I point to the rock—or what I previously assumed to be a rock. It extends across the cave and separates into four limbs and a midsection. The cave above our heads is over twenty feet tall. I suck in a deep breath when I realize what I am facing. The foot of the beast is clearly in a rock state, but its body is made of skin, bones, and blood. We are face-to-face, or rather face-to-foot, with the troll.
Chapter 5
The troll is snoring and I thankfully note that he is sound asleep. “Someone has to go pull those teeth quickly,” I whisper. The shifter shakes his head in refusal, which comes as no surprise, and Keagan takes a step backward. I look at Kole, praying that he won’t leave me alone.
“I’ll do it,” Kole whispers. “I’m stronger than all of you and can pull them out in less than a second.” I dislike that he plans to put himself at risk, but I agree with a nod.
Domino flies from my shoulder and lands on Kole’s, whispering something in his ear. His hazel eyes lighten and he shakes his head. She comes back and perches on my shoulder, not saying a word. Kole turns to the beast and I turn my attention to her. “What did you say?” I ask curiously. She pulls a sly grin onto her face and shakes her head.
My attention is entirely on Kole when something else becomes apparent beyond him. It looks like rope laying on top of the bone fragments. It piques my interest and I wonder why there would be rope lying beside a sleeping beast. It’s not like he needs a rope to capture his victims. It is the only human item, other than bones, in this cave. I allow my eyes to follow the rope across the cave floor and up the wall. And I finally come to the realization that there really shouldn’t be rope lying around.
“Kole, stop!” I shout. He takes one more step before stopping, but it’s too late. His weight triggers the rope mechanism and a metallic net surrounds him, lifting him from the ground effortlessly and dangling him above the troll’s head. The snoring stops and the troll sits up, looking around the cave curiously.
“Visitors,” he moans before standing to his full height. His head doesn’t come close to the cave’s ceiling, but he has to be ten feet tall and five feet wide.
“We need a plan,” the shifter says from behind us. Domino flies from my shoulder and grabs a jagged rock from the ground before flying upward. She lands on the rope above Kole’s net, beyond the reach of the troll, and begins cutting.
“Oh, now he speaks,” I reply angrily. The troll looks at Kole and then back at us, ignoring him for the moment. “Hey, uh, Mr. Troll,” I shout up to him. He looks down at me as though I’m a speck of dust. “Can I ask a favor of you?” I ask kindly, hoping that he understands kindness.
“Are we friends, now?” He asks with an ounce of hope in his voice.
I cough into my hand, smelling his disgusting breath from a distance. “Of course. We can be friends,” I say to him. “But I need a favor.”
“I don’t have any friends. Nobody likes me,” he says solemnly, as though he doesn’t fully grasp what’s going on. My eyes veer to Domino, who is still cutting Kole’s rope. I need to buy her time.
“I’m Snow,” I say, taking a step in the troll’s direction. I’m risking a lot, but he seems lonely, and if I play my cards right, I may be able to get what I need from him. “What’s your name?”
“I don’t have a name,” he says. He bends down, getting closer to my face. I hold my breath, attempting to control my gag reflexes. “Snow is a pretty name. You are pretty. We are friends?” He asks again.
“Of course we are,” I lie. “But we can be best friends if you do me a favor,” I say. I look at Keagan and the shifter, who are standing many feet behind me in shock.
“Really?” He asks with a broad smile. His teeth are rotted and gums are blackened.
“Really,” I reply. “I need three of your teeth to help out my family. They are dying and your teeth will save them,” I say.
“I can help?” He asks in surprise. “I’ve never helped before.” Without hesitation, he reaches into his mouth and yanks out three of his front teeth. I grimace, realizing how painful such a thing must be. He wants friends so badly he would rip out his own teeth for someone. It’s sad to see such a lonely individual.
