She reached a sidewalk and started down the road. Slipping on a patch of ice, she fell hard, banging her elbow. She remained on the ground for a moment, breathing icy air, feeling the cold from the concrete seeping through her clothes, before rising carefully and continuing. She had seen enough of the neighborhood to know it consisted of large, old houses on good-sized lots. Her first goal was to put some distance between herself and her enemies. She turned down a couple of streets, heading for what she thought was the center of town. Not much after four in the morning, the chilly streets were quiet. No light seeped down through the cloudy sky.
As she progressed, the houses were getting smaller and closer together. Most needed some upkeep. A few were really run-down, with weedy yards, cluttered porches, and sagging roofs. From a pen at the side of one house, a big dog barked, prompting Kendra to walk even faster.
The house she had escaped from was well out of view. She kept glancing over her shoulder, unable to believe she had made a clean getaway. How far did she need to get before she stashed the knapsack and hid inside until morning?
Up ahead, a car came around a corner and drove toward her. The headlights flashed onto her, and Kendra knew she would look even more suspicious if she tried to hide. If she stayed calm, the car would almost certainly just drive on by. Except that the car was slowing. Was it a Good Samaritan wanting to make sure that this teenage girl walking alone at night was all right? Or could it be some psycho who really liked the idea of girls on their own in the dark? Or could somebody from the house have noticed already that Cody was missing?
As the car pulled to a stop near her, Kendra made a break for it, running for the gate into the backyard of the nearest house.
"Kendra," a voice called from behind in a hushed shout.
Kendra glanced over her shoulder and glimpsed a black man getting out of the silver sedan. She crashed into the gate, rattling the entire wooden fence, but couldn't figure out how to open it. She grabbed the top, splinters pressing into her palms, and boosted herself up.
Strong hands seized her sides, yanking her off the fence. As her feet hit the ground, a hand covered her mouth. The other arm pinned her arms down and held her close. "I'm a friend of your grandfather's," the man whispered. "I'm a Knight of the Dawn."
A light turned on inside the house. Kendra had rammed the fence pretty loudly.
"Come on," he said, guiding her toward the sedan. "You're safe now."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Kendra asked, coming with him half-willingly.
"You don't," he said. "The name is Trask. I've been driving around town all night. So have Warren, Elise, and Dougan. You know them, right?"
He opened the back door and Kendra ducked into the sedan. What else was she supposed to do? The stranger was fast and strong. If she tried to run again, he would catch her even more easily this time. She desperately wanted to believe him. Trask slid in behind the wheel. The car was still running. Judging by the leather seats and the fancy instrument panel, the sedan seemed expensive.
"How did you find me?" Kendra asked.
Trask pulled forward, accelerating smoothly. Kendra glimpsed a squinting male face in the lighted window of the house, his thinning hair standing up in messy clumps. "Stan Sorenson got a tip that you might be wandering the streets of Monmouth tonight. And here you are."
"Somebody helped me get away."
He nodded. "Fits the tip."
"You've been looking for me?" Kendra asked.
"I'm a detective. I was called in to investigate your murder. We didn't suspect you were alive until earlier today."
"Where will you take me now?"
He took out a sleek cell phone. "We'll rendezvous with Warren and the others, then get you straight to Fablehaven."
Chapter 9 Hall of Dread
"Hike," Hugo rumbled, backing away from the line of scrimmage.
Seth and Doren began their routes, struggling to keep their footing in the deepening snow. Newel defended Doren well, staying with him when he cut left. Verl shadowed Seth, playing him too closely. When Seth faked a cut, Verl bought it, so Seth went long.
Hugo was the all-time perfect quarterback. The golem adhered religiously to a six-second time limit for releasing the ball, negating the need for a rush. There were no constraints to how far he could throw, the passes were always accurate, and he showed no favoritism.
Seth looked up and back. Blinding swirls of snow swept through the air, obscuring his view. He kept his legs pumping hard. Verl trailed two steps behind him. Seth could no longer see Hugo or the other satyrs. How far had he run? Fifty yards? Sixty?
