The Haunting of Hounds Hollow

by Jeffrey Salane

  Bess punched Lucas in the arm—hard. “Never do that again! Never!”

  “Ouch! Okay, sorry,” said Lucas, rubbing the spot where the punch had landed. “Next time we’ll split up the toys. It was a bad idea to have one person carry them.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it.” She hit him again, then gave him a hug.

  Lucas’s face went red and he tried to change the subject. “Did we get him? Did we get Duke?”

  “We got him, buddy,” said Lens. He pointed over to the shepherd and the bulldog as the two dogs sniffed each other, rubbing their noses together. Dakota’s tail lifted and wagged, and Duke did the same with his tail nub. The two dogs started chasing each other around the room in a game of tag. Watching the dogs play, Lucas sensed a different feeling swell inside Sweetwater Manor. It felt new. It felt fresh. It felt like Lucas and his friends had unlocked Silas’s riddle.

  It felt like hope.

  The room was full of sleeping ghosts curled up in their stalls.

  “I cannot believe this.” Lens peeked over the gates at Duke. “It’s incredible. He looks so calm. He was basically just fire and flames a little while ago, remember?”

  “Yeah, we were there, too,” Bess reminded him. She didn’t give the dogs a second glance and instead headed straight back to the control room. “Now let’s get this viewing party started.”

  Bess was glued to the screens when Lucas and Lens joined her. One camera flickered to a new scene and Bess cheered. “Workers. We’ve got workers.”

  She stopped the camera anytime a worker walked into the scene. If Lucas didn’t know any better, he’d swear that Bess was more interested in them than in Silas’s Hound Pound.

  As the evening went on, Lucas kept his eye on the camera feed that lead to his room just in case his parents came knocking. Lens wandered in and out to check on his horse, while Bess kept staring up at the flickering screens. Lucas wondered if this was close to normal, like, Mom, I’m going over to Lucas’s house to watch TV. But what Bess really meant was Mom, I’m going over to Lucas’s haunted mansion to look for potentially deadly ghosts. No, this was not normal. Even Lucas could see that.

  After another hour, Bess cracked. “Jeez, you’d think this place wasn’t haunted at all. Where are those hounds?”

  “Maybe they’re sleeping?” suggested Lens. “Which sounds like a good idea. Wake me when you find something.”

  He lay down on the floor and put his backpack under his head. Bess kicked his feet, then returned to her surveillance.

  Lucas used the downtime to catch up on some reading. He pulled out the Haunted History book. As he flipped through the pages, most of the ghost histories revolved around human travesties. The girl who died on prom night in a car accident and now hitchhikes as a ghost trying to get back to her house. The ancient soldier who died on the battlefield but never realized it, so he kept walking back home, and when he got there, he saw his own funeral. One after another, the stories all centered around people. He turned to the back of the book to check the index. Animal hauntings were on scattered pages—a sure sign that the author either wasn’t interested or never studied these types of cases.

  Lucas rubbed the back of his neck. He felt like he’d been run over by a bulldozer. Finally he yawned and felt his whole body ache. “Maybe we could pause for tonight? I’m not sure I’m ready for another hunt.”

  Bess gave him her patented crooked smile. “We pick it up tomorrow, then. Three down, two to go.”

  Lucas looked at Lens, who only shrugged. They both knew they were powerless against Bess’s drive to uncover what was happening in Hounds Hollow. It was magnetic.

  “Okay,” Lucas relented as Bess and Lens waved goodbye and saw themselves out.

  The rest of the night was nowhere near as exciting. After he checked on the sleeping dogs and shut the secret door, Lucas ate dinner with his parents. It was chicken and brussels sprouts with what his mom said was balls-balm-ick glades, or something fancy like that. Whatever it was, it was good. Then Lucas tried to maintain a normal night by playing Wolf Life and reading his Goosebumps book before bed. But he didn’t make it far into the book before he passed out. It took every ounce of effort he had left just to put his CPAP mask on before he was asleep.

  Lucas woke to the sound of sniffing. The small, incessant noise moved all around his room. He groggily lifted off his mask and buried his face in his pillow. It smelled like smoke from Duke’s blaze. The sniffing paused at his movement, but started again a second later. It was closer to his bed now.

