listen to me. If you can hear me, we need you to answer.
This is very important. The hen appeared to be listening.
Should we untie the last knot to have Muriel Taggert
restore you?
The head bobbed.
Was that a yes?
The head bobbed again.
Can you give us a no?
The hen did not respond.
Grandma. Ruth. Can you shake your head so we can
be sure you hear us?
Again the chicken made no acknowledgment.
Maybe it took all she had to answer your first question,
Seth speculated.
It did seem like she nodded, Kendra said. And I
don’t know what else we can do. Freeing the witch is a
high price to pay, but is it worse than having no hope of
finding Grandpa and keeping Grandma trapped forever as a
chicken?
We should free her.
Kendra paused, scrutinizing her feelings. Was this really
their only option? It seemed to be. Let’s go back, she
agreed.
They returned to the doorway of the shack. We want
you to restore Grandma, Kendra said.
You will voluntarily sunder my last knot, the final
impediment to my independence, if I restore your grandmother
to her human form?
Yes. How do we do it?
Just say ‘of my own free will I sever this knot’ and then
blow on it. You should probably find something for your
grandmother to wear. She will not have any clothes on.
Kendra ran to the wheelbarrow and returned with the
bathrobe and a pair of slippers. Muriel stood in the doorway,
clutching the rope. Lay your grandmother at my
threshold, she instructed.
I want to blow on the knot, Seth said.
Sure, Kendra answered.
You let Grandma out of the bag.
Kendra squatted and pulled the mouth of the bag wide
open. Muriel held the rope out to Seth. The chicken
looked up, ruffling her feathers and flapping her wings.
Kendra tried to steady her, disgusted by the feel of slender
bones moving beneath her hands.
Of my own free will, I sever this knot, Seth said, as
Goldilocks squawked noisily. He blew, and the knot
unraveled.
Muriel extended both hands over the flustered hen and
began softly chanting indecipherable words. The air
wavered. Kendra squeezed the squirming hen. At first it felt
like bubbles were shooting through the flesh of the bird;
then the delicate bones started to churn. Kendra dropped
Goldilocks and stepped back.
Kendra saw everything as if through fun-house lenses.
Muriel appeared distorted, first stretching broad, then tall.
Seth became an hourglass with a wide head, a tiny waist,
and clownish feet. Rubbing her eyes failed to cure her
warped vision. When she looked down, the ground curved
away in all directions. She leaned and swung her arms to
maintain her balance.
The fun-house Muriel began to ripple, as did the
startling image of Goldilocks shedding feathers as she
expanded into a person. The scene grew dim, as if clouds
had blocked the sun, and a dark aura gathered around
Muriel and Grandma. The darkness expanded, momentarily
obscuring everything, and then Grandma stood before
them, completely naked. Kendra put the bathrobe over her
shoulders.
From inside the shack came a sound like the rushing
of a terrible wind. The ground rumbled. Get down,
Grandma said, pulling Kendra to the ground. Seth also fell
flat.
A furious gale blasted the walls of the shack into shrapnel.
The roof rocketed beyond the treetops, a geyser of
wooden confetti. The stump split down the center.
Fragments of timber and ivy whistled in all directions, clattering
against the trunks of trees and slashing through the
undergrowth.
Kendra raised her head. Dressed in rags, Muriel gaped
in wonder. Chips of wood continued to fall like hail, along
with fluttering bits of ivy. Muriel grinned, displaying
deformed teeth and inflamed gums. She began to chuckle,
tears brimming in her eyes. She flung her wrinkled arms
wide. Emancipation! she cried. Justice at last!
and stouter than Muriel, with hair the color of cinnamon
and sugar. You must vacate this property immediately.
Muriel glowered at Grandma, the joy in her gaze
eclipsed by spite. A tear escaped and slid down a crease to
her chin. This is my thanks for unbinding your curse?
You have your reward for the services you rendered.
You have emerged from confinement. Eviction from this
preserve is the consequence of prior indiscretions.
My debts have been paid. You are not the caretaker.
My authority is the same as my husband’s. In his
absence, I am indeed the caretaker. I invite you to leave
and never return.
Muriel turned and began tromping away. Where I go
is my business. She did not look back.
Not on my preserve.
Your preserve, is it? I object to your claims of ownership.
Muriel still had not looked back. Grandma started
walking after her, an old woman in a bathrobe trailing an
old woman dressed in rags.
New crimes will entail new punishments, Grandma
warned.
You might be surprised who administers the penalties.
Don’t provoke new enmity. Depart in peace.
Grandma quickened her pace and caught hold of Muriel by
the upper arm.
