Hallow - Book 1 by Panda Bear, Amber DeVore (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📕

right. Just speak with the Guardian, I’m sure he’ll let her go back home.” It was a younger voice now speaking. After a few more tugs, the rope broke. Elden crawled forward, careful not to touch the bars. “There was a familiar there, so for all we know she could have reanimated the boy.” Elden now could see who was talking. It was the same boy who had attacked him in the forest. He was talking to a very large muscular man. He had bushy black hair and large side burns. Even his arms were hairy. Not someone Elden would want face in a fight. The large man noticed Elden and motion toward him. The younger boy looked over and glared at the imprisoned young man.

Elden sat back fear rising in his chest. Who were these people and what did they want? The wavy haired boy walked over and crouched in front of the cage. His dark sapphire eyes bore into Elden like a laser. “Um, hello.” Elden began, keeping a calm appearance. He had always been good at hiding his emotions. “If you don’t mind me asking, who are you people and why have you kidnapped me?” Elden asked getting straight to the point. The other boy didn’t answer right away.

“We are Hunters.” The boy said. “Our job is to hunt down things like you and drag you back over the Rift.” The boy explained. That didn’t answer anything. In short they were monster hunters and Elden fit right into that category. The only thing that didn’t make sense was the rift thing he mentioned.

“Okay, then what do you do with things like me after you captured them?” Elden looked the boy straight in the eyes trying to read him. The boy stood back up scratching the back of his head.  “Don’t know” He sighed. “Usually we hand you over to the kingdom of your origin, but their isn’t a king in the Xymis territory.”

“We’ll have to ask King Mardler about this. We haven’t had many of the Xymis creatures cross the Rift lately.” The older man said. “The names Arden and this here is Kieran.” The man said resting his arm on Kieran’s shoulder. The boy quickly shrugged the arm off.  Arden gave a small laugh. “You got a name, boy?”

“Elden Walking.” Elden said. “I have to be honest with you, I have no idea what you’re talking about. The Rift, Xymis, King Mardler. This is all really confusing.” Elden needed an explanation and Arden seemed to be much more talkative then Kieran. Even their names sounded odd.

“Listen here boy,” Arden said pulling over a chair. “You probably turned when you were over in the human world, so this might come as a bit of a shock. Right now, you are in the world called Hallow. This is where all the supernatural creatures you hear about in stories come to life. The human world, which we call Eve, and Hallow are separated by a magical barrier called the Rift. It’s what keeps you humans out.” Elden sat back a bit over whelmed by this new information. Sure he always knew that there had to be other supernatural creatures out there, but never did he imagine a whole other world existed.

“Why did you bring me here, then? I was born and raised in the human world. You can’t just take me from there.” Elden said. “ I have friends and family that will be looking for me.” Elden was right, of course. Even if his foster parents were not his real parents, they still really cared for Elden. They still loved him even after his accident changed him. Arden sighed, rubbing his neck.

“They’ll never find you and you will never go back. You are a zombie and they are human. The supernatural and humans need to be separate.” Kieran cut in. “I anyone found out what you were, then you’d become a lab rat and our world could be discovered.” Elden opened his mouth to say something, but closed it instead. He had a point, but he really was worried about his foster parents.

“H-hello. Is anyone there? Where am I?” Elden’s heart jumped as soon as he heard the voice. It was so painfully familiar he wished he hadn’t heard it here. It was Ash.

“Ash?!” Elden jumped forward grabbing the bars unconsciously. The iron burned his hands causing him to quickly release the bars. It was annoying that the only pain he could feel was the burning from iron and salt. “What is she doing here? I thought you were only after me? Ash is just a human.” Elden growled dropping his calm act.

“Yes, we were just discussing that. Seems to be that she is part Witchkin. One of her parents or grandparents probably fled to the human world and settled down with a human. It’s rare, but sometimes Hunters make mistakes.” Arden said looking at Kieran. The other boy looked down at his feet. “Don’t worry, the King will probably let her go back home. You, on the other hand, can’t go back. Too inhuman.”

Elden sat back dazed by the sudden turn of events. A few days ago he was just trying to finish up high school. Now he was in a completely different world. He looked at his burned hands. It was true he didn’t belong in the human world any more. He didn’t want his foster parents to get hurt. It would be best if he just stayed here and learned about this world. Ash, on the other hand, needed to return. Elden suddenly heard a dog barking outside. Arden and Kieran looked at each other.

