Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The tennis ball bounced lazily off the ceiling, pinging softly before arcing down to meet Seth’s hand again.

The fuzzy ball was cool between his fingers, a neon speck in the dim room. He sighed, his wings spread out haphazardly across the bed behind him.

The door to the room creaked, and he jolted upright, nerves spiking. Had someone— “Seth, I told you to turn on a light if you came in.” Kendra flicked the switch, turning on the light in the spare bedroom. He grunted, rubbing his eyes.

“I wasn’t awake enough.” Seth stood, stretching. At seventeen, he was taller than Kendra by a good few inches. His sister rolled her eyes, then moved to the other side of the room, grabbing a pile of papers.

“Bracken’s going to be home in a bit.” She added absently. “His classes should be done soon. Are you here to talk to him?”

“Sure.” Seth said, wandering toward the kitchen. Kendra’s small apartment was cute, and Bracken was hilariously great at keeping it clean.

They also kept their fridge very. VERY well stocked. A fact Seth loved. Kendra followed him, jamming the papers into her backpack. “I have classes until six. Why were you asleep at,” She squinted at the clock on the wall. “Three in the afternoon?”

“It was a long flight,” Seth shrugged, grabbing a jar of yogurt from the fridge.

Rolling her eyes, Kendra grabbed her keys and headed for the door. “Like I said, Bracken should be home soon. You can bother him with whatever you want when he gets here.” She gave him an absent wave before she left, locking the apartment door behind her.

Seth sighed, flopping down onto the couch. Picking at his yogurt, he shifted until his wings were comfortable. It was a slight annoyance having them out all the time, but he felt… itchy when he kept them tucked away too much. It was probably all mental, but he preferred to have them out as much as possible anyway. “Life’s weird,” He grumbled to the ceiling.

A few years ago, he’d been slaying dragons, had severe amnesia… among other things. Pretty much your average “saving the world” stuff. Now… things were actually peaceful. Or as peaceful as they could get on a magical preserve.

But nothing like he’d gotten used to. After all the death-defying, terrifying adventures he’d been on, the mundane felt, well, mundane.

Kendra had seemed to adjust well. She’d moved out soon after she turned eighteen, finding an apartment with Bracken. It wasn’t far from Fablehaven, so she visited often. But she was taking college classes now, which kept her plenty busy. Bracken had joined her in pursuing a degree, and was studying to be a history professor. A fact that Seth found hilarious considering Bracken’s real age.

Puffing out his cheeks, he threw away his yogurt carton and flopped back onto the couch. Seth pulled out his knife, examining the edge before going to find a rag to clean it. It could use a good polishing.

Knox could hardly keep from bouncing up and down. An entire summer at fablehaven. He didn’t know how his grandparents had done it, but they’d convinced his parents to go on a summer-long, “romantic getaway” and leave him and Tessa with them.

Which meant he got to hang out at Fablehaven for 3 months.

Tessa looked over at him from her seat in the car. “You’re excited to see Seth and Kendra.”

“W-what?!” Knox spluttered, staring at her. “No! I’m excited for—” His gaze darted to the front of the car, where his dad was driving. “For Fablehaven.” He whispered. Tessa smirked.

“Me too, me too.” She laughed, sitting back in her seat and watching through the window.

Knox hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time at Fablehaven since the Dragon War ended. He’d wanted to go back for longer, but his parents hadn’t seen why they should drop their kids off, without them at Fablehaven. For all they understood, Knox and Tessa just really, really wanted to see their grandparents again.

Since they’d never really cared much before, his parents had been puzzled and more than a little concerned.

So that had resulted in some small visits with the entire family. Meaning that Knox had been kept on a short leash, and everything magical was shoved under the rug as much as possible.

Seth had found it hilarious, and confused Knox’s parents as much as he possibly could—though after Kendra scolded him, he’d behaved better and hadn’t done anything too crazy. This time though, he was going to be able to hang out with the magical creatures as much as possible, and his parents wouldn’t be around to dampen the fun.

