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Seth hugged hi handfuls of his shirt He wished he could stop existing He had ruined everything!
"I will leave you with your life, Seth"
"Why bother?" Seth moaned
"Because I sponsored your elevation to shadow charreat service I owe you a debt of gratitude, and for that I will spare you, even though I know you will never serve me"
"Let’s be honest," Seth said "I’ll try to stop you"
"Let’s be honest," Graulas countered "Resourceful as you are, there is nothing you can do about this Not a thing You would be wise to put it out of yourback tears of desperation
"Please, I healed you Don’t punish my family for it Don’t punish Fablehaven Go free, do whatever, but if , don’t take the artifacts"
"My dear boy," Graulas said "You do not corandfather does, and some ith him It almost surprises me that you remain so naive Did I ever bother to lie about i Luna stretched the truth, perhaps, to make me seem more pitiable, and I acted somewhat more infirm than I felt, but I never misled you on this issue Let me leave you with a final lesson I aressively self-serving I take great pleasure in destruction At tiain, and at ti e of remorse, I will use them to unlock a season of devastation like the world has never witnessed And,his teeth, Seth tried to think of so to do He saw one possible option "Take me with you"
"No, no, my boy Shadow charmer or not, I fully understand that you could never be my servant, except perhaps as part of a cluer entwined Should we ain, it will be as enemies, all past debts settled You will not be bored without h to do here"
"What do you ed his claws across the earthen roof of the cave, dislodging wormy clods of dirt "I intend to paythe foundational treaty and leaving a suitable amount of havoc behind Like Bahumat, I never officially consented to my incarceration here The treaty has no direct claim on me" Graulas sniffed the air, eyes narrowed to slits He spoke in a lower tone, as if to himself "I would free Bahumat, but the fairies buried him deep and sealed hione, Olloch more stomach than mind I will take none ofout of retirereat deal of chaos in my wake"
Graulas held up the Translocator The device looked tiny in his huge hands
Crouching, Seth snatched up a stone and flung it at the device Graulas blocked the rock with his forear forward, the demon struck Seth with a furious backhand The blow sent hi into the cave wall Bones snapped, and he landed in a heap of agony, dirt and blood in hissoftly, he sprinkled sand fro aine shattering bones over and over and over Such alluring options "
Bones lared up at the demon with helpless fury, no words left to say
"Final piece of advice?" Graulas offered "Run away, Seth Forget this backward circus of a preserve and flee to the farthest, lobe Hide there for the rest of your life Pray we do not ain"
Graulas twisted the Translocator and vanished
"No!" Seth yelled
Scra to his feet, Seth ran toward the mouth of the cave He had to warn Grandpa! Graulas had certainly never been inside the main house The demon had probably never been in the yard, either He could not teleport directly to the Chronoical barriers protecting the yard and house
Out in front of the cave, sunset indling, the first stars already shining "Hugo," Seth shouted, cupping his hands around his ency! Help!"
Nobody answered, but he knew the way to the house from here--he had only to follow the rutted road Seth took off running The exertion felt good, kept hi so he wanted to do was think
But it was hard to shut down his guilty ? Grandpa had consistently warned hirandparents didn’t understand the unique relationship he had with the de deun to consider hihtrandparents had foreseen If he had gone directly home with the artifacts, his faainst the Sphinx Now the opposite was true! He had befriended evil, and he had gotten burned
Seth tried not to iine all of the effects that would flow fro his fa across the globe
Maybe he could stop it Maybe he could beat Graulas into the house
His breathing becas churning How er to the house if he kept up this pace? Ten h the bushes off to the side of the road Seth slowed, confident he recognized as approaching A o loped out fro both aroleh into the air, and caught hihed "Good to see you, too! Hugo, we have an eot loose and is headed for the house"
"Graulas?"
"I visited hiole cross-country Still panting fro a lift froo would let hiot there? Could Hugo defeat Graulas? Probably not The deolem could at least wrestle away the Translocator? It would be worth a try If that failed, they would have to try to escape soo?
Froht interrupted the deepening twilight "See that, Hugo?" Seth asked