Here's the final part of the premiere.

Enjoy!


Welcome to Polter Hills, Part 3

Noah and his brothers, along with Cameron, were tied up like animals, and are actually being carried by the group of gnomes to an unknown destination. They have no idea what to make of this situation; never in their lives had any of the boys ever thought something this bizarre would happen to them. They wish they were dreaming, but no matter how much they pinched themselves to wake up, they had to face the horrible truth:

This is all real.

In hindsight, maybe Noah should've ignored the figure and go home. He should've known that this was a trap, but he let his curiosity get the best of him.

Guess there's a reason why the saying "Curiosity killed the cat" exists.

Noah tries to free himself from his constraints, with no success. His brothers and friend copy him, but their attempts are equally futile. Looks like these gnomes know how to tie really good knots.

"Ok, is it me, or are these actual, real-life gnomes taking us to who knows where?" Noah asks cautiously, still trying to comprehend the situation at hand.

"My brain is still trying to process the existence of little woodland creatures that were dismissed as folklore myths." Cameron says before he starts crying, waterfalls falling down his eyes "Momma was right, public school was a mistake, I want to return to my bubble!"

"Hey you little goblins! Let go of us right now!" Deepak exclaims angrily.

The head gnome turns to the taller human "First of all, don't call us little, or anything related to our height. Second, you have no place to make demands, human."

"Yes we do, we're taller than you!" Ajit replies, which earns him a smack up the head, a large bump forming from the hit "Ow!"

"Don't try our patience, you're not gonna live long, anyway." the gnome leader says ominously.

"What are you implying?" Cameron asks fearfully.

"Oh nothing too gruesome, we're just gonna eat you all." the leader replies nonchalantly, which does nothing to soothe poor Cam's nerves.

"That's not reassuring!" Cameron replies as he frantically tries to break free, but alas, his lack of upper body strength makes that impossible. He ends up panting tiredly.

"The more you struggle, the more delicious you're gonna taste." the main gnome says as he licks his lips hungrily. He then stops his followers from continuing, as he points to their destination.

A cave.

Noah raises an eyebrow "A cave for gnomes? What is this, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?" he jokes.

This remark earns him a whack to the head, which gives him a bump similar to Ajit's.

"Do NOT mention that insipid book!" the leader screams angrily "It's nothing but an ill-documented archive full of offensive stereotypes towards short people!"

Soon, the woodland creatures proceed to enter their headquarters, holding their human captives.

Unbeknownst to all parties involved, they are being observed, as two pairs of shiny eyes watch from the bushes.


The first thing Noah notices once inside the cave, is that, apparently, the gnomes designed a very efficient architecture. Its walls are constructed out of firm, sturdy metal, and despite the dust and cobwebs clinging to nearly every surface, there is certainly a lot to see. There are bunk beds on rocky shelves, with rope ladders hanging from the ceiling, a cabinet used to store weapons against one wall, and shelves upon shelves of canned food in boxes labeled by year against another.

Noah has to admit, the interior of the cave is rather well-organized. It gives the place a Lord of the Rings vibe to it, if he says so himself. But Noah is pretty sure that the gnomes will react negatively to that film if he mentions it, maybe because of how dwarves are treated.

Right now, their diminutive captors are arguing about their fate.

"Ok, everyone. Time to start cooking the humans." the gnome leader announces "Shamus, you have the cook book?"

Shamus, one of the gnomes who wears a chef's hat, holds a book titled "To Serve Humans".

"Good. Now then, what shall we cook this time?" the leader asks.

A gnome raises his hand "Oh, I know! How 'bout 'Human L'Orange?"

The leader waves dismissively "Nah, we had that last week."

"How 'bout 'Human Chop Suey?" another gnome suggests.

"That was three days ago."

"How 'bout Human Casserole?" Shamus suggests.

"That was yesterday, Shamus!"

"How about we skin them alive? They'll cook faster that way." Another gnome suggests.

