I do not own the rights to the Hollow Kingdom or song.

Heffalumps and Woozles

Alex didn't waste the rest of the summer doing nothing. Instead, with Finn's help they had done some research on the Hallowed Hill area and made an interesting discovery—every fifty years or so a girl or two would vanish without a trace. This pattern went back hundreds of years. Alice went missing in 2010, Edith Peterson in 1966, Agnes Middleton in 1965, Jessica Dunkle in 1911, Colette Chevalier in 1910, Charlotte Richardson in 1861, Katherine and Emily Winslow in 1815, Annie Graham in 1800, Adele Roberts in 1745, and the list went on and on.

"So?" Alex had asked Finn. "I don't see what's so remarkable. There are probably dozens of other areas with a similar pattern."

"That may be true," Finn answered, "but what are the odds of those dozens of other areas having such a similar M.O. pattern? The girls all went missing in the middle of the night. Some while with large groups of people, or even at the lodge itself. Nobody ever saw a thing, and in some instances slept so soundly they didn't hear anything either. In fact there is one account of a cook having a late dinner, only to fall asleep with his face in the soup."

Alex looked at him unconvinced.

Finn continued. "No trace of the girls was ever found. No clothes, no body. In the cases of Charlotte, Adele, Kate, Emily, and another girl named Belinda who went missing before them, all were related to the masters of the lodge who would no doubt pay a hefty sum to get them back. Except no ransom demand was made in any of the cases."

"So what happened to them then?"

"Local legend explains their disappearance due to goblins and elves. Katherine and Emily even at one point reportedly begged to be sent away because they were convinced the goblin King was after them, while Adele disappeared while looking for goblins."

"Do you believe that goblins and elves are responsible?" asked Alex, putting her elbow on the table, and setting her chin into in.

Finn rolled his eyes at her. "Of course not. Like you I believe that there is a perfectly rational explanation. Perhaps they were taken for secret pagan sacrifices by the locals." Seeing Alex's doubting look he proposed another theory as well. "Or perhaps there is a secret group of nomads in the woods who kidnapped them for brides. They themselves came up with the goblin and elves legends to protect themselves from outsiders."

"And the fact that there has been no evidence found supporting this theory?" Alex pointed out.

"The Reserve is big enough. The lake itself is 3.75 miles long and numerous caves have been found throughout the area as well. There are still areas that remain unexplored by even the Reserve officials themselves. So it is completely plausible for a small group of people to live there undetected," Finn countered.

"And none of the girls tried to run away?" continued Alex, trying to find some flaw in his theory.

"What do you want from me?" Finn asked, exasperated with Alex, "With as little evidence as we have there's not much to go off of. Can you come up with up a more reasonable explanation?"

"Yes. There's no link. Alice was taken by a psychopath. So were the rest of the girls. It happens all the time."

"Your theory ends with her death. Mine proposes that she is still alive. Which one would you rather believe is true?" To this, Alex had no clever response.

Finn, noticing her unease, changed to a different topic that was not as grim. "There's also the Bermuda Triangle theory as well."

"The what?"

"Well, I suppose the England Oval theory is more appropriate. The Reserve has had a history similar to the Bermuda Triangle's."

"Really?" questioned Alex, her voice again dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, really. Unexplained disappearances is just one similarity. Did you know that not one single bomb was dropped on the area during any of the world wars?"

"Why would they? Germany went after major cities, transportation, and communication lines. Forests weren't that high on their priority list."

"Alright. But what about this: the pilots who did fly over the forest reported being disoriented; some even can't remember how they got to the other side of the forest. Their instruments began to act wildly and ceased operating properly."

"Big deal. The forest is so big they probably last track of where they were. As for their instruments, electronics are well known for not behaving right there. The only place where I had reception was at the lodge and in the village."

"Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"No. It happens in other forests with logical explanations. Lack of cell towers, magnetic interference. I guess there goes your English Oval theory."

Determined to prove his point, Finn continued. "England Oval, and not quite. There are a number of recorded irregularities as well. There is one in which the master of the lodge wanted to build a gazebo in the tree circle. Every day the workers tried to build the gazebo only to find the next day all the progress they made was gone. Thirty men were then hired to build it in one day and guarded the gazebo with twenty armed men. The next day the master who had ordered the gazebo built and the men who tried building it, woke up floating in the middle of the lake with whatever was left of the gazebo. When they were finally found by a fisherman, there were delirious and suffering from sunburns."

"Ok. One weird instance. So?" Alex shrugged.

