[Fablehaven 02] - Rise of the Evening Star

by Brandon Mull - (ebook by Undead)

  He came across a pair of deer. They paused and looked toward him. He held still, vanishing from sight. After a moment they bounded away. Had they caught his scent?

  Farther along he glimpsed a great black owl roosting in a tree. The feathery head swiveled toward him, round eyes staring. Seth had never known owls could be so large or so black. Even as he stood motionless and invisible, the golden eyes seemed to stare into his. In that instant, Seth realized he had not consumed any milk. It was a new day, and he had slept. He could not see the true forms of any of the magical creatures. The owl could be anything. The deer could have been anything.

  He thought back to Olloch. Had the demon really looked as much like a statue as it had seemed to him? Or was that another illusion?

  Seth backed away from the owl, eyeing the large bird as he distanced himself and circled around it. The dark owl did not turn, but the head pivoted, golden eyes trained on Seth until he passed out of sight.

  Before long, Seth came to an unusual path. Once it had been a wide road paved with flagstones, though now it was choked with weeds and slender young trees. Many of the paving stones were out of place or hidden beneath vegetation, but plenty were visible to help him follow the road. Seth had never seen a paved path at Fablehaven, and even though the road was in disrepair, he decided that following an old road was probably safer than roaming aimlessly through the forest.

  The path was not level, and many of the lichen-covered flagstones were crooked and loose, forcing Seth to watch his step or risk turning an ankle. At one point he stopped as a long snake slithered through the weeds. He held his breath, unsure whether it was really a snake or something more dangerous in disguise. The serpent did not appear to notice him.

  Seth passed the decaying remnants of a humble cabin not far off the path to one side. Two walls and a stone chimney remained partially intact. Farther along he spotted the jumbled remnants of a smaller shelter, splintered and rotten beyond recognition. It might have once been a shack or a lean-to.

  He passed a few more ruins of crude shelters before the road led him into an open area, where he stood facing an impressive manor, surprisingly undamaged compared to the road and the other dwellings he had passed. The manor was three stories tall, with four large pillars in the front. White walls were now gray, and all the windows were covered by heavy green shutters. Flowering vines twisted around the pillars and climbed the walls. The road formed a circular driveway in front of the manor, doubling back on itself.

  Seth remembered hearing about an abandoned mansion somewhere on the property. It had once been the main house at Fablehaven, and the center of a community, of which the dilapidated shelters were probably remnants. He could not recall ever hearing why the mansion had been abandoned.

  Given his current situation, one detail about the manor stood out above the rest. It occupied high ground. He suspected that from the roof he would be able to get his bearings.

  Did he dare risk entering the house? Normally he would intrude in a heartbeat. He loved exploring. But he knew that barging into an abandoned mansion on Fablehaven property was a risky proposition. Here, ghosts and monsters were not only real, they were everywhere. And the manor had to be vacant for a reason. It was larger and more grand than the house his grandparents occupied.

  He had to find out where he was. Although the sun was still fairly high, nightfall would inevitably come, and he didn’t want to get caught in the woods after dark. Plus, everybody had to be terribly worried. If entering the house would help him figure out where he was on the property, it would be worth the risk. Also, it would be cool to see what the manor looked like inside. Who knew? There might even be treasure.

  Seth walked cautiously toward the house. He decided to take it slow, keeping himself tensed to bolt at the first sign of trouble. The day was hot and still. Clouds of gnats twirled above the lawn. He could imagine carriages pulling up to the house, being greeted by uniformed servants. Those days were long gone.

  He mounted the steps to the front porch, passing the pillars. He had always liked houses with pillars. They seemed so stately, like true mansions. The front door was ajar. Seth went to the nearest shuttered window. The green paint of the shutters was blistered and peeling. When he tugged on the shutters, they rattled but would not swing open.

  Seth returned to the front door and eased it open. With the windows shuttered and no other lights on, the house was gloomy. Beyond the cavernous entry hall, he could see into a spacious living room. The furniture looked expensive, even under a heavy layer of dust. Everything was quiet.

