Fablehaven: The Complete Series (85 page)

The Sphinx turned to face Vanessa. “Have you any final words before you learn why we call it the Quiet Box? Take heed—any utterance that passes your lips had best be words of apology.” His voice held a menacing edge.

Vanessa looked at them in turn. “I apologize for the deceit. I never meant any of you physical harm. A false friendship is a terrible thing. Kendra, though you might not believe it, I remain your pen pal.”

“Enough,” the Sphinx said. “Make no professions of continued fidelity. We pity your fate, and collectively wish you had not brought this evil upon yourself. You have sought forbidden knowledge and committed unforgivable betrayals. You once had my trust, but it is now irretrievable.”

The Sphinx opened the cabinet. The inside was lined with purple felt. The box was empty. Seth craned his neck, then gave Kendra a befuddled glance. Where was the current occupant?

Mr. Lich ushered Vanessa into the box. Her eyes were cold, but her jaw trembled. The Sphinx closed the door, and the cabinet rotated 180 degrees. Mr. Lich opened a door identical to the first, providing a view of the same space from the opposite side. But the view was not of Vanessa.

Instead, a figure clad entirely in burlap stood in the box. A coarse sack covered his head, chained snugly around his neck. Thick ropes bound his arms to his sides. Shackles gripped his ankles.

Mr. Lich laid a hand on his shoulder and led the mysterious captive out of the box. The Sphinx closed the door. Kendra, Seth, Grandma, and Grandpa watched as the prisoner shuffled away down the hall between the Sphinx and Mr. Lich. Grandma put an arm around Kendra, giving her a comforting squeeze.

* * *

That night, Kendra found she could not sleep. Her mind was whirling with the events of the past few days. They had been through so much, it seemed she had returned to Fablehaven a lifetime ago.

Midsummer Eve was a few days away. Grandpa had emphasized to Seth that they were putting their lives into his hands by permitting him to remain on the preserve during that perilous evening. Her brother had assured everyone that he had learned his lesson, that he would stay far from the windows unless otherwise instructed. Kendra was almost surprised to discover that, like her Grandpa, she absolutely believed him.

One particular thought kept recurring as Kendra lay awake in the dark. Vanessa’s last words kept striking her as increasingly peculiar: “I remain your pen pal.”

Kendra knew she might be crazy, but she felt certain the statement was more than a platitude. It sounded like Vanessa might be hinting at a secret message.

Deciding she had to know, Kendra kicked off the covers. Opening the nightstand drawer, she removed the umite wax candle that Vanessa had given her. She padded across the attic floor and down the stairs to the hall.

Kendra eased open the door to Grandpa and Grandma’s room. Like everyone else in the dark house, they were sleeping soundly. There were the dungeon keys, on a peg near the bed. Grandpa had sworn he was going to make copies and hide them in strategic locations in case of another takeover.

Kendra hesitated. This was a disturbingly Sethlike thing to do. Shouldn’t she just tell her grandparents her suspicion and have them accompany her? But she was worried they would not want her reading a farewell message from Vanessa. And she was worried they would be right, that the message would be cruel. And she was also worried that she was wrong, and there would be no message, and she would look foolish.

Quietly removing the keys from the peg, Kendra left the room. She was getting good at sneaking around. Being able to see in the dark certainly helped. Kendra tiptoed down the stairs to the entry hall.

Would there really be a message? In many ways, she would be relieved if the cell wall was blank. What could Vanessa have to say? A sincere apology? An explanation? More likely something spiteful. Kendra steeled herself against the possibility.

Whatever the message, it was hers to read. She did not want others going through her mail, at least not until after she had a look.

Kendra took matches from a kitchen cupboard and descended the stairs to the basement. Getting to Vanessa’s cell would be simple—they had held her in the fourth cell on the right, not far from the dungeon entrance.

With Mr. Lich watching her, could Vanessa have written much of a message? Maybe. He was only there to prevent her from going into a trance and taking over people. He might not have had his eyes glued to her every second.

Kendra unlocked the iron door to the dungeon and entered. The goblins could make no complaint against her. They had received six dozen eggs, three live geese, and a goat for aiding Kendra and Seth when they had showed up in miniature. As long as she went straight to Vanessa’s cell and then left, visiting the dungeon secretly could not possibly cause any harm. Maybe the idea wasn’t quite as Sethlike as it had seemed.

She unlocked Vanessa’s cell and entered. As had become routine for Kendra since the fairies had altered her vision, it was dim but not terribly dark. The cell was like the others she had seen—stone walls and floor, crude bed, hole in the corner for waste. She struck a match and lit the candle, suddenly certain there would be no message.

Beneath the glow of the umite candle, words flared into view, cramped but legible, covering multiple patches of the floor—a much longer message than Kendra had anticipated. The words were oriented so that they must have been written while Vanessa crouched with her back to the door, with most of the writing concentrated in areas that were hard to see from the little window.

In mounting wonder and alarm, Kendra read the following message:

Dear Kendra,

I have vital information to share with you. Call it a final tutorial, and a parting shot at my treacherous employers. You should have learned the lesson I shared when we first met. What is the textbook Society infiltration? Set up a threat, then come to the rescue in order to build trust. Errol did it to you and Seth. Then I did the same thing to you and your grandparents, pretending to be part of the solution rather than the cause of the problem, legitimately helping most of the time until the moment of betrayal arrived. Others have been using that model for a long time, with infinite subtlety and patience. Namely, the Sphinx.

