R U ok? Just heard a really loud bang all the way at the hospital, read Barbara’s text.
Bang? What bang? Jim texted back, while Blinky lit another fuse. All good in the neighborhood, Mom.
Glad to hear it, read Barbara’s response. Love U.
Love u 2, Jim texted back before getting drenched by another melon wave.
Claire almost slipped in a juice puddle while walking over to him. She combed some pulp out of Jim’s hair, saw his smile, and said, “You look relieved.”
“I am,” Jim admitted. “I mean, I guess I need to make peace with the fact that I’m always gonna worry a little about the people I love. But Blinky’s alive, my mom’s safe, and the Polymorf that was stalking her is history. So I’m gonna try to enjoy what’s left of today and deal with tomorrow . . . well, tomorrow.”
“Wow. Very mature, Lake. Almost makes up for you drooling after the evil school librarian,” Claire said, imitating Ellie’s snort.
“C’mon, Nuñez, I said I was sorry,” said Jim with a laugh. “And she wasn’t even my type. Seriously! I like girls who . . . who are fearless. And into Papa Skull. With blue streaks in their hair. And who wield arcane shadow powers through a haunted staff they stole from a soulless Troll killer. Y’know, typical teenage girl stuff.”
Claire self-consciously tucked her blue streak behind her ear and said, “Wow. Hearing the way you describe your type, she sounds kinda . . .”
“Awesome,” Jim said. “She kinda is.”
Jim leaned his face closer to Claire’s, their lips almost touching, when—
“Hey, did anyone else have bits of melon land where the sun don’t shine?” yelled Toby.
Claire and Jim cringed as Toby walked awkwardly past them, his body making disturbing squishing sounds with each step. Toby stopped midsquish, saw Jim and Claire glaring at him, and said, “Oh. Uh, sorry?”
“Well, if that didn’t kill everyone’s appetite, I’m firing up the grill,” announced Jim. “Who’s hungry?”
“Neep!” said Chompsky.
“As is Draal the Deadly,” added Draal.
“Who still speaks in the third person . . . ,” muttered NotEnrique.
Jim arranged a pyramid of charcoal briquettes inside his barbecue, squirted them with lighter fluid, and lit the entire thing with a match. Flames grew and crackled, but Jim knew he’d need a little more kindling to get the right level of heat for grilling.
The Trollhunter took one last look at The Book of Ga-Huel before tossing it into the barbecue. Jim had already seen one book burning too many in his life, but he knew this tome was simply too dangerous to be left out in the world, unguarded and unchecked. The leather cover started to blacken and curl, and only now did Jim begin to feel the warmth coming from the grill. He closed the lid, turned his back to the book, and rejoined his friends.
• • •
“What’s this thing with the melons?” complained Unkar the Unfortunate.
“I deem it a fitting tribute for the young Trollhunter who reveres me so,” boasted Boraz the Bold. “Why, it reminds me of the many feasts prepared in my honor during Trollkind’s greatest holiday—Boraz the Bold Day.”
Kanjigar the Courageous and Deya the Deliverer ignored Boraz’s haughty laughter and went back to looking at Jim through their scrying portal in the Void. Their vigilant spirits watched as he and his friends went into Jim’s kitchen and raided the fridge for food to grill.
“The human grows in skill,” said Deya.
“Indeed,” Kanjigar replied. “Out of our entire host of Trollhunters, only he proved capable enough to solve the longstanding mystery of The Book of Ga-Huel.”
“I had my doubts about his worthiness to wear Merlin’s Amulet, but they have long since passed,” Deya said. “My only hope is that he does not carry with him the burdens that plague all Trollhunters, for they are legion.”
Kanjigar gestured into the mist. The scrying portal fast-forwarded a few hours and provided them with a lens into Jim’s bedroom. The ghostly Trollhunters watched Jim sleep peacefully, while Barbara sat in her scrubs on the corner of the bed, having just returned from work. She kissed her son lightly on the forehead and whispered, “Sweet dreams, kiddo.”
“No nightmares trouble him this evening, which bodes well,” said Kanjigar’s spirit. “Jim Lake Jr. has successfully fought the future, but needs rest before confronting his next challenges in the past.”
The scrying portal view shifted. It pulled outside of Jim’s bedroom window and looked down at the backyard, where a pair of yellow eyes shone in the night. They belonged to a lurking figure—the very same who had spied on Barbara nights ago. The figure stepped out of the dark, and Walter Strickler stood revealed in the moonlight.
The Changeling watched the light in Barbara’s bedroom window go out, then reached into his tweed sports coat. Strickler pulled out the charred, but still intact, Book of Ga-Huel. He had retrieved it from the flames earlier, when the Trollhunter and his allies went into the kitchen, then kept his distance until they left for good.
A stiff wind whistled across the yard, blowing open the book to one of its earliest pages. Strickler’s eyes flared yellow as they took in the overlooked chapter. It featured an old drawing of Jim in his armor, fighting for his life in the middle of an epic Gumm-Gumm war. The date inked below it read 501 CE.
“What have you gotten yourself into this time, young Atlas?” said Strickler with a sly grin. “It would seem I’ve returned in the proverbial nick of time. Clearly, my former pupil will soon need additional training. And who better to give it than his favorite teacher?”
With a cruel laugh, Walter Strickler closed The Book of Ga-Huel, and Jim Lake Jr. felt the onset of a whole new nightmare.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICHARD ASHLEY HAMILTON is best known for his storytelling across DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise, having written for the Emmynominated DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge on Netflix and the official DreamWorks Dragons expanded universe bible. In his heart, Richard remains a lifelong comic book fan and has written and developed numerous titles, including DreamWorks Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind (with Marc Guggenheim) for Dark Horse Comics and his original series Scoop for Insight Editions. Richard lives in Silver Lake, California, with his wife and their two sons.
Look for more books about DREAMWORKS TROLLHUNTERS at your favorite store!
Simon Spotlight
Simon & Schuster, New York
DreamWorks Trollhunters © 2018 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Richard-Ashley-Hamilton
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON SPOTLIGHT
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This Simon Spotlight hardcover edition June 2018
DreamWorks Trollhunters © 2018 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].
Designed by Nick Sciacca
Written by Richard Ashley Hamilton
Jacket illustrations by Patrick Ian Moss
ISBN 978-1-5344-1714-4 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-5344-1713-7 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-5344-1715-1 (eBook)
The Book of Ga-Huel Page 9
