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The morning air was cool on his face, but Eli didn't notice. He was lost in thought. Busy thinking about his projects newest findings. The results were also the reason for why he was up so early.
He needed to keep it hidden from his mom and no one in school really cared about whatever he did in the Computer lab...
He felt a slight tremor shake his bikes wheel and vibrate through his thin legs. An earthquake? He stopped shortly to check. It didn repeat, nor had it been very noticeable. Nothing unusual, so he continued. The bridge came into sight and he steared right towards it.
Oh shoot! Did he pack his lunch? It had been so early... his mom would be irritated if he ignored his dietary restrictions again.
He stopped, took his backpack off and was about to check. That's when he heard the shout.
The ground under his feet rumbled again. Suspiciously, the lanky boy walked towards the bridges railing, where another crash was heard. The noises seemed to come from the canal underneath.
When he looked down his eyes widened.
What... in the worlds...
...was...
...THAT!?
He blinked, took his glasses up for a moment and rubbed his eyes quickly before he set them down again.
Nope. They were still there.
Two huge... guys? With horns.
They had horns.
Like totally normal... No. Those... things were not human. Nope...
One of them was wearing a pretty shiny armour and held out a huge sword into the face of the dark one. That one was definitely looking like a monster... dark rough, stonelike skin!? Huge scary horns and even scarier glowing yellowish eyes.
What were those things!? Ogres? Trolls!?
Before he could debate whatever he was supposed to do now- should he call the police? The military? The FBI? He saw the first monster's armour gleam, before it looked up at him. Eli almost shrieked... and hid behind the stonewall. Blood rushed in his ears. Had that monster seen him? Was it going to kill him? He heard another shout and crash and flinched, squeezing his eyes shut. But nothing happened.
As he dared to look again, still hiding behind the bridges rail, he saw the two stone monsters running towards him, using the canals walls to jump into the bridges framework. The shiny one first, the dark one behind him.
Those... trolls were running to get him! Eli freaked.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, shit, shit!"
They were going to kill him! And guessing from how huge they were they would probably eat him in one bite!
The boy scrambled for his bike as fast as he could and sped across the bridge, his lungs burning as he hit the pedals.
It took him the rest of his ride to school to realize they hadn't followed him.
It took him an hour to realize he should have made pictures to prove his story.
It took him till break to regret telling his story in Steve's presence.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

They were on their way back to trollmarket when Aaarrrgh! spoke up

"What think?"
"Of our new trollhunter?" Blinky asked his companion, before he brought one of his hands up to his mouth in thought "Well. There's no use in apprehending the worst before it happened right?" He glanced at Aaarrrgh! before he rattled on, "As you know I'm still convinced that the amulet has it's way of choosing the right person for the right reason. Merlin's magic works in ways we cannot anticipate. Sometimes not comprehend the reasons for its choice. But I believe there to be a bigger plan behind it. So the amulet chose a human...!? The fact that this is the first time ever might be a sign that there's an even greater purpose behind it." His voice though wavered towards the end of his words.
Aaarrrgh! noticed it. "You like the boy." he stated.
Blinky looked up at the bigger troll with a slight smile "Hah. I don't know the human that well yet. But to be honest. Yes. Master Jim has... I don't know. There's something about him. Potencial I might say. I'm curious what will become of our new trollhunter... Their species grow fast and might live about as long as mayflies, but he's still a whelp after all. Just a boy... Have you seen how scared he was?"
Blinky chuckled and Aaarrrgh! joined in. Remembering the humans comical shrieks when they had introduced themselves.

He and Blinky had had a long conversation about the pros and cons to even contact the boy in the first place, debating how they best could make themselves known.
He heard Blinky sigh and noticed his change in posture.
"Oh Aaarrrgh!... He's still a whelp. What in Deyas grace was Merlin thinking?"
The bigger troll hummed... he expected there to be more on Blinky's mind. And he understood his partners worry. Jim was one of the youngest trollhunters ever. And not just by his human range of life.
There was a moment of silence before Blinky spoke up again. Aaarrrgh! noted that the scholar was not only in deep thought, but also moved. He really felt for the boy. That much was clear.
"Aaarrrgh! my friend, we might not know what motivated the amulets choice, but I think we have our work cut out for us. And not just because we have to train a weak human boy carrying the weight of the amulet, but also because we now have to carry the responsibility for his live. We can't just let the poor thing perish... What do you say? Are we up for that task?"
The big troll looked down at his smaller companion and smiled. It had been a while since he had seen Blinky so emotional about something. It was good.
And he had to admit, he shared Blinkys assessment. There was something about that boy... Change was coming, that much was clear.
And changes, as scary as they sometimes could be, often brought something positive with them. Aaarrrgh was ready for that.
"Yes.", he said "we are."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Vendel!"The troll elders head perked up as his name echoed off the walls of the sanctum. He turned around to greet the late trollhunter's son, storming towards him.Judging from the younger troll's face something must have upset him greatly.Vendel was curious. Since his fathers death the usually hotheaded, loudmouthed troll had gotten almost melancholic. A, dare he say, pleasant change for his rebellious and aggressive behaviour.

Draal had always been the cause for half the brawls he had to break up. Though Vendel knew that this was not merely the younger trolls nature, but an attitude he had developed after his father had become the trollhunter and distanced himself from his own son.A way for him to seek his fathers attention.He may not be a whelp anymore, but he had still been one when he lost his dearly beloved mother. And after his father rejected him he had no family to turn to.Now with his father dead, Draal had become a full orphan.The old troll was surprised to see him in his old form... something had certainly upset him."Vendel! Have you heard of that nonsense yet?" the agitated blue troll asked him.The troll elder raised an eyebrow. "No, what nonsense should I have heard about?" he asked in turn."Blinky and Aaarrrgh turned up in trollmarket with some human in tow. The fleshbag is supposed to be the trollhunter!" Draal thundered, pounding a fist on the stone table "Have you ever heard such bushigal!? My fathers memory, mocked! Mocked by some human whelp!"Vendels jaw fell.That. Really was outside of anything he ever might have expected and highly unbelieveble to boot..."That's impossible Draal. The amulet is supposed to be passed from troll to troll! There's no way it could have chosen a human! Much less a human whelp"The younger troll laughed mirthlessly "That's what you say, but then how come the fleshbag was able to summon the armour!? What kind of blood magic is at work here, huh!?"The troll elder was taken aback. If the human was able to summon the armour it really was the trollhunter. There was no kind of magic that could have outdone Merlin's spell. Surely not Blinky's bumbling stabs at the art.Speaking of which... why hadn't that fool informed him of such an unexpected event as the amulet choosing a human in the first place!?"Draal... Where is that old buffoon and the little fleshbag right now?"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Oh foggy fudgeknuckle... she was sooo late! And just after she reprimanded Jim for his tardiness. Then again... she couldn't exactly leave Enrique alone at home. Her mother's meeting had taken longer than expected and her father had an appointment as well. Thus she had to hurry home after school and then back again for rehearsal.
Her brow furrowed as she thought of her mothers words, when she finally got home...
"You know these meeting can take longer Claire. It's not like I can leave with the bell ringing!"
She hadn't heard whether her mother had said anything else. Late as she was, there was no time for another lecture on how theatre was a dispensable hobby anyway.
When she walked through the door, the apology died on her lips.
"Steve?"
What was Mr. highschool cliché doing here?
The blonde boy turned around and gave her a smarmy smile. Gods... could that guy get any more obnoxious?
"Hey there Claire..." he said and moved towards her, reaching out a hand to touch her arm and she evaded him.
He had done that in the past several times and she had usually just ignored it. But she was still angry over the fact, that he had pushed her and had tried to humiliate Jim in front of everyone before attacking him.
When she had confronted him about it he just gave her some totally lame "never get into a fight between two men"-spiel. The guy was a total douche...
"What are you doing here, Steve?" she asked him flatly. Her expression exasperated.
"Oh you're gonna love this, princess!" He lisped, a wide toothless grin on his face "Since Lake is a total no-show, Ms. Janneth asked around for a more reliable Romeo. You're looking at your new playing partner, my Juliet."
Claire's heart sank and her eyes widened... No. No, no, no, no! This couldn't be! Please not Steve the buttsnack Palchuk!
"Mr. Palchuk may I remind you, that you're the understudy?" She heard Ms. Janneth say from the stage on the other side of the room. "As proven by Mr. Lakes repeated non-presence, it was a necessary decision Ms. Nunez. Now if you would please take your places. I'd like to start the rehearsal."
Claire released a breath she didn't realize holding in.
So Jim was still in the play...
As unreliable as he was, she had to admit that she'd prefer the butterflies she felt in her stomach whenever he was on stage with her, very much over the dread she felt about having Steve there.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Toby groaned as he put on his second gym shoe.
"Ha! That was surprisingly easy today! I'm telling you, if those stupid goblins wouldn't have stolen my chubby tracker I'd get all shaped up in no time." His shoulders sank and he whined "But now that'll never happen! Curse those creepy little monsters!"
Jim just gave his best friend a flat look, while he himself surpressed a yawn. "You know, you could just train with me or how about trying a little harder for gym class? You know those marks ruin your report every year..." He glanced at Logan, as he left for the gym hall. The boy had not paid them any attention. Jim had started to become more attentive to their surroundings, considering Toby's tendency to blurt out troll related stuff when he was frustrated.
"You're kidding right? You know I'm corruptible at heart Jimbo... there's nothing gym class offers me! My training programm on the other hand... I really was looking forward to that water bottle..." the stout boy stepped in front of his friend and crossed his arms, pouting.
Jim was looking up at him from his place on the bench and sighed "Look Tobes, I'm really sorry you lost that tracker, but honestly? I have a few greater worries on my mind..." he yawned heartily before he stood and motioned for Toby to follow him. "Come on Tobes, let's get going, we're last already."
"Sleepless night, huh?" Toby commented, a worried expression on his face. "More like a short night. Again." Jim answered and gave him a resigned smile. But before he could open the door to the gym his best friend stopped him by putting a hand on the door. He looked at him questioningly.
"You know Jim, I think I haven't yet told you how thankful I am towards you."
"You. Thankful to me? Why that?" Jim asked, surprise evident in his voice as he let his hand fall from the door.
"It's just... you've taken on this great responsibility and help protect the world like some sort of secret super hero and I..." he trailed off and looked down.
Jim picked up where Toby left his sentence hanging. "Tobes, if there's someone who should be thankful it's me! I mean, some of this stuff is super scary and dangerous- if I may remind you of the goblins but... you stayed by my side. Even though you hate danger". He chuckled shortly and Toby replied in kind before he turned serious again.
"Hey." he proclaimed "You're my friend. And if you need help protecting the world from super dangerous gnomes and goblins you can always count on me! Besides... I think I'm getting a little taste for adventure myself!" He looked away for a moment, appearingly in thought before he went on "But... you see, I overheard Blinky talking about Draal the other day. How he supposedly did not have that much contact with his father because trollhunters are supposed to work alone. Because any relationship might be used against them and I... I just am really thankful that you don't push me away, you know?"
Jim smiled again and put a hand on Toby's shoulder "And you should know, I'm really thankful for your support, Tobes. I mean... dealing with trolls and magic and the whole knowledge that there's a completely different world beneath our feet... that's a lot to deal with. If I couldn't share that with you... I don't know what I'd do..." he then pushed the door and held it open for his friend and put on a overly happy facade and a pretend motivational voice "Now come on! Let's burn some calories without getting anything in return!"
"You sadist..." Toby grumbled.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Hello." she said and sighed "I'm Mrs. Lake. I'm here to pick up my son. I fear..."
The officer behind the counter raised an eyebrow at her "Ah... You're here for the two weirdos who broke into the museum." He shook his head slightly and picked up a file and took a form from it. "I'll need you to sign here, Ma'am."
"Mrs. Lake" she heard someone say from her left before she could sign the form. Mr. Strickler was making his way towards her, her son and his best friend in tow.
Jim held back for a moment, shooting his teacher an insecure look. But when she turned towards them, he passed the older man and started to speak "Mom! Look, I know how this looks, but let me explain-"
"You can explain this, once we get home young man! Go get into to the car- both of you!" She added and then said "And stay there, till I'm finished here!" Her stern gaze followed them as they shuffled towards the police station's entrance, her arms crossed and when Jim closed the door behind him she turned to his teacher.
"Thank you so much for calling me, Mr. Strickler." She rubbed her forehead with her hand "What in the world happened? They broke into the museum?"
"Yes, I fear it's true" he said "In fact, I was informed myself by the museum's curator, Ms. Nomura. She surprised the boys and recognized them as my pupils, since we had been to the museum just this week. I immediately came here to clear up the situation."
This still didn't make any sense to her...
"Ah... Ok, but why break into the museum? What where they thinking?"
The older man chuckled and pulled out a... wristwatch?
"They told the officers, that they wanted to get this back. Toby's 'chubby tracker' I suppose."
Barbara took the small device and looked at him incredulous.
"They broke into the museum. For this!?"
Mr. Strickler laughed yet again "Oh, don't worry. Believe me, in my time as teacher I have seen growing young men do stranger things than that. Unfortunately though they triggered the alarm at the museum and when Ms. Nomura was startled by the two of them, she got hurt. But don't worry," he added as Barbara slapped her hands over her mouth, "it's nothing serious, she just... tripped."
She sighed and nodded. "Still. This is unforgivable. I'll make sure Jim and Toby both will apologize to Ms. Nomura, Mr. Strickler!"
"Ahem, Ma'am. Your signature.", "Oh sorry!" She turned to the counter, towards the waiting officer for a moment, before she quickly turned back towards him again.
"And again: Thank you so much Mr. Strickler."
"You're welcome, Mrs. Lake." He smiled.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Aaand scene!" Ms. Janneth proclaimed "Good work you two! Ms. Nunez, excellent as always! Just try to stay in the spotlight a little more. Mr. Palchuk, I know you haven't had as much time to practice your lines, but please try to catch up. Even as understudy, you'll need to be just as reliable as Mr. Lake."
Steve scoffed. Yeah right, like he wasn't already more reliable than that buttsnack. Just a few more rehearsals and he'd get Ms. Janneth to kick that looser out of the play.
Then he'd have Claire to himself and make Jim cry like a little baby.
It was the perfect revenge.
Speaking of making that weirdo cry. He had yet come up with another scheme to make sure of that.
After the little incident with Lake, Claire had been pissed off with him. Even playing Romeo and giving her a (fake) apology had not yet gotten him her affection. She was friendly on the surface, but otherwise avoided him at all cost. Nuñez really was a hard nut to crack, but he had the perfect plan to make her warm up to him...
"Hey Claire! Wait a second!" He said as the girl disappeard behind the curtains.
She turned around with a flat expression "Yes, Steve?"
"Ah, so what's up with that shirt of your's?" He said, smiling at her.
"Excuse me?" The girl asked. Now her expression was incredulous. But he wasn't going to be fazed by that.
"I mean. That shirt. Papa Skull right?"
"Um. Yeah? It's from their first tour." She looked down at her shirt then up at him questioningly.
"Yeah. Really cool band! Love them, too. I'm a total rock fan myself, you know?" Steve said with feigned excitement. Of course he was not a Papa Skull fan, but this opportunity had been too perfect too pass up...
Claire crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow "You mean punk rock?"
'What's the difference?' He asked himself but replied "Oh yeah. Right, punk rock! Total fan!" He said and mimicked a few guitar riffs for emphasis.
"Yeah right... nice talking to you Steve." The girl said and turned around.
"Oh wait, Claire! I wanted to tell you I got cards to the concert next week and I wanted to ask you if, maybe you want to come?"
He was not disappointed, as Claire spun around and exclaimed "You got tickets!?"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"But" Toby hummed "You know what, wingman? Let me show you something else! Want to try a video game? Bet you don't have those in troll market!"
"Video game?" Aaarrrgh! asked confusedly and set down the tophat he had picked up just a moment earlier. He knew about videos (those tasty things, humans kept in their shelves) and he knew about games- even trolls had those, but he didn't know what to make of the combination.
"Yeah!" Toby said excitedly "They're like games, where you usually play some sort of character, but on the TV. Video games!". Noticing the trolls still confused expression the boy continued "You know what, how about we try one out? You'll get the hang of it!"
Aaarrrgh! winced as his horn scratched the ceiling again, when his gaze followed Toby crossing the room to where his TV stood. The boy took out a little case and waved it in front of Aaarrrgh's face."See? This is the game. I'll put it in my console and tada! We can start playing."
He took a controller and a second for Aaarrrgh! and gave it to the troll, before sitting down in front of the TV, patting the place beside him for Aaarrrgh! to sit down.
"This one's called War Dudes!" The boy said as a opening credit showed up on the screen. "It's mine and Jim's favorite game. We play it all the time!" he said, his eyes still fixed on the screen before he faltered.
"Well. We played it all the time. Hasn't been that often since... since he found the amulet, I guess." The short boy said and Aaarrrgh! was at a loss. Realising, that Toby was sad but unsure on how to react.
Human emotions and human relationships even more, were complicated and tricky. He often had the feeling that he only understood half the content whenever the two human boys talked with each other. Their moods could change so quickly and they were never just happy or angry or ashamed. Oh no...
There were layers.
"Oh well." Toby quipped "Jim's got much more important stuff to do than play video games, huh? Who needs virtual laser guns, when you have a magical sword made of daylight, right?" He looked up at Aaarrrgh! and grinned.
"Right." Aaarrrgh! said, completely clueless about whatever the small human meant. He did notice though, that regardless of his cheerful tone, the smile didn't really reach Tobys eyes.
Playing these video games must have been a way of bonding between the two human fledglings. And now that Jim had a bond to his obligation he didn't have the time for it.
Aaarrrgh! felt bad for the boy. He knew what it felt like to loose important bonds, to adapt. The least he could do, was trying to help.
"Play with wingman?" He asked and held up the controller.
Tobys eyes lightened up.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

