Fablehaven: The Complete Series Read online

  © 2011 Deseret Book Company.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Shadow Mountain®. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of Shadow Mountain.

  Table of Contents

  BOOK ONE

  Fablehaven

  A Mandatory Vacation

  Collecting Clues

  The Ivy Shack

  The Hidden Pond

  Journal of Secrets

  Maddox

  Prisoner in a Jar

  Retaliation

  Hugo

  Midsummer Eve

  Aftermath

  Inside the Barn

  An Unexpected Message

  Trolling for Grandpa

  The Far Side of the Attic

  The Forgotten Chapel

  A Desperate Gamble

  Bahumat

  Farewell to Fablehaven

  Acknowledgments

  Reading Guide

  BOOK TWO

  Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star

  The New Student

  Talking to Strangers

  Extermination Procedures

  Vanessa

  New Arrivals

  Tanu

  The Dungeon

  Coulter

  The Sphinx

  An Uninvited Guest

  Betrayal

  Peril in the Night

  The Thief's Net

  Reunion

  Satirical Assistance

  Brownie Doors

  Recovering the Key

  Diverging Plans

  The Inverted Tower

  The Vault

  The Quiet Box

  Acknowledgments

  Reading Guide

  BOOK THREE

  Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague

  Nipsies

  Reunion

  Sharing Discoveries

  New Knights

  First Assignment

  Plague

  Lost Mesa

  Shadowman

  Pathways

  Shadow Wounds

  The Old Pueblo

  Obstacles

  Secret Admirer

  Homecoming

  Brownie Sunday

  Refuge

  Preparations

  The Old Manor

  Duel

  History

  Fairykind

  Light

  Darkness

  Good-byes

  Acknowledgments

  Reading Guide

  BOOK FOUR

  Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

  Journal

  Stingbulb

  Impostor

  Captive

  Mourning

  The All-Seeing Eye

  Sabotage

  Knapsack

  Hall of Dread

  Hotel

  Gate-Crasher

  Grunhold

  Shadow Charmer

  Heart and Soul

  Horns

  Moving Out

  Wyrmroost

  Blackwell Keep

  Dragon Tamer

  Griffins

  Giant Problem

  Raxtus

  Shrine

  Temple

  Slayings

  Ambush

  Navarog

  The New Knights

  Acknowledgments

  Reading Guide

  BOOK FIVE

  Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison

  A Dying Wish

  Obsidian Waste

  Dreamstone

  Passageways

  Translocator

  Living Mirage

  Doomsday Capsule

  Bracken

  Assignments

  Nagi Luna

  Vanessa's Secret

  Rescue

  A Promise Kept

  An Unexpected Ally

  Message in a Bottle

  The Sealed Shrine

  Preparations

  Flight

  Cormac

  Roon

  The Singing Sisters

  Mark

  Vasilis

  Civia

  Lady Luck

  Shoreless Isle

  Knights of the Dawn

  The Demon King

  Prisoners

  A New Shrine

  Is This Really the End?

  Reading Guide

  Acknowledgments

  BOOK ONE

  Fablehaven

  Mull, Brandon, 1974-

  Fablehaven / Brandon Mull.

  p. cm.

  Summary: When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents’ estate,

  they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle

  between good and evil is looming.

  ISBN-10 1-59038-581-0 (hardbound : alk. paper)

  ISBN-13 978-1-59038-581-4 (hardbound : alk. paper)

  [1. Magic—Fiction. 2. Grandparents—Fiction. 3. Brothers and

  sisters—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.M9112Fa 2006

  [Fic]—dc22 2006000911

  Printed in the United States of America

  R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Crawfordsville, IN

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

  For Mary, who made writing possible

  Chapter 1

  A Mandatory Vacation

  Kendra stared out the side window of the SUV, watching foliage blur past. When the flurry of motion became too much, she looked up ahead and fixed her gaze on a particular tree, following it as it slowly approached, streaked past, and then gradually receded behind her.

  Was life like that? You could look ahead to the future or back at the past, but the present moved too quickly to absorb. Maybe sometimes. Not today. Today they were driving along an endless two-lane highway through the forested hills of Connecticut.

  “Why didn’t you tell us Grandpa Sorenson lived in India?” Seth complained.

  Her brother was eleven and heading into sixth grade. He had grown weary of his handheld video game—evidence that they were on a truly epic drive.

  Mom twisted to face the backseat. “It won’t be much longer. Enjoy the scenery.”

  “I’m hungry,” Seth said.

  Mom started rummaging through a grocery bag full of snack food. “Peanut butter and crackers?”