  Next to him, Lucky lifted his head. The cat’s eyes glowed in the dark room, tracking something Lucas couldn’t see. Suddenly the mysterious thing leapt onto Lucas’s blanket and sent Lucky into a fit. The cat hissed, then darted across the bed, onto the floor, and out of the room. Lucas was alone.

  Slowly, the strange, new weight walked toward Lucas in the dark. Pressing against his blanket, its sniffing became louder and louder. Lucas was about to kick off the covers when a tiny white dog trotted out of the shadows and licked his face.

  “Casper?” Lucas whispered. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “What are you doing here? How’d you get out of your stall?”

  The dog nuzzled his nose against Lucas’s cheek and then jumped back playfully.

  “You freaked out poor Lucky. What do you want?” Lucas asked quietly. He looked to the window. It was still night.

  The dog leapt toward him again, plopping onto its belly with its paws outstretched. Lucas petted him behind the ears. Again, the pup was burning to the touch. Then Casper gnawed the blankets and jumped back, pulling them off.

  “You want me to get up?” Lucas asked.

  Yip.

  “It’s late, buddy,” said Lucas. “Can’t this wait until the morning? And maybe when the house is, like, ninety percent less freaking me out?”

  Casper spun in a quick circle and paused again. Yip.

  “Yeah, you’re right. This house isn’t ever going to be less scary, huh?” Lucas rolled out of bed and grabbed a flashlight from the side table and his backpack from the floor. He turned on the torch, and the sudden light surprised him. It didn’t disturb Casper, though. The dog jumped off the bed and went to the door. After a few blinks, Lucas could see again. He ran the flashlight over to the mirror door in the opposite direction. It was open.

  “Are the others still in there?” asked Lucas.

  Hmm, Casper whimpered again. Then he scratched the bedroom door.

  Lucas clutched his shoulder strap as he waved the flashlight back and forth, weighing his options. He had promised Bess and Lens that he wouldn’t go hunting without them. But was he going hunting? Maybe Casper just needed to go to the bathroom. Do ghosts even go to the bathroom? he wondered. They ate food, apparently. They ate a lot of food. And Lucas did not want to clean up a ghost accident.

  He opened the door and Casper skittered out. The speed caught Lucas by surprise and he raced to catch up. The white dog skipped past the front door, past his parents’ room, and then darted to the kitchen.

  When Lucas finally caught up to Casper, the dog was standing on his hind legs with his front paws leaning on a door that Lucas had never noticed. “What’s in there, buddy?”

  Casper lightly scratched at the door with both paws like he was digging.

  “I guess I’m going to find out.” Lucas flashed his light over the doorknob to check for a bone etching, but there wasn’t one. He pulled the door open and Casper scrambled inside.

  A set of stairs dropped down into a space so dark Lucas’s flashlight barely made a dent in the gloom. There were no light switches or pulls to be found. As he stood at the top of the stairs, Lucas could hear Casper sniffing around at the bottom. Then the tiny dog bounded back up and gave a bark that made Lucas flinch. The house had been so quiet that the mutt’s yip made Lucas’s heart race.

  “You’re crazy if you think I’m going down there,” Lucas told the dog. “Nothing good ever happen
s in the basement of a haunted house.”

  Casper kept sniffing. It was a high-pitched, slightly wet sound that echoed back up from below. Then Lucas heard a new sound coming from behind him in the house. More sniffing noises. Different sniffing noises. These sniffs were heavy and long, almost slobbering in their messy way.

  Lucas clicked off the flashlight and held his breath. Another noise followed—the sound of the kitchen door creaking open. Lucas wasn’t alone anymore.

  Carefully he closed the basement door and walked down the stairs backward, keeping an eye on the entrance. When Lucas reached the bottom, the floor was soft and earthy, like being outside. He wanted so badly to turn on his flashlight, but was afraid of what he might find. Suddenly another beam danced under the door at the top of the stairs. Whoever else was in the house, they were coming this way.