The leader shakes his head "No way! We should leave the skin on! That'll make them tastier!"

"Skin off!"

"Skin on!"

"Skin off!"

"Skin on!"

While the gnomes are having this argument, Noah, the twins and Cameron are watching this bizarre display unfold. It looks and feels like a bunch of little kids arguing over who has the best video game counsel. Or rather, like a bunch of old men debating about whether to change the channel.

It's all so surreal.

"So, what do we do?" Deepak asks, dumbfounded.

Noah is having a contemplative look as he observes the arguing gnomes, an idea coming up.

"I have an idea, but follow my lead." Noah instructs before yelling "Hey gnomes!"

The gnomes stop arguing "What?!"

"I guess your leader's right: maybe you should leave our skin on, it adds flavor." Noah suggests.

"See, I was right." the leader says smugly. He is sudenly shoved by Shamus "How dare you?!"

"Why do we always have to do what you say?!" Shamus questions.

"Yeah, why do you get to call the shots?!" other gnome accuses.

"Because I'm the leader, and what I say goes!" the leader answers as if it was obvious.

"We didn't make an election, you just took the position by force!" Shamus replies angrily.

While the leader and his minions are arguing, Noah leans towards one of the spears to cut the rope holding him and the others hostage. They manage to break free of their bonds. They slowly tiptoe towards the exit, making sure not to make any noise that will alert the gnomes.

Until Ajit unknowingly steps on a twig.

"Oops."

This makes all the gnomes stop arguing and turn their sights to the departing humans.

"Where do you think you're going?" the leader asks accusingly.

"Away from you," Noah answers.

The lead gnome laughs arrogantly.

"You think you can escape us, humans? You have no idea what we're capable of. The gnomes are a powerful race! Don't trifle with-Ow!" the leader gets interrupted when Noah kicks him in the face. Even though he's not normally strong, Noah's kick manages to send the lead gnome into his followers, knocking them all out, kinda like a bowling ball knocking bowling pins.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Noah exclaims.

"Way ahead of ya, bro!" Ajit replies.

The four boys make a run for it, not wanting to stay any longer. The gnome leader is the first to recover from the hit and sees the boys escaping.

"No, no, no! Our food's getting away! Get them!" he commands as he and his minions start blitzing throughout the forest.


The four teens are running like they've never ran before. It is pretty much like Gym Class again, only with the added incentive of carnivore gnomes chasing after them.

"Hurry, before they come after us!" Noah yells.

"No need to tell us twice, bro!" Deepak replies.

"Even though those…creatures are deadly, I see no logical reason for concern," Cameron tries to explain as calmly as he can while panting "Given their short stature, specifically their fibula, it would be impossible for them to-"he is cut off when one of them leaps on his back "Ah! Get off of me! Get if off!"

Deepak comes to Cameron's rescue and slaps the little cretin away. Said cretin lands against a tree hard, and pukes out rainbows as a result.

"They're getting closer!" Ajit yells.

While they are still running from the carnivorous gnomes, none of them is aware that they are being watched. Hiding behind the trees, are the same figures with shiny eyes from earlier. Both witness the scene and nod silently at each other before moving away.

Noah continues running alongside his brothers and Cameron. Noah is getting very tired, the twins start to show signs of fatigue, and Cameron looks like he's about to collapse. Soon, their running comes to an abrupt end when they reach the side of a mountain.

"A dead end?!" Deepak exclaims.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Ajit adds.

Noah suddenly remembers something: the journal. He takes off his backpack and starts rummaging through it, until he pulls the mysterious book he found. He starts skimming the pages, much to the others' confusion.

"Noah, this isn't the time to read a fuckin' book!" Deepak exclaims frantically.

"Trust me, the timing couldn't be more perfect." Noah replies with a cool tone, in spite of the situation at hand.

"What are you looking for?" Cameron asks confused.

