The Accidental Troll

by Dakota Cassidy

  “Listen, you have every right to lose your temper with Bellamy,” he reasoned. “She’s done nothing but exacerbate the situation and amp up this rivalry between her and Nova. Right now, we need to focus on figuring out whose phone this is. So stop worrying about offending me, okay?”

  She inhaled and stole a breath or two, before she said, “Okay.”

  Marty pulled out a chair at the kitchen island—Marty, who looked as though she’d had a restful eight hours of sleep, when in reality she’d had two, tops—and held up a finger, her eyes sparkling blue as she tapped the phone.

  “I think we might have something. Nina’s got a techie bother-in-law, married to her sister…half-sister, if we’re technical, Phoebe. His name’s Sam. He’ll be here any second and we’ll see if he can’t unlock this.”

  Wanda set some mugs and a teapot on the counter with some small sandwiches Archibald made. “Until then, what did you find at Nova’s?”

  Sten ran a hand over his stubble-covered chin and rasped a sigh. “Just the phone. Her place was intact. In fact, I FaceTimed her so she could tell me if anything was out of place. It was nothing like what happened at your place—which makes zero sense. If someone’s found out about this curse and what Nova might be capable of, and they were looking for her, why would they toss your place and not your sister’s, where she’d most likely be? And why would they toss it to begin with? What the hell could they possibly be looking for?”

  What the hell indeed?

  Suddenly, Murphy’s hand went to her pocket. She’d forgotten about the purple piece of paper. Pulling it out, she held it up. “I totally forgot about this! I found this in the rubble of my place. Whoever this is, if it’s the same person who dropped their phone at Nova’s, they’re not terribly crafty, are they?”

  Sten read the piece of paper and frowned, the lines in his brow furrowing. “The north end of The Realm? Huh.”

  “Huh, what?” Wanda asked as she poured tea into the mugs.

  Sten blew out a breath. “Huh, as in, that’s not the exactly the nicest part of The Realm.”

  “Meaning?” Murphy asked, blowing on her tea.

  “Meaning we have rougher parts of Troldhaugen which is the official name for where I live, just like you humans do here in your realm. Places where crime and drugs are at a premium. It’s been hell trying to clean it up.”

  All Murphy could see in her mind’s eye after hearing that was a red-light district with tiny people who looked like Nova in big picture windows, sliding up and down poles.

  Marty busied herself putting tiny sandwiches out for everyone. “Troldhaugen?”

  Sten bounced his head. “The translation means Troll Hill. I come from Troll Hill. All trolls do. Now Murphy and Nova do, too. The Realm is just an area in Troll Hill, the north part of it being exceptionally dicey.”

  Arch appeared out of nowhere, a smile wreathing his face. “Indeed, sire Sten, I have heard legends of Troldhaugen, rich with your people. A happy lot, yes?”

  When Sten shot him an amused but befuddled expression, Nina slapped Arch on the back and dropped a kiss on his forehead. “One-time vampire. Reverse turn, isn’t that right, Arch?”

  Oh, right, right, right. Nina had mentioned that term. So he was once a vampire who became human again? Man, that must’ve been some kind of trip.

  When Murphy looked at Arch in question, he smiled warmly. “I know that look in a newly turned’s eye. I promise I shall tell you all about it after this has passed, Miss Murphy. ’Tis quite a tale.”

  “Do you miss being a vampire, Archibald?” Sten asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

  Arch shook his head. “For the most part, no, Master Sten. I do not. I enjoy cooking far too much to wish for a blood-only diet. However, I do miss the idea I’ll always be with the ones I love. Leaving them someday hurts my soul. Who will look after Miss Violent and ensure she won’t, as she so oft says, ‘eat someone’s face off’?”

  Murphy’s heart clamored in her chest. His immortality was gone, of course. As close knit as these people were, that had to hurt.

  Marty drove her arm through his and pulled him close. “I’ll do that, but I’m never letting you go anywhere, Archibald. Never ever.”

  Arch barked a laugh. “Hah! You only say that because I make you those gooey cinnamon buns you so favor.”