  Seth reached forward for the crackers. Dad, driving, asked for some Almond Roca. Last Christmas he had decided that Almond Roca was his favorite candy and that he should have some on hand all year long. Nearly six months later he was still honoring his resolution.

  “Do you want anything, Kendra?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Kendra returned her attention to the frantic parade of trees. Her parents were leaving on a seventeen-day Scandinavian cruise with all the aunts and uncles on her mother’s side. They were all going for free. Not because they’d won a contest. They were going on a cruise because Kendra’s grandparents had asphyxiated.

  Grandma and Grandpa Larsen had been visiting relatives in South Carolina. The relatives lived in a trailer. The trailer had some sort of malfunction involving a gas leak, and they all died in their sleep. Long ago, Grandma and Grandpa Larsen had specified that when they died, all their children and their spouses were to use an allocated sum of money to go on a Scandinavian cruise.

  The grandchildren were not invited.

  “Won’t you get bored stuck on a boat for seventeen days?” Kendra asked.

  Dad glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “The food is supposed to be incredible. Snails, fish eggs, the works.”

  “We’re not all that thrilled about the trip,” Mom said sad
ly. “I don’t think your grandparents envisioned an accidental death when they made this request. But we’ll make the best of it.”

  “The ship stops in ports as you go,” Dad said, deliberately redirecting the conversation. “You get to disembark for part of the time.”

  “Is this car ride going to last seventeen days?” Seth asked.

  “We’re nearly there,” Dad said.

  “Do we have to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson?” asked Kendra.

  “It’ll be fun,” Dad said. “You should feel honored. They almost never invite anyone to stay with them.”

  “Exactly. We barely know them. They’re hermits.”

  “Well, they were my parents,” Dad said. “Somehow I survived.”

  The road stopped winding through forested hills as it passed through a town. They idled at a stoplight, and Kendra stared at an overweight woman gassing up her minivan. The front windshield of the minivan was dirty, but the woman seemed to have no intention of washing it.

  Kendra glanced up front. The windshield of the SUV was filthy, smeared with dead bugs, even though Dad had squeegeed it when they last stopped to refuel. They had driven all the way from Rochester today.

  Kendra knew that Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson had not invited them to stay. She had overheard when Mom had approached Grandpa Sorenson about letting the kids stay with him. It was at the funeral.

  The memory of the funeral made Kendra shiver. There was a wake beforehand, where Grandma and Grandpa Larsen were showcased in matching caskets. Kendra did not like seeing Grandpa Larsen wearing makeup. What lunatic had decided that when people died you should hire a taxidermist to fix them up for one final look? She would much rather remember them alive than on grotesque display in their Sunday best. The Larsens were the grandparents who had been part of her life. They had shared many holidays and long visits.

  Kendra could hardly remember spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson. They had inherited some estate in Connecticut around the time her parents were married. The Sorensons had never invited them to visit, and rarely made the trek out to Rochester. When they came, it was generally one or the other. They had only come together twice. The Sorensons were nice, but their visits had been too infrequent and brief for real bonding to occur. Kendra knew that Grandma had taught history at some college, and that Grandpa had traveled a lot, running a small importing business. That was about it.

  Everyone was surprised when Grandpa Sorenson showed up at the funeral. It had been more than eighteen months since either of the Sorensons had visited. He had apologized that his wife could not attend because she was feeling ill. There always seemed to be an excuse. Sometimes Kendra wondered if they were secretly divorced.

  Toward the end of the wake, Kendra overheard Mom cajoling Grandpa Sorenson to watch the kids. They were in a hallway around a corner from the viewing area. Kendra heard them talking before she reached the corner, and paused to eavesdrop.

  “Why can’t they stay with Marci?”

  “Normally they would, but Marci is coming on the cruise.”

  Kendra peeked around the corner. Grandpa Sorenson was wearing a brown jacket with patches on the elbows and a bow tie.

  “Where are Marci’s kids going?”

  “To her in-laws.”

  “What about a baby-sitter?”

  “Two and a half weeks is a long time for a sitter. I remembered you had mentioned having them over sometime.”

  “Yes, I recall. Does it have to be late June? Why not July?”

  “The cruise is on a time frame. What’s the difference?”

  “Things get extra busy around then. I don’t know, Kate. I’m out of practice with children.”

  “Stan, I don’t want to go on this cruise. It was important to my parents, so we’re going. I don’t mean to twist your arm.” Mom sounded on the verge of tears.

  Grandpa Sorenson sighed. “I suppose we could find a place to lock them up.”

