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"Deh the forest

The gole branches aside and bulldozing through shrubbery Minutes passed like hours Flashes of light accorowls and distant sounds of de that he was unarency kit

When the yard ca flaed uplike a foghorn, eyes rolling in terror, the iiant hooves leaving deep iht of the burning barn, Seth could see that half the house had collapsed, smashed in as if by solass breaking and wood splintering within the house

"To the house!" Seth shouted

Hugo took off across the yard with leaping strides A great crash sounded within the house The golem vaulted onto what remained of the back porch and entered the ruined house, striding over the reo said in a concerned ruh rubble-strewn rooms to the entry hall, where they found Coulter pinned beneath a bearay hair was , seole rubble as he raised it Grabbing Coulter beneath his arms, Seth slid him out from underneath Coulter jerked his head toward Seth "Run!" Coulter urged weakly

"Deot it Graulas got the Chronometer He also had the Translocator He destroyed the foundational treaty He used a spell to summon the safe that contained it It hurried to hi He destroyed the docuic I couldn’t stop hih the defenses in no time"

"It’s my fault," Seth ade, and somebody snuck the Translocator and the Sands of Sanctity into my cell I’d promised Graulas I would heal him if I could, so on my way back here, I stopped by his cave As soon as I healed him, he stole the artifacts before I could react He was so quick!"

Coulter closed his eyes, one cheek twitching "I see" When he spoke again, he sounded more in control of himself "Seth, you must listen to me I don’t have much time"

"Don’t talk like that," Seth said

"Hush," Coulter insisted "I’m no tenderfoot I’ve had plenty of injuries in ot crushed, parts deep inside I have minutes, rabbed the Chronometer As he tore into the house, I watched frolio, I used the Chronohed wetly "I visited Patton Told him the Chronometer was about to be taken Told him you were around"

"You should have run!" Seth said

"I did run Visiting Patton cost me no time I didn’t evenwhat happened Graulas is too powerful But listen Since we knew you were around, Patton proeway beneath the old rotto Down in the cellar, beneath the ainst one wall Step inside and say, ’Everybody loves a show-off’ That will open the way"

"Then what?" Seth asked

Coulter grih clenched teeth "We hope Patton has an idea"

"Where are the others?" Seth asked urgently "Where is Grandpa?"

Coulter shook his head "Gone If they lost the Translocator, they were all captured tonight"

"All of them?" Seth asked incredulously "Stan, Ruth, Kendra, Tanu, Warrenall of the down the fort Vanessa is still here, down in the Quiet Box Maybe she could Coulter gasped and coughed "I grunted "Do your best"

Hot tears flowed freely down Seth’s cheeks "I’m so sorry,

Coulter"

The old relics collector patted his hand His eyes cleared for a mo, but the words resisted "Not your fault," he finally "’ sputtered He gripped Seth’s wrist, "You’re a good boy They tricked you You wereshowing et them yet"

"I will I promise, I will, I really will" Coulter laid his head back, closing his eyes His chest shook as if trying to cough, but only a faint strangling sound came out His eyelids fluttered His hands jerked Seth looked up at Hugo "What do we do?" Coulter exhaled one last ti at his mouth and tried to find a pulse in his neck and chest There were no signs of life Trying to recall the first-aid basics he knew, Seth started rhyth Coulter’ chest Then he pinched Coulter’s nostrils shut and breathed into his mouth a couple of ti exercise, but Coulter reo rumbled heavily

Seth backed away from the corpse of his friend Despite the words of comfort from Coulter, he could not avoid the conviction that he had caused this Sure, the dened and carried out the plot, but Seth had been the idiot they could design it around Both Graulas and Nagi Luna had known he would do the wrong thing, and he had, and now Coulter was dead, Fablehaven was in ruins, and the artifacts were gone

The weight of his regret threatened to crush hi Star now had all the keys to the demon prison

Chapter 14 An Unexpected Ally

T here see where to put Kendra She spent a lot of tiled When her escorts had finally resolved on a cell, just as she was being ushered inside, a stuoblin with squinty eyes and a face like a catcher’sa written order A tall, aroblin with a severe under-bite studied the parchoblin rasped ioblin with the underbite "Why that cell? We haven’t had a chance to properly exait don’t add up," the other goblin groused

"Not our place to do the math," advised the aroogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>