Between Daylight and Darkness
Chapter 23
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Ao3
"...so I grabbed everyone and ran all the way here,"
Claire held her breath, gaze fixed across the table trying to gauge Blinky's reaction.
There was a creak as Blinky's top two hands tightened around his mug, lower two gripping the table, eyes darting all over the place. In contrast AAARRRGGHH hadn't moved an inch, face completely blank, but not in a neutral way. More like he was keeping himself in check.
After grabbing them Jim had booked it to Trollmarket, making it all the way to Blinky's library before setting them down. In about two seconds they realized that Blinky and AAARRRGGHH weren't there. Jim had wanted to run off right away to find them, but at the rest of them insisting, more specifically Mary screaming, they'd all taken a few minutes to catch their breaths before heading out. After a bit of searching they found Blinky and AAARRRGGHH having drinks at some kind of troll pub, once all the panicked 'what are you doing here's were out of the way they gave them a rundown of everything that had happened at the museum.
Which brought them here, waiting in tense silence for Blinky and AAARRRGGHH to say something.
"So!?" Toby threw his arms out "What's up with the weird shapeshifting troll lady at the goblin nest!?"
AAARRRGGHH snapped his head down with a sharp glance at Blinky, muttering something in trollish, too low and rapid for Claire to pick up.
Blinky slammed his mug down on the table, firing back a stream of trollish at AAARRRGGHH. They were using some weird dialect but Claire was able to catch the words 'danger', 'unclean', and 'youthful', but in this context it might mean 'too young'--
"Come on guys!" Mary whined "You know we don't know enough trollish to keep up when you get all--"
"Changeling." AAARRRGGHH said solemnly.
The second the word left his lips all sound in the pub stopped. No clinking glasses or muttered conversations, every head and eyeball in the room turning in their direction, a cold prickle running up Claire's spine at the sudden scrutiny.
Blinky choked out an awkward laugh before grabbing AAARRRGGHH by the beard and yanking him down to eye level "Some discretion if you would," he glanced around at all the trolls in pub staring at them "Carry on good fellows, nothing to see here, just...education on tragic events of the distant past,"
The heavy silence persisted for a few more seconds before the six armed bartender turned and started refilling the mugs in their hands, sound slowly creeping back into the room as everyone went back to what they were doing before AAARRRGGHH spoke. Claire forced her muscles to relax, easing into her seat, but kept her ears trained on any and all stray bits off noise.
Most trolls didn't know that they were all learning trollish, and people tended to say lots of things around you when they thought you couldn't understand the language.
"Uhhh..." Jim was sitting up ramrod straight, hackles raised and clearly uncomfortable "What's a changeli--"
"Lower your voice!" Blinky hissed. Flicking his top four eyes all around, he waved them in with his top two arms.
Claire scooted up as much as she could on the stone bench, the others moving in alongside her, all of them clustering in tight.
"Changelings haven't been talked about openly in quite some time and..."
Abruptly Blinky glanced over his shoulder, a red troll with wide curling horns standing just behind him.
"Do. You. Mind!?"
The stranger snorted and turned to walk away "Whatever,"
"In the old world, Gumm Gumms stole young trolls from their tribes and--" Blinky cut himself off again, glaring across the table, the red troll having just moved to AAARRRGGHH's other side.
Ten seconds of Blinky staring daggers into them was all the stranger could take "Fine." he-- not he they, gendered pronouns were only for trolls you've been introduced to, stomped away. Heading out of the pub with all of Blinky's eyes watching them. Only when they'd stepped out did Blinky continue.
"These stolen whelps were then...changed," his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper "Warped by obscene magics gifted to the Gumm Gumms by the Eldritch queen herself. Their sole purpose, to spy on the world above,"
"What exactly did they do to them?" Claire whispered, leaning forward practically hanging halfway across the table "And who's this Eldritch Queen?"
Blinky's expression tightened, AAARRRGGHH shooting him a sharp look.