He isn’t scary. He’s simply lost and yearning for a friend. “Here you go,” he says, handing me the teeth with a toothless grin. He yanked out his front three teeth, so his smile is now lopsided and uneven. I reach for the three teeth in his filthy, dirt covered right hand and am disgusted to touch them. The roots of each of the teeth are bloody and the rest of them are black. I shove the teeth in my pocket, equally grateful and disgusted.
I hear the rope snap and Kole falls ten feet to the ground and lands with an oomph. He immediately begins separating the net from his limbs and freeing himself. The troll takes no notice of the man behind him. He turns his attention to Keagan and the shifter. “Will you be my friends, too?” the troll asks them. Keagan smiles falsely, evidently still terrified of the creature.
“Sure, buddy,” Keagan responds with a shaky voice. When the troll turns his attention to the shifter, he doesn’t say a word. I feel Domino land on my shoulder and hide behind my hair.
“What about you?” The troll asks the shifter. I look at Kole, who is standing behind the troll, unsure of how to get through.
The shifter stares at the troll with uncaring eyes and shakes his head. “I don’t like friends,” the shifter responds. I gasp and the troll stands to his full height.
“I eat people who aren’t my friends,” he says, reaching for the shifter. All the troll wanted was a friend, but the shifter couldn’t be civil for three seconds.
“Run!” I shout, standing my ground. If someone was able to drown Jasmine using her own body fluids, I might be able to do the same. The shifter and Keagan run while Domino flies off of my shoulder. I raise both of my arms and push all the power I can muster into the water inside his body. I pull at the fluid, attempting to force it into his lungs, but I can’t find enough power. I visualize the water perforating his lungs and fall backward, still using my remaining concentration on the troll.
“Friend?” He says sadly as his knees buckle. In my peripheral vision, I notice Kole running toward me, but I don’t break my concentration. I won’t kill him, but I need him to be incapacitated long enough for us to get away.
Kole lifts me in his arms and I feel the dizzying effects of exuding so much power. The troll is coughing harshly, so I drop both of my arms and release my hold on his body fluids. Kole carries me through the cave protectively, holding me close to his chest. “Friend? Where are you going?” He asks sadly. “Don’t take my friend away,” the troll shouts at Kole. I bury my face into Kole’s chest as he carries me into the sunlight. I look over his shoulder at the troll. It’s approaching us quickly.
“No,” I shout at the troll. He’s not going to be able to stop before hitting the sunlight and I widen my eyes. I push Kole away and attempt to stand on my own, but collapse. “Stop,” I cry, but my voice is far too quiet to be heard by the beast.
“Snow?” the troll shouts, rushing out of the cave and into the sun. He immediately begins turning to stone, staring at me in utter confusion. All the air flows from my lungs in devastation. Kole falls to one knee and wraps an arm around my back, but I pay him no attention. The troll has a permanent look of distress on his face as he becomes fully encased in stone.
I did this. I killed a lonely troll who wanted nothing more than a friend. What have I done?
Chapter 6
“Laithe,” the shifter says as we walk toward the town. I am leading and Kole is directly behind me.
“What?” I bark, still angry at his selfishness. I played my part in killing the troll, but the shifter is the reason the situation escalated.
“My name is Laithe,” he says with a brooding expression. Is it really necessary for him to act so rude?
“Kudos to you for sharing your name,” I respond, displaying a fair share of attitude. I speed up my pace, but he can keep up. Domino lands on my
shoulder, likely unable to keep up on her own two feet.
“I’m sorry,” he admits. “I know it was my fault back there and you saved my ass.” I huff and try to ignore his apology, but I find it difficult.
“It’s not okay,” I respond stubbornly. I halt in my tracks and turn toward Laithe. Everyone else stops behind me. I poke my finger into his chest. “You are a horrible person,” I say, trying to remain angry. He hangs his head and doesn’t say a word. Wisps of blonde hair, almost the same shade as mine, hang over his eyes, which are currently vibrant green.
He has changed aspects of his appearance throughout the mission, so the eyes that were once brown are far different now. I wonder why he hasn’t held a solid appearance.
“I think you’re hurting his feelings, Snow,” Domino says in my ear. I sigh and look at her from the corner of my eye.
