Fablehaven: Journey to the Eternals' Pass (fanfiction) (HIATUS)

4: Stone

Kendra wouldn't say that she was friends with Darcy, but she did like him a lot more than she did when they had first met. It seemed that the appearance of Canis had breathed a new personality into him. His twin, Elaine, had appeared minutes after Seth left, and the wolf seemed to wake her up as well. Tanu had been amazed to walk in on Bracken, Kendra and the twins quite amiably talking and avoiding playful nips from the lupine.

Seth was still missing when Bracken and Kendra made a foray into the grounds to talk to the fairies. What they told them corresponded with Darcy's report. 

"Where is he?" Kendra wondered as they re-entered the living room half an hour later. "It can't be taking him this long to explore."

"Maybe he got lost." Darcy drawled, sprawled on the couch with his long legs stretched out in front of him.

"Of course he didn't." Kendra said defensively.

Darcy shrugged and accepted the soda can Elaine handed him. "Yeah, well. It's a big house."

Bracken was studying some photos on the walls. "These are your parents?" He asked, pointing.

"Yeah. Alistair and Katherine."

Kendra took a look. "You look a lot like your dad." 

"So I've heard." 

Kendra found a small picture propped up on the mantelpiece with three kids in it. Two were clearly the twins; the third was a beautiful girl no older than they were, with the same apparent Chinese heritage. "Who's this?" She asked, turning around. Elaine's eyes widened and she quickly took it from Kendra.

"Our cousin." She said hastily. She and Darcy exchanged a look. Kendra didn't know what was going on, but apparently the twins weren't eager to divulge on their family any further. She could respect that; she wouldn't have shared all her family secrets with near strangers either.

Kendra hadn't taken a step back towards her seat when a man silently entered the room. Darcy and Elaine both jumped up in perfect synchronisation, producing weapons from seemingly nowhere. Elaine held two gleaming katanas threateningly, and judging from her familiar hold on them, she knew how to use them.

Bracken was unperturbed. "Eyoven." He said calmly, rising.

The man hastily knelt. "My lord."

"Please, rise."

Kendra saw Darcy shoot an odd glance at Bracken. She had already realised that the man, whom Bracken had called Eyoven, was an astrid, one of the warriors of the Fairy Queen, but Darcy didn't seem to have noticed and even if he did, Kendra didn't recall if they had mentioned that Bracken was the son of the Fairy Queen.

Elaine lowered her blades and exchange a glance with Darcy. They had a silent conversation. "Eyoven." Darcy said. "Who are you?"

Eyoven turned his tawny eyes onto Darcy, who met them unflinchingly. "An astrid, Darcy Long. A Knight of Dawn. You are fairystruck, are you not?"

"Certainly." Darcy's expression had slipped back into its former impassiveness, so the astrid looked as if he was talking to a block of stone. Something like contempt flashed across Eyoven's eyes, as though the astrid wondered how such a boy had been given the privilege of becoming fairystruck. "But that really is none of your-"

"Eyoven." Bracken cut in sharply. "What have you come to say?"

"There is someone who wishes to see you, my lord. A boy. He claims you have met."

Bracken's eyes narrowed. "I have met many boys."

"He did not tell me his name, but he looks like an angel. He said he would meet you by the river."