"Can you switch back into your horse shape?" Seth asked. "My sister would be so jealous."
"I can't," Bracken said. "I surrendered my horn, and thus am stuck as a human."
"Don't unicorns have three horns?" Seth asked.
"Right," Bracken replied, appraising Seth as if impressed by his knowledge. "Sort of like humans with baby teeth. We have one horn as a child, then shed it for a larger horn in adolescence, and in turn shed that for our permanent adult horn."
"But yours wasn't permanent," Seth said. "It should have been, but I surrendered it."
"Why? Did somebody defeat you or something?" Bracken's eyes flashed dangerously. "I would never have surrendered my third horn to an enemy!"
"Steady," Maddox soothed.
Bracken calmed, his shoulders sagging slightly. "I gave up my third horn on purpose. I surrendered it to the wizards who made the demon prison."
"Wait," Seth said, forming a connection. "So the Font of Immortality is made from your horn?"
Bracken glanced at Maddox. "Not bad."
"He's a bright kid."
Bracken returned his focus to Seth. "That is correct.
How did you know the Font is fashioned from a unicorn horn?"
"The Sphinx showed it to me," Seth replied.
"He what?" Maddox spluttered.
Bracken looked skeptical. "Voluntarily?"
"Yeah, after he healed me with the Sands of Sanctity."
"He used the Sands on you!" Maddox shouted.
"A little less enthusiasm," Bracken scolded. "We don't need to tell the whole dungeon. I get it now. It makes sense. You're a shadow charmer, so the Sphinx hopes to groom you. He wants to win your trust."
Maddox balled his hands into fists. "I wouldn't trust that skunk to scrub my toilet."
"Me neither," Seth promised. "But we were talking about Bracken."
Bracken cleared his throat self-consciously. "Right. Well, after I gave up my third horn, I could no longer revert to my true shape. I still had my second horn, which I could use as a weapon, and which helped me retain many of my powers. But in the end, the Sphinx trapped me, forcibly took my remaining horn, and cast me into this dungeon."
"You must really hate the demons to have given up your permanent horn to those wizards," Seth observed.
"My kind exist in opposition to demonkind. We are protectors and creators. They are exploiters and destroyers. Where we would bring light, they bring darkness. In addition, I had ... personal motivations. The wizards convinced me that my horn was essential to make the demon prison as impervious as possible. They were not lying to me, but you can imagine my distress that my sacrifice might soon be all for naught."
Seth pounded a fist into his palm. "Which brings us back to my goal. We have to find a way out of here. You may have tried in the past, but it has never been more urgent."
Bracken and Maddox exchanged a glance.
"What do you think?" Maddox asked.
Bracken sighed. "All right. Since the world is about to end, why not give an impossible jailbreak one last try?"
Chapter 9 Assignments
K endra knew the sun was up, but she hid under her covers nonetheless. She missed Lena. She missed Patton. She missed her parents. She missed her brother. And she was hesitant to confront a new day.
The conversation with Patton the day before had galvanized her grandparents. Grandpa had been contacting Knights of the Dawn, Grandma had been researching in the attic, and everybody was busy making plans.
Kendra had a role to play in those plans. She had put on a brave face, enthusiastically accepting her responsibilities, but they made her nervous. What if she failed? There was so much riding on her participation.
This morning after breakfast, Kendra, Warren, and Tanu would use the Translocator to visit a Scottish preserve called Stony Vale. Both Warren and Tanu had been there before. As Patton had prompted, Grandpa wanted Kendra to have a conversation with the Fairy Queen, and, thanks to the Translocator, the shrine at Stony Vale was readily accessible.
The others seemed to take for granted that Kendra and the Fairy Queen were Best Friends Forever. In reality, the Fairy Queen might very well strike Kendra down for treading on hallowed ground if she found the intrusion unwarranted. Of course, Kendra had been cautioned to trust her instincts on the matter of whether a visit was appropriate, and she felt confident the Fairy Queen would agree that this was a genuine crisis. As an archenemy of the Demon King, the Fairy Queen would be anxious to keep Zzyzx intact.