9:00 am

"So... do you know who's been to Jim's party?"
"Who's been there? No. I just know about it because you've been telling everyone. Is it true, that he and Toby totally trashed your house and set your bathtub on fire?"
Claire shook her head. "No! They did not...- Ugh! Forget it. Thanks Shannon!" She said offhandedly as she walked away.
Even though she had been seethingly angry with the boy, she had her doubts from the moment he stuttered his apology about some... friends, causing the mess in her house.
She had asked pretty much every one at school and even old schoolmates from Oaks Academy... No one had heard about or been to the party Jim had at her house... it was doubtful that Jim and Toby had a group of friends outside of school. She didn't know much about him, but he had always appeared to be a more inward person. Heck, up until just a few weeks ago she hadn't even gotten his name!
And Jim was all alone with her baby brother when she got back home. There had been no trace of Toby or other people. And wasn't it that he only talked about friends and a party after her parents had screamed at him about throwing a rave in their house? That had been a little too convinient. Had he alone trashed everything? No. That didn't make any more sense... why would he throw around food for the heck of it...?
But if he didn't have a party. And wasn't completely crazy (contrary to all evidence, she still had this feeling that he wasn't)...
Then what had happened?
1:00 pm

"Bagdwella! Just the troll I wanted to see and just at the perfect timing! Master Jim just left trollmarket. Were you able to aquire the materials I was asking for?"
The stout female troll gave him a sharply toothed smile "Why do do you think I came here? I have everything you requiered, there's just a small problem! You see... those pieces were harder to obtain than thought. So I'll have to adjust the price a bit..."
Blinky huffed "What? I thought this was all about family business!? You promised me a good bargain, Bagdwella!"
"What can I say? It's not like I know a lot about these human machines! And my sister informed me, that the pieces you want are not only rare but in high demand. Turns out those 'vespaas' are rather tasty." Bagdwella crossed her arms "My sister demanded something special in return, so I 'll have to kindly ask you to pay more. Unless of course, you don't need the stuff. I'm sure I'll find another customer..."
Aaarrrgh!, hiding the changeling in his hands, piped up "It's for Jim. Birthing day."
Bagdwella sighed "Just because I like the wee little human doesnt't mean I'll give out freebies, dear!" After a puppy dogs look from Aaarrrgh, she continued though "Okay, okay. Give me 20 more Blinkous and you have a deal."
Blinky shot his companion a thankful smile and took the female trolls hand "20 more it is Bagdwella!"
7:00 pm

"It hurts! It hurts so badly!"
Barbara looked away so the young man wouldn't see her roll her eyes. Usually she was never one to not take her patients pain serious, but this boy? He had been at it for hours now...
She contemplated giving him another shot of novocaine as she looked through his file. He didn't need it, but maybe he'd finally calm down after another shot, so she could finally get his x-rays. She held back a grumble as the young man behind her let out a long, suffering whine.
Oh dear... And the way he came across, he'd probably profusely deny his current behaviour, if anyone dared to bring it up later.
Well... she really shouldn't be so judgy. He was just as old as her own boy and she would want any doctor treating Jim in a case like this with the same care and empathy as Steve's mother surely wanted for her own son.
Also, it was patients like him who strengthened her refusal to let Jim ride one of these things. There were few things more dangerous than riding motorcycles.
Thinking of Jim, her eyes found the clock at the wall and she sighed. She would have to call him after his rehearsal and tell him that she couldn't pick him up. Remorse filled her chest. How many times had she done this to him? It was moments like this that she hated her job...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Mary rolled over, stretching her arms up and looking at her freshly painted nails.
"So I told him to..." she trailed off, her gaze focusing on the girl that sat in front of her bed and silently looked at her own rose colored nails.
"Hmmm..." Mary said "seems like C-bomb here is a little too preoccupied by kissing Jimmy Jam than listening, Darci." she laughed out loud when her friends head shot up, eyes wide. "What!?" Claire exlaimed, then turned around and shot her a dirty look. "No!"
"Oh yes she totally is! Look at how red her cheeks are!" Darci chimed in and laughed out as well. She had taken Mary's chair at her desk to paint her toe nails.
"Oh shut up! You two are impossible! It's just a play!" Claire said but hid her face behind her hands, thus betraying her true feelings about the matter.
"Awww, come on Claire bear! Just admit that you can't think about anything else. Do you think we haven't noticed how many times you've been sneaking looks at him today? But just to ease your suffering: he's just as bad!" Darci stated and giggled while putting her chin on her propped up knee. "Really?" Claire said, lifting her head to look at the girl before she caught herself "I mean- how do you know?"
Darci grinned "While you've been sneaking glances at him, when he wasn't looking, he did exactly the same to you! Honestly Claire, it was like a real live teenage rom com."
"Yeah! You two are so oblivious, the whole school is talking about you two dorks!" Mary snorted.
Claire groaned and hid her face again, causing Darci to speak up again "Aww Claire... There`s no need to be so shy about it. Just admit that you like the guy! I mean... you even forgave him for destroying your house!"
"That's not...ugh..." Claire started but then faltered and let her face fall into her hands again. Mary and Darci shot each other a knowing grin above her head. "It's just..." Claire started again "What if it goes wrong? What if I slip and land on his face or what if I smell weird or... Ugh! What if I mess this up?" She looked at her friends, first Darci then Mary.
The latter responded with a wide grin on her face. "What?" Claire asked suspiciously.
"Oh nothing. It's just... if you're so worried about messing up this one kiss, it means you secretly hope this won't be the last one." She said, her last words in a sing song voice. A moment later she and Darci broke out in laughter.
Claire glared at them "I hate you..."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The girl shook her head and said "I'm not...! Ugh, listen Mary, can we talk about this another time?"
Draal tried to focus on the conversation above while also trying not to make a sound and alarm the small human to his presence. What was she doing here anyway!? He concluded she must be the one that the boy was so fond of that he wanted to smoosh faces with her, but Draal could not be distracted by her. After all he still had a job to do!
But how was he supposed to do that without informing yet another human to the existence of trolls?! It was quite the predicament...
'I'd love a sharp knife, for the steak' he heard the boy's teacher say. 'Oh yeah for me too' Jim answered 'the sharper the better.'
The girls conversation over her "mobile phone" distracted him though. Jim had explained to him that humans would use the contraptions to converse with people at a different place.
She waved her arm around... Oh Deya please not let her turn around!
"Yesss. I'll tell you everything, but not now!"
The way the female human expressed herself over her phone suggested that she was kind of stressed or angry...
"Would you stop saying that!?" The girl said, her voice pressed, before she groaned.
Draal raised an eyebrow at her. Humans were certainly weird... it was obvious even to him that she didn't want to have this conversation with this mysterious person far away, so why didn't she just switch off her phone? It wasn't like the other person could reach her to dish out any repercussions right now.
Humans...
Just that moment the girl said "Mary, I really love to talk to you, but now is not the time. Call you back." With that she pushed a button on her device, slipped it into her purse and pressed her ear to the pipe again.
Draal focused on the conversation above as well, now that he could hear it better withough the girl's chattering.
He heard the trollhunters mother say something, then scraping sounds and the teachers voice: 'Give me the amulet.'
Ah. So shit was going down.
'Over my dead body' Jim said aggressively and the girl made a small 'huh?' sound.
'I know what you're capable of. I know what you're not capable off.' It was the adult again and judging from what he could hear, they were circling each other...
'I know you have a thing for Claire and I know you'd do anything for Toby.'
"What?" He looked at the girl again. She had taken a step back from the pipe again and was looking up, causing Draal to press into his corner again. She had a curious expression on her face and brought a hand to her cheek while the human above continued his monologue.
'You want to keep your mother out of this and you look to Blinky as your surrogate father.'
The girl pressed her ear to the metall yet again.
'Poor Jim. I even know as we speak, your adorable little friends are breaking into my office.
Do you think I'd be so foolish as to leave important information lying around unguarded?'
Oh shoot. Blinky and the others... this was making everything even more difficult! How could they take out the changeling and make it to the school in time? Especially with Jim's mother and the girl in the house? This was all so horribly complicated!
Just then he heard Jim answer 'But did you know that Draal is in my basement?'
Damn it...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Why would you think I even know where that damn bridge is!? I'm telling you: I'm the bottom element in the food chain!"
Blinky did not believe the little imp's excuses for a moment and squeezed him a little harder. He had him in the same lock on Toby's desk as just a few minutes before.
"Do you take me for a fool you foul little pretend-baby? You just told us that your masters have aquired all the pieces of killahead bridge and now only need Master Jim! Why did they send the goblins for you, huh?"
NotEnrique shrugged as best as he could "Don't know... why do they work with goblins in the first place? They're unreliable and attack you whenever you squish one by accident. And they're very squishable I might add."
Blinky blinked and faltered for a moment before he narrowed his eyes at the changeling.
"Not. The. Point!" He shot back, pushing with every word and making NotEnrique huff. "I'm absolutely sure you were supposed to show up at Killahead bridge and they sent the goblins for you, because you're unreliable!" A malicious grin appeared on his face.
"Now I'm curious how squishable you are, little changeling..."
NotEnriques eyes widened and he squealed "Ok, Ok, I yield. I tell you where the bridge is, you brute!"
Blinky took his hands away from the little troll and crossed his arms, waiting for him to speak.
When he got up, he coughed a few times "Blimey! Why do you people have to be so brutal, mate? Makes me almost miss those bastards in the darklands..."
The waiting troll, rolled his eyes before he barked at the smaller one "Answers, you little cretin! I'm not going to wait another moment before I make good on my threat!"
NotEnrique ducked, pulling his hands above his head "Alright, alright! Jeez, man. Ease up, will you?" He opened one eye to look up at Blinky, then sat up. "The bridge is at the museum."
"The museum!?" the blue troll exclaimed "Do you take me for a fool? Master Jim and Toby discovered it there! We already have looked for it there!" the smaller troll scoffed "Yeah right! Of course it wasn't. Do you take the boss man for a fool? As if he'd just leave it there for you on a silver platter after your two boys stirred up a racket." He crossed his own little green arms "After everything calmed down a bit, they put it back, right were your trollhunter had discovered it before. The perfect hiding place." He grinned.
"This better not be some kind of trick, you little imp!" Blinky said, then added "Nonetheless... I'll trust you... for now. Let's see if that bridge is, where you say it is." With one last glare at NotEnrique he turned towards the door.
Once he was gone, the little green troll grinned.
"Well." he said and strechted, "this fake baby is off to doublecross some suckers!"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Draal looked up from the novel he was reading as he heard the front door crash.
"Jim? Jim, where are you?" He heard the pudgy boy shout, then laid the book on the counter and walked towards the hall. Toby was faster though and nearly collided with him.
"Homygosh- Draal!!" the boy huffed as he recovered from the shock of almost running into a blue stone wall. He immediately begann to rattle off "What are you-? You surprised me! Where's Jim? He sent me this text saying-"
Draal rolled his eyes "Shush boy!" He said "Quit your panicking and listen. Jim has a plan."
He walked into the kitchen and motioned for Toby to follow him.
"He told me to tell you, that he's wearing this tracker... whatdoyoucallit...- anyway... he said you will be able to track his position with that little device you can wear on your wrist and that he want's us to prepare for battle! He's supposed to meet this changeling teacher of his in..." he looked at the clock at the wall "...20 minutes. He doesn't know where he'll take him from there, but he want's us to follow him. Do you unterstand?"
Toby's eyes had gotten wider and wider, while he had been talking.
"Oooh. My. Goooosh! Draal! Does this mean, that Jim has us execute our first trollhunter mission?" the boy gushed. Draal sighed.
"It totally does!" the boy squealed throwing up a fist.
"Oh my gosh! Let me grab...- let me grab some armour kind of thing and Aaarrrgh! I've got to tell Aaarrrgh!" The boy was about to run out again, before Draal picked him by the back of his vest and held him in place.
"5 minutes Toby. No more, you understand? It already took you longer to react to that text than we anticipated. What were you doing!?" he asked the boy who pushed his hand away.
"Uuuuh. Video games? Aaarrrgh! really got the hang of go go sushi!" He said smiling.
Draal just gave him a deadpanned expression and said "Whatever. Tell Aaarrrgh! We'll meet in 5minutes. Underground."
"5 Minutes. Underground." Toby repeated. "Wait. Underground? Oh shoot! It's the middle of the day! How do I get Aaarrrgh! out of my house?" he looked at Draal wide eyed who replied with an incredulous expression. "How? Through the tunnel in your basement of course! How do you think that 100 stone troll get's into your house all the time?"
Toby's face went suddenly blank. "What do you mean: tunnel in my..." Then he shook his head spluttering and exclaimed "Why are we talking about this!? There's no time for this!!" before he fingergunned at Draal "I've got to get some sort of armour! See you in five. Underground." he added before he was out the door and crossed the street in a very... weird fashion: rolling behind cars, then bolting over to his house where he ducked behind the trashcans.
Humans...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

