Chapter One: The House on Hallow Hill

From as long ago as she could remember, Teal had known that she was somehow different from the rest of her family. For one thing, she had black eyes; Piercing black eyes that shone brightly, lighting up her pale face, while the rest of her family had blue eyes. The hair that fell in layered locks around her face was deep brown, almost black and framed her face with bouncy side bangs that partially covered her right eye, much unlike the blonde hair that was characteristic of her family. The pale face underneath her dark hair was fair and pretty. Teal knew that she wasn't extremely beautiful, but she also knew she wasn't ugly either. She didn't let it bother her.

She was barely sixteen of average height and a thin build. She favored jeans and t-shirts more than anything else and usually wore dark blues or greens.

Teal was usually very bubbly, always joking and laughing. But she could be serious too, even though she tried not to show it much. Only her closest friends and family knew how she would get when she went off into her dreamland where she could spend hours y herself writing or reading, or simply just thinking. She was uncomfortable with the fake appearance she put off, but found herself unable to shake it off. That was one reason she was thankful for this trip with Jess. Where she could just be herself and let down her think emotional wall that she used to guard herself from what others thought of her. She knew that this trip was just the thing she needed.

This year, for her summer vacation, her parents had agreed to send Teal and her best friend, Jessica to England to stay with a distant cousin that lived in a place called Hallow Hill. Teal thought the name sounded strange, like that of a ghost town, but kept her worries to herself. Her mother had assured her that it was a perfectly serene place in the country, away from all the havoc of city life. Teal knew she would be grateful for the change.

It had been a while since they had boarded the plane in New York, and Teal had already fallen asleep twice, only to be woken up again by the harsh turbulence from the storm that their plane was flying through.

A particularly strong jet of turbulence hit the plane, causing Teal to hit her head against the window.

"Ouch!" She said, rubbing her head when the turbulence was over.

"What happened?" Jessica asked, yawning. Teal couldn't believe that she had actually slept through the last ten jolts of turbulence. Jessica was two inches shorter than Teal with dirty blonde hair, but she had an air about that gave the impression you were looking up at her. She was loud, most of the time and happened to blurt out the first things that came to her mind. She was a fairly good actress, but her Bright blue eyes usually gave her away. She was Teal's closest friend.

"A storm." Teal answered.

"But you said ouch…" Jessica prompted.

"Cause I hit my head." Teal said, feeling the back of her head again. Sure enough, she could feel a small bump beginning to form.

"Oh," Jess said, "Do you know if we're close yet? I'm tried of flying."

"I have no idea." Teal answered. She wished she had her ipod to listen to. But, since the war in Iraq was still going on, the airlines wanted to be as careful as they could. Technology was getting so advanced these days. Teal was wondering how it was possible to fit a bomb inside her ipod nano, when suddenly there was another jolt of turbulence.

"Ugh, I wish I was still asleep!" Jess said angrily, clinging to her armrests. Teal thought she looked quite funny, but it was best not to make fun of Jess when she was this irritable.

A voice came on over the loud-speaker.

"We will be arriving in London in approximately two hours."

There was a series of loud cheering from the tired passengers who, by now, were quite tired of the plane.

Teal sighed heavily. Only one more hour of feeling like my stomach's being ripped out of me, she thought to herself.

"So where are we going from the airport?" Jess asked Teal, collecting the magazines that had fallen onto the floor and between their seats. Our section is starting to look like my room, Teal thought, quietly laughing to herself. At least they hadn't spilled anything.

"Umm, I think my…cousin? no, some distant relative named George is picking u up and taking us to Hallow Hill." Teal answered. She thought she remembered her mother saying he was her cousin, but she couldn't quite remember.

"Oh…okay." Jess answered distractedly. "Geez, how many magazines did we bring?"

Teal laughed, "Like twenty, I think." They both laughed.

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London was even prettier than Teal had imagined it. Immediately when she got her first glance at the rain-covered city from the large windows in the airport, she knew she would love it here. She watched people hurry down the streets through the rain, and cars zoom by. She could only imagine that the quiet country-side would be even more beautiful.

"Uh, excuse me," Said a tall man wearing a suit, "But are you Miss Teal Dawkins?" The man had ruffled brown hair and bright blue eyes that sparkled even in the dim light of the airport.

"Yes," Teal answered, shaking his hand, "And you must be George." Teal was somewhat startled when he laughed at her.

