The Desert (episode)

**"The Desert"** is the second episode in the first season of *The Hollow*.

## Overview

Captured by minotaurs and imprisoned in a labyrinth, the teens face a grisly fate: becoming dinner for a snot-spewing monster.

## Plot

### Minotaur Town

Adam, Mira, and Kai wake up locked in a jail cell with their wrists tied behind their backs. Going through the portal that The Weird Guy made for them (at the end of the previous episode) drained their energy. Adam recalls the last thing he remembers before falling unconscious was "talking cows." Kai belittles him disbelievingly, until two minotaurs come to open the cell. The minotaurs speak to each other in a language foreign to Adam and Kai, but Mira translates for them that the minotaurs are angered by human invaders and that Mira and her friends are "the ugliest of the bunch."

The two minotaurs guards escort the three humans through the Minotaur Town while other onlooking minotaurs laugh and jeer at the prisoners. Mira stops to talk to the minotaur guards in an attempt to reason with them. The guards are incredulous that Mira speaks their language, and they accuse her of witchcraft. She translates for Adam and Kai that the minotaurs are delivering them to someone called Toros to be eaten.

The trio of prisoners and their pair of guards arrive at the pyramid. Once inside, the guards tie their prisoners up and leave them for Toros. The guards are clearly frightened of Toros, as they run for the exit at the sound of his approach.

Adam manages to break free of his restraints using his super strength. He grabs a sharp rock and uses it to cut Kai's ropes. Once Kai is free, Adam tries to free Mira, but Toros enters and interrupts. Adam rips Mira free of her ropes just in time to dodge Toros's attack. They scramble and run off in different directions, getting lost in the labyrinth of the pyramid. At times, they find each other only to be separated again.

Mira enters a room littered with human skeletons in contrast to the minotaur bones found in every other room of the pyramid. Cornered by Toros, she tries to talk to and reason with him unsuccessfully. Adam and Kai enter the room. Their entrance distracts Toros, and Mira uses the opportunity to jump into a large hole in the floor. Adam and Kai follow her into the hole while Toros pursues them, but the hole is too small for Toros to fit through. Thus, Adam, Mira, and Kai have safely escaped into the caves under the pyramid.

### Caves

Mira remembers the flashlight in the satchel. Adam turns it on, but it flickers briefly before the batteries die. The cave rumbles as Toros roars above them, and they run away as fast as they can.

As they navigate through the wet, dark cave, Kai posits to his teammates that they must be dead, but his friends disagree. They come across a bright, white light at the end of a cave. Mira and Kai stand back as Adam approaches it to investigate. He looks inside and sees a 1950s-style home kitchen. Inside, a beautiful woman is baking cookies and making soup. The woman's clothing and hairstyle fits the 1950s atmosphere of the kitchen itself. As the three teammates discuss the idea of going inside, Kai suggests that it is a trap, but Mira ignores him in favor of satisfying her hunger.

She goes inside, but the woman does not notice her at first. The woman hums to herself while tasting the soup. Mira announces her presence, and the startled woman falls backward onto the floor. Mira apologizes and helps her up. The woman warmly embraces Mira and tells her that she was expected. Mira motions for her friends to come inside, but only Adam enters. The woman invites Adam and Mira to the table as she serves them bowls of soup. Kai watches longingly as his stomach growls, and he decides to go inside and join his friends at the table. The woman pours a third bowl of soup for Kai. Mira compliments the soup's aroma, while Kai suspiciously questions the soup's ingredients. The woman open explains that the soup is made from vegetables and bones she steals from Toros, which she adds for flavor. Although Adam and Mira are put off by the inclusion of bones, Kai quickly devours his soup.

Adam explains to the woman that he and his friends are lost, and he asks her where they are. The woman returns his question with a cryptic answer and a sweet smile. After further questions from Mira, the woman explains that they cannot return home before they meet "him." Adam asks for further clarification, but the woman offers no response as she is preoccupied with dusting Kai's hair. The timer bell dings, and the woman goes to retrieve the cookies from the oven. With a lowered voice, Mira asks Kai why he distrusts the woman.

The woman suddenly drops the tray of cookies to the floor causing a loud clang. Clearly offended, she turns to the guests and asks if they distrust her. No one answers. The woman relaxes into her normal light chuckle. Kai asks if she has milk to go with the cookies, but her light chuckle continues, growing into maniacal laughter as she buries her face in her hands and transforms into a witch with leathery green skin, piercing yellow eyes, pointed ears, and disheveled white hair.

She lunges at Kai from across the room throwing him back in his chair and pinning him to the floor. She inhales deeply and begins to suck out Kai's youthful essence causing him to fall unconscious. Kai's eyes roll back in his head as a glowing white and blue stream of light passes from his mouth into the witch's nose. Adam strikes the witch on the back of her head with a large bone. The witch falls to the floor unconscious while Kai's life essence returns to him and he returns to consciousness. Mira helps him up, and the three friends run for the exit.