4 am

Far too early in the morning to be awake and he was already late...
He packed another pile of newspapers into his trunk. Then picked another pile to set it on the co-drivers seat. He had started to take double shifts last month. It wasn't even that much more money, but he needed it. And delivering newspapers was one of the only jobs he could do, that would not also cut into his time off school. His mom needed the car to get to work, so it was a perfect arrangement.
Shameus yawned and walked around the car to get in.
At least he'd get some sleep at school today...
It reminded him of the argument he had had with his mom the day before. His marks had never been great, but since he started working, his school performance had gotten poor at best.
It wasn't like he was going to college anyway...
How his mom could still believe that was beyond him. His dads treatment was often costing them more than she earned and Shameus salary was merely a means to keep up appearnces. Aside from the fact that he didn't have the credtis, he couldn't save up for college let alone afford it. Not if he didn't also abandon his parents.
It had been easier when his dad was still able to work now and then. But it had been more than a year since he gave up. His parents had just dropped their careers to build up their own business back when he got the diagnosis. 
It had been his dad's dream...
And it had only gotten worse in the meantime... Each year it got more difficult. He couldn't even remember when they last had been a normal family...
That's why he prefered to get up in the middle of night to deliver newspapers instead of working some temp job after school. After school he could still pretend for everything to be normal. Play football. Hang with his friends. Like a totally normal teenager.
If he was out, he didn't have to be home and watch his dad waste away more and more each day.
As long as he could pretend, he'd be able to believe that somehow everything was still normal. Normal and boring and no terminal illness.
And today would be another totally normal and boring day.
He started the car and backed into the street.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Walter signed the form, smiled at the customs officer and bounced the pens bottom against the clip board. He was in a good mood."This really is a special piece indeed, unique really. I was quite lucky to acquire it. And by airfreight it was here in no time at all." He laughed brightly "What wondrous times we live in, right?" The man behind the counter gave him an unimpressed look. "Yeah... Well. Mr." he glanced down at the clipboard in his hands "Strickler. Your Deliverly is ready for you to pick up. Customs inspections had nothing to denounce, so you may take your... car to enter this area," he pointed towards an open gate "to collect your goods. This notice will lead you to the storage location. Have a nice day, Sir."Walter nodded "Thank you, young man. Have a nice day yourself."When he reached the box he smiled to himself. Nobody was around. Good.He took a crowbar from his trunk and broke off the lid of the box from both sides. As it fell down the door of the high cupboard inside flew off and the troll, standing upright inside it opened his glowing yellow eyes and gave him a scowl."Hello Angor Rot, had a nice flight?"The tall troll gave a scoff "When you said you'd transport me to these united Stated by flight, you didn't tell me I'd be stuck in a wooden box for three days."The changeling tut-tutted "Well since you couldn't teleport yourself to a place you've never been to and that far away, this was the fastest way available. And let me tell you: furniture delivered from Colombia would usually get a lot more throughoutly examined, if it weren't for my... connections. Sorry there's no customer service for cupboards." He chuckled to himself, then climbed back into his car again."What are you waiting for, get in." He told the troll, who looked questioningly at his car. He examined his fingernails for the moment it took Angor Rot to open the vehicles door.When he got inside, awkwardly trying to sit and not knock his head against the cars ceiling, Walter started the motor."Where's your fat changeling friend?" Angor Rot asked and Walter looked at him in the rear mirror.The german changeling had... excused himself when he had told him he'd pick up his "order" at the airport. The smaller man's obvious fright bemused him. Otto was a sycophant. Always eager to please those more powerful than him, even more eager to crawl his way to the top whenever he saw a chance to do so. Most eagerly though he cared about the skin on his back... so much so, that it was easy to control him."He was... occupied." He replied to the assassins question."He's afraid." Angor Rot said. "Clever changeling."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Just as he was about to leave school and head to troll market Toby's phone rang. When he reached for it, his arm got stuck in his backpack's strap and he struggled for a moment, quietly cursing his too short arms.
It was Jim, he already noticed by the ringtone, so when he finally got it he answered directly: "Hey Jimbo, what's up? I'll be in troll market in a few minutes. You need something?"
"Change of planes, Toby." he heard him say "You've got to come to my house. I've got a little... no, a huge surprise for you! Seriously, you won't believe this!" Jim chuckled.
Toby replied with a chuckle himself "Heh, is this a good or a bad surprise..." he said, his amusement turning uncertain "No, seriously. My last 'surprise' was an invitation to a gigantous troll's stomach. I don't think I can digest any more stuff like that, you know what I mean...?"
His best friend was quiet for a moment and as he was just about to ask if he was still there, Jim answered "Really Tobes?"
He could vividly imagine him facepalming right now...
"Just, get over here!"
"Uh uh Jim, not before you tell me what horrors await me this time."
He wasn't entirely serious of course, but Toby had never been good at waiting, so...
He heard Jim huff before he answered "Well... believe it or not, but whatever those potions where, that Blinky got drenched with in Gatto's keep? They turned him into a human."
Toby stopped in his tracks. His mind needed a moment to comprehend what his best friend just told him.
"He..."
Toby's eyes grew wide, a lopsided grin blooming on his face.
"Whaaaaaaat...!?" he said in a quietly amazed tone.
"Yeeeeeaaass" Jim mimicked him over the phone "So get over here! Oh and please tell Claire as well! I bet she'll want to see this."
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh myyyy...! Save some popcorn for us, we'll be there in no time!" With that he hung up and ran into the direction where he had last seen Jim's crush go. The library.
When he entered the room, Toby didn't even try to be quiet. He was far to excited to care about stupid curtesy rules right now. He ran along the row of bookshelves, gaining astonished and annoyed looks in the process, while "whispering" Claires name in a way, that ensured everyone in the room heard it.
When he ran past another shelf, Claire suddenly appeared from the oppostie side.
"Toby!?" She whispered rather forcefully. "What are you doing!? Did something happen? Is Jim alright?"
Toby grabbed her by her shoulders and couldn't help the grin that spread on his face.
"Don't panic, Claire. Nothing bad happened, quite the opposite! Or is it? Heck, I don't know! But I know you've got to come with me right now, cause this is pretty much the most awesomesaucest thing I ever heard and if I don't get to see it in the next five minutes I'm going to explode!"
He had grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the exit. Luckily she had already grabbed her backpack when Toby stumbled into the library.
"Toby, wait! Could you at least tell me what happened before you drag me away? I mean... the last surprise I had was: Surprise, your baby brother has been swapped with a troll! I'm a little guarded if you know what I mean." She said once they were outside the room.
"Oh sure, sorry!" the shorter boy chuckled "Forgot you're pretty new to all this troll stuff... but get a load of this: Blinky..." he gulped in some air, trying to surpress his giggling, while his expression grew more excited, "...is human."
"Blinky is human." Claire deadpanned "What?" She didn't get it. Like... Blinky was a changeling? How was that even possible?
"He was transformed into a human, Claire! By Gatto's fancy gut-magic! He's a real live middle-aged dude! How awesome is that?"
Claires eyes grew wide and a similar goofy grin as Toby's was appearing on her face.
"This. I've got to see." She said and tore off even before the boy.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"You know where the killstone is?" Jim looked at him wide eyed and Vendel gave him a knowing smile. "How do you... Wait. You'll tell us? Why...? I mean... Okay, you want me to go against Gunmar prepared, but actively helping us? That's..." the child stopped and looked up at him "Thank you Vendel!"
He gave the boy a smile. What could he do? The human fledgling had grown on him and proven that he was capable of more than Vendel imagined possible in the last hundreds of years. He may dare the fates by accelerating the trollhunter's hunt for the triumbric stones, but with Angor Rot breathing down his neck, time was already on the essence.
"Don't thank me yet." he told the boy. "The place the kill stone is hidden at, is dangerous. You think that troll markets inhabitants can be rude to outsiders? Well, the tribe that protects the killstone enjoys the reputation of eating outsiders. And they don't make a difference between human or troll. They are an indigineous species of trolls, never dealt with Gunmar and the likes, mostly never left their original habitat and they have a completely different history and society than that of troll market. They're also one of the only species that lives above ground, in the swamps of the whagga whumps."
"Whagga whumps? That's the tribes name? They have the kill stone?"
"Exactly, young trollhunter. Tell Blinky about it and he'll know where to go. Just let me advise you not to set out without a good plan on how to obtain the stone."
The boy gave him a smirk "I don't suppose you have an idea for a good plan?" he asked and Vendel replied in kind "And leave Blinky without a job? Oh No, boy. I'll leave the planning to your trainer." He paused and turned towards his stone table again "Now get going, fleshbag. I have other things to do, you know?"
He heard the boy chuckle and after another moment speak up again "Vendel? Thank you again. For helping us."
Vendel turned around and nodded, watching as the child ran off.
He sighed as he turned back around.
These human whelps had a way of twisting one around their tiny little fingers... must be their expressive eyes.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When he had offered him books weeks before, just shortly after their young human troll hunter had been brought to troll market without his knowledge, Vendel had scoffed.
"Learn about human behaviour? Their biology? Oh please spare me the nonsense Blinkous! I already warned you about getting attached to that fleshbag child. Do you really want a repetition of Unkar?"
He could very well remember the grief the scholar had gone through after the unfortunate late troll hunters untimely demise. Training and guiding trollhunters had become his life's fulfillment after he had studied and idolized Deya the Deliverer from a young age on... and his knowledge had been truly beneficial to the trollhunters that came after her. But each of their death's had been a hard blow to the already unusually sensitive troll, making him more and more vulnerable instead of hardening him.
When he had been younger. Before Unkar. Vendel had believed that one day Blinkous might be a fitting successor for him.
He wasn't so sure about it anymore. His judgement had grown more rash with age instead of less.
But it hadn't been Blinkous who was wrong.
It had been him.
To say that the human whelp had surprised Vendel was an understatement. He had learned to control the armour in an unbelievably short time... usually it took some trolls half a human lifetime to achieve the same amount of control, that the boy had only needed weeks for.
Now he was ashamed to admit it, but he had been almost relieved when the child had challenged the late trollhunters son. Death by Draals hand would have been at least less painful than being eaten by Bular. It was almost an act of mercy.
But then he had gone and won against Draal. A much more stronger and experienced opponent.
And then had killed Gunmar's son...
The last remaining Gumm-Gumm in the world.
Trolls were an ancient race. Slow in their developments and even slower when it came to new ideas, when it came to change.
Vendel was different though. Always had been and that's what made him a good leader.
He had witnessed this whelps growing week by week and he was smart enough to recognize it as growth. He was interested in where the humans limits lay.
He was interested in humans in general now, especially since their number in troll market would rather grow than shrink again anytime soon. And since the lovely little female one that the trollhunter was so clearly smitten with, had learned their language, he decided he needed to learn a little more about them as well.
That's why he now sat at his table with one of those "biology" books, that the humans used for teaching their young about their species. Blinkous had brought some in just this morning and Vendel was curious about what humans taught their young about their physiology. They'd certainly be more up to date than Blinkous' other books about humans, that were several decades old.
He was in the middle of reading about human reproduction (a very curious system, if anyone asked him. Humans knew of only one way to reproduce and it was a highly laborious one at that).
Suddenly the earth shook, the book tumbled from his hands and a portal appeared at the ceiling behind him.
"What in Deyas grave!?"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Darci was on her way to her locker when Mary stopped her.
"Oh no Darce! You lost as well?" the smaller girl asked.
Darci grinned at her "Nope! I won, can you believe it!? Shannon lost cause she took her hands off the truck, when she gave Mr. Strickler a breath mint!"
"A breath mint?" Mary looked at her puzzled and Darci gasped, like she suddenly realized something "Oh. My. Gosh! Mary, you have to hear this! Did you know..." she made a deliberate pause "...that Mr. Strickler is dating Jim Lake's mom!?"
"What!?" the other girl exlaimed "How? When? WHAT!? Oooohhh! And I haven't been there to see that? Curse my tiny bladder!"
Darci nodded "Yeah... poor Jim. Can you imagine something more awkward? He looked like he was ready to punch Strickler's face right then and there!"
Mary crossed her arms and cocked her hip "Hm, yeah. That figures. Jimmy jam is becoming kind of bad boy if you think about it."
"Jim? Nah... May he's such a softie." Darci waved her friend off. "Oh yeah?" Mary said "You think so? After what he did to Claires house? And what about his abscences? He's been missing from school so often, I bet he'll need to go to summer school."
"Well, if his mom is dating Strickler, that might explain why he's kind of avoiding school." Darci tried to argue.
"Might be, but remember what Steve said? We thought he was exaggerating, but he told us Jim went totally ballistic on Strickler when they were called into his office! Like straight on threatened him! And what about that time he supposedly tried to steal some stuff in the museum!?" Mary answered and Darci considered her point for a moment before she answered "Well... that punch he gave Steve was pretty legendary..."
"See!" Mary exclaimed, before she nodded "No wonder, he was voted in for spring king!"
Her friend raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would you think that's why he was voted in for spring king?" Darci asked and Mary rolled her eyes "Because people love bad boys girl! Guys want to be the guy that punched Steve Palchuk in the face, girls want to date the guy that punched Steve Palchuk in the face. As is obvious with our beloved Claire bear."
"Uh-huh..." Darci said. "Then why wasn't Claire voted in for spring queen this year oh wise one? As you've said: She got nominated the last two times." The girl leaned against her locker and cocked her head.
"Well, duh Darce! A guy trying to date a girl above his league? That's going to catapult him to the top of the social hierarchy as well! But a girl getting all worked up about a looser? That's going to cost her. Believe me." Mary quipped and Darci sighed exasperated.
"Didn't you just say, that Jim's the new hot sauce to have?"
"Not until he hasn't won spring fling, he isn't." Mary snapped "this behavior of his is still too new and odd to know whether it's the correct type of 'bad boy' bad or 'crazy lunatic' bad. And Claire has been all over him from the begining...! That's why she wasn't nominated. For sure. Probably." The girl grinned before she continued "Well, if Jim finally get's a move on and asks her, she might still be his duchess for spring fling. Wouldn't that be romantic?" she sighed, before she trailed off "Now whom should I chose for duke, when I win...? Tight jeans Hank or Logan...? Oooh we could go on a double date!"
Darci chuckled before she interrupted Mary's musings "I have my doubts, that he get's his act together anytime soon, they hang out with each other all the time and he still get's all tongue tied around her. Claire must be going crazy. I mean... have you seen that girl? She got it bad..."
"Oh but Claire and Jim are going to spring fling together" a voice behind her piped up.
Darci spun around and Mary almost pushed her to the side.
"What?" She exclaimed "How do you know that!?"
Shannon pushed up her glasses. "Toby told Eli just yesterday. I think they were betting about it."
Darci and Mary looked at each other, before they simultanously started to screech.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"It's you" Toby said, eyes glazed and a moronic grin on his lips.Jim let go of his vest and took another step away from him, as his friend started to wave at him."Heh..." he had to chuckle at Toby's dazed expression and raised an eyebrow. "Tobes? You there?" he asked and waved a hand in front of the shorter boy's face.But instead of reacting Toby lilted at him "Heeey Moole..." then he did some weird gesture of... catching something before he... Oh. Before he pretended to smack, whatever he had caught.When his friend suddenly looked at him again with a dopey grin, Jim took a step back.Toby was obviously fantazising about his favorite school maskot... and Jim was suddenly very worried where this might be going...Just a moment later his sleepwalking friend started to sprint towards him with a very... elated expression and Jim panicked. A little."Oh pleaaase no, Tobes." He took several steps back and held out his arms in defense. The other boy grabbed his outstretched hand and when he tried to push him off with his other hand, he gripped that one as well with surprising speed and strength. Then he started to spin them around, while laughing like he'd smoked some mushrooms he bought from a troll in some dirty allyway of trollmarket.Jim looked at his best friend with an incredulous expression as he was pulled along. What was he supposed to do? Should he stop him? Study him, like Toby had told him too? But how? Wake him? You shouldn't wake sleepwalking people, right?Suddenly though Toby stopped and looked up, while he made some weird whooshing sound. Like he pretended to be a rocket. All the while he was still holding Jim's hands and continueed to do so as he suddenly looked at him again."Will you be my date to spring fling?" Toby asked him in the tone of a very drunk guy and Jim laughed out loud. Ok. This was ridiculous.Better ridiculous though than some kind of other gross fantasy...The smaller boy held up a hand for a high five and Jim clapped his hand in amusement. But then he reached out to his face, pursed his lips and stretched towards him!"Oh hell to the no Toby!" Jim exclaimed and pushed against him "Let. me. go-ack!".How could Toby complain about his arms falling off anyway!? That guy had some strength in his upper body! And Jim would know. He'd been fighting against godforsaken trolls for months now!Suddenly though Toby's face fell, when he was just inches away from his and he started to scream, then waving his arms and then... he fell over, right down on the floor.Jim gave him another exasperated look and sighed before he took out his phone.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It had taken a good nights rest to get his mojo back, but now Steve was ready.
Second period. Biology. Perfect.
Nobody paid attention during biology.
He took the seat on her left side and cleared his throat, making himself noticable and leaning over to her desk.
"Hey there, you're new right? Sorry, didn't catch your name. I'm Steve and you are...?"
The blonde girl gave him an nervous smile and glanced towards the dude on her right, before she answered "Heh... new? How do you mean new? I'm exactly 16 years, 83 days and... 11.4 hours old. I would not call that new. Just a totally human, not new teenager."
"Um..." Steve answered, dumbfounded "Uh... I mean. You're new at our school?"
The girls eyes widened and she answered in her weird accent "Oooh now I understand! Yes, yes, we are new to this school! You must excuse us, we are foreign exchange students. I'm Aja and this is my brother Krel." she gestured to herself and the boy beside her. "Yes," afromentioned brother added "we don't always understand your colloquialisms, you see?"
"Ah. Ok?" Steve answered. Sweet, a foreign exchange student! He grinned at the girl again "Well... if you want someone to show you a good time around here, I'm your man!" he smiled winningly at the girl.
"Show us a 'good time'? How can you show us time?" The guy piped up again. "You can't see time, it's immaterial, except of course if you'd be able to translate gravitational effects of time on the wavelength of light into some sort of visual model." The boy gave him a critical look and Steve stared back.
Was this guy trying to mess with him?
But the girl had said that he was her brother, right? He could hardly get into his face right now... maybe this was some language barrier thing as well?
"Uh..." Steve said and decided to just keep talking to the girl. "Aaanyway... you know, there's this thing that the school organizes each year. Spring fling? How about you and I go there together?"
Now it was the girl who gave him a funny look. "Spring fling? What's that?"
The guy was giving him a very sceptic expression, before he tapped his sisters shoulder.
Couldn't that buttsnack butt out for a sec!? He was trying to get a date over here!
When she turned towards her brother, the boy began whispering into his sisters ear, shooting him glances over her shoulder. He could see her eyes widen for a moment before she turned towards him abrutly.
"Thank you very much for your offer." She begann in a serious tone. "But I have to decline. You see, I am too young for that. But I wish you luck on your quest for another mate."
Just as suddenly as before, she turned around again and faced the board as their teacher walked through the door. Her brother kept glancing sceptically at him and Steve was dumbstruck.
What the heck had just happened?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Claire opened the backdoor and looked around the kitchen.
"Mama, Papa? I'm home!" she called out, then waited a few seconds before she turned around. "Alright, they're still out. Come on in."
"You know. I do feel bad about sneaking in like this."
"Bad enough to stop doing it?" She countered and grinned at him as he stuck his head through the door.
Jim gave her a flat look. "Hah...! Good one." He stepped in and closed the door after him "Still. I wish I could explain everything to your parents and somehow make them... not.. hate me?"
He scratched his head and gave her an awkward smile that she countered with a sneaky one.
"And loose your status as the bad boy that trashed our house for a rave?" She chuckled and took his hand to lead him to her room. "Besides... what would you want to tell them? That their baby was switched with a little green imp and he was the one who destroyed their house? I'm not so sure they'd take that well."
Jim let out a longsufferung sigh and looked up to the ceiling as she led on, then she stopped in front of her door for a moment, putting her hand on the doorknob and grinned "But I do think that Papi would love your armour, to be honest."
He smiled and was about to answer her, as she opened the door.
"Well, well. What do we have here?"
They were greeted by a pair of yellow eyes staring at them accusingly from Claires bed.
"You two little lovebirds think you can just use the empty house to smooch?" NotEnrique asked accusingly.
Claire scoffed while Jim looked highly uncomfortable.
"What are you talking about you little toad?" Claire said "We're not smooching or anything, Jim just took me home and I'm going to patch him up a little before he goes home himself. He fought Angor Rot today."
She crossed her arms while NotEnrique huffed unimpressed.
"You know, for a little fake brother you're pretty concerned about me and my 'bugeyes'..." she accused.
Said little fake brother scoffed.
"Yeah right!" He grumbled and hopped off her bed "Like I care what you do with that teenage stink dispenser over there. You can go and make a pooper of your own for all I care!"
While Claire and Jim had stepped inside, NotEnrique plopped down right outside her door.
"But if I hear one tone of that disgusting moaning and groaning you people do whenever you do the nasty, I'll be there. And I'll bring my phone..." he quipped and flashed the both of them with his camera, sending Jim a threatening smirk.
Claire threw the door into his face.
"I'm sorry." she told Jim whose cheeks had taken on a pink shade. "He started to get weirdly protective..."
A faint "Did not!" was heard from outside, but Claire ignored it, giving him a sly smile instead.
"Anyway. Ready to take off your shirt?"
It took a moment for her question to sink in between his embarassement about NotEnriques comments about teenage stink and making... poopers... but when it did, Jim let out a comical little croak, unseemly for a trollhunter.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Aaarrrgh! trailed behind... his steps were heavy as they neared the gyre station that would take them down to the deepest caves.
He couldn't even remember the last time he had been there. It had been centuries. Just before that final battle against Gunmar.
And now he was going home for good.
Home.
No, not home. The Salt mines were not home.
That place had been destroyed when he was so young, he could barely remember it.
Just like his family.
He had learned that his father had been killed back when the Gumm gumms took him. And when he finally made it back, finally got away from the monster that turned him into one as well...
There was nobody left. His family, all of them. Gone before he was able to meet them, to remember them.
And now he was going back to that place.
His heart grew heavier with each step.
The Krubera caves. Death was the only thing he associated with them these days.
The place where he lost his family.
Where he lost his future.
'No' Aaarrrgh! thought, 'not lost.'
He turned around and looked up towards the stairs they had taken. A weak shimmer of trollmarket's crystalls was still visible from the top of the stairs.
He had found his future up there. His life.
Blinky.
Friends. Family.
Those lovely little humans, so full of life. Toby and his exeptional enthusiasm.
He stopped his steps, looking towards his leaving brethren. When they noticed, that he had stopped, they did as well and turned towards him with questioning looks. Aaarrrgh! smiled.
Another step later and their queen stopped as well, but did not turn around.
When Aaarrrgh! turned and started to walk back towards the stairs again he heard her ask "Aaarghamount, where are you going?"
"Home." he answered as he started to climb up back towards the light.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"And a battle plan!" Strickler added to Jim's words. "If we're to fight Angor Rot, we'll need a strategy!" he said and looked first at Draal, then Jim. The boy nodded with a smile.
"You're right. Let me get some paper and a pen. I guess we'll need a bunch of stuff." He opened a drawer and rummaged for a notepad.
Draal though huffed "Ach! Strategies. I'd prefer to bash in his skull, if you ask me. But Angor Rot is a fearsome opponent, so you're right." he said to Strickler "If we want to kill the assassin, we have to set up a trap."
Jim stopped in his tracks.
"Oh..." He turned around and looked at the troll and the man "You want to... kill Angor?"
The changeling and Jim's protector shared a look, before the former answered.
"Yes we do, young Atlas. Unless... you have a better idea on how to stop a trollhunter assassin with nothing to loose, from killing me and thus... your mother?"
Jim pushed his hand into his hair and let out a small groan.
"Right..."
Draal gave Jim a sympathetic look and put a hand on his shoulder "Correct me if I'm wrong trollhunter but you killed before. What makes this different?"
Jim looked up at the troll and gestured with his arms. "This is different because up until now I only ever killed in self defense. I mean... well... call me hypocritical or whatever, but what we're doing now? That's cold blooded, planned out murder! I really don't know how to feel about that..."
"Then I'd advise you to think about how you would feel about your mother dying, Jim." Strickler spoke up.
The boy looked up at his former teacher with wide eyes, before determination set in them. "You're right.", he said "I'm not going to let anything happen to her."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Just when she made her way out of the gym her phone rang. She took it out of her purse hastily and put it to her ear. Closing the other one with a finger to drown out the music, still loud in the hallway.
"Jim! How's your mom? Is everything ok?"
"Yeah" she heard him say "We took her to the hospital and they're doing a last check up. They're going to keep her here over night. Possibly run some tests on her tomorow. But Vendel said she's going to be fine."
She sighed "Thank goodness."
"Yeah... But she lost her memories when Vendel removed the binding spell."
That got her attention. "Her memories? " She asked "You mean like... Angor Rot and trollmarket, or?"
"Yes." He answered. "Pretty much all that happened from the time she last woke up."
"Oh..." she said "Well, maybe that's for the best right? Or do you want to tell her about being the trollhunter again, once she recovered?"
He sighed "Honestly? I don't know... I kind of-" She heard someone speak in the background before he spoke up again after a short pause. "Sorry, that was the doctor. I'm allowed to go back in now."
"Oh, of course!" She spoke up, hugging her middle with her free arm "You do that, we can talk tomorow."
She hoped her voice wouldn't betray any disappointment.
"Ah... actually. I just want to say goodbye. She's asleep anyway, so..." he cleared his throat "shouldn't take too long. The dance isn't over right?"
Claire looked around her. She had made it outside, while talking to him. Most of the students were still dancing in the hall, but usually the party started to die down after the coronation. Their friends would probably start to leave by the time he'd reach the school.
"No it isn't. I'll wait for you, but you really don't have to, Jim. I understand if you want to stay with your mom. It's just a stupid dance party anyway."
"I don't want to come because of the party... I'll be there in no time, okay?"
She smiled.
"Okay, see you in a bit."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Barbara awoke with a pounding headache. Her vision and mind blurry.
Where was she?
"Jim?"