“There!” Knox said, nearly leaping out of his seat when he saw the dirt road that would lead them to the gate into Fablehaven. His mom laughed.

“Someone’s excited.”

“I just haven’t seen everyone in a while.” He cleared his throat. His dad turned onto the dirt road, their rental car jolting as it bumped down the uneven road.
The gate came into view, but it was open.

He blinked, leaning forward. Had something happened? Why was it open?

Then he saw the figure standing lazily beside it, absently cleaning his fingernails with his dagger.

Noticing the car, Seth tucked the dagger away and waved to them, a smug grin on his face. “Hey guys!” He shouted, trotting over as Knox’s dad stopped the car. “How was the trip here?”

Knox’s dad rolled down all the windows. “Good, uneventful.”

Seth nodded sagely. “Great. So, are you two ready to have an awesome summer? Kendra’s really excited.”

“How is Kendra?” Knox’s mom asked, reaching into her purse.

Seth shrugged. “Doing good. She’s enjoying college. I think she picked her major. She keeps telling me I should start looking into schools.” His nose wrinkled. “Anyway, we’re not here to talk about school. Tess, you ready to have a blast?”

“Yes!” Tessa said, grinning widely.

“Knox?”

“Sure,” Knox huffed, trying to hide his excitement. Seth didn’t need to know how much he’d been looking forward to this.

He wouldn’t ever tell Seth, but his older cousin was pretty much adventuring goals. He’d lived through not one, but two world-destroying events, and played a massive part in stopping BOTH of them. He’d slayed demons, dragons, wielded not one but TWO named weapons, and could even command the undead.
He had a pair of WINGS for crying out loud. Knox didn’t know how he’d managed to get so powerful, but he knew he needed to step up his game. He didn’t want to look wimpy in front of Kendra and Seth—and especially not in front of their grandparents. Who knew, maybe they’d pick Knox instead of Kendra or Seth to take care of Fablehaven.

Knox’s mom slapped a “help for troubled youths” brochure into Seth’s hand. “Do you need a ride up to the house?”

Seth bemusedly took the brochure. “Nah, I’m going to walk back after I lock up the gate. See you guys there!” He stepped away from the car, waving them on.

After they passed through, Knox saw Seth close the gate and lock it, eyeing the brochure with confusion before tucking it into his back pocket—his wings appeared and Seth disappeared into the sky.

“The formulas aren’t formula-ing.” Kendra groaned, letting her head thump against the desk. Bracken looked up from the history book he was reading, chuckling a little.
Her boyfriend had found that he enjoyed going through history books and noting what he remembered, and what had been recorded incorrectly.

Kendra enjoyed it, except that now she had to keep straight two versions of history—the truthful one and the one that would get her a good grade.

“I think I messed up somewhere, and now I can’t figure it out.” She waved hopelessly at the math problem she was trying to solve. She’d been working on it for a good thirty minutes now, stopping and restarting multiple times because she kept messing up.

Bracken leaned over her shoulder, looking the problem over. He’d let his hair grow out more and had started to tie it back into a low ponytail—Kendra had to admit that it suited him. “You got it wrong in different spots each time.” Bracken said with a soft laugh. “I think it’s time for a break. Do you want to go down to Fablehaven? Your cousins arrived today, right?”

“THEY DID!!” Kendra yelped, shooting upright and nearly headbutting Bracken. “I wanted to meet them! How did I forget?!”

Bracken laughed. “Maybe the fact that you had an essay due?”

Kendra shoved her keys into her purse. “Maybe. Are you coming?”

Bracken shook his head. “I need to finish up a couple assignments before tonight. I’ll see you later.” He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before Kendra dashed out the door. Sometimes, she really envied Seth’s wings.

