Keys to the Demon Prison (Fablehaven #5)(9)

Trask began pulling gear from the back of a jeep. "You heard the lady--grab your equipment and let's get moving. Elise, call Aaron, tell him to take off immediately. We'll get out using the Translocator or not at all."


Elise produced a satellite phone and started dialing. Seth grabbed his suitcase, set it on the ground, and opened it up. He had not traveled with his weapons--they had been sent through other channels to Perth, where they had been loaded on the private jet. He found his sword and strapped it on, adding a knife as well. Looking over at Kendra, he saw her putting on the adamant mail he had acquired from the satyrs. Light and strong, the shirt had saved her life at Wyrmroost. He grabbed his emergency kit, which was now a leather satchel instead of a cereal box but still contained a variety of items that might come in handy. He still had the onyx tower and the agate leviathan that Thronis had given him. He made sure he also had the small metal flask from Tanu that could change him into a gaseous state. He was only to use the potion in a dire emergency, because Tanu had doubted whether the Translocator would work on him if he were gaseous. Kendra possessed a matching flask.


Glancing to one side, Seth saw Berrigan sitting cross-legged on the ground, looking shell-shocked. "You better get your stuff," Seth told him.


The young man stared at Seth. "My best stuff is back at the house. Besides, you think swords are going to help you in there?"


"Sure, if we find something to stab."


Berrigan grinned vaguely. "Who knows what we'll face inside the Dreamstone? Honestly, I'd prefer a clean death out here under the sky. In there, we won't know if we're asleep or awake. Most likely, some twisted combination of both."


"We have to go in, so we might as well be prepared."


"Prepare your mind, not your sword," Berrigan advised. "You're young."


Seth shrugged. "You're skinny."


Berrigan flashed a real grin. "I like your attitude."


"Sorry about your sister," Seth offered. "She seemed pretty funny."


"She was very funny. I can't believe she was a traitor. Could they have compromised her while she was away at her university?"


"Maybe it was mind control. Or maybe she was a sting-bulb or something."


Berrigan batted at the flies circling his head. "Camira was amazing. Flighty, headstrong, annoying, but amazing. I'd prefer an alternate explanation to betrayal."


"I once thought my sister, Kendra, was dead. I also once thought she was being disloyal. Turned out it was all trickery by the Society."


Berrigan reached out a hand. Seth took it and hauled the young man to his feet. Berrigan squinted up at the Dreamstone. "I've always wondered what was inside. I guess I should at least bring a knife."


Trask now held an egg-shaped iron object roughly the size of a pineapple, with irregular protuberances jutting from the top half. His stance suggested it was quite heavy. Laura and Vincent were inspecting the strange key with interest.


"You'd better hurry," Laura prompted.


Trask shuffled over to the recess in the wall of the Dreamstone, heaved the top half of the egg into the indentation,


and fiddled with it until the key clicked home. Trask rotated the iron egg to the right. After he had twisted it halfway around, the top half of the key detached. Still holding the bottom half of the key, Trask discovered a smaller egg-shaped key nested inside.


"It's like a matryoshka doll," Elise murmured.


"A what?" Seth asked.


"Those wooden Russian dolls that fit inside of each other," she clarified. "Oh, right."


"Where's the door?" Kendra asked. The key had turned, but no opening had appeared.


"I'm not sure," Laura murmured.


Trask removed the smaller key from the bottom half of the larger one. "Is there a second keyhole? This one has teeth on top just like the first."


Berrigan shook his head. "Everything else is smooth."


"Or was smooth," Tanu mused. "Opening the first lock may have created a second keyhole elsewhere."


Mara was scanning the broad expanse of the wall. "I see nothing from here. We should examine the whole Dreamstone."


Laura rushed back to the jeep she had driven. "I'll go left, you guys go right. Honk if you find something."


Trask let the empty iron shell drop to the ground, carrying the smaller egg back to the other jeep without too much effort. Everyone piled back into the jeeps they had ridden in previously.


Seth scrutinized the flawless wall for irregularities as the jeep accelerated. He scanned high and low, although if the second keyhole were up high, he had no idea how they would reach it. There were no handholds for climbing, no nearby trees, and no ladders handy.


They raced around a corner and along the side of the Dreamstone, bouncing over the uneven terrain. None of them spotted indentations, and they heard no signals from the other jeep.


Rounding the next corner to the far side of the stone, Mara pointed ahead to a large opening. The other jeep came around the far corner, and they met at the entrance to a tunnel.