dbl fablehaven #1 ch 6-10

His nose was getting congested.

We
are preparing to reassign additional resources to your vicinity.

A final garbled burst of
complaints issued from the dark hole, and then the creature was gone.

Didn’t help
that they invited the satyrs.”

Most of his hair had fallen out, revealing a
lumpy scalp stippled with moles.

The music that followed was mesmerizing.

In her place was a hairy tarantula with striped legs and shiny black eyes.

A thick seal of crimson wax had been broken, and part of a folded
paper protruded invitingly.

And then the tree house
imploded.

Overhead, only a few wispy clouds interrupted the bright blue sky.

The other was long and boneless,
a fleshy tentacle with limp fingers at the end.

The roiling mass of fairies converged on Seth again,
hauling him to the bottom of the pool amid eerie bursts of light.

Outside, the cacophonous uproar resumed louder than ever.

Grandpa and Maddox discussed people Kendra did not know, other individuals involved in the
secretive world of fairy aficionados.

It
jabbered something in a foul, raspy language.

56
Seth nodded awkwardly, his entire bloated torso bobbing up and down.

Long tusks curved down from a wide, lipless mouth.

Seth gawked at the behemoth.

The little ones zoomed in.

Kendra had no moves left on her perforated board.

Out soared a dazzling fairy with wings like
shimmering veils of gold.

The apparition’s dark hair undulated like
vapor in a breeze.

On his back below the hump, four blowholes puckered for air.

Something seared the
back of his hand.

A final garbled burst of
complaints issued from the dark hole, and then the creature was gone.

The winged centipede struck at the flustered hen but
missed.

A large fairy, more than four inches tall, hovered in front of
Kendra.

The nubs wiggled like the remnants of amputated wings.

The maroon goblin stood near the bed, coddling its bony shoulder.

“Folks who run preserves, like your granddad.

“The summer solstice,” Grandpa said.

He flailed toward the side of the pool.

His misshapen body convulsed.

Kendra shoved past Seth and jerked the window shut in time to impede the entrance of a coldly
beautiful woman swathed in writhing black garments.

Several fairies darted over from the garden, hovering around her
in a loose semicircle, interrupting the warbling tune with fervent chirping.

Gray light was seeping through the curtains.

45
After a final glance to ensure Grandpa still looked comatose, Kendra slid the cream-colored
paper out of the envelope and unfolded it.

Lena poured some milk into a pot on the stove and began adding ingredients.

Kendra eased over to the table, a queasy feeling in her stomach.

Is there a pantheon of petty gods who constantly bicker and
interfere in the lives of mortals?

The
following bite seemed saturated with vanilla pudding.

Steam sizzled up from the seething water.

A deep, throbbing beat joined the cacophony, keeping a steady rhythm.

The roiling mass of fairies converged on Seth again,
hauling him to the bottom of the pool amid eerie bursts of light.

It wasn’t just my
body that became mortal; my mind transformed as well.

A bulky creature with a simian build was marching toward the greenhouse pulling a
rickshaw-type contraption the size of a wagon.

The tentacle writhed like a snake.

The slender bars crumpled and the door sprang open.

The maroon goblin cavorted around the room in a feral tantrum, tearing down bookshelves,
upsetting toy chests, and snapping the horn off the rocking horse.

It
jabbered something in a foul, raspy language.

In the afternoon I need to
visit the granary, and I mean to take you with me, let you see more of the property.”

Eager eyes await to see if the
conflict will escalate.”

Kendra noticed that
she was not just scooping in chocolate powder — she was stirring in contents from multiple
containers.

After meandering for some time beneath
the trees, the track continued across an expansive meadow.

“Nothing the imp saw or heard could be harmful,” Grandpa clarified.

Perhaps most disconcerting was when Grandpa was inviting them down to breakfast.

“Keep her in a cage, or a sealed room,
like this one, and her magic cannot be used to escape.

I find it a frustrating, humbling, infuriating experience.”

He opened the hatch, and eight fairies soared out.

The maroon goblin cavorted around the room in a feral tantrum, tearing down bookshelves,
upsetting toy chests, and snapping the horn off the rocking horse.

Taking out his pocket knife, Seth used the awl to punch holes in the lid.

Another fairy entered a bubble and inflated it from the inside until it tripled in
size and burst with a violet flash.

In the dark room, her
inherent glimmer illuminated the entire drawer.

Out of a case flew three milky white
fairies, their mothlike wings peppered with flecks of black.

