Underland, #1

by Rebecca Goodwin

  I swallowed against my dry throat. “Grams?” I yelled out.

  A flock of crows in an oak tree took flight, startling me. I inhaled deeply to calm myself and kept running down the path toward the forest. What if she’d gotten lost…or even hurt and couldn’t call for help? My heart ached so hard I worried I would have a heart attack. No, I couldn’t think of Grams hurt or worse. I had to keep faith that I’d find her and everything would be fine.

  This notion that I would be the one to find and bring her home rang through me like prophecy no matter if everyone else thought it was ridiculous.

  At a fork in the road, I twisted to the left, away from the college. Really didn’t want to have to deal with any college guys right now even if the campus was mostly empty because of spring break. Besides, I remember Grams saying she liked the quietness of the trees and always discovered something new when she went on her adventure walks as she called them. I remember her dragging me through forests and landscapes that seemed to go on forever. Or at least they appear that way when I was small. I’d get too tired and she’d have to carry me back to her house as I slept on her shoulder.

  The edge of the forest loomed before me and I shivered. Sunset would be in an hour but I could take a quick look around.

  “Grams?” I called out. “It’s me, Alicia.” Even though I knew she’d recognize my voice, the quietness of the tall trees and darkening canopy brought panic swelling in my chest.

  Nearby, a crunch sounded. I spun, my heart smacking against my ribcage. I glanced around to see if I could spot a clue or anything to show she’d been here recently despite my racing heart. Slowly, I inched forward, stepping over a crevice in the dirt. Trees and plants covered the area like this place had been untouched despite the college walking distance away. Vines suffocated a tree that had fallen over two feet away. I leaped over it. The wind whistling through the leaves, making me shiver. Had Mother Nature forgotten to turn off winter? I crossed my arms over my stomach, goosebumps covering my legs. My breaths came out in a white fog.

  This was totally messed up. The image of Grams cold and shivering made my steps quicken. I hiked another few yards, the temperature not warming. Seriously, what the he—”

  A screech echoed around me…coming from everywhere at once. A shadow dashed from tree to tree faster than I could track. Mountain Lion? I held back a shriek. My shaky hands going up to my throat. I stumbled back a few steps. No, couldn’t be, we were too far south. I reached to my hip to pull out my cell phone when I realized I’d left it at the house because my jogging shorts didn’t have a pocket.

  Shit! Here I was in the forest with no protection and no way to call for help.

  I pivoted so fast my sneakers skidded in the mud. A noise between a bellow and a roar broke the silence behind him. I ran.

  My lungs squeezed for air against my racing heart. But I didn’t stop. Didn’t turn and check if the thing chased me. Too many horror flicks where if the person looks behind them, they’re captured. I pumped my legs harder. My feet beating against the ground in a rapid rhythm. I had to get to Grams house. Bring back everyone with guns and flashlights and find out what that thing had been.

  Passing through the forest barrier, a stitch in my side had me slowing slightly. What was that thing? Had it…had it hurt my grandma? I covered my hand with my mouth as my stomach lurched.

  Another crunch like something had split a tree banged behind me like something big was chasing me. Is this what had happened to Grams? Bile shot into my throat. I had to get help. I ran. The police or National Guard need to get out here. Was the thing still chasing me? I peered over my shoulder and collided with someone and flew backward, landing on my ass. A scream erupted from my throat.

  “Alicia!” Rose grumbled, rubbing her shoulder. “What are you doing?” she asked, standing up then offering her hand to help me rise. “I thought you were going out for a jog not tromping through the forest.”

  “There was something in there…big.” With Rose by my side, my confidence increased. I didn’t see anything in the woods coming after us. “I don’t know what it was. Do you have your phone?”

  “Of course.” She pulled her cell out of her pocket. “Why?”

  I grabbed her hand and tugged her forward. “Come with me.” Figured whatever the creature was, couldn’t have gotten far and she could take a picture of it. Maybe whatever the animal was had taken my grandmother or she’d gotten scared like me and ran and was lost in the woods somewhere. We wouldn’t get too close, just enough to take a photo. That would be my proof to the authorities and a new search and investigation would have to take place and we’d find my grandma.