Her hand touched a cold metall bar and her memory reminded her: She was in hospital. Her son had driven her here after she had fainted.
She delicately touched her head. It certainly hurt enough for a concussion.
Barbara sighed. Her poor boy...
Jim had always been a sensitive child, tried to care for her as much as he could, worried about her, when it should have been her job.
She knew he must have been horribly afraid, even if he had not been acting like himself for a while now.
Not for the first time she asked herself what had happened between them. Had she been taking his devotion for granted and overlooked his needs along the way? It wasn't like she hadn't tried to stop him from taking care of everything, but he always insisted that he liked doing it. That he saw it as his part of the deal.
He had tried so hard to replace his father.
But he was still a child, a teenager.
When he had started to act out. Weeks, no months ago, she questioned herself if it was because of her. Because he took on too much responsibility for their lives. Juggling school, cooking, cleaning, repair stuff, shopping...
For a while she thought that maybe he was jealous of Walter. But there where signs that something was happening to her boy.
He probably thought, she didn't notice. But she did.
How tired he always looked? Exhausted even. How he had bruises up on his arms...
How desperately she had tried to find out what was wrong, but he always blocked her questions. Closed himself off from her.
She sighed and thought of last night, when he told her he loved her.
Something needed to change.
So he didn't want to tell her. Had he lost his trust in her? She needed to do something about it...
Her harsh behavior towards him had not made anything better... insteadt it just worsened her own stress. What if that was another reason for her break down?
Patience and positive rewards had always worked best with Jim. She might need to try it that instead of trying to force him. Sooner or later he'd open up...
She had been working hard enough. The hospital owed her a fairer schedule and some regenaration.
This incident had been a warning and she'd take it seriously.
And then things would get better with Jim as well...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Thank you Grrrahnunt, you can leave."
Usurna turned around and whispered into one of her guards ears, sending him off to relay the information to messenger trolls. They would inform the other members of her tribunal and meet up in troll market.
In her centuries of live she had heard and seen a lot of unbelievable things, but this... vermin, that somehow had aquired the amulet of daylight had surprised even her.
Opening the bridge to the darklands to save some impure's familiar... the insolence was unbelievable.
And after all this time she was reminded of her dark lord...
She had thought she'd never have to deal with him again.
And she certainly didn't want to deal with him now.
It wasn't like Usurna ever regretted her actions during the great war, nor her servitude to the dark lord. In fact, when Deya had banished Gunmar to the dark lands, Usurna had been quite... furious.
But she had made the best out of it... accepted the state of "harmony" between trollkind and the fleshlings. The Krubera were well off and one of the most respected of their kind. She would not gain more influence through Gunmars return, than she already had. But she could gain more influence through the tribunal that she would already control completely if it weren't for that old goat Vendel.
One day sooner or later though, she would get rid of him. And once she controlled troll market, she would lead her fellow trolls back to their old glory!
She didn't need Gunmar for that.
After all, she had not forgotten about that old dream... had not forgotten how that blasted mongrel Deya had taken away their species' chance to rule over the topside world. Enslave it's creatures and use them to their kind's benefit. Or how the trollhunter had rallied the trolls behind her to leave their traditional ways, even their old home, to enter peace with humankind...
Usurna scoffed in disgust at the thought.
How long had it been since she last tasted human flesh?
Well... She had taken care of the trollhunter back then. She could take care of the problem now...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Claire groaned with effort.
"Why is that bum so heavy?" she asked and Toby grumbled in response "Don't know Claire, his overgrown ego probably, couldn't be cause he's like two heads taller than us."
They had made it to the street and Claire let Steve's upper body down to the ground, while Toby let his legs fall down. The unconscious boy mumbled restlessly, but still stayed unconcious.
"Toby! Careful! What if he wakes up!?" Claire said and Toby crossed his arms, looking crossly at the taller boy. "Then I'll just whack him in the head again! He has it coming!"
Claire rolled his eyes at him...
"Where's Draal? We need to get Steve away from here, before he wakes up!"
Toby looked around them and shrugged "I called Blinky at least ten minutes ago, he should be here any other moment or so."
Suddenly he gasped.
"What is it?" Claire asked.
"His royal buttness over here made a video of 'Jim' praising him and kissing his ass." the boy grumbled.
"Toby!" Claire said.
"What?" he responded "He didn't want to leave! I had to use the glamour mask and he still tried to threaten me before you knocked him out with a crate." Toby looked at Claire and huffed. "Help me look for his phone." he said before he crouched beside the unconsious boy.
Claire stayed where she was and crossed her arms. "Seriously?" she asked, when Toby glanced at her questioningly "No way, I'm sticking my hands into Steve Palchucks pants!"
Toby shot her a flat look, then cannily raised an eyebrow. "You're right. Jimbo would not be happy about that." Claire snorted while he exclaimed in triumph "Hah! Got it!"
He took Steves crown and set it onto his own head before he stood. "Now to delete that video. Aaaand... done."
"Claire, Tobias? You need me to... 'deposit some trash'?" A voice came from between the dark brushes before Draal's face popped up. Claire chuckled at the quote and pointed at Steve. "Yes, if you'd be so kind..."
"Wait, wait!" Toby piped up and held up the camera in front of his face. "You can take the trash out in a moment, just let me finish something beforehand..."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Otto grinned at the short fat kid. Inwardly he was gloating.
They were going to free Gunmar and didn't even know it...
"Sooo... what now, Mr. Evilman" the little fatso asked him. Otto raised an eyebrow. Mr. Evilman? They couldn't come up with some better moniker? Kids these days...
He never understood why Stricklander, that traitor, liked to work with the fleshlings whelps that much.
"Now, my valued guests, I may ask you to leave these premises." then his face abruptly lost all humor. "Promptly." he added before he snapped his fingers and the door opened. Two larger changelings and a smaller one stepped in. While the smaller, female one hurried to free the other intruders, Otto loosened the redheads restraints and grabbed him by his collar pushing him towards the securities that would lead them to the exit.
"Hey! Watch it!" the audacious little human complained while Otto ignored him. He left the room, followed by their guests and the changelings.
"You have until tomorrow night to retrieve the staff. The place of handover will be right in the canal, where the bridge over trollmarket's entrance is."
"How do you know about the entrance!?" the older troll bristled and he was amused to notice how the small green imp's ears flatened against his head. He couldn't resist.
With a meaningful look at the traitorous changeling he said "Oh we had our informants..."
"That may be." The female human piped up "But we now know where your headquarters are as well!"
Ah. So that one liked to play... Well. She was born a few hundred years to late to play against him.
"And what will you do about it?" He countered scoffing "You want to march into the middle of town with a horde of trolls and demolish our base? Or wait, you're going to get your little trollhunter to do it?" He cackled as her eyes darkened.
"So you agree to leave trollmarket alone, if we agree to leave your headquarters standing? Very well." The older troll stepped between them and shot him a cold glance as he crossed his arms.
The group stopped. They had made it to the lift, that would take them up.
"Tomorow night. At 4 in the morning. Underneath the bridge." The troll said and Otto nodded with a grin.
"Exactly mein Freund."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Come on, we're stuck here anyway."
"Yes. And with no hope of escaping. So what use would my stories have to you?"
"No use. Except for some... entertainment?"
"Ah yes... entertainment." Nomura rolled her eyes. Not that the boy could see it. "What would humanity be without its divertissement?"
Not that she minded. Humans capabillity for creativity and wit. Their artistry and esprit was alway something that Nomura had been incredibly fond of. Trolls had no sense of sophistication of the sort. To find pleasure in an inspiring conversation was uncommon for trolls. Of course there were more than enough humans that this was true for as well, but she only realized how much she had grown accustomed to them after she had been thrown into Gunmar's dungeon...
Gunmar. Her lord and savior... Pah...
All these centuries...
The changelings were not part of Gunmars army, neither his creation. The pale lady had done that. Developed the procedure to rip troll younglings into pieces and fragments. Cut them open and grind their stone into flesh, only to sew the fragments back together and bottle up their essence until they were bound to a human.
No changeling was representing a troll child changed. Those children's souls were destroyed, plucked apart and then mixed up, to be poured into new forms. They were made to serve their dark queen. And so no changeling would ever be seen as a lost child by trolls. They were monsters to them. Impure.
It was ironic in a way, that Gunmar used the same word for different reasons...
She should have seen it. Anticipated it. Why would the warlord, that wanted to enslave humanity, who saw them as worthless critters... who dreamed of world domination by fire and death, using his own kin like tools, think much of her and her brothers and sisters?
After all his son treated them just as unworthy as the rest of troll society.
She relished the fact that the brute had been slain by some human whelp.
But Gunmar had been furious.
And she was made to feel what that meant.
That the warlord who was supposed to take the changelings with him to glory saw them as nothing more than disgusting, defiled leftover troll scraps.
That he'd dispose of them no differently than he'd dispose of humans once he'd dominate the surface.
To the trolls, changelings were hurtful reminders of what Morgana and Gunmar had taken from them. What they had done to those they held most dear.
To Gunmar they were ruined bastards.
Disposable ruined bastards.
Gunmar never even really cared about the trolls reign over the world. Just his own power.
She was glad that the boy had turned his abominable son into rubble. Even with the consequences she faced.
"Well, then why don't you go first." She said after thinking about it. Why not use the time they had left? "I heard Strickler tried to get to you by going over your mother. I bet you have a few juicy stories yourself..."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When he jumped down the boulder, he held out a hand to help Claire down. But before she could take it, he was tackled by Toby and groaned as the smaller boy squeezed him in a hug.
Claire chuckled and jumped down herself.
"It's so good to have you back, buddy!" Toby exclaimed, then held his nose and gagged when he let go of him. "Even if you smell like a month old gym sock."
Jim groaned. "Oh come on!" he said and took his amulet off "It's not that-... Ooooh boy it is." he had bend to sniff at his armpit, while talking to Toby and shook his head. "Yeah, As soon as I get home I'll take a shower." He paused for a moment before a dopey smile appeared on his face "I'll get to take a shower! Oooh man!". He had brought up his hands to his face and laughed with his friends.
Claire then turned to Blinky and asked "What do you want to do about the bridge pieces Blink? Need a portal to move them?"
The blue troll had watched the three children with a happy smile and answered her "Oh no, we'll take care of the bridge, you two take Master Jim home. We'll see each other tomorow morning, after you're well rested."
"Uh, you know what?" Toby said "Why don't you take him home Claire. I live just the other side of the street and I'd like to spend a little more time with my wingman here."
That of course, was only an excuse. He'd love to go home with his best friend, who had just escaped some hellish other dimension, but he had noticed the way he kept glancing at Claire and after he had just witnessed Jim kiss his longtime crush for the first time (in a way that Toby truly would not have expected. Who knew Jim, the wussy had it in him?), he guessed he'd like some more time alone with Claire. And probably another chance to kiss her again.
While Jim approached his mentor and Aaarrrgh! to say goodbye and thank them again, Toby sidled up to Claire. "Hey," he said "You can thank me later for getting you some time alone with our lost boy over there, but do me a favour?"
Claire glanced at him "Yeah, what?"
"Could you try and talk to him about this whole thing? I mean. Leaving us back at trollmarket and going into the darklands alone.", "T.P. don't you think it's a little early to confront him like that? He just got out of there." Claire nervously glanced at Jim who had looked back at her and smiled. She smiled and waved in return.
Toby huffed "Yeah! Perfect timing. Just smooch him again and I'm sure he'll take with ease!"
"Toby!" Claire hissed. "What?" Toby shrugged "It's true! And don't you want an explanation?"
Claire sighed and looked at Jim "I do, but now is not the time. And honestly, I don't know how to address this..." she looked back to Toby "He's got my little brother back. What right do I have to complain?", "What right did he..." Toby trailed off as Jim came back to them.
"So Tobes, want to hug your best friend before he goes to hug his bed?" he asked the shorter boy while stretching his arms wide. Toby snorted in response "Not while you still smell like a pirate who's been to the sea for four months." and with a smile at Claire he added "He's all yours my lady."
"Hey!" Jim exclaimed, while Claire snorted "Ok, I see. Well, let's take you to shore, captain gym sock. I'm sure you can't wait to see your mom." the girl said and by the look in his eyes, she was right.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Our trollhunter is back unharmed from the DARKLANDS and you want to try him for treason!?" Vendel roared. The other members of the tribunal winced, the whagga whump representative looking down.
"Well," Gatto quipped "it's not like we could have thrown him into the deep while he was in the darklands."
A moment later he shied away when Vendel pointed his staff into his hovering face "You think this is a joke???" trollmarkets elder growled. "The boy did the impossible. Again, I may add. And you come here to take him away?"
"I don't see what heroic deed the boy has accomplished by escaping the darklands, Vendel. After all... it had been those other humans that you allow to run around troll market that got him out... after the tribunals order to dump the bridge into the ocean, I might add." She smiled at him maliciously. "Maybe we should try the flesh things instead of your precious troll hunter."
Vendel scowled at her. Usurna was cooking up another one of her schemes. By Deya, that hag got on his nerves...
"You mean the two children, Blinky, Draal and Aaaarrrgh! Our smartest scholar, best warrior and your kinstroll... If you try to rope others in, might as well be fair about it, Usurna."
The kruberan queen looked at him flatly and Vendel groaned inwardly. Judging from her look she was not finished yet...
"Now that you mention it..." Usurna paused and looked cooly towards the other members of the tribunal. "With so many trolls and humans barging into the darklands... we have to expect Gunmar to be out. Isn't that the thing we should be worried about most?"
The other members of the tribunal grumbled in agreement and Vendel groaned. This time aloud.
"I told you already: Draal did not leave his post!" He paused to face Usurna upfront "You want to ask them directly?"
She gave him a cold smile. "Finally, an adequate proposal Vendel!"
As he turned and started to walk towards the exit of the sanctum, Usurnas voice stopped him.
"Oh and Vendel? I think we can all agree, that in light of your questionable judgement it may be best if I stay a little longer in trollmarket. Isn't that right?"
He shot her an annoyed glance as the other members mumbled in agreement, then waved her off before turning his back to her.
"As the fleshlings say: Knock yourself out Usurna!"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Claire sighed. Of course her parents would not allow it. Still, she tried again.
"But mama, there's no one my own age! No offense, but these publicity events are a huge drag..."
Her mother shook her head again. "I said 'no' m'hija!" she turned around to continue preparing some kind of apetizer. "You're free to do whatever you want till noon, but I need your help for the barbacoa. Besides, it's important to show that we're a model family."
Claire rolled her eyes. Not that her mother could see.
Another moment later though she turned her head over her shoulder.
"If it's such a chore for you, how about you bring that boy of yours?"
"Qué!?" This time it was her father who spoke up flabbergastered. Not that Claire was any less surprised than him.
Certainly less outraged by her mothers proposal, but just as surprised.
"Bring Jim?" She asked but her father interrupted "No way that house wrecker set's another step in my home!"
Ophelia rolled her eyes and stuck her spoon into the bowl she had been stirring, leaving it there before she turned around to face her husband.
"Javier... we talked about this. You know that Claire really likes that boy, you won't make this any easier by acting like some sort of 'papa grizzly'. We should at least give him a second chance..." She paused and turned toward her bowl again. "I at least am curious to see if that boy really lives up to our daughters praises."
She had given Claire a sly wink and the girl surpressed a groan.
Whenever a conversation with her parents threatened to devolve into Jim-bashing she had started to defend him stubbornly. She might have gone a little over board a few times...
Still, she was absolutely elated about having Jim at the party. Not only because it wouldn't be as boring, but also because she could maybe finally stop sneaking him in secret.
Her father grumbled a moment longer before he sighed in defeat.
"Well, I hope that boy likes chorizo!" He told Claire.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Usurna looked up, not turning around.
"You bring news...?" she asked in a low voice.
"Yes, my queen." Krax growled as he kneeled behind her. She smirked at the tone of his voice, kowing that the impure couldn't stand working for her.
Usurna had changed her spy's orders the moment she had heard of Jim Lake Juniors escape from the darklands. Up until recently, Krax had spent a comfortable live as a human 'sleeper'. No wonder, that he was unhappy with his new task. He didn't need to know that her original plan for him would have been far more... uncomfortable for him. Not that he would have had the brains to catch on her plan's consequences in time.
Taking the issue to the Janus order was not for discussion. They had dared to cut her off after all, tried to keep her out of their business. Fools. She'd rather use the changelings that had been cast out from it... the Janus order had gotten far too influential for her liking, long before the insolent little human had picked up the amulet. If it were up to her they never would have started their little organisation, but alas... she was confined to the darkness and those little bastards had grown cocky and forgotten their place. They worshipped the pale lady and were blindly loyal to Gunmar. But with the masters absent, the slaves become useless. That's why taking the order down had long been on her agenda.
And that's were Krax would have come into play. It would have worked out wonderfully, once Bular that inept simpleton had gotten his act together to get Kanjigar out of the way...
She had planned it out perfectly: While the new troll hunter was still in basic training it would have been a lot easier to settle the impure into troll market. The next step would have been the assassination of Vendel through Krax. By using the impure she could declare war on the Janus order, take it down, maybe even get Bular and the new trollhunter out of the way, take control over troll market and from then on... the world would have been in reach.
But then this human... pest had bested Bular and all her plans needed to be changed. The human should have perished within days of taking up the trollhunter's mantle, but instead he even somehow survived Angor Rot. James Lake Junior was unpredictable and it irked her to no end. Manipulation, Assassination, nothing came to fruition because the fleshbag did something unbelievable every second she turned around. She had thought she'd be rid of him once they imprisoned him in the darklands, but then Gunmar had let the human live for whatever reason... One thing was clear: She needed to kill that whelp.
Before doing that though, she would have to make sure though, that the little monster hadn't led Gunmar out of the dark lands. If that happened, she'd need to change her plans once more.
Usurna turned around to face the impure. He was in his troll form, so he had learned from the last time, when he had thought it fit to meet her in his fleshbag form.
"So out with it. Can you confirm, that there's really no way, that Gunmar had gotten out of the darklands?" Usurna bellowed.
"No, my queen." Krax answered, turning his head down. "I can not confirm that. But I have it on no uncertain terms, that blood goblins were seen in Arcadia along with a gruesome and Draal... I got him drunk enough to admit that he left his post during their rescue mission."
Usurna snarled and jerked around again, smashing her fists on top of her stone table.
"I knew it! That little..."
After another moment of thinking she turned around again, glowering cooly at the impure. "That is all Krax. You can go until you get further instructions."
She would need to act fast now and find a way to contact Gunmar.
If Gunmar was out, there was no hope of ruling the world, instead she would have to secure herself a place beside the dark lord. That would be fraught with risk and for that Jim Lake Junior deserved a fate worse than death.
Of that she would make sure...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Eli let himself fall down on his bed, he sighed happily.
Not only had he helped save his hometown today, he had enjoyed spending time with Steve of all people! It was true: Once you got to know a person, you get see a new side to them.
Steve was not as bad as he had thought and maybe, just maybe they could become friends. Not just partners in creep slaying, but actual friends!
He certainly hoped that, although Steve talked about keeping up appearances, he wouldn't be stuffed into his locker as often anymore...
Hey and maybe they even could get some answers from Jim one day!
For now though they would keep a low profile. Whatever it was, that Jim was involved in, he wanted to keep it a secret. If they confronted him out of the blue, he'd probably deny everything. They could still try spying on him to keep an eye out for him, now that they knew for sure that he was a good guy.
But until they got answers they would silently work together to help Jim. Eli smiled to himself. Who would have thought, that Steve and him would make such good partners?
Oh.
Oh No!
The boy sat up startled by his own thought.
Health class! Their baby!
Ooooh No! They would fail!
He grabbed his phone and called Steve in a hurry. Hopefully the other boy had made it home already.
He didn't need to wait for an answer as Steve picked up immediately.
"What's up Pepperbuddy? Something wrong?" He heard him say.
"You can say that." He answered, his voice wavering. "We completely forgot about the project Steve! What are we supposed to tell Coach Lawrence!?"
After a moment of shocked silence, Steve exclaimed "Oooh shut uuup! Dang it! I completely forgot about that! All I had been thinking about was how we saved Lake's ass!"
"Well, what are we supposed to do now? Do you think we can get another bag and personalize it exactly the same way?"
"Like you want to sneak out now and hope you'll find exactly the same brand? It's almost midnight! And even so, do you exactly remember every detail you put on Flip?"
Eli groaned. This wouldn't work...
"Listen Eli." he heard Steve say "You're smart. Can't you think of something? Some kind of explanation? Like... our baby was abducted by aliens or... your mom used it to bake a cake?"
"No, my mom doesn't use..." His eyes widened suddenly. "Wait!" he said before Steve could say something "That's the idea! Don't you worry Steve. I'll take care of it!"
He wished the other boy a good night, before he went to work.
Never would he have thought, that he'd ever use his skill to copy his mom's handwriting...But it was for a greater good after all, so it should be okay.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Blinky sighed and put the phone into his pocket before he stemmed his hands to his sides.
"He won't answer."
Aaarrrgh! grumbled in response "What now?" he asked and Blinky looked up at him.
"I fear we'll have to seek out master Jim at school. He wanted to come by after school and we need to talk to him before he stumbles into this mess. Come on Aaarrrgh! we better get going right away."
His huge companion followed him out of their cave "Middle of the day. Dangerous to visit school."
Blinky sighed in response "I know my friend, but what choice do we have? Do you want Jim to walk into Usurna's guards as soon as he gets to troll market?"
The bigger troll shook his head thoughtfully "No. But need a plan."
Hearing his words the scholar slowed down and shot Aaarrrgh! a glance, considering his words. He said "You're right. We do need a plan... What do you suggest?"
The big troll hummed before he simply answered "We lie." Blinky gave him a questioning look "We lie? Isn't that a bit... too simple?" Aaarrrgh! gave him a mischievious smile "No. Allegations are true, we say: not true. Only option."
They had reached one of the smaller tunnels that led to the canals of Arcadia. Blinky gave Aaarrrgh! absentmindedly the horngazel and contemplated his partners suggestion.
"You know." He said, as he followed Aaarrrgh! through the portal "You're right! That really is the only option we have. There's really nothing else we can do other than explain the allegations away. We'll say the blood goblins were just of a local variety or sickly or whatever. Or the troll who allegedly saw them must have been colorblind. The gruesome was a... tourist. Trolls can't distinguish humans that well anyway. Take one strange, weird looking human and they think it's a gruesome or an elf or whatever. And as for Draal... we'll just claim he walked around the bridge or whatever, but never left it out of his sight."
"Good plan." Aaarrrgh! rumbled and nodded.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Every girl, except for Claire. Didn't want to prom block you, buddy!" Toby laughed and slapped Jim's shoulder.
The boy groaned in response "Have you forgotten, Tobes? I can't ask her. She doesn't even know I exist..."
He slammed his locker shut and Toby blew a rasberry "Sure she knows who you are! You're the weirdo who told her that her brother is not her brother and that you're her Romeo." Toby chuckled and Jim groaned. Again.
"Speaking of which... shame you didn't think of stuffing Eli into his locker to get the role, like Steve did, isn't it? I bet you would have made a far better Romeo than that bum."
Jim scowled. Since he had not been forced to make up his impromptu excuse to Strickler because of the armour, he had missed the audition and Eli had gotten the role for Romeo. Not that Jim would have thought, that he'd be able to pull it off after his disasterous atempt at talking to Claire.
A few days later though in a change of events, Steve had shut Eli into his locker and gone on to take over his role in the play. Additionaly he had threatened the smaller boy not to complain. Allegedly Steve had been bothered by Eli's gushing over having the 'lead-role' and getting to kiss Claire. That had been enough to get the bully interested in theatre all of a sudden.
Of course Jim would never have done anything to Eli but the thought that Steve of all people got to star in the play that was so special to him and Claire in his... other life. It hurt.
A cough from Toby distracted him from his thoughts. "Anyways. I don't get it." Toby said. "If she was your girlfriend in this 'alternate universe', then why don't you even try asking her? You claimed, she liked you before you got a move on, so why not try ask her out for spring fling?"
Jim scratched the back of his neck. "It just... complicated, Tobes."
He had tried to explain the whole debacle with Claire's brother to Toby already, but soon realized that his explanations were futile. It was hard, if not impossible to understand any of this, since Tobes had never seen a real life troll. His imaginations and questions often went in completely different places, which gave Jim a headache after a while.
At the moment Jim couldn't even be completely sure, that Enrique had been swapped. But what if he was? He had gone into the darklands to get back Claires brother. Doing that now was impossible. How would he be able to be near Claire and live with the knowledge that her little brother was in some sort of underworld? Her brother meant the world to her. She was basically his second mother...
"No. It's really not." Toby interrupted his thoughts once again "Ask her. Get a 'no'. Move on. Get a 'yes'. Get a move on, dude." Toby accentuated his words by swerving around in some sort of dancemove and pointing his fingers at him. Jim chuckled.
"I mean..." Toby piped up again "What can go wrong? It's just one night. You don't even know if she'll go with you yet, and if she does? Just move from there."
Jim gave his friend a thoughtful look. He was kind of right, wasn't he? Worrying over all these 'what if's' was really not that sensible.
He waited until after school and caught Claire when she went to get her bike.
"Hey." he said and the girl looked up. For a moment she looked confused and then seemed to recognize him. Great.
"Hey." she said and Jim gave her a nervous smile "John? Or..."
"It's Jim." he answered, "Um..." suddenly he forgot what he wanted to say. Just great.
"You need something, Jim?" She asked him, sending him a questioning look. At least she didn't seem weired out or offended or something...
"Uh. Yeah." Jim swallowed "You know, there's... Well, the spring fling is in a few... um weeks and I thought... Would you maybe like to go with me?"
Her eyes widened for a second before her look turned apologetic. "Um..." she said and put a strand of hair behind her ear "Sorry, but... well Logan already asked me and I'll be going with him." She looked down for a moment before she looked at him again. "I'm really sorry. Maybe next year?"
"Oh..." he answered, crestfallen. Remembering her words from another life.
"Sure... no problem... Next year sounds good."
As she took her bike and saddeled up, Jim looked after her.
A small inkling of hope formed in him. He had time after all. No trial awaited him.
Maybe he still had a chance. Next year.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