Adulthood seems impossibly distant, let alone the enfeeblement of old age.

Both looked mangy and
lean.

The inevitability of it haunts me.

The miniature beauty queen had platinum hair, a silver dress, and glittering,
translucent wings.

Seth pounced, slapping the lid onto the jar.

They had stayed up late discussing the events of the day,
almost like friends rather than siblings.

It was an unfortunate mishap.

“The Society of the Evening Star is an arcane organization that we all hoped had gone extinct
decades ago,” Maddox explained.

Seth gawked at the behemoth.

A long, mournful howl underscored his statement.

If you leave him with a list of chores, he’ll
labor through the night.”

Giddy with the long-awaited victory, they rushed him toward the bottom of the pond to add him to
their collection of mortal victims.

Now they were creeping down the
stairs in hopes of glimpsing the aftermath of the night’s revelry.

The bulky creature with the
underbite tried to beat Seth to the bed, arriving too late and receiving a violent shock as it collided
with the invisible salt barrier.

He opened the hatch, and eight fairies soared out.

“Regular catapult,” Dale murmured.

A
butterfly flitted around one of the chimes, playing a sweet, simple melody.

The roiling mass of fairies converged on Seth again,
hauling him to the bottom of the pool amid eerie bursts of light.

The nubs wiggled like the remnants of amputated wings.

“He used potent magic to transform the captured fairy into an imp, unwittingly opening the door
for magical retribution.”

He leaned too close to
the gunwale, and a naiad caught hold of his sleeve as he conversed with his favorite.

The imps sprang from the trunk and scurried out of sight.

“Of my own free will, I sever this knot,” Grandpa said.

Even if, by some misfortune, unsavory creatures entered the house, your
room would remain secure.”

“There has been a worldwide network of dedicated people keeping the preserves secret for
thousands of years,” Grandpa said.

Every object in the tree house was
floating as everything plummeted together.

Kendra tried to sound nonchalant.

He ran to the hatch, but the tree house lurched so violently that he fell to the floor.

Most religions are based on
truths, but they are also polluted by the philosophies and imaginations of men.

“Over the centuries, their relevance has waxed and waned.

“Nothing to fret about.”

Seth kicked a stone, sending it skidding into the woods.

Kendra shook the man’s calloused, thick-fingered hand.

“You would have lived forever,” Kendra exclaimed.

Seth lay in a contorted position, hair wildly disheveled, mouth open,
legs tangled in his covers.

The crying seemed to emanate from outside the darkened window.

Putrid vapor fumed up from his flesh.

“The winter solstice and the two equinoxes.

They become spiteful
and jealous, wallowing in wretchedness.”

“Adults always underestimate kids,” Seth said.

Kendra stared at Lena, trying to keep her expression unreadable.

Seth lay in a contorted position, hair wildly disheveled, mouth open,
legs tangled in his covers.

67
CHAPTER TEN
Midsummer Eve
Grandpa prodded the logs in the fireplace with a poker.

Just a floating head.”

“You never know what will fascinate them,” he said.

Releasing Goldilocks, the demon reeled back, scorched by a blinding blaze.

After the cries went ignored for a while, snarls and screams would simulate the demise of the
young supplicants.

An eruption of high-pitched laughter blared up from the yard.

Now
that the perimeter was finished, adding pieces was a challenge.

“A good start might be not wearing
your camouflage shirt every time you go exploring.”

He clutched a wooden scepter like a teddy bear.

With a loud crack, the
tree house suddenly tilted sideways.

Kendra had not budged.

* * *
With Kendra gone, Seth got out the equipment he had bundled in his towel, including his
emergency kit and the jar he had smuggled from the pantry.

The humiliating finale to the mortal condition.”

She mumbled an unintelligible incantation.

She had fiery red hair and iridescent
dragonfly wings.

Seth floundered at the center of an
underwater pyrotechnics display.

The chicken made straight for the bed, and Seth tossed his other handful of salt in a wide arc to
cover their retreat, scalding the flying centipede in the process.

Kendra gaped at the freakish form of her brother.

Because of the recent uproar with the fairies, I fear this could be a particularly chaotic Midsummer
Eve.”

I lived in an unchanging state for what must
have been many millennia, never thinking of the future or the past, always looking for amusement,
always finding it.

56
Seth nodded awkwardly, his entire bloated torso bobbing up and down.

Something outside roared, a thunderous bellow of bestial ferocity.

The door to the house opened, and Grandpa’s head poked out.

I worry this could be a particularly uproarious
Midsummer Eve.