  “Alicia, wha—?” She stumbled after me.

  “Get your camera ready. There was a shadow…something huge in the trees.”

  For a long time, we hiked deeper into the forest until I found the spot of the fallen tree. Birds chirruped at us as if nothing was wrong. I spun in a circle, searching the treetops for the creature or even a hint of being there like a split tree branch or something. Nothing.

  “Sweetie, I know you’re stressed because of your grams missing and having to finish your exams before we could come out here, but I think you’re tired and must have hallucinated. There’s nothing here.” She replaced her phone. “It’s getting dark, we should head back to the house, okay?”

  Rubbing my arms, I nodded. Had I imagined something due to everything that had happened this week? And it didn’t seem like my grams was gone at all. Tomorrow, I’d return here and check the forest again and I’d bring my phone and mace or something. When I had a picture to show everyone about the huge creature they’d believe me and maybe put out a new search for grams. For now, I followed Rose back to the house hoping that I’d avoided the height of the condolences.

  The house was packed with people, but I managed to squeeze past them and upstairs to the room I was staying in before Mom saw me and had a stroke that I wasn’t ready yet. At family events like this, I swore she acted like I was twelve instead of nineteen. Six months ago we went to my second cousin’s wedding and she kept going on and on about how I was in college and not dating a boy right now. Which made my cousin fume since she had dropped out of high school and her wedding dress strained against her pregnant stomach.

  I shut the bedroom door and found a pale yellow sundress with matching sandals that had tiny white daisies up the side laying across the bed. I grinned. Rose must have raided my pack and decided to loan me one of her many outfits. I’d tell her thank you.

  Quickly, I shrugged out of my shorts and shirt, wiped down with a cloth, and slipped into the dress. The sandals were cute but pinched my toes and heel a bit. Nothing that I couldn’t handle for an hour or so. I ran my brush through my hair letting the long blond waves fall down my back. Facing the mirror, I let out a sigh. Time to go entertain.

  Grams had been great at big crowds and parties. Me, I’d rather listen and learn then make small talk to strangers. I squared my shoulders and headed downstairs.

  “There you are.” Mom grasped my hand and led me to an overweight gentleman in a nineties’ three-piece suit with slicked back gray hair. “This is Pastor Hogan from Gram’s church. They’ve been praying and out helping search for her.”

  “Nice to meet you, Alicia.” He stuck out his thick-fingered hand.

  I shook his hand. “Same to you.”

  After Mom dragged me to meet a dozen different people and seconds later, I forgot their names, she finally ushered me to help clean up a toddler’s spilled plate. I slipped into the kitchen. Across the countertop were dishes of lasagna and spaghetti. Grams made the best and I already knew by looking at the varieties that none of these even came close. A wave of nausea rolled through me at the sight because this confirmed that everyone here believed Grams was…I couldn’t even think the word.

  I spun, catching the edge of the kitchen counter with my hip. “Shit!”

  Across the kitchen, in the living room, Mom’s head bobbed as two women spoke t
o her. But her gaze drifted over to me as if she’d heard my curse in a house full of mostly church people. I gave her an apologetic smile which she gave me a nod of her head. One crisis avoided. I didn’t need the pastor or anyone coming and lecturing me.

  A young girl about five flounced into the kitchen with an empty plate. “More, please.”

  Before I could say anything she pushed her plate into my hands. “All right. Which one do you want?”

  “The pie and cake,” she whispered as though the desserts were a huge secret.

  Would her folks be okay with that? I glanced into the living room trying to pair up who this child might belong to.

  “I hungry now. More please.” She tugged at my dress but her voice rose an octave.

  Eyeing her plate, there was a tomato sauce smear across it. “Well, I guess it’s okay since you already ate.” After she pointed out which of the two pies and three cakes she wanted, I gave her a small slice of both and set the plate on the table. Then I poured her a glass of milk as well.