What in the world was this thing!?
He kicked out and rolled away, jumping up as fast as he could, spinning his arm and blocking a blow from the eclipse blade before it could sever his neck.
There was barely time to think. Especially with that... monster on his back. He needed to put some space between them. He needed to-
"Haaah!" Jim screamed out, as his dark doppelganger grabbed him by the back of his armours collar and flung him back, his sword thrown to the side in the process. The air was knocked out of his lungs as his back connected with the stone wall. The metall clang of it ringing in his ears.
The monster was there in an instant. Grinning in his face again as it grabbed him by the neck and pushed him up against the wall. The armours metall screeched in protest. As he was gasping for air, grasping at his captors fingers, he finally looked at the monster.
He saw his reflection.
His own eyes.
And a mean, murderous grin.
Usurnas words came back to him and realisation set in.
He had to fight his greatest fear.
He knew he was lost.
No.
No!
Jim growled against the pressure on his neck, the pain in his jugular. He forced one of his hands down towards his thigh, summoning a blade and slashing it at his captor. Using the monsters evading move to hurl his body up and kick it away. He fell down and coughed a few times, instantly summoning daylight.
The dark cave was illuminated in a blue tint again as Jim faced his doppelganger.
He was not going to die in this cave.
Gunmar was definitely on the loose. His friend's lives in danger. The whole world at risk!
His mother.
Gods, he hadn't even had the chance to tell her everything.
The monster attacked again and the two swords clashed against one another. Blue against red. Bright daylight against the dark glow of eclipse.
And all the while his evil twin grinned and cackled.
That thing liked fighting. Liked hurting him. It was disgusting. All the more because he knew what it symbolized.
His own hunger for fighting, for winning. His bloodlust.
He growled again as the monster had pulled his own trick on him and almost slit his throat. Laughing out in deranged delight.
The red light of his amulet pulsating. Jim saw red.
He couldn't die. He needed to protect them. He needed to free Draal.
He needed to... live.
And roared in desperate rage.
He saw them before his minds eye. Toby. His mum. Blinky and Aaarrrgh! And Claire.
Oh Claire...
He told her to wait for him. Promised he'd come back. And he always kept his promises.
Daylight ringed as he swung it against the eclipse blade with all his might. Roaring on. Swerving, ducking, hitting and slashing again and again.
The monster parried, backing down as Jim tried desperately to push it into the defensive. He felt the amulet on his chest vibrate. Ticking then whirring and then... burning. He growled as he felt the armour reacting to his emotional state. It felt like something big was about to happen, something looming inside him to break free. And whatever that was, he felt not comfortable with it. Felt that he wouldn't be able to control it.
The monster just grinned from ear to ear and it used its own momentum to throw a blade at Jim. He had just the blink of an eye to duck. But it gave him the opportunity to kick his taller opponent to the ground with another rage filled shout.
The markings on his armour glowed brightly and Jim felt the dam break, energy flowing through him.
The amulet ticked again and for a second all he could hear was silence.
Not the blood rushing through his own ears. Not the monster's growling and eery chuckling.
Time stops.
Grinning up at him from the ground, his twin's arms are spread as if he's waiting for the death blow.
At the same time the glow of the eclipse blade fades into a deep ruby glow.
All he can see is red, deep, deep red.
And abstractedly he detects the tang of smoke in the air, the putrid smell of sulfur and boiling minerals from deep underneath the earth.
But he himself is burning blue and bright and it illuminates the grimace of the monster before him.
The face of the thing he's about to become, he realises as he lifts his sword above his head. Ready to strike.
Ready to kill.
Ready to kill his greatest fear.
No.
Ready to kill himself.
No.
No. No. No.
That was exactly what was supposed to happen, wasn't it? What Usurna expected. What Gunmar had wanted...
But he was not a monster. He was the troll hunter.
He protected. He did not kill in cold blood.
He never enjoyed it.
He was not enjoying this.
And he would never enjoy it.
He grimaced at the face at his feet. His own face, tinted in his swords blue glow. Sharp canines protruding from his lips. Wild hair, slitted irises.
He'd never become that.
With a deep breath he willed the power cursing through him to ebb down and then he let his sword sink down, letting it go and disappear.
The light around him dimmed in kind and he stepped away from the monster, the red glow of its armour surpassing the blue of his own once again.
"I'm not you." He said with a last look at his greatest fear and turned around towards the stone wall, taking a few steps until his hands found the rough stone in the dark.
A wild snarl was his response and he heard the monster jump up and rush towards him.
But the strike of the eclipse blade never came.
He started to climb.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bloodcurdling screams cut through the air and thundering tremors shook the ground. Accompanied by a few guards and generals, Otto followed the sounds of battle, running as fast as the could.
The noise came from the assembly room where the new recruits were instructed about the strategy the commanders of the Janus Order had devised, to ensure the dark lords victory. They had come together from all over the world for their final strike.
And then. Chaos.
The cameras had been deactivated. His fellow generals and him rushing towards the assembly room in panic.
Who in the world could be attacking them!?
Could the troll hunter's little posse really had made good on their threat and ambushed their base? They wouldn't be that mad, would they? They knew that Gunmar was with them...
Maybe the trollhunter had some kind of death wish...?
But alas, the dark lord had left hours ago and was not supposed to be back until nightfall.
As they rounded the next curve, they caught sight of the invaders and Otto gasped in shock.
"Krubera." He muttered, stunned.
The sight was truly gruesome. The brutes had obviously slain a group of his brothers and sisters who ley bleeding and broken to their feet...
As they noticed them, one of them turned around and sent Otto a grin as he let the wrangled, mutilated body of a changeling fall to the ground.
With multiple roars the krubera charged them and the changelings threw themselves into the frenzy. Otto evaded a hammer to his head by changing into a small boy, slipping through the legs of a krubera and racing for another tunnel. Before the huge troll caught up to him, he turned into a krubera himself and gave the troll that came chasing after him an innocent, nonplussed look, then grinned and nodded towards a door. As the krubera smirked at him in response and charged through the door, Otto himself turned to follow the tunnel.
The polymorph grimaced as he listened to his brethrens screams and wails, hurrying along towards the assembly hall. Saving his own skin was his priority, but no one would recognize him anyway. And he'd need to safe his lady's artifacts if he wanted any chance to ensure Gunmar's revolution.
And then Gunmar would avenge his changeling brethren.
Their lord would destroy the krubera and conquer the world.
But... just How in the world had the krubera found them and why they were attacking?
As he neared the hall he noticed that it was eerily calm after all the roaring and screaming that had filled the corridors...
Only one last agonizing scream was heard when he reached the doors to the assembly hall as they opened automatically. Otto jumped in alarm.
He hesitated before taking the last steps to peer into the room. But when he did, he faltered in shock at the sight.
Rubble and bones. Not even blood.
There was just one being in the world able to cause that kind of destruction and truthfully... There he was standing in the middle of this field of felled changelings. The dark lord gave a burp as he turned around and regarded him. Otto couldn't help the shocked gasp that escaped him.
His whole world lay there, crumbled and broken at his master's feet.
Gunmar grinned.
And Otto realized that his face cleary showed his horror.
"The changeling polymorph, I see. How nice of you to join the party."
Otto realized there was no use in hiding his true identity. He changed back to his prefered human form and regarded the skullcrusher in despair.
There was only one word he could choke out.
"Why?"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"What is it this time?" Strickler growled "Afraid you'll get a C in your next Spanish test?" he ducked away from Jim's kick before he drawled sarcastically "Girlproblems?".
The boy deflected his throwing knives and sighed "No, nothing like that. I feel guilty for keeping this training a secret from Blinky..."
Strickler used the chance to kick at Jim's feet, knocking him down.
"I never asked you to keep it a secret. That was your own idea, young Atlas."
Jim spun on his back, to avoid Stricklers darts and kicking feet. Using an opening in his attacks, he bolted to the side, then went to strike his own knifes against the changeling. Strickler barely dodged but the proximity allowed him to grab for the trollhunters Shoulder, spinning him arround and jamming his elbow to his back in a painful angle.
"If you're not ready to cause serious injury to your opponent, stay out of their direct range! You're the trollhunter, boy. Taking you down is worth the trouble of a little cut or stab wound..."
Jim growled, then yelped as his ex-teacher pushed him forcefully to the ground. He landed on his knees, then turned around to sit down on the ground, scowling up at the changeling as he switched to his human form.
"There's no use training you, if you're so distracted Jim. If you're not going to take this seriously, you might as well go back to the troll's leader and tell him to train you." Strickler snapped and gave him a disdainful look "See how much good that'll do you."
The boy frowned even harder at him.
"Hey! Blinky's got enough on his shoulders with the trolls expelled from trollmarket and trying to hide. And he was always a good teacher! I took down Bular or not?" He was smart enough not to mention Angor Rot as Strickler had lost no time to ask about that encounter, learning that the assassins defeat had been a 'lucky shot', as he had called it.
"And that's exactly the reason for why Gunmar won't give you a quick death. He'll make you watch, as he kills every one you love." He crossed his arms as the boy looked down to the ground.
It did not bring him any pleasure to treat a human child like that, that much was true. And realising that about himself after all that boy had put him through had been... startling. But his personal feelings were irrelevant to the matter at hand. Their worlds fate, the fate of the only woman he... loved, was at the hands of the boy in front of him and he needed to do everything in his power to make sure he had at least a chance to win.
If that meant he'd have to turn that gentle child into a mercenary, he would do so.
"So." Strickler said "Are you ready for round two or do you want to run home to your mother, crying?"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