Late in the night, the furor finally began to relent, replaced by more unnerving sounds.

Four nights a year, the
boundaries that define where different entities can venture dissolve.

“This room is invulnerable unless you open a window or the door.

The herculean mower turned and jogged toward them with long, loping strides.

As the pulsing
percussion increased in volume and tempo, it was accompanied by chanting in a wailing language.

“What keeps people from discovering the sanctuaries?”

“This would be very complicated to explain to your parents.”

The wordless song had the power
of an operatic aria mingled with the sweetness of a lullaby.

His fat appeared to be
evaporating.

A bulky creature with a simian build was marching toward the greenhouse pulling a
rickshaw-type contraption the size of a wagon.

A sudden, staccato flurry of pounding shook the roof, as if a team of horses were galloping
across the shingles.

Late in the night, the furor finally began to relent, replaced by more unnerving sounds.

His eyes were glazed with terror.

The trick usually involves appealing
to their vanity.

Bubbles ruptured with flashes of light.

The transparent fairy flew away,
vanishing against the sky.

A long, birdlike scream overpowered the
ghostly chorus of moans, starting at one side of the house, passing overhead, and finally fading.

There was a burst of
darkness, an anti-flash, and Kendra stumbled, barely catching herself.

“A more common variety — they haunt the Malaysian Peninsula,” Maddox said.

41
Kendra took another bite of the succulent pork roast.

Seth flinched, raising his arms protectively.

The herculean mower turned and jogged toward them with long, loping strides.

A ceramic pot lay in pieces around a pile of soil and the remnants of a plant.

The brass coatrack had toppled in the entry hall, surrounded by hooked triangles of broken glass.

Putrid vapor fumed up from his flesh.

Spurn my hospitality.

His nose was getting congested.

The sinuous arms were gangly, the hands long and leathery, tipped with hooked claws.

When that failed to elicit a response, the
voices of young children pleaded for help.

Strong limbs become feeble, keen senses grow dull, hardy constitutions deteriorate.

Food stains appeared at every turn — melted cheese caked into the carpeting, tomato sauce drying
on the arm of a love seat, a squashed éclair oozing custard all over an ottoman.

I assure you the atrocity was
unintentional.”

Most of his hair had fallen out, revealing a
lumpy scalp stippled with moles.

A bobbing distortion began warping
the leaves and blossoms.

Tufts of grass and the occasional dandelion sprouted from his earthen body.

She clapped her hands and giggled.

A hideous little creature glared up from inside the jar.

His face fell and he turned away, shoulders shaking with sobs.

Seth swerved in the direction of the pool and began pulling off his shirt.

And
how resourceful.

Seth lay in a contorted position, hair wildly disheveled, mouth open,
legs tangled in his covers.

I find it a frustrating, humbling, infuriating experience.”

Holding the front of the flashlight against the windowpane,
and cupping a hand around it to minimize reflection, he switched it on.

She looked like a miniature Pacific Islander with dragonfly wings across her back as well as
tiny wings on her ankles.

“Members of the Society consort with demons and practitioners of the
black arts.”

Arms extended to
either side, she walked along the tiny limb, adjusting as it wobbled.

In the dark room, her
inherent glimmer illuminated the entire drawer.

Invading privacy wasn’t really her forte.

“Grandpa said to ask you about the story of the guy who built the boathouse,” Kendra said.

With a flick of his
wrists, he slapped the skimmer down sharply.

Hugo
was donated to the preserve a couple hundred years ago.”

Now they were creeping down the
stairs in hopes of glimpsing the aftermath of the night’s revelry.

The terrified chicken
took to ungainly flight in a flurry of golden feathers.

“He became caretaker of this property in
1878, inheriting the position from his maternal grandfather.

“I captured this little lady in
an oasis deep in the Gobi Desert.

Interaction with mortals became rare.

The hinges
shook, but the door held.

“Over the centuries, their relevance has waxed and waned.

She
hated when he tried to act like the victim after initiating trouble.

Stanley,
I trust this missive finds you in good health.

As the pulsing
percussion increased in volume and tempo, it was accompanied by chanting in a wailing language.

Not a hundred
yards away, a huge creature was wading through a hayfield wielding a pair of gigantic scythes.

The view out the window switched from the fairies to the
rapidly approaching ground.

Kendra frowned.

It unraveled.

Whispers of an attack by the evening star.

The wind subsided.

Kendra pressed her hands over her ears, trying to augment the dampening power of the
earplugs.

