A New Journey Awaits

Chapter 26

    Jim's POV
    "How are we going to get to Minnesota?" Claire asks.
    "In just the dark, for that matter." Toby states.
    "I think I can be of some assistance." I hear a recognizable voice say. We all turn around.
    "I think we're fine, but thanks anyway." I say, blandly.
    "Don't be such a stick in the mud, Young Atlas." Strickler says. I roll my eyes and look to Blinky, who looks at me like 'why are you looking at me?', then I look to Draal who gives me the same face. I sigh.
    "What can you do to help?" I ask my former teacher/principal.
    "Well, I can provide a mean of transportation."
    "Oh, yeah?" Toby asks, raising an eyebrow.
    "I do still have the keys to the bus garage." He says.
    "What about the windows? The sun's going to come through." I say.
    "I've already got that covered." He says.
    "Fine," I huff. "but only so you're not with my mom."
    "Actually..." he says looking deep into the dark forest. Then I hear an unforgettable voice, my mother.
    "JAMES LAKE JR.! Where do you think you're going?!" She yells approaching the den."You didn't even bother to tell me!" She looks at the other teens. "Do your parents know you're here?" We all exchange guilty looks.
    "Mom, what are you doing here?" I ask her.
    "Well, your soon-to-be-step-dad told me that you were going somewhere with your friends. Were you just going to leave me wonder what happened to you? Again?" She asks. But her anger wasn't what I was worried about.
    "Wait, what?!?" I grab her hand and look at the ring. "No. No, Mom! You can't marry... that!" I yell upset as I look from her to Strickler.
    "I can marry who I want. And you will accept it." She says sternly. I get a knot in my stomach.
    "I think I'm gonna be sick." I groan.
    "Well, you can't be sick right now. We have to go up to Minnesota!" Claire says grabbing me and dragging me towards the school. Everyone follows. When we got to the bus garage, we saw all the buses and one with boarded window so no light from outside could get in.
    We all piled in the dark bus, Strickler driving first. Mom sat diagonal from him trying to get sleep. Draal across from her to make sure nothing happens. I sat between the middle and the back, Blinky sitting across for me. Toby was in front of me, Claire behind me, Not-Enrique on her lap. Arrrgh was across from Tobes. Darci and Mary sharing a seat across from Claire. They pretty much sympathized me for my unfortunate prediction with my mother for the next two hours. Blinky tried to tell me it would be ok and everything would work out for the best, only to be shot down by Toby. I wasn't really listening to anything they were saying though. I was to worried about what my new at-home life would be like.
    I was snapped out of my thoughts when the bus took a wide turn to get into a gas station. It was going to be sunrise soon so we had stopped to go to the bathroom and get food. After that my mom drove and my former enemy got some rest. The rest of stayed up. We had a long journey up ahead, but we were too restless to sleep. Claire told the girls what had happened at the hospital, but why Evna had to go there, she had no clue. Blinky and Arrrgh had listened in, but Blinky lost interest in what Evna had done, instead he wanted to know why she had done it. He had known that it was because of me and Tobes, so, much to our displeasure, he asked what happened. So we had no choice to explain.
    We started off with the truth or dare game, excluding the 'kiss dare argument'. That's not to be spoken of. Ever. Then we told about how we had listed off the enemies we defeated. And that when we said Angor, she panicked, and she seemed to go into shock, because she had lost someone very important to her.
    "Why do you think she went up to Minnesota?" Toby asks.
    "I don't know. Maybe to get peace and quiet, maybe to reminisce, maybe to plot our deaths." I say.
    "Ok, I'm sure she doesn't hate us that much." He says reassuringly.
    "Do you think she's even at Minnesota yet?" Claire asks.
    "Yeah, how do we know we're not riding this bus for no reason?" Darci asks. Mary nods her head in agreement.
    "Hey, this trip," Tobys starts. "your idea. Don't get mad at us."
    "I don't think anyone's protecting Trollmarket." I say, out of no where.
    "Don't worry, Master Jim. Draal is." Blinky says.
    "Draal's up front." I point out. "Hey, Draal," I shout across the bus. He turns around. "aren't you supposed to be watching Trollmarket?"
    "Uh.... yeah." He responds wearily.
    "Why are you on the bus?" Toby asks.
    "I do not know."
    "You need to be back in Trollmarket." Claire says.
    "It's a little late for that."
    I sigh in worry. "So... who's protecting Trollmarket?" I ask myself.
    "Dude, relax I'm sure everyone's perfectly fine." Tobes reassures.
    "You're probably right." I say. I lay down, as best as I can, in my seat to sleep. All of the girls were ready to sleep and so was Toby.

    Evna's POV
    I get off of the bus in the station and get onto the next one. In about 3 hours I'll be back in Minnesota. Back where I belong. I miss the stalklings and my friends, but I miss Angor more. And there's no way to get him back, he was shattered. I put my music on, and listen to it through my earbuds. I fall asleep for the ride and wake up when we get there. I didn't really wake up by myself, a young boy actually woke me up and then offered me a bagel for $5 bucks. I know it's outrageous but he said it was for a fund-raiser and then showed me his friends. I bought 3 from each, there was 10 of them. $150 for 30 bagels. But, hey, at least I have food. When I got off, I was in Minneapolis. I looked at a map  to figure out how to get to a small town called Stacy. (An actual town, very, very small) I called a cab and off at the local park. So I walked down the road to a field, it was actually a restricted bird sanctuary, so why snot build something secret underneath the ground there? I walked through the grass to a small trap door, I opened it and climbed down. It looked the same as the last time I was here. Just with a few more pictures. I sat on the sleeping-bag he had setup for me when I was younger. I looked around taking in the memories and let a few tears slip out. I felt like I was home, just it felt different not having a emotionally scarred, constantly angry troll around.

So, one late night I was trying to sleep and a thought popped into my head. What if everything in the show (that involved Angor Rot) could have been avoided if someone had been nice to him. I know it would be hard to think of something to say to your enemy. But just what if?