"These young trolls were...altered," Blinky said haltingly "Given the ability to withstand the sun and adopt a human form, trained to be ruthless spies and assassins. As for the author of these foul magics...that...that will be discussed later in your education,"
"Wait so these changelings can turn back and forth between human and troll!?" Jim's voice jumped up an octave.
"Yes and such things are rarely discussed openly, so please--"
"Does that mean that I--" Jim swayed in his seat, hands shaking with the force they were gripping the table with "With me-- and how I-- I-- oh god, what if I--"
The grind of stone on stone and a flash of motion was all the warning Claire had before Blinky practically leapt across the table and slapped two hands over Jim's mouth "Silence yourself at once!"
For a few seconds none of them moved, Blinky's gaze darting around in every direction. A few trolls in the pub were looking a them but in more of a 'why are humans so weird' way instead of 'deeply taboo subjects being shared with outsiders' way. Eventually Blinky pried his hands off of Jim's face and settled back next to AAARRRGGHH "We will discuss this at length in the future in private," he kept his voice low, even from just across the table Claire could barely hear him "Just know that as certain as I am that the sun will rise, you are not of that breed. Now not another word on the matter whilst we're in public."
Jim sagged, a gusty exhale leaving him, clearly massively relieved, but Claire was still keyed up.
"Ok then, so what's a changeling troll lady doing running a museum?"
"I...I think I might know why,"
She turned to see Mary set her phone on the table, sliding it to the center.
"I spotted this right before the goblins attacked us, I thought I recognized it from the illustration in ABR so I took a picture,"
All of them leaned in to peer down and Mary's phone and the photo pulled up on it, Claire included.
Despite being taken in a dark room it was a pretty good picture, Mary had used three months worth of allowance to upgrade her phone to one with a top of the line camera. A partially assembled stone sculpture set up in one of the museum's side halls, surrounded by large crates, some of them open and empty, probably where the parts of the sculpture had come from, but some still sealed up. No doubt containing more stone blocks. And even half finished the overall shape of the sculpture was weird, curved, a half moon maybe?. It almost looked like a--
Two wires clicked in her brain and Claire actually felt her heart stop, mouth going dry and skin on the back of her neck prickling up.
It wasn't a sculpture, it was a bridge. And not just any bridge.
The bridge with a whole chapter of ABR dedicated to it, including a highly detailed illustration spread across two pages.
The only thing keeping all the big bad human eating trolls locked away.
Kilahead bridge.
"Gorgus preserve us..." Blinky whispered. Above his shoulder AAARRRGGHH's face went gaunt.
"Oh man oh man this is bad," Jim gripped his horns "Like goodbye Arcadia bad!"
"Nomura must be rebuilding Kilahead," Claire pushed herself up against the table "That's why she's set up in the museum! She's passing it off as an exhibit!"
"Rebuilding, gathering all the pieces of the bridge would take decades, centuries even!" Blinky picked up Mary's phone, gripping it tight holding it close to his three left eyes, oblivious to the look of horror on Mary's face "But changelings are nothing if not resourceful, and their ambition knows no bounds. Their presence in Arcadia, working in collusion with Bular and goblins, the reconstruction of Kilahead...this is troubling indeed."
"So what's our game plan here?" Toby jumped up on the bench, eye level with Claire "If they're reassembling Kilahead that means they want to let the rest of the Gumm Gumms out, we've got to stop them!"
"Kilahead won't work if all the stones aren't there, right?" Claire looked up at AAARRRGGHH, who gave a single nod back at her.
A wide grin broke through the panic on Toby's face "Then all we have to do is bust back into the museum and steal one of the bridge stones, and their plan is over. World saved!"
"That...might be tough," Jim plucked the phone from Blinky's hands and dropped it back into Mary's waiting ones "Goblins aside, Nomura might beef up security at the museum, if we try to sneak in again the cops will be all over us, we barely got away from them tonight,"
"Then we go in during the day," Claire lowered herself back down to sit on the bench "No trolls or magic, just some normal teens learning about history,"
"We'll need a distraction," Toby dropped back into his seat "Just leave that to me,"
Mary raised an eyebrow "You thinking Operation: Silent Night?"
