Can Micah and Sarah get home in time?
Siblings Micah and Sarah visit their grandmother’s lake house every summer, but they never imagined that a seemingly ordinary jaunt to the beach would lead them to an adventure of a lifetime.
A remarkable find holds the key to a magical world known as Hogar Haven, a strange world where goblins rule and visitors are forced to fight for their freedom. When they befriend a cowboy in the magical land, they soon discover just how difficult life is for those trapped in Hogar Haven.
Soon, they find themselves working with the cowboy to help him save his horse, but they don’t have much time. If they don’t hurry, they just may find themselves trapped in the mystical world.
Can they find a way out before it’s too late?
Hogar Haven #1
The Cowboy and the Unicorn
Kristyn Gansen
Copyright 2017 Gansen Media, Minneapolis, MN
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, events, characters, and incidents are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons, places, events, incidents, or locations is entirely coincidental.
Summary: While visiting their grandmother for the summer, siblings Micah and Sarah discover a magical world created and inhabited by trolls. Odd things happen there, and it isn’t long before they realize they’ve stumbled upon something strange.
ISBN: 1977751474
ISBN 13: 9781977751478
To Mom and Dad, who have always encouraged me to tell my stories.
Chapter 1
“This is so boring!” Micah whined, plopping down on the sand next to his sister. “Why does Mom always make us come up here during the week?”
“What are you talking about?” Sarah said. “I love playing on the beach all summer. Want to help me dig to China?”
“You’ll never make it to China, Sarah. That’s too far away,” Micah said, rolling his eyes at his sister. Seven-year-olds could be so childish, Micah thought.
“Yes, I will!” Sarah declared, sticking her tongue out at her brother before she reached for a shovel. She started digging and took out three scoops before she realized he was right. “Well, maybe I won’t make it all the way to China today. I’ll just dig until I hit water instead.”
Micah rolled his eyes, but realizing he didn’t have anything better to do, he too grabbed a shovel and scooted next to Sarah. He reached into the hole Sarah had started, and before long the pair had dug a two-foot deep hole.
“This is starting to get boring. Are you hot too?” Micah said, wiping sweat from his forehead. “I’m going into the house to ask Grandma for some lemonade.”
Micah stood and started to walk away but stopped when he heard Sarah’s hoot. Turning around, he watched as she lifted a rock from the hole, holding it in both of her hands so that Micah could see the dingy-green color.
“Look at this rock I found, Micah!” Sarah exclaimed. “It’s kind of dirty, but I think it might shine if we try to clean it up!” Sarah stood and ran toward the lake. She dunked the rock in the water and scrubbed the hardened sand from the crevices. Once she’d cleaned the rock well enough, she lifted it from the water and walked toward her towel draped over an Adirondack chair along the beach’s edge.
Again, she lifted the rock for Micah to see. This time, Micah saw the rock gleam in the sunlight, and instead of looking dingy, it was actually kind of pretty.
“Let me see that,” Micah said, snatching the rock out of Sarah’s hand. “It’s kind of cool. What do you think it is?”
“Let’s go ask Grandma!” Sarah exclaimed.
Micah turned toward the house, leaving his sister to chase after him. She grabbed her towel from the chair, running to catch up with her brother. As she ran, she held her towel over her head, and it danced in the wind behind her. Grandma would never let her in the house without drying off first, and Sarah definitely didn’t want to miss whatever Grandma had to say about the treasure she’d discovered in the sand.
Micah reached the door to the cottage first and ducked inside, letting the door slam shut behind him. Sarah, just behind her brother, grabbed the door and whipped it open, trying her best to catch up with Micah.
She needn’t have worried since Grandma was just inside the door. As they had been digging on the beach, Grandma had been standing at the kitchen sink, washing dishes and watching her grandchildren play at the water’s edge.
“Grandma, what is this?” Micah said, proudly lifting the rock and setting it on the counter for his grandmother to examine. “We found it down in the sand when Sarah was trying to dig to China.” Still believing his little sister’s game to be ridiculous, Micah scoffed as he repeated her goal.
“Let me take a look-see here,” Grandma said, pulling her glasses down from her fluffy hair and settling them onto her nose. She picked up the rock and held it at arm’s length before pulling it in closer, a smile breaking across her face.
“Why, it’s goblin gold,” she said, rubbing the glass-like surface of the now-shiny rock. “This looks like a mighty large piece too. Where did you say you found it? In the sand?”
Sarah nodded. “I cleaned it in the water and dried it with a towel,” she said, proud that she’d made such a discovery. Still, she was confused. “But what is goblin gold?”
“Well, that’s a long story,” Grandma said as she ambled over to the shelf. “Let me grab this book, and we can look at some of the pictures while I explain. Goblin gold has been around these parts for many, many years, and so I have my own collection of photos here from when I was a child.”
Grandma picked up the book she was looking for and headed for the sofa. Sarah and Micah raced one another to reach the best seat on the couch—the one in the corner, where the couch bent into the shape of an L.