  My own stomach rumbled, and I cut a big slab of chocolate cake for myself along with another glass of milk and sat across from her.

  “You ate all your dinner too?” she asked.

  Clever girl. “Something like that.”

  Dad weaved into the kitchen with dirty plates and set them in the sink. With a wink at me, he dove back into the crowd which thankfully was starting to thin out. Guess no one wanted to stay too late and get stuck washing all the dishes and cleaning up.

  “Done.” The little girl pushed her plate toward me then scrambled down, disappearing into the living room.

  I busied myself with cleaning off the table, packing the leftovers I was sure were going to turn green in the fridge, and started washing the dishes.

  “Need help?” Blanca asked coming up beside me.

  “Sure, want to dry?” Thirty minutes later we were done. “Where’s Rose? Skipping out on housework?” I joked.

  “I don’t know. Haven’t seen her since you both came bac—”

  A howl vibrated through the air, and I froze. Wolves? Out here? What if Rose had gone back outside hoping to check out the college? What if that thing I’d seen got to her like it might have Grams?

  A man stuffed in a too-small white shirt that showed patches of sweat blocked my path out of the kitchen. “Why you’re the spitting image of your grandmother.” He grinned, patting his blotchy face with a napkin.

  “Thanks.” My fingers tightened into fists while I struggled not to bolt. As soon as he turned away, I grabbed Blanca’s arm. We’d search the house first to make sure Rose was indeed not here but my gut told me she wasn’t here. “Come ‘on, we’ve got to find Rose.”

  Chapter Three

  My heart thumping hard in my chest, I pushed past a dangling tree branch in the early morning sun. Both my besties helped me search for my grandmother and whatever that thing had been last night. What I saw couldn’t have been my mind playing tricks on me. But in the light, the forest didn’t look nearly as sinister as before.

  “What did this thing look like again?” Blanca rubbed her arms as she avoided an old truck tire laying in the grass.

  “I’m not sure. It was getting dark—”

  “Then how do you know it wasn’t just a huge squirrel or something?” She interrupted me with her question.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Whatever it was had to be bigger than me. And the animal or whatever crashed on top of a tree.”

  “You said you couldn’t see very well,” Rose said over her shoulder as she hiked in front of us.

  “Yeah, but its dark bulk blocked out the remaining light while leaping from tree to tree overhead.” I frowned, glancing up at the treetops that didn’t look strong enough to support what I’d seen. “I swear I’m telling you the truth as impossible as it sounds.”

  Blanca gave me a look of sympathy, and I blinked hard and fast as I weaved around her. Two years ago, she went through grief with her mom dying of cancer. We had to coax her to go to the doctor for something to help her sleep. Rose and I took turns staying with her those first months and making sure she ate. Just when she was starting to become normal again, her dad married her stepmonster who acted like she was the queen of the world and treated Blanca like a slave.

  “I think I found your monster,” Rose called out ahead of us.

  Flutters of fear and excitement beat in my stomach. I ran to Rose and skidded to a stop. She pointed to the top of a cluster of trees. An old tent lay tangled in the branches swaying in the wind.

  “Now can we go visit the college?” Rose waggled her eyebrows.

  I stood gaping up at the thing. That couldn’t have been what I’d seen. Had the wind been stronger than I’d thought and pushed this kite across the trees only to tangle up here? Maybe I was more tired than I’d thought with Gram’s disappearance weighing heavier on me than I’d let myself believe. Forcing a chuckle, I shook my head.

  “I’ll pass today, thanks.”

  “Oh come on,” Rose stuck out her bottom lip in a fake pout. “We tromped through the woods for you.”

  The idea of flirting with guys didn’t appeal to me at the moment. “Next time I’ll go with ya’ll. T-Thanks for coming out with me this morning and helping me search.”

  “No problem.” Blanca gave me a hug, Rose taking both of us in her crushing embrace.

  “All right, get out of here you too and I’ll catch up with ya’ll after lunch, okay?” I wiggled out of their arms.

  “’K,” they waved and left.