He constructed a broad, sturdy
rowboat so he could go out on the water and be closer to the object of his fascination.”

He leaned too close to
the gunwale, and a naiad caught hold of his sleeve as he conversed with his favorite.

* * *
A round loaf of bread sat on the table, a mottled mixture of white, black, brown, and orange.

Four nights a year, the
boundaries that define where different entities can venture dissolve.

I need not remind you about the attempted infiltration of a certain preserve in the interior of
Brazil last year.

Kendra leaned against the headboard as Seth dozed at her side.

Besides the fairies fluttering about, the garden looked still.

“But as your grandfather has warned you, some of those
creatures can be deadly.

They would try to tease him down to the water’s
edge, as was their custom, in order to drown him.

Once I played
on them with facile agility.

46
“Maddox enjoys a celebration, and your grandfather is an accommodating host,” Lena said.

Muriel tossed up her gnarled hands.

51
She clasped her hands together and shook them in a pleading motion, begging with her eyes.

Kendra shoved past Seth and jerked the window shut in time to impede the entrance of a coldly
beautiful woman swathed in writhing black garments.

He kept them coming, and the
fairies continued to display their creativity.

Lena appeared in the doorway, dressed in a bathrobe, hair awry.

The apparition’s dark hair undulated like
vapor in a breeze.

He
showed such sincerity, and such perseverance, that on occasion she would gaze into his kind eyes
and falter.”

I think they
invented them.”

Fairy connoisseurs travel from all corners of the globe to behold
her.”

She had already stranded a peg.

“I want to negotiate,” Seth said.

* * *
The wheelbarrow swayed as it bumped over a root.

Two tiny ones, not
even an inch tall, darted to the window.

The other was long and boneless,
a fleshy tentacle with limp fingers at the end.

“Go back to bed,” she said each time they attempted a reconnaissance mission.

He retrieved the doll and wiped his nose again on the dress.

How long before some gruesome monster devoured her?

“Stan warned that you might try to pry information out of me.

He hesitantly stepped off the edge of the lawn into the woods, half-expecting werewolves to leap
out at him.

The sun was peeking over the eastern
horizon, streaming gilded highlights across the treetops.

Is there a pantheon of petty gods who constantly bicker and
interfere in the lives of mortals?

Kendra found Lena out on the porch balancing atop a stool.

“Patton began trying to coax his favorite naiad to leave the water, to come walk with him on the
land.

Mom used to complain all the time about me playing in the street.

The sounds were muffled, but continued: the haunted wind lamenting, the
house shuddering, an increasing assortment of shrieks, screams, howls, and wild bursts of gibbering
laughter.

“Members of the Society consort with demons and practitioners of the
black arts.”

Kendra sat beside Seth on the sofa, watching Grandpa stoke the fire.

After meandering for some time beneath
the trees, the track continued across an expansive meadow.

A strong man,
he resisted her, but the struggle pulled him to one side of the boat, upsetting his typical equilibrium.

After the cries went ignored for a while, snarls and screams would simulate the demise of the
young supplicants.

She did not have to run far in order to see the broken
pile of rubble at the base of the tree.

But now he was reverting to his idiot self.

The brass coatrack had toppled in the entry hall, surrounded by hooked triangles of broken glass.

Hissing, the agile creature dropped to the floor, raced
over to the bathtub, and vaulted inside.

It wasn’t just my
body that became mortal; my mind transformed as well.

The fingers were fused together like a flipper.

Suddenly she heard a tremendous crash from the corner of the yard.

The baby dove into the room, transforming grotesquely as it landed on the floor in a deft
somersault.

“Adults always underestimate kids,” Seth said.

“Many of the beings who dwell here existed gracefully
when primitive man foraged in ragged tribes.

The filthy witch sat inside,
her back against the tree stump, chewing on a knot in a bristly rope.

Maddox proceeded to display several other groups of distinctive fairies.

Goldilocks wandered
the floor, pecking at kernels from her spilled bucket of feed.

Downstairs, the kitchen was empty.

I set some swimming records in Britain, and could have set
even more except I was holding back — no sense raising a lot of questions.

“They’re using him as bait!”

For a moment Seth thought he saw something
swirling in the darkness at the edge of the light, a whirling mass of silky black fabric.

And you will not arise until sunrise dispels
the horrors of the night.”

“They detest reminders
that I was once a nymph, especially if those reminders imply that I am at peace with my decision.”

“Telescopes are for stars, dear,
not for trees.”

