Missing in the Hollows: Hollow Hills Explorers Series—Book 2

By Patricia Komar

A student goes missing from Hollow Hills Middle School. Students report seeing Callie in the early morning hours sitting in the hallway. And that was the last time anyone saw her. Even the police cannot find any leads. Teachers ask students to report any information. Has she become a runaway? Sounds like a quest for the Hollow Hills Explorers.

Go along with the Hollow Hills Explorers--Dalton, Faith, Finn, and Oliver--as they follow the trail and the evidence that Callie left behind. Even though Faith was bullied by Callie in a scheme to make her look bad in front of the whole school and her boyfriend, Dalton, Faith and Dalton will use their tracking dogs, Spirit and Keeper, to help find her. As Callie wrestles with her own conscience and finds herself surrounded by strange, mysterious, paranormal phenomena as she struggles to survive, the Hollow Hills Explorers and Spirit and Keeper follow their noses to discover a mysterious portal at the front door of the school--and they might be the first dogs to travel to other times and dimensions!

Join the Hollow Hills Explorers in the second book of the Hollow Hills Explorers series as they tackle exciting new adventures involving survival, mystery, paranormal happenings, time travel, and meteor showers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Feb 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781480825253

Patricia Komar

Patricia Komar lives in a village nestled in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Weaving storylines through landscapes she has explored from the Canadian and Colorado Rockies to the severe hiking trails of the Swiss Alps, and lastly while meandering in her canoe and kayak in serene bays of the San Juan Islands, Patricia spends this time imagining characters and tales for her next book. She writes fiction books and has been a featured writer for Modern Dog Magazine and USA Today Magazine. Patricia studied Expressive Arts Therapy and Education at the European Graduate School in Switzerland along with studies in New York, Colorado and British Columbia. See more at www.patriciakomar.com

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Copyright © 2016 Patricia Komar.

www.patriciakomar.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock and Shutterstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-2523-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-2524-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-2525-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016901135

Archway Publishing rev. date: 2/18/2015

CONTENTS

Chapter 1   The Explorers Come Back

Chapter 2   Faith Rocks and Callie Walks

Chapter 3   A Lunchtime Apology

Chapter 4   Could they be Aliens?

Chapter 5   Callie Is Missing!

Chapter 6   Faith Meets the Blue-eyed Spirit

Chapter 7   A Wild Spirit Needs Training

Chapter 8   Callie Discovers the Other Dimension

Chapter 9   Faith and Dalton Learn the Skill of Tracking

Chapter 10   Callie Finds Comfort at her Beach Shelter

Chapter 11   The Explorers Shoot for the Orionid Meteor Shower

Chapter 12   A Dog’s Nose Knows How to Find the Missing

Chapter 13   Callie Searches for Food

Chapter 14   Spirit and Keeper Track Callie’s Trail

Chapter 15   The Trail Leads the Dogs to another Dimension

Chapter 16   The Ghost and the Wily Coyote

Chapter 17   Callie Meets up with the Braided Lady

Chapter 18   The Haunting of the House on Apple Street

Chapter 19   The Explorers Track through Time

CHAPTER 1

The Explorers Come Back

Flames danced above embers, glowing a bright reddish-orange. They illuminated the darkness and kept the chill of the dense forest at bay. The crackling of the fire was the only sound. The Hollow Hills Explorers sat close to the fire on logs cut from the 1890s forest. Their adventure had been successful, you could say, except they didn’t know if they could return home to the present.

Finn’s voice erupted through the quiet. Hey, you guys. It’s getting late, and we have to get back before it’s too late.

He’s right, Oliver said. But we may not even be able to get back. We’re in the 1890s, remember? Check out the loggers’ camp over there.

Everyone looked over at the camp. Most had gone to sleep, save a few who played cards late into the night with their kerosene lanterns burning brightly. Tents glowing in the darkness on the hillside added to the eeriness of the situation.

