DISCONTINUED - Lights That Shine Mysteriously - Fablehaven Fanfiction

Chapter 5

Seth laid on his bed, staring up at the slanted ceiling in shock. How could Warren have been turned to stone? Seth asked himself. Brave, adventurous, joking and slightly crazy Warren, his second cousin?

Emma turned on her side from where she was lying on her bed reading. "You're upset. You were close with Warren weren't you?"

Seth moved to face her bed. "How did you know? Warren and I are practically best friends, we're a lot alike in some ways."

Emma gave a dry smile. "Like I told your sister, I can read people's auras, which show their personalities and feelings. The only person whose aura's I can't read is Alex. But I know him inside and out. Do you want to go out exploring? It should take your mind off things for a little while."

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes. But don't tell anyone aside from Alex, he seems like a nice guy who won't tattle." Seth said.

"I take it Kendra does that?" Emma asked.

"You have no idea."

Emma smiled. "Hold on, let me just get my weapons in case something happens."

Seth's eyes widened. "You have weapons?"

Emma grinned, showing off a wicked smile. "Of course, I wasn't trained by an assassin for nothing. She favored the daggers, and so do I. Alex prefers the sword or spear."

Emmanuelle got off her bed, swaggered over to her suitcase, threw it open and pulled out a fairly large box. Inside were three daggers, a sword, four butterfly knives, and about ten iron or bone hairpins that had been sharpened to a very fine point.

Seth's jaw dropped. "You are now officially my favorite person. Can I try one out?" Seth pleaded.

Emma smirked. "Another time, maybe. Let's go."

Seth and Emma trudged downstairs, out of the yard, and into the woods. "So, you were trained by an assassin?"

"Who was trained by an assassin?" A faintly accented voice asked.

Emma smirked. Seth yelped. "Vanessa!"

Seth whirled and saw the stylish woman standing in front of him.  Her clothes were perfect, along with her makeup. It was more heavily caked on than usual, almost hiding her bags, wrinkles and red eyes.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked, genuinely worried for Vanessa.

"I'm fine. You two shouldn't be wandering around the woods. Warren was exploring the area before he turned to stone. I don't need your parents having my head when they visit from Canada."

Mom and Dad had moved to Canada, because they'd felt uncomfortable around the magic world when they'd been properly introduced to it.

Emma gave a wary smile. "Your parents are in Canada?" She asked.

"Yeah. Kendra and I rarely see them, but we get constant updates on how they're doing, so it's not like we have to really worry about them too much. The Society is almost gone, so there's only a small chance that they'll be kidnapped again."

Vanessa clapped her hands together. "You two really should get out of the woods. Or if you're going to wander around, stick to the paths or something. Maybe go to the shrine. I believe your sister is there." With that, she turned and walked off.

Emma arched an eyebrow. "Can we go to the shrine at Fablehaven? I've always wanted to see it."

Seth shrugged. "Of course. Follow me."

Kendra was sitting on the railing of one of the gazebos in next to the water, pencil in hand. Drawing was like an escape from reality, one that she spent too much time in. Suddenly, the crunching and snapping of leaves and twigs brought her sharply out of her trance.

Seth and Emma had come out of the wall of hedges. Now that she was paying attention to Emma's face while the sun was out and shining brightly, she noticed very small scars all across her visible body. Odd. But they looked beautiful, like shining, barely noticeable, white lines gently lacing her skin, making her seem tough yet beautiful, like a warrior goddess.

"Hey Kendra," Seth called, making his way across to her and plopping down beside her on the railing. Emma did the same.

"Hello Seth," she said, taking her eyes off him and back to the island.

"Why are you staring at the island?" Emma questioned, from slightly away, where she was sitting on the pier.

Kendra hopped off the railing and went over to Emma, sitting down in the exact center so the naiads wouldn't try to drown her. "A friend of mine is supposed to be coming in about a minute."

Emma tilted her head slightly to the side. "Who's your friend?"

A blinding white flash of light emanating from the shrine answered her. A huge, unmistakable, shimmery shape flew into the air, before dipping down to land behind Kendra.

"Raxtus!" Kendra, Seth and, surprisingly Emma screamed.

Kendra threw herself at Raxtus, hugging as much of him as she could. Then she pulled back.

"Kendra! Seth! It's great to see you two again! Emma? What on Earth are you doing here? It's been ages!" Raxtus exclaimed.

Emma laughed and ran towards him, doing a flip in the air to land on his back. "I'm temporarily staying here. It's great to see you again Raxtus, it's been, what, four years?"

Kendra and Seth shared a look. "How do you two know each other?" Seth asked.

Emma's smile faded slightly and changed. It became more bitter, harder. There was a dark edge to it. It seemed to Kendra that there were three types of smiles when it came to Emma. One was her casual smile, her sarcastic, bitter, moody smile, and the wicked smile with a hidden sharp knife that could cut you to the core. This was the third one.

Emma sat down on Raxtus. "I suppose there's no hiding it. The secret would've gotten out anyway. And anyways, I should be able to trust you, after all, you did slay Gorgrog. My mother, she was -- is -- a dryad. One of the queen's handmaidens as well. She spent a lot of time in and out of the Fairy Realm. After she married dad, she gave up her immortality, but the Fairy Queen invited her to come over whenever she wanted to, since she had served so loyally. Mom brought me to the Fairy Queen when I was very young, and well, I was sort of blessed by her. I can tread along her sacred ground, and visit if the situation is dire, or if I'm invited."

Kendra's eyes widened. "I've never heard of anything like this! But what about Alexander?"

Emma's small smile faded. "He was never taken to the fairy queen -- for many reasons, the largest one was that he was a man. He was also a bit of a brat when he was younger. Anyway, that's enough about  me. Raxtus, how have you been?"

Kendra tilted her head to the side as the shadow boy, the shining dragon, and the blonde-haired girl full of mysteries chatted. Everything about the three of them was so interesting, so intriguing, and she often felt like the odd one. Kendra knew she shone brightly, but she always felt in the shadow of others.

She shook her head to dispel these thoughts and picked up her sketchbook, flipping to an old page, with a drawing she'd never completed. Now would be a good time as ever to finish her drawing of Raxtus.

DO NOT SKIP. IT'S IMPORTANT. Okay, so here I'm giving you guys a choice. It's the summer break for me, I'll be updating, and I want to know if you guys want me to publish as soon as I finish a chapter or wait until I have a few chapters written and publish them all at the same time.

Side note - I'm not satisfied with my cover, I don't know how to create them, so I was wondering if you guys could create one for me? Message me, or comment if you have any questions or have a design.

Thanks for reading!