"No, I'm his son, Danny." He said.

"Oh…sorry." Teal said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it." He said good-naturedly, "Hey, I thought I heard my father say that you'd have a friend with you."

"Oh, well Jess went to the bathroom, but I'm sure she'll be back in a minute or so." Teal replied hastily. Actually, Jess had been gone for at lest ten minutes, and Teal was beginning to wonder if maybe she had gotten lost.

An awkward silence followed which was broken by Jess's sudden return. She had large paper bag in her arms and a cup of hot cocoa.

"I got hungry." She said when she caught Teal's surprised glance.

"And bought a feast." Teal said, eyeing the huge bag. Jess laughed at her.

"This isn't food. I saw the gift shop and got a blue sweatshirt for me, and a black one for you." She dug into the bag and pulled out a black pull-over hoodie bearing "LONDON" in large gold print across the front. Underneath "London", there was a small design, also in gold.

Teal thanked Jess and then introduced her to Danny, who nodded at her.

"I have a car waiting outside to take us back to the house. I hope you don't mind, it'll be an hour drive at least." Danny said. He sounded like he wanted to leave, so Teal and Jess quickly gathered their belongings, with some help from Danny with the bigger bags, and headed outside where a black car was waiting for them.

Danny spoke to the driver in quick French, and then helped the girls into the backseat.

"I'll be driving in my own car, so I'll meet you there." He said, shutting the door and hurrying off to the parking lot.

It was soon dark outside, so Teal and Jess settled to telling the driver all about America, which he seemed very interested in. He couldn't speak very good English, but Teal and Jess knew enough French to be able to figure out what exactly he was saying.

" 'ere we are, ladies. Hallow Hill." He said, gesturing to the area around them. It was dark, and hard to see the detail in the landscape around them, but from what they could see, they knew it was beautiful.

They stopped in front of a three-story house that was white with a comfortable air around it. Teal thought that she'd like it here.

They had entered the house only to be bombarded by distant relatives of Teal's. The older women fawned over both the girls, and introduced themselves as Aunt Malaya, Aunt Corrina, Aunt Joanna, Aunt Emily, Aunt Margaret, Great-Aunt Maribell, and Great-Aunt Clara. The latter three explained that the would only be staying for one day, to make sure the girls were comfortable. After an hour, the Aunts decided it was much too late for proper ladies to be awake and showed them to their bedrooms on the second floor.

Teal, exhausted after her long day, had only lay in her bed, and seconds later was fast asleep. Unsettling nightmares filled her dreams.

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The next morning she woke to someone pounding on her door. It was Jessica.

"TEAL!" Jess yelled from the other side of the door, "Hurry up! They made pancakes!"

"Mmmrmph." Teal replied, burying her face in her pillow. She heard the door squeak open, followed by Jess's footsteps.

"Get up!" She said, yanking the blankets off of Teal.

"Fine," Teal said, "I'll be down as soon as I'm dressed."

"Good, and then after breakfast we can go exploring." Jess said, leaving Teal in the room by herself.

Teal was in no hurry to get dressed, and found herself more than once staring out at the woods not too far from the house. Her sense of adventure aroused within her and she made up her mind on her way down to the kitchen that the woods would be the first place she and Jess would go.

Breakfast lasted longer than Teal expected. All of the Aunts and Grand Aunts busily went around the kitchen, preparing for the big dinner that was to be held that evening for Teal's arrival. The Aunts were very nice and made sure that Teal and Jess were more that well-fed. By the time the girls were able to excuse themselves from the hectic kitchen, it was already half past eleven.

"I don't think I'll have room for lunch." Jess groaned as the girls excitedly made their way towards the woods.

"Me neither," Teal agreed, laughing, "I think I ate like five pancakes." The girls entered the woods laughing.

They picked a foot-worn path and followed it deeper into the woods, talking happily and joking.

"So did Danny tell you about the goblins?" Jess asked excitedly.

"No…when were you talking with him?" Teal asked.

"Oh," Jess said, slightly blushing, "I couldn't sleep last night so I went to get some water and there he was."

Teal laughed, "So tell me about these goblins." She prompted, feeling curiosity come over her.

"Well, Danny said that there's a big huge cave somewhere near here—maybe right under the actually hollow hill—where the goblins live." Jess said, smiling, "Danny said that many of the young girls that stay here have disappeared."

