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Set after
Keys to the Demon Prison
(No Dragonwatch)
Many years have passed.
⟢ Kendra & Ruth Sorenson ⟣
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Kendra comes home for the wrong reasons.

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Fablehaven had blossomed in Kendra's absence. Flowers lined the walkway, their bursts of color out of place with the reason Kendra had arrived.

Kendra crouched and thumbed through a chrysanthemum's petals. It was in perfect condition. She shouldn't be surprised. The fairies had always been great at maintaining the garden.

The first time she had walked this pathway, she had been thirteen, about to leave her parents for a whole two weeks. Nerves had threatened to choke her. It felt the same today.

But now, the nerves had much less to do with her parents. Rather, it was her grandparents.

Kendra picked the flower and continued on her walk. Despite the exciting beauty of the courtyard, it was quiet. No fairies tittered.

The whole preserve held its breath.

Kendra wished her grandparents hadn't downplayed Grandma's illness. She could've come home sooner. It had been a long flight, but Kendra would sleep a thousand hours in cramped seats to see Grandma stay alive forever.

She knew that was unrealistic. Grandma was 80. People grew up. People died.

Kendra had grown up. She was in her senior collegiate year. Her diploma would be handed to her in a few months. Grandma wouldn't get to see that.

Grandma had grown up, too. She had lived a lovely life. But one's body simply cannot survive forever, never mind after all the apocalyptic stress.

On the last phone call, Grandma had said that it had all been worth it. She would rather travel far and wide, see the wonders of the world, and pay the price now than stay confined in exchange for a long life.

Now, Grandma was confined to her room.

To her deathbed.

The front door pushed against Kendra. It was heavier than it had ever been before.

Kendra had thought she had already cried herself dry. But upon seeing her brother and feeling his arms around her, a few silent tears traced down her face. Traced words she wasn't able to say.

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The lace of Grandma's bed matched her nightgown. Medical equipment Kendra had only ever seen in a hospital all fed into Grandma.

A smile stretched her deathly pale skin. "Kendra."

"Grandma." Kendra rushed forward and hugged her, saline rushing down her face.

Kendra had made it in time. Oh god, what if she hadn't gotten to see Grandma? The doctors had only allowed Grandma to come home so she could die with her family.

Kendra would've never forgiven herself. But, she had made it. And as weak as Grandma's arms around her were, they were there.

Grandma was still alive.

Kendra pulled back and wiped her eyes. "How...how are you feeling?"

"I feel alright. How are your studies going?"

A new wave of emotion brought tears to her eyes. "You could have told me sooner. I would've left college sooner."

"That was the problem, dear. What's the point of college if you come home as soon as someone gets a little sick?"

Kendra sat next to the bed and took Grandma's hand. Her voice held thick emotion. "But you're not a little sick."

"I'm not."

"You're really sick." Veins shined through her pallid skin. Kendra felt that she could break the hand in her grasp.

"I am, dear." Grandma lifted her hand out of the hold to brush the tears off Kendra's face. It was a futile effort to plug an unlimited source. After all, grief never ran out. "Don't cry."

"I love you so much." The vulnerability of someone's last days urged all your unspoken thoughts to be released. The sentiments would forever remain unheard otherwise. "I don't want you to go."

"I don't want to leave you either, dear." Grandma rested her hand on Kendra's face.

Kendra grabbed the hand like it was her lifeline.

"I know you'll be great. I'm already so proud of you."

The heart monitor began to whine. Kendra didn't have a degree in pre-med, but the green line didn't look normal. "What's happening?"

"I love you so much."

"What?" The monitor began to flatline. "No, no."

"Grandma?"

"Grandma!"

Kendra clutched the hand on her face. "Grandma!"

Tears flooded her face. Pain gripped her and tore her apart. The flatline didn't stop.

The door slammed open and her family rushed in. Kendra's lifeline was slipping. "No, no, no."

"Grandma!"

The hand fell from her face.

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the end