Fablehaven: The Complete Series (52 page)

Dale nodded. “Warren enjoyed his privacy. Unlike me, he was never a permanent fixture at Fablehaven. He came and went. He was an adventurer, like Tanu here, or Coulter, or Vanessa. He belonged to a special brotherhood—the Knights of the Dawn. It was all very hush-hush. They worked to combat the Society of the Evening Star. The last time Warren visited, he stayed for quite a while. He was on some sort of secret mission. He didn’t tell me the details; he was always tight-lipped about his assignments until after the fact. I have no idea if it had anything to do with what turned him white. But he was as good a brother as a guy could hope for. Never hesitated to help me out. Now I get to return the favor, make sure he gets exercise, eats right, stays healthy.”

Kendra watched Warren performing his awkward jumping jacks in the absurd sombrero. He was sweating. It was heartbreaking to picture him as an intelligent adventurer fulfilling dangerous assignments. Warren was no longer that person.

“Want to see something nice?” Dale asked, apparently trying to change the subject.

“Sure,” Kendra said.

“Follow me up to the belvedere,” Dale said over his shoulder.

Leaving Tanu with Warren, Dale led Kendra and Seth back into the cabin and up the ladder to the loft. From the loft, he led them up a second ladder through a hatch in the ceiling. They came out on the roof of the cabin, on a small platform with a low railing. The platform was high enough to see over the nearest treetops down the slope from the cabin, which extended their view quite a distance. The hill was not terribly high, but it was the highest point in the area.

“It’s beautiful,” Kendra said.

“Warren used to like to come up here and watch the sunset,” Dale said. “It was his favorite place to think. You should see it in the fall.”

“Isn’t that where the Forgotten Chapel used to be?” Seth asked, pointing to a lower hill not far away, brilliant with flowers and blossoming shrubs and fruit trees.

“Good eyes,” Dale said.

Kendra recognized the place as well. Up until they had veered off onto the cart track that brought them to the cabin, she knew they had been walking along the same path Hugo had taken them down when they went to rescue Grandpa the previous summer. Her army of fairies had leveled the chapel when they defeated and imprisoned Bahumat and Muriel. Then the fairies had mounded up the surrounding earth over the spot the chapel had occupied and made it bloom as brightly as the gardens back at the house.

“Must look better now without that moldy old church,” Seth said.

“The chapel had a certain charm,” Dale said. “Especially from a distance.”

“I’m getting hungry,” Seth grumbled.

“Which is why we brought food,” Dale replied. “And there is more in the cupboards. Let’s go fetch Tanu and Warren. I bet my brother has worked up an appetite.”

“What’ll you do if you can’t find a way to cure him?” Seth asked.

Dale paused. “I’ll never know that day has come, because I’ll never stop trying.”

Chapter 7

The Dungeon

The next morning, Kendra, Seth, Grandpa, Grandma, and Tanu sat around the kitchen table eating breakfast. Outside, the sun was rising on a clear, humid day.

“What are we doing today?” Seth asked, using his fork to chop up his omelet.

“Today you’re going to stay here at the house with me and your grandmother,” said Grandpa.

“What?” Seth cried. “Where’s everybody going?”

“And what are we?” Grandpa asked.

“I mean, where are the others going?” Seth restated.

“This omelet is delicious, Grandpa,” Kendra said after swallowing a mouthful.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it, my dear,” Grandpa replied with dignity, shooting a glance at Grandma, who pretended not to notice.

“They have some unpleasant business to attend to,” Grandma told Seth.

“You mean awesome business,” Seth accused, whirling on Tanu. “You’re ditching us? What was all that about teamwork yesterday?”

“Keeping you and your sister safe was one of our goals,” Tanu replied calmly.

“How are we ever supposed to learn anything if you only let us do wimpy stuff?” Seth complained.

Coulter entered the room holding a walking stick. The top of the stick was forked and strung with an elastic strap that turned it into a slingshot. “You don’t want to come where we’re going today,” he said.

“How do you know?” Seth said.

“Because
I
don’t want to come,” Coulter said. “Omelets? Who made omelets?”

“Grandpa,” Kendra said.

Coulter suddenly looked cautious. “What is this, Stan? Our last meal?”

“I just wanted to lend a hand in the kitchen,” Grandpa said innocently.

Coulter eyed Grandpa suspiciously. “He must love you kids,” Coulter finally said. “He’s been exploiting those broken bones to stay as far from chores as possible.”

“I’m not okay with being left behind,” Seth reminded everyone.

“We’re going to an unmapped portion of Fablehaven,” Tanu explained. “We’re not sure what to expect, except that it will be dangerous. If all goes well, we’ll bring you next time.”

“You think the relic might be hidden there?” Kendra asked.

“It is one of several possible places,” Tanu said. “We expect to find the relic in one of the less hospitable areas of the preserve.”

“All we’ll probably find are hobgoblins, fog giants, and blixes,” Coulter spat, taking a seat at the table. He shook some salt into his palm and tossed it over his shoulder, then rapped his knuckles on the tabletop. The motions seemed automatic.

Vanessa strolled into the room. “I have some unhappy news,” she declared. She wore a U.S. Army T-shirt and black canvas pants, and had her hair tied back.

“What?” Grandma asked.

“My drumants got loose last night, and I only recaptured a third of them,” Vanessa said.

