Book Two: Hollow City (My Remake)

Chapter 9~A Wren's Nest

The path that had dead-ended at the bottom of the wall began again here at the top, following the spine of a ridge up and over a hill. "The sign on the rope said Access to Menagerie," pointed out Horace. "Do you suppose that's what's ahead?"

"You're the one who dreams about the future," said Enoch. "Suppose you tell us."

"What's a menagerie?" asked Olive.

"A collection of animals," Emma explained. "Like a zoo, of sorts."

Olive squeaked and clapped her hands. "It's Cuthbert's friends! From the story! Oh, I can't wait to meet them. Do you suppose that's where the ymbryne lives, too?"

"At this juncture," Millard said, "it's best not to suppose anything."

Olive crossed her little arms and pouted. "Well don't take all the fun out of it!"

"I wasn't!" he defended.

We started walking - a spring in our step and optimism soaring past the clouds - Olive most of all as every other step she took lifted her from the ground for a brief moment, yet she was too excited to take notice.

As we walked, I took note of the weather in this loop - how they sun seemed to beat down on us every so often when a cloud didn't bother to cover it, or the hum of an army of cicadas inhabiting the trees below.

I shut my eyes for a moment, taking it all in, but then a hand came to rest on mine and Millard said, "Are you sure you're alright? That hollow had quite the hold on you."

Looking down at my hand, I realized I had been subconsciously rubbing it, and quickly placed the two down to my sides. "I'm fine," I assured him.

He looked at me, unconvinced, and then slipped off is blazer, draping it around my shoulders. Then he gathered my hand into his and held on tight, keeping me from rubbing my wrist again.

Then Bronwyn, stopping in the middle of the road and pointing to the sky shouted, "Look! A house in the clouds!"

We were halfway up the ridge when, ahead of us, where Bronwyn was pointing, a house seemed to be balancing on the lazy clouds that drifted by. As we came up to it further, the entirety of it came into view. The first thing I noticed was that it was very small, and wasn't actually resting on fluffy clouds, but rather, a stack of railroad ties. It was set at the centre of a grassy plateau, several other small shacks scattered around and a few teetering tower a patch of woods off to the side.

"What is it?" Jacob whispered.

"A lookout tower?" guessed Emma.

"A place to launch airplanes from?" said Hugh.

But there were no airplanes anywhere, nor any evidence of a landing strip.

"Perhaps it's a place to launch zeppelins from," said Millard with a dark intent.

That would mean the zeppelins that were hunting us down the other night could have been dispatched from here. Then again, they would need to be able to fit down a small shaft of water just to get to our time period.

"Or maybe it's the ymbryne's house," said Olive matter-of-factly. "Why does everyone always leap to the awfullest conclusions right away?"

"I'm sure Olive's right," said Hugh. "There's nothing to be afraid of here."

He was answered right away by a loud, inhuman growl, which seemed to come from the shadows beneath the tower.

"What was that?" Emma said in a low whisper.