Fablehaven: The Complete Series (79 page)

“Jackpot!” Warren announced.

“What?”

“Cookies.” He stuck one in his mouth. “What about the potions?”

“A guy named Tanu. He’s a former mute albino too now, but I don’t know where he is.”

“I’ve heard of Tanu the potion master,” Warren said. “Never met him.”

Just then Kendra heard a faint jingling of hooks. She ran to the front door. Mendigo came to a halt beside the porch. “Our ride is here,” Kendra said.

“One minute,” Warren called. He returned promptly with a coil of rope looped over one shoulder and an ax in his hand. “Best weapon I could find,” he said, hefting the ax.

“Mendigo can carry us,” she said. “He’s stronger than he looks.”

“That may be, but we’ll travel faster if I run alongside. Off we go, then.”

“Mendigo,” Kendra said. “Carry me to the place you just took Seth, fast as you can. And don’t lose Warren.” She pointed at Warren for emphasis. She scrambled up onto Mendigo’s back and they set off at a brisk pace.

Warren did a good job keeping up at first, but he was nearly running at a full sprint, and before long he was gasping and wheezing. Kendra ordered Mendigo to carry him as well, and Warren consented. “I don’t have the wind I used to, or the legs,” he apologized.

Warren was considerably bigger than Seth or Kendra, and Mendigo did not run quite as speedily while carrying him. Occasionally Warren insisted on running for a minute or two, trying to maximize their pace.

The night wore on. At last they reached the valley. The stars in the east were growing faint as the sky began to pale. Mendigo soon reached the unseen boundary that he could not cross.

“He can’t enter the grove, just like Hugo,” Warren remarked. “If Hugo had been with me that night, I would not have lost those years.”

“Set us down, Mendigo,” Kendra said. “Guard the grove from all intruders.”

“What have we here?” Warren murmured, stooping and examining the ground.

“What?” Kendra said.

“I think your brother was here. Follow me.” Warren jogged toward the trees, clutching the ax.

Kendra rushed to keep up. “Could there be other dangers in the grove?” she asked.

“Doubtful,” Warren said. “This has been the revenant’s domain since the hiding of the artifact and the founding of Fablehaven. Few would dare tread this cursed ground.”

“Wait a second,” Kendra said. “Here’s Seth’s emergency kit. He lost it the first time he came to the grove.” Kendra retrieved the cereal box from where it lay.

“First time?” Warren asked.

“Long story,” Kendra said.

“Look here,” Warren said. “The key. Your brother is not inside the tower. He’s probably injured or spent. We’d better hurry.”

They trotted through the trees. Warren held the ax in one hand, the key in the other. “What’s that up ahead?” Warren said. “A flashlight?”

Kendra saw the glow as well, low to the ground. As they hurried nearer, she saw that it was indeed a fallen flashlight. Gauging by the faintness of the bulb, the batteries were nearly depleted. Beside the flashlight lay a skeleton clad in rags. And atop the skeleton lay her brother, facedown.

Warren knelt beside Seth, felt his wrist for a pulse, and rolled him over. One of Seth’s hands remained closed around a pair of pliers that held nothing. The flashlight revealed ugly mottled marks on Seth’s throat. Warren leaned in for a closer look. “His neck is bruised and burned, but he’s breathing.”

“Shouldn’t Vanessa be in control of him?” Kendra asked. “You know, the narcoblix?”

“This is no natural sleep,” Warren said. “She may have power over him, but she can’t animate limbs that refuse to function. He paid a severe price to best the revenant—it was evidently a very close contest. Potion or no potion, your brother must have the heart of a lion!”

“He’s very brave,” Kendra said, tears pooling in her eyes. Her lips trembled. “Can I borrow the light?” Warren handed her the flashlight and she found a small potion in the cereal box. “He was very proud that Tanu gave him a potion that could boost his energy in an emergency.”

“That might do him good,” Warren said. He uncapped the bottle, propped up Seth’s head, and poured some of the fluid into his mouth. Seth spluttered and coughed. After a moment, Warren gave him more, which he gulped.

Seth’s eyes opened, and his brow furrowed. “You!” he said weakly, his voice raspy.

“Get out of him, hag,” Warren spat.

Seth smiled eerily. And then his eyes rolled white. “What happened?” he gasped, voice still raspy. “The revenant?”

“You succeeded,” Warren said.

“You’re healed,” Seth murmured perplexedly, staring at Warren. “Didn’t know . . . that would happen. Kendra. You came.”

“Ask him something only he would know,” Warren said. “This could be a ruse.”

Kendra thought for a moment. “What dessert did you hate in your school lunch last year?”

“Cherry cobbler,” he said weakly.

“What was your favorite shadow puppet Dad used to make?”

“Chicken,” he said.

“It’s him,” Kendra said confidently.

“Can you sit up?” Warren asked.

Seth’s head bobbed slightly forward. His fingers twitched. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a steamroller. Like everything . . . has been squished out of me. My throat hurts.”

“He needs time to recuperate,” Warren said. “And I need to get into the tower. The narcoblix knows the way is open. The only reason she would have released Seth is because she is already on her way here. Kendra, you mentioned that a great imp is helping her, along with another man, but she may have more contacts than them on the preserve. I should be able to navigate the traps. Let’s have Mendigo take you and your brother to a safe place.”

“I want to come,” Seth croaked.

“You’ve done enough today,” Warren said. “Time to pass off the torch to others.”

“Give me more of that potion,” Seth said.

“More of that potion won’t change your condition,” Warren said. “Though Kendra should probably have a dose, to help her keep awake.”

Kendra took a sip. Almost instantly she felt a burst of alertness, as if she had been slapped.

