seth still felt off balance. “Wait—wasn’t the Sphinx behind this trick?”

“Certainly not. Use your intellect. All the Sphinx needed to do was use the Translocator to collect the Chronometer. Why give it to you and risk losing it? Mirav the wizard left the artifacts in your cell, under strict orders from Nagi Luna. She communicates with him through the Oculus as well. Since the gambit paid off, I will go to Living Mirage in my full strength, free Nagi Luna, and take leadership of this endeavor. Tonight you have ushered in an age of demonic rule!”

Seth hugged himself miserably, gripping handfuls of his shirt. He wished he could stop existing. He had ruined everything!

“I will leave you with your life, Seth.”

“Why bother?” Seth moaned.

“Because I sponsored your elevation to shadow charmer, and because you did me a great service. I owe you a debt of gratitude, and for that I will spare you, even though I know you will never serve me.”

“Let’s be honest,” Seth said. “I’ll try to stop you.”

“Let’s be honest,” Graulas countered. “Resourceful as you are, there is nothing you can do about this. Not a thing. You would be wise to put it out of your mind.”

“Please,” Seth said, fighting back tears of desperation. “Please, I healed you. Don’t punish my family for it. Don’t punish Fablehaven. Go free, do whatever, but if my aid meant anything, don’t take the artifacts.”

“My dear boy,” Graulas said. “You do not comprehend the nature of demons. Your grandfather does, and some who work with him. It almost surprises me that you remain so naive. Did I ever bother to lie about my nature? I do not believe I did. Nagi Luna stretched the truth, perhaps, to make me seem more pitiable, and I acted somewhat more infirm than I felt, but I never misled you on this issue. Let me leave you with a final lesson. I am what you would call evil. Pure, deliberate, evil. I am aggressively self-serving. I take great pleasure in destruction. At times I cause harm to get gain, and at times I cause harm for the sheer enjoyment of breeding mayhem. So, will I take the artifacts? Seth, without a twinge of remorse, I will use them to unlock a season of devastation like the world has never witnessed. And, mark my words, I will revel in it.”

Grinding his teeth, Seth tried to think of something to do. He saw one possible option. “Take me with you.”

“No, no, my boy. Shadow charmer or not, I fully understand that you could never be my servant, except perhaps as part of a clumsy deception. Our destinies are no longer entwined. Should we meet again, it will be as enemies, all past debts settled. You will not be bored without me, Seth. There will be work enough to do here.”

“What do you mean?”

Snarling, Graulas dragged his claws across the earthen roof of the cave, dislodging wormy clods of dirt. “I intend to pay my respects to this despicable zoo by overthrowing the foundational treaty and leaving a suitable amount of havoc behind. Like Bahumat, I never officially consented to my incarceration here. The treaty has no direct claim on me.” Graulas sniffed the air, eyes narrowed to slits. He spoke in a lower tone, as if to himself. “I would free Bahumat, but the fairies buried him deep and sealed him well. There will be time to unleash him later. Kurisock is gone, Olloch more stomach than mind. I will take none of my brothers with me, but like any respectable demon coming out of retirement, I shall leave a great deal of chaos in my wake.”

Graulas held up the Translocator. The device looked tiny in his huge hands.

Crouching, Seth snatched up a stone and flung it at the device. Graulas blocked the rock with his forearm. Baring his fangs and leaning forward, the demon struck Seth with a furious backhand. The blow sent him flying into the cave wall. Bones snapped, and he landed in a heap of agony, dirt and blood in his mouth.

“Do not irritate me,” the demon growled. Chuckling softly, he sprinkled sand from the copper teapot over Seth. “The Sands of Sanctity bring amazing new possibilities to the field of torture. Imagine shattering bones over and over and over. Such alluring options . . .”

Bones mended, cuts closed, and Seth sat up. He glared up at the demon with helpless fury, no words left to say.

“Final piece of advice?” Graulas offered. “Run away, Seth. Forget this backward circus of a preserve and flee to the farthest, most barren portion of the globe. Hide there for the rest of your life. Pray we do not meet again.”

Graulas twisted the Translocator and vanished.

“No!” Seth yelled.