Arms extended to
either side, she walked along the tiny limb, adjusting as it wobbled.

Mounting evidence implies the secret is out.

Seth tried to stifle his laughter.

Maddox glanced uncertainly at Grandpa.

43
“No grousing.

Kendra said, squatting beside Seth.

“Restoring Seth to his original form is well beyond my abilities.”

“Animated matter granted rudimentary intelligence.

“I captured this little lady in
an oasis deep in the Gobi Desert.

The sinuous arms were gangly, the hands long and leathery, tipped with hooked claws.

Another fairy entered a bubble and inflated it from the inside until it tripled in
size and burst with a violet flash.

She hung the final chime.

Now they were creeping down the
stairs in hopes of glimpsing the aftermath of the night’s revelry.

His legs had united into a single
crude tail.

“Some of the most insidious tricks
employed tonight will involve artifice and illusion.

While under confinement they become fairly
docile and obedient.”

“Animated matter granted rudimentary intelligence.

Inside the jar, the creature made pleading motions and pantomimed
drinking from a cup.

61
Beauty withers.

She wrenched the
flashlight from his grasp and pushed off him to regain her feet.

“He said the guy had an obsession with naiads.

When it was over, Kendra wanted to applaud, but
the moment felt too sacred.

Try to ignore the tumult of the night, and we’ll all share a special breakfast in the
morning.

“Shall I conjure up a medal for him to wear as well?

“I have a whistle.

Warbling moans echoed on the breeze, groaning in
different pitches, forming eerie, discordant harmonies.

Lena opened the refrigerator, removing an old-fashioned milk bottle.

Before Seth could react, the creature squirmed down the drain.

“Some of the most insidious tricks
employed tonight will involve artifice and illusion.

Kendra ran and seized the pool
skimmer, swinging it at the relentless horde of fairies, never touching any of them no matter how
dense the swarm appeared.

And yet the
day will inevitably come when the only space remaining to us will be these sanctuaries, a precious
gift from enlightened mortals.”

The inert golem sprang to life.

Pagan drums, ethereal
choirs, tribal chanting, wailing lamentations, guttural snarls, unnatural howls, and piercing screams
united in relentless disharmony.

You will be fine if you follow the instructions your grandfather
gives you.”

Moving stealthily, she joined Seth, who crouched over muddy hoofprints.

Lena peered out the window through the blinds.

He began to pay little heed to the other naiads.

Before Seth could react, the creature squirmed down the drain.

We had simply faded into colorful caricatures
inhabiting myths and fables.

Slap your flipper
three times if you grasp what I am saying.”

Kendra was approaching from the garden.

The humiliating finale to the mortal condition.”

“He would go and gaze at the naiads for hours.

Dale, you are as mute as your brother, and nearly as pale.

The frenzied fairies mobbed him again, and he lost his grip on the side, vanishing in another
pulsing succession of colored flashes.

Almost no self-awareness.

When Grandpa put the bubble solution away, the fairies gradually dispersed.

The sun was peeking over the eastern
horizon, streaming gilded highlights across the treetops.

The ivy-shrouded shack drew near.

Kendra asked, on the verge of hysterics.

Once I played
on them with facile agility.

The incensed fairy pounded her tiny fists noiselessly against the wall of the jar.

Grandpa was right —
many clustered around the newly refilled birdbaths and fountains, admiring their reflections.

The flipper flapped against the flagstones three times.

“Without your grandmother here to rein in the merriment, things got a little too festive.

Lena paused in her stirring.

She pointed at the base of a
blossoming bush.

He
swung the skimmer again, and the nimble fairy evaded capture a second time, soaring well out of
range.

“There is a tension in the air.

But I
share some of the blame.

The day had been calm, but now a groaning
gust shook the house.

The fairy gleamed even brighter, shedding sparks.

You will be fine if you follow the instructions your grandfather
gives you.”

Other broken objects rested there as well, including the jagged fragments of the ceramic pot
Kendra had noticed earlier.

“The Society of the Evening Star is an arcane organization that we all hoped had gone extinct
decades ago,” Maddox explained.

Further down the long
trough of soil, Lena was cutting a large red one.

50
One fairy gathered bubbles until she had assembled a bouquet that resembled a bunch of
multicolored grapes.

“Some of the most insidious tricks
employed tonight will involve artifice and illusion.

His peaceful demeanor was helping her calm down a bit.

Maddox patted the side of the crate again and spat a stern command in a
language Kendra did not understand.

I’ll concede
that the merriment borders on foolishness.”