  Stepping inside, Seth left the door wide open. His passage stirred up dust off the floor. Standing inside the house was barely cooler than standing under the sun outside. It smelled musty, with a hint of mildew. Great sheets of cobwebs hung from the high ceiling and veiled the chandelier. He decided it might be wise to hurry.

  A grand staircase led up from the entry hall to the second floor. Seth charged up the stairs, kicking up dust with each step, leaving footprints on the dingy carpeting. At the top of the stairs hung a sepia portrait of a man and a woman. The man looked serious and wore a mustache. The woman was Lena — much younger than when Seth had known her, but even under the film of dust on the glass, her identity was unmistakable. She had a slight, knowing smile.

  Seth hurried down the hall until he found another staircase, which granted access to the third level. Climbing to a higher, narrower hall, he tried a random door and found it locked. The next door he tried was locked as well, but the third opened onto a bedroom. He hurried to the window, opened it, and unfastened the shutters. Already he had a good view, but only in one direction, so Seth stepped out onto the roof. The roof was steep enough that if he fell, he could conceivably roll off the edge and fall three stories to the driveway. Treading gingerly, wood creaking, Seth moved to the crest of the roof.

  Standing atop the manor, he found himself just high enough to get a decent view of the surrounding area. Unfortunately, not much looked familiar. He identified the four hills that surrounded the valley where Coulter had led him. But he was not sure from what direction he was looking at the four hills. Slowly he turned, scanning the horizon, searching for clues. In one direction he could see what he suspected was the beginning of the marshland. In another direction he saw a single hill. On the hill, he saw a rooftop peeking above the trees.

  Warren’s cottage! It had to be. He could barely see the top of it from his current vantage point. He stood on his tiptoes, trying to improve his angle. It was a good distance away, but if he could reach the cottage, he knew how to find his way back to the main house from there.

  Sweeping the area with a final look, Seth soaked up all the details he could. Back on the ground the way would not be plain. But the sun was moving, casting enough shadow now for him to feel confident which way was west. And by knowing west, he should be able to maintain his heading as he hiked to the cottage.

  He returned to the window and climbed back into the room, closing and latching the shutters. Seth surveyed the room. It was well appointed, but he didn’t see anything worth carrying all the way back to the cottage. Of course, now that he had been here, he could probably find his way back. Maybe there was money or jewelry lying around someplace, perhaps in the master bedroom. Might be worth taking a look around for a few minutes before he departed. After all, it wouldn’t be stealing since the house was abandoned.

  He guessed a good place to start looking would be the second floor, where the rooms had seemed bigger. After quickly checking a few dresser drawers and glancing inside a nightstand, Seth exited the room. He stopped, staring down at the far end of the hall, where the dust on the floor was swirling in a low circle. The sight was unsettling, eddying dust at the height of his shins. Where was the breeze coming from?

  The staircase that accessed the second floor was about halfway down the hall toward the swirling dust. Seth found that his mouth was suddenly dry. He did not want to move toward the dust, but the hall came to a dead en
d in the other direction.

  Seth moved lightly toward the unnatural disturbance. Suddenly the dust began whirling more fiercely, rising in a column from floor to ceiling. Seth ran toward the dust devil as it moved down the hall toward him. Something told him that if he lost the race to the staircase, he would deeply regret it.

  His pounding footfalls kicked up dust, but it was hardly noticeable as the wind from the oncoming vortex filled the hall with blinding particles. Seth squinted and tucked his head. When he reached the staircase, the whirlwind was scarcely ten feet away. Wind lashed at his clothes.

  Seth darted down the stairway, the whoosh of the vortex close behind. At the bottom of the stairs he turned quickly down the hall toward the grand staircase. It sounded like a hurricane was on his tail. A wave of dust engulfed him from behind as he reached the top of the grand staircase.

