Chapter 7 Late to the Party
SEVEN
Late to the Party
Arthur rubbed his hands over his face and then checked his watch.
“We’ve got to get back on duty,” he said, gesturing to his cousin.
“Everybody think how we’re going to deal with this.
” To Arwyn, he added, “Ask your relatives. We need to know how to get rid of a big, dumb invisible troll that eats people.” He shook his head.
“Not a sentence I ever thought I’d be saying. ”
Arthur left, but Nick paused at the door. “Can I give you a ride back to your place?” he asked me.
I’d been planning to fly home, but I was exhausted, so I nodded.
He looked relieved. “Everyone try to nap before we meet tonight.”
When I met him at the door, he slipped his sunglasses on me, which was nice. My eyes, more orange than brown, were far too sensitive for sunlight. We stepped out onto the deck and he looked down at my bare feet before giving me his back and crouching down.
“I’ll give you a piggyback ride to the car. There are rocks and dirt along the side of the gallery.” He glanced over his shoulder when I didn’t move. “Seriously. You’ll cut your feet if you walk barefoot to the car.”
I remained still, unsure of what he wanted.
I’d read about piggyback rides in books, but they were written in a way that assumed the reader had the background knowledge to understand.
I’d looked it up and read the definition.
I knew he was offering to carry me, but I didn’t understand the logistics. Where did my arms and legs go exactly?
He looked over his shoulder again and studied me a moment. “Put your arms around my neck and hold on. When I stand, put your legs around my waist. I’ll put hands under your thighs to help hold you up. Okay?”
I mentally walked myself through exactly what I needed to do and finally nodded. Leaning down, I wrapped my arms around his neck and felt immediately out of my depth. He stood and grabbed for my legs, but they were still hanging straight down his back. I was screwing up.
He reached back and grabbed one of my legs, pulling it forward, so I lifted my other leg, mirroring on the other side. His free hand caught me. “There we go. Everything okay?”
I nodded, my face against the back of his head. He smelled nice. Halfway to his car, I whispered, “Sorry. I’ve never done this before.”
“No problem. Didn’t your mom or dad give you piggyback rides?”
“No. I’ve read about them, though. We don’t—owls don’t, that is—roughhouse or wrestle. This feels very odd.”
He laughed. “Bears are all about roughhousing and wrestling. It’s kind of our thing.
” When we got to his SUV, he opened the door and swung me into the seat before my brain had a chance to catch up.
I’d assumed he was going to put me back on the pavement and that I’d climb in on my own.
Instead, I was already in the seat and he was rounding the front, reaching for the driver’s door.
“How did you do that? I didn’t even touch the ground.”
Grinning with those dimples, he started the vehicle and turned to me, pointing at the seat belt I had yet to engage. “A lifetime of wrestling. It’s all about practice.”
I pulled the seat belt across my chest and clicked it into place, feeling like I’d been thrown into the ocean with no idea of how to swim.
I lived in books. He inhabited the world, taking up space, touching others without hesitancy or worry.
I didn’t see how this could possibly work. I really needed him to ghost me.
He’d pulled out onto the road and was headed to my home. “Have you read about trolls? How is this thing invisible?”
I shook my head. “Not really, no. I’ve read what humans believe about the fairy tale of trolls. I don’t even know if that’s what he is. His behavior reminded me of the children’s story. That’s all.”
He turned, heading away from the water. Glancing over quickly, he turned back to the road and added, “I’m sorry you had to see that man get eaten, especially after you’d just saved him.”
I closed my eyes behind the sunglasses. It was still too bright. I wore special lenses if I had to go out during the day. Nick’s helped, but the sun was making my eyes water. “It was horrible in a way that will haunt me for a long time.” Was that too honest? I needed sleep.
I flinched when I felt Nick’s hand, but he held mine anyway. It was strangely comforting.
“You don’t have to go back tonight. You’ve already dealt with him twice all on your own. You’ve more than done your part.”
I considered his point. I was no match for a troll, but I couldn’t sit out the battle. What if something happened to one of them? I’d never forgive myself. Not to mention they all had families, people who loved them. Other than a few insomniacs, no one would be affected by my death.
“You can tip the seat back and rest,” he said.
“I’m awake,” I told him as I rocked side to side with the movement of the car. “I was just thinking that I need a will. I don’t have anyone to leave my things to, though.” I tipped my head to the side and squinted one eye open. “Do you like my house?”
He squeezed my hand so tightly, it almost hurt. “I love your home, but more importantly, I love you in it, reading your books and flying over your woods.”
“Sorry. That was probably an inappropriate thing to ask. It’s just what I was thinking about.”
He stopped and got out. Sooner than I would have thought, he was opening my door, his back to me. He was offering another piggyback ride. “Climb on.”
I did and he walked me up the front steps to the porch. “Do you have a key hidden here somewhere?”