But just because Kendra might have access to the Fairy Queen, that did not mean she could cajole the mysterious personage to provide actual help, as her family expected. Kendra worried that she would let everyone down, including herself.
Her second assignment made Kendra even more nervous than the first. The others had determined that she had the closest relationship with Vanessa, and hoped that Kendra's genuine grief over the abduction of Seth and her parents might finally persuade the narcoblix to divulge her big secret. Again, Kendra understood the reasoning behind the task, but it was too much pressure! She was supposed to speak with Vanessa after returning from Stony Vale.
Within the close space beneath her covers, Kendra reluctantly accepted that procrastinating these challenges would not make them go away. If she tried, she might fail, but hiding in her bed would certainly not bring her family home. Still, if she stole a few more minutes of sleep, her problems might temporarily melt from her mind ...
No! She kicked off her covers and rolled out of bed. The mere act of standing up helped her feel a little more ready to tackle her upcoming obligations.
After showering and getting dressed, Kendra found Warren and Tanu enjoying a pancake breakfast. Spatula in hand, Grandpa hovered over the griddle, and he encouraged Kendra to have a seat.
"Nobody came and got me?" Kendra asked, taking a couple of pancakes from the stack and placing them on her plate.
"We heard you in the shower," Grandpa explained. "I have some hot ones coming if you want to wait a second."
Kendra tested the spongy surface with her finger. "These are still warm." She poured maple syrup over them.
Coulter strolled into the room. "Uh-oh, Stan is fixing pancakes! Must be time for another death-defying mission!"
"Way to ease the tension," Warren muttered.
"Can I have some?" Coulter asked. "Or are they only for the condemned?"
"No pessimistic geezers allowed," Warren declared.
Chuckling quietly, Coulter took a seat at the table. Tanu tried to pass him some pancakes, but Coulter held up a dismissive hand. "I'll wait for those hot ones."
Kendra cut into her pancakes with the side of her fork, speared two pieces, put them in her mouth, and relished the sweet, fluffy perfection. "Good job, Grandpa," she said. "These are delicious."
Warren smeared homemade jam on a pancake and took a bite. "You'll like Stony Vale, Kendra."
"It's very picturesque," Tanu agreed.
"The caretaker is one of our most reliable Knights," Coulter said, accepting fresh pancakes from Grandpa's spatula.
"He won't know we're coming," Warren clarified. "This is a secret operation, in and out, quick and quiet. We'll teleport away at the first sign of trouble."
"If you have to travel," Coulter said, "I can't think of a better way than the Translocator."
"I know, I'm getting spoiled," Warren replied. "I'm not sure I'll be able to do airports ever again."
Tanu nodded. "No customs, no checked bags, no tiny seats for ten hours at a time."
"What are you griping about?" Warren said. "You hibernate like a grizzly on those long flights."
"I sleep to escape the torture," Tanu maintained.
"There's my problem," Warren said, tossing up his hands. "I haven't learned to sleep during torture."
Tanu grinned. "Helps if you're a potion master."
Kendra ate quietly, content to enjoy the banter. Hearing the others joke and tease helped the day feel more normal. To make the meal last, she tried to pace herself, but after a few pancakes and some orange juice, she could stomach no more.
Warren checked his wristwatch. "It's five hours later in Scotland. We might as well get rolling."
"You ready, Kendra?" Tanu asked.
Kendra took a deep breath. Part of her wished they had opted to spring this assignment on her at the last minute. Planning it yesterday had given her too much time to worry. She tried to shake off her insecurities. "Ready as I'm going to get."
"Relax, Kendra," Grandpa said. "If anything feels wrong, just have them bring you right back here. That's the beauty of instantaneous travel."
"We'll watch your back," Warren assured her, buckling a sword around his waist. "You'll do great."
Grandpa opened a drawer and took out the Translocator.
"You're keeping it in a kitchen drawer?" Kendra asked.
