Fablehaven: The Complete Series (212 page)

A rumble from behind startled him. This was new! From the back wall of his cell came the low, heavy grating of stone grinding against stone. A portion of the wall slid open, and a mellow white light shed soft luminance into the room. A young man stepped through the opening, holding the white light in his hand.

Seth picked up the brick of meat, the closest thing he had to a weapon. The intruder froze in the doorway, a hand held up defensively. “Please, don’t assault me with that meat amalgam,” the stranger said. “It would surely cause an infection.”

Seth lowered the mystery meat. The young man wore ragged clothing. Improvised moccasins covered his dirty feet. The white light in his hand was clearly magical, some kind of glowing stone. The illumination gave his grime-streaked skin a pearly sheen. Tall and lean, he had silver-white hair down to his shoulders and a handsome, open face.

“Who are you?” Seth asked.

“A fellow prisoner,” the young man answered. Seth estimated he was around eighteen. “May I come in?”

Seth considered the stranger. What kind of prison had secret passages that allowed inmates to visit each other? This guy had to be an enemy sent by the Sphinx to squeeze information out of him. Still, at the moment, Seth would be willing to talk with just about anyone. Anything to relieve the loneliness. “Sure, I guess.”

Turning, the young man retrieved a small three-legged stool from the corridor. He brought it into the cell and sat down. “Welcome to Living Mirage.”

“Am I really supposed to believe you’re another prisoner?” Seth said.

“I don’t blame you for doubting,” the young man said. “I have a similar concern about you. I’m Bracken.”

“Seth.”

“They stashed you down deep. That means either you’re dangerous and they’re done with you for the foreseeable future, or else you’re a spy.”

Seth fidgeted with the brick of meat, turning it in his hands. “And how am I supposed to know you’re not a spy? What sort of prison has secret passages between cells?”

“This dungeon is old,” Bracken said. “It has been expanded and rebuilt so many times that nobody knows all the half-buried corridors and sealed-up chambers. Centuries of tunneling prisoners have added to the abandoned shafts and forgotten cavities. I helped excavate some of these passages personally, but most existed long before I came here. Nothing leads out, mind you. Not even close. But we’ve connected many of the deep rooms.”

“Nobody has caught on?” Seth said incredulously.

“We’re not fooling anybody,” Bracken replied. “If we’re really obvious about our activities, they seal up some of our excavations and administer punishments, but later we chip our way through again. Our tunneling is relatively harmless, and it keeps us occupied, so if we stay quiet about it, our captors mostly look the other way.”

“You talk like you’ve been here a long time,” Seth said. “How old are you? Like seventeen?”

Bracken gave a wry smile. “I’m a tad older than I look. You would weep for me if you knew how long I’d been here.”

“So when are you going to start investigating my secrets?”

“Still don’t trust me? At least you’re not stupid.”

“Don’t give me too much credit. I’m here, aren’t I?”

Bracken studied him shrewdly. “Yes, you are here. And you are clearly a shadow charmer, which makes you such an obvious spy that I wonder why the Sphinx would bother.”

“How can you tell I’m a shadow charmer?”

“I can tell more than that,” Bracken said, moving the stool closer to the cot. “Mind if I conduct a little test?”

“Depends on the test.”

“Nothing painful,” Bracken assured him. He tossed the glowing rock onto the cot. “Just take my hands.” He held them out, palms up.

“This is weird,” Seth said, keeping his hands in his lap.

“I just want to ask you a couple of questions. If I ask something you don’t like, go ahead and punch me in the face.”

Seth set his meat brick aside and took Bracken’s hands. Bracken gazed into his eyes. “Tell me your name.”

“Seth Sorenson.”

“Tell me a lie.”

“The food here is terrific.”

Bracken grinned. “Tell me something true.”

“Centaurs are jerks.”

The grin broadened. “Are you a friend of the Society of the Evening Star?”

“Nope. I’m the opposite. A Knight of the Dawn.”

Bracken released his hands and scooted the stool back. “I believe you. In fact, I know some things about you. You have friends here.”

“My parents?” Seth said hopefully.

“Your parents might be here, but not in a cell we can access.”

“So what are you, a human lie detector?”

“I’m good at reading people. I wanted a close look at you. They’ve sent down stingbulbs before. Now I know you’re not a stingbulb, or a changeling. More important, your friends might have been mistaken about your allegiances. Hard to believe a shadow charmer could be on our side. But now I’m convinced.”

Seth folded his arms. “I’m glad I passed your test. Do you have something I can hang on my fridge?”

“I left my stickers in my cell.”

Seth rubbed his hands together. “It still doesn’t prove whether I should trust you.”

“Agreed. I’d question your judgment if you did. For starters, why don’t I take you to visit one of your friends?”

“Sure. Do I have lots of friends here?”

“A few.” Bracken grabbed the glowing stone.

“Where did you get the light?”

“I made it.” He led the way to the gap in the back wall of the cell. “I’m pretty close to powerless these days, but I still know a trick or two.”

“What are you, a wizard?”

Bracken chuckled, closing the gap in the wall. Then he started along a narrow corridor. “A wizard stuck in cells like these would be a sorry wizard indeed. I’ll tell you more about myself once you know you can trust me. Let’s go quiet for a stretch. The walls are thin up here, and a guard is posted nearby.”

Bracken closed his fist around the stone so that only a little light escaped. Seth followed him up an incline, treading lightly. The floor felt slick.

The narrow passage eventually tapered to an end. “This part is a little tricky,” Bracken whispered. He put the glowing stone in a pocket and pointed up. A tiny globe of light the size of a ping-pong ball leapt from his fingertip, hovering upward. The ball rose into a hole in the ceiling, which turned out to be a tall shaft.