“If Lucy is barking, then that must mean we have an unwanted guest. Why don’t we go greet them.” Arden said with a smile. Kieran nodded, glancing once at Elden. Elden just gave him a weak smile and a shrug. “Don’t worry, I don’t think I will be going any where.” They both left in a hurry, Kieran grabbing his bow and sword while Arden just grabbed a large battle-axe.

As soon as they left, Elden stepped as close as he dared toward the bars looking for Ash. From this angle he couldn’t see her cell. “Ash?” He called out softly. At first he didn’t get an answer making him think that he imagined Ash was the other captive.

“Elden? Is that you?” Ash finally replied. Elden took a step forward almost touching the bars again. He restrained himself and took that step back. “Yeah, are you alright? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” He asked. Again there was another pause.

“Y-yeah I’m fine. Where are we?” She asked. Elden really wanted to make something up and tell her it was all a bad dream, but something told him she wouldn't believe him. Elden ran his fingers through his hair and paced his cell. Might as well tell the truth.

“Well, you might not believe me, but we are in another world.” He began. Elden explained everything Arden had told him. After he had explained everything he knew, Elden waited for her to laugh or say he was crazy. That’s what a normal girl would do. He even half expected her to cry, but then he realized Ash wasn’t that weak-minded.

“Okay, say I believe what you just told me, why would they capture us?” She asked. Before he could answer, Ash suddenly gasped. “That’s right, they hit you with an arrow! Are you all right? It’s no infected or anything?” Elden almost laughed. She still had enough energy to worry about others. That was one of the things he liked about her. She always had that bright energy that kept her going.

“I’m fine. To tell you the truth, I really am a supernatural creature.” Elden paused to see if she would say something. She didn’t. “A few months before I moved to Indiana, I was attacked in a parking lot. The thing is, I died. Now I am sort of what you call a zombie. Well, half zombie really. I still eat and sleep normally. I even have a faint heart beat. I just have all the weaknesses and advantages of a zombie.”

There was silence. She was probably processing everything he just told her. Finally she spoke. “You don’t eat brains do you?” Now Elden really burst out laughing. “What? What’s so funny?” She asked, the embarrassment sounding in her voice.

“Nothing, really. I just wasn’t expecting that to be your first question.” Elden said through his laughter. He calmed down after a few seconds. “No, I promise I don’t eat brains.” He said. “Though now you know why I can’t swim. Zombies get paralyzed if submerged in water.”

“Oh, I had no idea.” She said. He could tell she was feeling a little bad now for pressuring him to join the swim team. Elden let out a sigh. “It’s no big deal.” Elden said. “You couldn’t have guessed I’d be a zombie, so don’t feel bad about it.” They sat talking for a bit. All they talked about was little things about how it was like being a zombie. Elden explained his annoyance of not being able to touch salt and iron. He talked about his inhuman strength and other benefits to this ‘condition’. He even told her how his hair and eyes changing color was part of it all. What made him really happy, though, was that Ash didn’t seem to be creeped out by him at all. In fact, if Elden didn’t know better he would have thought she was fascinated by the fact he was a zombie.

   Loud growls and fighting suddenly cut their conversation off. The fighting sounded like it was close outside. Both Elden and Ash listened in silence as the fighting went on. After a while, Kieran burst in the door short on breath. He ran to the keys and grabbed them. The boy then hurried over to Ash’s cell first, unlocking it in a rush. The sound of fighting became fiercer. Elden stood up and stood next to the bars to look a Kieran. He looked tired and drained. Under his cloak Elden noticed his shirt had blood on it. Next, Kieran unlocked Elden’s cell motioning for the zombie boy to quickly exit.

“What’s happening?” Elden asked as Kieran was quickly grabbing supplies and packing them in a bag. He didn’t answer, only focusing on packing. He then led the Ash and Elden to the back door. Ash gave Elden a worried look. Something was terribly wrong. “ Kieran, what happened?”

“Golems.” He said leading them out of the door and into the forest. 

Imprint

Publication Date: 07-09-2013

All Rights Reserved