Dalton tried to calm everyone down. Okay, okay. We haven’t even tried. Remember what Tom said. All we need to do is find the stump with the ax stuck in the middle.

Well, that solves one problem! Finn exclaimed. But how about on the other side? The school doors are locked on Fridays after the last football tournament game is played and the players have all left the locker room.

Faith tried to stay rational. How long have we been out here? What time is it, anyway? The last game probably hasn’t even ended.

We’ll never know if we don’t get up, leave the Hollows, and head back through that dark forest, Dalton said.

Tom, their new logger friend and a ghost, suggested, Tell ya what, guys. Why don’t I go back with you? I know these woods. The trail you came in on doesn’t exist yet ’cause we’re in the 1890s. Right now, that forest is dark as coal. Come on. Everyone follow me.

They took one last look around. It was a crisp, clear night, and the moon sat high in the sky, illuminating the clearing in the woods that would become known as the Hollows. Huge, hollowed-out stumps that had at one time been giant redwood and cedar trees surrounded the explorers. Loggers had cleared the area and left the stumps, some short and some taller than ten feet.

The explorers looked around at the stumps. They could see cuts axed into the stumps that loggers jammed their springboards into, making them sturdy enough to stand on while holding onto saws and cutting through the trees. Tonight, the fire lit up the stumps, and the cuts looked like eyes, mouths, and an ear here and there. Some of those faces didn’t look friendly.

Well, enough looking. Let’s go, Finn said.

I had a great time, Faith said. I still can’t believe we’re in the eighteen nineties. I only hope we can make it back to the right time—our time.

Finn was growing more impatient by the minute. I’m heading back now. I left my homework at school. If we don’t get back there in time, the custodian will have closed up for the weekend, and those doors will be locked until Monday.

He’s right. We better move, Oliver said.

Okay, let’s stay close, Dalton ordered. Tom will be in the lead, and I’ll bring up the tail end. Keep your eyes on the one in front of you.

Faith took out her new cell phone. I have a flashlight app. If my battery holds out, we’ll have light. She turned it on and pointed its beam toward the forest. Chills ran up her spine. She remembered the first time she had seen the apparition in the forest. She looked around for more ghosts. She thought, If there is one, there might be more.

The Hollow Hills Explorers—HHEs for short—formed their expedition lineup. Tom, their new ghostly friend, was in the lead, followed by Oliver, Finn, Faith, and Dalton. Tom knew the way. He’d walked the forest hundreds of times before the loggers cleared parts of it and before the big thunderstorm that had changed his life forever. Fire had ripped through the forest, taking with it many of the ancient redwoods and cedars. It left a charred and smoldering home for Tom.

Worse yet, a bolt of ball lightning had struck Tom as he brought his ax down into a tree. Ever since, he had walked the forest, watching it come back to life with ground cover, bushes, and new trees. Over the years, he’d also witnessed the coming of settlers and, most recently, the construction of Hollow Hills Middle School.

Darkness and silence held the forest captive that night, save for the odd owl calling out, Whooooooo.

Whoooooooo goes there? Finn called to the owl. Deep in the forest, there came an answer not from another owl, but from a coyote. Yip, yip, yip, yip, yaaooooooh! Another coyote called out from even deeper in the woods, Yip, yip, yaaaaaooooooo!

Okay, that’s it, Finn whispered. Then he yelled, Let’s run!

As they ripped through the forest, they could hear yet another coyote crying out from the south, Yip, yip, yip yayayayayaya.

From the north, somewhere up Snake Hill Trail, a chilling cry added to the coyotes’ chorus. Yaaaaooooh!

This can’t be good, Faith said, feeling a shiver race up her back as she tried to keep up with Oliver.

Oliver yelled back, Sounds like a choir. One coyote sings out, and a little later another sings, followed by the next like a canon—row, row, row your boat.

Yeah, I wish I had a boat right now, Finn yelled up to Oliver. I’d like one with wings that could fly me to the school’s big green door.

