Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 70779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
“Yes, that’s me. Willow Callahan,” I said. I had taken back my maiden name after I finally got a divorce.
“Well, Willow—welcome to Hidden Hollow,” Goody Albright said. “We’re something of a sanctuary town for Creatures and people who are magically gifted.”
“Magically gifted?” I shook my head. “But I don’t have any magic.”
“Are you sure, my dear?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I promise you, the Portal to Hidden Hollow won’t appear for just anyone, even if their need is dire. It only comes to those who have magic. No mere magicless mortal can pierce the veil that protects us, you know.”
I opened my mouth to deny I had magic again…and then I thought of how I had been able to open a doorway into the Other Side and how The Power had flowed through me like an electrical current.
And don’t forget the other door you opened, whispered a guilty little voice in my head. The one that let that Hell Hound through!
Ugh! Just thinking of the six-eyed beast—if it was only one beast—made my blood turn to ice in my veins. I shivered all over as though a chilly wind had rushed over me.
“Look at you, shaking like a leaf! We can’t keep talking out here in the street—it gets cold here during the Autumn months,” Goody Albright said. “Why don’t you come with me and we’ll have some nice hot tea to warm up?”
Feeling like I had little choice in the matter, I nodded.
“All right. Thank you.”
“Good, just come with me my dear. We’ll have a seat out on the sun porch and you can admire my garden while we talk. It’s quite lovely by moonlight,” she added.
Not knowing what else to do, I followed her up the steps of the huge Victorian mansion. The wide front porch was shadowy but I managed to make out a wooden sign by the front door. It had a stylized lion carved in it and the words over it said, The Red Lion.
“Oh, a lion!” I exclaimed and looked down at the iron key I was still holding.
“Yes, The Lion has been around since the sixteen hundreds—it was established not long after the Salem Witch Trials,” Goody Albright told me.
“No, I meant my key—the one my Grandfather left me. It has a lion on it. See?”
I showed her the key and she nodded her head.
“Well, now I know I was meant to help you. Thank goodness I was awake when you came to town. Just imagine if you’d gone knocking on doors and wound up at, say, Mr. Horn’s house. Minotaurs are so grumpy when you disturb their slumber,” she added.
“Minotaurs?” I asked, following her through the shadowy interior of the huge house. It was kind of like a maze inside, with long corridors that led in different directions, so I made sure to stay close to her.
“Well, it’s not fair to single out the Minotaurs—a Kraken would have dragged you down to the watery depths first and asked questions after too. Really, any kind of Creature can be alarming when you interrupt their sleep. It’s one reason people in the Human world call them ‘Monsters,” she went on glibly. “But they’re not really monstrous, you know—you just have to know how to get along with them.”
None of this was making any sense to me, but by this time we had reached the back of the huge, rambling structure and had stepped out onto a glassed-in back porch.
“Now you just have a seat,” Goody Albright said, indicating a small table that had two chairs. “I’m going to make you some of my best cinnamon spice tea. It will warm you up and then we can talk.”
She bustled off as I settled myself at the table. Through the glass widows I could see the garden she was so proud of spread out under the moonlight. There seemed to be wildflowers mixed in with a variety of vegetable plants and the effect was one of chaotic beauty.
Standing in the middle of the garden was a large marble statue. It appeared to have two faces and the one facing me was of a hideous gargoyle. I saw curving horns and twisted features scary enough to give anyone nightmares. Large bat wings extended from its broad, gray shoulders and spread wide in the moonlight. Just looking at it made me shiver.
“Here we go!” Goody Albright bustled back, carrying a silver tea tray in both hands. She set it on the table and I saw that it held a steaming teapot, two cups, a little pot of honey, and a small pitcher of cream. “I see you’re admiring my Garden Guardian,” she remarked.
“Yes, he’s…really something,” I said, nodding at the snarling face in the moonlight.
“You ought to see his other side, it’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said, smiling. “The face of an angel and the body of an Adonis.”