A distant cry sounded. It might’ve just been a bird... or possibly something much worse.
I took another step toward the open door.
No light came from the hole above anymore. The sun had officially set.
All I had was the flashlight on my phone and a couple garden tools.
If she closed that door, I’d be thrown into pitch-black darkness.
“Are you coming?” Lore called, inside now.
My feet took me a few more steps on instinct before I stopped, glancing back. Terrified or not, I needed to go down one of those dark tunnels. But which one?
“You said you were looking for some people?” Lore asked, still holding the door open.
Spinning back around, I squinted at her.
Warm light spilled out of the tunnel, silhouetting her as she stood in the doorway.
“That’s what you said when you first arrived,” she reminded me when the suspicious silence lingered.
Oh. That’s right.“Why do you ask?”
She shrugged. “Maybe we can help you.”
A fae, help me? Doubtful.
I hesitated though. She’d said “we.” Maybe someone else inside had seen them. Honestly, I didn’t have the guts to waltz down one of those dark tunnels alone with only the flashlight on my phone. It practically screamed, “I’m prey, come eat me!” to anything that crept along in the dark.
I drew closer to the light. Fresh out of plans at the moment, all I knew for sure was I didn’t want to be left in the dark.
At the threshold, though, I halted, head nearly brushing the low doorway. I’d just put the shovel and weeder back into my coat pockets, but my fingers twitched toward them again. “How do I know you’re not one of those boggart things?”
From inside, Lore snorted a giggle.
I crossed my arms.
“Oh, you’re serious.” She tried to stop laughing. “I’ll forgive you for being rude since you’re obviously human. Have you never seen a boggart before?”
My lips parted. I wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Obviously human? Is it not always obvious?”
For some reason, that made her laugh again.
She waved for me to follow her inside.
I reluctantly obeyed. Taking in the space, I flinched when the door slammed shut. It felt like I’d made the wrong choice. No, more like I’d run out of right choices.
The ceiling was at least twenty feet high. Shelves of books covered the walls, along with multiple nooks and crannies to sit and read. Along one wall, two soft-looking couches plus a few colorful armchairs rested around a brick fireplace with a toasty fire warming the whole room.
It felt like a home, honestly. Though, judging by this main room, it wasmuchlarger than mine. Beyond the bookshelves, at least two more tunnels led farther underground.
Maybe if I was lucky, my family would be here.
I wasn’t usually that lucky though.
“It looks like a tall hobbit hole,” I murmured to myself as I absently followed her through the shelves.
“What? The burrow? I don’t know what that is, but it sounds offensive.” Lore stopped abruptly, and I almost ran into her. “Probably shouldn’t say it to him.”
