The Edge of Strange Hollow by Gabrielle Byrne (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

The woman reached out a finger—

And a roar filled the clearing.

A tiger—huge and dark brown with blue stripes—threw itself onto the woman, knocking her to the ground and putting out her light.

The clearing vanished, leaving nothing but tall dark pines and a few thorn trees tucked into the shadows among them.

“Nula?” Poppy breathed.

“Come on!” Nula was up and running, and they didn’t ask questions. The three of them ran through the trees together, into the darkness, away from the monster and her wisps. Poppy noticed that Nula stayed with them as herself while they ran, like they were a team. She wasn’t shifting into another form.

“What was that?” Poppy gasped.

Nula panted. “It might have been a bog witch, but I think it was a lamia. I didn’t even know we had one of those in the wood.”

Mack was limping. The thorn tree had left huge gashes on his leg. “I’ve heard of them,” he said. “They’re the ones that eat people?”

“Children,” Nula clarified. “They eat children.”

“Gross.” Poppy shuddered.

Nula followed Poppy’s shiver with her own. “Yeah. They do it out of loneliness.”

Poppy’s breath was raw in her throat, but they kept running. Anything to put distance between themselves and the bog.

Finally, Poppy got a stitch in her side and had to stop. Mack was limping so badly he might as well have been hopping. “That’s enough,” she declared. “I can’t run anymore.”

Nula looked at Mack. “Think we’re safe?”

He looked around at the dark Grimwood. “Well, no. But I think we’re safe from whatever that was.”

“Where do you think we are?” Poppy asked.

“Oh, I can tell you that,” Nula said. “We’re about three miles west of your house … and two miles toward the center of the wood.”

Poppy stared at her. “How did you find us?”

Nula lifted her chin, her gold eyes bright. “I tracked you.”

After a moment Poppy reached out to take Nula’s hand. “Thank you.”

Tears filled Nula’s eyes. Her bottom lip quivered. “I’m … I’m so sorry, Poppy. About what I did. About Dog.” A blue tear rolled down her cheek. “I can’t even tell you how sorry I am—about everything.”

Poppy whisked away a tear of her own with the back of her hand. “I know.” She couldn’t bring herself to say more.

“So,” Mack interrupted. “A tiger, eh?”

Nula broke into a shy smile. “Wanna see?”

Poppy and Mack both nodded, and a tiger paced in front of them—its back as tall as Poppy’s waist. Nula’s stripes remained, and the gold of her eyes. Poppy could see her looking out through them. Nula let out a roar that shook the trees and set Poppy’s knees quaking. She laughed.

Then the pooka stood in front of them again, her cheeks flushed. “It’s my form, I think,” she confided. “It feels different from the others. I feel—strong.”

Mack clapped her on the back. Nula turned to look up at him, her eyes widening slightly. “You’re taller.”

He grinned. “I had a growth surge.”

“Right in the middle of Strange Hollow,” Poppy finished.

“No!”

“Yes.” He snorted. “Couldn’t have been worse.”

Nula grimaced. “I bet. The humans must have pitched a fork.”

Mack smiled. “A fit, you mean.”

Poppy laughed. “Let’s get back. We have a date to keep, and I don’t know about you two, but I’d rather not hang around.”

Nula frowned. “A date?”

“We’ll fill you in on the way,” Poppy replied, hurrying to keep up with Mack’s long strides as they headed east toward home.

“Start at the beginning,” Nula said, pushing ahead to get in front of Mack.

They filled Nula in on all that had happened—and on the children’s promise to help.

The Grimwood stayed quiet—almost peaceful as they trudged along, exhaustion heavy around them. Poppy took a deep breath. The air was full of the scent of pine. The Grimwood’s spike frogs thrummed from high branches, quieting as Poppy and her friends passed beneath them. Tentaculars along the tree trunks and on fallen limbs waved their colorful tentacles through the air. An owl called in the distance.

Poppy thought about the vision the lamia had shown her. She had known, even while it was happening, that it wasn’t real. Maybe she could recognize it as false because what she wanted now, more than anything, was something that felt real. She didn’t want a dream. She wanted something that felt like her own life—something that matched her and was meant for her—even if it wasn’t what she had hoped for when she was smaller.

Before—before she’d entered the Grimwood—it was as if her questions and her yearning was all of who she was. But that had fallen away, a little bit at a time. It wasn’t that all her questions had been answered. It was just that she knew she and her friends could find the answers she needed—and that they would be there by her side. Warmth rushed through her, despite the chill lacing the night air.

At last they reached the edge of the Grimwood and toppled into the meadow. The clearing in the forest had been dark, but out of the wood, dusk was just falling. Her house stood in deepening shadow, the windows dark. It almost hurt to look at it, knowing all its rooms were empty and uncertain. The evening was warm, and the moon was rising, bright and friendly.

Mack threw himself down on the ground. “The curfew must be in effect by now. The kids will be here soon. We should try and rest a little.”

Poppy’s thoughts spun out like webs, sticky and relentless. They had to find her parents—and find out what the governor was planning to do to the wood. There was no time to waste. It was torture to sit here and just … wait. “Yeah.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Pretty sure rest is not going to be a thing for me.” She turned to Nula. “Could I … maybe have another look at that book?”

“Of course!” Nula fished the small leather-bound book from her tunic, handing it over. She held out her herb knife in her other hand.

Poppy opened to the center page. The inklings were