Fablehaven2-Rise of the Evening Star

by Brandon Mull

beats me.

  Would you like to serve the ball?

  Sure.

  He gave her the bright yellow ball. She put her left hand

  on the handle that controlled the goalie, dropped the ball

  into the slot with her right, and started wildly spinning her

  nearest Indians as it rolled across the center of the table. The

  Sphinx controlled his cowboys with more calm, using quick,

  precise jabs to counter Kendra's reckless spinning. It was not

  long before Kendra scored the first goal.

  Well done, he said.

  Kendra marked the goal by sliding a bead along a bar at

  her end of the table. The Sphinx took the ball out of his

  goal and served it through the slot. The ball rolled to his

  men. He passed it up to his front row of cowboys, but the

  Indian goalie blocked the shot. The Indians spun madly,

  mercilessly pounding the ball at the cowboys until they

  scored a second goal.

  The Sphinx slid the ball into the slot. Her confidence

  boosted, Kendra attacked even more aggressively with her

  Indians, and ended up winning the game five goals to two.

  I feel like General Custer, the Sphinx said. Well

  played. Can I offer you something to drink? Apple juice?

  Cream soda? Chocolate milk, perhaps?

  Cream soda sounds good, Kendra said. She was feeling

  more at ease after trouncing him.

  Excellent choice, the Sphinx said. He opened a freezer

  and withdrew a frosty mug with ice in it. From a small refrigerator

  he removed a brown bottle, uncapped it with a little

  tool, and poured the yellow soda into the mug. It was surprisingly

  foamy. Please, sit down. He nodded to a pair of

  chairs facing each other with a low table in between.

  Kendra took a seat and the Sphinx handed her the mug.

  Her first few sips were all froth. When she finally reached

  the soda, it was a perfect mix of sweet, creamy, cool, and

  bubbly. Thanks, this is delicious, she said.

  The pleasure is mine. A miniature gong sat on the

  table between them. The Sphinx tapped it with a small

  hammer. While the gong vibrates, none can overhear our

  conversation. I have at least part of the answer you came

  here seeking. You are fairykind.

  I am very kind?

  Fairy… kind, he said, enunciating carefully. It is

  written all over your countenance, woven into your speech.

  What does that mean?

  It means that you are unique in all the world, Kendra.

  In my long years and many travels, I have never met anyone

  who was fairykind, though I am familiar with the signs and

  see them expressed plainly in you. Tell me, did you sample

  the elixir you prepared for the fairies?

  There was a hypnotic gravity to his voice. Kendra felt

  like she had to snap out of a trance in order to answer the

  question. Yes, actually, I did. I was trying to convince them

  to try it.

  The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, showing dimples

  in his cheeks. Then perhaps you gave them an incentive,

  he said. They had to either make you fairykind or watch

  you die.

  Die?

  The elixir you ingested is fatal to mortals. You would

  have eventually suffered a torturous death had the fairies not

  chosen to share their magic with you.

  The fairies cured me?

  They changed you, so that you no longer required

  curing.

  Kendra stared at him. People have said I was fairystruck.

  I have met individuals who were fairystruck. It is a rare

  and extraordinary occurrence. This is much more rare, and

  much more extraordinary. You have been made fairykind. I

  do not believe it has happened in more than a thousand

  years.

  I still don't understand what it means, Kendra said.

  Neither do I, not entirely. The fairies have changed

  you, adopted you, infused you with their magic. A semblance

  of the magical energy that naturally dwells in them now

  dwells in you. The diverse effects that could flow from this

  are difficult to anticipate.

  That's why I don't need the milk to see anymore?

  And why Warren found himself drawn to you. And

  why you understand Goblush, along with, I imagine, the

  other tongues derived from Silvian, the language of the

  fairies. Your grandfather has been in touch with me regarding

  the new abilities you have been manifesting. The

  Sphinx leaned forward and tapped the little gong with the

  hammer again.

  Kendra took another sip from her mug. This morning,

  Coulter was showing us a ball protected by a distracter spell.

  Seth couldn't pick it up; he kept losing focus and getting

  redirected someplace else. But it didn't work on me. I could

  grab it just fine.

  You have apparently developed resistance to mind control.

  Kendra wrinkled her brow. Tanu gave me a potion that

  made me feel ashamed, and it worked just fine.

  The potion would have been manipulating your emotions.

  Mind control functions differently. Pay close attention

  to all the new abilities you discover. Report them to your

  grandfather. Unless I am mistaken, you are only beginning

  to scratch the surface.

  The thought was thrilling and terrifying. I'm still a

  human, right?

  You are something more than human, the Sphinx said.

  But your humanity and your mortality remain intact.

  Are you a human?

