Haley and the Town of Refuge (Haley and Nana Book 6)

HALEY AND THE TOWN OF REFUGE Copyright 2023 © M.C.A. Hogarth. All rights reserved. Studio MCAH PMB 109 4522 West Village Dr. Tampa, FL 33624 mcahogarth.org No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the brief use of quotations in book reviews or educational materials. Cover and interior art by M.C.A. Hogarth. CONTENTS Haley and the Town of Refuge Afterword Simply the Best Chocolate Brownies Verses Acknowledgments About the Author “Behold!” said Nana, raising her hand, “a single strand of egg noodle goodness!” Haley started giggling and even Jennifer, their grumpy teen baker, smiled. A little, anyway. It was the latter who said, “Is that really all you’re going to put in the soup?” “It is! I have a skill called [Feed the Hungry Masses] that lets me multiply ingredients when I’m cooking.” Nana sniffed. “The aliens wanted to name it [Feeding the Five Thousand] and I said ‘no thank you, very much.’ Only one man has fed five thousand, and anything I’m doing is mere imitation.” Before Jennifer could erupt, Haley said, “So you just drop it in the soup?” “I do! And voila, as Mavis would say: noodles for our chicken noodle soup!” Nana released the piece of pasta and all of them watched as it fell into the pot with a plonk. Haley’s grandmother pressed her palms together and murmured what sounded like a prayer, and Haley stirred, waiting for the grand reveal. There were no fireworks, though, and no clouds of smoke or explosions of light. It would have been disappointing, except that it was working: more and more resistance responded to her attempts to move the stirring spoon, and when she lifted it out of the soup, multiple noodles were clinging to it. “Oh, that’s so cool! Can you do it with things other than noodles?” “I can, yes, but it’s more difficult and then I can’t do it for a while.” “So… chocolate chips?” Haley asked hopefully. “Only in batter as you’re making it!” Jennifer wrinkled her perfect button nose. “I’d think it would be better to multiply something healthier. Like meat. It’s not like Mr. Collins has unlimited chickens.” “Meat is do-able, but it isn’t as effective and I have to wait longer before I can do it again.” “Do the aliens want us to eat carbs?” Haley asked, trying not to find that funny. “If I am reading the description right,” Nana replied, “it has to do with things made by man versus things of nature. So, supposing that’s correct, if we unearth that can of spam from wherever it’s hiding, we could run an experiment….” “Is spam a meat or a human-made product, a question for the ages!” Jennifer pressed her hand to her mouth and made a gagging noise. “I know,” Haley said with a sage nod. “You’re about to say ‘why are the two of you like this’ and we say—” “WARNING. WARNING. PERIMETER DEFENSES ACTIVATED.” The kitchen flipped from warm golden sunlight to a dim red glow as abruptly as if someone had thrown a switch. Haley dropped her stirring spoon as the cat raced past her, caterwauling at a volume that would have raised the dead. “What on earth?” “Did… did the house talk?” Jennifer asked. The house had talked, and the voice wasn’t anything like what Haley had imagined Ruth sounding like. What had produced it? And what was out the back door? She was scared to look, so… she forced herself to head through the mudroom to the porch, and heard the other two following her. Outside, a faint golden sparkle hinted at a curved wall along the edge of the yard. Tank, the alligator turtle, was sitting on the lawn facing outward, and Trouble the raccoon was perched on his back, staring fixedly into the woods. Tom joined them, still issuing that eerie yowl. It was ten in the morning, and everything looked fine to Haley, until it didn’t. Something ghosted through the woods, and it made every hair on her arms stand up. She hadn’t even seen it clearly, and her body was trembling with the need to run. Tom spit a challenge, and the thing flowed back along the tree line, pacing like a trapped panther. Something the size of a car, but sleeker, except it kept changing shape; something never more solid than a shadow and as real as a nightmare; something that had, Haley saw with a sharp gasp, eyes: glowing eyes that knew her. And as she stood, riveted in place, Nana brushed past, striding toward the golden wall. She put her hands on her hips, looked directly at the monster, and said, “Go from this place, demon, for you have no lawful prey on this earth!” That Thomascat punctuated this declaration by lunging toward the trees, and Trouble darted after him, followed by the lumbering form of Tank. The monster stopped, staring them all down… and then merged into the forest shadows, dissipating behind the ambient glitter that had barred it from approaching. Could it have forced its way through? Had driving it away required the combined might of… whatever Nana was doing, and the aggression of the inn’s guardians, and the protective sphere? Was that what was terrorizing the cities? “I-i-is it gone?” Jennifer squeaked from beside the back door. “It’s gone.” Nana dusted off her apron. “What an ugly old sinner that was.” Her grandmother’s no-nonsense attitude restored Haley’s ability to think, which… she was not sure she appreciated, because it made her aware that all her muscles ached from locking in place, and her shirt was sticking to her body because she’d been sweating that much. Fear-sweat smelled gross. She plucked at the collar and tried not to make a face. “I guess that was one of the actual monsters.” “I would suppose so.” “Why is it here?” Jennifer’s voice was