Harbingers Plight
Chapter 6-
Toby had tried to call Jim this morning at least three times,but weirdly Jim didn’t pick up the phone,only texting a message.
‘Sick.StAy hom’
The short message was basically all typos,which was a little weird but Toby shrugged it off,he headed off to school alone. He planned to go to Trollmarket after school to show Blinky and Argh the picture Jim took in the museum. Not to mention the horrific encounter with the museum curator,who he had thought was a human was actually some monster.
———-
Jim felt like the world was against him,when he woke up he was tangled in his blankets feeling strange. He wanted to remember what had happened last night before passing out,that familiar sensation of suffocating darkness. Groaning,his voice hoarser and a little lower than usual,he heard his mom knock on the bedroom door,
“Jim? You’re going to be late for school! Are you okay?” Barbara knew that her son normally woke up early to cook breakfast and lunch before school. She even suspected that he might be sulking after getting in trouble last night,honestly she didn’t know what he was thinking. She was about to open the door to check on him,but finally heard a response.
“Don’t come in!” His voice sounded hoarser, “I don’t want to get you sick…”
Barbara raised an eyebrow,her pretty face pinched with indecision,Jim did sound sick,but she was a doctor,how could she not take care of her own son?
“Honey,I can take a day off to take care of you-“
She was cut off by Jim,
“No!- uh…I mean,it’s fine mom,I just want to sleep…you go…”
Barbara sighed,rubbing her nose under her glasses,maybe she’d been working too much and neglecting her son. He had been acting out and more lethargic these days. Relenting, she called the school to let them know he’d be absent.
“Alright,but I’m leaving medicine on the counter downstairs,make sure you take it. We’re still not done talking about what happened last night mister.”
Jim waited until he heard his mom’s footsteps leave the house completely. When he was sure she was gone he slowly rose from his bed,avoiding the side where sunlight from the window showed through. Stretching his figure up to full height, he felt his joints pop. While swallowing dryly he looked down at his hands. Still normal skin…five on the left,four fingers on the right?!. Yeah,he texted Toby he was sick today,not caring that his fingers size had caused his careless typing to fat finger the words.
“Great…” Jim grumbled,he could only hope this was temporary…but he wasn’t going to wait around inside his house to find out. He took a step back and was startled when he almost tripped. His body had gained some height,his limbs were longer causing his unexpected clumsiness. “Come on…” his hand brushed through his hair,feeling for any changes,there were two small bumps pushing up on his scalp.
In the bathroom mirror he took in his appearance,his pajamas had shrunk against his frame,exposing his midriff due to the cropped and tight T-shirt that stretched across his shoulders. His pajama pants were worse,the cuffs just below his knees now,maybe mid calf.
“For the love of Deya,how in the world-“ he scrunched his face helplessly,sure it felt strangely good to be closer to his half-troll form; but this was bad timing. It was like something had hit fast forward on puberty for him,muscles grew a little more,shoulders broadened,and his forearms were slightly wider. Not even his feet were spared…they were larger, longer, and his toes had merged becoming tridactyl with black curved nails.
“I gotta go to the bookstore.I should find Douxie first…” he sighed,digging around in his closet for the biggest clothes he could find. One was a large hoodie,and the other happened to be a pair of sweatpants his mom had bought him last year for Christmas,saying he’d grow into them.
“Or outgrow them..” he grumbled tugging them on ,they were a little high water up to the ankle. As for shoes, he found a solution by wrapping his feet with bandages from the first aid kit. He definitely didn't have shoes that’d fit now. After thirty minutes of dressing himself,he put his hood up. One thing he had to test was just how he would react to the sun now,thankfully it didn’t take much sunlight to try. By the window he cautiously stuck his hand into the light,it didn’t really hurt at first,but after about five minutes his skin began to tingle. His nails felt like coals and the flesh felt like he’d spilt boiling water on it,he hissed and pulled his hand back.
“Well…I’m at least not turning to stone…yet..”
It was only a matter of keeping his hood up and avoiding prolonged sun on skin contact. So he left the house,determined to go to GDT Arcane Books. He inhaled the fresh spring air,looking at the bright flowers littering the front of houses decoratively. The normalcy of everything around him made him feel out of place,wistfully he smirked continuing down the street. It took about an hour on foot,but he found his way to the bookstore. He pushed the door,a bell jingling to announce his entrance,
“Welcome in! Let me know if I can help you find anything.” Douxie called from the back,while a black cat hopped onto the front counter,squinting its green eyes at Jim. It was nice to see Archie again he thought,so he took his hood off,walking around the shop. Honestly he had never taken the time to look around the shop before it was trashed,it was cozy. Archie had strutted over at some point sniffing at him,his black tail flicking around.Jim gazed down at the cat with glasses tangling around his legs like a normal feline.
“Hello Arch,would you mind getting Douxie for me?” He spoke softly,causing Archie to stiffen,bristling with wariness as his eyes sharpened to points.
“I’m a friend,I promise.”
The black cat slinked away into the back,the shapeshifting dragon quickly going to Hisirdoux,who was organizing stacks of books in the back.
“Douxie! There’s a strange creature in the shop asking for you,it smells unlike any magical creature I’ve ever seen.” Archie couldn’t help adding, “it smells like a human! But it smells of the earth,like a troll,something else too.”
Douxie was confused,why would such a thing be looking for him? Dusting off his palms he brushed strands of blue hair out of his face; when he walked up front he saw another teenager flipping through a book. He heard the movement and turned to face him,a smile on his lips,
“Good to see you again Douxie. Ah..I guess you probably wouldn’t remember our friendship.” Jim shut the book he was holding and put it back on the shelf. He tried to look friendly,knowing the scar running through his eyebrow and faintly across his nose made his face slightly fierce.