A dark shape appeared amid the whirling flakes, hissing through the air. Seth extended his arms. Although the football hit him in stride, it was like trying to catch a meteor. Only Hugo could throw a long bomb with so little arc on the ball!
Seth lost his footing and fell in a spray of snow but managed to hang onto the football, trapping it against his chest. He lay for a moment in the furrow he had plowed through the snow, feeling an icy prickle on the back of his neck, hesitant to get up because he knew that snow had collected inside his collar and would disperse chillingly down his back.
"What happened?" Newel called.
"He caught it," Verl replied. "Touchdown."
"Again?" Newel complained. "I'm taking Seth next time."
"Please do," Doren said excitedly. "I want Verl covering me."
"This game is rigged!" Newel protested.
Verl brushed away some of the snow from the back of Seth's neck and gave him a hand up. The good-natured satyr had wooly white legs with brown spots, stubby horns, and a more childish face than Newel or Doren. He wore a thick brown turtleneck, while the other satyrs played bare-chested.
"Thanks," Seth said.
"I can't believe you held on to that one," Verl said. He had dropped several similar passes.
"Me neither," Seth admitted. "Hugo throws hard."
"I guess losers walk," Verl sighed, trotting away to get ready for the next kickoff.
"Seth!" Grandma shouted from the porch. "We have a car pulling into the driveway."
"Kendra!" he exclaimed, dropping the football. "I have to go, guys."
Verl came hustling back, smoothing his hands down the front of his half-soaked turtleneck. "How do I look?" he asked anxiously.
"Like a prince," Seth said. "Remember, no guts, no glory." He had informed Verl that Kendra would be arriving today, and had encouraged his hopes of winning her affection. Ever since learning that his sister had been recovered, Seth had felt much more like himself.
"I don't know," Verl whimpered, eyeing the woods. "Newel and Doren warned that Kendra is way too young. They said Stan would skin me alive if he knew about my ardent admiration."
"Just be a gentleman," Seth said. "This is the moment you've been waiting for."
"I'd rather do this on my terms," Verl hedged, backing away. "Perhaps in a hot-air balloon. With a picnic lunch. And a top hat.""Suit yourself," Seth said, jogging toward the porch. He had convinced Grandpa to grant the satyrs permission to enter the yard in order to play snow football with him. He had needed something to occupy his mind while waiting for his sister to arrive. The snowstorm had slowed her arrival by more than an hour.
"You look like you've been making snow angels," Grandma said.
When he reached the covered porch, Seth flapped his arms and stamped his boots, shedding clumps of snow. "Verl was guarding me, so I got the ball a lot," Seth said. "Verl isn't much of a tackier, but Newel hits hard. He made me fumble twice."
"You shouldn't roughhouse with satyrs," Grandma chided.
"The snow breaks the falls, and the jacket cushions everything," Seth assured her. "Doren and I were up 49-35."
Grandma helped him brush himself off. As Seth entered the house, he removed his boots and jacket. He heard the front door open and raced to the entry hall.
Kendra and Warren were coming through the door. A red seam slanted across Kendra's cheek--evidence that she had dozed in the car. Eyes teary, Seth ran to her and gave her a big hug.
"Whoa," Kendra said, hugging him in return, taken aback by the enthusiastic affection.
"I'm so glad you're all right," Seth said, blinking away the embarrassing tears. "We buried you."
"I heard. Feels weird to know I have my own tombstone."
"I'd keep it in my room if it was mine," Seth said.
"Maybe make it my headboard. Can you picture it? 'Here lies Seth Sorenson.'"
"I hear you guys have a stingbulb copy of Maddox," Kendra said, changing the subject.
"Yeah, he quit talking once we found him out. Vanessa says if we let him out of the Quiet Box, he'll die pretty quickly. His kind don't last long."
"How weird is that? Vanessa out of the Quiet Box!"