  He smiled, his teeth shockingly white in contrast to his

  black skin. I am an anachronism. A holdover from long-forgotten

  times. I have seen learning come and go, empires

  rise and fall. Consider me your guardian angel. I would like

  to conduct a simple experiment. Do you mind?

  Is it safe?

  Completely. But if I am right, it could provide the

  answer to why the Society of the Evening Star has shown

  such interest in you.

  Okay.

  A pair of short copper rods rested on the table. The

  Sphinx picked up one and handed it to Kendra. Hand me

  the other one, the Sphinx said. After Kendra complied, he

  held his rod in both hands, one at each end of the rod.

  Hold your rod like me, he instructed.

  Kendra had been holding the slender rod in one hand.

  The instant her other hand touched it, she felt a sensation

  like she was falling backwards through the chair. And then

  it passed. And she was inexplicably sitting where the Sphinx

  had been sitting, and he was seated in her chair. They had

  instantaneously switched places.

  The Sphinx released one hand from the rod and then

  grabbed it again. The moment his hand came back into contact

  with the rod, Kendra felt her insides lurch again, and

  suddenly she was sitting back in her former chair.

  The Sphinx set the rod down on the table, and Kendra

  did likewise. We teleported? Kendra asked.

  The rods enable users to trade locations over short distances.

  But that is not what makes what happened unusual.

  Those rods have been dead for decades, useless, drained of

  all energy. Your touch recharged them.


  Really?

  Fairykind are known to radiate magical energy in a

  unique way. The world is full of burned-out magical tools.

  Your touch would revitalize them. This amazing ability alone

  would make you tremendously valuable to the Society of the

  Evening Star. I wonder how they know. An educated guess,

  perhaps?

  Do they have a lot of things that need recharging?

  The Sphinx tapped the gong again. No doubt, but

  I refer more directly to the five hidden artifacts your

  grandparents told you about. The ones on the five secret

  preserves. If any of them lie dormant, as is likely, your touch

  would reactivate them. All five would have to be functional

  in order for the Society to achieve their goal of opening

  Zzyzx and freeing the demons. Without your gift, reactivating

  talismans of such monumental power would be most difficult.

  Here's what I don't get, Kendra said. Why have keys

  to the prison? Why not make a demon prison without keys?

  The Sphinx nodded as if he approved of the question.

  There is a fundamental principle of magic that applies to

  many other things as well: Everything with a beginning has

  an ending. Any magic that can be done, can be undone.

  Anything you can make, can be unmade. In other words,

  any prison you can create, can be destroyed. Any lock can

  be broken. To construct an impenetrable prison is impossible.

  Those who have tried have invariably failed. The

  magic becomes unstable and unravels. If it has a beginning,

  it must have an end.

  The wise learned that rather than attempting to make a

  prison impenetrable, they should focus on making it extraordinarily

  complicated to open. The strongest prisons, like

  Zzyzx, were crafted by those who understood that the goal

  was to make them nearly impenetrable, as close to perfect as

  possible without crossing the line. Because there is a way to

  open Zzyzx, the magic that holds the demons bound remains

  potent. The principle sounds simple, although the details

  become quite complicated.

  Kendra shifted in her seat. So if the Society just

  destroyed the keys, would that unravel the magic and open

  the prison?

  Nimble thinking, the Sphinx said, dark eyes twinkling.

  Three problems. First, the keys are virtually

  indestructible-note that I say virtually; they were made by

  the same experts who created the prison. Second, if my

  research is correct, a fail-safe would cause any destroyed key

  to be reconstituted in a different form in an unpredictable

  location, and that process could go on almost indefinitely.

  And third, if the Society were somehow to free the demons

  by permanently destroying an artifact, they would become

  victims like the rest of humanity. The Society must parley

  with the demons before their release in order to obtain any

  measure of security, which means they must open the prison

  properly rather than simply undermine the magic that

  upholds it.

  Kendra drank the last of her cream soda, ice tumbling

  against her lips. So they can't succeed without the artifacts.

  Therefore we must keep the artifacts from them. Which

  is easier said than done. One of the great virtues of the

  Society is patience. They make no rash moves. They

  research and plan and prepare. They wait for the ideal

  opportunities. They understand that they have an unlimited

  amount of time in which to succeed. To them, it is the same

  to achieve their aims in a thousand years as it would be to

  triumph tomorrow. Patience mimics the power of infinity.

  And nobody can win a staring contest with infinity. No matter

  how long you last, infinity is just getting started.

  But they aren't infinity, Kendra said.

  The Sphinx blinked. True. And so we attempt to equal

  their patience and diligence. We do our best to stay far

  ahead of them. Part of that means moving an artifact once

  they learn its location, as we fear has happened with the

  artifact at Fablehaven. Otherwise, somehow, sometime, they

  will exploit a mistake and lay hands on it.

