Keys to the Demon Prison (Fablehaven #5)(132)

"You made it!" Seth said.


"Drove fast," Hugo replied.


"Did the truck arrive in one piece?" Vanessa wondered. "Truck fine," Hugo assured her.


Newel and Doren gamboled over to them. Hugo set Seth down.


"I can't believe you guys made it," Seth said. "I expected you'd take your time, running up the credit card at fast food joints."


"Not a bad way to confront the end of civilization," Newel conceded. "But after enough fast food, it starts to all taste the same."


"Good, but greasy," Doren said. "Besides, driving fast is another new pleasure we both enjoy."


"We may not come back from this," Seth said seriously.


"We know," Newel said. "Everyone keeps warning us. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect you guys were trying to ditch us. Here's the thing---if we succeed, we don't just save the world. We save television. We save fast food. We save soft drinks and doughnuts and candy bars and ice cream."


"We save Frito-Lay," Doren said solemnly.


"You've enjoyed a lifetime of these marvelous conveniences," Newel accused. "You take them for granted. Doren and I are just getting introduced."


"Nobody is going to mess with Hostess," Doren said. "Not on my watch."


"We'll be honored to have you," Seth said.


"Hugo could pose a problem," Vanessa observed. "If the ship is sending just one launch to shuttle us aboard, the golem might swamp it."


"I don't want to go without Hugo," Doren said. "Did you see him beat up those centaurs with his bare hands?"


"Do we need to hijack a watercraft?" Newel asked.


"You'll have to be careful," Vanessa said. "These waters are famously treacherous. This area is called the Graveyard of the Atlantic for a reason. The shifting shoals off this coast have claimed hundreds of ships."


"Which explains the lighthouse," Newel said. "We'll figure it out. The golem should be able to discern your location. Come on, Hugo. We'd better hurry."


"See you on the water," Doren said.


The satyrs climbed into the truck, and Hugo settled into the back. Vanessa explained to Trask what the satyrs intended to do, and he agreed with the idea.


Kendra walked over to Seth. "How did it go?" she asked.


"I rang the bell. We'll see if it works."


"Want a pretzel?"


"I'm stuffed. I overdid it on the crab cakes." They stood in silence for a moment. "Do you get the sense that this is our last adventure?" Kendra asked.


Seth rubbed the hilt of Vasilis. "Yeah. You too?"


She nodded. "It's sort of obvious since we haven't even prepared a way back. We couldn't stop any of this when we had a chance. And we had lots of chances. The artifacts. The Eternals. Now we're out of chances. I guess going to Zzyzx is better than nothing. It will be better to die bravely among friends than to die in hiding."


"You don't have to go," Seth said.


"Neither do you."


"I'm going. That was the whole point of getting Vasilis. If I'm going to die, I'll die fighting demons, not running from them. It helps to imagine what Patton would do. It helps to think about Coulter."


"I'm going too," Kendra said. Her lip trembled. "I wish I could say good-bye to Mom and Dad."


"Don't think like that," Seth said. "Think about winning. Think about protecting the world."


His sister managed a faint smile. "I'll try."


When Bracken and Warren returned, everyone got into the SUV and the sedan and drove to the location marked on Patton's map. After checking their gear, they walked down to the edge of the water and waited for the proper time to start blowing the whistle.


Seth noticed Bracken sitting down beside Kendra. He couldn't resist casually eavesdropping.


"I'm sorry about Vanessa earlier," Bracken said. "She was trying to lash out at me for embarrassing her."


"Don't worry," Kendra said. "I get it."


Bracken took Kendra's hand, regarding her intently. "Vanessa wasn't wrong."


Seth knew it was time to stop listening. Thrusting his hands in his pockets, he strolled up the beach. He could not help dwelling upon what Kendra had said about this being their last adventure. Alone in the dark, he had to admit she was right. Vasilis was cool, and Hugo was tough, and Bracken probably had some tricks up his sleeve, but then he considered the raw power of Bahumat, pictured Olloch the Glutton tearing off Hugo's arm, and recalled Graulas demolishing the house at Fablehaven. Demons were nightmarishly powerful, and Zzyzx held the worst of them in huge numbers.


What if Raxtus succeeded in getting Agad involved? A wizard could be useful. Especially if he brought some dragons. But supposedly the horde inside of Zzyzx was even more powerful than dragons.


"Strange time to roam this beach," a conversational voice said behind Seth.