She heard a little tap on her window and smiled, putting down her book.
When she opened her window, it took her a moment to spot him in the dark. He stood behind a bush and looked around before he asked "All clear?" while trying not to be too loud.
"Yeah!" She told him "Come up, my parents are gone."
Just a few seconds later he had pulled himself up on the porch roof and gasped in an exaggerated way as he stopped just before her window "But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?", he began "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."
Claire chuckled "Jim..."
He continued to speak while he ducked through her window "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief."
He took her hand before he stepped down on her rooms floor and she rolled her eyes at him "knucklehead." she said, but he wasn't going to be dissuaded.
"That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is mph..."
His last word was cut off as she pushed her lips against his. She chuckled at the blissful look on his face when she broke their kiss. He trailed after her for a moment longer, quietly whining"more".
She turned around although and sat on her bed.
"I'm sorry Jim, you know I'm a little worried you could catch my cold."
He followed her "Claire, this has been going on for almost two weeks. If your cold was infectious, I'd be sick already." He sat down and looked at her like he was about to kiss her again.
Just as her own eyes were about to close his expression grew a little worried.
"You're not feeling any better at all, do you?"
She sighed "No. I went to your mom like you told me to, but..."
"She couldn't find anything. I know." He gave her another worried look and she looked away. She knew what he was thinking about. He had voiced his concerns several times already. How she shouldn't use her shadow staff, how her sickness might be some sort of side effect of dark magic...
She couldn't stand it. He shouldn't be worried about her, when they had much bigger problems! Gunmar was out and wearing them thin! The trolls had no home and there was an immanent danger of them being discovered and even being turned into stone! The end of the world might be at their door, for Pete's sake! And he was worried about a little cold...
Her sickness was just a small inconvinience and she wouldn't give up her shadow staff. It was too useful for that.
She heard him sigh.
"Claire... listen. I won't bring it up again. Can we just enjoy this evening?" She looked at him and smiled. That really did sound like a great idea and she closed her eyes as he closed the gap between them.
She sighed against his lips, when he put his arms around her and pulled her nearer. Then reached up to push her fingers into his hair, when she heard something...
"Jim..." she mumbled against his lips and he stopped, pulling his lips just a breath away from hers and she blinked, "... is that your phone?"
He groaned. He had left his phone on silent mode before he put it on her night stand.
All he wanted was a nice evening with his girlfriend. Was that too much too ask?
He'd choose to just ignore it, but before he could catch Claires lips again, she turned away and reached for his phone. It stopped to vibrate in her hand.
"It's Toby" she said and showed him the missed call.
Great... no way he could ignore that. Toby was out with Aaarrrgh! on a search for Glug, so it was probably important.
It better was important...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Eleonora sighed, before she pushed the door open.
Deafening chattering and crashing greeted her...
She rolled her eyes and put the stack of papers on her desk. "Class, please be quiet!"
Only a few of the children had even recognized her entrance and only a few more recognized her words. "Quiet!" She exclaimed again, louder this time and the rest of her students started to settle down. Some still throwing stuff, some snickering.
She sat down herself and waited for them to shut up while she took a sip from her coffee.
Algebra was a difficult subject. Everyone knew that. Teachers, students, parents... but she had always hoped to inspire her students... to make them see not only the usefulness but also the beauty of mathematics... Her own enthusiasm though, her ideas and goals and been lost somewhere along the way and had been switched for the mind numbing daily grind of the high school curriculum...
Their last test had been especially disappointing... she had at least three students who'd certainly need to visit summer school...
She took another sip of the black brew atop her table and felt the frustration bubble up in her as some of her students still did not. sit. down.
Why the hell did she even care?
It's not like any of them cared about her subject anyway!
Certainly not like they cared about their marks...
Nothing made a difference to these UNgrateful littel cretins!
Not neva learnin. Just stoopid Stuff, stuffing stoooopid stuff in theyr HEADS. Throwing paper insetad of writing onit! She wants ta throw somthin too. noT Poor paper. Good paper, so many things to do woth.
TheY'd eat ther PAPERs if THEY could.
SO WHY not EEEEEEAAAAT that TSTY tasty papeR rightthenandthere!?
SHE'D bet its taste like GYMsocks... GYMSOCKS. Were tasty. SPOOOOns. Tasty too.
But Cat's... OoooOoohh dios mios. DELIcioso.
Tasty Gatitos. He'd die for tasty cats... tasty cats dying for him.
A yelp distracted him from his mouthwatering thoughts. A student. Eli. Had slipped on the wet ground and fell.
Uhl growled threateningly and the boy jumped up, resuming his scrubbing.
The students groaned and huffed and nervously glanced over to him now and then.
Good. Get back at those ungrateful truck-nappers!
These ungrateful brat-urritos
THIEvse unGratful sock-muppets.
Socks. Mmmm
YeSSs Socks. Fuzzy. FuRRY. purry sockies.
PuRRRRRRy kitties. Purrronear gatos.
GaTos. GaTas. Gatitotatas...
Gatos in burrrrritos. Yes. that's an idea!
gaTito-burrriTo! Everyone loves them!
With mild sauce and extra spicy kitty!
He'd open his own restaurante
and never teach thos stupidos again!
¡BriLLAnte!