  Lucas turned to run, but slipped and fell. Puffs of dirt clouded up into his face. He clicked on his light and found that the entire floor was brown soil, just like in the woods, but Lucas was still inside the house. The ground was misshapen, lumpy, uneven, and untamed. And instead of ancient trees with twisting roots underneath, the walls around him were unfinished, just the bare bones of wood frames stuffed with pink fluff like cotton candy.

  The door at the top of the stairs opened and Lucas shut off his light. He scrambled over the ground on all fours until he found a corner and huddled there, waiting. A spotlight shone down the steps and moved slowly across the dirt floor.

  “Loo-kasss,” a voice whispered lightly. “Are you down there?”

  The light switched off and darkness swallowed the room again. More sniffing followed, the long, gulping sniffs Lucas had heard earlier. The sounds were getting closer and closer, until they stopped right in front of him. Lucas couldn’t see anything, but he could feel the presence of two huge beasts by his side. With his last bit of courage, Lucas clenched a fistful of dirt in one hand and clicked on the flashlight with the other.

  A brown bulldog and a black shepherd stood in front of Lucas. Duke and Dakota didn’t flinch at all from his heroic lunge, but instead sat with their tongues hanging to the side. They licked their chops and continued their heavy breathing, peaceful and calm.

  “Really? You’re cornered and your only solution is to throw dirt?” It was Lens, smiling from the bottom of the stairs.

  Bess was right behind him, but she had Lucas locked in a cold grimace.

  Lucas relaxed as all the nervous energy rushed out of him. “I had the element of surprise. Maybe the dirt would get in the bad guy’s eyes?”

  “And maybe these hounds could have torn you apart,” snapped Bess. “You promised you wouldn’t explore without us.”

  “No, I promised I wouldn’t hunt,” Lucas corrected her. “And I’m not. Besides, you’re the ones breaking and entering. Who let you into the house?”

  “Ask the two ghost hounds in front of you,” said Lens. “Duke practically pulled me out of bed. That guy’s a slobber monster.”

  Bess leaned down and scooped up a pile of earth, then let it sift back down through her fist. “Now, why did Dakota bring me here, Lucas? What is this place all about?”

  “I don’t know, maybe a garden?” he suggested.

  “A garden? In the basement? Where there’s no light?” Bess shook her head. “No way. This place is … unique. It’s not even built, really. The rest of Sweetwater Manor is pristine. There are workers here every day, building and building and building. Then you have this place. Dirt floor, unfinished walls.”

  “You’re right. Silas must have kept it this way on purpose.” Lucas stepped cautiously between Duke and Dakota. The two dogs ignored him and lay on the cool ground. Lucas ran his flashlight around the room until he found Casper nestled between two dirt mounds.

  Looking down, Lucas realized there were more mounds in the basement. So many more. They were small, but someone had made these mounds with a great amount of care. On closer inspection, each one had a small, smooth rock placed on top like a marker. A last effort of memory and love. Bess was right. This secret place was unique, and Silas Sweetwater kept it untouched for a very good reason. The basement was a graveyard.

  “Nobody move.” Lucas stepped between the mounds. “Remember the Hound Pound? Well, I think we found the rest of the gang.”

  “I’m gonna be sick,” whispered Lens.

  Casper sat up and almost smiled at the kids. He yipped again, and the sound made Lucas pause. “Yeah, buddy, thanks for sharing, but I think the human kids need to leave now. The sun is probably almost up, and we’ve got that big end-of-­summer barbecue. So hanging around a basement graveyard, while cool, is just not my thing. Okay?”

  But Casper didn’t answer this time. Instead the small dog trotted up and down the rows of graves. Dim lights began to glow from each mound.

  “Time to go,” Bess warned.

  Lens held his camera like a weapon, like it was the only thing that could stop what was about to happen. At the other end of the room, Duke and Dakota gave a sharp bark and shuffled in to join Casper.

  As if they were searching for buried treasure, the dogs began to dig. Lucas, Bess, and Lens backed away toward the stairs, but then the ground beneath them began to lift and fall, like it was breathing. Paws dug out from the mounds, followed by noses pushing through the dirt. The dead dogs pulled themselves out, each one covered in mud and grime. Casper gave another bark and the dogs all shook wildly, shrugging off the remnants of their graves. Once clean, the dogs were bathed in moonlight, even though there were no windows in the basement. Lucas stared as the pack crowded around Casper and sat obediently, watching the kids.