They should help
mute the tumult so you can sleep.”

She hung gloriously in the center of the room with a regal air.

The sun was peeking over the eastern
horizon, streaming gilded highlights across the treetops.

The layers of furry skins he wore made him look like a mountain man.

Nor the significance of that preserve in connection with the significance of yours.

Without children, or with adults in the room, the barriers become ineffectual.”

They despise me there, all the more intensely because of
their secret envy.

If the chaotic clamor outside is too much for you, then
you do not belong here.

69
Kendra inserted the earplugs.

You’re practically invisible.

The jar was now empty, washed clean
in the bathroom sink.

If you
adhere to my rules, you should have nothing to worry about.”

Bubbles ruptured with flashes of light.

She responded by urging him to join her in the pond, for to leave the water would mean to
enter mortality.

Not a very cheery topic around the dinner table.”

Cinnamon and sugar dominated the flavoring.

The brownie portals are guarded by magic against all other
creatures of the forest.”

Kendra shoved past Seth and jerked the window shut in time to impede the entrance of a coldly
beautiful woman swathed in writhing black garments.

Cost me nearly two months of
brutal living to track her down.”

His blubber
rippled as if he were boiling inside.

He
swung the skimmer again, and the nimble fairy evaded capture a second time, soaring well out of
range.

You have adapted impressively to this unusual place.”

Mankind held no particular malice toward us.

The crazed cackle suited her haggard appearance much better
than her speaking voice did.

She resumed stirring.

And yet the
day will inevitably come when the only space remaining to us will be these sanctuaries, a precious
gift from enlightened mortals.”

The night before is a
holiday of riotous abandon for the whimsical creatures of Fablehaven.

“I am impressed by how glibly most mortals
confront the debilitation of the body.

Be vigilant.

Still clutching the scythes, the massive golem came to a halt
in front of Dale, looming over him.

“Over the centuries, their relevance has waxed and waned.

Then he wandered across the garden from the pool, leaving the skimmer behind.

A bulky creature with a simian build was marching toward the greenhouse pulling a
rickshaw-type contraption the size of a wagon.

A ceramic pot lay in pieces around a pile of soil and the remnants of a plant.

“The sun will reach the horizon in moments,” she announced.

Always perfectly seasoned, typically served with delicious gravies or sauces.

Invading privacy wasn’t really her forte.

Lena chuckled.

We had simply faded into colorful caricatures
inhabiting myths and fables.

“Many of the beings who dwell here existed gracefully
when primitive man foraged in ragged tribes.

A strong man,
he resisted her, but the struggle pulled him to one side of the boat, upsetting his typical equilibrium.

After meandering for some time beneath
the trees, the track continued across an expansive meadow.

A badge of honor for his crime?”

One shelf featured nothing but large jars of homemade preserves.

Without children, or with adults in the room, the barriers become ineffectual.”

“Did our stalwart adventurer have a mishap?

Pagan drums, ethereal
choirs, tribal chanting, wailing lamentations, guttural snarls, unnatural howls, and piercing screams
united in relentless disharmony.

“There are quiet corners of the world where our kind continue to thrive in the wild.

A brutish monster with a pronounced underbite and
plates down its spine hurled a wardrobe across the room.

The ones with the stained-glass
wings took their time, drifting lazily.

And she had several unanswered questions about
Fablehaven, not the least of which concerned what was actually going on with her grandma.

The lips were froglike, the eyes a glossy
black, the nose a pair of slits above the mouth.

She forced
herself to relax, letting her body go limp, and tried to clear her mind.

She chirped something in a twittering language, motioning for him to open the lid.

“Shallow and self-absorbed.

The child was replaced by a leering goblin with yellow slits for eyes, a puckered nose,
and a face like a dried cantaloupe.

Giddy with the long-awaited victory, they rushed him toward the bottom of the pond to add him to
their collection of mortal victims.

We did not age, so I suppose some of our kind could endure
forever, if lakes and rivers last forever.

She had grown fond
of Patton, seduced by his diligent attention, and, unlike the others, she did not consider his death an
amusement.

Empty glasses, bottles, and plates lay scattered about, several of them
cracked or broken.

I get the feeling he’s trying to protect us from the truth.”

We remain uncertain whether they have pinpointed the location of Fablehaven,
but one unconfirmed report suggests they are in communication with an individual(s) on your
preserve.

Kendra inspected the slice of bread.

“Fairy lanterns have long been among the
surest protections from creatures with dubious intentions.”

I forget how curious and daring children can be.