  Marty snorted, kissing his cheek and squeezing his hand. “Well, there’s that. But mostly it’s because I can’t live without you and I love you. So there.”

  Arch brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “And I, you. Now, no more maudlin nonsense. I’m off to plan dinner whilst you solve this mystery.”

  As Arch took his leave, Sten stared at the paper again. “Thursday at five in the north part of The Realm in Troll Hill. I have to wonder if this meeting has already happened or is supposed to happen next week?”

  “And what is or was the meeting about? And why was this person so careless when they were tearing up your apartment?” Marty wondered.

  As they all sipped tea and ate the delicate chicken salad and cucumber sandwiches Arch made for them, Murphy’s head quite suddenly began to throb.

  She gave her temples a good squeeze. It had been a long day—and it was only twelve in the afternoon.

  “You okay, Murph?” Nina asked as she eyeballed her from her place by the fridge.

  “Just a headache. Probably stress related. No big deal.” But it felt like a big deal. Her head was really crashing around.

  The throb certainly didn’t feel like any headache she’d had before, and she’d had plenty where Nova was concerned.

  Maybe she needed to take an aspirin or something. While she was busy wondering if she’d brought any with her, Nova, who’d been ironically and uncharacteristically quiet, sitting on a stool at the end of the kitchen island, suddenly sat up, ramrod straight.

  As though in a trance, she dropped from the chair, her clubbed feet slapping the floor, her small eyes intense, her limbs stiff, and headed toward the butcher block of knives, where she hauled herself up on the counter as though Simone Biles had possessed her and grabbed a long, shiny knife.

  Murphy was so shocked, she almost didn’t react, but she managed to force her brain to respond and jump off the chair to try and grab Nova, but her sister moved so quickly toward the living room, Murphy froze in astonishment.

  Somehow, she made her lips move to call out her name. “Nova! What are you doing?”

  But Nova was already in the living room right behind the couch, head down, eyes on the floor. She raised her arm, the glint of the knife shining in the sunlight streaming through the rounded windows.

  And then she began hacking at the floor at breakneck speed.

  Murphy’s eyes flew open wide and her heart almost stopped. “Nova! What the hell are you doing? Stop!”

  She went to grab at Nova’s arm, her limb moving so fast, it looked as though someone had fast-forwarded a movie, but Sten stopped her.

  “Don’t! You’ll end up sliced to ribbons,” he warned, pulling her back against him.

  “Nova!” Murphy yelled, covering her face as wood chips began to fly. “Stop it right now!”

  “I can’t, Murphy!” she screamed back, hacking away as hunks of wood flew haphazardly in the air. “I don’t know how! I can’t make it stop! Help me make it stop!”

  “What the fuck do you mean, you don’t know how?” Nina bellowed as she plowed into the living room, ducking as a chunk of wood narrowly missed her head. “You’re fucking hacking up my new floors! Stop that shit or I’m going to kick your hobbit ass!”

  Carl scooped Charlie into his arms and ran up the stairs as Wanda and Marty raced into the living room, too.

  “What the hell’s happening?” Marty yelled above the noise of Nova’s hacking, skidding into Wanda, who’d stopped short, her jaw slack.

  “I don’t know, but we have to make her stop!” Murphy yelled, her panic threatening to consume her. “Nova, knock it off!”

  “I�
��m warning you, don’t touch her!” Sten ordered, his jaw clenched as he held her tighter against his chest. “You’ll end up hurt—even you, Nina!”

  A pile of wood began to build up as Nova chopped away, digging so deep and so fast, Murphy almost couldn’t believe her eyes.

  It was then, in the midst of chaos, Pancake brushed up against her leg, his small body quivering as he leaned into her. Surely he was afraid. He wasn’t accustomed to this much commotion. She leaned to her left and let her hand touch his back to assure him everything would be all right.

  “Murphy?”

  She tore her eyes from Nova and looked up to see who’d called her name, but everyone was engrossed in keeping a wide circle around Nova.

  “Psst! Murphy! Down here! It’s me, Pancake.”

  Murphy gasped, her eyes wide, her heart chugging.