Noah doesn't respond as he still looks through the pages, until he gets to the Gnome page "Here it is: Gnomes, little men of the Polter Hills forest. Weaknesses: unknown." He groans "Oh life, why do you hate me so?!"

"See, this is why I don't like reading books!" Ajit exclaims.

They slowly turn to see the gnomes surrounding them.

"It's the end of the line, kids!" the gnome leader declares "Alright guys, prepare for the feast!"

"YEAH!" all the gnomes cheer.

"There's gotta be a way out of this." Noah ponders "Guys, got any ideas?"

"Too scared to think." Ajit replies nervously.

"I want my bubble! I want my bubble! I want my bubble!" Cameron yells repeatedly as he's lying in fetal position.

"About to be eaten alive by a bunch of gnomes. I never thought my first day in this town would end in such a humiliating fashion." Noah says "At least no one will ever know about this."

The boys embrace for the imminent attack from the gnomes, which jump forward with their fangs and claws out, prepared to devour their taller targets…

…when suddenly, a blast of energy clashes with them, knocking them away from the quartet. Before any of them can regain their composure, the gnomes suddenly find themselves trapped inside a fishing net. They all struggle to get out, to no avail.

"Are we dead?" Cameron asks, not wanting to open his eyes.

They do slowly open their eyes, are surprised to see the gnomes captured in the net.

The four lads turn to see the source of that blast, and get surprised looks when they see two shadowy figures emerge from the trees. They reveal themselves as two adult men dressed in black suits. One of them is a Caucasian male with greying hair, appearing to be in his early/late 50s, while the other is an African-American man who appears to be younger, probably in his late 20s/early 30s. The two approach the four stupefied boys.

"You four shouldn't be wandering around this forest." the older man says with an authoritarian tone. He kneels down and grabs the now captured gnomes in the net.

"Don't worry, we notified your parents. They should be here any minute now." the younger man says.

"Now if you would care to look at this…" the older man instructs.

The teens do as they are told, and are surprised when three yellow circles appear on the man's hand. Some strange symbols appear as well. The symbols begin glowing and then, a flash of light engulfs everyone involved, while the mysterious men cover their eyes with sunglasses. Everyone blinks, and rubs their eyes in confusion.

The older man takes off his glasses "You boys never encountered any gnomes; you simply got lost fooling around in the woods after school." he tells the boys.

"Anything weird you find your way home, just ignore it. You know what they say: curiosity killed the cat." the second man adds.

As if on cue, Noah's parents and grandfather arrive at the scene. Accompanying them is a tall, lanky woman of African-American aspect. She wears a dark purple sleeveless shirt and blue jeans along with black heels. She also wears like Cameron as well as pearl earrings. Her most notable feature, however, would her huge afro hairdo. She looks like an older, female version of Cameron.

Mrs. Wilkins runs up to her son and hugs him tightly "Cameron! My poor baby! Did you get hurt?! Did you contract any disease?! Should we get you to a hospital?!"

"Momma, please, you're embarrassing me!" Cameron complains.

"Are they okay, rangers?" Mrs. Sandhu asks the two men in concern.

"They're fine ma'am," the older man reassures her.

"Just make sure your kids don't fool around in here. These woods are not exactly friendly." the younger man says.

The Sandhu and Wilkins families don't say anything else, they just nod and walk away until they leave the forest. Once they are out of sight, the two men turn to each other.

"Well, that went well, and now that we got the lil' guys, whaddya say we go celebrate, Bodmin?" the younger man says.

"First we have to send these gnomes to headquarters, and make a full report on the situation," Bodmin says.

"C'mon, lighten up a bit, can't we do that later?"

"We don't get paid to 'lighten up', Manipogo, and we can't slack off on the job."

"Dude, call me Manny" Manipogo insists.

Bodmin grunts in annoyance.

Both men immediately leave the premises, just like the two families did. Unbeknownst to them, they are being watched from a distance. More specifically, by the same pair of red eyes that was watching the boys earlier in the afternoon.