"I think Operation: Hopper might be the best way to go,"
"But where are we going to get that many crickets on short notice?"
"Ok no crickets here!" Jim held up both hands "And since when are you guys making all these secret plans?"
"Hey we have lives outside of Trollhunting," Mary said with a flick of her hair.
"Yeah but since when do you leave the rest of us out of them?" Claire shot back at her "Are you guys dating?"
Both Mary and Toby visibly recoiled.
"What?! No way!"
"While I am offended on how quickly you answered that, I can confirm we are not going out,"
Claire crossed her arms with a scowl "Fine. Don't tell us."
Mary winced "Claire..."
"Can we please get back on the topic of Kilahead bridge being rebuilt and the evil trolls possibly escaping it!?" Jim pushed himself between Toby and Mary, glancing around pleadingly "Even if we get in during the day, depending on how big the stones are we might not be able to--"
A loud sob cut him off, startlingly loud even in the crowded tavern. Claire whipped around to see Darci crumpled on the table, face buried in her arms, doing very little to muffle her cries. Across the table Mary's and Toby's eyes went wide, Jim's jaw was hanging open in stupefied shock and both Blinky and AAARRRGGHH looked equal parts concerned and uncomfortable.
Seeing her best friend so distressed made Claire's heart clench. She scooted closer across the bench "Darc what--"
In a flash Darci snapped upright, sending Claire whipping back, her face blotchy, eyes red with tears streaming down "We could have died!"
"Darc--"
"The goblins could have killed us! The troll lady could have killed us! Bular could have killed us!"
Recovering from her shock, Mary reached over to her "Hey it's ok, we're safe here now--"
Darci shoved her off "It's just too much! Bular and all those goblins-- an-- an-- and that changeling troll lady! I just-- I can't do this any more guys!"
"Whoa whoa whoa," Toby scooted closer to her "No need to freak out, Jimbo wouldn't let anything--"
"We had to fend off the goblins on our own!" Darci shrieked, Toby jerking back "He was too busy fighting with the crazy changeling lady, they could have bitten us to death, we could have died!"
Jim's face was stricken "I-- I'm sorry I-- I was trying to look out for you and I just--"
Just like that Darci slumped onto the table, sagging like a puppet with its strings cut, face buried in her arms sobbing away.
By now every troll in the pub was openly staring at them, even the bartender, unbothered by the glares from AAARRRGGHH and Blinky's attempts to wave them off.
But that didn't matter, what mattered was one of Claire's best friends in the world was having a complete breakdown.
Keeping her motions slow and deliberate, Claire slid closer, gingerly wrapping an arm around Darci's shoulders. On her other side Mary did the same, the two of them encircling her.
Claire squeezed Darci as hard as she dared, wanting to let her know that her best friends were here for her but not quite sure she was in the mood for a bear hug right now.
This...wasn't just a tonight thing, this had been brewing in Darci for a long time, now it was just coming to the surface. As her sobbing continued, if Mary and Claire were making her feel better it wasn't showing, Claire felt her throat tighten. How...how had she not noticed? How upset Darci was getting, how scared. Sure things got a little crazy but they handled it just fine. Sure there were a lot of goblins tonight, but they did ok fending them off--
But what if you didn't
Sure they'd had AAARRRGGHH's help getting away the last time, and with Bular they'd had Jim running interference. But if they'd had to deal with it alone Claire was sure they could have handled it. There were five of them, seven with AAARRRGGHH and Blinky, they could handle anythi--
The clearing of a throat grabbed her attention. Looking up across the table to meet Blinky's pained gaze "Perhaps is might be better if the...human component of our group took on a more supportive role,"
Claire's actually felt her breathing stop for a few seconds.
The four of them sidelined, forced to step back as the bigger stronger boy took center stage. No. They couldn't. She wouldn't just let herself be shoved to the side like a--
"Wha-- but you can't just bench us!" Toby sputtered "We're a team! Come on Jim tell them!"