“Fine,” I say, looking anywhere but in his eyes. We are almost back in town, so I try to find the end of the tree line. “What you did was really crappy and you almost got us killed,” I chastise, “but we need your help to finish this assignment. Can you promise to be more civilized?” I ask. He hasn’t so much as tried to help the team and it angers me immensely.
“Swear,” he says, raising a hand in the air.
I sigh, knowing that it will be a mistake to trust the shifter. After all, I haven’t even seen his true appearance. I don’t say another word to Laithe. Keagan leads the group and Kole stays by my side, not saying a word. Domino shifts back into her human form and follows Keagan. The tree line ends a few feet ahead. I don’t know how to react to the storm clouds blowing in from the north. Water is soothing and I have always loved storms, but it will prove to be a problem. I can stop the storm before it even begins, but it would look suspicious.
The inhabitants of the town have surely been informed of our abilities. Humans want to know about “monsters” as though we aren’t just like them. It’s a sick fascination for people who simply want us extinct. Most of them know what we are capable of doing and how to determine if one of us is in close proximity. Weather elements are surely monitored closely. If I influence the weather, they’ll know I’m here.
“Don’t worry,” Kole says from my left. “If you get wet, I will cover you.” I look over at him and smile gratefully. I can’t walk without legs, and a single drop of water will turn me into a legless mermaid.
“Why are you so keen on helping me?” I ask. He has been skulking around me protectively since I met him, and I would love to know the reason. Do we know each other?
He opens his mouth to respond, but closes it adamantly, thinking better of what he was planning to say. A strand of dark charcoal hair falls over one of his determined hazel eyes and I want to push it behind his ear. His face takes on a pensive expression and I squint my eyes in curiosity. “You saved our lives back there,” he says, but he clearly wants to say more.
I don’t want to think about the lonely troll or anything that had just happened, but I recall him saving me. “You carried me out, not the other way around,” I say for arguments sake. Honestly, we both contributed equally to the team’s survival.
“If it weren’t for your distraction, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get out,” he argues. I stare straight ahead, attempting to find another argument, but he is correct. I killed an innocent creature. What’s to say his life was worth less than ours? “Hey,” he says. “It’s not your fault that he died.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders comfortingly. His touch causes sparks to flow through my veins and I suck in a tendril of air.
We walk behind the rest of the group and I can’t help but overanalyze what is happening. Does Kole like me or does he feel gratitude toward my actions? His arm almost distracts me from the buildings surrounding the unpaved, gravel street. I’m temporarily distracted from the upcoming storm. When a drop of water lands mere inches from me, I concentrate on the rain and make sure it doesn’t come within inches of me. Unfortunately, the water manipulation I used on the troll weakened me, so it’s especially difficult to control the rain as it pounds the ground around me.
I release a sound best described as a groan and Kole examines my facial expression. “What’s wrong?” He asks. I know if I speak, I’ll lose my concentration. I watch a drop of water fall on his arm and he gets the hint. “Inside, now,” Kole shouts at the group. A few people veer their attention in our direction curiously, but nobody will know who we are. To them, we are merely ordinary people trying to avoid getting wet. They couldn’t be further from wrong.
We run toward an old building with an unreadable, faded sign. The only indication that it is a public area is the “We’re Open” sign inside the grime covered window. I find it odd that everything is so filthy. At Edmund’s Academy we have daily chores to keep the area tidy and livable. Don’t these people do simple responsibilities?
We walk into the old building and I am pleasantly surprised by the inside. It isn’t beautiful or luxurious by any means, but it is clean and organized. Candles light the room from each of the burgundy colored walls. I look around the shop and furrow my brow. “Hello, welcome to The Witch’s Cove. Let me know if I can help you find anything dear,” the woman at the front desk says. She looks sweet with long gray hair and a smile that lights up the room.
I smile back at the woman kindly, but I am disgusted. We’re in a shop that encourages the murder of magical creatures like me. Or maybe the Humans look at it as Monster Slaying.
