Fablehaven: The Complete Series (50 page)

Tanu picked up a pouch that was sitting next to his chair. He began removing small bottles with narrow necks and arranging them in a single row on the coffee table. “What are those?” Seth asked.

Tanu glanced up. “Part of a demonstration, to prove that I know my trade. A family specialty—bottled-up emotions.”

“Drinking them will make us feel a certain way?” Kendra asked.

“Temporarily, yes,” Tanu said. “In large doses the emotions can be overpowering. I want each of you to choose an emotion to sample. I’ll mix you a small dose. The emotions will pass quickly. You can try fear, rage, embarrassment, or sorrow.” He removed more items from his pouch—jars, vials, and a small sandwich bag full of leaves.

“Are they all bad emotions?” Kendra asked.

“I can do courage, calm, confidence, and joy, among others. But the negative emotions make better demonstrations. They are more shocking, and less addictive.”

“I want to try fear,” Seth said, coming to stand near Tanu.

“Good choice,” Tanu responded. He unscrewed the lid of a jar and used a tool that looked like a small tongue depressor to scoop out some beige paste. “I’m mixing this so the effect will come and go very quickly, just giving you a brief sample of the emotion.” Removing a small leaf from the bag, Tanu scraped the paste onto the leaf. He then dripped four drops from one of the bottles onto the leaf, added a single drop from a different bottle, and mixed the liquid into the paste with the tongue depressor. He handed the leaf to Seth.

“Eat the leaf?” Seth asked.

“Eat it all,” Tanu said. “Sit down first. When the emotion hits, it will be distressing, much more real than you probably expect. Try to remember that it is artificial and that it will pass.”

Seth sat down on a brocaded armchair. He sniffed the leaf, then popped it into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed quickly. “Not bad. Tastes a little like peanuts.”

Kendra watched him intently. “Is he going to freak out?” she asked.

“Wait and see,” Tanu said, suppressing a grin.

“I feel fine so far,” Seth announced.

“It takes a few seconds,” Tanu said.

“A few seconds for what?” Seth asked, an edge of anxiety creeping into his voice.

“See?” Tanu said, winking at Kendra. “It’s starting.”

“What’s starting?” Seth asked, eyes darting. “Why’d you wink at her? Why are you talking like I’m not in the room?”

“I’m sorry, Seth,” Tanu said. “We mean no harm. The effects of the potion are hitting you.”

Seth’s breathing was becoming ragged. He was shifting in his seat, rubbing his thighs with his palms. “What did you give me?” he said, raising his voice and sounding paranoid. “Why’d you have to mix so much stuff? How do I know I can trust you?”

“It’s all right,” Kendra said. “You’re just feeling the effects of the potion.”

Seth looked at Kendra, his face contorting, tears brimming in his eyes. He raised his voice more, sounding hysterical. “Just the potion? Just the potion!” He chuckled bitterly. “You don’t get it? He poisoned me! He poisoned me, and you’re next. I’m going to die! We’re all going to die!” He was curling up on the chair, quivering and hugging his knees. A single tear leaked from one eye and slid down his cheek.

Kendra looked at Tanu, distressed. Tanu raised a calming hand. “He’s already coming out of it.”

She looked back at her brother. He sat still for a moment, then straightened his legs and sat up, wiping the remnants of the tear from his cheek. “Wow,” Seth said. “You weren’t kidding! That felt so real. I couldn’t think straight. I thought you had tricked me into drinking poison or something.”

“Your mind was searching for threats to justify the emotion,” Tanu said. “It helped that you knew beforehand the emotion was coming. Had I drugged you by surprise, it would have been much more difficult to make sense of the experience afterwards. Let alone if I used a higher dosage. Imagine if I made that emotion much more intense and longer lasting.”

“You have to try it,” Seth said to Kendra.

“I’m not sure I want to,” Kendra said. “Can’t I feel something happy?”

“You should try an emotion you would normally resist if you want to appreciate the potency,” Tanu said. “It’s alarming in the moment, but you’ll feel fine afterwards. In a way, it’s cleansing. An occasional foray into negative emotions makes feeling normal that much sweeter.”

“He’s right, I feel great now,” Seth said. “Like the riddle. Why do you hit yourself in the head fifty times with a hammer?”

“Why?” Kendra asked.

“Because it feels so good when you stop!”

“Try an emotion other than fear,” Tanu said. “For the sake of variety.”

“Pick one for me,” Kendra said. “Don’t tell me what it is.”

“You sure?” Tanu asked.

“Yeah, if I’m going to do it, I want you to surprise me.”

Tanu put another glop of beige paste on a leaf and mixed in drops from three bottles. He gave the leaf to Kendra, and she popped it into her mouth and chewed it up, sitting down on the carpet in the middle of the room. The leaf was a little tricky to chew. It did not taste like something you were supposed to eat. The paste was pretty good. It melted in her mouth and was a little sweet. She swallowed.

Seth edged over to Tanu and whispered something to him. Kendra realized he was probably asking what emotion to expect. Kendra focused on remaining aware that a phony emotion was about to surface. If she concentrated hard enough, she should be able to keep it under control. She’d feel it, but she wouldn’t let it overwhelm her. Tanu whispered something back to Seth. They were both staring at her expectantly. What was their deal? Did she have a piece of the leaf caught in her teeth? Seth whispered something else to Tanu.

“Why are you whispering?” Kendra accused. It came out a little harsher than she intended, but they were being so secretive all of a sudden. Had she whispered to Tanu? No! She had spoken so everyone could hear her. It seemed obvious they were no longer talking about the potion—they were gossiping about her.