Chapter Text

Seth chewed on his granola bar, lounging lazily in a tree. The satyrs were noisily playing tennis, the bright yellow ball pinging loudly against the court in the still summer air. Now that he had wings, he could easily explore Fablehaven—and with his Shadow Healer powers, he was able to handle most things that came his way. His grandparents had tried to keep him from wandering off as much, but he’d found ways to sneak out.

A loud PLONK distracted him from his thoughts and he laughed as Newel sent the tennis ball flying into the bushes.

“Point!” Doren cheered.

Newel groaned, swinging his racket. “I got distracted.”

“By what? Another “dryad”? You were totally lying last time, don’t even try to pretend otherwise.”

“Are you going to get the ball so we can continue, or are you scared I’ll beat you?”

“Scared? More like bored.” Doren huffed, but he trotted toward the trees to grab the ball.

Seth snorted, adjusting his wings a little bit so he was more comfortable on his perch.

“Hey, Seth!” Newel shouted, leaning against his racket. “I heard your cousin was back!”

Rolling his eyes, Seth hopped down from the tree, comfort abandoned with the mention of Knox. “Yeah. He’s back. He’s already causing problems for me.”

Newel raised an eyebrow as Doren came back with the ball—which was now coated in a fine layer of dirt. “Like how?”

Seth shrugged, strolling along the perimeter of the tennis court.

“Heads up!” Doren shouted before walloping the ball. Yelping, the other satyr barely managed to get his racket up to stop it in time, but the coating of dirt exploded off the ball with the contact.

“Interference! You tampered with the ball!”

“Me? Never!”

Seth kicked a rock off the court.

“So, what DID your cousin do?” Newel pressed as he wiped the dirt off. Doren listened in eagerly.

“I thought we moved on from that.” Seth groaned. “Knox is staying with Grandpa and Grandma Larson, but everyone got together for brunch earlier—even Kendra came—and Knox started rattling off about his adventures.”

Doren frowned, lunging to keep the ball from flying out of the court again. “How is that a bad thing? Aren’t you old enough to NOT have a petty rivalry with him?”

“You’re never too old for petty rivalries!” Newel countered, smashing his racket into the ball.

“Newel is right,” Seth pointed out. “But no, that’s not it.”

“Then what is it?” Doren grunted, jumping up high and just barely managing to hit the ball.

“My parents…” Seth sighed. “Kendra and I, right after, it just felt… hard to talk about. I mean, there were a lot of good things that happened, sure, but also so many things could have gone wrong.” He shivered just thinking about it. “We didn’t want to scare our parents, and, frankly, I think both of us didn’t want to get scolded for doing something so dangerous—”

Newel laughed. “And what is Fablehaven? A kosher preserve?”

“It’s better than a DRAGON sanctuary.” Seth grumbled. “Anyway, Kendra and I decided to tell them a “friendlier” version of things. Just dumb it down a little bit so they wouldn’t worry as much.”

“And?” Doren asked. “They bought it?”

“They didn’t really get updates besides the occasional “hey, we’re still alive!”. So…” He trailed off with a shrug, plopping down next to the end of the net. “Kendra and I figured, after a few months, we’d come clean and tell the whole story. Uncensored and everything.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t?” Doren said, bouncing the tennis ball.

“Nope.” Seth said, tapping his knee. “It just got put off. And put off. Annnd put off. Then I started doing things with Warren occasionally and Kendra was busy too…” Seth ran a hand through his hair. “Basically, the dangerous stunts kept piling up. Kendra and I kept saying that we would tell them after the next mission, and we’d pull the bandaid off, but it just never happened.” Seth glanced up at the bright sky, wondering absently if it would rain. “Anyway, Knox starts ranting about his adventures last night, and who do you think starts to look at me?”

“Trick question. Multiple people could be looking at you!” Newel bleated.

Seth stared at him for a moment before continuing. “My parents do. Kendra “got a call” right that moment and left, and my grandparents were no help whatsoever, since they don’t really understand how much mom and dad would freak out.”

The satyrs shrugged, having paused tennis to stop and listen.