  Pancake nudged her hand and looked at her with his soulful eyes. “Isn’t it time for my snicky-snack? Please tell me you brought some from home, and not those stupid baked ones. They suuuck. I like the soft ones much better.”

  “Pancake…?” she murmured.

  But before she had time to investigate, Nova sprang up from the nearly knee-deep hole she’d dug and screamed, “Found it!”

  Waving her hand in the air, she held up a necklace with a rather large ruby.

  And then Wanda gasped, wrapping her slender fingers around her neck. “That’s…that’s my necklace! Heath gave it to me for our anniversary. I lost it when we were here helping Nina with renovations!”

  But Murphy was more interested in what the Peersons had to say.

  Because both Bellamy and Sten looked at one another, and in unison said, “Treasure troll!”

  Chapter 11

  “A treasure troll,” Murphy whispered, biting her thumbnail. Oh, sweet mysteries of life, there was such a thing as a treasure troll.

  What in all of Middle Earth was happening to their lives? Everything was damn well topsy-turvy. This must be the magical diagnosis they’d been waiting to discover—Nova’s breed of troll.

  Not to mention, on top of everything else, she was hearing things. That had to be what was happening, because she could have sworn Pancake talked to her during the chaos of Nova’s digging expedition.

  Would have sworn it on her life. Yet, now, he slept by her feet as though she hadn’t heard him complain about the baked treats she spent a fortune on in order to keep his weight down.

  She shook her head. Forget that. There were bigger fish to fry right now. Namely, one who’d probably never be allowed in Kay Jewelers again.

  Sten leaned in, his eyes searching hers, his gaze sympathetic. “Yes. Nova’s what we call a treasure troll. She can find jewels and rare gems.”

  “She sure can!” Wanda hugged Nova again. “I can’t tell you how upset I was when I lost this, Nova, but you found it!”

  “Is that the one you lost because the clasp broke and Nina was busy busting your chops about the color of the half bathroom, so you forgot where you put it?” Marty asked.

  Nina flipped up her middle finger. “Fuck you, Marty. No way was I going to let her put Pretty in Mink in the half bath. It was a damn stupid color. And I told her I’d buy her a new one to replace it. So shut the fuck up.”

  Wanda bobbed her head, tears forming in her eyes. “One in the same. He gave it to me for our fifth wedding anniversary, and it’s really special to me.”

  Nova suddenly leaned into Murphy, her body wobbling. “So tired…” she muttered, making Sten swoop her up in his strong arms.

  “She needs to rest now,” he said, his tone almost ominous, and that scared Murphy.

  Wanda dropped one last kiss on Nova’s forehead and whispered, “Thank you, Nova. This means so much to me. You rest well.”

  Sten took her to the couch, covering her with a blanket while Carl, sweet boy that he was, pushed a small pillow under her head.

  As he reentered the kitchen, he glared at Bellamy before he took his place at the island beside Murphy.

  Murphy turned to Sten, bursting with questions despite her awful headache. “So, when you say Nova’s a treasure troll, that means she’s like a homing device for precious gemstones? Is that why no one could stop her from digging?”

  “That’s exactly why. It’s just part of the variety of troll she is. They’re usually born that way, but apparently the trait can be passed to her via a curse.”

  Of all the things Nova could have been, only she could be a troll who’s a homing device for precious gemstones. “And why couldn’t she stop digging?”

  “It’s just part of their DNA. It’s this particular variety of troll’s quirk. Granted, the variety Nova turned out to be is rare, which is what makes it so dangerous. And something to note, you can’t stop them once they start. In fact, it’s dangerous to stop her. For both Nova and you.”

  Then he shook his head, running his palm over his strong jaw. “I was afraid of this. She had some of the markings of a treasure troll, but I couldn’t be sure, and like I said, her powers had to manifest themselves on their own, but now that we know…”

  Murphy gripped his arm, her heart racing. “Now that we know what? What does this mean, Sten? And don’t sugarcoat it, please. I realize you wanted to wait to tell me what you suspected in case you were wrong, but this is balls to the wall now. So hit me with the truth while she’s passed out on the couch, so I can prepare to explain it to her when she wakes.”