Scrambling to his feet, Seth ran toward the mouth of the cave. He had to warn Grandpa! Graulas had certainly never been inside the main house. The demon had probably never been in the yard, either. He could not teleport directly to the Chronometer. First the demon would have to contend with the magical barriers protecting the yard and house.

Out in front of the cave, sunset was dwindling, the first stars already shining. “Hugo,” Seth shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Anyone! Help! Emergency! Help!”

Nobody answered, but he knew the way to the house from here—he had only to follow the rutted road. Seth took off running. The exertion felt good, kept him busy, provided the illusion that he was accomplishing something. After his gut-wrenching mistake, the last thing he wanted to do was think.

But it was hard to shut down his guilty mind.

Why didn’t he see this coming? Grandpa had consistently warned him to stay away from Graulas! Seth had assumed his grandparents didn’t understand the unique relationship he had with the demon. The dying demon had seemed so weak, and so helpful, that Seth had begun to consider him safe. Now the relationship had culminated in nightmarish betrayal, just as his grandparents had foreseen. If he had gone directly home with the artifacts, his family would be in a solid position in their war against the Sphinx. Now the opposite was true! He had befriended evil, and he had gotten burned.

Seth tried not to imagine all of the effects that would flow from his blunder. He tried not to envision Graulas slaying his family. He resisted visions of demon hordes rampaging across the globe.

Maybe he could stop it. Maybe he could beat Graulas into the house.

His breathing became more ragged, and his heart hammered, but Seth kept his legs churning. How much longer to the house if he kept up this pace? Ten minutes? More?

Something huge came crashing through the bushes off to the side of the road. Seth slowed, confident he recognized what was approaching. A moment later, Hugo loped out from under the trees. “Seth!” the golem bellowed, raising both arms.

“Hugo!” Seth exclaimed.

The golem picked Seth up, tossed him disturbingly high into the air, and caught him gently. “Seth not taken!”

“Whoa!” Seth laughed. “Good to see you, too! Hugo, we have an emergency. Graulas got loose and is headed for the house.”

“Graulas?”

“I visited him and he tricked me. We have to hurry!”

The golem cradled Seth in one arm and bounded into the woods, cutting cross-country. Still panting from his run, Seth tried to calm his mind. Getting a lift from Hugo would let him reach the house much faster. But what would he do when he got there? Could Hugo defeat Graulas? Probably not. The demon was bigger and had unknown powers. What if the golem could at least wrestle away the Translocator? It would be worth a try. If that failed, they would have to try to escape somehow with the Chronometer. Where could they go?

From up ahead, Seth heard ferocious roaring. Bursts of light interrupted the deepening twilight.

“See that, Hugo?” Seth asked.

“Demon attack house,” Hugo replied, pounding through the forest.

The golem trampled a path through the lush, spring foliage, tearing branches aside and bulldozing through shrubbery. Minutes passed like hours. Flashes of light accompanied feral growls and distant sounds of demolition. Realizing that he was unarmed, Seth wished for his emergency kit.

When the yard came into view, the barn was already ablaze. Devouring flames raged up most of one wall and across much of the roof. Mooing like a foghorn, eyes rolling in terror, the immense form of Viola the cow stamped across the yard, giant hooves leaving deep impressions in the lawn. By the nightmarish light of the burning barn, Seth could see that half the house had collapsed, smashed in as if by some natural disaster. He did not see Graulas, but could hear glass breaking and wood splintering within the house.

“To the house!” Seth shouted.

Hugo took off across the yard with leaping strides. A great crash sounded within the house. The golem vaulted onto what remained of the back porch and entered the ruined house, striding over the remnants of missing walls.

“Coulter,” Hugo said in a concerned rumble. The golem waded through rubble-strewn rooms to the entry hall, where they found Coulter pinned beneath a beam. Dust covered his mostly bare scalp. His little tuft of gray hair was matted with blood. He was mumbling, semiconscious.

“Get the beam off of him!” Seth cried.

The golem gripped the heavy beam, shifting rubble as he raised it. Grabbing Coulter beneath his arms, Seth slid him out from underneath. Coulter jerked his head toward Seth. “Run!” Coulter urged weakly.