Daylight December 26. Trust.
Jim’s head was aching. That was too much information for the last two minutes. He was still trying to assimilate waking up surrounded by knights who had cuffed him and threw him into a cage and wondering why Claire’s white streak was significantly bigger and the dude from the cafe, (Deuce?) was with them.
“It’s not an ideal situation.”, finished Douxie, having just revealed they were trapped in the Dark Ages.
“Ideal?”, Claire bluttered, “Jim has a shard of evil magic on his chest!”
He remembered then. Of course, they were attacking the Green Knight and one of his shards was now embedded in his Amulet. Jim looked at it, sadly, but also curious. His last memory was the piercing pain of the piece of stone, slowly making its way to his heart.
“Actually, I’m still hurt, but it feels different somehow.”, he managed to say.
“Mordrax miracles, he’s right! When we jumped back in time, it must have frozen the corruption in place.”
Jim looked at Douxie again. He could feel some rage left from that night, not that far away, when Toby and he just tried to have some dinner with Claire and Darci. But that wasn’t the last time he had seen him.
“Uh, seems I missed a lot. Don’t you work at the cafe?”
Right, he had seen him at the cafe, a few days later. Douxie nodded.
“Part time. And thanks for always tipping, by the way.”
Jim’s heart sank a little, the memories coming out fresh now. It had happened a few days after the Morgana ‘incident’ and Claire was still really tired, but getting the hang of Trollhunting again. They were passing by the cafe, and she yawned.
“What a night. I’m exhausted.”
“Well, that’s the downside of being a Trollhunter.”, Toby said. “You just need to take more naps.”
“Not everyone can fell asleep anywhere, TP.”, she replied.
Jim was going to say something when he recognized his mother, in the line inside the cafe, searching frenetically in her purse.
“Oh, maybe it’s a gift.”, he heard Toby said.
“Hey, that’s my mum.”, Jim said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sure, take your time, Jimbo.”
He was feeling really guilty as her mother was starting to remember some images of his secret life as a Trollhunter. Painting had become almost an obsession and she always had some paint stains in her hands. She was first in line, a cup of coffee to go ready for her and some contents of her handbag laying on the desk.
“Hi, mum.”, he said. She was quite happy to see him.
“Hello, kiddo. I just wanted one fancy coffee and I don’t have enough change for the tip.”
Jim stopped, his hand in his pocket. Not that dude. But, behind the desk, and wearing an apron two sizes too big, was that Deuce guy, his eyes wide open. Without noticing, Jim had frowned, giving him an assasin look. He wasn’t going to forget the casual flirting he had done with all the girls in his school, especially the interest he had shown towards Claire. And, knowing that the harsh words she had said to him was Morgana talking hadn’t helped.
Jim scoffed. That guy was hiding something, that for sure. But now that Claire was feeling better, he just wanted to leave that place as soon as possible and spend time with his friends.
He counted the coins in his hand and left a generous tip, just as he had done the night of the dinner.
“Okay, mum, gotta go. Lots of homework.”
He was still a little jumpy when he went bak with Toby and Claire. He couldn’t decipher by the looks in their faces if they had seen anything. He took a relieved breath when Toby started talking about naps again.
“Jim can get asleep anywhere too. He just needs to be really tired. Remember that New Year’s Eve in my house?”
“Yep, I don’t think Claire wants to hear that story.”
“He’s Merlin’s apprentice.”, said Claire, making him go back to the present. “It’s a long story.”
Jim was feeling even worse. Not only he was scared and injured, now he had discovered why that guy had seemed off to him from the start. He didn’t look like a bad person, just too friendly. And now they were having to trust him. Maybe it was just his way to apologize without saying anything, but he let that little spec of anger go away and trusted him with all his heart.