It was too late for any such wishes. They were deep into the forest with its waist-high, trembling ferns, soft moss underfoot, and trees with branches reaching out like arms, threatening to grab lost hikers. Suddenly, a coyote, so near and so loud, cried out, Yaaoooooowoooo! Yip yip yip yip yip yaaoooowoooo!

Finn, darting like a bolt of lightning from the sky, made a whooshing sound as he ran right through Tom, followed by Oliver, Faith, and Dalton. They ran like wild animals through the century-old forest, hooting and howling along with the owls and coyotes.

The crazy run ended when Finn tripped over a rock and tumbled over and over, coming to rest against a log. The others followed suit, stumbling, rolling, and finally landing on top of each other in a big dog pile.

Tom, who had turned into his usual ghostly self, floated over the jumble of bodies and said, It’s okay. The coyotes are only testing boundaries, calling out to each other and locating members of their pack.

The explorers untangled and got up. Faith located her cell phone and shined its flashlight through Tom. He looked like a wispy puff of smoke with a face floating on top.

Okay, Tom said, follow my lead, stay calm, stay in line, and we’ll get there.

Crrrraack!

What was that? Finn asked.

Sorry, that was me, Dalton replied. I stepped on a branch.

The troop of HHEs made their way through the dense forest by the faint light of Faith’s cell phone flashlight, something the loggers knew nothing about. Now and then the light shone onto Tom, brightening his back and illuminating the path. Most importantly, it comforted them. They felt everything was okay—especially Faith, who had come from a city, where lights shine from every street corner all night long.

High atop a branch sat an owl, his large, round eyes observing the odd lineup following the light snaking through the forest. A lone coyote stood with absolute stillness atop a rock, keeping a careful watch on the strange pack. The forest became still, and even the coyotes held onto their yips. Now darkness was their only companion.

An owl hooted, Whooooooooooo!

Aaaaaaah! Faith yelped.

It’s only an owl, Dalton said. Just keep walking.

Tom was the first to come to the stump. We made it. We’re here. The ax embedded into the center of the stump reflected Faith’s light.

We’re here, but where is here? Dalton asked.

In approximately one hundred years, this is exactly where they’ll build your school, Hollow Hills Middle School, Tom replied.

Let me check it out, Finn said. I brought my GPS, and we already proved it can work across dimensions and times, so I should be able to determine our precise location.

Stand right here next to the stump and ax, Tom instructed.

Finn pressed buttons and triangulated with three satellites to pick up latitude and longitude in exact degrees. When the readout was clear, he announced, Oh yes! We’re in the exact same location as the front door of the school.

But how do we return if the school doesn’t exist? Faith asked. It’s the doorway that takes us to another dimension.

Okay, everyone, Tom said. Gather around the stump and ready yourselves. I’ll count down from five, and I’ll yell, ‘Go!’ Ready, everyone? Grab hold of the ax handle. Y’all have to do it at the same time, or someone’s gonna get left behind.

Faith listened to the sound of feet shuffling in the dirt as everyone gathered around.

Hey, let me in, said Finn.

More shuffling.

Whoooooooooo! hooted an owl from the heights above.

Whew! What’s that smell? Eeeooooh, Faith said as she crinkled and pinched her nose.

Snap! Snap! Cruuuunch!

What you’re smelling, my friends, is a bear, Tom said, looking into the forest beyond.

Bushes shook and shimmied. Out sauntered two bear cubs.

Faith said, Oh, how cute.

Tom declared, You won’t think they’re so cute when the mama bear following about ten yards behind comes out and thinks she needs to protect her cubs from you guys.

Hurry, everyone! Dalton ordered. Tom, I can see everyone. I’ll count. He looked around and with the aid of Faith’s flashlight saw that everyone was in ready position. Okay, everyone get ready to grab hold of the ax handle right after one.

The countdown began. Five! Dalton barked. Four … three … two … one … grab!

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They grabbed hold of the ax and suddenly, before their eyes, a giant bubble of white surrounded them then popped with a loud bang and flash of white. Shades of red flashed, followed by orange,