Muriel twisted free, turning to face Grandma. Tread
lightly, Ruth. If you seek trouble here and now, in front of
the little ones, I will oblige you. This is the wrong moment
to cling to antiquated protocol. Things have changed more
than you realize. I suggest you depart before I regain authority
here.
Seth ran toward them. Grandma took a step back. Seth
flung a handful of salt at the witch. It had no effect. Muriel
pointed at him. Your recompense is coming, my bold little
whelp. I have a long memory.
Your actions require retribution, Grandma warned.
Muriel was striding away again. You speak to deaf
ears.
You said you’d tell us how to find our Grandpa,
Kendra called.
Muriel laughed without looking back.
Hold your tongues, children, Grandma said. Muriel,
I have commanded you to depart. Your defiance is an act
of war.
You issue evictions in order to build a case for wrongdoing
and thereby justify retaliation, Muriel said. I do not
fear a feud with you.
Grandma turned away from Muriel. Kendra, come
here. Grandma pulled Seth to her in a tight hug. When
Kendra drew near, she embraced her as well. I am sorry for
misleading you children. I should not have guided you to
Muriel. I did not realize this was her final knot.
What do you mean? Kendra said. You heard us talking.
Grandma smiled sadly. As a chicken, thinking clearly
becomes an exhausting challenge. My mind was in a haze.
To interact with you like a person, even for a moment,
required tremendous concentration.
Seth nodded toward Muriel. Should we stop her? I bet
the three of us could take her.
If we attack, she will be able to defend herself with
magic, Grandma said. We would forfeit the protection
afforded by the foundational covenants of the treaty.
Have we messed things up? Seth asked. Setting her
free, I mean.
Things were already dismal, Grandma said. Having
her on the loose certainly complicates the situation.
Whether my assistance can compensate for her interference
remains to be seen. Grandma looked flushed. She
fanned her face. Your grandfather left us in quite a
predicament.
It wasn’t his fault, Seth said.
Grandma bent over, placing her hands on her knees.
Kendra steadied her. I’m all right, Kendra. Just a little
woozy. She stood up experimentally. Tell me what happened.
I know undesirable beings entered the house and
took Stan.
They took Lena, too, and I think they turned Dale
into a statue, Kendra reported. We found him in the
yard.
Grandma nodded. As caretaker, Stan is a valuable trophy.
Same with a fallen nymph. By contrast Dale seemed
unimpressive and was left behind. Any clue who took
We found some footprints near Dale, Seth said.
Did they lead you anywhere?
Have you any idea where Grandpa and Lena are being
held?
No.
Muriel probably knows, Grandma said. She has an
alliance with the imps.
Speaking of Muriel, Kendra said, where did she go?
They all looked around. Muriel was no longer in sight.
Grandma frowned. She must have special means of hiding
or traveling. No matter. We aren’t equipped to deal with
her now.
What do we do? Seth asked.
Our first order of business is to find your Grandpa.
Learning his location should dictate how best to proceed.
How do we do that?
Grandma sighed. Our nearest option would be Nero.
Who? Kendra said.
A cliff troll. He has a seeing stone. If we can successfully
bargain with him, he should be able to reveal Stan’s
location.
Do you know him well? Seth asked.
Never met him. Your grandfather had dealings with
him once. It will be dangerous, but at present he is
probably our best alternative. We should hurry. I’ll tell you
more on the way.
Trolling for Grandpa
Have you ever heard people conversing while you’re
falling asleep? Grandma said. The words reach you
from a distance, and you can barely glimpse the meaning.
That happened to me in a motel once when we were
on a trip, Kendra said. Mom and Dad were talking. I fell
asleep, and their conversation turned into a dream.
Then to some degree you can grasp my state of mind
as a chicken. You say it is June. My last clear memories are
from February, when the spell was enacted. For the first
couple of days I remained fairly alert. Over time, I lapsed
into a twilight consciousness, incapable of rational
thought, unable to interpret my surroundings as a human
would.
Weird, Seth said.
I recognized you kids when you arrived, but it was
through a clouded lens. My mind did not reawaken until
you let those creatures in through the window. The shock
jolted me out of my stupor. It was a struggle to cling to my
elevated consciousness. I cannot describe the concentration
it required to write that message to you. My mind
wanted to slip away, to relax. I wanted to eat the delicious
kernels, not arrange them into bizarre patterns.
They traveled along a wide dirt road. Rather than head
back toward the house, they had continued on the trail
beyond , venturing deeper into the forest. The
trail had eventually forked and then intersected the road
they were currently following. The sun blazed overhead,
the air was heavy and humid, and the forest remained
unnaturally silent all around them.