When released, Muriel can
channel that magic into granting the favor.”

“The solace of my winter years.”

Another fairy entered a bubble and inflated it from the inside until it tripled in
size and burst with a violet flash.

The punishment has been administered.”

How long before some gruesome monster devoured her?

She was tanner than when she had first arrived, but the sun was hot today, and she did not want
to take any chances.

Her pallid face was slightly translucent.

Harsh environment.

“The spells that make the attic impenetrable function only if it is
occupied by children.

Arms extended to
either side, she walked along the tiny limb, adjusting as it wobbled.

“Your grandfather was up until
forty minutes ago.

“I’m sure it was an accident,” she
said.

Unscrewing the top, he gathered bits of grass, flower petals, a twig, and a pebble, and placed
them in the jar.

“Let me
tell you, apprehending a fairy is no easy task.

Then it registered that he had not
consumed any milk yet.

“As you are learning, these preserves are
hazardous places.

The toddler wailed.

Maddox displayed its chameleonic ability to match
different backgrounds.

Grandpa smacked his lips and shifted on the
couch.

Locations are changed when necessary.”

Her high, trilling
voice gave life to a wistful melody.

As always, secrecy and misdirection
remain top priorities.

“Granted the semblance of life by a powerful enchanter.

If anything attacks, I can scare it away with my gear.”

He repeated the solicitation in another
language.

Seth whirled.

Closer investigation
revealed that the jars were lined up three deep.

46
“Maddox enjoys a celebration, and your grandfather is an accommodating host,” Lena said.

Could we dim the lights?”

We remain uncertain whether they have pinpointed the location of Fablehaven,
but one unconfirmed report suggests they are in communication with an individual(s) on your
preserve.

The howls and
screams and laughter diminished in volume and frequency.

A few drifted over, lazily
orbiting the jar.

On the way there, Maddox
collected several cases and crates from the entry hall.

Back on the bed, Seth clung to Goldilocks, arms quivering
convulsively.

Several fairies darted over from the garden, hovering around her
in a loose semicircle, interrupting the warbling tune with fervent chirping.

The incensed fairy pounded her tiny fists noiselessly against the wall of the jar.

Twisting, she used
his momentum to shove him onto her bed.

Grandpa settled in behind his large desk, Dale and Maddox claimed the oversized armchairs,
Lena leaned against the windowsill, and Kendra and Seth found seats on the floor.

Ever since I abandoned the pond, the
prospect of death has been a menacing shadow in the back of my mind.”

Grandpa handed her a pair of small, spongy cylinders.

Kendra ran and seized the pool
skimmer, swinging it at the relentless horde of fairies, never touching any of them no matter how
dense the swarm appeared.

The fountain sprite floated up to a
high corner of the room.

The filthy witch sat inside,
her back against the tree stump, chewing on a knot in a bristly rope.

If Muriel cures your brother, the fairies could interpret it as an insult.”

Now holding the chicken in one hand, the sneering goblin rushed to meet
him.

50
One fairy gathered bubbles until she had assembled a bouquet that resembled a bunch of
multicolored grapes.

There are many places on the property where even he does not dare
venture.”

Kendra was off doing whatever
boring things kept her occupied.

Grandpa made no response, and Seth kept studying his shoes.

51
She clasped her hands together and shook them in a pleading motion, begging with her eyes.

When you can’t, there are other ways to cross
borders.”

Strong limbs become feeble, keen senses grow dull, hardy constitutions deteriorate.

Without the milk you could be even more
susceptible.

“He became caretaker of this property in
1878, inheriting the position from his maternal grandfather.

Maddox proceeded to display several other groups of distinctive fairies.

“He became caretaker of this property in
1878, inheriting the position from his maternal grandfather.

Lena began cracking eggs into a pan.

It
jabbered something in a foul, raspy language.

He constructed a broad, sturdy
rowboat so he could go out on the water and be closer to the object of his fascination.”

She had already hung several along the length of the porch.

“Did you learn anything from the ordeal?”

Kendra stared at the bushes and trees, expecting to find spiteful eyes glaring back at her.

Grandpa was right —
many clustered around the newly refilled birdbaths and fountains, admiring their reflections.

He pulled out the little skull in the crystal globe from Grandpa’s desk.

“An unlucky coincidence,” Grandpa said consolingly.

Grandpa seemed to focus on this news with
particular interest.

In the dark room, her
inherent glimmer illuminated the entire drawer.

The room felt dim and bleak in her absence.