Grandma settled in between the two of them and appeared to be looking for something specific. “Ah, here it is,” she said, pointing to a reddish-pink stone that looked very much like the green one Sarah had discovered.
“This was the first piece of goblin gold I ever discovered,” Grandma said. “I found it when I was about your age, Micah. Yes, I was about nine years old, I think, and I found it down there on the beach, just like you two did.”
A confused look crossed Sarah’s face. “So it comes in all different colors. Grandma, why is it called goblin gold if it comes in every color except gold?”
“Well, because it does come in gold. In fact, the first person who discovered goblin gold found it in a beautiful amber color.”
Micah, who had been quiet up until this point, began to get impatient. “OK, OK, great, but what is it?”
“It’s the source of an old legend,” Grandma said, clearing her throat. “According to the tales, goblin gold was made many years ago by a group of small angry creatures who were tired of living among humans. The goblins, according to the tale, felt that they were being mistreated by the much larger, much stronger humans, so they created a magical world all to themselves.
“For years humans have called the magic land Hogar Haven, but I don’t know what the goblins actually call it. The gold is supposed to be a key to that special world where today the goblins are said to live all by themselves.”
“So we can use this to get to Hogar Haven?” Sarah asked as her eyes opened in wide, round circles.
“No, Sarah,” Micah sighed. “It’s just a story. It’s not really true. Who’s ever heard of goblins in real life?”
Grandma held up a finger. “Wel
l, hold on just a minute. No one has claimed to cross over into the goblin world for quite some time, but when I was a child, the neighbor down the street swore that he’d found Hogar Haven. Could he have just been telling us a tale? I suppose, but as kids we never really were quite sure if he was telling the truth or not. In fact, he claimed that the entrance to the goblin world was right here on our property.”
“Really?” Sarah asked, clearly excited by the idea.
“Yes, yes. Oh boy, now I’ve said too much,” Grandma said. “As kids, we weren’t sure, but as an adult, I’m certain that no such world exists. I don’t want you kids to go looking for something that doesn’t exist and end up disappointed when you don’t find it. Now, why don’t you two head back outside while I finish up these dishes? Dinner will be ready soon.”
Chapter 2
Sarah bounded out of the house and headed straight for the hole where she had found her treasure. She picked up her shovel and started digging again, determined to find more goblin gold. This time, she wanted to dig up a red piece, just like her grandmother.
Micah walked back to the beach more slowly. When Sarah glanced up at her brother, she could tell that he was thinking over everything their grandma had said. Micah sat down on the Adirondack chair next to where Sarah was working.
“So where do you think this magical world really is?” Micah said, after a moment of silence. “Grandma said it was supposed to be here on her land.”
“Maybe. But there’s a lot of land here,” Sarah said, as she stopped digging and looked up at her brother. She climbed out of the hole and sat on her hands and knees, leaning forward and perching on her hands so that she faced Micah. “How would we ever find it?”
Micah nodded because he recognized that what Sarah said was correct. Grandma’s property was huge, and to top it off, it backed up to a national forest. He wasn’t even totally sure which land was Grandma’s and which land wasn’t.
“I don’t know,” Micah said. “Do you want to go exploring and see what we can find?”
Sarah had been hoping that Micah would ask. She hopped up off the sand, grabbed her shorts, and slipped them on over her swimsuit. Her shirt and shoes were next, and she was off, headed toward the forest before Micah even realized she’d agreed to the adventure.
He also grabbed his shirt and shoes and chased after his sister, hoping to catch her before she got too far into the trees.
“Sarah, wait up,” Micah called. She stopped and turned, waiting for her brother to catch up. “I kind of have an idea. Follow me.”
Together, the two darted off between the trees, Sarah close on Micah’s heels.
They crossed the small creek that fed into the lake, hopping over stones to reach the other side, before they ran into a clearing. Despite his earlier complaints about being dropped at Grandma’s house every week, Micah knew that the property Grandma lived on was pretty special.
He just never knew how special until today. A magical goblin world? Really? Micah couldn’t believe it. The entire time he and Sarah were running, Micah could only think about how cool it would be—and what he would tell all his friends—if he really could find the mythical world.
When they reached the edge of the clearing, Micah turned to Sarah. “What do you think a goblin world would look like?” he asked his sister. “If we can come up with some ideas, maybe we will have a better idea of where to look.”
“Um, I know!” Sarah said, bouncing on her feet as she covered her mouth with her hands. “I think it would probably be kind of scary and dirty looking. Goblins aren’t really nice creatures, are they? It’s probably not pretty.”
“OK, so where do you think is the least pretty place on Grandma’s land?” Micah asked.
“I’m not sure,” Sarah said.
She and her brother both fell silent and looked at the ground as they tried to think of all the places they’d ever been when they were at Grandma’s lake house. Sarah tugged on her hair while Micah chewed on the corner of his lip.