  Not daring to look back, Seth plunged down the stairs two at a time. Something smashed against the wall just behind him. Howling wind filled his ears. Coughing, Seth felt like he was lost in a sandstorm as decades of dust saturated the air.

  At the bottom of the stairs, as he dashed for the front door, Seth glanced back. The vortex had grown. It was floating down toward him across the high entry hall, skipping the stairs and growing taller by the instant. Tentacles of dust stretched out from the center of the whirlwind. An icy gale hurled stinging dust into his eyes.

  Seth lunged out the open door and slammed it behind him. Choking on dust, he raced down the steps to the driveway and sprinted across the yard in the direction of the cottage. Only when the manor was out of sight did he relax his pace.

  * * *

  Kendra sat at the table with Warren, wracking her brains to decide her next move. Mendigo stood guard outside the window. Despite the company of the mute albino and the oversized puppet, she had rarely felt so alone.

  Mendigo had proved to be quite useful. After he had gathered fruit for her on the small hill that covered the Forgotten Chapel, the puppet had carried her piggyback to Warren’s cottage as dawn began to streak the sky.

  But now the day was starting to fade, and she still had no plan, except to keep watch out the window in case Vanessa decided to pay her a visit. Kendra had spread out all the potions from Tanu’s pouch on the table. She knew which containers held the bottled-up emotions, but was unsure which emotion was which. The rest of the potions could be just about anything. She had thought about sampling one, but became worried that some might be poisons or otherwise harmful concoctions meant for enemies. Kendra concluded she should save testing random potions as a last resort.

  She needed to find a way to free her grandparents. There were tools in the cottage, plenty of items she could use as weapons, but if Vanessa was still controlling Tanu, Kendra had a hard time picturing herself succeeding. Mendigo could help, but Kendra would be surprised if the puppet was able to enter the yard, since he could not enter the cabin. She was pretty sure Grandpa had to grant special permission to any nonmortal visitors. The fairies were permitted in the garden only by his consent.

  Mendigo started tapping on the window. She had told him to warn her if anyone approached. What could she do? “Mendigo, protect Warren and me from harm, but stay out of sight until my command.”

  Mendigo crouched behind a bush near the porch as Kendra made her way to the window. She peeked out, moving her head slowly, and could not believe what she saw. Seth was emerging from the trees, walking up the path to the cottage.

  Initially she was shocked. When she recovered, Kendra ran to the door and flung it open, tears of happiness and relief springing to her eyes. “Seth!” she cried.

  “Kendra?” he said, stopping in his tracks.

  “You’re not dead!”

  “Sure I am. I’m a ghost. I’ve been sent back with a warning.”

  Kendra could not stop smiling. “I thought I’d never hear you say something idiotic again!”

  “Who else is with you?”

  “Just Mendigo and Warren. Hurry, come inside.”

  “Ha-ha,” Seth said, continuing toward the cottage at a leisurely pace.

  “I’m serious,” Kendra said. “Come inside. Bad things have happened.”

  “And I’m serious too,” he said. “Muriel called me back from beyond the grave to deliver a singing telegram.”

  Kendra put her hands on her hips. “Mendigo, show yourself.”

  The limberjack jumped out from behind the bush. “Holy cow!” Seth exclaimed, recoiling. “What’s he doing here? And why is he taking orders from you?”

  “Get inside and I’ll tell you!” Kendra said. “I’ve never been gladder to see anybody. We have a big problem on our hands.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Satirical Assistance

  Seth sat across the table from Kendra, looking totally shell-shocked. After he had told Kendra about the cocoon and passing through Olloch, she had explained how Vanessa had been revealed while he was absent. “So Vanessa was controlling Coulter,” he said. “That was why he suddenly seemed so disoriented. He woke up with the revenant right on top of us, and still managed to save me.”

  “If we fall asleep, she may be able to control us,” Kendra said.

  “How?” He picked up another cookie from the plate Kendra had left at the center of the table. She had discovered the cookies in a cupboard.