Bracing himself against opposite sides of the passage, Bracken spidered up until his feet were well above Seth’s reach. The sure swiftness of his movements made the maneuver look simple. “There are rungs in the shaft,” he stage-whispered down, pulling himself into the vertical crawl space.

Seth chimneyed up toward the hole in the ceiling, bracing himself and then scooting upward in increments. The walls were spaced too wide to make the ascent comfortable. Arms quivering, he gained only a few inches with each movement. When he reached the mouth of the shaft, he braced with his legs and quickly reached up to a rung, then followed Bracken upward. At the top of the damp shaft, Bracken raised a wooden hatch. Seth followed Bracken out into the new passageway. The top of the hatch was disguised to match the floor after Bracken carefully closed it.

Bracken recalled the floating ball of light, snuffed it out, and took the stone from his pocket. Seth followed him down the passage, through a hidden door, and along another passage until Bracken stopped.

“Here we are,” Bracken said, his voice less hushed. “This character keeps his cell locked from the inside.” Bracken used the rock to tap against the wall—four slow beats, two quick ones, a pause, and then three quick strikes. A moment later, an arrangement of stone blocks pulled inward, leaving a space large enough to crawl through. Bracken entered first.

“You bring him?” inquired a familiar voice as Seth crawled through. “There he is!”

Seth looked up in surprise. “Maddox?”

The burly fairy trader beamed down at him. “I’m sorry you’re here, Seth, but it’s good to see you.” Offering a meaty hand, Maddox hauled Seth to his feet.

“You’re alive!” Seth said. “The last time I saw you, it was an impostor.”

“A stingbulb,” Maddox said gravely. “I hoped you all would manage to see through the charade.”

“Not at first,” Seth said. “It did a good job. But we figured it out before any real harm was done.”

“The stingbulbs come from here, you know,” Maddox said. “The last known stingbulb trees are on this preserve. I’ll be honest, if I ever managed to bust out of this dungeon, I’d be tempted to stick around and explore. This is an ancient preserve. Who knows what supposedly extinct species I might encounter!”

Seth scrunched his brow. “How can I be sure you’re not a stingbulb?”

“Good boy!” Maddox bellowed. He glanced over to Bracken. “This one thinks like a survivor.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Bracken agreed.

“Bracken can tell,” Maddox told Seth. “But I’ll wager you don’t trust him yet, either.”

“I want to trust you guys,” Seth said. “I just don’t want to be an idiot.”

“A stingbulb would have my memories,” Maddox said. “There isn’t much I can do to prove my authenticity. For now, it’ll have to suffice that we won’t press you for secrets.”

“I’m not sure I have any in the first place,” Seth said. “The Society already knows everything I do.”

“Now, don’t think like that,” Maddox said. “You never know what odd detail might offer the Society an advantage. Keep those lips sealed.”

“All right.”

Bracken picked up Maddox’s empty meal mat. “Cleaned your plate again, I see!”

Maddox gave an awkward smile. “I’ll be honest, I’ve eaten worse.”

“Worse?” Bracken laughed. “Where? Was it uncooked and decomposing? Seth, this guy wolfs down everything they serve here. He’s put on a good twenty pounds since they brought him in.”

Maddox reddened, smoothing his hands over the ratty skins covering his belly. “I’m not saying I would choose this grub over home-cooked lasagna. I was starving when they brought me here.”

“I can’t even bite the meat,” Seth said.

“It’s like a salt lick,” Bracken said. He jerked a thumb at Maddox. “This guy chews it up.”

“You can find fracture points if you probe for weaknesses,” Maddox said.

“What about the hairy paste?” Seth asked.

“I’m not sure those are hairs,” Bracken said solemnly. “Might be veins.”

“Laugh it up,” Maddox grumbled, waving both arms at them. “Mind my words. Best to store up a little extra when given the chance. You can’t be sure when you’ll see your next meal.”

“I know when I will see it and what it will be,” Bracken challenged. “I’ve been here a long time. Twice a day, like clockwork, we’re served a compressed blend of dog, rat, and hobgoblin.”

Seth laughed and gagged at the same time. “I hope you’re kidding.”

“Torch coming,” Bracken said, crouching and covering the light from his stone. He stealthily backed toward the gap through which he had entered, and Seth did the same.

“It’s not mealtime,” Maddox whispered.

The faint light through the barred peephole shifted as footsteps approached. A torch swept past the small, rectangular opening, and the heavy footsteps continued along the corridor.

Bracken remained tense and quiet until the footfalls passed out of hearing. “They almost never come into the cells,” Bracken said. “But with my luck, I try to be ready for exceptions.”

“Say, Seth,” Maddox began awkwardly, “I know I shouldn’t press you, but have you had any non-secretive word from my brother, Dougan?”

Seth’s face fell. Maddox didn’t know about his brother.

“Uh-oh,” Maddox said. “Bad news?”

“The worst news,” Seth said.

Maddox’s mouth twisted and trembled. He gave a quick nod. “Right. Did he go bravely?”

Seth nodded vigorously. “It was at Wyrmroost. A dragon got him. Dougan helped to save Kendra and the mission.”

Maddox drew a ragged breath. “What dragon?” Despite his grief, he was already thinking about vengeance.

“Navarog. But then Navarog got killed while in human form.”

“Navarog is dead?” Bracken exclaimed. Glancing at Maddox, he managed to restrain his obvious excitement.

Maddox plopped down on his creaky cot. He seemed to have suddenly aged. “We play a deadly game. Something like this was bound to happen.”

Seth thought about Vincent. He worried about Kendra and his grandparents. Spending time in a dungeon might be safer than what they would face in the coming days and weeks. He had to find a way to help them.

“What are our chances of busting out of here?” Seth asked.