Late that night, a goblin made its way up the roof of Claire's house and looked in through the window. It looked in at Enrique, who was sleeping peacefully in his crib. He woke up and giggled at the goblin when he saw it. The goblin smiled creepily.
_
"Check that baby out.." Toby breathed in awe as he and Jim ogled at a vespa in the window of a store.
"Vespa three-hundred, GTS super." Jim smiled brightly, "Single-cylinder, catalyzed four-stroke Quasar engine...Can you imagine me going down the road on that? Wind whipping through my hair, maybe Raelynn holding tight to my back." That caught my attention and I elbowed him, a blush covering my cheeks.
"Me cruising in the side car next to you..." Toby imagined wistfully. Jim and I shot him a confused glance and he looked back at us.
"You imagined you two alone, didn't you?" Toby asked and Jim nodded with a sigh.
"What are the chances of your mom getting you one for your birthday?" I asked, putting an arm around Jim's shoulders.
"Only slightly worse than me winning the lottery and buying one myself," Jim told me as he rubbed my hip and I pursed my lips.
"How much do you have saved?" I looked at him.
"Only three-hundred-twenty-eight bucks and fifty-two cents." He sighed sadly, "By the time I have saved enough, these things will drive themselves." Strangely, as I looked into the glass I noticed the reflection of a creature jumping from building to building.
I gripped Jim's shoulder to get his attention, "Hey- did you see that?" I pointed to the window and both Toby and Jim turned around behind themselves to find nothing. Jim looked around for a second before he saw it.
"Goblins-" He gasped in alarm.
"That's not it... come on!" I ran towards where I saw the goblin last. It was running across the power lines while holding a baby.
"It's a goblin!" Jim said in shock, running after me, "With a baby!"
Toby was gasping as he tried sprinting after us, "C-come on Jim, Raelynn. It's just a bird!" The two of us ran through the street after the goblin. We quickly lost it as Toby caught up to us. I picked up a little stuffed bunny that was left on the ground.
"Chill out you two." Toby looked at us, "This Trollhunting is making you guys hallucinate. I mean, what would a goblin want with a baby?"
"I don't know," Jim stated, taking the bunny from my hand, "But we're gonna find out."
_
"Let me get this straight..." I said as I climbed up one of the walls of the forge, with fire shooting from it, "They steal the babies, so they can replace them with Changelings?" Toby, Blinky, Lyonna, and Arrrgh were waiting for Jim and me at the top.
"Precisely, Mistress Raelynn." Blinky praised me as Jim and I continued to climb precariously.
"Allegedly steal." Toby shrugged, "I just saw a bird."
"And in order for the changeling to maintain its appearance in our world," Lyonna continued to explain, ignoring Toby, "No harm must come to the human child in theirs. I assure you, there is no safer place for a baby to be than the bowels of the Darklands nursery."
More fire burst from a hole about an inch or two away from Jim's face, "Well that's good to know.." He said sarcasm dripping in his tone.
"Hold on there," Toby paused the conversation, "Okay, suppose they did take the baby to the Darklands. Isn't that where Gunmar is trying to escape from?"
YOU ARE READING
The Two Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia Book One: Just the Beginning
FantasyJim and his best friends have been dragged headfirst into a world that is not their own. He and Raelynn have been chosen as this other world's protectors. But Raelynn and her sister have secrets, secrets that will have to be revealed if the team is...
