Chimera: A Fablehaven Fanfiction

Chapter 3

"Please Navarog! I'll give you anything you want!"
Navarog smirked. "What I want is infinite power, Kendra. And I intend to take it." Kendra couldn't believe it. He was going to hold her here hostage forever charging a battery against her will. "Now put your hands on the orb." Navarog said interrupting her thoughts.
"Wait, what?" Kendra asked gaining a bit of hope.
"I'm only a hundred percent certain this will work if you charge the orb willingly, so I'm going to need you to cooperate." He said gesturing at the orb.
Kendra smiled. She did have a choice! She sat forward and said smugly, "Never." She smiled at Navarog's frustration. Then Navarog patiently walked out to the control panel and pointed at the zapper button. The smile disappeared from Kendra's face as she saw him tap the button, and that same feeling came to her feet while she checked to see if they were even still attached to her ankles.

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"Any sign of her?" Grandpa asked as Warren, Dale, Vanessa, Tanu, and Seth arrived back from their search. No one answered. They just all looked at each other and avoided eye contact with Grandpa. He sighed.
"Well what do we do now?" Grandma asked sincerely.
"I... I don't know." Grandpa admitted sitting down in a lawn chair.
"I could go look for her." Bracken said leaning on the railing.
"You're in no condition." Grandpa said.
"But she needs me!" Bracken cried attempting to limp down the steps only to tumble down the stairs and land on his face. Warren and Seth rushed to his side and helped him to his feet.
"I know this is hard for you Bracken, but look at yourself!" Warren stated gesturing at a few bruises.
Seth was just about ready to break down, but he was no way going to be a baby in front of everyone. "Can't you heal yourself?" Seth asked trying to hold back whimpers, his voice shaking a bit.
"Maybe if I had my horn." Bracken said coughing. "But my powers are meant to be used for others."
"Seth, are you OK?" Vanessa asked, and everyone looked to him, realizing he was on the verge of crying. And Seth never cried. The only other time he could remember crying was at the Kendra Stingbulb's funeral. He sniffed and replied slightly whimpering, "I'm fine."
"It's OK if you need to cry, Seth." Grandpa said.
"No, no. I'm fine. I'm not a baby like Kendra." Everyone smirked at this. "Kendra was always such a baby about things like this... if it were me...if she were here right now..." He sniffled, and then fell to his knees and sobbed into his sleeve. He sat there for a good minute or so until Warren scooped him up and brought him to the attic. Seth cried there for a while... For a long while. He didn't know how long it was...all he remembered was waking up later after what had felt like a long nap. Then he realized he had cried himself to sleep. Bracken was kneeling by his side shaking him subtly.
Seth sat up. "What time is it?" He muttered rubbing his already red eyes.
Bracken whispered back, "Three AM."
"Huh..." Seth replied quietly.
"You doing OK?" he asked. "I've never seen you like that."
"I think I'll be fine." Seth replied.
Bracken looked uncertain, but he continued anyway: "Listen. Kendra means a lot to you and me both, so I figured you'd be the best one for me to tell. I'm going out to find her."
"Bracken," Seth sat up. "I know you want to, but you wouldn't last a day!" Seth said frowning.
Bracken looked down. "I wasn't exactly asking for your permission." he said using the bed frame to hoist himself up.
"Bracken, no!" Seth said trying to swing his legs out, but his ankle was handcuffed to the bed frame...Then Seth realized his wrist was too... "Bracken!" Seth whimpered.
He held up a silencing finger. "I'm doing this for Kendra. If you yell, they'll try and stop me. And I knew you would try."
"But Bracken..." Seth tried, barely keeping himself from once again bursting into tears... things like this never happened... why was he breaking so easily?
"Seth, I've made my decision. Plus, I have a plan." He used the wall and began limping to the window. Plan? What could he possibly do to find her without getting himself killed!?
"Bracken, I can't loose you too!" he shouted pulling at the handcuffs.
Bracken stopped and turned to Seth. Sighing, he pulled a large wad of clothe from his pocket and crawled over to Seth. Was he going to gag him? "You won't loose either of us Seth... if you let me do this." Was he crazy? He could barely walk! Let alone travel to who knows where and fight who knows what to save the love of his life!
"Bracken..." Seth tried, but he began positioning the gag around Seth's mouth, and even though Seth fought back with the two limbs he could use, Seth was no match for Bracken's strength and agility even with how wounded he was. When Bracken finished, Seth tried to scream, but even he could here nothing but a muffled screaming sound like he had heard the day before coming from his voice.
Bracken smiled. "Goodbye Seth. I'll be back soon. I left you a coin under your pillow." He said. Then he crawled to the window, and hoisted himself out onto the roof. Raxtus came into view and took flight, carefully taking hold of Bracken's waist and flying off into the distance.

Photo credit goes to Lloyd Alter/Lukas Hartmann on treehugger.com