  He grimaced, and that meant his answer wouldn’t be good. “It means she’s a valuable commodity, Murphy. A really valuable commodity, and anyone with ill intentions will want a piece of her. She can scope out valuable gems, gold, silver, you name it, and she’ll dig until she finds what she’s looking for. I mean, you saw how she chopped a whole piece of floor with ease like she was cutting through butter, right?”

  “I’ll goddamn well say she did. With the fucking ease of a bitch with a bionic flippin’ arm. I have a hole the size of the fucking surface of the moon in my living room. You can trust me when I tell you, I’m gonna send the rich bitch a bill for repairs,” Nina warned.

  Wanda frowned at her friend and gave her a light poke to the arm. “You hush. I’ll pay for the floor to be fixed, for the love of Mildred. She did a good thing, Cranky Pants. With everything else going on, let’s give credit where credit is due.”

  “So there are people who’d want her dead because of this?” Murphy asked, her voice squeaky, her hands clammy.

  Sten looked at her for what felt like forever, obviously measuring his words, before he said, “Maybe dead’s not the right word. They’d want her, period. If someone gets their hands on her, they’ll work her to death before they discard her like day-old bread. What she’s capable of is enormous, but obviously exhausting. Take a look at her. She’s fried…and that’s nothing compared to what they’d do with her in the mines.”

  “Mines?” Nina repeated, tapping the nail of her index finger on the counter. “Explain that shit.”

  “We have mines in Troll Hill. Rumor has it, there are gems hidden in the mines—gems buried by our ancestors. Because Nova is so rare—and now that I think of it, there may be only two or three like her in existence, who hide in fear for their lives—she’d be nothing but an asset to someone nefarious. We absolutely have to change her back before someone gets their hands on her.”

  Sten’s words sat like a house on Murphy’s shoulders while fear swirled in her gut.

  Everyone sitting around the kitchen island sat wide-eyed and silent as Sten’s words sank in. Murphy gulped and fought tears. Nova drove her crazy most days, but she didn’t want her to die because of it.

  Pushing those gloomy thoughts from her mind, she folded her hands in front of her and continued to fight off her headache while trying to absorb this new batch of information.

  Bellamy finally broke the silence when she blew out a breath and said, “Oh my God, I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry! I swear on Odin, I never thought this would happen. I thought she’d turn int
o a troll, the kind that live peacefully in the forest, not a treasure troll. And then the curse would wear off and she’d be back to her gorgeous self.” Twisting her fingers together, she looked at Murphy, her eyes welling with tears. “I mean that, Murphy. I didn’t want this. I just wanted her to stop posting all those horrible comments all over my Insta.”

  Murphy tried to summon up some sympathy for Bellamy, but Marty saved her from having to fake accepting her apology. She was still too angry to pretend any sort of genuine response.

  Marty wrapped an arm around Bellamy’s slender shoulders and squeezed. “You did a shitty thing, Bellamy, and I hope it’s taught you a lesson. I’m also sure there’s a rule about using your magic connections, or whatever we’re calling this, for your own selfish needs. We’ll talk about that later. For the moment, it would go a long way if you at least helped us find who gave you the curse, so we can locate them and have them turn her back.”

  Her eyes welled with sorrow and her cheeks turned red. “I swear to all of you, I can’t remember! I don’t remember anything about getting the curse, I just remember getting it and saying it out loud. I don’t even remember the actual words to the curse or how I made it work!” she sobbed.

  Murphy heard real remorse in her tone, but it still grated and left her clenching her fists.

  “All right, it’s time to find out what you did the day you got the curse,” Wanda said in a no-nonsense tone. “Surely, you’d have to pay a price for something like that, right? Let’s check your bank accounts, and while we’re at it, we should check your apartment and all your devices. Maybe there’s a clue somewhere. So let’s get a move on.”

  Bellamy jumped up from her stool, wiping her eyes with her fingertips. “Just let me get my coat and we’ll go.”

  “We’ll all go,” Sten said firmly. “I’m not letting you ladies go alone because I don’t know what’s out there, now that someone disreputable has been unleashed.”