“I should probably explain myself,” Douxie nodded,still wary about how much this stranger really knew.
“Then let’s talk upstairs.”
The teenager,the cat dragon,and the wizard slipped past the employees only sign; Douxie flipped the open sign in the window to read closed with a casual motion of magic.
—————-
Without Jim,Toby felt the whole day was boring,without him there he didn’t have anyone to talk to. He sighed,planting his face on the cafeteria table,nothing delicious to eat today made by Jim,just nasty cafeteria food. Maybe I should stop by Jimbo's house,check on him if he’s sick.
Gym class was even more miserable without Jim,at least when they played dodgeball,it seemed like his training had started to help his reflexes. Well,until Steve nailed him in the face with a rubber ball.
Toby finished changing out in the locker room,sighing as he rubbed his still red cheek; not paying attention to where he was going while walking,he bumped into someone. When he looked up he hadn’t expected it to be Claire Nuñez.
“Colby,right? Where’s that boy you’re always with,John..Jim, or whatever?” She asked with her arms crossed,pressing him to respond with an intimidating expression.
“It’s Toby actually,” Toby sputtered out,confused why this girl who never even paid him or Jim attention was now bothering him. “He’s uh,he’s home sick.Why do you ask?”
Claire furrowed her brows,a little frustrated,she had wanted to confront Jim about what she saw at the museum. “Nervermind, tell him that I’m looking for him when you see him.” Sighing, she turned away and walked with her bag,leaving Toby utterly baffled.
“Huh,the day Jimbo's not here she’s looking for him,” muttering to himself while opening his locker,he took out his phone,no messages from his best bud still. “I don’t see what’s so great about her anyway?” He avoided Steve and went to geometry class,doing his best to take notes,knowing that Jim would probably die trying to understand the makeup lesson by himself.
The freckled boy's mind wandered though,he had a duel with Draal coming up in a couple days too…it was his own fault,kind of. Jim had tried to prevent it from happening but that didn’t last long when the blue troll insulted Blinky. If anything he was lucky Jim didn’t pounce on the troll right there.Draal challenged Jim but he,Tobia Domzalski,stepped forward saying that he was the trollhunter and his battle was with him. Regrets definitely there but now there was nothing he could do.
His thoughts were disturbed by Miss Janice calling him up to the board to answer a question.
—————-
Back in the bookstore Jim sat across from Douxie at a small coffee table,tea between them,but he didn’t touch his. His taste had been on the fritz recently,so the floral aroma in the air made him feel a little disgusted.
“Alright, so from what you’ve said you’re the Trollhunter from the future,who went back in time with the new amulet that we made with the help of alien tech.” Douxie sat back in his chair trying to process the information,sure it sounded outlandish but he was familiar with magic,stranger things can happen.
“May I see the amulet?”
Jim nodded,but hesitated for a moment,he only had to think about the amulet and it appeared in his hand. It shined with flickering colors,like the tail end of a shooting star. The metal holding it together had both Trollish and wizard script delicately carved into it;and the metal was similar to blue steel. Douxie saw the amulet with surprise and curiosity,he wanted to inspect the amulet closer.
A strange feeling washed over Jim,this wasn’t the amulet in his memory at all. What was this? He looked at the inscription carved intricately but plentifully on it, “For the good of all..Twilight is mine to command…?”
It had changed,the inscription on it was different than before!!
Not to mention that when he held the Amulet it felt as if he was holding something much more precious than just a magic relic. He experienced a much deeper connection to it than he previously had with Merlin’s. It didn’t make sense,how did it change?
“Is something wrong?” Douxie noticed Jim’s strangeness, the hand that had reached for the amulet pausing.
“I feel like…what I’m holding isn’t the amulet but my heart,it’s freaking me out.” It was undoubtedly something he’d never felt before, “this is the first time I’ve actually taken it out and looked at it this close since coming back.”
Jim gave the wizard a crooked smile,but I couldn’t hide the awkwardness rolling around inside.
Archie hopped up onto the table,sniffing at his hand holding the magic amulet, “it smells unique,but it reminds me of biological magic.” In return he got blank stares, obviously these humans knew nothing about what he said. Archie rolled his eyes, “Is this thing fused with you Jim?”
Oh,right he just remembered the marking that was on his left pectoral bordering the center,it was the same circular inscription as the amulets.
“Maybe?” He replied incompetently before pulling his hoodie off,revealing his smooth bare upper body. The marking was clear to see,along with some scars that had appeared at some point. “Does this count?”
Douxie saw the tattoo like inscription carved into his skin and only rubbed his temples.
—————-
The Trollhunter had one last class of the day before he headed home,biking the long way back. He’d become more cautious since they encountered Bular,so he moved quickly before the sun set.
After knocking on the door of Jim’s place he waited a moment before calling his friend's phone,he was sent to voicemail again. Frowning he opened their chat,Jim really had been acting strange ever since he picked up the amulet. Sure,he understood that trolls and the things they spoke about were overwhelming,not to mention Bular being on the loose.
IamGunTobot:’Everything okay?’
Jimmyjam: (Typing)…(Typing)…
Toby watched the bubble for typing pop up several times,waiting for his friend to respond.
Jimmyjam: ‘Still feeling sick,I’ll see you later…’
The curly haired ginger sighed,but returned to his bike's saddle,heading to the canals. He was going to Trollmarket. When he made it to the Heroes Forge,he was surprised to see Blinky and ARRRGH were already there. The two trolls had been performing maintenance on the parts of the forge,turning when they heard Toby panting as he ran in.
“I gotta talk to you guys!”