After that event, the Sandhu family is back at their new house. Noah and his brothers are feeling exhausted; they don't know why, but for some reason, their first day of school has really drained them. Maybe it has to do with P.E., where Noah was barricaded with dodgeballs by those two jerks, Lorenzo and Chet, while in the twins' case, they were bored to death from all the stressing subjects they had at school, mainly Physics and Math. Maybe they were feeling tired because they were fooling around in the woods after school, for some reason. Noah just can't comprehend why he would even go to the forest to begin with, considering that he's not the outdoors type, unlike his brothers.

Once nighttime sets in, and after a lengthy lecure from their grandfather about fooling around in unknown places, the three boys go to their bedrooms, getting ready to sleep. Well, the twins are, while Noah turns on his computer and opens his Zoom account. After adjusting the camera and doing all the procedures, he waits for a reply. Suddenly, Owen appears on the screen.

"Hey Owen" Noah says.

"Hey buddy, how's things going at your new home?" Owen asks.

"Pretty good, I guess, though I miss Ontario, already,"

"Yeah, but look on the bright side: you can start loving your new home"

"I doubt it."

"So, how was your first day of school?"

Noah shrugs "I'd say it's been pretty boring today."

"Tell me Noah, have you made any new friends?"

"I have. His name's Cameron, and believe it or not, he's a bubble boy."

"Bubble boy?"

"Yeah, this is actually his first time going to a public school; otherwise he's been homeschooled by his mother."

"Really? Like Ezekiel?"

"Yeah, but I guess he's not that bad once you get past his geeky exterior."

"I see" Owen says. He stays quiet for a few minutes before replying "You're not replacing me, are you?" he asks, insecurity evident in his tone.

Noah chuckles "Don't worry, big guy. You're still my best friend, but that doesn't mean I can't make new ones here."

"It's like they always say, the more the merrier!"

"I wonder how the others are doing at home."

"Oh, they're all doing fine, and some of them miss you too, like Cody and Dave. Well, except Courtney, who was very happy that you were gone."

Noah shakes his head "No surprises there; Courtney's always had it out for me since kindergarten, and wanted my position for valedictorian after I quit it."

"Noah, it's late! Go to bed!" his father's voice can be heard.

Noah turns to Owen's screen "Gotta go, big guy. Dad's gonna get pissed off if I stay up too much. Besides, I have school tomorrow."

"Okay, buddy. I hope you have more to tell me!"

"I think I will, buddy. Good night."

"Nighty night!"

After Owen cuts off the signal. Noah turns off his laptop. He then puts it back in his backpack, but upon doing so, he sees something within it. Raising an eyebrow, he rummages through his backpack and pulls out something that he didn't realize he had.

A book with a strange symbol.

"That's strange. I don't remember having bought this book before." Noah says before opening it. Upon doing so, he became enthralled by the information that appears on paper "Amazing. This book has so many interesting creatures." he comments as he flips page after page. He turns the next page and sees a picture of a gnome. Strangely enough, Noah's eyes briefly glow yellow upon seeing the picture.

Abruptly, Noah feels a migraine when a sea of memories floods his brain. He holds his head in pain while he is suddenly remembering how exactly his day had passed. The memories are from today when he found the book, when he, his brothers and Cameron dealt with the gnomes, up until the moment the guys in black wiped their memories.

Once that train of thought concludes, Noah stops feeling headaches. Rubbing his eyes, Noah looks at the book again, and has a moment of contemplation before saying:

"Holy crap."


And there goes the first three chapters of this story. I hope you liked how I decided to write the structure of the story.

As you have seen, I've changed a few things, and I really hope the third time's the charm. And if you think this first supernatural instance was weird, wait until you see what else awaits our favorite bookworm. It's gonna get weirder from there.

Next three chapters will be a bit more supernatural in nature.

Well, see ya next time. Agent of LIGHT, out.