Jim didn't say anything, head hanging low, all she could see were the curves of his horns on top of indigo hair.
"Go on Jim, tell them we're just as much a part of team Trollhunter as you!"
A deep rumble from AAARRRGGHH pulled her attention; all three of them looking up at him.
"Many ways to help against Gumm Gumms," AAARRRGGHH rumbled "Learn strategy, keep watch on surface. No need for ones who can't fight to go to battle,"
A hot flush shot through Claire from head to toe. She wanted to fire back with a composed, rational retort as to why this was completely unfair, but if she opened her mouth the only thing that would come out was an indignant shriek.
Those who can't fight
"This is bogus!" Mary snapped.
"Yeah we can hold our own just fine!" Toby stood up on the bench, whipping his glare back and forth between Blinky and AAARRRGGHH "Sure we're not as badass as Jim, but if we just trained a little we could--"
"Maybe they're right."
In an instant they all went silent, the only sound at the table Darci's sniffles as they all slowly turned to look at Jim.
He had finally raised his head, fanged mouth twisted in a grimace, the look on his face sad and deeply guilty.
Claire's stomach dropped to the floor, Darci didn't react just kept on crying, on her other side Mary stiffened. Across the table she could see Toby working his jaw open and shut in shock.
"B-- but we're a team!" he stammered "We're in this Trollhunting thing just as much as you, you can't just..."
Somehow the look of guilt on Jim's face got ten times heavier "Guys...when we go out and face goblins or monsters, I'm not worried about getting hurt, I'm worried about you guys getting hurt. I can get slammed around and walk if off, if one of you guys gets hit--"
His voice cracked "I...I try to do my best to take point and make sure you don't get hurt, but I'm...I'm terrified that one day I'm not going to be fast enough or strong enough and one of you gets..."
He tailed off, tense silence filling the air. None of them having the guts to say what Jim hadn't. Until AAARRRGGHH did it for them.
"Jim gets hit gets back up," he rumbled "Humans get hit and get hurt bad. Not something can be changed with training or studying."
In an instant the white hot indignance burning in Claire's chest snuffed out.
No one was saying that the rest of them weren't as smart or as capable as Jim. The fact of the matter was Jim was more durable than them.
She swallowed back the ashes of her protests and continued to pat Darci's shoulder "Ok, we'll take a step back, stick to research and daytime recon,"
Mary was still stiff on Darci's other side but she nodded along "Yeah, what Claire said. No more goblins or fighting,"
Toby sat silently for the longest time, but eventually he nodded to.
Still looking sick to his stomach, Jim reached over and patted Darci's hand "And don't worry about the bridge and the museum," he said gently "The four of us can handle that,"
"N-- no I--"
Darci scrambled upright, pushing off Claire and Mary's hands, sniffling and rubbing her face with the side of her arm "I can handle museum stuff during the day, just...just not all the dangerous stuff,"
"We can discuss the specific roles you will assume at a later time," Blinky pushed himself away from the table and stood "But before any battle plans can be made Vendel must be informed. And you five must rest, not only did you escape certain death tonight, you are well overdue for some sleep, come."
They all stood followed and Blinky out of the tavern and down the street, AAARRRGGHH bringing up the rear.
But instead of heading to the stairs, Claire realized they were heading back to the library.
"Hey Blinky the exit's that way," she pointed a thumb over her shoulder "If we want to get home and get some Z's we should turn around,"
Blinky looked back with a smile "That is where the surprise I've had planned for you for comes into play, and I can think of no better time,"
Toby recoiled "Please not another saga recitation!"
"My ears are still ringing from the last one!" Mary wailed.
Blinky sputtered with indignance "I'll have you know you should be so privileged to hear the entirety of the Battle of Bone Canyon in its native dialect! But no the surprise is something else," he gestured to the library's open door with all four arms "Right this way!"
Curious now, Claire darted into the library a few steps ahead of everyone else. Only to find the library exactly as they left it. Blinky came in with the others, stepping ahead of her into one of the smaller study rooms. Claire followed after him to see--
"Hey am I crazy or was that door not there the last time we were here?"
