Rise of the Evening Star

The second book in the Fablehaven series picks up nearly a year after Kendra and Seth Sorenson helped save Fablehaven, a secret preserve for magical creatures managed by their grandparents. During the previous summer's crisis, hundreds of giant fairies kissed Kendra, granting her the ability to see through illusions that conceal magical beings from human eyes.

On the last week of eighth grade, Kendra notices a new student, Casey Hancock, appears inhumanly disfigured, though every other student finds him attractive. After Case uses dark magic to drive a teacher into a violent frenzy, a man named Errol Fisk approaches Kendra, claiming to be sent by her grandfather's friend Coulter Dixon to remove a kobold, a goblin-like creature, from her school. He says the kobold can be driven off only by giving it a toadlike statuette from a nearby funeral home. Seth, Kendra's younger brother, retrieves the statuette, which bites his thumb when briefly animated. The next morning, Kendra wraps it as a gift for Case, who glowers at her and leaves.

Errol tries to recruit the siblings for another mission, but Kendra insists on confirming his story. Grandpa Sorenson reaches them by phone, his line having been cut, and reveals Coulter has been at Fablehaven for over a month and never sent Errol. The statuette is Olloch the Glutton, a demon enchanted to remain petrified until fed. Once fed, Olloch bites the feeder and grows by consuming everything until it devours that person. Grandpa dispatches Vanessa Santoro, a collector of mystical animals, who retrieves the children and escapes Errol's pursuit in her reinforced sports car.

At Fablehaven, the children meet two specialists recruited to locate a hidden artifact: Tanugatoa Dufu (Tanu), a Samoan potion master, and Coulter Dixon, a collector of magical relics. Grandpa uses a wheelchair after tackling an imp caught leaking information to the Society of the Evening Star, an organization seeking to overthrow magical preserves. He reveals a guarded secret: Fablehaven is one of five preserves, each hiding an ancient talisman that together form the key to Zzyzx, a prison holding thousands of the most powerful demons. The Society seeks all five to open the prison. The Sphinx, a centuries-old being who serves as the caretakers' unofficial leader, advised moving Fablehaven's artifact, but no one knows where on the preserve it is hidden.

During training, Kendra's touch produces an unprecedented response from Warren, the groundskeeper's brother. Warren has been a mute albino for two years after a failed mission for the Knights of the Dawn, a covert group opposing the Society. Kendra discovers she can speak Goblush, the language of imps and goblins, and proves immune to a distracter spell, a charm that prevents anyone from picking up an enchanted object. Coulter demonstrates his invisibility glove, which works only when the wearer holds still, and a pixie cocoon that expands into an impervious shelter when bitten.

Grandma Sorenson takes them to meet the Sphinx in Bridgeport, where the Sphinx's taciturn aide, Mr. Lich, escorts them. The Sphinx tells Kendra she is fairykind: The fairies infused her with their magic, and her touch can recharge depleted magical objects, making her a target for the Society. He tells Seth that the curse from Olloch cannot be removed; Seth must stay within Fablehaven's barriers.

When Seth sneaks into the woods, Olloch attacks, now much larger. Hugo, the golem, hurls the demon away. Grandpa reveals someone signed the register, a book controlling preserve access, allowing Olloch onto the property. Combined with the suspicious release of Vanessa's drumants, venomous spider-like creatures, this points to a traitor. Coulter reports that Warren had been investigating a valley of four hills before turning albino, the same area former caretaker Patton Burgess's journals flagged as the artifact's likely location.

That night, Coulter wakes Seth, claiming the Sphinx authorized him to secure the artifact. In the grove at the valley's center, crushing supernatural terror paralyzes them both. Coulter realizes the guardian is a revenant, an undead being that radiates fear. He forces his pixie cocoon into Seth's mouth and presses the invisibility glove into Seth's hand before the revenant reaches him. At dawn, Coulter is found as a mute albino, and tracks suggest Olloch consumed Seth.

Grandpa sets a trap: He announces the artifact key is under his cot, but the box contains a net. The groundskeeper, Dale, is caught in it that night. Grandpa explains that Vanessa is a narcoblix, a vampiric creature that controls anyone she has bitten while they sleep. She controlled Coulter to lead Seth to the grove and manipulated Grandma to extract information. Kendra grabs Tanu's potion pouch and flees into the woods. An oversized wooden puppet called Mendigo captures her, but fairies intervene and command it to obey Kendra instead.

Inside the pixie cocoon, Seth passes through Olloch's digestive system and breaks free. The demon sits dormant as a statue, its spell satisfied. Seth reaches Warren's cottage, where he and Kendra share an emotional reunion. Realizing they cannot sleep without risking Vanessa's control, they use Tanu's shrinking potions to enter the house through tunnels built by brownies, tiny craftspeople living within the walls. In the dungeon, they find their imprisoned grandparents, who confirm Vanessa has the artifact key. That night, Seth uses the invisibility glove to creep into Vanessa's room, stabs her with one of her own sleep darts, and steals the key.

While Kendra steps away, Seth leaves a note, takes Mendigo and the key, and heads for the grove. He drinks a courage potion, confronts the revenant, and extracts the nail from its neck with pliers even as its freezing hands close around his throat. The revenant's destruction breaks its curse on all victims: Warren awakens fully restored at the cottage. He and Kendra ride to the grove, revive Seth, and descend into an inverted tower hidden beneath the grove.

Inside, they navigate deadly traps. The artifact takes the form of a glass cat that resurrects larger and more dangerous each time it is killed, progressing through nine incarnations. Vanessa and Errol arrive partway through. During the escalating battle, Errol is killed and Warren is mortally wounded. Kendra suspends Warren's injuries with a gaseous-transformation potion. Tanu and Coulter, restored from their albino states by the revenant's destruction, enter the chamber. Tanu drinks an enlarger potion, doubling his size, and slays the final incarnation. The beast dissolves, leaving a copper teapot shaped like a cat.

Kendra's touch recharges the artifact, and golden dust pours forth, healing everyone's wounds. At the surface, the Sphinx seals Vanessa in the Quiet Box, the dungeon's most secure prison, which holds a single prisoner and can release its occupant only by putting another in. When the cabinet reopens, the previous anonymous prisoner stands in Vanessa's place. The Sphinx departs with both the artifact and the hooded captive. Vanessa's final words are, "I remain your pen pal."

That night, remembering a candle Vanessa gave her that reveals invisible messages, Kendra descends to Vanessa's former cell and discovers a hidden message. Vanessa writes that the Sphinx is the secret leader of the Society of the Evening Star, playing both sides for centuries. He sealed her in the Quiet Box because he suspects she uncovered his identity. His actions serve him perfectly: He eliminates a compromised asset, appears as Fablehaven's hero, frees an ally from the Quiet Box, and walks away with the artifact. The message warns that the Evening Star is rising.