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The first night in Terrabelle was awful. Cold stone seeped through Seth's thin canvas bedroll and froze every one of his limbs. With the chilly breezes slithering into the room from the windows' open shutters, he was a popsicle.

Tactically, he knew it was the right decision to keep everyone in the same room, but he was starting to regret turning down Garreth's offer of a separate room. It might've been warmer.

Maybe the sub-optimal conditions influenced his dreaming. Maybe it was because he had stuffed the previous days' events into a hole never to be dealt with again. Despite the foggy reasons, his mind decided to rewind time to the night his life had been uprooted.

Patrons bustling with catches of the day in their wicker baskets filled the open-air market. The cobblestone road proved a tricky landscape for Seth as he tried to push his way through the throng. "Sorry! Coming through!"

Seth stopped and glanced back at Patton, riding the kid's coattails. He was like Moses, parting the sea of shoppers.

"Why are you getting the special treatment?" Seth complained.

"I'm a respected explorer." Patton grinned and quickened his step to reach his charge.

"So am I!" Another marketer bumped into Seth.

Patton caught up to Seth and patted his head. "Then I guess it must be your stature."

"Coxcomb," Seth muttered as Patton ruffled his hair. He knew he was tall for his age. Fifteen and already taller than his sister. "You're just a giant."

"I could put you on my shoulders and maybe then you'd be an acceptable height for your youth."

Seth lifted his crown, fixed his hair, and set it back down. "I am at an acceptable height. And I'm not a youth anymore."

"If only." Two satyrs sidled up to the pair. Their hooves nimbly navigated the uneven path. Newel shook his head sadly.  "Young Seth was so much more into fraud."

"Personally," Patton said. "I preferred when he was so little he couldn't speak."

Seth rolled his eyes. "I'm reporting you all."

"To who?" Patton gave him a smug smile. The valet held out a hand to stop the party as a wagon drove by. "The King? One of my closest friends?"

"Yes." Seth tried to keep a straight face but his lip kept twitching. "We have too many Burgesses in the court. And too many satyrs in the market." The wagon train finally passed.

"Then who would you hang out with?" Doren snagged an apple from a market stand and Patton just as quickly laid down the money for it. "We're your closest friends."

Seth smiled and rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me."

"Where are you two going?" Newel asked as they exited the market area.

"City wall. Wraiths are trying to come through the main entrance." Seth stole the apple out of Doren's hands and took a bite.

"And you're just going to go? Why not send your valet and come with us instead?" Newel gestured to the expendable Patton.

"Seth has that certain charm with them that I don't," Patton said.

"Fine," Newel capitulated.

"We're on just as important business." Doren stole back his apple from the prince. "Trying to find some tickets for the theater show tonight."

Doren slung an arm around Seth as they reached the city wall. "You know, if someone just wrote up a note stamped with the royal seal...maybe we wouldn't even need tickets to get in."

Seth laughed and shrugged his arm off. "See you all later. And remember to extend your visas before Friday!"

As the satyrs raced back to the market, they yelled back: "You're the prince, do it yourself!"

With a smile, Seth climbed the stairs to the sentry post and stared down the arrivals. Three wraiths stood at the city gate.  Keeping their distance from the group was a merchant with a cart.

Seth knocked on the stone to get their attention. "This isn't the magical creature entrance."

No, it is not. The wraiths locked eyes with the prince, their eerie voices synchronized as they invaded his mind. Seth could swear he could feel the dark energy billowing off the creatures. No wonder the sentries called Seth in to deal with them. Danger is coming.

"What danger?"

Patton alarmedly looked at Seth. The middle-aged adventurer was shivering despite the summer heat.

An army.

"When?"

Soon.

Chills coated Seth's spine. An army? Seth was like 70% sure Fablehaven wasn't at war. He had only come back from an expedition yesterday, but still. Not even Kendra had mentioned any reason the kingdom would be expecting hostility and she worried about everything.

And even if they needed to fight an army, all the knights were accompanying the King and Queen on their journey to Wyrmroost. They only had the paltry barracks leftover.

As much as Seth wished it wasn't true, he knew not to doubt the intelligence the wraiths provided. Wraiths were rarely wrong.

He turned to Patton. "We need to evacuate."

Seth rang the sentry bell. Taking two steps out at a time, the duo rushed out of the post and down the back alleys of the lower town. The main streets were too crowded with carts and pedestrians.

They reached the castle, swerving servants and staff as they flew by.

"Kendra should be in the throne room," Patton gestured to the hall to their right, "hearing out property proposals. How long do we have?"

"The wraiths just said 'soon.' They're bad with time so it could be minutes or weeks."

Warning horns, a sound Seth hadn't heard in years, blasted through the air. For a terrible moment, he was ten again—saying goodbye to his parents for the very last time. He was scared, alone, and helpless.

Patton's hand on his shoulder brought Seth back to the present—which wasn't much of an improvement, anyway. "Looks like the former."