“Mom started asking questions, Dad was just dumbfounded. Basically, I better avoid the house for a few days.”

Newel and Doren glanced at each other. “We can help with that.” They chorused, grinning.

Chapter Text

Knox was really, really glad that Grandma and Grandpa Larson had let him go to the satyrs on his own. He’d tried finding Seth first, but he was nowhere to be found, and he doubted Kendra knew the way. Tess was no help either, more interested in staying in the garden with the fairies.

He wasn’t sure if his grandparents only allowed him to go because they thought Seth would be there, but either way, they had trusted him to go on his own.

It was a big milestone. One day, he’d need to memorize this entire place so he could be a good caretaker—and that started with being able to explore it on his own.

As he came closer, he started to hear voices.

The satyrs!

Breaking into a jog, he rounded a bend and skittered to a stop. Seth, standing next to the satyrs as they looked at a piece of paper, whirled around.

Newel and Doren grinned at him. “The Texan!”

Knox beamed. “Hey y’all. What’re you guys looking at?”

The two looked at each other, then at Seth.

His cousin pressed his lips together, looking almost pained.

“Nothing.” Newel said.

“Absolutely nothing.”

“Seth was just curious about tennis rules.” Newel chimed in again.

Knox’s eyebrows shot up. “You guys… found tennis rules on an old piece of parchment paper?”

“As long as you believe it!” Newel grinned.

Seth rolled his eyes. “Just tell him.”

“We’re pretty sure we found a treasure map.” Doren blurted. “We think it leads to the lost treasure of Gibley.”

“Who?” Knox said, confused. He understood the treasure part. But who was Gibley?

“A famous bounty hunter from years ago!” Doren informed him. “He was said to have died without revealing or sharing his treasure with anybody.”

“Rumors have circled for years that there’s a map to it.” Newel chimed in.

“And we found it!” Doren said, eyes glittering with glee. “I mean, who else could this map have belonged to?”

“An overactive teenager with a vivid imagination?” Seth grumbled, folding his arms. “Besides, if it is an actual treasure map, it’s too dangerous for Knox.”

Knox frowned. “How? I helped you guys with the dragons. I can handle myself.”

Seth shrugged.

Newel and Doren waved off Seth, turning back to the map. “It looks like the hunt would take us to some pretty dangerous spots in the preserve though. We’d need to find a time to go when you wouldn’t get caught.” Doren pointed out.

Seth laughed. “Seriously? I never get caught. We can go whenever.”

“I’m coming with you!” Knox said. “I can handle myself just fine.”

Seth sighed, rolling his eyes.

They ended up postponing the treasure hunt.

Seth led the way through the forest back toward the house, using trails he knew were safer. Knox followed a bit behind, a little slower since he seemed to be trying to memorize all his surroundings.

“Where have you been?” Knox asked suddenly, trotting a little to catch up.

Seth ducked under a tree branch. “Around. Why?”

“You vanished after dinner—what, you're scared of a little competition?”

Seth’s eyebrows shot upward. “Competition?”

“Yeah, clearly I’m a candidate for inheriting Fablehaven.” Knox puffed out his chest. “Besides, your parents clearly seemed super shocked about what I told them the other day. Seems like your adventures weren’t all that impressive to them.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “You like Kidz Bop?”

“What? No. Why would I listen to that?”

“Say that you only heard the Kidz Bop version of a certain song. Then, randomly, you hear the original one day. You’d be pretty shocked, right?”

“Heck yeah. Cause the original would be so much better.”

“Replace “better” with “life-threatening” and you’ll understand the point I’m trying to make here.” Seth offered as they came to where the trails split. “Alright, the main house is straight that way. Don’t detour, it’s getting dark and if you get eaten I’m going to be in big trouble.”

Knox stared at him for a second. “You’re not staying out?”

“What? No. I’m not stupid. I don’t spend the nights outside unless I have no other choice.” Yawning, Seth started down the path toward his home. “See you tomorrow.”

