Chapter 3
-The Hollow-
The forest was a dreadful place. It was dark—darker than any night. The fallen leaves rustled, sounding oddly like footsteps. As they walked, everything seemed to be twisting and turning around them. The trees no longer looked like plants. No, they were now gaunt giants, swaying back and forth, making horrible faces. What a dreadful place indeed.
Terrified, Emily squeezed Nameless's hand, throwing glances at the shifting shadows.
The tiny raincloud above his head kept striking the umbrella with bolts of lightning. Emily found it comforting. It brought light around them and blocked out the disturbing sounds.
Deeper into the wilderness, Emily began to notice something strange about the way the shadows moved. They would sometimes stay very still, almost as if they were hiding. Other times they would zip playfully from tree trunk to tree trunk.
That was when she realized it. The darkness wasn't just touchable. It was watching them; it was getting closer; it was alive. Emily could tell—and the thought of it sent chills down her spine.
They didn't get much farther when a puff of black dust flew into her face. Wiping it off, she noticed more dust drifting on the winds. It looked like black snow. She was afraid to touch it. She scrunched herself under the umbrella, but some of it managed to land on her bare arms. It was cold, like snow, but wouldn't melt. Shuddering, she brushed it off.
Nameless looked up. A few black flakes fell before his eyes.
“I have a feeling it's about to get worse. We should try to find shelter.”
They started running as soon as the black dust began falling heavily like a blizzard. He held her hand tight and guided her through the forest. Emily used her other hand to keep the dust from her eyes. She couldn't see anything at all.
“Just a little farther,” she heard him say.
Emily tripped over a rock and fell face-down. Heaps of dust piled up on her back. Gasping, she groped in the darkness. She panicked, wondering if he was still nearby. Suddenly she felt a hand grab a hold of hers. Relieved, she got back on her feet and ran.
They rushed straight into a small clearing where the dust did not fall. For some reason the storm could not reach the spot where they stood. Catching her breath, she looked over her shoulder and saw the storm raging behind her.
“We made it.” Emily wiped the sweat from her brow and looked to her side. Much to her surprise, the only thing standing next to her was a tree. She wasn't holding onto a hand, but a branch of the tree. Bewildered, she let go of the branch.
Emily looked around the clearing. Near the middle of it, a giant, hollow log was sticking out of the ground diagonally. It was huge. Emily gawked. It looked bigger than a cave. The log was so massive it made Emily wonder if she had shrunk to the size of an itty-bitty bug.
And that was when she heard a voice. Emily... It was a voice calling her name. Emily... There it was again. It sounded like the voice was coming from below.
She climbed into the mouth of the log and peered down the hole. It seemed bottomless.
Hands cupped around her mouth, Emily shouted, “Hellooo?” Her voice echoed. “Nameless?” She waited for the echo to pass, then stopped to listen.
“Emily...”
Her knees bent, Emily stepped forward. Slosh. She made a face. A thick layer of moss was growing on the wood and it was soaking wet. Afraid to take another step, she turned. But before she could climb back out, her foot slipped. The moss was so slippery she couldn't stop herself from sliding. Down and down she went, rolling and twisting and turning.
She kept on tumbling for a long time until at last she fell out of the log and landed face up on a bed of grass. Sprawled on the ground, Emily blinked in surprise. It was fairly bright now.
She gazed in wonder. She had fallen into an underground cavern. There were many vines hanging from the ceiling, and on those vines were glowing fruit. Even the grasses that covered the ground appeared fluorescent. It was a beautiful glowing garden.
Then Emily felt something squirm under her back. She got off the floor to see what was there. She had fallen on a book—a very strange book that looked like it had the body of a little person. But that wasn't quite right, Emily thought. There was a little person, yes—but the book wasn't the head of the body. It looked more like the book was eating the head. Emily had heard her grandmother talk about getting in a book. But she never imagined it to be so... physical.
The body jumped up and began screaming in a muffled sort of way.
“Mmfumph! Mmhumph!” it said, waving its arms frantically.