"Indeed it was not. I made arrangements with the neighbors and gained use of this space," Blinky stepped over and pushed the door open, smile wide and eager, gesturing for them to go inside.
Jim headed in first, Claire right on his heels, she could hear the others right behind her. When they were all inside and Claire could finally move past Jim she stepped ahead to get a good look.
The new room was smaller than the library proper but bigger than any of the side rooms. AAARRRGGHH could definitely fit but he'd have to do his dislocation thing to get through the door. But unlike the library the room dwarfed the books instead of the other way around, only one bookshelf with a single crystal lantern on top against the wall near the entrance. The space was roughly triangle shaped, narrowest at the doorway and widening up in front of them. On the far side of the room against the widest wall there were five shallow depressions in the floor. All of them were lined with...stuff. That was the best way to describe it. A random assortment of dish towels, bath towels, blankets, curtains-- wait was that fur in there!?
Moving closer, to the second depression from the left, Claire inspected the patch of orange poking out between a stripped bed sheet and a flower print curtain.
Yep that was a fox pelt alright, if the shape didn't confirm it the white tip sure did. As she looked she saw more furs of various shades; sandy brown, thick black, occasional flash of white--
"We've prepared this space in case any or all of you need a place to rest from your training...or a sanctuary to remain in Trollmarket for an extended period of time,"
Claire turned back around. There was a nervous edge to Blinky's smile now, wringing both sets of hands standing in the doorway.
"Wait a second is this a room for....all of us?" Mary said slowly.
From over Blinky's shoulder AAARRRGGHH smiled and nodded "Yes, place for humans to be safe,"
"Indeed it is, a safe, private space that you may all rest from studies and training, with a nest for each of you to sleep in. I know humans require a great deal of sleep. If you wish to rest here tonight before heading home, you are welcome,"
Jim looked from Blinky back to the fur and fabric lined hollows "....how do you guys feel about crashing here for tonight?"
"I'm down, it's past midnight and I'm wiped, so I could go for a few Z's before heading home,"
Toby strode past her towards the hollow in the middle, turning around and flopping backwards onto the pile.
He shifted this way and that on the pile of furs and towels, expression turning contemplative, then satisfied "Yeah this kind of rules, though I'm not a fan of the tarp,"
"Heck I'll take it,"
Jim strode forward, reaching down as Toby lifted the tarp up, blue martial crinkling. Off to the side Mary and Darci were inspecting the hollow on the far right.
"...this could work," Mary said slowly
"Hang on are we actually considering sleeping here tonight?" Darci's voice was even, red rimmed eyes the only trace of her earlier tears.
"Why not? We could use a nap, and a place to hunker down safe from goblins until sunrise," Mary shrugged "Give Jim all the tarps and hand towels, hang up some of the curtains for changing areas, and we've got the perfect club house!"
Claire let their chatter fade to background noise, kneeling down and slowly running her hands over the fox fur. It was soft, thick and warm, the thought of napping on a pile of these sounded heavenly.
The idea of sleeping over in Trollmarket hadn't crossed her mind before, but Claire wasn't opposed. And the idea of having their own hang out space down here was growing on her more and more.
A club house; somewhere in Trollmarket they could hang out without worrying about being stepped on or stumbling into a fire hazard. A library full of trollish books full of magic and ancient myths just a few feet away, no fussy babies or parents to nag about chores and studying....
She spun around, practically bursting with giddy energy "Blinky this is great!"
"You...like it?"
"Like it? We love it!" Toby pulled himself up from his hollow, passing a curtain to Mary "This place is totally awesomesauce!"
"Yeah!" Jim flashed a fanged grin "It'll be nice to have a place to crash down here,"
Mary lifted the curtain this way and that, sectioning off one of the hollows from the others "Some modesty curtains here and there, some Christmas lights, and this place will be perfect!"
"We could get a spider plant and a lamp for it..." Darci said, an excited grin slowly but surely spreading across her face "Maybe even a peace lily!"