  For the next hour and a half, I pushed through the woods searching once again for Grams and not some mythical beast that was huge but so light that it didn’t break treetops. Which would explain why when I brought Rose back here with me the thing was gone as the breeze must have pushed it deeper into the forest. Still, my thoughts couldn’t equate what I’d seen last night to the image of the flapping mangled tent.

  Forget about it, Alicia. Concentrate on Grams.

  I shook myself and marched another half mile before the forest had thinned out so much there was little chance of someone missing my silver-haired grandma. And I needed to get something soon or I might see more crazy things. Breaking into a jog, I took the direct root back to the house.

  “Thank you for your donation of flowers,” my mom’s said on the porch steps facing the pastor from last night.

  Before she saw me coming from the woods and wrangled me into the conversation, I ducked toward the back of the house. I’d take the side door to get in and avoid having to make small talk. Behind the house stood the remnants of Gram’s garden. Weeds and dried plants showed far more damage and less care than the almost two weeks since my grandmother had vanished. Had she been sick before she disappeared? Maybe she had gotten scared and wandered off during the night before anyone realized she was gone? My chest constricted as I shuffled forward examining the mess that screamed her absence. Her rose bush branches lay limp and lifeless. Fig trees wilted and sun-scorched leaves.

  What had happened here? I ducked past the tall hedge of bushes Gram had set up as a barrier to her Garden Wonderland as she’d called it. Here was where I’d sit on a blanket and listen to her stories while she tended her garden. She reminded me of a fairy as she fluttered from one plant to another. I blinked back tears, swallowing against my raw throat. Crying never helped anything.

  Here, I could almost make out Gram’s voice. “Alicia, no matter what, always keep looking for the miracle in the every day.”

  She’d be so upset if she saw me now. I took a shaky breath to calm my nerves as I reached out to touch one of the closed morning glories that had shriveled to the size of my pinkie. Somehow Grams had been able to get them to open no matter what time of day and they’d been bigger than my hand before.

  I scrubbed at a tear and pivoted away to go back to the house when a narrow gap between the hedges near the red rose bush caught my attention. Had that always been there? I frowned and moved closer.

  B
eyond the opening, I couldn’t make out how far it went or where it led as shadows from the hedge kept it dark. That was weird. I squeezed through the gap onto a twisted path. How many times had I been in this garden, played here, helped Grams with her plants once I was old enough, yet I’d never seen this widening trail.

  Wait, what if Grams had gone through here and was just around the corner? I’d stumbled across this gap maybe everyone else had missed it too.

  I jogged deeper down the winding path. “Grams?” Trickles of unease ran down my spine but I had to know if she was here or not. “Grams!”

  The path opened up to an unfamiliar place of brightly colored flowers and trees. Purples and blues and golds that looked like they were painted rather than grown. This place couldn’t be real—there wasn’t enough space between Grams’ yard and next door—for all of this. Was I hallucinating again, like with the tent? Maybe I should’ve gotten something to eat before I ventured out here. I glanced over my shoulder to head back toward the hedge which now stood farther away than I thought it should and shrouded in shadow. Which was weird since the sun shone baked the top of my head as I walked.

  What if the reason no one could find my Grams was because everyone had searched in the wrong place? Could the answer to where she was be this easy?

  I checked my cell. Hmm…only three bars, but I had at least an hour before Rose and Blanca returned. Plenty of time to scope out the path ahead and find Grams if she was here.

  Ahead of me stood a thicker wood than what lay near Grams’ house. Not to mention the brightly colored flowers everywhere. It looked truly magical. A breeze bringing the scent of chocolate teased the back of my neck. What would it hurt to investigate this place farther? I set the alarm on my phone and pushed it back in my pocket.

  I took off down the path. At the edge of the forest with my heart hammering, I reached for the nearest tree that resembled a short pine tree but with massive leaves. The bark was warm and rough. Real.

  Something shone in the sunlight near a bush and I moved toward it. I bent down and brushed my hand over a garden trowel. Grams. It was hers with the cracked wooden hole that used to hang in the shed to the worn grooves where her hand rested whenever she used it.