Brief

A retired wildlife researcher moves her family back to her rural Kentucky hometown. But when their woodsy paradise is threatened by a band of mysterious, supernatural creatures, the family must rely on Native American folklore and good old fashioned backcountry know-how to survive.

What We Liked

WHEN THEY CALL does a great job of blending the ordinary and the extraordinary. We are introduced to a cast of characters with 'real world' problems that draw us in and help us relate to them. But soon enough, our cast is catapulted into the supernatural realm. But the supernatural world never fully overshadows the ordinary one, which makes the storyline approachable and much more authentic than it might be otherwise.

Film: As a film, it's likely that it would only work as a franchise. There is no concrete ending here, and the manuscript arguably leaves us with more questions than answers. That said, there are sufficient suspense levels and adequate tension throughout, and the characters are consistently relatable and approachable.

TV: The first book in a series, there is much room for expansion here. We leave the world without too many answers, aside from the knowledge that some of the creatures are 'good' and some are 'evil.' We're left feeling like a war is brewing, one which could sustain multiple seasons. Additionally, there is good use of subplot throughout. The characters deal with the 'real world' almost as much as they deal with the supernatural one, which makes them feel well-rounded and the storyline consistently approachable.

Key points:
Good use of theme.
Good use of subplot.
Franchise and/or series potential.
Female-driven narrative.
Diversity potential.

Synopsis

NANCY (40s), a wildlife veterinarian, and her husband, HANK (40s) begin their married life on the Washington coast. But after several years of raising their children, ANNA (teens), and HEATH (4), they decide to move back to Kentucky to be closer to family. Nancy, who has Native American ancestors, arranges for an inspector to ensure that the fireplace is usable, and he finds piles of strange rocks on the roof.

Nancy runs into an old high school friend, KELLY. Kelly, the town vet, asks Nancy to work part-time at the animal clinic. Back at home, the family listens for nature sounds instead, and Nancy hears owls screeching. Knowing that owls are solitary creatures, she finds it strange.

The next morning, Heath tells Nancy that a man came to his window during the night. Anna tells her that the owls kept her up all night. Nancy drops Anna off at nature camp and drives Heath to her MOTHER’s house. Nancy’s mother reminisces about the tribal stories her grandmother told. Nancy arrives back home and finds a mutilated deer in her driveway. By the lake, firewood has been assembled to look like teepees. Nancy remembers a story from her grandmother about the teepees and takes it as a sign to leave. She calls Hank, who instructs her to call the police. Two LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS arrive and blame rowdy children for the deer, and the teepees.

The family awakens to discover that all their plants have been uprooted. A security company arrives to install cameras around the property. Anna begins to sob at the lost plants and begs her parents to leave. Nancy overhears her children talking and discovers that Anna has seen the man, too. She encourages Heath to tell her everything, and both parents decide that its best if their children go to stay with their grandparents.

Nancy and Hank return home to find their property pitch black. Hank sees an eight-foot-tall figure emerging from the lake. Hank grabs his gun and goes to meet it. The menacing figure darts around them, as Hank tells Nancy that he’s certain the ghoul did something to him.

Nancy convinces Hank to look for evidence the next morning, and Hank finds a clump of the beast’s hair. Nancy finds a trail of broken tree limbs, but Hank doesn’t want to follow it. Hank leaves Nancy alone, and Nancy grabs his gun and follows the trail. She smells the creature all around her, and as the sun sets, hurries back into the house. Her mother urges her to remember what her grandmother told her: do not respond if it calls her name. As she’s washing dishes, the creature begins banging on the kitchen window. She opens her phone app to try to catch a glimpse of it, but the screen is too small. She hurries to the tablet in the bedroom and hears three knocks on that window. Nancy makes her way through the house and the creature follows with its knocking. She begins to call out to it, asking it what it wants, and she curls up into a fetal position and sobs. When she composes herself, she goes to bed. She hears strange animal noises outside but tries to tune them out. Then she hears a bird making a doorbell noise, and soon after, her name.