Your reflex will be to doubt me, and I cannot prove that I am right. My gifts made me privy to secrets that piqued my curiosity, and when I dug deeper, I unearthed a truth that I should have left undiscovered. He suspects I know his secret, which is why he will confine me to the Quiet Box. He would prefer if he could have me executed. I work for him, but I am not supposed to know the identity of my employer. Few know the enigmatic leader of the Society of the Evening Star. For months, I believe, the Sphinx has suspected that I have guessed his true identity. The kind of fraud he is perpetrating could endure only with supreme discretion and meticulous attention to detail. In his mind, I have become a liability.

The Sphinx could have claimed he had a prison that would hold me and impede my powers. He could have taken me with him. And if he had, he would have earned my undying loyalty. At present, I would still be in doubt as to his intentions, but Lich, not fully understanding the dynamics of the situation, hinted about the Quiet Box, and so I scrawl my revenge on the floor.

Consider the coup this is for the Sphinx. As a known traitor, I am a spoiled asset for the Society, and therefore of much less use. He gets to look like the hero and the sure friend of Fablehaven as he locks me in the most secure prison on the property, further obscuring the duplicitous truth. In case his suspicions are correct and I know his true identity, I am permanently out of the equation.

What else? He frees a prisoner who is undoubtedly a powerful ally! And he walks away with the artifact I was sent here to retrieve for him!

This could be a fabrication. Keep your eyes open, and time will confirm my version of things. The reason the Sphinx knows so much, and anticipates danger so well, is because he is playing both sides. He is causing the danger, and then providing relief and advice until those perfect moments of betrayal arrive. Who knows how many artifacts he has collected? He has been at it for centuries! Considering his actions at Fablehaven and in Brazil, he has apparently decided that the time for aggressiveness has arrived. Beware, the Evening Star is rising.

Had he trusted me, his secret would still be safe. But he spurned me, and underestimated me, and so his secret is revealed. My loyalty is no longer his. I know much more that could be useful to you and your grandparents.

If not your friend, your disillusioner,

Vanessa

Acknowledgments

Writing a book is a private endeavor, but sharing a book with others becomes a public enterprise. There are many people to thank who have helped the Fablehaven series come this far.

My wife is the person closest to the process. She reads my work chapter by chapter, providing my first feedback and encouragement. Not only is she my best friend, she also helps me find time to write and makes our household function—the thanks I owe to her are incalculable.

Chris Schoebinger at Shadow Mountain spearheads the marketing and keeps everything on track. Emily Watts edits the book—the polish she adds really helps it shine. Brandon Dorman turns words into striking images, and designers Richard Erickson and Sheryl Dickert Smith use those images and their own skills to give the book a visual identity. Jared Kroff and friends make Fablehaven.com look cool. My sister Summer coordinates the tour and travels with me, helping me raise awareness about Fablehaven while encouraging students to strengthen their imaginations through reading.

I can never read my own work without an intimate knowledge of the story and the events to come. This can pose a problem when I struggle to distinguish the information in my mind from the information actually on the page. To help me gauge whether the story is unfolding effectively I solicit feedback from trusted readers. For this book I had help from Jason and Natalie Conforto, Mike Walton, Scott and Leslie Schwendiman, Chris Schoebinger, the Freeman family, Emily Watts, Mike Crippen, Lisa Mangum, Pam, Gary, Summer, Cherie, Nancy, Tamara, Tuck, Liz, Randy, and others.

There is a lot to learn about the business side of being an author. I’m grateful to Orson Scott Card for some sound advice and kind mentoring, Barbara Bova for getting involved as my agent, the people at Simon and Schuster who are publishing the paperback edition of the book, and the wonderful folks at Shadow Mountain who are helping me share the story of Fablehaven with readers everywhere.

Writers live or die by readers telling others about the books they enjoy. I’m grateful to Robert Fanney for helping to get the word out online, Donna Corbin-Sobinski for going the extra mile in Connecticut, and numerous family members, friends, bookstore employees, teachers, and librarians for helping increase awareness of the series.

In the end, I most rely on readers who suspend their disbelief and let the story of Fablehaven come to life in their minds. Thanks for sharing your time with me!

On a final note, my cousin Nicole Aupiu told me that some of her friends don’t believe I’m her cousin. I am! In fact, a character in this book is named after her brother Tanu.

Keep an eye out for Book 3 of the Fablehaven series coming in 2008, and my first non-Fablehaven fantasy novel,
The Candy Shop War,
in stores before the end of 2007.

Reading Guide

1. In the first chapter of the book, Kendra’s power to recognize magical creatures allows her to see Casey Hancock for what he is, an evil kobold. Do you think she made the right choice not to tell her friends about him? What would you do if you felt like you should warn a friend about something or someone, but you were embarrassed or afraid to do so?

2. Which of the “experts”—Coulter, the magical relics collector, Tanu, the potions master, or Vanessa, the magical creatures expert—would you be most interested in learning from? If you could be an expert in one of these areas, which would you choose? Why?

3. On pages 108–11, Kendra samples one of Tanu’s bottled emotions, shame. After it has worn off, she realizes that the emotion made her blow little problems all out of proportion. How can our emotions make things seem worse than they really are? What can we do when we’re caught up in the “spell” of a negative emotion?

4. On page 124, Seth asks Dale what he’ll do if he can’t find a way to cure his brother, Warren. Dale answers, “I’ll never know that day has come, because I’ll never stop trying.” How do you keep your hope up when you’ve tried lots of different solutions to a problem, and nothing seems to work? Have you ever kept trying and ended up succeeding at something that you failed at to begin with?

5. Pages 136–39 describe Grandma Sorenson’s interaction with the jinn that resulted in her being changed into a chicken. Have you ever felt that you could “handle” a situation that you knew would be dangerous?

6. If you had a magical glove like Coulter’s, how would you use it? How could you help people? What magical relic would you most like to invent? What would it do? Why would you like to have that power?