Knox waved, then started jogging down the path. Seth was glad to see that he wasn’t going to be stupid. At least he didn’t think Knox was going to be stupid.

It was only a few more minutes until Seth reached the house that he now lived in with his parents. Originally Patton’s house, it used to be the main house until it had fallen into disrepair. For now, Seth’s family lived there. Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson had considered moving operations back to this house—since it was so much bigger—but they’d decided it was too much of a hassle.

His mom was sitting out on the porch, a cup of tea in her hand and a book propped open on her lap.

Seth paused, then pivoted on his heel, intending to sneak back into the wood.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

He winced. Too late.

Laughing it off, he trotted toward the porch, making his wings vanish as he hopped up the steps. “Nowhere, mom. I just thought I heard something behind me.”

His mom squinted at him suspiciously. She still didn’t fully understand this world. He could tell why it had taken her kids getting involved in it for her to find out.

Sometimes, he wondered that if Kendra hadn’t ever been kidnapped and pronounced dead, if they would still be oblivious. After all, by that point, there was no way to explain what had happened to Kendra without the magic part. Or just letting them think she was dead, but that would have been too cruel.

“We need to talk.” She said, closing her book and setting it on the little table beside her. “Knox told us some… interesting things.”

Seth shrugged. “He was just being dramatic. You know how kids his age are.” He moved to open the front door.

“That doesn’t answer anything.”

He sighed, realizing there wasn’t any way he was going to get out of this conversation. “Look, Knox is a stupid kid. It’s a fact. All boys his age are stupid.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I know I was stupid. So what if he exaggerated a little? Everyone does that at some point in their life.”

“That didn’t seem like an exaggeration, Seth.” His mom rubbed her forehead tiredly. “I should have known—things were always just a little “off”. A little bit too severe to match up with the stories you told us.”

Seth gave her his most innocent smile. “We were just being overly cautious to protect you—really, mom, it wasn’t ever anything. It was just blown out of proportion.”

“Really? The things he said didn’t make anybody else bat an eye. You and Kendra were the only two who didn’t seem to like what he was saying.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Because we care. It’s annoying when someone blows things out of the water and someone falls for it. It’s just stupid.”

She shook her head. “You have wings, for God’s sake. Kendra is some kind of… fairy now? And don’t even get me started on Bracken. There is no way that boy is a human.”

“He is.”

At least, he is NOW.

He wasn’t going to be the one to scare his parents like this. It was kinder to keep them in the dark—he could protect them if anything did happen, as could Kendra. Bracken would also help them in a heartbeat if anything actually started to go wrong.

He stepped closer and enveloped his mom in a hug. Startled, she returned the gesture, patting his back awkwardly. “Everything’s fine mom. Besides, it’s all in the past.” He kissed her cheek, leaving her out on the front porch as he hurried to his room. He'd call Kendra and update her in the morning.

“What did you tell mom?” Kendra shoved the bag of potatoes into her shopping cart. She wanted to try making scalloped potatoes tonight—but her plan had been stalled when she realized she didn’t have the main ingredient. Now Bracken and her were out grocery shopping.

“Downplayed it, per usual.” Seth’s voice crackled on the other side of the line. He was probably flying and talking. “She’s getting suspicious though.”

“We have to tell them, probably sooner than later.” Kendra sighed. This was not going to be a conversation she looked forward to.

Seth’s grunt of disapproval echoed clearly through her speaker.

Bracken came back, holding a large pineapple. He shook it invitingly, eyebrows raised eagerly. Kendra gave him a flat stare. He knew the budget as well as her.

The pineapple was not in the budget.

Sighing, he went to put it back, and Kendra pushed the cart toward the TV dinners section. “How’s everything else though?”

Seth gave a noncommittal huff. “It’s fine. The usual stuff.”

Kendra’s eyebrows shot up. With Seth, the “usual stuff” could be anything from helping Grandma and Grandpa maintain the preserve, or causing trouble with the satyrs. “Just don’t get Knox killed or hurt.” She sighed.

