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    Return to Underland
    Return to Underland
    Return to Underland
    Ebook116 pages1 hour

    Return to Underland

    By Alan Nayes

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    About this ebook

    What if you were eleven and discovered a place where animals long-thought to be extinct still existed? What would you do?

    When Spinner McPherson and Reglan hike deep into Echo Valley, the last thing they have on their minds is finding a huge mysterious cave that is home to creatures that haven't wandered the Earth for many many years; in some cases, millions of years. But that is exactly what they do. They discover Underland--a place like no other on Earth!

    RETURN TO UNDERLAND is a children's adventure tale and is approximately 25,000 words or ninety pages. A middle grade book.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlan Nayes
    Release dateJun 15, 2012
    ISBN9781476485447
    Return to Underland
    Author

    Alan Nayes

    Alan Nayes is the author of numerous novels and short stories. He resides in Southern California. Please visit www.anayes.com for a complete list of his novels. Thank you.

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      Book preview

      Return to Underland - Alan Nayes

      RETURN TO UNDERLAND

      Alan Nayes

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright2012 Alan Nayes

      Book Cover Artist: Daren Challman

      Editor: Karin Cox www.editorandauthor.com

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including recording, scanning, photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written consent of the author.

      This book is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

      Books by Alan Nayes

      BARBARY POINT

      GARGOYLES ( Resurrection Trilogy, Book One)

      PLAGUE (Resurrection Trilogy, Book Two)

      THE UNNATURAL

      SMILODON

      GIRL BLUE

      RETURN TO UNDERLAND

      To all living things, past, present…and future.

      PART ONE

      THE DISCOVERY

      CHAPTER 1

      Spinner couldn’t recall exactly when he and Reglan became close friends. They were neighbors initially. The first time he’d seen her was right after Reglan’s family moved in next door, a little over three years ago. He had been eight and out in his backyard digging for shale, a grey-black rock noteworthy for preserving fossils. Though the valleys around Maramac harbored plenty of the drab-colored stone, most required an hour or two of hiking time to reach.

      Spinner had just pulled out a golf ball sized chunk of stone—not shale but limestone—when he’d heard a chorus of loud voices next door.

      The new neighbors were celebrating their daughter’s seventh birthday.

      Happy birthday to you … happy birthday to Reglan, came the chorus from next door. That’s how he’d learned her name.

      It turned out that, like him, Reglan was an only child. The village of Maramac was small and since the school was only a few blocks from their homes, they soon began to walk to school together.

      I’m going to be a veterinarian when I grow up, she boasted one brisk morning, a few weeks before spring would arrive in Echo Valley.

      I like animals too, Spinner replied, but I’m more interested in fossils.

      You mean dead animals.

      I suppose. But long ago they were alive. Just like Otter is now. Otter was his yellow Labrador puppy. As soon as Otter was old enough Spinner planned on walking him to Dwellers Meadow, just north of town, where shale deposits used to be mined.

      Yeah, Otter’s cool.

      Did you know that all of Echo Valley used to be a huge shallow inland sea?

      When?

      Millions of years ago.

      You know a lot about this kind of stuff.

      Maybe that’s when he began liking her more than just for a walk-to-school buddy. It wasn’t what she’d said, but how she’d said it—with admiration. She admired that he was interested in the science of the past. It’s called paleontology, Spinner had told her.

      I know that. Yet by the funny way she smiled when she said it, he knew she was lying.

      If you’re going to be a vet, then I’m going to be paleontologist, Spinner declared.

      Here’s to animals—past and present! Reglan grinned and put her hand up for a high five.

      After that, they began taking short hikes together: Reglan to observe songbirds and small mammals and reptiles, and Spinner to search for shale and fossils.

      One afternoon, Spinner watched Reglan’s parents rush her away in their white SUV. For more than four weeks she was absent from school. Spinner missed the discussions they had about bobcats, and foxes, and prehistoric horses that once roamed Echo Valley after the inland sea receded. While the other kids bragged about sports—which Spinner was never any good at, though he could climb trees pretty expertly—and video games, he preferred to talk science. Sometimes they would laugh at his geekiness, but Spinner never let his hurt feelings show.

      One baseball game just before Reglan departed still goaded him, though.

      Two out in the bottom of the ninth, and Spinner McPherson came to bat. His team was down by one run and the tying run stood on third. All he had to do was pop a simple grounder past the infield. Easy, right?

      Come on Spinner, hit it out of the park, his sandlot teammates shouted, although he could tell they had no faith in him.

      The boys in the field even yelled, Yo, Spinner bro, blast that puppy—right into my glove. That is if you can hit it! Then everyone had laughed.

      All three pitches, one after the other, came in so fast. Spinner closed his eyes for the first two. He swung twice and whiffed. Then he let the third pitch zip past with the bat still resting on his shoulder. Strike three!

      Both sides had jeered. Next time, we’ll pitch you a fossil, one boy had taunted.

      He had not known Reglan had stopped by with friends to watch, but when he started walking home, Reglan caught up with him. You tried. You were close on one pitch, the second I think.

      I wasn’t even close, he muttered, adjusting his glasses.

      Try not to let it get you down.

      That’s easy for you to say.

      There are more important things in life than hitting some stupid baseball across a dirt field, you know.

      One day I’ll show ’em. Scientific knowledge beats hitting a home run any day.

      The next week, Reglan had been driven away by her parents.

      Over dinner one evening, Spinner asked, Where’s Reglan been?

      His parents exchanged concerned looks.

      Reglan is ill, honey, his mother replied.

      Spinner set down his fork. You mean like a cold? A sore throat?

      No. It’s more serious than that.

      How serious? He hadn’t realized how much he missed her until then.

      His father cleared his throat. She has a blood disease, son. It’s called leukemia.

      Spinner shivered involuntarily. He hated the word just by the way it sounded. Will she be okay? he asked, trying to prevent his lower lip from quivering.

      His mother patted his wrist tenderly. The doctors are doing all they can, dear.

      Whatever the doctors had done, it must have been enough. When Reglan finally returned to Maramac a month later, she didn’t look much different than before—maybe a little thinner and paler. She’d lost a lot of hair too. But she still liked talking about animals. And because she hadn’t made fun of him when he struck out at baseball, he never made a comment when the rest of her hair fell out. He still thought she looked cute, although he never mentioned that to anyone, and when her hair returned it grew in thicker and curlier than before.

      For her ninth birthday, Spinner bought Reglan a hot fudge sundae at the local drug store. He thought all the color had returned to her cheeks. So you’re really okay? he couldn’t resist asking.

      She offered up her trademark Reglan grin. I’m in remission.

      That’s awesome!

      Their treks outside Maramac never extended beyond Dwellers Meadow—parents’ rules—yet the fields and surrounding forest never failed to offer up surprises. One early morning they discovered a wounded raccoon. One of the animal’s limbs was bleeding and stuck out at an unnatural angle. Reglan guessed it had fallen from a tree limb and broken its hind leg. Spinner fashioned a sling from a poncho he carried in his pack and positioned the injured mammal on Reglan’s back for the walk back to town.

      The leg

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