Kendra and Seth had brought a pair of jeans, but they
turned out to be from Grandma’s skinnier days, and were
not even close to fitting. The tennis shoes belonged to
Grandpa and were several sizes too big. So Grandma now
wore a bathing suit under her robe, and her feet remained
in slippers.
Grandma raised her hands, staring as she opened and
closed them. Strange to have proper fingers again, she
murmured.
How did you become a chicken in the first place?
Seth asked.
Pride made me careless, Grandma said. A sobering
reminder that none of us are immune to the dangers here,
even when we imagine we have the upper hand. Let’s save
the details for another time.
Why didn’t Grandpa change you back? Kendra asked.
Grandma’s eyebrows shot up. Probably because I kept
laying eggs for his breakfast. I like to think that if he had
taken me to Muriel in the first place, I could have prevented
all this nonsense from happening. But I suppose he
was searching for an alternate cure for my condition.
Besides asking Muriel, Seth said.
Exactly.
Then why did he have Muriel cure me?
I’m sure he knew your parents would return soon,
leaving insufficient time to discover another remedy.
You had no idea Seth had become a mutant walrus
and been restored by Muriel? Kendra said.
I missed all that, Grandma said. As a hen, most
details escaped me. When I urged you to take me to Muriel,
I assumed she still had two knots remaining. Only when I
looked up and observed the single knot did I begin to
fathom the actual predicament. By then it was too late.
Incidentally, how did you end up as a walrus?
Seth and Kendra related the particulars about turning
the fairy into an imp and the subsequent retribution.
Grandma listened, asking a few clarifying questions.
As the path curved around a tall thicket, a covered
bridge came into view up ahead. Spanning a ravine, the
bridge was composed of dark wood. Although aged and
weathered, it appeared to be in reasonably good repair.
Our destination draws near, Grandma said.
Beyond the bridge? Kendra asked.
Down in the ravine. Grandma stopped, studying the
foliage off to either side of the road. I am suspicious of the
stillness in these woods. A great tension rests upon
Fablehaven today. She resumed walking.
Because of Grandpa? Seth asked.
Yes, and your newfound enmity with the fairies. But I
worry there may be something more. I am anxious to speak
with Nero.
Will he help us? Kendra asked.
He would rather harm us. Trolls can be violent and
unpredictable. I would not solicit information from him if
our situation were less dire.
What’s the plan? Seth asked.
Our only chance is clever bargaining. Cliff trolls are
cunning and ruthless, but their avarice can be a weakness.
Avarice? Seth asked.
Greed. Cliff trolls are miserly creatures. Treasure
hoarders. Cunning negotiators. They relish the thrill of
besting an opponent. Whatever agreement we reach, Nero
will have to feel like the undisputed victor. I only hope we
can determine something he values that we are willing to
part with.
What if we can’t? Kendra said.
We must. If we fail to reach an arrangement, Nero will
not let us leave unscathed.
They arrived at the brink of the ravine. Kendra placed
a hand against the bridge and leaned forward to look down.
It was surprisingly deep. Tenacious vegetation clung to the
steep walls. A narrow stream trickled along the bottom.
How do we get down there?
Carefully, Grandma said, taking a seat at the edge of
the precipice. Rolling over onto her stomach, she started
backing down the slope feet first, looking ridiculous in her
robe and slippers. The incline was not completely vertical,
but most of the descent was quite steep.
If we fall, we’ll tumble all the way to the bottom,
Kendra observed.
A sensible reason not to fall, Grandma agreed, moving
carefully downward. Come along, it looks worse than
it is. Just find solid handholds and take it one step at a
time.
Seth followed Grandma, and then Kendra started
down, desperately hugging the side of the ravine, taking
tentative steps, hunting blindly for the next place to rest
her foot. But Grandma was right. Once she got going, the
climb was less difficult than it appeared. There were many
handholds, including scrawny bushes with well-anchored
stems. After proceeding gingerly at first, she grew in confidence
and increased the speed of her descent.
When Kendra reached the bottom, Seth was squatting
near a cluster of blossoms at the edge of the stream.
Grandma Sorenson stood nearby. Took you long enough,
Seth said.
I was being careful.
I’ve never seen somebody move an inch per hour
before.
No time for bickering, Grandma said. Kendra did
just fine, Seth. We need to hurry along.
I like the smell of these flowers, Seth said.
Come away from those, Grandma insisted.
Why? They smell great; take a whiff.
Those flowers are perilous. And we’re in a hurry.
Grandma waved for him to follow and started walking,
picking her way carefully along the rocky floor of the