Before they can escape, however, another woman identical to the first enters the kitchen from the cave holding a plate of ambrosia salad. She offers the salad to the kids in a sing-song voice as they stand stunned in confusion. Upon seeing the unconscious witch on the floor, the second woman gasps and drops the dish. The plate shatters on the floor as cockroaches scramble out of the salad and crawl away. The second woman transforms into another witch and attacks Mira, pinning her to the floor. The second witch begins to suck out Mira's youthful essence in the same manner that first witch and done to Kai. Adam tries to hit the witch with a bone like before, but she takes the bone from him and tosses it away. Adam tries to pull the witch away from Mira by the neck. Kai picks up the bone and tries to hit the witch with it, but accidentally hits Adam instead twice. On the third try, he successfully hits the witch in the face knocking her to the floor. Mira's essence returns to her and she awakens. Kai helps her up, and the three runs for the exit.

The second witch stands up and runs after them. Kai tosses the bone to Adam, who then swings it at the witch like a baseball bat. The witch bounces backward falling into the oven, and the oven door closes behind her. Purple smoke emanates from the oven, and the witch screams as she gets cooked alive. The three friends leave the kitchen and run through the cave.

As they run, Kai warns his friends to beware of a third witch because witches always come in groups of three. They question him disbelievingly, but a rustling in the rocks brings them to a halt. They stand still in observation looking for any sign of movement. They see nothing, but Adam clutches the bone preparing for the possibility of a third witch.

The third witch approaches them from behind crawling on the cave ceiling. She slowly lowers herself to just behind their heads, then says playfully, "Boo!\* Cackling eerily, she jumps toward them to attack, but Adam knocks her unconscious with the bone. Adam ensures she is unconscious, then he and Mira continue running.

Kai stands next to the witch taunting her, then as he turns to leave, the witch grabs his ankle pulling him to the ground. Kai kicks her hand causing her to release her grip. The three friends run toward a light at the end of the cave tunnel.

They run out of the cave into the desert. From the mouth of the cave, the witch calls after them, repeating, "Death is your friend!" She reaches her hand after them, but the sunlight burns her. She screeches at the Sun in pain, then retreats back into the cave.

### Desert

The three friends walk aimlessly into the desert. Kai asks to see the map. Adam reminds him that the map does not show their current location, but Kai insists to see it anyway. When he does, he sees that the minotaur town, the pyramid, and the desert have appeared on the map. Thus, they discover that the map has the magic ability to show them wherever they have already been.

Mira, exasperated by the evolving absurdity of their circumstances, collapses to her knees in despair and declares that she gives up. Adam encourages her to endure and that together they will all find a way to return home. She agrees, and the three friends continue their journey into the lifeless desert.

An oasis appears in the distance, and the three travelers are relieved to find water, but as they run toward it, the oasis remains in the distance. Adam concludes that it is only a mirage.

The weary travelers believe they are still hallucinating when they see three strange deathly-looking men on the horizon riding toward them on horseback, but this belief fades as the men grow closer. Frightened, Adam and Mira try to run away in vain. Each of the three horsemen picks up one of the kids to ride with them.

As they traverse the desert, the horsemen remain silent as the kids ask a series of questions. They arrive at the scrapyard, a dramatic landscape of crashed, abandoned spaceships in extreme disrepair half-buried in sand. Among the wreckage, a brooding skeletal figure cloaked in black carrying a scythe waits patiently. The sight of the Grim Reaper reinforces Kai's belief that they are dead. Adam recalls the witch's words, "Death is your friend."

## Characters

In order of appearance:

* Minotaurs
* Adam
* Mira
* Kai
* Toros
* Witches
* Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Plague, Famine, and War)
* Death

## Cast

* Ashleigh Ball as Mira
* Connor Parnall as Kai
* Adrian Petriw as Adam

*Additional Voices By*

* Kathleen Barr
* Brian Dobson
* Paul Dobson

## Notable Quotes

Read the full transcript here.

* *"I feel like somebody beat me with a bag of angry turtles."* – Kai
* *"Sorry, I dropped out of "Minotaur For Beginners" in fifth grade!"* – Kai
* *"No! Don't run towards the light. That's what happens right before you die!"* – Kai
* *"Death is your friend!"* – Witch #3
* *"I'm tired, I'm sweaty, I'm scared, and there's a good chance I accidentally ate minotaur poop."* – Mira

## See Also

 **Season 2** | "Home" • "Hollow Games" • "The Return" • "Puzzled" • "Alchemy" • "Dead End" • "Unbalanced" • "Fang" • "Fire" • "Race"