"You have to tell me who you are," Seth insisted. "I'm really curious. You can't dangle stuff like this and then take it back. You're torturing me!"
"I'm a unicorn," Bracken said.
Seth laughed. "No, seriously."
"He's serious," Maddox said.
Seth considered Bracken skeptically. "Don't unicorns usually have horns? And, you know, hooves and fur and all that?"
"This is my human form," Bracken said. "Some unicorns have avatars," Maddox said. "You know, like dragons."
"Can you switch back into your horse shape?" Seth asked. "My sister would be so jealous."
"I can't," Bracken said. "I surrendered my horn, and thus am stuck as a human."
"Don't unicorns have three horns?" Seth asked.
"Right," Bracken replied, appraising Seth as if impressed by his knowledge. "Sort of like humans with baby teeth. We have one horn as a child, then shed it for a larger horn in adolescence, and in turn shed that for our permanent adult horn."
"But yours wasn't permanent," Seth said. "It should have been, but I surrendered it."
"Why? Did somebody defeat you or something?" Bracken's eyes flashed dangerously. "I would never have surrendered my third horn to an enemy!"
"Steady," Maddox soothed.
Bracken calmed, his shoulders sagging slightly. "I gave up my third horn on purpose. I surrendered it to the wizards who made the demon prison."
"Wait," Seth said, forming a connection. "So the Font of Immortality is made from your horn?"
Bracken glanced at Maddox. "Not bad."
"He's a bright kid."
Bracken returned his focus to Seth. "That is correct.
How did you know the Font is fashioned from a unicorn horn?"
"The Sphinx showed it to me," Seth replied.
"He what?" Maddox spluttered.
Bracken looked skeptical. "Voluntarily?"
"Yeah, after he healed me with the Sands of Sanctity."
"He used the Sands on you!" Maddox shouted.
"A little less enthusiasm," Bracken scolded. "We don't need to tell the whole dungeon. I get it now. It makes sense. You're a shadow charmer, so the Sphinx hopes to groom you. He wants to win your trust."
Maddox balled his hands into fists. "I wouldn't trust that skunk to scrub my toilet."
"Me neither," Seth promised. "But we were talking about Bracken."
Bracken cleared his throat self-consciously. "Right. Well, after I gave up my third horn, I could no longer revert to my true shape. I still had my second horn, which I could use as a weapon, and which helped me retain many of my powers. But in the end, the Sphinx trapped me, forcibly took my remaining horn, and cast me into this dungeon."
"You must really hate the demons to have given up your permanent horn to those wizards," Seth observed.
"My kind exist in opposition to demonkind. We are protectors and creators. They are exploiters and destroyers. Where we would bring light, they bring darkness. In addition, I had ... personal motivations. The wizards convinced me that my horn was essential to make the demon prison as impervious as possible. They were not lying to me, but you can imagine my distress that my sacrifice might soon be all for naught."
Seth pounded a fist into his palm. "Which brings us back to my goal. We have to find a way out of here. You may have tried in the past, but it has never been more urgent."
Bracken and Maddox exchanged a glance.
"What do you think?" Maddox asked.
Bracken sighed. "All right. Since the world is about to end, why not give an impossible jailbreak one last try?"
Chapter 9 Assignments
K endra knew the sun was up, but she hid under her covers nonetheless. She missed Lena. She missed Patton. She missed her parents. She missed her brother. And she was hesitant to confront a new day.
The conversation with Patton the day before had galvanized her grandparents. Grandpa had been contacting Knights of the Dawn, Grandma had been researching in the attic, and everybody was busy making plans.
Kendra had a role to play in those plans. She had put on a brave face, enthusiastically accepting her responsibilities, but they made her nervous. What if she failed? There was so much riding on her participation.
This morning after breakfast, Kendra, Warren, and Tanu would use the Translocator to visit a Scottish preserve called Stony Vale. Both Warren and Tanu had been there before. As Patton had prompted, Grandpa wanted Kendra to have a conversation with the Fairy Queen, and, thanks to the Translocator, the shrine at Stony Vale was readily accessible.
The others seemed to take for granted that Kendra and the Fairy Queen were Best Friends Forever. In reality, the Fairy Queen might very well strike Kendra down for treading on hallowed ground if she found the intrusion unwarranted. Of course, Kendra had been cautioned to trust her instincts on the matter of whether a visit was appropriate, and she felt confident the Fairy Queen would agree that this was a genuine crisis. As an archenemy of the Demon King, the Fairy Queen would be anxious to keep Zzyzx intact.
But just because Kendra might have access to the Fairy Queen, that did not mean she could cajole the mysterious personage to provide actual help, as her family expected. Kendra worried that she would let everyone down, including herself.
Her second assignment made Kendra even more nervous than the first. The others had determined that she had the closest relationship with Vanessa, and hoped that Kendra's genuine grief over the abduction of Seth and her parents might finally persuade the narcoblix to divulge her big secret. Again, Kendra understood the reasoning behind the task, but it was too much pressure! She was supposed to speak with Vanessa after returning from Stony Vale.
Within the close space beneath her covers, Kendra reluctantly accepted that procrastinating these challenges would not make them go away. If she tried, she might fail, but hiding in her bed would certainly not bring her family home. Still, if she stole a few more minutes of sleep, her problems might temporarily melt from her mind ...
No! She kicked off her covers and rolled out of bed. The mere act of standing up helped her feel a little more ready to tackle her upcoming obligations.
After showering and getting dressed, Kendra found Warren and Tanu enjoying a pancake breakfast. Spatula in hand, Grandpa hovered over the griddle, and he encouraged Kendra to have a seat.
"Nobody came and got me?" Kendra asked, taking a couple of pancakes from the stack and placing them on her plate.