Seth laughed. “C’mon, have a little more faith in me.”

Seth hung up the phone and stared at the chaos in front of him. Kendra should not have any faith in him.

Chapter Text

Seth stared blandly at the wraith hovering in front of him. It already wanted to try to go after Knox again. Newel and Doren were watching warily from a safe distance, probably ready to get the heck outta dodge given a moment’s notice.

Not that Seth could blame them.

Knox was kneeling on the tennis court—eyes wide with terror and utterly frozen in fear.

“Why did you come here?” Seth demanded, making the wraith focus on him again. It seemed to consider this for a second.

So cold… freedom?

Ah. Seth sighed. “Understandable.” He reached his hand out, palm upward. “Take my hand and I will release you from this twisted version of life.”

Moving slowly, the wraith took his hand. Seth felt a sharp sense of relief from the wraith before it bowed its head and faded away. The cold pressure vanished, and Knox fell forward to his hands and knees, gasping for air.

“What—What the hell was that?!” He shouted once he regained his breath enough. Seth ignored him for a second, staring at the direction the wraith had come from. While he knew that creatures of darkness sought him out now to find peace, none of them had ever breached the walls of Fablehaven. He was going to need to talk to Grandpa Sorenson.

“That, Texas boy, was a wraith.” Seth pulled a dagger from his belt and began twirling it. “It shouldn’t have been able to enter Fablehaven though.”

“Could this have something to do with the treasure?” Newel said as the satyrs came closer, confident now that the wraith was gone. “We did find the map and then it appeared.”

Seth frowned. “Why would the map have released a wraith? That’s not something most people would be able to handle.”

“That would make sense why it was still hidden.” Doren pointed out.

“But it went after Knox.” Seth pointed out.

The two shrugged.

Seth was about to go look in the direction the wraith had come from, when he glanced down at his watch and saw the time, cursing, he realized the wraith problem would have to wait.

Knox stared at him from his spot on the ground. “What now?”

“Nothing for now. Bracken wanted me to go help him with–” He paused, glancing at Knox. “–something. Get him back to the house, will you?” Seth asked the satyrs before he flared his wings and shot off into the sky.

Tess wasn’t quite sure what was going on in the rest of the house. She’d noticed the oddness when her Aunt and Uncle heard about Seth and Kendra’s adventures through Knox, but she wasn’t sure how to take that. She knew that even she hadn’t heard a lot about their adventures. Only the snippets she had gathered and experienced herself. She was just happy to be back at Fablehaven, saying hello to all her fairy friends.

She gently touched a flower, enjoying the silky feel of its petals. She missed Kendra, and wished she was here. Tess had been more than a little surprised to learn that Kendra had moved off the preserve and was attending college.

It just seemed so mundane compared to everything within Fablehaven.

Knox stared at a fairy that was flitting from flower to flower. The afternoon sun was hot on his head, and sweat was beginning to gather on his upper lip. This was getting ridiculous. He’d helped out plenty during the dragon war. He wasn’t helpless! Seth was just underestimating him—it wasn’t like most people could handle wraiths well anyway. Seth just needed to see that Knox was just as good as him when it came to handling magical things.

Knox’s mind drifted to the treasure map. If he could find where Seth had left it, he could follow the map and prove that he knew what he was doing.

“Hey! Where are you going?!” Tess shouted as Knox dashed out of the garden.

“I forgot something with the satyrs!” He called back as he entered the trees.

First place he needed to look was Seth’s house, if he couldn’t find the map there, he’d go find the satyrs. Seth had said he was going to be helping Bracken with something, so he probably wouldn’t be back for the entire day. He really hoped it was up at the house, he’d have a harder time getting it away from the satyrs without getting noticed.

“You really needed my help doing this?” Seth sighed, staring at the glass displays of rings. “Why not… anybody else?”