"Ha ha, Jess." Teal replied, "You should know that goblins aren't real." The girls had come to a river. Teal sat on a rock, with Jess beside her.

"How do you know?" Jess asked. "I think it'd be rather interesting if we met one, don't you think?"

"Jess! That's absurd. Goblins don't exist—just like dragons and wizards and all that other crap." Teal said, and then added, "It's just a story. Danny made it up to try and scare you."

"Dragons are real." Jess said. Teal laughed at her. She could be so impossible at times.

"Fine, don't believe me." Jess said, "But I'll find a goblin, just you wait."

Teal rolled her eyes.

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Teal and Jess decided to go back, just to make sure they had enough time to get ready for the banquet. It was already almost dusk, and the earth around them began to grow dim. They walked most of the way back to the house in silence, which gave Teal time to think.

She studied the trees and breathed in the fresh, clean air. She had never thought that she'd feel so at home in a forest. Teal wondered how long her relatives had lived here, and decided that it'd be best to ask. Maybe they could tell her more about the goblins and the mysterious disappearances Jess had spoke of.

Suddenly, Teal began to feel uneasy. She glanced around her nerviously, but saw nothing. The horrid feeling of being watched crept over her. She thought she could hear a voice from the shadows of the trees.

Before Teal could finish her thought, Jess let out a shriek and jumped away from the tree next to her. Teal, caught by surprise was ripped off her feet by the frantic Jess and feel over rock, hitting the ground hard.

"Ouch," She said, sitting up. "What's the matter with you?" But Jess was staring, horrified into the space behind the tree she had jumped away from.

"Something poked me!" Jess said, pointing to the tree. Teal's stomach felt worse now, and she could sense something terrible in the shadows beyond the tree.

"Jess, you're--"But Teal stopped mid-sentence, cut off by a wicked laugh from behind the tree. She instinctively grabbed Jess's arm and pulled her farther away from the tree. Jess was shaking hard. Teal felt her stomach get queasy. She knew they were in danger.

"Run!" Teal hissed, leading the way. She could hear footfalls behind them, heavy footfalls. Then more voices.

Teal pushed on, dragged the hysterical Jess behind her. They were both gasping for air, and Teal knew that they wouldn't be able to make it to the house before they both would collapse. To your left, she thought, to the clearing on your left. Without knowing what she was doing, Teal dove into a small circular clearing, dragging Jess down almost on top of her, where they both lay breathless for a couple of seconds.

"Teal, what was that for?" Jess asked, sitting up. They could no longer hear footsteps of voices.

"I tripped." Teal lied. Her reason for jumping into the clearing sounded strange to her, even, and Jess would think she was crazy if Teal told her.

"Clever," said a voice from outside of the clearing. It was a deep, almost musical voice with a booming quality to it.

Teal could hear two more voices, and then the three voices boomed with laughter.

"But what purpose does this serve you, my dear?" The voice was charming, Teal felt herself longing to walk toward the place the voice was coming from.

Teal snapped herself out of the trance. "Go away." She said.

The voice laughed at her. "Demanding little thing, aren't you?" It teased from the darkness. "Come to me," His voice took on a tone of almost musical quality.

Teal felt Jess grab her arm to keep her from walking forward.

The voice laughed again. "You win this time, Teal." It said. And then there were no more voices.

Teal and Jess, still terrified, stayed in the clearing for another hour before they were sure the owners of the voices had gone. They left the clearing in a hurry, running so fast they stumbled on the rocks and branches and ripped their clothes. The low-hanging branches looked like claws, reaching out and scratching the two girls as they ran pell-mell toward the house that they could now see in the distance. Teal felt a stinging sensation on her cheek and reached up to touch it. Blood dripped onto her hands, and she hurriedly wiped it onto her jeans.

Just great, She though sourly, I have blood all over my favorite jeans! She bit her lower lip to keep from crying from the pain now spreading up her leg. She hadn't even realized that her ankle was sprained until now. She probably wouldn't be able to walk for a week after this.

It seemed like ages before they finally came through the gate that led into the courtyard of the house. Teal, not paying attention to where she was running, ran head-long into a knee-high statue, which sent her sprawling onto the hard gravel. She lay for a couple of seconds, unable to move. She heard the door to the house open and then slam shut, but she didn't try to get up. All she wanted was to close her eyes…

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