Hell's Hollow

by Stone, Summer

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She raised her eyebrows, looking from Zach to me. “He likes you,” she whispered loudly. I blushed. She put her arm around Zach. “Not to worry, sonny, in case you hadn’t figured it out yet, the feeling is mutual.”

  Mortification spread across my face. “Gran,” I said. “Be serious. I’m trying to figure out if this worked or not.”

  She took both our hands. A zing of electricity shot between us and she dropped them both. “Interesting,” she said. “It worked, Seraphina, and grandchild of Abraham Clay, descendent of Tall Tree. I’m as sane as a saint. Now all we’ve got to figure out is how in the world you’re going to spring me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  It was a crazy afternoon. Between convincing Mom Gran was sane, having her evaluated by Dr. Gates, and getting her released from Meadowland, there didn’t end up being time to prepare a family meal. So Mom ordered pizzas from Pizza Guys. By seven o’clock that night, sitting around the dining room table were my mom, my three brothers, my aunt and my grandmother, my best friend/boyfriend (!), and me. I expected it to be an awkward meal, with long silences. But instead, Gran had us all laughing so hard, root beer squirted out of Gabe’s nose. And the boys stuck around after dinner, not in such a great hurry to leave now that The Hollow wasn’t agitating them.

  I wished Zach could move in with us or at least stay the night. But I was assured that wasn’t a possibility. All evening long Mom kept sneaking glances at Zach and me, probably trying to figure out how we’d managed to recreate the energy of The Hollow. I wasn’t entirely sure myself. But I noticed that after we healed Gran, Zach’s pink scars faded even more. And I, I felt like I could fly on the wings of the clearest thoughts I’d ever known, like the brightest of blue skies, the crispest of summer breezes.

  When we’d finished our pizza and had our fill of MK’s creations, we talked in the living room, listening to Gran tell stories of when Mom and MK were little.

  “Poor little Clarabelle was always a dud,” Gran was saying. “I imagine it was because she was born so far from The Hollow.”

  I looked to Mom to check her reaction. Her face looked blank.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Michael said. “According to the stories, the Wylde women were, uh, you know — different even before they came to Hell’s Hollow.”

  Everyone looked at Gran for an explanation. “That’s true,” she said, looking puzzled.

  “Mom’s not a dud,” I said.

  “Oh, now,” Gran replied. “Don’t worry, I didn’t mean it like that, just that I always felt badly for her when she was a kid because she didn’t have the family … trait.”

  “More like family curse,” Gabe grumbled from his spot on the floor where he was tossing an old soccer ball up in the air.

  “I know,” I said to Gran. “I’m telling you, though, she’s not one.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Mom said, her voice sounding thin and reedy.

  “It took me a while to figure it out,” I said. “How you sometimes just seemed to know what was needed in any given circumstance — like the way you always have your customers’ orders ready for them before they ask.”

  “That’s the mark of any good businessperson,” Mom said.

  “Or the way you always know what I need when I’m not feeling good — soup or chocolate or meds.”

  “The sign of a good parent,” she said.

  “How you knew to come down to The Hollow that time with the skunk.”

  She shook her head silently. Luke and Michael whispered to each other on the couch.

  “You came home early the day with Sera and MK in The Hollow,” Luke said.

  “Not early enough,” Mom replied. “My car wouldn’t start.”

  “I couldn’t figure out at first,” I explained, “why you wouldn’t have pushed me to heal Gran and MK. But then I realized that your drive to protect me always outweighed everything else. You, unlike the rest of us, mastered the art of letting your sensitivity… your gift guide you when you wanted to and shutting it down when you didn’t. I think it’s why you didn’t go crazy like the rest of them.”

  “I didn’t go crazy because my sensitivity, if there is one at all, is weak. It never took over my life. It was never something I could count on.”

  I shrugged. “MK’s visions weren’t exactly predictable. Either way — you’re not a dud.”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore,” Mom said, “now that The Hollow is gone.”

  I touched Zach’s hand. “Not gone really,” I said.

  “You know there is an upside to The Hollow’s destruction,” MK said, looking at Mom. “We’re no longer bound.”

  “What difference could that possibly make now?” Mom asked. But there was something weird about her voice, the way she sounded when she was saying something just to be polite.

  “You could change your life,” MK was saying, “do anything you want.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Mom said. “I still have Seraphina to watch out for, and something tells me she’s not going to want to move any great distance in the near future.” She winked at Zach and me.

  “Ma and I will be here to watch her,” MK said. “If you want, I mean. You could travel. All these years you’ve been the responsible one. You deserve a break, time to take care of yourself.”

  “Yeah, Mom, you should do it,” Luke said.

  “Otherwise you’ll turn right into Grammy,” Gran said. “All work and no play make Clara a dull child.”

  “What about the bakery?” Mom asked. “I can’t just ...”

  “I wouldn’t mind taking over for a while,” MK said. “It’s all new and exciting to me. You must be bored by now. Michael can help me with the finances part of it.”

  Mom looked around the room at all our encouraging faces. “Well, it’s just… I mean I can’t exactly drop everything… Seraphina, I couldn’t just walk out on you.”

  “You wouldn’t be walking out on me,” I said. “I’d be happy for you. Not like forever or anything. But I’d understand if you wanted to explore, try something different for a change, recharge your batteries or whatever. We’ve got plenty of people in this room to look out for me.”

  Mom laughed. “You’re just trying to get rid of me so you and Zach have fewer restrictions,” she said.

  I hated that my cheeks insisted on announcing my emotions. “No,” I promised. “I just think you could use the break. Mom … you’re free.”

  “Free?” Mom repeated. “I’m not sure I really even… There are so many places I always longed to see — like San Francisco, and Seattle, and Alaska, and Hawaii.” Her face lit up with a spark I’d never seen. “Maybe a short trip wouldn’t hurt.”

  The boys egged her on, recommending places they hoped to go someday: Greece and Australia and Thailand and Mexico.

  It was getting late. I realized Zach would have to be driven home soon. But I wasn’t ready. So I signaled to him and the two of us slipped out for a quick visit to the hollow. Gabe hooted at us like a sixth grader as we stepped outside.

  Zach and I held hands on the way down the trail, the electricity between us alive, yet mellow and sweet. The deadened area of the wood had begun to return to life and the almost unnatural green of The Hollow had begun to fade to normal. The police tape had been removed late in the day. The dirt had yet to be returned to the open trench. But the hollow seemed calm, as if it were returning itself to the earth, becoming a natural part of the landscape.

  Zach and I sat by the sequoia. “I like your family,” he said. “There’s so much noise and commotion.”

  “Yeah, well, consider yourself an honorary member,” I replied. I took his hand again, stroked his palm, as the electrical charge zipped between us. “It’s so strange — this energy between us. It feels like the connection I used to have with The Hollow, only… different.” I couldn’t explain how it excited me in a way the energy of The Hollow never had.

  “Whatever it is, I like it,�
� Zach said.

  “Yeah, me, too.”

  “There’s something else I like,” he whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  He kissed me, his lips lighting mine up like a comet streaking across the sky. The charge raced through my body. I ran my hand through his thick, black hair, across his smooth face, down to his chest, where I could feel his heart pounding wildly.

  A chipmunk staggered toward us, its little tug weak. I picked it up, cradled it in my hands.

  “Here,” Zach said, “let me try.” He held my hand and stuck out his finger. He touched the little creature, and I felt a shock. The chipmunk chirped and scurried off into the woods. I gasped, giggled, and pulled Zach toward me.

  His face hovered just centimeters from mine. Our breath mingled. Our lips met. Our connection flared. And the forest exploded in light.

  ###

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