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Oh poor T.P." Darci cooed "Here, you need some water?"
Toby took the offered cup and whined "Mhm... Thank you..." before he took a sip.
Darci glanced at Jim "What happened?" she asked while rubbing Toby's back and Jim just looked at her, still wide eyed and gave her a noncommittal shrug and a "Uuhh..."
"Uh I just... ah... moved my chair and jammed my own foot under the chair leg?" Toby said as he set down the cup. He gave his date a nervous glance and Darci raised an eyebrow.
"Oh. Okay? It looked like you had some sort of seizure Toby. You had me worried for a moment!"
"Yeah... um..." the boy countered, glancing at Jim for help who gave him another helpless shrug and smile. "Jammed it pretty hard, you know?" Toby chuckled nervously "Could feel it all the way up to my... stomach." he added with a pointed look towards Jim.
"Well, looks like you're okay now. Let me just go to the bathroom and see how Claire's doing..." Darci straightened and walked around the table to make her way into the restaurant. Toby meanwhile gave Jim another panicked look "Oh, oh... Uh- Why don't you stay, I mean- I'm sure she'll be back in a moment anyway!" the shorter boy piped up as his friend still sat there uselessly mouthing and gesturing excuses at him, when the girl had looked away...
"It's no big deal, Toby." Darci gave him another critical look "I just want to look for her... she seemed pretty out of it just now...". The girl had a thoughtful expression and shook her head before she resumed her way.
Toby turned to Jim with a dissatisfied expression once she was out of sight. "Great! Now they're still going to the bathroom together!" He pressed "The date's ruined, Jim! Do I have to do everything alone!?"
Jim gave him an annoyed look "Tobes! Would you let go of it!? You're blowing this whole thing out of proportion! They're just going to the bathroom for like two seconds. You're making me all anxious with these stupid rules! I just kicked you in the nards, man!"
"Yeah... don't think I'll ever forget that." the boy answered, awkwardly shifting in his seat, before he proceeded to argue "And I'm not blowing it out of proportion! Have you never seen a movie in your live Jimbo? Like I said: They're going to talk about us!"
Jim rolled his eyes "Right. Cause that's all girls ever do. Talk about boys...", "Not talk! Conspire! Don't you ever listen to me?" Tobes proclaimed, leaning into his face over the table "They're going to compare us to some sort of celebs and stuff or even worse, that Douxie dude!"
Jim crossed his arms and leant back. He grumbled and looked away, not wanting to admit that the last part of his friend's words actually got to him. He knew that Claire was impressed by that wannabe rockstar and he didn't like it one bit.
"Oh man... they're coming back. Act normal!" Toby said and Jim looked up to give his girlfriend a smile.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Barbara blinked and stretched. Rubbing the slumber from her eyes.
What time was it? She hadn't even noticed that she was falling asleep...
All this time off work had its side effects it seemed. She couldn't even remember when she had ever been sleeping this much, much less in the middle of the day. Or when she had been reading this much- and not just for her degree.
Or when she had last been painting this much...
Which reminded her... She smiled to herself and stood, heading straight for the kitchen to set up a pot of coffee.
Judging from the last few times, she'd need it.
She also knew she'd need to go straight to work, if she wanted to preserve the images in her head.
Another vivid dream during her little nap had not only given her the incentive but also the strong impulse to put her idea into shape.
She felt strangely energetic during these moments, vibrant with energy almost. But that energy could be quickly exhausted, if she wasn't careful.
So, she quickly snatched her cup and went down to her basement, where another empty canvas waited for her.
After choosing the colors and setting the the background, she started to sketch the outline. A young man, wearing a glowing armour.
Her knight in a shining armour.
Her boy.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"I think I saw this on TV... those are the people that run around the neighbourhood and pretend to be from the middle ages, right?" Javier said with a look at his daughter. Claire whipped around as she felt her father's look on her.
"Yes, they are." Claire's mother agreed. "This is completely unacceptable!"
"Excuse me?" Claire proclaimed "What's so bad about roleplays, mom?" she walked up to her and stemmed her hands to her hips, looking at her mother defiantly. Her father looked back and forth between her and his wife with a nervous helpless expression.
"You shouldn't be running around at night like some nutjob! Don't think I haven't noticed your grades slipping, Claire! I thought it was because of your other extracurricular activities, but now?" She crossed her arms "I thought I needed to tell you to quit theatre, but I guess this is a better explanation for your strange behaviour."
"Well I think this is wonderful!" Mrs. Domzalski piped up, chuckling. "I think it is far better if the children play outside with each other, instead of sitting home in front of their computers all day." She patted her grandson's head and Toby grinned awkwardly.
Claire rolled her eyes, then noticed how Barbara left the room and headed for the basement. "Oh no..." she mumbled, eyes wide. She tried to get Toby's attention, since she was standing between her parents, but the boy didn't notice.
Now it was Ophelias turn to roll her eyes "They're not 10 years old anymore..." she mumbled, while her husbands expression turned thoughtful.
"Wait a moment..." he said looking at both Claire and Toby. "Has this whole Lark-"
"LARP." Toby interjected and Mr. Nuñez sent him a flat look.
"Yeah. This whole LARPers thing... has it anything to do with the truck you tried to steal? And what about our living room furniture, huh? What have you kids been up to? Are you roleplaying some sort of living room burlgars or what?" He gave Toby an accusing look and Claire intervened as Toby whimpered.
"Dad, no! I told you, we had nothing to do with it!"
Mrs. Nuñez directed a look at Claire and sighed "M'hija... don't take this the wrong way, but that story is not very believable. You are not the type of person that leaves the house without closing the door. Besides... why is the complete furniture missing, but not a thing from the other rooms? All my jewelry? The cash we have in our study? I am not convinced, honestly."
"Exactly" her father quipped and gave Toby another glance. "Besides, ever since you met these boys, these strange things keep happening! And I honestly don't get it... You seem like nice kids, don't get me wrong. But there is something fishy going on here!" He turned towards Toby and gave him a calculating look.
"Nothing fishy going on here, Mr. Nuñez Sir, honestly! That thing with Mr. Uhl's truck was just a dumb misunderstanding and your living room? Well, you know that Jim, Claire, Darci and I went on a date that night! We couldn't have done anything to your living room." The boy leaned back more and more while talking to Claire's parents. Gosh those two could look menacing...
Claires mother spoke up this time "That's what you say, but we never found out when exactly the furniture had been stolen! Besides..." She looked at Claire with a questioning frown. "If all of this is true, why did you call us the next morning and not that exact night?"
"Mom I told you I came in through the back door and went straight to my room!" Claire said, exasperation evident in her voice.
Ophelia crossed her arms at that. "And I don't exactly believe that, Claire. It's too unlike you."
"You know what I think?" Javier spoke up directing his glare at Toby. "I think you've gotten some sort of taste for crime, when you helped to arrest those robbers. I think you're trying to reconstruct some of that..."
Mrs. Domzalski gave Claire's father a confused look. "Pardon me? What do you mean by that."
Javier turned towards the older lady and answered her "No offense, Mrs. Domzalski, but I think your grandson and his friend use this whole LARP thing to act out on their criminal energy! I believe they stole our furniture. Maybe to set up some kind of this whole role play stuff, but I'm sure they are somehow involved!"
That was the last straw for Toby's nana. "Wha...? Oh no, no, no!" She chided, stemming her hands to her hips. "How dare you accuse my Toby pie!" She proclaimed, facing Mr. Nuñez and pointing a finger to his face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As soon as the children and their troll mentor had vanished through the portal Javier turned around to face Strickler.
"So." he said, an excited look on his face "I can't wait to hear about trolls and all of this magical stuff! Ouch!"He turned towards his wife, standing at his right side "What was that for?"
Ophelia had flicked his arm and stemmed her hands to her side. "Could you control yourself a little? You're enjoying all of this far too much, Javier. Our little girl is hunting down a troll warlord!"
"Oh." Claires father faltered and gave Strickler a helpless glance. The changeling sighed slightly.
"Well... that's the reason why Jim invited me, isn't it? Mrs. Nuñez, I think all of you deserve to hear the complete story. It'll help you understand what your children are going through and since we can't do much more than wait at the moment, it's the best moment to tell you about the world of the trolls..."
Ophelia let her hands fall down and glanced at Barbara before she gave Strickler a determined look. "You're right, Mr. Strickler."
Barbara moved past Walter and laid a hand on Ophelias shoulder, gesturing towards the living room "I think it would be best if we all sat down for this. Does anyone want some more coffee or tea?"
Several minutes later the parents found themselves enthralled by Stricklers account. Mrs. Domzalzki learned that her little Toby Pie had discovered the museum's curator to be a changeling, while hunting down goblins, they learned of the bridge and the darklands, where Gunmar had been held prisoner for centuries. And lastly Mrs. and Mr. Nuñez were informed that their little boy had been abducted and then saved by Jim from literal troll hell.
"And all this time..." Javier said giving his wife a dismayed look who returned it before she turned towards Jim's mother.
"Barbara, all this... we really are sorry, for having had such a low opinion of your son. I never really understood what Claire was seeing in him, but hearing all this?" Ophelia said and her husband spoke up "We're deeply in your boy's debt, for what he has done for our family."
Barbara gave them a smile "I believe Jim will be happy enough to be on your good side."
Right about then she was interrupted by a little tap on one of the windows.
"Oh, who could that be now?" Mrs. Domzalski piped up and Strickler moved towards the dark window, turning towards Claire's parents.
"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Nuñez, I guess it is time for you to meet your temporary son. NotEnrique." With these words he opened the latch and another moment later a little, green... thing thumped on the ground blinking at the gathered adults with a sheepish expression.
"Tha... that..." Mr. Nuñez stammered aghast, while his wife's mouth hung open, her eyes wide in shock.
The little imp chuckled awkwardly and rubbed at the scruff on the back of his neck "Uh... Hi? Mom and Dad?"
Javier and Ophelia exchanged baffled looks with each other, before Claire's father swallowed and give the little troll an hesitant smile "Well... he certainly doesn't have those big eyes from me... Oww!" He rubbed his shoulder as his wife had flicked him once again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Barbara returned from her office with a stack of paper and pens.
"Here you go! You really think we can throw a play together in just a few minutes? I'm certain, we only have a few more before he wakes up."
Ophelia gave her a quick glance as she started to write down a list of names "Sure, I just heard the complete story of what our children have been up to all this time! It's perfect for a play, isn't it? And we'll be able to explain this one's appearance." She nodded at Dictatius.
"Which reminds me." Barbara spoke up and turned towards the blinded troll "Will you finally get out of here? Mr. Scott could wake up any moment!"
"Allow me, Barbara." Strickler said and pushed Blinky's brother towards the kitchen, while Ophelia started to scribble down on the paper, a curious Mrs. Domzalski looking over her shoulder, adjusting her glasses as she tried to read.
"3, 4, 5." Ophelia counted, pointing to herself and the other people present with her pen. "With the troll that would be six and if we set him up as a changeling, that would be a perfect explanation." She looked around with a raised eyebrow "Where is... uh. NotEnrique?"
"He turned tail and ran as soon as he heard, that the police is knocking on the door." Strickler said with a slight shrug as he returned from the kitchen. Ophelia nodded and scratched something out on her sheet.
"Ok. I have the outline. I don't think we'll need the whole dialogue, we'll just say, that it's ahh... an impromptu play! We develope the roles as we go with the story idea!" She looked at the other adults as she rattled on "So, the basic consept stays the same: There's an amulet, that gives a chosen one a magical armour and sword. That's the trollfighter-", "Uh... I think it's trollhunter, darling." her husband interjected, but Ophelia shook her head "Well, I think trollfighter makes more sense. It's not like he hunts trolls, is it? He has a sword, not a lasso! Anyway... There's the world of trolls and the changelings who want to free their warlord troll master Gunmar. That's the basic idea. You're with me so far?" At the collective nods of the others, she continued "Good. So for the roles, we have Barbara as the trollfighter... Jim is your kid after all, I think you have a better insight on this stuff. Mr. Strickler, you're her son's teacher and arc nemesis who wants to free Gunmar. I am Barbara's nosy friend who found out about the troll world by stalking her and now fights at her side with my portal staff. Javier is the third wheel tagalong, comedic relief with a magic war hammer. All clear?"
"Yes. But why do I have to be the comedic relief?" Her husband asked with a pout.
Ophelia tilted her head at him with a grin "Oh, honey you just got that great sense of humor! Also. We have a tragic back story that our baby has been abducted to the darklands." Next she turned towards Toby's grandmother "As for you Mrs. Domzalsi: I hope you don't mind playing the human side of a changeling? You ah... are about as tall as um... Dictus? Back there?"
Mrs. Domzalski chuckled and clapped her hands "Oh no! I would love to play one of these changethings! This is exciting!"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Mary looked at her conspirationally and gave her a mischievious smile.
"What's up C-bomb? You and Jimmy Jam been up to something illegal again, huh?"
"Uh... no. This has nothing to do with Jim. But... um- You remember that guy from college I had been seeing?"
Her friends eyes got wide "Oooh! This is going to be good, isn't it?"
Claire chuckled nervously "Yeah... well. However you want to see it... Um. So... You know, that Jim and I are kind of...", "sticking together like glue, yeah. You two are disgustingly cute. That's why I really want to know how this side piece is coming into play!" Mary had ducked out from under her arm and stepped in front of her, putting her hands on her shoulders "Tell me all the dirty details Nuñez!"
Claire rolled her eyes but gave the girl a smile.
"I will. But before I explain the whole thing: Jim knows only half of this, so could you please keep it to yourself? He'd be so hurt, if any of this got to his ears."
Mary lifted her hand to her heart and swore "Lips are sealed C-bomb, now share!"
"Heh... um yeah. So this um... other guy... uh... Brad. He, well... I broke up with him a whole while ago. But what I didn't tell you was this: Brad was part of some kind of gang!"
Mary's face fell, her eyes wide "Oh no!" She said before putting her hands in front of her mouth. "Wait, Claire! You're not in some kind of trouble, are you?" Her expression had turned seriously worried and she put a hand on her friends shoulder again, looking around if someone was listening in.
"No, no. The guy himself is harmless, total flake, it's just the people he's associated with that I don't want anything to do with" Claire shook her head, "But you see... that is, kind of the explanation for some of the stuff that happened..." She sighed, trying to get some time to think.
"Um... for example, when Jim made a mess in our house? That wasn't him! I found out, that has all been Brad's fault. He's selling drugs or some stuff and it seems he hid some of that in our kitchen! And then, when Jim was babysitting for me, some people that 'Brad' had... problems with, showed up at our house and demanded Jim gave them that stuff. They tore the whole kitchen apart to find it!" She gave Mary a nervous look, but her friend seemed to eat it all up.
"Oh. My. God! Poor Jim! That must have been horrible! Why didn't he call the police???"
"Oh... um..." Claire stuttered for a moment "I guess, Jim kind of thought... uh that my family had some kind of... drug dealing thing going on? That's why he said, he had a party! He didn't want to call the cops on my parents and I guess that's the reason why he acted to strange for a while." Claire chuckled awkwardly as Mary looked at her dumbfounded.
"Jimmy Jam thought your parents were some kind of drug dealers." The other girl gave her a flat look, blinked and then snorted "That really is unbelievable!"
"Yeah right?" Claire chuckled nervously "Uh.. so anyway. I broke up with Brad, got Jim to believe me that my family has nothing to do with drug dealing, he never found out about Brad, but then..." She faltered, unsure about how to continue her tale.
"Then?" Mary asked curiously
"Well... turns out that he had... another package hidden somewhere in our living room!"
"Wait what!?" Mary proclaimed, exasperated "What a dill hole!"
"Yeah" Claire gave an incredulous chuckle, surprised by her own creativity. "So... what happened next was... uh... I got home that one day- just before I went to that double date with Jim, Toby and Darcy? And Jim was waiting outside for me... I come in and there's these twoooo... guys in my living room! Brad is one of them and I'm like... completely baffled. And enraged. I ask them- quietly- What they're doing in my living room!? And Brad gives me this stupid, dopey smile and the other guy gets all... threateningly aggressive. But before I can tell him to shove it, Brad gets in his face and says- and I kid you not: 'That's my girlfriend, you idiot!'"
At that Mary faltered and laughed out loud.
"Yeah... my reaction as well and so when he turns around to me, I slap the crap out of his face and before he can say a word, I'm setting him straight, telling him, that I am not his girlfriend and that he should get his bum out of the backdoor ASAP, as my boyfriend, who is a martial artist, is waiting outside." She crossed her arms, growing more assured about her story as she went on. "Oh and I also claimed, Jim was the son of a detective, cause I didn't trust that other guy to go quietly. Unbelievably enough they bought that! But then Brad told me, that he hid some of his 'supplies' in our living room, but couldn't remember where and if I maybe please could help them search for it! So I tell them that I would not do any of that and that he should get his crap and leave my house by the time I get back home, because otherwise I would set the police on him. I'm telling you May, I've never felt more boss in my life."
"Wow..." It wasn't often that Claire had seen Mary speechless before, but her little tale seemed to achieve that effect. After a moment of stunned silence Mary blinked and frowned at her. "Buut... Claire bear... that's not all is it?"
"Yeah... seems like I was a little too confident, cause when I got home that evening? Well... our whole living room furniture was gone... and Darci's dad got on the case and... well. He and my parents somehow ended up in a theatre group." Claire shrugged with a wide faux smile, hoping that her friend would buy the whole thing without any further questions.
Mary didn't say anything, she just blinked and then choose to slap a palm to her face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Gone" Strickler mumbled, eyes wide as he turned towards her.
"What do you mean he's gone? How is he gone!? He was here just a moment ago! Walt, where is my son!? Where's Jim?" Barbaras words grew louder and more panicked, as she gripped the changeling by the shoulders, shaking him.
Toby looked at them wide eyed, completely lost. He was so out of it that he almost wouldn't have heard the rageful shreek behind them if Strickler hadn't called out "Claire!", looking past Toby to where the girl had been. When he turned around he only saw Claires' back as she flung herself down the stairs.
That shook the boy somewhat out of his stupor. He glanced at Strickler and Dr. Lake for a second, before he turned around and tore after Claire.
Jim's mother had started to sob and held on to his ex-teacher.
As he made it down the stairs, he saw Claire in front of the door, confronting the wizard.
She had pulled her shadow staff on him and held it into his face. Forming a small portal that Merlin regarded with a disapproving look.
"Where's Jim!? And what have you done to him??" The girl snarled. Toby rushed up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, ready to hold her back in case she might try to send the wizard to Mexico. Or the bottom of the ocean...
As angry as he himself was, they'd need Merlin. Not only to have some chance against Gunmar and now Morgana, but also to get answers as to where Jim had disappeared to.
"I've done nothing to the trollhunter. He made a choice, is all."
While Claire growled Toby's frown deepened and he pushed in front of the girl. "Oh yeah!?" He said, stemming his hands to his hips "And we're supposed to believe that you had nothing to do with his 'decision', huh!? What a load of-"
"MERLIN!"
Toby and Claire both cringed at the bellow from above and looked up at the same time to see Jim's mother stomping down the stairs with fire in her eyes.
Even the legendary wizard himself had the sense to look apprehensive for a moment, before returning to his nonchalant demeanor.
"Where. Is. My. SON!?" the red haired woman growled while Claire and Toby stepped appart to make way for her. Barbara stopped in front of the old man staring him down and if he hadn't imagined it, Merlin's hard look wavered for a moment as he stared into her blue eyes.
Strickler made it down the stairs as well, a confused and worried expression on his face.
"That... is hard to explain" The wizard said, his gaze flickering to Jim's friends, behind the woman. "Just be assured, he will return!"
"Oh he better return! Or I will give you hell!" Barbara snapped.
"Yeah... great answer! He'll return when!? And that still doesn't answer how the heck he vanished-" Toby quipped and Claire added "And what you did to him!"
That's when Strickler coughed and stepped behind Barbara, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't think you'll get around a straight answer to this, wizard." He said with a disapproving look towards the ancient master. Merlin scoffed in return which the changeling ignored. Instead he turned his gaze towards Jim's friends behind him "I think it's best to try and calm down a little. None of us have eaten or slept all day and it's ill-advised to wear ourselves out in a time of crisis."
Claire sighed and let her shadow staff retract. "I'll make some tea." she said, leaving for the kitchen. Toby though crossed his arms and looked defiantely towards the wizard, while Strickler led Barbara towards the living room. "No way I'm letting this old bat out of my sight!" the boy grumbled.
Merlin just raised an eyebrow at the boy and shrugged "Whatever."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

