“Why are you whispering?” Kendra accused. It came out a little harsher than she intended, but they were being so secretive all of a sudden. Had she whispered to Tanu? No! She had spoken so everyone could hear her. It seemed obvious they were no longer talking about the potion — they were gossiping about her.
Seth laughed at her question, and Tanu grinned.
Tears stung Kendra’s eyes. “Did I say something funny?” she challenged, her voice cracking a bit. Seth laughed harder. Tanu chuckled. Kendra ground her teeth, her face flushing. Once again, she was the outcast. Seth always made friends so quickly. He had already turned Tanu against her. It was fourth grade all over again; she was eating lunch alone, silently hoping for somebody to talk to her. Hoping somebody besides a teacher would notice and include her.
“It’s all right, Kendra,” Tanu said kindly. “Remember, it isn’t real.”
Why was he trying to reassure her? All of a sudden she realized what Seth must have whispered to him. He had pointed out the pimple on her chin! Seth had said that her face was erupting like a volcano, that grime was clogging her pores and turning her into a freakish sideshow. That was why they had laughed! Seth had probably accused her of not washing enough, even though she scrubbed her face every night! But of course Tanu would believe Seth, because the evidence was right there on her chin, as subtle as a lighthouse. And now that Tanu had noticed, the pimple would be all he saw. She hung her head. Tanu would almost certainly tell Grandpa. And all the others! They’d laugh behind her back. She would never be able to show her face again!
Her cheeks burned. She began to weep. Grudgingly, she glanced up. They both looked astonished. Seth was approaching her. “It’s okay, Kendra,” he said.
She buried her face in her arms, sobbing. Why did they keep staring at her? Why wouldn’t they leave her alone? Hadn’t they done enough? Enduring their pity was much worse than suffering their scorn. She wished she could just disappear.
“It’ll be over soon,” Tanu assured her.
What did he know? This could be just the beginning! She had been lucky so far, with only the occasional pimple now and again, but soon she might be disfigured by vast constellations of acne. Red lumps would pile up until she looked like she had thrust her head into a beehive. Now that Seth had set the tone of mocking her, things would never be the same. From here on out, all she could look forward to were cruel jokes and false sympathy. She had to get away.
Kendra jumped to her feet. “I hate you, Seth!” she yelled, not caring what anyone would think of the outburst. Her reputation was already damaged beyond repair. She ran from the room. Behind her, she heard Tanu telling Seth to let her go. Where could she hide? The bedroom! She raced to the stairs and started charging up them two at a time. And suddenly she realized how ridiculous it would look for her to run away. She stopped, her hand gripping the banister. The situation abruptly seemed much less tragic.
Was she sure Seth had pointed out the pimple to Tanu? Even if he had, was it that big of a deal? Almost every teen got pimples from time to time. Now that she thought about it, was it even likely that Seth had mentioned anything about the pimple? No! She had jumped to that conclusion on her own, with very little evidence. It was the potion! This was just like when Seth assumed he had been poisoned! Even though she had tried to anticipate it, the emotion had blindsided her. It seemed ridiculously obvious now.
Kendra returned to the parlor, wiping away the tears. She had cried a lot. Her sleeves were damp, and her nose was congested. “That was incredible,” she said.
“What emotion do you think it was?” Seth asked.
“Embarrassment?” Kendra guessed.
“Close,” Tanu said. “It was shame. A hybrid of embarrassment and sorrow.”
“I thought,” Kendra said, hesitating for a moment to divulge her ridiculous assumption, “I thought that Seth was pointing out the pimple on my chin. And it suddenly seemed like he had revealed the guiltiest secret of all time. I thought you two were making fun of me. Not that I love getting pimples, but it was suddenly blown all out of proportion.”
“Again, your mind was seizing on something to try to make sense of the emotion,” Tanu said. “Can you see the power emotion has to distort our outlook? Makes you wonder, did you have a bad day, or did you make it a bad day?”
“I thought if I stayed focused I could keep the emotion under control,” Kendra said.