  Grandpa mentioned another endangered artifact, in

  Brazil.

  Some of my best people are working on it. I believe the

  artifact remains on the fallen preserve, and I believe we will

  retrieve it first. He threw up his hands. If the Society manages

  to recover it, we will have to steal it back.

  The Sphinx gazed at Kendra with fathomless eyes.

  Kendra looked away. What letter of mine did you read? he

  finally asked.

  Letter?

  All of my letters carry enchantments. They leave a

  mark upon those who read them surreptitiously. You bear the

  mark.

  At first Kendra had no idea what he was talking about.

  When would she have read a letter from the Sphinx? Then

  she remembered the letter she had read last summer while

  Grandpa was sleeping after staying up late with Maddox. Of

  course! It had been signed S. For Sphinx!

  It was a letter you sent Grandpa last year. He accidentally

  left it out in the open. You were warning him about the

  Society of the Evening Star. I read it because I thought it

  might have something to do with my grandma. She was

  missing.

  Be glad you did not read it with malicious intent. The

  letter would have turned into a toxic vapor. He folded his

  hands on his lap. We are nearly finished. Have you any

  final questions for me?

  Kendra frowned. What do I do now?

  You return to your grandfather with the knowledge that

  you are fairykind. You do your part to keep Fablehaven safe

  while the artifact is recovered. You take note of any new

  abilities. You counsel with your grandparents as needed. And

  you take comfort in the fact that you now know why the

  Society is interested in you.

  He placed a single finger beside his temple. One last

  thought. Though secret, and in many ways quiet, the

  struggle between the Society of the Evening Star and those

  who manage the preserves is of desperate importance to the

  whole world. Whatever the rhetoric on both sides, the problem

  boils down to a simple disagreement. While the

  Conservators' Alliance wants to preserve magical creatures

  without endangering humanity, the Society of the Evening

  Star wants to exploit many of those same magical creatures

  in order to gain power. The Society will pursue its ends at

  the expense of all humankind if necessary. The stakes could

  not be higher.

  The Sphinx stood up. You are an extraordinary young

  lady, Kendra, with immeasurable potential. The day may

  come when you want to deliberately explore and channel

  the power the fairies have granted you. On that day, it would

  be my pleasure to offer guidance and instruction. You could

  become a powerful adversary of the Society. I hope we can

  count on your assistance in the future.

  Okay, wow, thanks, Kendra said. I'll do all I can.

  He extended a hand toward t
he door. Good day, my

  new friend. Your brother can come see me now.

  Seth reclined on a beanbag, staring at the ceiling.

  Grandma sat on a nearby couch, leafing through a thick

  book. It seemed like all he ever did lately was wait. Wait for

  somebody to take him into the woods. Wait for the car ride

  to be over. Wait while Kendra talked forever with the

  Sphinx. Was the purpose of life learning to endure boredom?

  The door opened and Kendra emerged. Your turn, she

  said.

  Seth rolled off the beanbag and stood up. What's he

  like?

  He's smart, Kendra said. He said I'm fairykind.

  Seth cocked his head. Very kind?

  Fairy… kind. The fairies shared their magic with me.

  Are you sure, dear? Grandma said, one hand over her

  heart.

  That's what he said, Kendra shrugged. He acted sure.

  Seth tuned them out and hurried over to the door. He

  opened it and shoved through the curtain into the room.

  The Sphinx stood leaning against the Foosball table. Your

  sister tells me you are quite the Foosball player.

  I'm okay. I don't own my own table or anything.

  I do not play often. Would you care to try your hand

  against me?

  Seth surveyed the table. I want to be cowboys.

  Good. They were unlucky for me against your sister.

  Are you really part lion?

  You mean, am I appearing to you as an avatar? I will tell

  you if you win. Would you care to serve?

  Seth grabbed the handles. You can.

  As you wish. The Sphinx pushed the ball through the

  slot. The cowboys started spinning frantically. The Sphinx

  got control of the ball, nudged it sideways about an inch,

  and, with a flick of his wrist, blasted it into Seth's goal.

  Wow! Seth said.

  Your serve.

  Seth put the ball in play. Flailing with his cowboys, he

  knocked it all the way to the Sphinx's goalie. Using controlled

  movements, the Sphinx passed the ball across the

  table, from row to row, until he slammed it into Seth's goal

  from a tricky angle.

  You're amazing! Seth said. Did you say Kendra beat

  you?

  Your sister needed confidence. Yours is a different problem.

  Plus there is no chance of me telling you my secret

  unless you earn it. Seth put the ball back in play, and the

  Sphinx swiftly scored again. The same thing happened two

  more times, the final point coming from a shot that put a

  spin on the ball so it curved into the goal.

  You skunked me! Seth cried.