After he had encountered the river trolls he had run deeper into the forest. Realising that he was trapped in the woods at least until nightfall...
Curled underneath the low hanging branches of a tree, nestled to the bank of a little creek that curled around a hill he found refuge from the rising sun.
He didn't want to be out in the open. He felt vulnerable being out here.
The thought that a ray of sunshine could literally burn him...
What had he been thinking?
When Merlin had told him, that he'd turn into a troll, Jim had been steamrolled by the severity of that decision. But he had known, what it would mean.
When he had filled the tub? Seen the pitch black water?
He had known.
He knew that his life as he knew it would be over.
He knew it would be over the moment Merlin had said that there would be no going back for him.
He had known. Cursed fate. Mourned a future he'd never have, while sitting on the toilet lid of his childhood home. There would be no letters this time.
All his plans, his hopes, his dreams?
Gone.
All because he picked up an amulet. A piece of metal that had become a part of his body, infested his heart.
He had been willing to give up his very existence, the rest of what he hadn't given up already. Known that everything would be different. And still...
Somehow he had still managed to be so darn naive about the consequences.
After the rush of fighting against Aaarrrgh!, feeling the joy even? It somehow hadn't seemed so bad?
He had come to enjoy some parts of being a trollhunter. Training matches with his friends, excelling in the forge and overcoming his own boundaries... those were things he had come to enjoy.Something he wouldn't have thought up until a year ago. But now? It was different...
Grappling with Aaarrrgh! hadn't been just a little innocent trial of strength. It had been fun. Pure unadulterated joy of smacking someone in the mug.
That wasn't like him. At least not before. That was different.
And the things his body was now able to do! Gosh, everything felt sooo easy! Being smashed through a tree? Barely hurt. Jumping several feet, through the foliage? Walk in the parc.
Before, everything he did came with physical and mental effort and pain. The armour shielding him, empowering him but, now? That was all Jim.
It was a rush.
Until reality hit him in form of a simple ray of sunshine.
He'd never feel the heat of the sun again.
He grimaced, his hand reaching to the amulet ingrained on his chest and he realized... not only had it infested his heart, now it also had his body and mind.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"So? You're excited for battle of the bands today? First time performing in front of such a huge bunch of people!" Steve grinned and Aja smiled. "Oh yes, Krel and I are so excited! Your Species is one of the few who understands rythm, so performing music for your kind will be very cool!" She stopped in front of her locker, ignoring Steve's dumbfounded look and hit the door with a light tap on the right spot to open the jammed door with ease. "Oy, you're ready yet, sister?" Krel popped up from out of nowhere and Steve jerked a little in surprise. "We've got to prepare the equipment!" He waved her on and Aja shrugged at Steve in apology "I guess I have to go, I will see you at the concert, correct?" "You bet on it!" Steve answered and pointed his two forefingers at her, winking. Aja repeated the gesture before she turned to hurry up after her brother. As Steve watched after her with a dopey smile, someone tapped his shoulder and he turned around with a "Huh?" "Hey Steve, do you have an idea where Jim, Toby and Claire were today?" the smaller boy asked him. Steve gave him a flat look "No idea man, do I look like their babysitter?" "You can cancel the babysitter, mom." She heard her daughter sigh "And all your other plans for today as well." Ophelia faltered. Now what was this all about? Her day was packed, there was no way she could just go and cancel on all those people! "How am I supposed to do that, mi'hija? I've got a bunch of important meetings to attend and your father has an assignment with an important client!" "Mom..." her daughter stuttered, turning silent for a moment and that got her attention. Claire didn't stutter. "Mom... Morgana is free. You remember? That dangerous witch that could bring the end of the world by turning the day into night, so that Gunmars army can run over our whole city and then the world? That witch is free. Do you understand what that means?" Oh. Ophelia thought back to Mr. Stricklers stories about the world of trolls. Their war with the evil trolls, the gumm gumms and Gunmar, their leader. Their man-eating leader. Man-eating, stone monsters were coming for her town and for a millisecond Ophelia felt an unruly impulse to chuckle at the absurdity of it all. "Mom?" Claire asked before Ophelia cleared her throat, stopping her. "I... I understand Claire. I will- I need to pick up your father and then we'll..." What was she supposed to say? That they'd leave town? Try to get away? "We'll barricade ourselves in the house. Will you... come home?" "No Mom. They need me." Ophelia closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She knew there was no way to change her mind. She wouldn't sit back in this. She'd fight. Her little baby was going to fight an army. "Okay m'hija. Stay safe, will you?" "I will." "I love you." Ophelia swallowed and after a moment of silence her daughter answered, her voice thick with emotion. "I love you too, Mama." .... then Claire hung up. "Did you reach her?" Mary asked, a little worried. Darci shook her head. "No, before she didn't pick up and now the signals's been busy." The girl stuck her phone back into her pocket and looked at her friend questioningly. "She hasn't responded to your texts at all?" Mary shrugged. "Well, sometime during Algebra she wrote 'Sure, no prob' when I asked her to be here on time, but other than that?" Mary shook her head. "As you can see: No Claire, anywhere!" Darci bit her lip, thinking "It's strange, I mean... neither she nor Jim or Toby showed up in school today and did you see that on Jim's desk?" "You mean his name? Yeah, that was kind of creepy! Like someone carved his name into his usual desk with a knife... Uhl grouched endlessly about vandalism of school property." the girl rolled her eyes. Darci nodded "Yeah... but I'm a little worried about them. I have a bad feeling somehow..." Mary looked at her friend, pondering her words before she tried to ease her worries "Well yeah, it's all a little strange, but you know C-bomb! No way she's letting us down." She turned towards the city square crossing her arms, "I'm sure she's going to turn up just on time and save the day."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

He took in the sight of his hometown one last time and again the life he had lead here flashed before his eyes. How he had learned to ride a bike, no father to teach him, cooking for his mom, meeting Toby, seeing Claire for the first time... Strickler, exploring the streets of Arcadia, dreaming of a vespa, school tests, finding the amulet... and everything that came after.
He'd leave the only place he ever knew to call home and even though he had promised to be back soon... he didn't know what awaited him.
The life he knew was over. He turned around to catch up to Blinky and Claire, taking her hand again. So much smaller now than his.
The weight of the amulet on his chest weighed heavy, but at least he had that hand. The hand that had sent Morgana to her doom. Had found a father, that he could turn to.
He was not alone as he was walking towards his new life. He looked after them and it felt like something was being ripped out of his chest.
Jim was his closest friend since he could remember. And Claire had somehow become such a important person to him as well. What was he supposed to do now without them?
He had thought that they would do so much more together...
Protect their hometown together.
Have more adventures together.
Finish highschool together.
Suddenly Toby realized that he hadn't understood what Jim meant, back on the school's roof. He thought he couldn't be their friend anymore because he looked different, because he was different.
And being different had never been a problem for either of them as long as they had each other, right?
But it wasn't just about dinner or sunbathing.
Jim didn't have a future in the human world. The significance of that only became clear to Toby as his friends walked away. Without him.
He glanced at Aaarrrgh! who gave him a smile before he turned around to look at the town as Jim had done just a moment before and asked himself a question he'd never considered before:
What kind of future would he choose? Barbara looked at the stone in her hands, eyes wide in wonder.
"Those... babies are all the human familiars of all the changelings in this world?" She looked at Walter who gave her a tentative nod.
"Indeed." he sratched the back of his neck "There must be hundreds of them, if not thousands."
Barbara blinked then looked at him wide eyed.
"Wait Walter! If we freed the changeling familiars, won't there be changelings all over the world, possibly exposed in bright daylight?"
The ex-changeling sighed and looked down, nodding solemnly "Yes, a few might have suffered that fate. Though I doubt, there will be many. Ever since... ah..." the green troll looked away and Barbara frowned at him.
"Since what?"
Walter looked up at her, as if he had forgotten she was there. "Ah yes... that is something I haven't told you..." He looked down again, crossing his fingers in front of his chest "You see... when the krubera joined forces with Gunmar, he didn't need the changelings anymore." He shook his head before he looked at her face again "So Gunmar obliterated almost the whole Janus order. The few changelings that survived went into hiding, you see?"
Barbaras eyes went wide again. "Walter, I... I am sorry." she went up to the changeling, laying a hand on his arm and gaining a sad smile in return.
"We still have to figure out what to do with all these babies though." he said and Barbara smiled.
She had an idea. She had no idea what to do next.
That dastardly little bug had managed to seal her in the shadow realm and in all honesty? For the first time in forever, Morgana had been throughoutly... caught by surprise.
That the little girl was strong was not surprising. She had managed to sever their tie, after all. Burned away all traces of the sorceresse's magic and replaced it with her own. That was not only powerful, it was unheard of. She'd bet Merlin had no idea what to do with so much raw potential...
A shame to kill something that powerful, really. The girl would be far better of in her hands.
The things she could do if she got to control that pretty little head again...
She idly turned the next page to the magazine she had cought out of the ether as it drifted by, while she had draped herself across the seating furniture that had once belonged to the girls household. A TV magazine as it said in bold font on the front. What those 'films' and 'TV shows' were, she had learned from the fragments she remembered from possessing the girl.
Humans had advanced so much, even the lowest peasents had access to such fruitless amusement. It reminded her of Juvenal's panem et circenses. Humans... mere little insects to her. She'd burn their world down to build her very own empire out of the ashes.
Beforeso however, she'd take revenge on the feisty little witch that had dared to seal her in and a great way to do so would be to use the girl herself as a key. And then she'd use those very hands, that had sealed her to kill the girl's beloved trollhunter.
She had time to come up with ideas.