Seth didn't stop holding his breath until he burst through the throne room doors.

A golden diadem peeked out from the crowd of chancellors in fancy dress.

"Kendra!"

At Seth's voice, the crowd parted and Kendra ran the length of the velvet carpet to him. "One of our scouts spotted an army and our head chancellor tells me it's the Sphinx."

"I know. We need you to strengthen the distraction spell around the city before they get here," Seth urged over the constant blare of the horns.

"Wait," Warren interjected. The head chancellor had followed Kendra to Seth.  "Our priority is keeping you two safe. We need to flee."

Kendra stayed focused on Seth. "I don't think I can enhance that spell without help."

"I could help. Lena used to use me to set up her spells," Patton offered.

"Princess," Warren paused and shot a look at Patton. "We need to leave now. Vanessa is packing your bags. Please. The Sphinx's armies are like none you've ever known."

Pursing her lips, Kendra looked at Warren. "I can't leave my people."

"You'll hurt them more if you get caught," Warren said. "What's a captured princess to do for them?"

As the last word left his lips, the beautiful windows exploded, leaving glass pieces littering the floor. An arrow landed next to the group. With the window blown out, the screams of the townspeople permeated through the throne room.

"We don't have time for this," Warren warned.

"The only way they've gotten in so quick must have been magic." Kendra locked eyes with Seth. "We're the only ones who could combat them."

"You are not combatting the Sphinx's army," Warren stepped between the siblings and put his hands on Kendra's shoulders, incredulous. "Are you ill?"

"You're not our father, Warren," Seth said. He could barely hear himself over the cacophony. How could he leave people to die? That wasn't him. He helped people. Despite where his magic came from.

"Of course not. But, your parents wouldn't have wanted me to let you guys get yourselves killed. Neither would your grandparents, for that matter, and I answer to them."

Patton laid a hand on Seth's shoulder. The pressure was like all of his worries weighing on him. "It may be best to rush now. We don't have much time."

Guilt swirled in his stomach, making him sick like the flu. What good was his magic if he couldn't even fight with it?

The bell rang incessantly, drowning out cries for help.

Kendra closed her eyes and whispered under her breath. The flowered garden along the wall expanded and grew, cutting off the main entrances. Vines grew and intertwined over the broken window until the clamor was but a dull headache. As Kendra steadied herself, she locked eyes with Warren. "Where to?"

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Half the secret corridors Warren led the party through were already known to Seth, but a few were pleasant surprises. Well, as pleasant as a surprise could be when under the pretense of evacuation.

Would he ever return to utilize these new passages or was this was the last time he'd see these walls? Memories were embedded in this castle. The day Patton was made his valet. His parents' laugh. His dad teaching him how to ride a horse. Kendra freaking out over the spider he had put in her bed. Once he left, he'd no longer be able to run his fingers across the stone grooves of the castle that framed his childhood.

Warren stopped the group when they neared the tunnel's end. "We're about to go out into the main corridor." The ringing of clashed swords seeped through the stone walls. "Seth, could you cloak us?"

"Yeah." Seth closed his eyes and reached inside himself to start siphoning magic to his companions. "Not for long though. It's taxing my energy with all of you."

Cold mist crawled from Seth and enveloped the party. It was invisible to anyone without an affinity for dark magic. Shadowcharmers, people called them.

Warren slid open the door. The torchlight cast monstrous shadows depicting swords slashing and blood spraying. Speaking of blood, the entire hallway was layered with it. Previous colorful banners and rugs were incarnadined.

"We are not getting through that," Kendra muttered.

"We can skirt along the walls," Warren said. "Draw your swords."

Kendra knelt and picked a bow and quiver off of a fallen soldier. Seth tried to ignore the blood staining her hands.

His tunic caught on every divet as he slid along the wall. The schwings of swords and thwaps of arrows reminded him how close he was to being skewered.

A soldier fell back into Seth,  and the group's cloak wavered. Sweat started to drip down the shadowcharmer's face.

The exit was so painfully close. Black spots encroached his vision. Just a few more steps.

Darkness filled his gaze long enough to lose his footing, and he fell back onto Patton. He looked up. No mist shrouded the man's concerned face.

A soldier began to yell at the group, but Kendra spun—fast as a whip, muscles rippling—and released two arrows. Each hit their target.

They rushed out of the exit and made it to the courtyard.

Vanessa was waiting for them at the stables. All the needed horses were already tacked up with bundles tied on.

Seth stuck his foot in the stirrup and swung his body over his chosen steed, Noble.

The blaring trumpets faded as they got farther from Fablehaven. With the noise, his old life faded as well. Rain began to fill the absence of sound, and raincoats were all put on.

Moonlight highlighted the blood on his clothes. Normally, the night rejuvenated him. Now, he only felt empty. Empty of magic and empty of a home.

Hopefully, the sunrise would bring rest or a resolution to their problems...

In his gut, he knew neither would occur for a painfully long time.

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thank you for reading!

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