The Hidden World

Chapter Fourteen

The halls of Trotel were just as amazing as the front hall and the garden, but Kendra didn't pay any attention to it. She only noticed things in snatchs and bits that she didn't care to think about. Brendan, however, saw the whole thing. The hallways were lined with old looking weapons hanging on the wall next to pictures with short paragraphs underneath them explaining the amazing thing the troll in the picture was doing. There were also a lot of unique statues, most of which were very gory. Like a troll stabbing a human, or a troll sitting on a human, or a troll doing something else to a human. The last statute in the hall was of a brass troll with a computer on his skinny knees and a creepy smile on his face. As they passed it he read the iron plate nailed to the base of the platform.

Barnabas the Barnly

Master of trolling humans online.

"If you hate humans so much, why are offering us your hospitallitaly?" Brendan asked the female troll who was still leading them down yet another corridor. She gave a fake little laugh.

"Well our ancestors seemed to hold quite a grudge against humans back in the day." Brendan doubted trolling even existed back in the day but he decided not to press the subject. The female troll led them to a door made of spears. This door opened with a ding and she led them into an elevator. It was a very dangerous elevator. For one, there were spears everywhere. For another, there were swords all around the walls and handles. The female troll seemed undaunted by this obvious danger and reached out one of her gnarly fingers to press a button. The elevator began to rise, music issuing into the small space. Something about trolls killing other trolls and trolls killing humans, only adding to the impression that the trolls were more bloodthirsty than they appeared before.

The elevator doors opened a minute later and they stepped out onto the floor of another hallway. This hall didn't have any spears or swords on the wall and had no odd statues resting haphazard-like on the floor. Instead their were round doors with the troll crest stamped on the doorknobs. The troll woman led them to a door on the right.

"Here you are," she said with another forced smile. Then she opened the door and pushed them in.

The room was even more beautiful than the hall. The floor was beautifully tiled, white and black with little white or black birds on each of the tiles. There was a stretch of dirt in the direct center of the room, a tree growing out of it surrounded by grass and wildflowers. Behind this, there was a huge bay window looking out into a yard. As it turned out, the yard was surrounded by the rest of the Trotel. There were several hallways off the sides of the center room. The tiled floor was shaped in an octagon making eight hallways off, four on either side. These hallways were either wood or carpet and led down to various rooms. In front of the tree there was a couch, coffee table, and two arm chairs. There was a fireplace built into the side of the room by the widest hallway which was the last of the four on the right side. The hallway was wood and led into a large kitchen. Above the fireplace there was a mantle with four pictures on it. One of the pictures was of Brendan and Kendra as three year olds standing at the bottom of Sugarloaf Mountain with their grandparents. Just looking at the photo made Kendra choke up. Their grandparents, beloved by both the twins, had died when they were ten. The next picture was the same one they'd seen in Frigg's house, him and his sister. The one after that was of Kendra and Brendan standing with Gina, Bobby, and their mother and father on top of another mountain Kendra couldn't name. The last picture was of two kids, one about two and the other four or five years older. The kids were wrapped in blankets and coats so seeing their faces was impossible. There was a taller man and woman standing over them, smiling.

Kendra turned.

"What even is this this place?" she ask.

"It's human hospitality, opened by trolls. Who also happen to hold centuries worth of grudges against us," Frigg said.