"AAARRRGGHH and Blinky help," AAARRRGGHH said with a slow nod.
Beside him Blinky was positively radiant "I'm so glad you enjoy it! We worked very hard to make this space habitable for human striplings,"
Tarps and blackout curtains weren't exactly comfy, and it would be fine for a night or to, but sleeping in a round depression in the ground long term would be murder on their backs. But there was no reason to rain on Blinky's parade, besides, they could sort out the sleeping materials and bring a few cots down here later.
"Thanks Blinky," she smiled at him "We really appreciate it,"
Somehow Blinky's grin widened even further.
*
"Thanks again for checking in,"
"No problem," the police officer tipped his hat with a smile "You just watch out and don't trip over any more silent alarms,"
Nomura forced out a bubbly laugh "Will do, you have a good night,"
"Thanks, you to," the officer gave perky wave, that Nomura forced herself to return as the officer headed back to his car where his partner was waiting, easing the museum side door closed behind him.
The second it latched shut she dropped her hand and her grin.
That was fucking stupid.
Nomura was no coward, but no changeling started a fight that they didn't stand a good chance of winning, and she certainly wasn't an exception. The new Trollhunter, just as young and inexperienced as their intel promised, stumbling into her lap with a gaggle of human cronies. While it had been more than a little shocking to see the Trollhunter working with human kids it wasn't like a bunch of pubescent fleshbags actually mattered. It should have been easy to beat the little junior hunter bloody and drag them to Bular. It was easy, the brat barely knew how to swing his sword and the goblins had been keeping the humans busy. She'd had the hunter on the ropes without even breaking a sweat.
Her molars ground together painfully, heels snapping against the marble floor.
Only for the hunter to pull a fast one and sick the goblins on her, and even worse, trip an alarm on the way out. Nomura was barely able to pull herself free from the goblins and shift back to human in time greet the arriving police officers. Doing her best to laugh off the situation as being clumsy and accidentally setting off the alarm by tripping over a box.
Thankfully they'd bought it and left without a fuss. If this had been treated like a full on break in word would have made it back to the precinct and Thatcher, the sadistic prick that he was, would have thrown her under the bus.
Or more specifically, at Bular's mouth.
Thankfully Nomura had been able to avoid that outcome, now she only had to deal with pissy goblins, a massive mess in the bridge exhibit, and her own wounded pride on letting an uppity whelp and their human sidekicks get the better of her.
Reaching said mess at the Kilahead exhibit, shattered crates and smashed goblin remains smeared over torn down tarps scattered on and around the half finished stone arch. It almost looked like an explosion went off. And of course, she couldn't exactly delegate cleaning this to the human custodians.
An upturned crate blocked her path. Resisting the urge to kick it across the room, she squatted down and lifted it up, moving to set it alongside the wall.
A full deep cleaning would take days, but hopefully she could get this under control enough to get out of here before midni--
"Trouble with burglars?"
In an instant her already sour mood turned rancid.
Whipping around she threw the crate with all the force she could muster.
A raised eyebrow, half a step to left, wood shattering harmlessly against a marble column and green eyes staring at her with cool amusement.
"Temper temper dear,"
Nomura growled.
Perfect, just fucking perfect. Talk about the absolute last thing she needed tonight.
"Why are you here!?" she spat.
"Can't I be worried my fellow changeling's well being?" he strode towards her, running a finger along the edge of a crate, voice dripping with faux concern.
Nomura had to bite back a harsh bark of laughter. Worried? Not fucking likely.
"Well no need to lose sleep," she bent down to pick up another crate "Trollhunter was here, he got away, bridge is fine," she strode to the side of the room and set it against the wall "You can go now,"
She moved to go grab another crate only to jerk back when she saw Stricklander only inches away, expression flat but glowing eyes piercing through her.
"I find it difficult to believe that one of the order's top fighters could lose to a stripling with only months of training,"
Forcing back the urge to flash the glow in her own eyes, Nomura sidestepped him, making a beeline for an upturned crate "He got lucky, sicked the goblins on me,"
"And you lack your own luck?"