“Not unreasonable,” Tanu said. “We can exert a lot of control over our emotions. But sometimes they run away with us. These bottled-up emotions hit you with a lot of force. It would take a shockingly strong will to resist them. In large enough doses, I don’t see how anybody could.”
“What do you use them for?” Seth asked.
“Depends,” Tanu said. “Sometimes people need a little dose of courage. Other times you want to cheer somebody up. And every now and then, you can avoid an unwanted confrontation with a little fear, or use a mix of emotions to extract information. We save those uses for the bad guys.”
“Can I try some courage?” Seth asked.
“You already have plenty,” Tanu said. “You don’t want to overuse these emotions. Their potency wears thin if they’re overused, plus you can put your natural emotions out of balance. Artificial emotions are useful only in certain situations. They must be combined by an expert. If you drink straight courage, you can become reckless and foolhardy. For a good result, you have to temper the courage with a little fear, a little calm.”
“That makes sense,” Kendra said.
“I know my trade,” Tanu said, vials and jars clinking as he collected them into his pouch. “I hope that you weren’t too shaken up by the experience. An occasional dose of fear or sorrow can be cathartic. Same with a good cry.”
“If you say so,” Kendra said. “I’ll probably pass next time.”
“I’d do the fear again,” Seth said. “It was sort of like a roller coaster. Except so scary, you don’t really like it till after the ride is over.”
Tanu folded his hands on his lap and adopted a more formal air. “Now that I’ve let you glimpse what I can do, I want to establish some common goals. They are the same goals I have set for myself, and if we’re going to work together, I think we should share them. Assuming you want to work with me.”
Kendra and Seth both enthusiastically agreed that they were excited to learn from Tanu.
“My first goal is to protect the integrity of Fablehaven,” Tanu said. “I want to keep this preserve safe from any dangers without or within. That includes protecting the people who live here. That objective stands as my top priority. Will you commit to help me do that?”
Kendra and Seth both nodded.
“Second,” Tanu continued, “I want to find the missing relic. It may be a tedious hunt, but working together I know we will succeed. And in accordance with our top priority, we must find the relic without putting Fablehaven or ourselves at risk. Which means we use sense and caution. Sound good?”
“Yes,” Kendra and Seth said together.
“And third, without jeopardizing our other missions, I want to find a cure for Dale’s brother, Warren. I understand you two have not met him?”
“Nope,” Seth said.
“Grandpa told me about him,” Kendra said. “He said Warren vanished into the woods. When Warren showed up a few days later, he was white as an albino, and catatonic.”
“Those are the basics,” Tanu said. “It happened almost two years ago. Truthfully, I think your grandparents have almost given up on ever healing him. But they are willing to let us try. If anybody can find a cure, I think we’re the team to do it.”
“Do you know what happened to him?” Seth asked.
“Not yet,” Tanu said. “And it is hard to cure a malady without diagnosing the problem. I have put some thought into it, and I remain puzzled, so the cabin where Warren lives will be our main stop today. Dale has been waiting in the other room to take us. Sound like a plan?”
“Sounds perfect,
” Seth said.
“Then we’re agreed on our goals?” Tanu asked.
“All of them,” Kendra said.
Tanu grinned. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
* * *
The June sun glared down as Kendra, Seth, Tanu, and Dale rounded a corner on the grassy cart track. Up ahead, a picturesque log cabin rested on the side of a slope, not far from the rounded crest of a gentle hill. A dilapidated outhouse stood a fair distance from the cabin, and Kendra spotted a hand-operated water pump near the porch. Off to one side of the cabin, the ground had been leveled, and numerous vegetables flourished in tidy rows. As a consequence of the slope, a retaining wall encompassed three sides of the garden, low in the front, high in the back. The area immediately around the cabin had been cleared, but trees bordered the yard on all sides.
“That’s where he lives?” Seth asked.
“Warren doesn’t do well around people,” Dale explained. “He doesn’t respond well to commotion. We’ll want to speak in low voices inside.”
