fablehaven secrets of the dragon sanctuary

Mom and Dad had taken to jogging at the rec center on weekday evenings, hoping to make it a habit before the New Year. Kendra checked over her shoulder, listening for a moment. And fairies had to follow any command she issued. Certain magical mind tricks failed to affect her, allowing her to penetrate the illusions that concealed most magical creatures from mortal eyes. Reading and speaking fairy languages were only some of the abilities granted to Kendra after hundreds of giant fairies had mobbed her with kisses. Only under the light of an umite wax candle would the characters glow into view, and only by virtue of her status as fairykind could Kendra decipher them. Written in a secret fairy language, the words inside were further disguised by being inscribed in umite wax. It had once belonged to Patton Burgess, a former Fablehaven caretaker whom Kendra had unexpectedly met when he had traveled forward through time at the end of the previous summer. She had brought the Journal of Secrets home from Fablehaven. This was her last umite candle-she could not afford to waste any of the special illumination that made the words on the pages visible. Snapping out of her reverie, Kendra set the spent match off to one side, slid three keys into a locked journal, opened the book, and began hurriedly leafing through the pages. She and her family and friends had managed to reverse the plague before it destroyed the preserve, but their efforts had cost the life of Lena the naiad. She contemplated the plague at Fablehaven that had swiftly turned many of the inhabitants of the magical preserve from beings of light into creatures of darkness. Seated at the desk in her bedroom, considering the remains of the match, Kendra was struck by how quickly the fire had consumed the wood, leaving the top third fragile and charred, the substance transformed into an unrecognizable state. Once the flame spread to the wick, she shook out the match, thin strands of smoke winding upward. Cupping her hand to shield the new flame, she held the burning match against the blackened wick of a candle stub.

Kendra Sorenson briskly scraped the head of a wooden match against the rough strip on the side of a rectangular matchbox.

Fablehaven secrets of the dragon sanctuary