  Kendra moved away from the hall at that point. She had quietly worried about staying with Grandpa Sorenson ever since.

  Having left the town behind, the SUV climbed a steep grade. Then the road curved around a lake and got lost among low, forested hills. Every so often they passed a mailbox. Sometimes a house was visible through the trees; sometimes there was only a long driveway.

  They turned onto a narrower road and kept driving. Kendra leaned forward and checked the gas gauge. “Dad, you’re under a quarter of a tank,” she said.

  “We’re almost there. We’ll fill up after we drop you kids off.”

  “Can’t we come on the cruise?” Seth asked. “We could hide in the lifeboats. You could sneak us food.”

  “You kids will have much more fun with Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson,” Mom said. “Just you wait. Give it a chance.”

  “Here we are,” Dad said.

  They pulled off the road onto a gravel driveway. Kendra could see no sign of a house, only the driveway angling out of sight into the trees.

  Tires crunching over the gravel, they passed several signs advertising that they were on private property. Other signs warded off trespassers. They came to a low metal gate that hung open but could be shut to prevent access.

  “This is the longest driveway in the world!” Seth complained.

  The farther they advanced, the less conventional the signs became. Private Property and No Trespassing gave way to Beware of .12 Gauge and Trespassers Will Be Persecuted.

  “These signs are funny,” Seth said.

  “More like creepy,” Kendra muttered.

  Rounding another bend, the driveway reached a tall, wrought-iron fence topped with fleurs-de-lis. The double gate stood open. The fence extended off into the trees as far as Kendra could see in either direction. Near the fence stood a final sign:

  Certain Death Awaits.

  “Is Grandpa Sorenson paranoid?” Kendra asked.

  “The signs are a joke,” Dad said. “He inherited this land. I’m sure the fence came with it.”

  After they passed through the gate, there was still no house in sight. Just more trees and shrubs. They drove across a small bridge spanning a creek and climbed a shallow slope. There the trees ended abruptly, bringing the house into view across a vast front lawn.

  The house was big, but not enormous, with lots of gables and even a turret. After the wrought-iron gate, Kendra had expected a castle or a mansion. Constructed out of dark wood and stone, the house looked old but in good repair. The grounds were more impressive. A bright flower garden bloomed in front of the house. Manicured hedges and a fish pond added character to the yard. Behind the house loomed an immense brown barn, at least five stories tall, topped by a weather vane.

  “I love it,” Mom said. “I wish we were all staying.”

  “You’ve never been here?” Kendra asked.

  “No. Your father came here a couple of times before we were married.”

  “They go the extra mile to discourage visitors,” Dad said. “Me, Uncle Carl, Aunt Sophie—none of us have spent much time here. I don’t get it. You kids are lucky. You’ll have a blast. If nothing else, you can spend your time playing in the pool.”

  They pulled to a stop outside the garage.

  The front door opened and Grandpa Sorenson emerged, followed by a tall, lanky man with large ears and a thin, older woman. Mom, Dad, and Seth got out of the car. Kendra sat and watched.

  Grandpa had been clean-shaven at the funeral, but now he wore a stubbly white beard. He was dressed in faded jeans, work boots, and a flannel shirt.

  Kendra studied the older woman. She was not Grandma Sorenson. Despite her white hair streaked with a few black strands, her face had an ageless quality. Her almond eyes were black as coffee, and her features suggested a hint of Asian ancestry. Short and slightly stooped, she retained an exotic beauty.

  Dad and the lanky man opened the back of the SUV and began removing suitcases and duffel bags. “You coming, Kendra?” Dad asked.

  Kendra opened the door and
dropped to the gravel.

  “Just place the things inside,” Grandpa was telling Dad. “Dale will take them up to the bedroom.”

  “Where’s Mom?” Dad asked.

  “Visiting your Aunt Edna.”

  “In Missouri?”

  “Edna’s dying.”

  Kendra had barely ever heard of Aunt Edna, so the news did not mean much. She looked up at the house. She noticed that the windows had bubbly glass. Bird nests clung under the eaves.

  They all migrated to the front door. Dad and Dale carried the larger bags. Seth held a smaller duffel bag and a cereal box. The cereal box was his emergency kit. It was full of odds and ends he thought would come in handy for an adventure—rubber bands, a compass, granola bars, coins, a squirt gun, a magnifying glass, plastic handcuffs, string, a whistle.

  “This is Lena, our housekeeper,” Grandpa said. The older woman nodded and gave a little wave. “Dale helps me tend the grounds.”