“I thought you said he was catatonic,” Seth said.
Dale stopped. “He hasn’t spoken since he turned albino,” he said. “But you can sometimes read reactions in his eyes. It’s subtle, but I can tell. And he responds to touch. If you guide him, he’ll move around. If you put food to his lips and prod the corner of his mouth, he’ll eat. Left to himself, he’d starve.”
“Tell them about the hoeing,” Tanu prompted.
“That’s right,” Dale said. “One evening I started him hoeing out in the garden. I put the hoe in his hands and started moving his arms. After a while he was doing it on his own. I’d had a long day, so I sat down to watch him. He kept going and going, hoeing and hoeing. I rested my eyes, leaned back against the retaining wall, and fell asleep.
“Next thing I know, I wake up in the dead of night, during the chill before dawn. Warren was still hoeing. He’d churned up the whole garden, and much of the yard beyond. His hands were a bloody mess. I could hardly get the gloves off.”
“How terrible,” Kendra said.
“Can’t say I’m proud of dozing,” Dale said. “But it taught me never to let him do anything unsupervised. Once you get him started at something, he just goes on and on until you stop him.”
“Is it safe for him to be here?” Kendra asked. “I mean, with all the creatures in the woods?”
“The cabin enjoys the same protections as the house,” Dale said. “Although creatures can come into the yard.”
“What if he has to go to the bathroom?” Seth asked.
Dale looked at him as if the question were perplexing. Then the lanky man tipped his head back in realization. “Oh, you mean the outhouse. The cabin has an indoor toilet now.”
Dale started walking again. They reached the plank porch of the cabin, and Dale used a key to open the front door. The cabin had a large central room with a door in the rear that led to another room, and a ladder that granted access to a loft. On pegs beside the front door hung a sombrero, a slicker, and an overcoat. A long table dominated the room, surrounded by six chairs. Pyramids of firewood flanked the dark fireplace. A bed stood against the wall, and a man was curled up under the covers, eyes staring flatly toward the door.
Dale crossed to Warren. “You have some visitors, Warren,” Dale said. “You remember Tanu. And this is Kendra and Seth Sorenson, two of Stan’s grandkids.” Dale pulled back the covers and straightened his brother’s legs. Then he placed a hand behind Warren’s head and guided him into a sitting position. Warren wore a dark orange T-shirt and gray sweatpants. Contrasted against the shirt, his arms looked white as milk. Dale turned him so that he was seated on the edge of the bed. When Dale let go, Kendra half-expected Warren to topple over, but he remained seated upright, eyes vacant.
He looked to be in his twenties, at least ten years younger than Dale. Even with pale skin, white hair, and empty eyes, Warren was unexpectedly handsome. Not quite as tall as his brother, Warren had broader shoulders and a firmer jaw. His features were more finely sculpted. Looking at Dale, she would not picture his brother handsome. Looking at Warren, she would not picture his brother plain. And yet seen together, a family resemblance persisted.
“Hi, Warren,” Seth said.
“Pat him on the shoulder,” Dale suggested. “He’s more aware of touch.”
Seth patted Warren. The action elicited no response. Kendra wondered if this was how people acted after a lobotomy.
“I like to think that in some corner of his mind, he might be aware of us,” Dale said. “Although he doesn’t show much recognition, I suspect he absorbs more than it seems. Left to himself, he curls up into a fetal position. Does it faster if things get too noisy.”
“I’ve tried some doses of different emotions,” Tanu said. “I was hoping something might pierce the fog. But that style of therapy looks like a dead end.”
Kendra gently patted his shoulder. “Hi, Warren.” Warren turned his head and looked at her hand, a slow smile creeping onto his face.
“Would you look at that!” Dale gasped.
Kendra left her hand on Warren’s shoulder, and he kept staring at it. He was not smiling with his eyes, they still appeared far away, but the grin on his face was as wide as it could be. He lifted a hand and placed it over Kendra’s.
“In all this time, this is the biggest reaction I’ve seen,” Dale marveled. “Put your other hand on his shoulder.”