Grandpa shrugged. "Just for this morning. I wanted it handy."
"He wants you in Scotland before the post-pancake euphoria wears off," Coulter said, wiping his chin with a napkin.
"Something like that," Grandpa admitted, passing the Translocator to Tanu.
"Are we going straight to the shrine?" Kendra asked.
"We've both seen the shrine at Stony Vale," Warren said. "We've never actually approached it, or we wouldn't be here. But I've stood as near as any sane mortal would dare. We'll start you out very close."
"I haven't been quite as close as Warren," Tanu said. "Probably because I'm a little saner."
"Considerable thought went into this," Grandpa assured" Kendra. "We selected Stony Vale because the preserve is secure and you'll have extremely convenient access to the shrine."
Kendra stood beside Warren. "Let's get this over with."
Tanu gripped one side of the Translocator, Kendra the other, and Warren twisted the middle. Kendra felt like she was folding in on herself. When the vertigo passed, she was standing in tall grass surrounded by knobby, gray trees. She realized she had been braced for her breath to get knocked out of her, but of course this was the Translocator, not the Chronometer.
Ahead through the trees, she beheld a large, glassy pond wrapped like a horseshoe around a narrow peninsula that gradually widened as it stretched farther from the shore. At the end of the peninsula were two rough, rectangular standing stones spanned by a third heavy stone. The formation instantly brought to mind pictures of Stonehenge.
Kendra heard the ring of steel as Warren drew his sword. Tanu clutched a crossbow in one hand, the Translocator in the other. It was past noon in Scotland, but the sun was still high, shining through a partly overcast sky. The still air felt cool but not cold. Beyond the pond and the surrounding trees, Kendra glimpsed low, rolling hills.
"Is the shrine on that peninsula?" Kendra asked softly.
Tanu gave a nod. "We can't venture out there with you, but we'll stand guard near the shore."
Flanked by Warren and Tanu, Kendra started forward. As she neared the peninsula, her companions hung back.
She felt generally peaceful about proceeding, and decided the absence of an identifiable warning meant the Fairy Queen would welcome her visit.
A pair of tall women stepped out from behind the trees, blocking her path. One had flowers braided into her auburn hair; the other had leafy vines twisted into her dark plaits. Their layered gowns reminded Kendra of springtime foliage shimmering with dew. Each woman held a heavy wooden staff.
"Where did you come from?" asked the woman with dark hair, her voice a resonant alto.
"You tread on sacred ground," warned the other.
Warren and Tanu hustled up beside Kendra. Tanu was a large man, but these women stood half a head taller.
The woman with dark hair arched an eyebrow. "Would you threaten us with weapons?"
From both sides and behind, other dryads emerged from the trees.
"We are friends," Kendra said. "I have urgent business with the Fairy Queen."
"This one has a queer aspect," whispered the dryad with the auburn hair.
"Indeed," the other dryad whispered back, "and she speaks our tongue."
"I speak many languages," Kendra said.
The dryads looked stricken. "Even our secret dialect?" asked the one with auburn hair.
Kendra stared up at them, hoping her eyes displayed more confidence than she felt. "I am fairykind, a servant of the Fairy Queen. These are my companions."
The dryad with the dark hair narrowed her green eyes. After a moment, her posture became less threatening. "I apologize for our abrupt greeting. These are troubled times, and it has long been our task to protect this shrine. We've heard of you, but did not recognize you. We have never encountered a mortal quite like you. We now see that you belong among us."
"Thank you," Kendra said. "My friends can't come to the shrine with me."
The dryads stepped aside. "We will see to it that no harm befalls them," said the dryad with the auburn hair.
"I couldn't really follow the conversation," Warren whispered. "But good job."
"They won't bother you," Kendra told them. "I'll be back in a minute."
Tanu lowered his crossbow, Warren sheathed his sword, and the dryads assumed more relaxed stances. Kendra passed between the tall dryads and strolled out onto the peninsula. She sensed many eyes following her progress but did not look back.