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

“Who are we looking for exactly?” Mags asked.

“We’re looking for my parents,” Poppy explained, and she pulled their locket pictures from the little pocket in her backpack where she had stored them. She handed them to Mags to pass around.

“If we can’t find them … then we’re looking for any signs that might lead us to them. Locked doors that aren’t normally locked. Signs of someone being kept hidden. People sneaking around or acting strange. Anything. And we need to hurry. Governor Gale is going to … do something bad. We don’t think there’s much time.”

Mags and Peter exchanged a look. Then Peter dipped his head, mumbling at his shoes. “You’re right,” he said. “We heard our parents talking. They’re planning to do it soon—tomorrow morning.”

“What?!” Poppy snapped.

Mags pushed past her brother. “Don’t get any ideas though. You promised us answers. You have to—”

“We’ll keep our promise.” Poppy scowled, and any other person would have been intimidated, but Mags just scowled back.

Mack rose to his feet, and half the children cowered behind Mags. Several were staring at Nula, who gave them a sassy grin and turned herself into a falcon, a weasel, and then a lynx in short order. When she poofed back into herself, all the children were staring at her with wide eyes, including Peter. Mags’s cheeks had reddened, but she kept her eyes on Poppy with great strength of purpose. “I’ve thought about it, and seeing as you’re in a hurry, I’ve decided we’ll ask questions on the way. Once we get into town, we’ll split up. The kids will report back to me.” She lifted an eyebrow as if expecting a fight. “It will save time,” she added.

Poppy let out a breath. “Thank you.”

Mags lifted her chin and nodded—and as they all marched down the hill, the assault began. Mags chose who could ask the questions, and she got to go first. She asked about blood wards—and wards in general, and Poppy and Mack took turns filling in the details. Nula jumped in to tell the kids how to break a blood ward.

Mags’s hierarchy was unquestioned. Every third question belonged to her brother.

Nula was brilliant. She put Poppy and Mack to shame, playing to the crowd like she was born to it. It wasn’t long before all the questions were whether she could turn into this creature, or that creature.

And she obliged them all. She even turned into a crocodile—as described by one of the girls who had seen a picture in a book from outside the fog. The girl screamed when she saw it, which earned her a demotion. Mags didn’t pick her again.

“This is awe-ful,” Mack said with a chuckle.

Poppy cocked a brow at him. “You mean awesome?”

“Right. Awesome.”

She grinned. “It is, isn’t it?” Despite everything, her chest felt warm, as if some little crack in her heart had healed up, sealing itself as the children asked their questions, and got their answers.

“Maybe this time you’ll actually see Strange Hollow … even though it won’t be quite the same with the whole town in bed,” Poppy smirked at Mack.

He gave her a playful shove.

They were just reaching the first houses of Strange Hollow when Mags turned to face her, and Poppy found herself standing a little straighter.

“I have a question,” Mags said as the crowd of children quieted around her.

Poppy stepped forward. “Ask. I’ll answer it if I can.”

“Part one. What do you think about the Grimwood—do you think it’s evil? Part two. What should we know about it … that we don’t?”

Mack let out a low whistle, and Nula threw up her hands.

Poppy swallowed, and considered her answer. “Okay. Part one. No, I don’t think it’s evil. I just don’t think it’s good either.” She paused and thought about the forest—about the Veena river as it ran over the rocks, and the Boatman. She thought about how Nula had come back again and again, even when she was scared. She thought about the song of the Mogwen, and the tentaculars, and the unicorns. “It’s the most beautiful, mysterious place in the world,” she breathed at last, watching Mags’s eyes light up. “And it’s the most dangerous and slippery one as well.”

“Slippery?”

Poppy lifted one shoulder. “You never know what you’re going to learn … and it isn’t always simple … or comfortable.”

“That’s obvious,” Mags scoffed.

“Okay, well, I think the Grimwood is … I think there’s a lot we still don’t know, and even more that we don’t understand, but I also believe that knowledge is the enemy of fear.” Poppy’s heart squeezed. Her father had said this so many times, she could almost hear his voice.

“So, you’re saying we should learn more.”

“Yes.” She glanced at Mack. “But we have to do that and still be cautious. Fear has its place, and so do rules … and respect.”

Mags thought about this. “What about the second part of my answer?”

Poppy shifted her weight. Next to her, a little boy was reaching up to touch Nula’s arm. The pooka gave her tail a mighty swish that forced him to jump back a step.

“That’s easy,” Poppy said. “Prudence Barebone.”

Mags scowled. “Who?”

Nula, understanding, handed Poppy the book along with her small silver knife.

Poppy opened to the woodcut of Prudence making the bargain with the Holly Oak where the inklings still slept. She made a small poke on the pad of her pinkie finger. Mags paled.

As her blood dripped onto the page, the inklings scattered, and the children pressed in.

“Let her through,” Peter called out, and the sea of children parted to let Mags and him to the front.

“What does it mean?” Mags asked, and for the first time, Poppy saw fear in her eyes.

Poppy didn’t answer, but she turned to the rhyme next.

“It’s not the same as the rhyme we say,” Peter noted.

“No,” Poppy agreed somberly. “It isn’t. This is Prudence Barebone’s promise. And it means we have to keep the peace with the wood.”

“The woods take people,” Peter said, his voice grave.

“The maledictions trick people out—that’s true,” Poppy agreed,