Nancy arrives for her first day at the vet clinic. She is sitting down for lunch, with ARON (+/-10) and his aunt, TAMMY (30s), arrive with a beagle. Tammy explains that she is Aron’s legal guardian, after his father killed his mother and then died himself. Aron was left in the wilderness for almost a year before anybody found him, and she adopted him. Nancy notices that Aron is filthy and smells just like the creature stalking her house. Tammy excuses herself to go to the restroom, and Nancy begins asking Aaron questions. She learns that he befriended ‘the ancients’ who went crazy after watching his father kill his mother. Nancy arranges a house call to visit the beagle, so she can learn more from Aron.

Nancy arrives at her parents’ house, and her mother warns her to be careful. Her father, TOM, comes in and shoos his wife away. Never one for Native American folklore, Nancy assumes that Tom won’t believe her. But he encourages her to install dazers around her property, a device that emits a high-pitched noise only certain animals can hear. Nancy and Tom drive to the hardware store to pick up the devices, and then back to the house so Tom can install them.

When the dazers are installed, Nancy starts her car and realizes that it’s dead. Without booster cables, she walks to her neighbors. She introduces herself to TYLER (40s) and his wife, CHARLENE (40s), who looks much older than her years. Charlene tells Nancy that she lost a son, and that children go missing all the time in the neighborhood. Nancy asks Charlene about the creature. She tells her that her son followed it when it called his name and was never seen from again.

Nancy and Hank bring the children home, and all appears well for a time. Charlene arrives at the house, to tell Nancy about what happened to her son. After he disappeared, the creatures began leaving pieces of him on their front porch. A shoe, a scrap of his shirt, and eventually body parts. Hank and Nancy decide that Heath should sleep in bed with them that night. In the wee hours of the morning, Tyler knocks on the door to inform them that Charlene never returned home. Afraid to leave the kids, Nancy packs them into the truck and the whole family accompanies Tyler on his search. They find Charlene’s truck mangled on the side of the road, with blood spatters on it.

Nancy is at the veterinary clinic when a deputy comes to question her. He gets aggressive and Nancy threatens to call the sheriff, HAROLD JONES. The deputy informs her that Harold Jones is no longer the sheriff and has been hauled up in a nursing home for several years. Nancy arrives to Aron’s on her house call. Aron tells her that the creatures killed his father after he beat his mother to death on the property, and that the creatures have been protecting him ever since. He leads her on a trail in the woods, to a forcefield of rocks covered in urine. Nancy asks him about structures made of sticks, and Aron tells her that only the bad creatures make warning signs with sticks. He tells her they live in tribes, and that only some of them are good. Tammy begins calling out for Aron, and chases Nancy from the house. She decides that she must pay a visit to Harold Jones to find out what happened to him, and then she must visit the site of Charlene’s wreck again to investigate.

At the wreck, Nancy feels the wind change and hears rustling in the trees. She is chased by one of the creatures, who growls at her all throughout the woods. She finds Charlene’s mangled truck, with a monster tooth wedged in between the metal. At the clinic, she receives a call from Tammy, who apologizes for her demeanor at the house. She learns that Aron won’t stop talking about her, and Nancy offers to have the child over for a playdate.

Nancy and Hank awaken one morning to a horrible smell. They discover muddy footprints all throughout the house and realize that the power went out sometime during the night and three of the creatures made their way inside. They find Anna, petrified, in her bed and she tells them they were watching her only a few moments ago.

Nancy arrives at the nursing home to visit Harold. He reveals that he saw one of the creatures that night. When he tried to tell his colleagues, a rumor spread that he was crazy. He eventually lost his job, and his wife was put in charge of all his decisions.

Nancy becomes obsessed with finding the creatures. She is following a trail in the woods, when a NATIVE AMERICAN MAN appears and identifies himself as her ancestor. He creates a visual illusion to tell Nancy that when the tribe first settled on the land, they encountered the Toylana creatures, but found a way to live peacefully among them. Soon, the Ya-Ta-Hey branched off from the Toylana and started a war with the settlers. They began offering up their women and children as sacrifices for the creatures, to survive. Then, the European settlers arrived and began using their weapons to destroy the tribe, the Toylana, and the Ya-Ta-Hey. The man and the vision disappear when Nancy receives a call from her ex-colleague, MICHELLE.