Bracken stared at a large pearl with a slight frown. “Kendra’s friends would tell her, and I don’t really have anybody else that I’m particularly close to that is also close to Kendra in… a human way.” He finished with a slight shrug.

Seth leaned his hip against the glass of one of the cases. “I really thought this was more urgent.”

“It is urgent. Just not at a world-threatening level.” Bracken winked, wandering toward a different display case and leaving Seth to tag along after him.

“Have you even asked our parents yet?”

Bracken stared closely at an elegant ring—simple but elegant with one small stone set into the band. “No. I haven’t really been sure how to broach the subject.”

“Clearly with a mariachi band.”

Bracken gave him one of the flat looks he usually did when he figured Seth was playing with him.

Bracken took his sweet time, carefully examining multiple rings through the glass, and occasionally asking a salesperson some questions. The ladies were always pleased to answer his questions, twittering over him whenever he’d turn away. Seth rolled his eyes a bit, though he was used to the way people eyed his almost-brother-in-law when they were out and about.

It was better than the faeries at least.

“Hey, you know anything about a treasure map?”

Bracken glanced at him, still mostly focused on a particular ring that was plain metal besides the soft vine engravings twining around it. “Depends. “Treasure map” is a little too vague Seth. What did you do?”

“Nothing! Nothing!” He waved off Bracken’s concern. “What about a treasure hidden by a dude named Gibley?”

Bracken turned away from the ring to consider Seth. “Not really. That’s more of a… ah, I think the term I’ve heard Kendra use is urban legend? Less facts and more rumors and stories.”

Seth waited.

Bracken sighed. “There are a lot of stories about what Gibley would have done with the treasure. The most popular one that circled a lot when I was younger was that he hid it within a preserve just before he died—choosing to be entombed with his riches.”

“You ever have an inkling of where that preserve would have been?” Seth pressed as Bracken called over an attendant and asked what sizes they had for the ring with vines.

“Mh.” Bracken hummed thoughtfully as he bought the ring and the two started back to the car. “Not anything solid. Like I said, it’s really more of an old legend.” He played with the handles of the bag a bit, and Seth recognized the look Bracken got when he was sorting through years of memories. “No, I don’t believe there were ever any rumors that didn’t contradict each other on location. Your best bet would be to not hunt after that.”

“Who says I’m hunting after anything?” Seth slipped into the passenger’s seat as Bracken gently set his purchase in the back and hopped into the driver’s seat.

“Seth, the last time you brought up something “treasure map” related you dragged me off to Dragonwatch and we almost got eaten—twice.” He sighed. “I’m not oblivious. Why are you asking about Gibley?”

Seth hummed noncommittally. “I’ll set up something with my parents if you keep this between us.”

Bracken raised an eyebrow, flicking on his turn signal to get out of the parking lot. “I make no promises, but if it’s not too deadly, I could be persuaded to not say anything for a few days.”

That was the best he’d get out of Bracken. “I think I found the map to Gibley’s treasure.” Seth admitted, tapping his fingers on the armrest. “It says that the treasure is in Fablehaven.”

“In Fablehaven?” Bracken’s eyebrows shot up. “That seems awfully convenient.”

“I’ve had luckier things happen.”

“Mhm.” Bracken agreed. “Be careful Seth.” he turned onto the street that took them to him and Kendra’s apartment. “There’s warnings that go along with the legends. Speaking of some curse that Gibley put on his treasure to keep it connected to him even when he was long gone.”

“Seems dramatic. Perfect.” Seth grinned widely.

Bracken sighed.

Seth slipped in through his window. He was still avoiding his parents as much as possible. As soon as he stepped inside his room though, he knew something was off.

His drawers were pulled open and rummaged through, his desk rifled through. He even saw the box of trinkets he kept under his bed had been pulled out and pulled apart.

Shit.

There wasn’t anything valuable stolen. His growing collection of weapons and small magical artifacts were still all there.

Except for the map.

Seth rushed back out of his window, leaving a flurry of feathers in his wake.