Warren scooped his arms under Seth, lifting him in a cradled position. Kendra started collecting the key and the ax, but Warren told her to leave them. He was walking with quick steps back toward Mendigo.

“Should I go into the tower with you, Warren?” she asked, catching up.

“Too dangerous,” he said.

“I may be able to help,” she said. “Last year, I visited the Fairy Queen’s shrine on the island in the pond and raised a fairy army to save Fablehaven from a demon named Bahumat.”

“What?” Warren sputtered.

“She did,” Seth confirmed.

“You do have stories!” Warren said.

“The fairies left me with certain gifts,” Kendra continued, not wanting to specify that she was fairykind. “I can see in the dark, and speak all the languages the fairies can. I don’t need the milk anymore to see magical creatures. And my touch can recharge magical objects that are out of energy. The Sphinx seemed to think that might come in handy for some of the artifacts.”

“It very well might,” Warren said. “It has been suggested that the artifacts were deliberately drained of energy as an additional safeguard.”

“Without me you might not be able to use the artifact even if you find it,” Kendra said.

“I believe I can successfully negotiate the traps in the tower,” Warren said. “But that is without knowing what they are. I’m not infallible, as the grove has aptly proven. Do you understand the possible dangers of accompanying me?”

“We could both die,” Kendra said. “But there is danger everywhere at Fablehaven today. I’ll come with you.”

“An extra pair of eyes and hands could make a difference,” Warren conceded. “And the ability to charge the artifact, whichever one it is, could make all the difference. We’ll trust Mendigo to watch over Seth.”

“This is no fair,” Seth muttered.

“Do you want your glove back?” Kendra asked.

“You’ll need it more,” he said firmly.

They emerged from the grove and hurried to Mendigo. Warren suggested that Kendra have Mendigo take Seth to the stables. Kendra gave orders for Mendigo to take Seth to the stables and watch over him, keep him safe from harm, and not allow him to wander off for a full day unless otherwise instructed. Mendigo trotted away, cradling Seth.

Warren and Kendra ran back to the dry skeleton of the revenant and retrieved the key and the ax. Kendra followed Warren deeper into the grove. There was little undergrowth, but the deeper they went, the closer the trees grew together, and the heavier they were draped with moss and mistletoe. They reached a place where the trees grew so snugly that their branches interlocked in such a way as to almost form a wall.

When Warren shouldered through the living barrier, they found a small clearing ringed by trees, illuminated by a warm, predawn glow. A sizable raised platform of reddish stone dominated the area, looking almost like an outdoor stage. Stone stairs on one side of the platform granted easy access.

Up the steps Warren charged, with Kendra at his heels. Despite the ubiquitous wildflowers and weeds in the clearing, the stone platform was untouched by vegetation. The smooth surface was flecked with black and gold. At the center of the spacious platform was a round socket, surrounded by multiple circular grooves that radiated out concentrically to the edge of the platform. About four feet separated each of the dark, narrow grooves. From above, the grooves would look like a target, with the socket at the center of the bull’s-eye.

Warren placed the complicated end of the key into the round socket. He had to twist the key back and forth, lining up various protuberances with notches in the socket to gradually work it in deeper. Once the tall key was approximately a foot into the hole, it clicked home.

“You sure you’re up for this?” Warren asked. “There will be no turning back once we go inside.”

“What do you mean?” Kendra asked.

“These sorts of places are designed so that unless you make it to the end and claim your prize, you do not make it out alive. The designers don’t want explorers solving the puzzle piece by piece. The traps guarding the way back will be much less forgiving than the traps protecting the way forward. Until we reach the artifact.”

“I’m coming,” Kendra said.

Face reddening with exertion, Warren gripped the handle of the key tightly and began turning it. The key rotated 180 degrees and stopped.

The platform shuddered. It became apparent that the circular grooves marked divisions between concentric rings of stone when the outer ring fell away into darkness, followed by the next, and the next, and the next. The massive rings thundered as they struck the ground.

Warren pulled Kendra near him, standing atop the innermost circle with the key. Though the other rings all fell, the innermost never dropped. Peering down, Kendra saw that the outermost ring had fallen the farthest, with each ring thereafter plummeting a shorter distance, so that all together they formed a conical stairway. From the outside of the platform, it was at least a thirty-foot drop to the floor of the chamber. From the center where Kendra and Warren stood, the next ring was only four feet lower, the next four feet lower again, and so forth down to the floor.

“They just don’t build entrances like they used to,” Warren said. He tugged on the key, and, with a musical ring of steel, the portion of the key in the socket separated from the rest of it. Now instead of ending in a complicated series of protuberances and notches, the key ended in a slender, double-edged spearhead. “Would you look at that?”

“Can’t be good,” Kendra said.

“Yeah, it probably turns into a weapon for a reason,” Warren said, looking down into the chamber. “I don’t see any trouble yet.”

“I’m putting on the glove,” Kendra said. She vanished.

“Not bad,” Warren said.

Kendra waved at him, reappearing as she moved. “It only works when I hold still.”

“Do you know what any of the potions do?” Warren asked.

“I know a couple that would make us about eight or nine inches tall,” she said. “And I know some are bottled-up emotions, although I’m not sure which is which. Seth might know a few others. We should have asked him.”

Warren began climbing down from ring to ring. “As a last resort, you can always try a random potion,” he said. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

The chamber was not much larger than the widest ring of stone. The floor appeared to be a single slab of bedrock. There was nothing in the chamber except a pair of doors at opposite ends. One wall was covered in writings in various languages, including a few repeated messages in English. Kendra assumed the other messages restated the same thing in their respective languages.