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

aren’t in Strange Hollow? What if they’re on the other side of the wood?”

“In one of the other Hollows?” Nula’s voice hissed from the shadows. “They could be. I don’t know.” She twitched an ear. “But we’ve got packs ready back in the meadow. We can keep going if we have to.”

Poppy frowned. “I don’t even know how far Trader’s Hollow is, but it’s on the other side of the wood … so it’s days, at least.” Anxiety squirmed in her gut. What if they didn’t have days? What if she was too late?

“We’ll just have to do our best. We’ve got each other…”

Poppy bit her lip. “You’re right. We’ll search here, and if they aren’t in Strange Hollow, then we’ll have to find them the old-fashioned way.”

Nula’s gold eyes shone out of the darkness under the eaves. “What’s the old-fashioned way?”

Poppy grimaced. “Keep looking.”

They moved to the edge of town. The air smelled of petrichor and tomato leaves and night. Poppy inhaled deeply as they moved between the houses, staying close together and moving fast. Nothing seemed out of place or strange. There were no locks … or chains across a door to give away her parents’ location.

The town was quiet. They touched base with Mags twice as the night ticked past. Each time the girl shook her head, and each time, Poppy’s hope waned a little thinner.

Nula skirted a fancy two-story house with a newly thatched roof and three windows facing the street. She stopped at the edge of the house. “It’s time to turn back toward the square, Poppy.”

“Already? So soon?”

“Yeah,” Nula said in a low voice, but her eyes were pinned to the ground.

Mack and Mags, along with her brother and several of the other children were waiting. They looked exhausted. One girl had her shoes off and sat on the cobbles rubbing her feet.

“Anything?” Poppy asked.

Mack shook his head. Mags folded her arms, but her expression was apologetic. “We tried. We searched all the outbuildings and storehouses. There are a few abandoned houses that some of the kids checked too. There’s no sign that anyone’s being kept there.” She scowled. “I—I’m sorry. We did our best, but there’s nowhere else to look.”

Poppy felt her shoulders slump. They weren’t going to find her parents this way. “Thanks for trying.” She started to hand back Mags’s little whistle.

“Listen, Peter and I will make one more round and I’ll come to you in the square if we find anything. You … keep the whistle,” Mags added, giving them another apologetic look as Peter tugged her toward the other side of town. “We can’t stay out too much longer. We’ve got to get back before dawn.”

Poppy watched them go. The girl was fierce, kind, and clever—everything a girl should aspire to be. There was no telling what she would accomplish, but Poppy was glad Mags was on her side.

When the kids had gone, Mack turned to Poppy. “East or west?”

Poppy sighed. “Either. I guess. We’ll check around once more too … then we’ll get our packs and try to come up with a way to stop the governor.” She tried to ignore the feeling of despair that seeped into her heart like bog water. “After that—I guess we’ll see. Maybe my parents are in Golden Hollow.”

Somewhere in the square a door banged. Poppy, Mack, and Nula pressed themselves against the wall of a heavily roofed house. The thatch hung low, casting thick shadows over them. They all held their breath as a dark-haired woman hurried across the square with a basket on her arm. She jumped when a bird fluttered nearby collecting bugs from the cobbles in the dim light.

The woman glanced over her shoulder, as if she was afraid someone had seen her.

Poppy scowled. There were plenty of ways for people to be up to no good. There was no guarantee that the woman had anything to do with Poppy’s parents. But there was something about it that put Poppy’s teeth on edge—something that told her to trace the woman’s path.

Mack and Nula followed as Poppy slipped slowly around the back side of the clock tower, but there was no sign of the woman. She spun to stare back across the square.

Nothing. She was gone.

The sky was just beginning to glow in the east with the first hints of dawn. The cobbles gleamed wetly.

Poppy raced around the edge of the square with Mack and Nula on her heels. She checked down each side street, but all of them were empty and cold, still draped in the night’s shadows. Behind them a door slammed again and Poppy turned to see the woman disappear, this time into the shadows on the far side of the square.

Nula gave a low snarl.

“She could have come from anywhere,” Mack admitted.

“Except she didn’t,” Nula said, sniffing the air. She dashed toward the clock tower in the middle of the square with Poppy and Mack right behind her. When they reached the backside of the clock tower, which still lay in shadow, Poppy held her breath while Nula studied the stones. After a moment, the pooka cocked her head, reaching out to trace her fingertips over a thin line of shadow that stretched up the clock tower wall. “Here,” she said, her voice hushed.

Poppy let her breath out, shifting closer to see. A crack ran across the top. “A door!” She couldn’t hide. There was no handle, but the seal wasn’t tight enough to keep it completely hidden from view.

“There’s probably a lever or something,” Poppy said, sliding her hands over the stones.

“Too slow,” Nula grunted and levered her clawlike nails into the crack of the door. Nula pulled hard, and after a moment, Poppy slipped her fingertips into the cracks next to Nula’s so they could pull together. Mack stood behind them as they hauled back on the edge. As soon as the crack was big enough for his fingers, he took hold of it and yanked.

The door flew open, scraping against the cobbles with a terrible noise.

Across