She tore down a stained tarp "Fuck you,"
Stricklander didn't even flinch "If you're incapable of safeguarding the bridge there are plenty of capable agents who would be happy to take your place. And we always need more boots on the ground scouting,"
Those words stopped Nomura dead in her tracks, frozen bent halfway down reaching for the crate, blood reaching a boil. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to throttle the smug, arrogant bastard, even though she knew he'd cut her carotid before she got close.
How dare he. How dare he. Switching her back to crawling through the sewers all night so chumps like Gladys and Thatcher could take her place!? Not on her fucking life! Nomura wasn't going to stand by and let herself get screwed over, and she hadn't risen high in the order just by cutting off heads and kicking teeth in.
Any changeling worth their salt knew that the right bit of intel was more deadly than any blade.
Snapping back up and pivoting on her heel, Nomura stared Stricklander dead in the eye "The Trollhunter didn't get away on their own, they had help,"
A single eyebrow arced "Oh? Did their trainers accompany them?"
"No. Human help."
Stricklander didn't react, face a neutral mask.
Nomura wished she'd gotten a better look at the teenagers earlier, or even counted the number of them. The only thing she knew for sure was it was a mixed gender group of three to five. She'd been more focused on the Trollhunter. Not focused enough as it was, but Stricklander didn't need to know any of that.
"A group of them, young, probably around the Trollhunter's age, I could be persuaded to tell you more if I...."
She trailed off. Stricklander didn't move, standing still as a statue, watching her with calm passivity.
Her heart sank "You knew."
A mild grin broke through his veneer of composure "Don't be too hard on yourself, I've known about our Trollhunter's companions for quite some time now,"
This time she wasn't able to stop the glow flashing in her sclera, the lapse in control infuriating her even more. Hands balled into trembling fists, whole body simmering with rage.
She was such an idiot! Stricklander didn't come here to berate her, he came here to confirm what she'd seen. What he already knew.
Just like that her intel was worthless. She only knew that a small group of human teens was helping the Trollhunter. Which meant that Stricklander already knew their full names, home addresses, and social security numbers.
"Still moving me to scouting duty?" she growled through gritted teeth.
Stricklander, the insufferable prick who actually was as smart as he thought he was, had the nerve to chuckle "No not just yet. I believe as long as you're...discreet about tonight's incident I can be persuaded to keep you where you are,"
Translation. Don't spread what you learned around and I won't cause problems for you.
"Well consider my lips sealed," she narrowed her eyes at him "So what are you actually planning on doing about the hunter's human lackeys?"
"Oh don't worry your head about it," he oh so casually wiped dust off the edge of an unpacked bridge stone "Though I suppose tonight's incident has moved up my plans a bit, it's nothing to concern yourself with,"
Translation. I have a scheme in progress but I'm not telling you shit.
"Fine, whatever, do what you want," she bent down and picked up another crate "I'll just stay here unpacking boxes and guarding rocks,"
"Excellent," Stricklander chuckled again "See that you do, but I think you should stash the bridge away for the time being, in case our young hunter and their merry band recognized something they shouldn't have tonight,"
Nomura actually staggered, nearly droppeding the crate in her arms. No-- they couldn't have...could they? The hunter hadn't gotten close but she hadn't kept track of the humans. Even if they didn't recognize it one of them might have snapped a photo to show the hunter later. It had never even occurred to her that the hunter or the teens might have recognized Kilahead for what it--
"But I did."
She whipped her head around, startled enough to actually stare at him in open mouthed shock for a few seconds. Stricklander smirking back at her. He couldn't read minds, she knew he couldn't, but times like this, when he could read people so well and respond to what they were thinking without them even saying a word, was why the rumor that he could still persisted.
"I'll leave the task in your capable hands," Stricklander turned and started striding away "And see that you keep better control of the goblins this time,"
His footsteps trailed into silence, leaving Nomura alone with the stones and the boxes.
With a shriek she hurled the crate in her arms to the ground, wood shattering against marble.
Stupid!