Underworld by M. L. Woolley Read Free Book Online Page A

caves on my
way to this world. It is as though I have been plunged
into a fabulous dream. Not exactly what I would
have chosen to dream about but it keeps the
adrenaline pumping.
    When the creatures fly past I exit my hiding place and
began to make my way south. Within an hour,
silhouetted on the horizon; high above a stretch of
trees, sits a house. It is not very inviting with its
twisted turrets as I have an aversion to old buildings
but there is a light about it. The light illuminates the
darkness and gives the house an ethereal presence.
    As I approach the trees that are below the house I
notice something darting behind a tree. The forest is
vast and it feels as though the sound of my rubber
soled shoes squelching on the wet leaves is echoing.
I can see a faint light from the direction where the
house is sitting and make my way toward it. Things
start to go downhill as soon as I enter the forest.
There is a slight movement about a dozen trees to the
left and I catch sight of a short figure disappearing
into the blackness out of the corner of my eye.
    As I stand there looking around a chill runs through
me. My first inclination is to run but I shake the
feeling. This reaction makes no sense to me given the
nature of this world. I continue forward but have the
conscious feeling that I am being followed. Fear is
nothing new to me and I must to get control of my
nerves. A quick pep talk has me moving forward
again.
    I keep glancing over my shoulder as I press forward.
I don’t see anything this time but the hair on my arms
continues to stand on end. Just as I to grow more
confident that I am safe a girl appears from nowhere.
    Despite my shock I do
n’t have the impression that I
am facing my worst fear. In fact, it seems that the girl
is here to welcome me because she is smiling and
motions for me to follow her. Despite the odd glow
she emits, her appearance brings a sort of peace out of
the chaos and the world seems to take on a semblance
of order.
    We continue to walk through the woods without
saying a word to one another. It seems we have been
moving for hours and long shadows have begun to
fall beyond the periphery of the girl’s glowing body.
There is nothing to do but stay close behind her and
trust that she knows where she is going.
    The delicious smell of food is coming from the
blackness and I figure we must be close to the house.
We finally pass some smaller, scraggly pine trees and
walk into the edge of a clearing. The girl pauses
before she walks into the clearing.
    She then starts in the direction of bank of 20 or so
pine trees. To my dismay, when we arrive at our
destination, all I can see is a grey mist. We are
standing at the edge of a formidable looking mountain
with nothing but fog around us. There is certainly
nothing that I can see. No view, no house, nothing
but the dismal grey fog. I am so disappointed that I
am speechless. Not daring to look at the girl for fear
she will see my growing anger I turn and look back
down at the forest from where we had just come.
    Then the girl, to my surprise, says “ follow me” and
she takes my hand. We step through the rock and
right into the side of the mountain. As we reach the
other side the girl closes a door that I had not seen
before now. She points to a dark, cold passageway
and the smell of food wafts toward us.
    I hear the echo of feet on the stone floors of the tunnel
and a man appears holding a lantern. He is dressed in
a long tunic with dark pants. He has stringy brown
hair and a black beard and is accompanied by the
mutt that I first met outside the caves. I can’t help but
think of Scrooge from “A Chistmas Carol” and the
thought makes me smile. What in the world am I
doing here in this place?
    The grizzled man is the first to speak, “Welcome Ivy
.
My name is Tom”. The dog looks at me with his
human looking eyes as though shocked to see me
standing in front of him. I shoot him an accusatory
look and