“They’re loose in the house?” Grandma exclaimed.

Coulter jabbed his fork toward Vanessa accusingly. “I told you no good would come from bringing that menagerie indoors.”

“I can’t imagine how they got out,” Vanessa said. “I’ve never had trouble like this before.”

“You obviously weren’t bitten,” Tanu said.

“Think again,” Vanessa replied, holding up her arm and displaying three pairs of puncture wounds. “More than twenty bites, all over my body.”

“How are you still alive?” Grandpa said.

“These were a special strain of drumants I bred myself,” Vanessa said. “I’ve been experimenting with eliminating the toxicity of venomous whirligigs.”

“What’s a whirligig?” Kendra asked.

“And what’s a drumant?” Seth added.

“Any magical animal of subhuman intelligence is a whirligig,” Grandma explained. “It’s jargon.”

“Drumants look kind of like tarantulas with tails,” Tanu said. “Very furry. They hop around, and can warp light to distort their location. You think you see one, and you go to grab it, but you only touch an illusion, because the drumant is actually two or three feet away.”

“They’re nocturnal,” Grandpa said. “Aggressive biters. They normally wield a deadly poison.”

“Somehow the door to the cage got open,” Vanessa said. “All nineteen escaped. When I woke up, they were all over me. I managed to catch six. The rest scattered. They’re in the walls by now.”

“Six of nineteen is less than a third,” Coulter pointed out while chewing.

“I know I shut and locked the cage,” Vanessa said firmly. “To be plain, if I were anywhere else, I would suspect foul play. Nobody knew those drumants weren’t poisonous. If they had been, I would be dead right now.”

An awkward silence stretched out.

Grandpa cleared his throat. “In your shoes, regardless of where I was, I would suspect sabotage.”

Kendra stared at her plate. Had one of the people eating breakfast with her just tried to kill Vanessa? Certainly not her or Grandpa or Grandma or Seth! Tanu? Coulter? She didn’t want to make eye contact with anybody.

“Could an outsider have sneaked in?” Vanessa said. “Or could someone have escaped the dungeon?”

“Not likely,” Grandpa said, wiping his hands on a napkin. “Brownies and mortals are the only beings permitted to enter this house freely. Brownies would never cause mischief like that. Besides Dale and Warren, the only mortals free to roam this preserve are in this room. Dale stayed at the cabin last night. Any other mortals would have to get past the gate before they could get to the house, and getting past the gate is nearly impossible.”

“Somebody could have been hiding on the grounds for a long time, and waited until now to strike,” Coulter theorized.

“Anything is possible,” Vanessa said. “But I would swear that I left that cage locked. I haven’t opened it in three days!”

“Nobody saw anything peculiar last night?” Grandpa asked, fixing his stare on everyone in turn.

“I wish I had,” Tanu said.

“Not a thing,” Coulter murmured, narrow eyes thoughtful.

Kendra, Seth, and Grandma shook their heads.

“Well, until we find out more, we have to consider this an accident,” Grandpa said. “But be doubly vigilant. I have a hunch that several pieces are missing from this puzzle.”

“None of the drumants were poisonous?” Grandma asked.

“None,” Vanessa said. “They’ll be a nuisance, but they won’t cause any lasting harm. I’ll put out traps. We’ll get them rounded up. If you sprinkle sawdust and garlic on your sheets, it should help keep them away.”

“Might as well add some broken glass while we’re at it,” Coulter grumbled.

“With all these drumants loose,” Seth said, “maybe we’d be safer going with you guys today.”

“Nice try,” Kendra said.

“Ruth will keep you entertained,” Grandpa said.

“I have some fascinating things to show you,” Grandma agreed.

“Cool things?” Seth asked.

“You’ll think so,” Grandma promised.

Vanessa pulled a white mesh fabric from her pocket. “I’ll leave a few of these around the house. If you spot a drumant . . .” She tossed the fabric and it fell to the floor like a parachute, spreading to cover nearly an eight-foot diameter. “The lump will tell you where the little rascal is actually hiding. Use the surrounding mesh to scoop him up. If he tries to hop away, he’ll just get tangled. Might take a little practice, but it works. Don’t just take a swat at them or try to pick them up with your bare hands.”

“No worries about that,” Kendra said. “Do you have other animals, too?”

“Several varieties, yes,” Vanessa said.

“Are any of them poisonous?” Kendra asked.

“None are lethal. Although some of my salamanders could put you to sleep. I use their extracts for my darts.”

“Darts?” Seth asked, perking up.

“For my blowgun,” Vanessa said.

Seth was practically jumping out of his seat. “I want to try it!”

“All in due time,” Vanessa said.

* * *

The air felt significantly cooler at the bottom of the long flight of steep stairs to the basement. The iron door looked ominous at the end of the gloomy corridor, illuminated only by the flashlight Grandma Sorenson carried. At the base of the door was the smaller portal the brownies used, matching the other tiny portal in the door at the top of the stairs.

“The brownies get in and out through the dungeon?” Seth asked.

“Yes,” Grandma replied. “At least one visits every night, to see if we left anything for them to fix.”

“Why don’t you let the brownies do all your cooking?” Kendra asked. “They make tasty food.”

“Delicious,” she agreed. “But no matter what ingredients we leave, they try to make everything into a dessert.”