Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

The Sphinx crouched over her, grinning, his teeth white. "Welcome back, Kendra," he said. "You know me, correct?"

"Never again," Kendra gasped.

Everyone in the room murmured. They sounded amazed.

"I thought that perhaps you would see nothing. That your nature as fairykind would totally shield your mind from the vision. But you saw everything and made it out."

"Barely," Kendra said. "I lost all sense of where I was, who I was. There was too much."

"You seemed to slip away once you looked beyond the house," the Sphinx coaxed.

"It was like trying to drink from a tsunami," Kendra said. "How long was I gone?"

"Ten minutes," the Sphinx said. "You were convulsing gently, like the others. We had lost hope that you would return on your own. What brought you back? Once the seizures struck, I expected you to end your days in a vegetative state."

Kendra did not want to tell him about the Fairy Queen. Her realm had to stay hidden. "My Grandma saw me. Grandma Sorenson. She saw me seeing her and told me to release the crystal."

The Sphinx studied Kendra. "I had no idea Ruth was clairvoyant."

Kendra shrugged. "Bottom line? You want me to touch that thing again, you will have to force my hand onto it, and please don’t pretend you’re doing anything besides erasing my mind. There was no way I could control what I saw. No way to focus. I was nothing."

"You did well, Kendra," the Sphinx said. "If not an outright success, the experiment was instructive. I am convinced the Oculus is beyond your capacity to wield. Having witnessed the others who have tried, I feel there was no way you could have imitated their state of agitation so precisely. We could all tell when the Oculus overpowered you. It was earlier than with any of the others."

Kendra shifted her gaze to the Oculus, glittering innocently on the pillow, like nothing more than a sparkly bauble from a museum collection. Yet never again would she see it as a glimmering work of craftsmanship. The Oculus was a gateway to insanity.

The Sphinx locked eyes with the others in the room one by one. "We are essentially done here. Tomorrow we will move out. Kendra, you may return to your room. Thank you for your cooperation. Get some rest. Plan on departing with us at daybreak."

Chapter 7 Sabotage

As the hammock swayed back and forth, Seth stared up at the naked branches overhead, stark against the hard blue sky. A satyr reclined on a similar hammock to his right, softly playing a flute fashioned from reeds, shirtless despite the cold. A second satyr with redder fur and longer horns lay on a third hammock to the other side, a long striped scarf dangling from his neck to the ground.

"You’re right," Seth admitted. "This is the most comfortable bed in the universe."

"Did you doubt us?" Newel blurted, adjusting his woolen scarf. "And we’re in view of the yard, so Stan won’t be able to come down on you."

"You’ve fed me and made me really comfortable," Seth said. "I’m guessing you want to ask me something."

"Ulterior motives?" Newel gasped. "I’m shocked and appalled! Can you only conceive of us helping a longtime friend relax if we were buttering him up for a proposition?"

Doren stopped piping. "We’re out of batteries again."

"Thought so," Seth said. "Haven’t you guys heard of conservation? I gave you a mountain of batteries last time."

Newel folded his arms across his hairy chest. "Have you ever used batteries to power a television? Even a small one? They don’t last."

"Plus we watch it nonstop until we run out," Doren added, earning a glare from his comrade.

"This could be another golden opportunity for you," Newel enticed.

"I had to bring back the gold I earned last time," Seth said. "They won’t let me keep it. And they’re right. It isn’t yours to give me. We’re stealing from the preserve."

"Stealing?" Newel sputtered. "Seth, hunting for treasure is not stealing. You think trolls like Nero got their hoards through legitimate channels? You think wealth does any good piled in crypts or caves? If currency isn’t exchanged, the economy stagnates. We’re heroes, Seth. We’re keeping the gold in circulation for the benefit of the global marketplace."

"And so we can watch more TV," Doren clarified.

"I really don’t feel good about taking any more gold," Seth said. "Removing treasure from Fablehaven is like robbing a museum."

"What about something other than gold?" Newel suggested. "We have loads of wine. We make it ourselves.

Top-notch stuff, worth a hefty sum. If you sold it, you’d make money, and you wouldn’t be stealing."

"I’m not going to become a wine dealer," Seth said. "I’m barely thirteen."

"What if we recovered treasure without an owner?" Doren said. "Not stolen. Salvaged."

Newel tapped the side of his nose. "Now you’re thinking, Doren. Seth, we’ve been doing some fishing in the lake of tar by where Kurisock lived. Ever since Lena got rid of him, his domain has become neutral territory."

"Wasn’t like he left a will," Doren joked.

"We’ve found some interesting objects. Stuff has collected in the sludge over the years. Some of it worthless, some of it surprising."

"Any bones?" Seth asked.

"Bones, weapons, armor, trinkets, equipment," Newel listed. "We’ve been stashing away the interesting stuff. No actual gold yet, but we’ve only been trawling the tar at our leisure. If you’ll accept treasures from its depths, we’ll spend more time there."

"I’ll have to check what Grandpa thinks," Seth said.

"Stan?" Newel cried, exasperated. "Since when are you Stan’s lackey? He’ll put a damper on our dealings no matter what! He’s against us watching TV in the first place!"

"What happened to you, Seth?" Doren asked. "You don’t quite seem like yourself."

"It’s hard to explain," Seth said.

"Doren, you missed your vocation!" Newel exclaimed. "You should have been a therapist. There it was right in front of us but we missed it. Something is troubling the boy. What is it, Seth? What’s taken the wind out of your sails?"

"The Society killed Kendra," he said reluctantly.

Both of the satyrs fell silent, their expressions melancholy.

"It wasn’t very long ago. I can hardly think about anything else. We don’t even really understand what happened. I have to figure it out."

"Sorry to hear it, Seth," Doren said gently.