Half-Sister // Trollhunters

\12\

I sighed to myself as I sat down at the end of the stone table. Jim, Claire, Toby, Argh, and Blinky all sat down as well. Toby sat the Birthstone down on the center of the table.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I dare think I would ever see such a sight." Blinky said, referring to the Birthstone.

Then Toby spoke up. "I'm never gonna look at food the same way again."

"Indeed. We were all quite the intrepid heroes today." Blinky said before smiling at Claire and me. "But a special accolade to you, fair Claire and Anna, the masters of riddles."

"It was a team effort." Claire smiled. I was too lost in my thoughts to say anything. What the hell does accolade mean? "Besides, we still have two more stones to find. The next ones might not be so easy."

"Easy?" Toby got up from his seat. "We were eaten!" He stood next to Blinky. "I'm pretty sure I was technically digested and then--"

"Tobias!" Blinky interrupted him. "The less said about our escape, the better. Gorgus forbid we are remembered for that in the history boo--" Blinky stopped speaking abruptly as he sneezed and farted at the same time.

Everyone went silent for a moment before Toby laughed. "That was almost grosser than--"

"Don't say it!" Blinky shouted.

"You okay, Blinky?" Jim asked. Jim, Claire, and I were cringing in disgust.

"I'll be fine," Blinky answered. "Seems I may have been allergic to something in Gatto's belly. But nothing a good night's rest won't fix." He then sneezed/farted again.

A short troll waiter walked by, catching Toby's attention. "Ooh! Are these salty niblets?" He asked as he chased the waiter down and grabbed some items off the plate she was carrying with her horns.

"What happened to never eating again?" Jim asked.

"This is troll food, not human food. There's a difference." He said before eating something that looked kinda like an egg. I sorta stopped paying attention after that.

Suddenly I got lost in my thoughts, completely forgetting about everyone around me. I was thinking back to when we were with Gatto. After Jim had taken out his amulet he started fighting off the trolls, along with Claire. Toby and Blinky ended up getting eaten, and Argh was fighting as well.

I just stood there like an idiot, again. It was like my body just shut down. I couldn't move and I felt sick again. Suddenly Argh had picked me up and put me on his back. The three of them were running down the platforms and stairs while I was hanging on for my life.

We met up with Blinky and Toby at the gyre after they found a... back door out of Gatto. Then we all left and came back here. But I can't stop thinking about how useless I was.

"Hey, Anna." I looked to see Jim standing in front of me. Blinky was nowhere to be seen while Toby, Argh, and Claire were walking ahead of us toward the exit. "We should get home before mom goes insane." He chuckled. But I could see the guilt hidden beneath that smile.

I stood up and followed them out. Then we biked back home. Well, Claire, Jim, and I took our bikes while Toby just hitched a ride on Argh. We took Claire home first, as usual, then we headed toward our houses.

When we arrived, Toby and Argh headed to the house across the street while Jim and I noticed a car outside of our house.

Jim recognized it almost immediately. "Go inside. I'll meet you there." Jim said to me as we slowed down by the house. That's when I noticed Strickler was in the car. I gave Jim a nervous look before nodding my head. Then I went to the front door as Jim headed toward the car.

As soon as I entered the house I quickly raced up the stairs and to my bedroom. I didn't want to run into Barbara and have to explain why I came in before Jim and why we were out so late in the first place.

I was too much of a coward. I'd just let Jim deal with it when he comes inside.