Grandma walked over to the nearest door. The barred window was about five feet off the ground-low enough for all of them to see into the vacant cell beyond. Grandma pointed to a slot near the base of the door. The keepers slide in trays of food through the slot.
The prisoners never leave their cells? Kendra asked.
No, Grandma said. And escape is difficult. All of the cells are magically sealed, of course. And we have a few stronger containment areas for more powerful occupants. In the event of a jailbreak, a whisper hound serves as a failsafe.
Whisper hound? Seth asked.
It's not a living creature-just an enchantment,
Grandma said. Every now and then down here you brush past an icy cold pocket. That is the whisper hound. It becomes quite ferocious if a prisoner breaks out of a cell. I've never heard of that happening here.
It must be a lot of work feeding the prisoners, Kendra said.
Not for us, Grandma said. Most of the cells are empty.
And we have a pair of keepers, lesser goblins who make and serve the glop and keep things reasonably tidy.
Wouldn't goblins let the prisoners out? Kendra asked.
Grandma led them down the corridor. Smart ones might. Our keepers are the type of goblins that have134 managed dungeons for millennia. Scrawny, servile creatureswho live to take and execute orders from their superiors ----
meaning your grandfather and myself. Besides, they have no keys. They enjoy dwelling in the dark, supervising their dismal domain.
I want to see some prisoners, Seth said.
Trust me, there are many you don't want to meet,
Grandma assured him. Several are quite ancient, transfers from other preserves. Many speak no English. All are dangerous.
The corridor ended in a T. They could turn left or right.
Grandma shone the flashlight both ways. There were more cell doors down both halls. This hallway is part of a large square. You can go either left or right and end up back here.
A few other corridors branch off, but nothing too complex.
There are some noteworthy features I want to show you.
Grandma turned right. Eventually the corridor elbowed to the left. Seth kept trying to peek into the cells they were passing. Too dark, he reported quietly to Kendra. Grandma had the light pointed ahead of them.
Kendra peered into one of the windows and saw a wolflike face glaring back at her. What was Seth's problem?
Were his eyes bad? He had just looked into the same cell, reporting he could see nothing. It was dim, but not black.
After seeing the wolfman, she did not peek through any of the other barred windows.
Some distance down the hall, Grandma stopped at a door carved out of blood-red wood. This leads to the Hall of Dread. We don't ever open it. The prisoners in those cells135 need no food. As they continued down the hall, Seth's eyeslingered on the door.
Don't even think about it, Kendra whispered.
What? he said. I'm dumb, but I'm not stupid.
The hall angled to the left again. Grandma shone the flashlight into a doorless room where a cauldron bubbled over a low fire. A pair of goblins squinted and held up their long, narrow hands against the light. Short, bony, and greenish, they had beady eyes and batwing ears. One balanced on a three-legged stool, stirring the foul-smelling contents of the cauldron with what looked like an oar. The other grimaced and cringed.
Introduce yourselves to my grandchildren, Grandma said, shining the flashlight away from them so it illuminated them indirectly.
Voorsh, said the one stirring the cauldron.
Slaggo, said the other.
Grandma turned and continued down the corridor. The food smells awful, Kendra said.
Most of our guests rather like glop, Grandma said.
Humans aren't normally fond of it.
Do any of the prisoners ever get released? Seth inquired.
The majority are serving life sentences, Grandma said.
For many mystical creatures, that is a very long time.
Because of the treaty, we have no death penalty for captured enemies. As you may recall, under most circumstances, to kill on Fablehaven property is to destroy all protection afforded you by the treaty and render yourself so vulnerable136 to retaliation that the only option is to depart and neverreturn. But certain offenders cannot be permitted to roam free. Hence the dungeon. Some lesser offenders are kept here for prescribed periods of time and then released. For example, we have a former groundskeeper imprisoned here for selling batteries to satyrs.
Seth compressed his lips.
How long is his sentence? Kendra prodded.
Fifty years. By the time he gets out, he'll be in his eighties.
Seth stopped walking. Are you serious?
Grandma grinned. No. Kendra mentioned you were planning on doing a little business while you were here.
Way to keep a secret! Seth accused.
I never said I would, Kendra replied.
She was right to tell me, Grandma said. She wanted to make sure it wouldn't endanger you or the preserve. It should be all right, if you keep it simple. Just don't leave the yard. And don't let your grandpa know. He's a purist. Tries hard to keep technology off the grounds.
As they progressed down the long corridor, they passed a couple of hallways that branched off. At the third,
Grandma paused, seemingly deliberating. Come with me, I
Chapter Seven
want to show you something.
The hall had no cell doors. It was the narrowest passage they had seen. At the end was a circular room, and in the center of the room was a metal hatch in the floor. This is our oubliette, Grandma said. There is a cell at the bottom for a most dangerous prisoner. A jinn.137 Like a genie? Kendra asked.Yes, Grandma said.
Sweet! Does he grant wishes? Seth asked.
Theoretically, Grandma said. True jinn are not much like the genies you have heard of in stories, though they are the entities through which the myths arose. They are powerful, and some, like our prisoner, are cunning and evil. I have something to confess.
Kendra and Seth waited quietly.
Your grandfather and I were very distraught over what happened to Warren. I took to conversing with the jinn, opening the hatch and calling down to him from up here.
As our prisoner, his powers are curtailed, so I did not fear he would escape. I became convinced he could cure Warren.
And he probably could have. I talked it over with Stan, and we decided it was worth a try.
I studied all I could on the subject of bargaining with jinn. If you obey certain rules, you can negotiate with a captured jinn, but you have to take care what you say. In order to open negotiations, you must make yourself vulnerable.
They get to ask you three questions, which you must answer fully and with absolute truthfulness. After you answer the questions honestly, the jinn will grant you a favor. If you lie, they are set free and gain power over you. If you fail to answer, they remain captive but get to exact a penalty.