“I'm sorry,” said Emily, “I don't understand—”
Another voice said, “He's asking, 'Why'd you sit on my head?'”
Emily could have sworn she saw the book flap its pages in a way that resembled a mouth.
“Did you just say something?” she asked.
Two small slits on the book cover opened up. They were like eyes—little, tiny eyes. Emily blinked. The eyes blinked back. This book was very strange.
“Why, yes, I did say something,” said the book. “Is there a problem with that?”
“Oh, no,” said Emily, shaking her head, trying to sound calm. “It's just, everything is very new for me. Very surprising. Very... I'm sorry—” She couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer. “—are you eating a head?”
“I am not eating a head,” said the book, glaring at her. “So do stop staring at me like I'm some sort of brain-eating zombie. What I'm eating are memories. Oh, how I wish there was a way to get to the memories without—ugh, can't even talk about it. If only he'd wash his head more often, maybe I'd have less bad breath.”
Emily was unsure of what to say to something like that. She just gave the book a little smile and an understanding nod.
The hands of the body suddenly reached up, plucked the book off its head and threw it to the ground. Emily was surprised to find that the body did not belong to a little man, but a large mushroom! The mushroom man was about three feet tall from cap to toe. Its hands had stubby fingers and its feet were fitted inside black boots. He wore clothes like a person and even had on a backpack nearly as big as him.
The mushroom snapped at the book, “Where do you get off, insulting me like that?”
The book growled, “Senn, that hurt! I told you not to throw me!”
“And I told you never to insult me in front of strangers. It's bad for the rep.”
“I wasn't trying to insult you. I was simply stating facts.”
The mushroom growled, “I'll have you know that the flavor of my head is an opinion!”
Emily scrunched her lips together as she watched the book and the mushroom man bicker.
“Um,” she began softly.
Flushed with anger, they turned to her and shouted in unison, “WHAT?”
They clearly did not look ready to listen to reason. But maybe they would listen to orders.
She placed her hands on her hips, leaned forward and snapped, “I've had it with you two! Stop fighting! NOW!”
Startled by her bossy attitude, the two of them shrunk back and became quiet.
“Yes, ma'am,” they muttered under their breath.
“Call me Emily,” she ordered. “And stop mumbling.”
“Yes, Emily...”
“Good,” she said, straightening up and crossing her arms. “Now what are your names? Or should I just call you mushroom man—”
“Please don't ever call me mushroom man,” he said sharply. “My name is D'Senn Etall, but you can call me Senn. This book here is my companion Cecil.”
“Okay, Senn,” said Emily. “But you are a mushroom man, aren't you?”
“I'm nothing like a mushroom man. Isn't it obvious I'm a shroomen?”
Emily shrugged. “I've never met a shroomen before.”
“You've never—?” Senn said, sounding surprised.
“The truth is, I've never really met anyone else before,” she said. “For as long as I can remember, I lived in the
forest with my grandmother. What about you? Do you guys live here too?”
“No, we're explorers,” Senn said, puffing up his chest. “Or at least we were until.... Well, until this happened.”
“Until what happened?” she asked.
“The forest, of course,” he said.
“What about it? What happened?”
He frowned. “Cecil, give me a hand here. She still doesn't get it.”
Cecil hopped over to Emily's feet, flipped open his cover and stopped at the first chapter.
“Go on, give it a read,” Senn told her.
Emily shrugged, picked up the book and read it aloud: “The Forest of Eternal Darkness. Legend has it there is a wishing well at the heart of the forest that will grant your every desire. But beware not to enter this forest, for those who enter... never return. If you stand near the forest, you can hear many strange sounds. Some say they're the sounds of lost souls wandering forever in the darkness.” She looked at Senn. “You know, that kind of sounds like this forest.” She paused. “Oh...”
“Now do you get it?” said Senn. “We didn't want to come down here at first. No, we wandered up there for hours. But no matter which way we went, we ended up at the same place, back at the log. We kind of just gave up. I figured we might as well see what's down here.”
“And? Have you found anything?” Emily asked.
“We were just about to take a look,” said Senn. “Care to join us?”