"She helped us find you," Seth said. "She used her powers to get info that somebody would help you escape last night. That was why everybody was patrolling the streets all night."
"Wait a minute," Kendra said. "Vanessa gave them the tip I'd be escaping? Who told her?"
"She won't say much. She would only reveal that the person who supplied the information was quietly on our side and had to remain unknown. All we know for sure is that Vanessa traveled into a sleeper somewhere and got the info. Must have been somebody who knew you'd be getting that knapsack."
"Trask found me. I didn't know him, so I was freaked. Warren said they weren't sure exactly where I was being held."
"Vanessa claimed not to know the precise location," Seth explained. "She knew Torina was in Monmouth, and she had a tip that a traitor was going to help you escape. She wouldn't share who supplied the tip. Can I check out your knapsack?"
"How much do you know about the knapsack?"
"Quite a bit. Your escape was all we could talk about this morning!"
Kendra took the knapsack off her shoulder.
"You fit in there with an old guy?" Seth asked.
"Cody is actually thirty-two. But he looks at least seventy. Torina drained away his youth. She's a lectoblix. I think he wants some revenge. He stayed behind with Trask." She opened the main flap of the knapsack and Seth peeked inside.
"No way! How do you always end up with the coolest stuff? This would be the ultimate emergency kit!"
"I'm surprised that anyone would part with such a valuable object," Coulter said, coming up behind them. "The art of creating extra-dimensional storage has been lost. The knapsack is a rare and valuable item. Somebody went well out of their way to free you."
"Hi, Coulter," Kendra said.
He hugged her. "We'll have to examine all the contents, just in case your unknown benefactor had a secret motive of smuggling unwanted guests into Fablehaven. You don't know who gave it to you, correct?"
"No idea."
Grandma, Grandpa, Dale, and Tanu had held back while Kendra spoke with Seth, but now they swarmed in, welcoming her and expressing their relief at her safe return. Seth backed away, waiting for the flood of good wishes to abate.
Grandma ushered Kendra to the kitchen, offering her a variety of food choices. All Kendra wanted was hot chocolate, so Dale placed a pan of milk on the stove.
"What are we going to do with Vanessa?" Kendra asked, now seated at the table.
"Don't get me started," Grandma griped. "I'm sure she had reasons of her own for helping us. That woman cannot be trusted. She has lied to us so sincerely and betrayed us so deeply that I can't believe Stan is permitting her any degree of freedom. She should go right back into the Quiet Box."
"She protected us from the impostor to her extreme disadvantage," Grandpa reminded his wife. "And she helped us recover Kendra. If we're careful, we may be able to use her."
"She's already concealing information from us," Grandma said. "Who knows who she spoke with while in that trance of hers, or what she may have revealed? Go ahead, Stan, keep using her. Boys love to play with fire. Just don't come crying when you get burned. We'll see who ends up using who."
"Vanessa has good reason for hating the Sphinx," Warren observed.
"How convenient for her," Grandma replied.
"I have some important information," Kendra announced, staring at her hands. "Stuff I didn't want to say in front of Trask or Dougan or Elise. Stuff I didn't want to discuss over the phone."
"You were holding out on me?" Warren said. "That was a long, boring drive!"
"I thought I should wait until we were all together at
Fablehaven," Kendra apologized. "I met with the Sphinx. He has the artifact from Brazil. It's called the Oculus."
Grandpa winced. "I was afraid the presence of the Maddox stingbulb meant the Society had already captured the artifact."
"Are they able to use it?" Coulter asked tentatively.
"I don't think so," Kendra said. "They made me try."
Grandpa banged a fist down on the counter, his face reddening. "The Oculus is the most dangerous of all the artifacts," he growled. "What do you mean, they made you try it?"
"They forced me to put my hand on it," Kendra said. "At first I could see in all directions, like I had extra eyes. Then it was like I had eyes all over the room, showing me dozens of perspectives at once. Then I had eyes all over the house, then the town, then the world."