Seth laughed at her question, and Tanu grinned.

Tears stung Kendra’s eyes. “Did I say something funny?” she challenged, her voice cracking a bit. Seth laughed harder. Tanu chuckled. Kendra ground her teeth, her face flushing. Once again, she was the outcast. Seth always made friends so quickly. He had already turned Tanu against her. It was fourth grade all over again; she was eating lunch alone, silently hoping for somebody to talk to her. Hoping somebody besides a teacher would notice and include her.

“It’s all right, Kendra,” Tanu said kindly. “Remember, it isn’t real.”

Why was he trying to reassure her? All of a sudden she realized what Seth must have whispered to him. He had pointed out the pimple on her chin! Seth had said that her face was erupting like a volcano, that grime was clogging her pores and turning her into a freakish sideshow. That was why they had laughed! Seth had probably accused her of not washing enough, even though she scrubbed her face every night! But of course Tanu would believe Seth, because the evidence was right there on her chin, as subtle as a lighthouse. And now that Tanu had noticed, the pimple would be all he saw. She hung her head. Tanu would almost certainly tell Grandpa. And all the others! They’d laugh behind her back. She would never be able to show her face again!

Her cheeks burned. She began to weep. Grudgingly, she glanced up. They both looked astonished. Seth was approaching her. “It’s okay, Kendra,” he said.

She buried her face in her arms, sobbing. Why did they keep staring at her? Why wouldn’t they leave her alone? Hadn’t they done enough? Enduring their pity was much worse than suffering their scorn. She wished she could just disappear.

“It’ll be over soon,” Tanu assured her.

What did he know? This could be just the beginning! She had been lucky so far, with only the occasional pimple now and again, but soon she might be disfigured by vast constellations of acne. Red lumps would pile up until she looked like she had thrust her head into a beehive. Now that Seth had set the tone of mocking her, things would never be the same. From here on out, all she could look forward to were cruel jokes and false sympathy. She had to get away.

Kendra jumped to her feet. “I hate you, Seth!” she yelled, not caring what anyone would think of the outburst. Her reputation was already damaged beyond repair. She ran from the room. Behind her, she heard Tanu telling Seth to let her go. Where could she hide? The bedroom! She raced to the stairs and started charging up them two at a time. And suddenly she realized how ridiculous it would look for her to run away. She stopped, her hand gripping the banister. The situation abruptly seemed much less tragic.

Was she sure Seth had pointed out the pimple to Tanu? Even if he had, was it that big of a deal? Almost every teen got pimples from time to time. Now that she thought about it, was it even likely that Seth had mentioned anything about the pimple? No! She had jumped to that conclusion on her own, with very little evidence. It was the potion! This was just like when Seth assumed he had been poisoned! Even though she had tried to anticipate it, the emotion had blindsided her. It seemed ridiculously obvious now.

Kendra returned to the parlor, wiping away the tears. She had cried a lot. Her sleeves were damp, and her nose was congested. “That was incredible,” she said.

“What emotion do you think it was?” Seth asked.

“Embarrassment?” Kendra guessed.

“Close,” Tanu said. “It was shame. A hybrid of embarrassment and sorrow.”

“I thought,” Kendra said, hesitating for a moment to divulge her ridiculous assumption, “I thought that Seth was pointing out the pimple on my chin. And it suddenly seemed like he had revealed the guiltiest secret of all time. I thought you two were making fun of me. Not that I love getting pimples, but it was suddenly blown all out of proportion.”

“Again, your mind was seizing on something to try to make sense of the emotion,” Tanu said. “Can you see the power emotion has to distort our outlook? Makes you wonder, did you
have
a bad day, or did you
make it
a bad day?”

“I thought if I stayed focused I could keep the emotion under control,” Kendra said.

“Not unreasonable,” Tanu said. “We can exert a lot of control over our emotions. But sometimes they run away with us. These bottled-up emotions hit you with a lot of force. It would take a shockingly strong will to resist them. In large enough doses, I don’t see how anybody could.”

“What do you use them for?” Seth asked.

“Depends,” Tanu said. “Sometimes people need a little dose of courage. Other times you want to cheer somebody up. And every now and then, you can avoid an unwanted confrontation with a little fear, or use a mix of emotions to extract information. We save those uses for the bad guys.”

“Can I try some courage?” Seth asked.

“You already have plenty,” Tanu said. “You don’t want to overuse these emotions. Their potency wears thin if they’re overused, plus you can put your natural emotions out of balance. Artificial emotions are useful only in certain situations. They must be combined by an expert. If you drink straight courage, you can become reckless and foolhardy. For a good result, you have to temper the courage with a little fear, a little calm.”

“That makes sense,” Kendra said.

“I know my trade,” Tanu said, vials and jars clinking as he collected them into his pouch. “I hope that you weren’t too shaken up by the experience. An occasional dose of fear or sorrow can be cathartic. Same with a good cry.”

“If you say so,” Kendra said. “I’ll probably pass next time.”

“I’d do the fear again,” Seth said. “It was sort of like a roller coaster. Except so scary, you don’t really like it till after the ride is over.”

Tanu folded his hands on his lap and adopted a more formal air. “Now that I’ve let you glimpse what I can do, I want to establish some common goals. They are the same goals I have set for myself, and if we’re going to work together, I think we should share them. Assuming you want to work with me.”

Kendra and Seth both enthusiastically agreed that they were excited to learn from Tanu.