  “I am never sleeping again,” Lens whispered to himself.

  Every instinct in Lucas’s body should have told him to run. What do you when zombies rise from the grave? You run, duh! But Lucas, to his own surprise, did the opposite. He walked to the dogs and knelt with one knee on the churned-up ground.

  “Lucas, this isn’t puppy playtime,” said Bess. “Get over here before something bad happens.”

  “I’ve got the toys here,” said Lucas. He slid his backpack around and unzipped it. “Besides, Bess, look at them. They’re like regular dogs.”

  “They’re not dogs,” insisted Bess. “Don’t call them dogs. It makes them sound normal.”

  Lucas ignored her as he spread out the toys. One by one the dogs cautiously inched forward and chose a toy, dragging it back. He nodded toward the pups, trying not to make any sudden moves. “See? They’re not beasts.”

  “I don’t care. Let’s get out of here.” Bess grabbed Lucas’s shirt and tugged him back. “In my experience, hanging out with the living dead never leads to anything awesome.”

  But Lucas couldn’t pull his eyes away from the pack. Casper stared back at Lucas, then let out a tiny whimper that sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

  From out of nowhere, wind howled through the basement as the skeleton walls buckled inward. A loud crack came from above them, followed by a dragging sound across the floor upstairs. Something new was in the house. A fiery wind picked up, blowing Bess’s hair wildly as she grabbed Lucas’s hand. The door to the basement crashed open. Lucas, Bess, and Lens aimed their flashlights on the steps as a giant, dark smudge stalked down the stairs. The beast had found them.

  There was never a sound in Lucas’s life so terrifying as when the pack of ghost dogs around him began to bark. The dogs hissed and screeched, and worse, it actually felt like a thousand animals ramming into a steel door. His chest rattled and his eardrums popped as the dark basement suddenly lit up in a blazing haze, casting everything into a mirage. If it weren’t for his friends’ hands gripping his own so tightly, Lucas would have sworn he was having a fever dream. Any minute he could wake up.

  But this wasn’t a dream.

  Bess was the first to let go. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a flat rock. Lucas watched as she held the rock up in front of the beast and ran straight at the dark smudge.

  “Wh
at are you doing?!” Lucas screamed.

  Bess pressed the rock against the beast. Its strong neck and jaw arched backward in pain as the stone released sparks that made all of the animals let loose a wretched howl. Lucas covered his ears, but Lens seized the opportunity to shove him forward and up the stairs.

  “Go! Go! Go!” Lens screamed, but Lucas couldn’t leave Bess.

  He swiveled away from Lens and stumbled back down. The other dogs shifted from their earthly shapes into broken, haunted hounds. Only Casper, Duke, and Dakota remained true to their form. The beast had Bess pinned against the dirt. With a giant paw, it swatted the rock away, leaving her defenseless. A dark sneer spread across the beast’s face, bearing burned black fangs. Bess closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

  Then Dakota leapt onto the beast’s back with a snarl that echoed sharply. But the smaller dog was no match for the beast and was quickly thrown aside like a wet towel. Dakota landed in the dirt with a thud as Casper and Duke ran to her side. The other hounds surrounded them with a jagged growl that dared them to try and stop their leader again.

  Watching it all, Lucas felt his chest tighten. Then he remembered the dog whistle around his neck. He pulled at it like a rip cord and blew into the metal opening. A high-pitched whine sent all the animals screeching for a moment, then they went silent and cowered back from him.

  “Get up, Bess!” Lucas cried.

  Stunned, the beast whipped around. Its red eyes pierced through him, sending a ping directly into his heart. Lucas blew the whistle again, and the beast yawned widely to shake the hypnotic sound from its ears. Lucas seized the opportunity to pull Bess away from the beast’s claws.

  The kids stormed up the stairs and into the hallway. Lens slammed the basement door closed, then jerked his hand back. Smoke rose from the doorknob. “Ouch! It’s hot!”

  “What are you doing?” Bess snapped at her friends. “I had him!”