Standing in front of Warren, Kendra rested her other hand on his other shoulder. The action caused Warren to take his eyes off her hand. Instead, he looked up into her face. The grin appeared artificial, but for an instant, Kendra thought she saw a flicker of life in his gaze, as if he almost focused on her.
Dale stood with his hands on his hips. “Wonders never cease.”
“She was fairystruck,” Tanu said. “It must have left a lingering effect that Warren can sense. Kendra, come stand by me.”
Kendra walked over to Tanu. Warren did not follow her with his eyes. He stared directly ahead, unmoving, as if the flicker Kendra noticed had been only her imagination. Once again, Warren looked utterly mindless — except tears were welling up in his eyes. It looked peculiar, those vacant eyes brimming with tears above a slack expression. The tears overflowed and streamed down both white cheeks.
Dale had a fist in his mouth. Warren’s tears stopped flowing, though his cheeks remained damp. Warren made no move to wipe the tears away, showed no evidence he knew he had cried. When Dale pulled his fist from his mouth, there were teeth marks on his knuckles. “What does this mean?” Dale asked Tanu.
“Kendra transmitted something to him by touch,” Tanu said. “This is very encouraging. Somewhere deep inside, I believe his mind is intact. Kendra, take his hand.”
Kendra approached Warren and took his left hand in her right. Again, he came half to life — glancing down at her hand, the dazed smile returning.
“See if you can pull him to his feet,” Tanu said.
Kendra did not have to pull hard before Warren arose.
“I’ll be jiggered,” Dale said. “He never moves so willingly.”
“Lead him around the room,” Tanu said.
Keeping hold of Warren’s hand, Kendra led him around the room. He followed wherever she went, taking shuffling steps.
“She didn’t have to move his legs to get him walking,” Dale murmured to Tanu.
“I noticed,” Tanu replied. “Kendra, lead him over to that chair and have him sit. Keep hold of his hand.”
Kendra did as instructed, and Warren complied woodenly.
Tanu came and stood beside Kendra. “Would you mind giving Warren a kiss?”
The thought of it made her feel shy, mostly because Warren was nice-looking. “On the lips?”
“Just a peck,” Tanu said. “Unless it makes you too uncomfortable.”
“You think it might help him?” she asked.
“Fairy kisses have potent restorative powers,” Tanu said. “I realize you’re not a f
airy, but they did work a change in you. I want to see how he responds.”
Kendra leaned in toward Warren. Her face felt warm. She hoped desperately that she wasn’t blushing. She tried to think of Warren as a catatonic patient who needed a strange cure, tried to make the kiss something detached and clinical. But he was cute. It put her in mind of the crush she’d had on a teacher, Mr. Powell, a couple of years ago.
How would she have felt about kissing Mr. Powell, had circumstances ever called for it? About how she felt right now. Secretly excited in a very embarrassing way.
They all crowded around as Kendra gave Warren a quick peck on the lips. He blinked three times. His mouth twitched. He tightened his grip on her hand for a moment. “He squeezed my hand,” Kendra reported.
Tanu had Kendra stroke Warren’s face and lead him around some more. Whenever she stopped touching him, all signs of life would vanish, but he never wept again. Whenever they were in contact, he wore the smile, and occasionally he made simple fidgety motions, like rubbing his shoulder, although all his actions seemed to lack deliberateness.
After having experimented with how Warren reacted to Kendra for more than an hour, they stood outside, watching the albino perform jerky jumping jacks. Dale got him going by patiently moving his arms and legs until Warren began repeating the action on his own. Warren was wearing the sombrero. Dale had explained that Warren sunburned easily.
“This is not what I expected,” Tanu said. “I’m hoping this response to Kendra will help us as we seek a cure. It is the first real breakthrough we’ve had so far.”
“What did those fairies do to me?” Kendra asked.
“Nobody has been fairystruck in a long time, Kendra,” Tanu said. “We know of it — we don’t know much about it.”
[Fablehaven 02] - Rise of the Evening Star Page 9