Beneath their covers in the dark attic the night before, Kendra and Seth had found sleeping
impossible as they listened to howling laughter, shattering glass, twittering flutes, slamming doors,
and the constant din of shouted conversations.

The curtain rod was
still attached.

Congratulate yourself.

Bald and scabrous on top, the head was fringed by long, weblike
hair.

As the pulsing
percussion increased in volume and tempo, it was accompanied by chanting in a wailing language.

Witches prey on fear.

Still clutching the scythes, the massive golem came to a halt
in front of Dale, looming over him.

“You have a good haul this season?”

If you are ever
going to be involved with the work on this preserve, you will need to learn to cope with certain
unpleasant realities.

To look at magical creatures that nobody else even knows exist.

“Up to some mischief, if you ask me,” Lena replied.

She had grown fond
of Patton, seduced by his diligent attention, and, unlike the others, she did not consider his death an
amusement.

I’m starving.”

She wrenched the
flashlight from his grasp and pushed off him to regain her feet.

“I should have specifically forbidden it.

He blew, and more bubbles took shape.

“The Society of the Evening Star is an arcane organization that we all hoped had gone extinct
decades ago,” Maddox explained.

The hues became more luminous as the fairies competed against one another.

Four nights a year, the
boundaries that define where different entities can venture dissolve.

I need not remind you about the attempted infiltration of a certain preserve in the interior of
Brazil last year.

Food stains appeared at every turn — melted cheese caked into the carpeting, tomato sauce drying
on the arm of a love seat, a squashed éclair oozing custard all over an ottoman.

Another fairy entered a bubble and inflated it from the inside until it tripled in
size and burst with a violet flash.

“The preserve stretches for many miles in some directions.

He tapped the side of her case, and with a radiant flourish the fairy was gone.

The ominous cloud of
fairies had no trouble keeping up with him.

Ever since I abandoned the pond, the
prospect of death has been a menacing shadow in the back of my mind.”

We
are preparing to reassign additional resources to your vicinity.

“It’s going to be a skeleton or something.”

Kendra found a couple of them disgusting.

Seth experienced a momentary sensation of weightlessness.

A deep, throbbing beat joined the cacophony, keeping a steady rhythm.

A primitive symbol was scrawled on the wall
in orange chalk.

He performs all sorts of manual labor.

“Didn’t you give them clues?”

“They’re on all seven continents.”

He marched forward, setting a brisk pace.

Seth examined the room.

“It was so funny to watch the fairies imitate the
music.

“They are dedicated to overthrowing preserves in order to use them for their own misguided
purposes,” Grandpa said.

As you well know, we have not detected such aggressive activity from the SES in decades.

“There has been a worldwide network of dedicated people keeping the preserves secret for
thousands of years,” Grandpa said.

You just leave out ingredients and see how they
combine them.”

Lena waved a dismissive hand.

I’m sure you were inspired by Maddox and wanted to begin a career as a
fairy broker.”

They set it in a corner of the spacious
kitchen.

I felt guilty about looking so young as his frail body was shutting down.

Kendra jumped, every muscle in her body tensing.

“How brain-damaged are you?

“Seth was altered by magic imposed upon him.

They ridicule
me mercilessly.”

Apparently it wanted to drink straight from the mug.

If anything attacks, I can scare it away with my gear.”

“And since imps are banned from
the yard, her news came from a particular imp.”

Lena absently blotted up the hot chocolate Kendra had sprayed, using a small towel.

He performs all sorts of manual labor.

But I
share some of the blame.

I assure you the atrocity was
unintentional.”

He reluctantly joined her.

“They are backed by ancient fortunes, held in trust.

Much of the surface of the table had been made of
glass.

Kendra stood temporarily immobilized by guilty panic.

This time Hugo executed a nearly perfect cartwheel.

The panicked fairy redoubled her frantic protestations.

“I suspect no malice.

The hues became more luminous as the fairies competed against one another.

Freeing
her is not an option.”

“Much of their time is spent mocking mortals.

“He used potent magic to transform the captured fairy into an imp, unwittingly opening the door
for magical retribution.”

While under confinement they become fairly
docile and obedient.”

The transparent fairy flew away,
vanishing against the sky.

CHAPTER SIX
Maddox
Kendra snapped awake with her sheets tented over her head.

The housekeeper showed no
indication of having seen her spying at the letter.

The baby looked back at the wolves, then turned back toward Seth and Kendra, bawling with
renewed vigor, fresh tears streaming, tiny hands slapping the windowpanes.