“What about that crumbling bridge out by the wide part of the creek? The white-stone one that is covered in vines,” Micah said. “Or maybe out by where that rusted gate is, near the back driveway. It’s kind of gross out there, and no one ever goes out that way. Goblins could be hiding there.”
Sarah shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.” She sat down at the bottom of the tree, nestling in between two roots protruding from the ground. “But Micah, maybe it’s not in one of the bad areas. What if it’s in an open field like this? That way the goblins would have had lots of room to create the world.”
Micah thought about what she said for a minute while he looked around the field. He noticed some very large tree branches that looked as if they could be hiding something, but still, Micah wasn’t convinced.
“I don’t know, Sarah. Seems too obvious. But we’re here now, so we might as well look around and see if anything looks weird. You brought the gold, right?”
Sarah lifted the gold in both of her hands and showed it to her brother. Micah reached for it, but she pulled it back just out of his reach.
“I found it, Micah. I will hold it for now,” Sarah said, setting it on the ground next to her.
“OK, fine,” Micah said, raising his palms to face his sister. “Let’s just start looking around here and see what we can find.”
Ten minutes later, Sarah had found exactly twelve acorns, two caterpillars, and zero goblin kingdoms. Micah wasn’t quite so prone to distractions, but he had to admit that he’d found nothing of value either. It wasn’t for lack of trying. While Sarah explored the earth around her, Micah spent his time touching trunks, exploring the grass, pushing on tree knots, and stepping on molehills as he came across them.
He was about ready to call it quits and move on to another area, but before giving up on the clearing, Micah had two more spots he wanted to check out. Both were underneath towering trees. Because the trees were so large and Micah suspected that goblins were small, he wanted to make sure there was nothing interesting under the branches.
The first tree was a huge evergreen, and Micah quickly discovered that there was nothing to see underneath except for fallen pine needles and piles of pinecones. He moved on to the next tree, but at that point, he’d begun to feel like the search was kind of silly.
Micah walked over to the second tree, a massive weeping willow, and reached his arm out to brush away the hanging branches. The tree leaves split to reveal a large cave hidden behind the willow tree.
“Sarah! Hey, Sarah! Come check this out!” Micah called. Sarah couldn’t see Micah anymore, but she heard the excitement in Micah’s voice and hopped off the ground, running to the spot where she thought she’d heard his voice.
“I’m under this willow tree, and you’ll never guess what I found in here!” Micah called.
Sarah sprinted to the tree and ducked underneath, just in time to see her brother disappear into the mouth of a large dark cave. As she got closer, Sarah could see his outline just a few feet inside the cave door.
“Well, this is definitely creepy,” Sarah called to Micah. “What do you see in there?”
“Not a lot. It’s kind of dark in here, but I think this could be it! Look!”
At his encouragement, Sarah set the gold on the ground and ventured past the cave opening, bravely following her brother into the dark recesses of the creepy, creepy cave.
Chapter 3
Inside the cave, Sarah and Micah stood still for a moment while they let their eyes adjust to the darkness. Sarah shivered and moved her hands to her shoulders, crossing her arms on her chest. Micah sniffled for a moment before he sneezed. His nose didn’t like the musty, dank smell of the cool cave.
“Can you see anything?” Sarah asked. “My eyes are starting to adjust. It looks like there’s nothing here.”
Micah reached out and cautiously touched the wall of the cave. It was hard and felt a little wet, though he wasn’t sure if it the wet feeling was just the cool stone meeting his
fingertips. The wall was pockmarked with small holes and tiny cracks. Micah ran his fingers over the rough surface, looking for anything unusual.
Sarah watched her brother explore the walls of the cave and decided to do the same. As she was exploring the opposite wall, she came across a small carved picture.
“Micah, look at what I found! It looks similar to hieroglyphs—like some pictures telling a story!” she exclaimed. Micah came rushing to her side, and together the siblings squinted closely at the markings.
The image was a series of three pictures. The pictures were difficult to see clearly in the dim cave, but in the first Sarah could make out a young boy smiling. In the second the young boy’s head sat atop a flower stem, and in the third his head looked like a flower blossom. Only his eyes and mouth remained.
“That’s really weird,” Micah said. “It looks like it might be a kid turning into a flower.”
“Huh? Why would someone draw a picture of that?” Sarah wondered aloud.
“I don’t know, but this cave kind of gives me the creeps,” Micah said. “I don’t think there’s anything special here. Let’s go back to the house. Grandma said it was almost time for dinner. We can search more tomorrow.”
Sarah nodded and headed for the mouth of the cave. She brushed away the willow branches and immediately turned to the right, bending to pick up the goblin gold she’d left outside the cave.
Unable to see the stone, she ran her hands through the grass and weeds, thinking that maybe it had fallen underneath the plants. It wasn’t there.
“Micah! The gold is gone! Where could it have gone?” Sarah asked, her voice quivering in disappointment and fear.
Micah was still standing at the mouth of the cave, holding the willow branches away from his body with his extended arm. He was looking straight ahead, his mouth hanging open in astonishment.
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