“But maybe I should’ve been doing the opposite,” Jim said to himself, his voice thick with emotion.
Now that the floodgates were open, Jim didn’t want to stop thinking of everyone back home. He wanted to see them more than ever. Looking down, Jim found the chalk still in his hand. Inspiration struck him, and he began sketching his extended human and Troll family on the alcove’s slate walls. Jim never thought he was much of an artist, but his mom once told him how she used to paint before he was born.
Losing himself in the chalk, Jim didn’t stop until he had finished rendering Claire, Toby, Blinky, and AAARRRGGHH!!! All of a sudden, he didn’t feel so alone. All of a sudden, that hollowness inside his chest went away.
All of a sudden, the Trollhunter smiled.
EPILOGUE
A LIFE OF ALMOST DEAD . . .
Being Jim was not fun.
Toby reached this conclusion in the days after he had returned from the Kelpestrum with the Glamour Mask. Toby had donned the mask and assumed Jim’s form mere seconds before Barbara woke from her extended nap. Now that the effects of the memory charm had worn off, Barbara felt more alert than she had in days. And Toby’s impression of Jim was serviceable enough—certainly better than Blinky’s—that Barbara believed he really was her son.
But the pride Toby felt in successfully imitating his best friend turned to guilt when Barbara gave “Jim” a kiss on the cheek. In that moment, he felt more like an impostor. That said, he figured this charade was better for Jim’s mom than learning the truth about what had happened to her real son.
Claire didn’t have much of an easier go of it, either. With Toby keeping up appearances in Jim’s home life, she covered for Jim at school. But since she couldn’t pretend to be Jim in class without being marked absent herself, Claire had to get creative.
Thus was born Jim Lake Disease. The rumor that Jim was quarantined at the hospital with an ultrarare condition had spread through the school hallways like, well, a virus. Claire also felt guilty. She hated the idea of making up a phony disease while there were so many genuinely sick people in the world. But Claire also understood that people generally avoided talking about the uncomfortable subject of illness. And anything that kept students and teachers from asking too many questions about Jim was probably a good thing, as far as Claire was concerned.
So, she created a fake web page detailing Jim Lake Disease, handed Eli Pepperjack a coin collection can, and acted sad whenever anyone mentioned Jim’s name. Only it wasn’t much of an act for Claire. All she could do was donate the money Eli collected to actual charities and hope that each new day would bring Jim back to her.
Blinky tried to keep himself busy as well. As Draal and a reluctant NotEnrique pitched in on the rebuilding efforts in Trollmarket, the six-eyed Troll remained in his library. He tinkered with Toby’s Warhammer, trying to devise a way to make it telescope down in size like Claire’s Shadow Staff. And whenever he took a break from that, Blinky would just hit the books and search in vain for a way into the Darklands.
After closing what felt like the millionth useless scroll, Blinky rubbed his bleary eyes and stared at AAARRRGGHH!!!’s stone body in the corner.
“I really miss him, AAARRRGGHH!!!” Blinky said. “I miss you both.”
Miss you, too, AAARRRGGHH!!! wanted to say back to Blinky.
But the words never seemed to leave the foggy borderlands between life and death, in which AAARRRGGHH!!! had spent the last weeks. He first woke up here the instant after the Creeper’s Sun poison finished turning him to stone. AAARRRGGHH!!! had then walked around the endless space, hearing everything his friends said around his petrified body, yet unable to make his replies heard.
Little did AAARRRGGHH!!! know that he had actually found an audience in a separate, even more remote dimension. For in the ghostly realm known as the Void, the Council of Trollhunters watched AAARRRGGHH!!!’s roaming spirit.
“Ah, Aarghaumont,” said Kanjigar the Courageous. “How good it is to see you, my old friend, even in circumstances such as these.”
Kanjigar turned to the other fallen Trollhunters who joined him in observing AAARRRGGHH!!! through a circular window of magic. In all, there were scores of other armored Trolls who had preceded Kanjigar—and now Jim—as Merlin’s former champions.
“Although he does not yet realize it, AAARRRGGHH!!! shall be the key to James Lake Junior’s salvation,” Kanjigar announced.
“How can you be so certain?” squeaked Unkar the Unfortunate. “No other Trollhunter has ever dared to venture into the Darklands. Who’s to say he even can get out? If he survives, that is!”
“Kanjigar speaks the truth,” said Deya the Deliverer, her transparent eyes flashing the same shade of blue as her Amulet. “The Void has shown us both visions of the future. The current Trollhunter will find the child he seeks. He will face Gunmar, and he will escape the Darklands, although not in any way he or his allies could ever expect.”
“And this Krubera,” began Spar the Spiteful, indicating AAARRRGGHH!!! in the window with his tusks. “He plays some part in the Trollhunter’s victory?”
“The Troll is the key,” Kanjigar confirmed, his eyes now glowing, too, as the Void gave him another glimpse of tomorrow.
“The key to the Hunter,” added Boraz the Bold, his eyes filled with the same future-sight.
“The Troll is the key,” said Gogun the Gentle, eyes aglow.
“The key to the Hunter,” repeated Tellad-Urr the Terrible.
Soon, the entire Council of Trollhunters fell into the chant.
The Troll is the key, the key to the Hunter.
Kanjigar was the last to join in the spectral chorus, for he had seen something else in the latest vision the Void had shared.
The Troll is the key, the key to the Hunter.
AAARRRGGHH!!! would indeed prove crucial to rescuing the human Trollhunter from the Darklands—as would Kanjigar, in his own way.
The Troll is the key, the key to the Hunter.
And that’s when Jim Lake Jr. would face his greatest challenge yet.
READ ON FOR MORE
Ready to embark on another exciting Arcadian adventure with the Trollhunters? Here’s a sneak peek at AGE OF THE AMULET.
Once the Horngazel tunnel closed behind him, Tellad-Urr let out a long, calming breath. He found himself on a grassy field on the surface world, surrounded by the ring of standing stone pillars he had erected during his rare downtime. Stonehenge, the humans had taken to calling it. The Trollhunter looked up at the sky. The sun had not yet risen, but it colored the horizon a deep shade of red. Red as flame. Red as blood.
In an existence filled with duty and discipline, this sight was the only thing that brought The Trollhunter a sense of relief—although he always had to leave right before the sunrise, lest his Troll body be turned to solid rock. Tellad-Urr sighed . . . before a familiar blue glow flashed in his eyes. The Amulet shone in the grass before him. He seized the device and said, “I hate you.”
“Finally,” came a grim voice behind him. “Something we agree upon.”
Tellad-Urr spun around. From the shadows of Stonehenge, a powerfully large Gumm-Gumm emerged, his fangs plainly visible in the overbite formed by his mismatched jaws.
“Orlagk the Oppressor,” said Tellad-Urr. “Have you come to finally surrender your Gumm-Gumm army? Or are you here for another pointless battle?”
“My forces shall never surrender, Trollhunter,” said Orlagk. “Even now, they train with my most brutal general, Gunmar. And as for battle, I assure you . . .”
The Gumm-Gumm and flexed his claw, forcing strands of opaque energy to rise and weave into the jagged shape of a sword. Once it had solidified, Orlagk trained his Decimaar Blade on Tellad-Urr and said, “This one has a point.”
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 Emmy-nominated 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 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.
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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.
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Cover design by Nick Sciacca.
Interior design by Nick Sciacca.
DreamWorks Trollhunters © 2017 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Written by Richard Ashley Hamilton
Cover illustrations by Patrick Ian Moss
ISBN 978-1-5344-1288-0 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-5344-1287-3 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-5344-1289-7 (eBook)
Welcome to the Darklands Page 9