"Not just one. In 1822 there was an instance in a small English town there was a young girl named Jane. Her father was a drunk and failed to notice his daughter was deathly ill with smallpox until she was on her deathbed. That night she made such a complete turnaround that you could no longer tell she had been sick and her father stopped drinking that night. During that same period a farmer reported seeing elves and being turned into a rabbit."

"Uh-huh. What else?" replied Alex, motioning with her hand for him to continue.

"Remember Katherine and Emily Winslow?" Finn continued enthusiastically at Alex's nod, "What's really interesting is what happened after they vanished. Katherine and Emily were staying with their guardian, Hugh Roberts, when they began telling stories about the goblins. Worried for his wards' sanity, Hugh asked Stanley Thatcher of the Westcross Asylum to evaluate the girls. Actually Thatcher is quite interesting himself. He was interested in people who accomplished things quite beyond the human capacity. There's a recorded instance of a woman who thought she was a rabbit and could jump much farther than is humanly possible. There's another with multiply personalities who managed to walk on an injured foot without pain because she claimed her other side was the one responsible. There's another-"

Alex broke in. "Finn, is there as point to this?"

"Sorry. But you should really give his journals a read sometime. They're simply fascinating. Anyway, he had been brought to determine the state of the two girls. Eventually he declared them sane, but suffering due to stress. The night upon arriving, he described Katherine's room as looking as if an explosion had occurred with no natural explanation. Later when discussing the state of the girls with their guardian, he looked up and saw him on the ceiling. He claimed that he had been enchanted by the goblin King."

"So what happened?"

"The doctor stayed at the lodge and wrote about him of course. Well until one day he was found hanging upside with a rope around his neck dead."

"That's nice. Anymore stories?" replied Alex flatly, clearly still not impressed.

"Well there is a more recent one. A couple of teenagers supposedly went into the forest one night to investigate the strange happenings. They woke up the next day in trees in nothing but their underwear with all their equipment missing. Oh, there is one more. Remember Charlotte?" Alex nodded once more. "Well her older sister Miranda claimed to know Goblin and would often be seen scribbling it. Nobody else could understand it."

"So what happened to her?"

"She died when she was seventeen due to illness," was Finn's simple response.

"Lovely. So do you think magic is responsible for what happened to that Roberts guy?"

"No. But I do think something unexplained is going on."

"Magic."

"Not magic. Long ago people blamed gods, supernatural forces, and magic for earthquakes, storms, among other things. Of course today we can explain what happened was due to science, not magic. But back then people were superstitious and didn't know any better. Due to their lack of scientific knowledge they explained the occurrences due to magic. I believe something similar is occurring in the Bermuda Triangle and England Oval. Undiscovered scientific principles are responsible for the strange events over the years, not magic."

"So are the undiscovered scientific principles responsible for my missing sister as well?"

Missing the sarcasm, he answered. "Perhaps. Hopefully your investigation will discover what's really going on."

Finn was right. Alex's investigations did discover what really was going on. And his theories were right as well.

**Author's Note**

For starters thanks to JayLah, speederina, and SiriusBlackisSeriuslyfunny333, for reviews. Also thanks for all those who have put this story on alert. It makes me feel good that people are already enjoying the story. I hope it lives up to everybody's expectations.

I've been saving this chapter for a long time. It took a while to gather all the incidents, but was worth it. The only parts that are my own are: the cook falling asleep in the soup, the recent incident, Colette's last name and her year taken was approximated, Jessica's last name and year she was taken, Agnes, Edith, and Alice. The rest of the girls, incidents, and years have been mentioned in the books and on Dunkle's website.

The next chapter was suppose to be two separate chapters, You Got A Friend In Me, and the Rescue Aid Society. However, one of my friends who looks over my chapters before posting, pointed out that they both drag on for a while. I noticed it while writing, so decided to combine them into one chapter, Rescue Aid Society. By drags on, it's basically all about Alex gathering information on her sister's last day from some familiar faces featured in Ever. Not that exciting, but Alex isn't the type to act impulsively. As you've seen in this chapter, she's the type to get all her facts and information, before acting upon it. However, next Friday's chapter will pick up.

In speederina's review she asked if Finn was an engineering major. He's a mechanical engineer, and wants to go on to major in aerospace engineering as well. As for Alex, she's a civil engineer and wants to design structures some day such as bridges, dams, etc... Just a bit more of background on them for those who are curious.

One last thing. The August Challenge is officially up for people to start thinking about. Submissions can't be made until August 1, but it's definitely worth taking a look at. Also, the plot help, and regular plot threads have been posted as well, so be sure to check those out too.