Michelle tells Nancy that she’s seen the DNA of the creature before, and that people from Nancy’s hometown send it to the lab frequently. But the researchers are told to send them back dummy reports citing the DNA as a bear’s and destroy the samples. That night, Nancy dreams of the Native American man. He tells her that, to help fight the European settlers, the tribe taught the Ya-Ta-Hey their spiritual practices. But the Ya-Ta-Hey used it against them and began luring their children away from them.

Anna begins seeing a boy, COBY, who lives across the lake. The next day, she drops the children off at school and returns to speak with her father. He tells her that, if she continues to obsess, she’ll be like the crazy people in town who sacrifice animals at the salt mines. Nancy desperately wants to go search the mines but decides to hold off. On her way home, she receives a text from Anna informing her that she’s riding the bus to Coby’s house.

When Nancy arrives home, Anna is missing. She hurries to Coby’s house, but nobody’s seen her. In the driveway, she finds Anna’s cell phone. The family begins searching the neighborhood for Anna, and Nancy demands that Hank drive to the mines. When he gets out to look, a large rock whizzes past his head. The family returns home and tries to figure out what to do next.

Nancy remembers a trick from her time as a wildlife vet and leaves a mirror as a gift for the creatures. She hopes that, in return, they’ll leave her a clue about Anna. Later, she and Hank go to the site of Nancy’s gift and find Anna’s shoes waiting.

The town holds a vigil for Anna, and Nancy sees the man from her vision sitting outside of a diner. Later identified as HOPI, a member of her grandmother’s tribe, he tells her that a dark day is coming and they need the Toylana to help protect the town from the Ya-Ta-Hey. He also tells her that the creatures appreciated the mirror. Nancy’s mother arrives and when Nancy turns around again, Hopi is gone.

Nancy finds Tammy and Aron at the vigil and asks Aron if he knows anything about Anna’s whereabouts. Aron clams up. The police continue searching for Anna, but soon call it off. Nancy picks up Aron for a playdate. She tries to get more information about the creatures, and Aron tells her that they’re protecting her. Later, Nancy notices that the dazer box has been broken with a rock.

Nancy is watching Heath and Aron play outside while she makes dinner. She sees them staring at something in the woods. She and Hank hurry to stop them and see one of the creatures standing on the ridge. Aron tells her that it’s one of the good ones.

Nancy drives Aron home and finds Tammy passed out drunk on the couch. She takes Aron back home for a sleepover but at the last moment, decides to take him to the nursing home to talk to Harold. They arrive, only to learn that Harold is dead.

The police get wind of the shoes and accuse Nancy and Hank of submitting false evidence. A verbal battle ensues. When the police leave, Nancy and Hank trek back up the trail to look for another gift. This time, they find a lock of Anna’s hair. She convinces Hank to visit Hopi for answers before Heath is next. Hopi tells her that the creatures found Anna’s hair, a sign that means she is likely dead. He tells her to keep Heath close because, as the head of a chieftain bloodline, he is the key the Ya-Ta-Hey needs to come forward.

Hank and Tyler gather up their weapons and decide to confront the creatures. They see glowing eyes and shoot. Soon enough, the aggressive creatures come forward and injure Hank and break Tyler’s back. Nancy corrals the men back into the car and they rush to get Tyler to the emergency room.

After arriving home, the family prepares for bed. But soon, they hear a whisper calling out for Heath. Too late, they discover him in the yard, making his way towards one of the creatures. Hank shoots it in the calf, but it only halts it for a moment. Just when Heath is almost gone for a good, a creature of the Toylana appears from the trees and attacks. They two creatures collide, and chaos ensues. Hank is able to grab Heath, as the Toylana creature kills the Ya-Ta-Hey creature. It stands up and approaches the three humans. With kind eyes, he introduces himself as Boq. The humans stand there, stunned, trying to accept their new normal.

About The Author

J.L. Calhoun grew up around Native American folklore in eastern Kentucky. This is the first book in a series.