'Tis the Season

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Warren and Seth were walking down the path towards the naiad pond the next day after contacting Bracken. "Do you really think they'll give us the necklace without Bracken? If it's even still in the pond."
"Bracken was able to gather enough power to patch me through to Raxtus, he's sending some help." Seth said, walking beside Warren.

He didn't know what kind of help to expect from the fairy dragon until they walked through the hedge and Warren spotted a tall woman with silver hair standing with some satyrs.

"Is that?" Warren started to ask.

"Yep, Mizelle, one of Bracken's sister's."

"I remember, she helped us look for Kendra the first year she was missing."
The two boys walked over to Mizelle and caught the last bit of her conversation with the satyrs. "Sorry boys, we play for the same team, flirting with me won't go anywhere. Now if you'll excuse me, my friends are here." She turned around to meet Seth and Warren as the satyrs walked away. Last time they had seen her she had mostly stayed in her fairy guard armor but now she had one pair of jeans and a dark navy long sleeve top, her hair falling freely over her shoulders.

"Hey Mizelle, long time no see."
"Hello again Seth, Warren. Congrats on finding your sister Seth, but it seems my sibling is the problem this time. They do make quite a pair. Now what has my brother gotten himself into this time?"

~~~

They fill Mizelle in on everything that has happened with Kendra over the last year.

"So we think the switch happened on Halloween?" Mizelle clarified.

"Yes, during movie night the power went out, that's the most likely time it happened." Warren said.

"Do we know who that hooded figure in the woods that day was?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"And now you need me to get that necklace from the naiads to make sure Sadie doesn't have it."
"It's likely she put it back in the pond thinking we had no way to get to it without Bracken."
"Well Bracken isn't the only one who can charm the naiads." Mizelle said, standing from her seat in the gazebo and walking over to the end of the pier.

"Ladies, can you help with something?"

"Mizelle?" a naiad asked, popping her head from the water.

"We thought it might be you." another one said looking up at the unicorn.

"Hello, Kendra, the fairykind girl threw a necklace in here, do you have it?"
"Yes, do you need it?" The first one asked.
"I do, can you get it for me?"
"No problem!" The second naiad said diving back under water.

Warren was stunned since when were naiads so helpful? The naiad returned and propped her forearm on the dock half her body out of the water with the necklace dangling from her fingers.

"Thank you, love." Mizelle said, taking the necklace.

"Of course, Mizelle."

"I'll try to stop by again later."

"What the heck was that?" Seth asked as Mizelle walked back to them.

"I could order them to give it to me in my mother's name and they know that, why make a fuss about it." Mizelle said necklace in hand.

"I doubt that's why they gave it to you." Seth said.

Mizelle laughed at that. "Okay, I guess we better find Bracken next."

"The sun is going down, we need to get to dinner. It'll look weird if we're not there." Warren said.

"It'll look worse if we bring Mizelle, Sadie can't know she's here." Seth said.

"I have somewhere we could stash her." Warren said.

~~~

"It's cozy, very cottagecore." Mizelle said as she stood in the middle of Warren's cabin.

"You should be safe here, you're welcome to any food in the cabinets. We'll be back tomorrow with some maps to pinpoint a good spot to start looking for Bracken." Warren said.

"Sounds good," Mizelle said, making her way to the kitchen. "See you tomorrow."

With that Warren headed out, Mizelle had already piled almost all the food onto the table having collected a rather nice selection of snacks. A warrior had to eat, and Warren had to go eat with an evil version of his favorite person, lucky him.

~~~

Warren sat across from Sadie at the dinner table. Stan, Ruth, Vanessa, Tanu, and Seth were there. It was Tanu's going away dinner, he was being sent on a mission with Mara and Elise to collect an old artifact on some preserve. Warren wished he could enjoy the time with his friend before he had to leave but all he could focus on was Sadie. This was the first time he had seen her since he had found out she wasn't Kendra and he was barely holding it together. He was sick with worry for Kendra. He had thought it was odd when Kendra started spending so much time out of the house but he didn't even consider it was because she wasn't Kendra.

He should have noticed the difference, he should have known. What kind of friend couldn't tell when someone wasn't even the same person?
Seth had voted it was best not to tell anybody else, the less people who might start acting differently the better. But Warren was still feeling guilty for not telling Vanessa.

"Do you have any plans tomorrow Warren?" The imposter asked, looking perfectly at ease.

"Yeah, I'm helping Dale with a few things around the preserve, Seth too." Dale who was not present was the perfect excuse to use.

"Oh cool, what area of the preserve?" Sadie said.

"Wait when did I get signed up for this?" Seth asked, saving Warren from having to answer the question.

"Didn't you say you wanted to start doing more around the preserve?"
"Right, I forgot that started tomorrow, I'll have to tell Newl and Doren that I'll have to reschedule tennis."

"Isn't it going to be snowy tomorrow?" Ruth asked.

"Another reason to reschedule." Seth said.

Warren and Seth shared a subtle look then went back to eating. Warren's mind was too caught up in the first time Kendra had a double for him to pay any attention to the conversation for the rest of the evening.