  “Since she’s a narcoblix, I think the drumants were a diversion so she could bite us in the night without anybody worrying about the marks. You were bitten by drumants. So was I. So was Coulter. So was Tanu. But who knows if all those bites were actually drumants?”

  “I bet you’re right,” Seth said, munching on the cookie. “You know, I fell asleep inside the cocoon a couple of times. Once for quite a while. She might know I’m still alive.”

  “To be safe, we better not fall asleep until we solve this problem,” Kendra said.

  “You look tired,” Seth said. “Your eyes are getting bloodshot.”

  “Vanessa gave me a sleeping drug yesterday, and I slept most of the day. But then I was up all night, and didn’t want to risk napping today.” Kendra yawned. “I’m trying not to think about it.”

  “Well, I had a good sleep after Olloch… got rid of me, so I should be able to go all night,” Seth said. “I agree we need to free Grandpa and Grandma, but we also need to find the key and keep it away from Vanessa. We have to protect the artifact.”

  “For all we know, she may already have the key,” Kendra said. “She might even have the artifact!”

  “I doubt it. It will be hard to get past that revenant. I mean, the thing just froze me with pure terror — there was nothing I could do. But maybe Vanessa knows a trick.”

  “It can’t be too easy for her,” Kendra said. “I think she sent you and Coulter to the grove as an experiment. I’m not sure she knows what she’s doing.”

  “Well, if she sent Coulter, she might send others,” Seth said. “She and that Christopher Vogel guy are here to get the artifact. They’re going to find a way if we don’t stop them. And they might hurt everybody they captured in the process.”

  “You think we should go spy on them?”

  “Right away. While we still have light. We don’t have time to waste.”

  Kendra nodded. “Okay, you’re right.” She stood and put a hand on Warren’s shoulder. “We’re going to the house, Warren. We’ll be back.” He smiled up at her blankly.

  “I know some of these potions,” Seth said, indicating the potions on the table.

  “Do you know which emotions are which?” Kendra asked.

  “I’m pretty sure,” he said. “And I know these ones turn you small. Like under a foot high. And this one is an antidote for most poisons. And this one makes you resistant to fire. Or was that this one?”

  “Do you know which one was fear?” Kendra asked. “That might come in handy.”

  “This one is fear,” Seth said, picking up one of the bottles. “But we should bring all of them.” He began placing the potions in the p
ouch. “Oh, and this jar has something important.” Seth unscrewed the lid of a small jar. He dipped his finger in and withdrew it with a pale yellowish paste on it. He sucked the paste off his fingertip.

  “What was that?” Kendra asked.

  “Walrus butter,” Seth said. “From a walrus on a preserve up in Greenland. Works like the milk. It’s what Tanu uses out in the field.”

  “Hopefully they haven’t found the key yet,” Kendra said. “Grandpa hid it in a new place. Of course, we might not be able to find it either.”

  “We’ll figure something out,” Seth said. “We can’t really plan until we check out what’s going on. I should be able to use the glove to get a good look.”

  Kendra walked to the door, opened it, and spoke to the giant puppet. “Mendigo, obey all the instructions Seth gives you as if I were giving them.” She turned back to Seth. “You ready?”

  “Just a second,” Seth said, carefully placing the final potions into the pouch. He kept the fear potion in his hand. “I lost my emergency kit, but gained a bag of magical potions and an invisibility glove. Pretty good trade.”

  They went outside. “Mendigo,” Kendra said, “carry Seth and me to the yard as fast and as comfortably as you can, trying not to let us be heard or seen.”

  The wooden puppet slung Seth over one shoulder and Kendra over the other. Showing no sign of strain, Mendigo trotted briskly down the path away from the cottage.

  * * *

  Crouched, choosing their steps carefully, Kendra and Seth approached the yard. Mendigo waited several paces behind them, with orders to retrieve them and retreat to the cottage if they called. Kendra had tried to send him into the yard, but he had been unable to set foot on the grass. The same barrier that had kept Olloch out of the yard was in full effect for the limberjack as well.