Grip of the Shadow Plague

On the floor beside his bed, Seth hunched over a musty journal, scanning page after page for words like Graulas and Kurisock. He glanced at the clock. Almost midnight. Kendra could show up at any minute. He did not want her to discover that he had started reading Patton’s journals. She would never let him live that down.

His eyes found the word Kurisock, and he slowed down to study the passage:

Today I revisited the territory allotted to Kurisock. I still suspect that the demon played a central role in the tragedy that destroyed my uncle, the details of which I do not intend to relate in a volume as unguarded as this journal. In truth, if my grief over the calamity does not diminish, I may never impart the particulars.

Let it suffice to convey that I traversed the frontier into Kurisock’s realm and spied on his smoldering pit, a malodorous venture that yielded no revelations. I dare not venture deeper into his territory, lest stripped of all protection I render myself defenseless and trade my life for naught. I reluctantly concede that investigating Kurisock in this manner is a fruitless enterprise, and intend at last to acquiesce to the advice that I refrain from further encroachments into his domain.

I hesitate to abandon my aunt to her fate, but the woman I knew no longer exists. I fear that her horrific condition may be irreversible.

Seth had found references to Kurisock and his tar pit before, although no passage revealed nearly as much about the nature of the demon as Graulas had shared. Seth had also encountered multiple mentions of a tragedy involving Patton’s uncle. But this was the first entry where Patton had let slip that Kurisock might have been involved in his uncle’s downfall. And until now, Seth had never read anything about a strange condition afflicting Patton’s aunt.

Footsteps thumped up the attic stairs. Seth started, fumbling with the journal before sliding it under his bed. He tried to assume a casual pose as the door opened and Dale poked his head in. "They’re back."

Seth got to his feet, grateful that the person on the stairs had been Dale and not Kendra. His sister had an uncanny ability to guess when he had been up to something, and he did not want her to know that he had broken down and turned into a bookworm while she was off having adventures.

Seth followed Dale down to the main level, reaching the entry hall just as Grandma came through the front door with her arm around Kendra. Warren and Grandpa entered carrying luggage and closed the door.

Seth crossed to Kendra and reluctantly accepted her hug. Stepping back, he scowled at his sister. "If you guys fought another three-headed flying panther, you’re going to have to buy me antidepressants."

"Nope," Kendra said. "Just a dragon."

"A dragon!" Seth gasped enviously. "I missed out on a dragon fight?"

"Not a fight," Warren clarified. "We had to sneak past it."

"Where’d you guys go that you had to sneak past dragons?" Seth moaned, afraid of the answer, but unable to resist asking.

"Another secret preserve," Kendra said vaguely, glancing at Grandma.

"You can tell him," Grandma said. "We’re all going to have to share information tonight. Much has happened here, and I’m sure you have stories to tell. We need to piece it all together in order to move forward."

"We were at a preserve called Lost Mesa in Arizona," Kendra said. "We went after another artifact. I got to help feed zombies."

Seth paled. "You fed zombies," he whispered in awe. He hit the side of his leg with his fist. "Why do you torture me like this! You probably didn’t even like it!"

"I didn’t," Kendra admitted.

Seth covered his eyes with his hands. "It’s like the awesomest stuff happens to you just because you’re too girly to enjoy it!"

"You did converse with an ancient and powerful demon," Grandpa reminded him.

"I know, which was so cool, but she won’t even care," Seth complained. "She’ll just be glad it wasn’t her. The only thing that would make her jealous would be if I led a parade riding a unicorn while ballerinas sang love songs."

"Don’t try to pin your secret dreams on me," Kendra said with a smirk.

Seth felt his cheeks grow a little warm. "Don’t try to pretend you’d rather see a dragon than a unicorn."

"Maybe you’re right," she admitted. "Especially if the unicorn wouldn’t try to hypnotize and eat me. But the dragon was pretty amazing. She shone all coppery."

"She?" Seth said. "It was a girl dragon? Well, that makes me feel a little better."

"I know the hour is late," Grandpa interrupted, "but I don’t feel we can wait until tomorrow to exchange information and begin devising a plan. Shall we adjourn to the living room?"

Leaving the luggage in the hall, Grandpa, Grandma, Kendra, Seth, Warren, and Dale found seats in the living room. To the astonishment of everyone except Kendra,

Warren shared the information that the artifact at Lost Mesa had been taken to Fablehaven by Patton Burgess, along with the details about Javier stealing the decoy artifact. Grandpa related to Warren and Kendra how Coulter and Tanu had become shadows along with all the specifics of what Seth had learned from Graulas.

"I can’t believe that old demon let the two of you go," Warren said. "You really think you can trust him?"

"I’m sure we can’t trust him," Grandpa said. "But after some thought and research, I now believe he may have been telling the truth-perhaps out of boredom, or as part of a convoluted Society scheme, or even to exact some kind of personal revenge against a rival."

"Maybe he really was impressed by my heroics," Seth added, mildly offended.

"I suspect he was, or he would not have taken notice of you in the first place. Yet I’m skeptical that admiration alone prompted him to volunteer such crucial information."

"I’m skeptical whether he was telling the truth at all," Grandma said. "Graulas is a conniver. We have no way to corroborate any of the assertions he presented about Kurisock."

"At the same time, nothing we have found disproves anything he told Seth," Grandpa rebutted. "A demon like Graulas does not invite humans into his lair and allow them to leave alive. He has been inactive for centuries, and hibernating for decades. Something must have genuinely sparked his interest and roused him from his stupor."

"The plague itself may have penetrated his hibernation," Grandma said. "His sole motive may be to participate in the destruction of this preserve. Have we read the same journals? Graulas has never hidden his disdain for Fablehaven. He views this preserve as his disgraceful tomb."