Chapter 7
Witches are the magicians of the human world. Spell books are a crucial part of a magician—just as important as a person’s heart or a mermaid’s tail. If a magician’s spell book gets stolen, he will die. It’s a slow, painful death that can be avoided only if his book is recovered. A witch is a human with a stolen spell book. They are callous murderers.
I look at everyone’s expressions and they match mine exactly. I take another step into the store and look through the shelves of miscellaneous items, disgusted by the things I am seeing. There is a section for each of the known species and I wince when I see my species’ name. I walk toward the mermaid section holding my breath, praying not to see any hardy body parts.
Before I am able to see what lays on the shelf, I hear Keagan’s voice directly behind me. “Snow,” he says. I turn toward him and he holds a jar in the air. When I read the label, I widen my eyes. “They have everything here,” he says with a smile.
I grab the ogre’s tears from his hand and sigh in relief. I wasn’t sure how we were planning on conquering a cunning Ogre when we were almost defeated by an oblivious troll. Looking back now, I realize he wasn’t as ignorant as we initially assumed. He had a trap for perpetrators, so while he wasn’t the brightest creature, he was not dumb. I can’t even imagine how difficult capturing an ogre’s tear would have been. Why hadn’t the Headmaster just told us to come here? Surely he knew that such Human stores exist?
I grab the capsule of ogre tears and shove them into my pocket. I scan the aisles for a demon section, and once I spot it, I head in that direction. Keagan follows me closely and as we pass everyone else, they head in our direction. Kole, of course, is inches from me. “This is sick,” he mumbles.
“I know,” I whisper in reply. We each scan the shelves until Domino finally holds an airtight capsule above her head. It is full of black smoke and I know immediately that it is a demon’s essence. Domino slips it into her pocket.
“Do you think they sell a spell book here?” Laithe asks, golden eyes looking around the store curiously. Does he know how to hold a single form?
I hear a click from behind me and turn quickly. The old woman is holding a gun to us. I gasp and take a step back into Kole. Due to a vampire’s steel skin, a bullet won’t be able to harm him. “Who are you people? We only get locals in here,” She shouts, motioning to us with her gun. Kole takes a subtle step forward and positions himself in front of me. I want to push him away, but I know that I will die from a bullet. He won’t even bleed.
“We
’re just picking up ingredients for a witch,” Laithe says calmly, holding up his hand. He is holding up what looks to be a mermaid tail and I feel my stomach turn. Does he have to brandish that under my nose? I should look for a Human heart in this house of horrors and return the favor.
“We only have three of them around here. What spell is she doing?” The old lady asks.
“A mermaid locator spell,” I say.
She puts down the gun and takes a step in our direction. I grasp the back of Kole’s shirt for the comfort his touch will offer. The muscles under his shirt are prominent. They tighten under my fingers and I look over his shoulder at the approaching woman. “What does Millie want with that?” She asks suspiciously.
“I don’t know,” I respond, stepping to the side of Kole. I hear the rain beating on the tin roof and it calms my nerves. “I don’t even know where she lives. She asked my neighbor to pick up the ingredients but his wife is sick. I’m just doing him a favor,” I say. I applaud myself for such an excellent improvisation.
“All right. Come up to the desk to pay for your tail,” the woman says, turning back in the direction of the desk. I realize too late that we don’t have the money. I turn around and stare at the two people behind me, still clutching Kole’s shirt. Wait, two?
“Domino?” I ask them, looking around. She is nowhere to be seen and I feel my heartbeat increase pace. “Where is she?” I whisper. I turn to head in the direction of the register. I need to come up with an excuse before we are asked to pay.
I near the counter and the woman opens a cabinet beneath, scanning the contents of a sheet of browning paper. “The tail is six coins,” she says, looking into my eyes. Her eyes veer to Laithe and she smiles. “I know you, don’t I?” She smiles and her laugh lines become apparent. “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you before. You are the one that took down the great magician, am I right?”
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