Rise of the Evening Star

Kendra went over to Errol and dumped dust on him.

Nothing changed. He was dead.

We may be able to save Warren, Kendra said.

I noticed he was gaseous, Tanu said, having tied his418 torn clothes together into a loincloth. Which means he isalive. The potion would not have worked if he were dead.

He must be nearly gone, or he would be able to move around freely in his gaseous state. Instead he lies in a daze.

Considering the power of the dust in that artifact, I’m sure we will be able to restore him. Dale will thank you forever.

Vanessa said she found you in the woods and put you to sleep, Kendra said.

Then she was lying, Tanu said.

Bluffing, Vanessa rephrased.

When I came to myself, I returned to the house, Tanu continued. I approached cautiously, and must have arrived not long after Vanessa departed to come here. I picked the locks to the dungeon. It is much easier to sneak into that prison than to sneak out. Your grandparents are fine. They retrieved the register, and we found friends waiting outside the gates of Fablehaven.

Not long after that, Tanu returned to his regular size and adjusted his clothes. They stood next to the ghostly, smoky form of Warren until the gas coalesced and he became solid once more. As soon as he became tangible, Kendra covered him with dust from the teapot, mending broken bones and poisoned tissue and burns and ruptured organs. He sat up, blinking, unbelieving. When he removed the blood-soaked shirt from his abdomen, he found no mark beneath it.

Warren was no longer albino. He had dark hair and intense hazel eyes.

Kendra also dusted Coulter, curing his albinism.419 We should hurry, Tanu said. Dale will be needingsome healing himself. The hobgoblin left him lame.

They bound Vanessa’s hands with the same rope that had bandaged Warren, and levitated up to the catwalk, Tanu holding Vanessa. They replaced their rods in the alcove. No monkeys stirred as they crossed the mosaic, though they still had to tread carefully on the stairs. They found Dale in the sandy room, where only the blue woman, the half-spider, and the dwarf remained on the walls.

Dale shouted in ecstasy upon seeing his brother revived and well, and they embraced for a long while before Kendra could get near enough to heal his legs. Once his legs were well, Dale stared at the teapot in wonder, wiping away tears of joy, and proclaimed that now he had officially seen everything.

One final surprise awaited Kendra. When at length they reached the uppermost chamber in the tower and climbed the knotted rope to reach the stone platform in the formerly cursed grove, she found the Sphinx and Mr. Lich waiting to welcome them.420The Quiet Box

Tell me about the cat again, Seth said, sitting on the bed with his legs crossed, trying to juggle three blocks.

Again? Kendra said, looking up from her book.

I can’t believe I missed the coolest thing anyone has ever seen, Seth complained, losing control of the blocks after two tosses. A giant, flying, snake-covered, three-headed, acid-breathing panther. If you didn’t have witnesses,

I’d be sure you made it up just to torture me.

Being there wasn’t much fun, Kendra said. I was pretty sure we were all going to die.

And it hosed down Vanessa with a massive acid blast, he continued enthusiastically. Was she screaming?

She couldn’t scream, Kendra said. She was just sort of moaning. She looked like she’d been dipped in lava.421 All that to guard the lamest thing ever: a shabby oldteapot.

A teapot that cured all your zombie wounds, Kendra said.

I know, it’s useful, but it looks like a bad decision from a really pathetic garage sale. You just like it because your fairy voodoo made it work. He started trying to juggle again and immediately lost the rhythm, one of the blocks falling to the floor.

Grandpa opened the door to the attic bedroom. The

Sphinx says he’s ready, if you still want to join us, he reported.

Kendra smiled. It was nice seeing Grandpa walking around again like his old self. To her, healing Grandpa

Sorenson had seemed like the most miraculous consequence of retrieving the artifact. The other injuries were so recent that they had somehow not sunk in as being real. It had been as if the teapot were washing away the memory of a bad dream. But Grandpa had been in a wheelchair ever since she had arrived at Fablehaven this year, so watching him cut the cast off and walk around was particularly impressive.

Heck, yeah, Seth said, bouncing off the bed. I’ve missed too much! I’m not missing this.

Kendra got up as well, although her feelings were more conflicted than Seth’s. Rather than wanting to witness

Vanessa’s final sentence as a novelty, or perhaps to gloat, she hoped to reach some sense of closure for the betrayal

Vanessa had enacted.

It had been the Sphinx who had recommended the422 Quiet Box. The previous day, after Vanessa had been incarceratedin the dungeon, they had all sat around filling in the blanks for each other. Grandma and Grandpa knew almost none of the story. Seth held them enthralled with how he overcame the revenant. Kendra and Warren told of the descent into the tower and the battle with the cat. Tanu,

Coulter, and Dale told of the rescue they had mounted, how when they had approached the grove with the Sphinx, the imp who appeared to be guarding it had turned and fled, and how Dale had been injured by the hobgoblin.

The Sphinx explained that he had been on the move because of evidence that the Society of the Evening Star was closing in on his location. Once he was clear, he became worried that nobody at Fablehaven was answering his calls, and doubly concerned when he found the gates locked and nobody responding to his solicitations for entry. He had waited there until Tanu finally answered the phone after freeing Grandpa. Tanu had opened the gates for him.

In the end, the conversation had turned to Vanessa. The problem was, as a narcoblix, she would forever have power over those she had bitten whenever they were asleep. She must be shut away in a prison that will inhibit her power, the Sphinx had said emphatically. We cannot expect Mr.

Lich to spend the remainder of his life watching her. At the time, Mr. Lich was in the dungeon, stationed outside her cell.

Can’t the sand from the artifact cure those of us she bit? Kendra asked.

I have been studying the artifact, the Sphinx said. Its423 healing powers appear to affect only the physical body. I donot believe it can cure maladies of the mind. The dust instantly removed the marks from her bite, but it is powerless against the mental link the bite forges.

Do you know of a prison that would curtail her power?

Grandpa asked.

The Sphinx paused and then nodded to himself. I have a simple answer. The Quiet Box in your very own dungeon will suit our needs perfectly.

What about the current occupant? Grandma asked.