It took me a minute for my brain to catch up. “Right. Good point. Can you bring me around to the back? Or, no. That’s dumb. Just put me down. I can walk.” I took my arms from around his neck, but he was still holding my legs, continuing to carry me.
“We’re almost there. Relax.” When we turned the last corner, he said. “Tyrion left you more gifts.”
“Aww. That’s nice.” My head dropped onto Nick’s shoulder. “Too bad I can’t leave him my house.”
Nick put me in my porch swing. “Where’s the key? I can get it. I think you fell asleep five minutes ago.”
Oh, right. I flew out of here. “No key,” I told him. “Thanks for the ride.” I took off the tee and sweatpants, shifted, and flew through my window, dropping onto the bed and into a deep sleep.
When I woke, I was disoriented. My body wasn’t responding properly. It took me a moment to realize that though I was in my bedroom, on my bed, I was in my feathers. The light was all wrong too. Early evening in the summer meant it should still be bright out.
After I shifted, I grabbed my phone off its charger. There were a couple of missed calls and some texts, all from Nick.
Nick: Good afternoon. I hope you’re sleeping. I’m checking to see if you want a ride tonight or if you’re going to fly.
Nick: If you’ve decided to sit this one out, no worries. I’ll catch you up with what happened tomorrow.
I clicked on the voicemails.
“Orla, hopefully your phone is on Do Not Disturb. I don’t want to wake you during the day. I’m passing on that we’re meeting at the bridge at ten tonight. Let me know if you’d like to drive with me. Okay, sweet dreams.”
“Hey, it’s me again. I’m headed to the bridge now. Arwyn talked with her great-uncle, who’s some kind of supernatural historian. He knows a little about trolls. The invisible thing is more of a chameleon glamour. I think that’s why you were seeing his outline.”
He chuckled. “Arwyn explained it, but she was getting deep in the weeds on perspective and other artistic mathematical theory that I didn’t follow.
So, glamour, not invisibility. The great uncle also said bridge trolls are okay with running fresh water but not salt.
He thinks that might be why this one has become so aggressive.
He’s too dumb to go back into the woods to look for another bridge, so he’s stuck in a place that’s making him angry.
“Our current plan is to either drive him into the ocean, where her dad can send sharks to eat him—by the way, I don’t know who her dad is, but I’m now officially afraid of him—or we drive him into the woods where he can find a better bridge.
That’s plan B because we’re told trolls are extremely hard to kill—if you don’t have your own army of sharks, that is.
Okay, have a good night and I’ll try to stop by to talk with you tomorrow. ”
I checked the time. It was 9:57. They were already there. Without me. This was a very familiar feeling. Everyone else was off doing something together while I was at home. The difference this time was that they’d asked me to go with them.
Something in my chest fluttered. The troll scared me, but I didn’t want to be home safe and sound with my books. I wanted to be doing the stupid dangerous things with my friends. My sort of friends. My possible friends.
Blowing out a breath, I shifted and flew out the window, back to the bridge.
It was full dark, and all hell was breaking loose.
Arwyn stood near the edge of the ravine, a huge wolf pacing in front of her, guarding her from the troll.
Her hands were moving nonstop at her sides, casting spells that seemed to keep causing the troll to pop into sight momentarily as he lunged for the two large black bears baiting him.
When she broke through his glamour, the bears swiped their long, lethal claws at the troll, occasionally trying to bite off hunks of him.
I circled above the fray, assessing what help I could be.
Headlights appeared around a curve in the road going north.
I thought for sure that brakes were going to lock and humans were going to get out of the car, but the driver and passenger had their eyes on the road ahead; neither even turned their head at the strange battle taking place fifty feet away.
It took me a minute to get the timing of the troll’s glamour dropping. The next time it happened, I was already arrowing through the air at his face. No one had noticed me yet. Their focus was on the ground, where the fight was taking place.
The troll caught one of the bears in the shoulder, almost knocking him off the edge of the ravine, down onto the rocks. The bear caught himself before going over, though there was some scrambling involved. I didn’t veer from my path to make sure he was all right. There’d be time to check later.
The troll looked up at me with a roar of surprise just as my talons snatched at his eyes. He turned his head away, so one of my claws was knocked to the side. The other, though, scratched through his occipital bone, popping and yanking out his eyeball.
He screamed horribly as I dropped the eye into the ravine for a scavenger. When I circled back, Arwyn was bouncing on her toes, cheering for me. I got a little lightheaded. I couldn’t remember ever having been cheered for.
The hurt bear was limping back to the fight.
I dive-bombed the troll again, this time aiming for his now blind side.
Silent flight meant he couldn’t hear me coming and evade my claws while keeping his remaining eye on the bears who were working in tandem.
My claws ripped at his ear and the top of his leathery scalp.
A fist rose to punch or squish me, but I wheeled to the side and was out of reach again.
Blood ran down the left side of his face. I was helping. While the troll searched the night sky for me, the uninjured bear rammed into the troll, knocking him over the edge of the ravine.