"Trolls," Strickler grumbled, mumbling a few colorful adjectives for the stone-brained creatures.

"So Bular blew your cover?" NotEnrique shook his head and chuckled in disbelief.

"They're foolish if they think she's going to confront me face to face. She's too clever for that, she knows her strength isn't her strength." He clicked his pen together pensively. "She's bright… she knows knowledge is power, but she doesn't know that I know…" Strickler withdrew his notebook and began to flip through it. He skimmed through his notes and scribbled in between the margins.

NotEnrique got on all fours and angled his head to try to read the changeling script. "What are you doing?"

"Feeding her information." He continued to write as he explained. "You're going to let it slip that I have dinner plans and will be out of the office. She's going to wisely seek my secrets. Secrets I've planted."

NotEnrique sat at the edge of the desk, his ears twitched inquisitively. "How's that going to get us the amulet?"

"You are going to take it."

"Me?!" His ears pointed straight up in surprise.

Strickler withdrew from seemingly nowhere a medallion. It looked almost exactly like the ever elusive artifact. Pointedly he opened the top drawer and stuck the amulet to the underside of the desktop. "When she's distracted by the notebook, which no doubt she will be, you will replace the amulet. Do not allow her to trigger the incantation while she is here, lest she realize she is without it."

"Why would she need to suit up in a school?"

"I will plant another secret in case she gets too nosy, but she won't have the luxury of time to investigate it. You won't want to meet my guard, either, so be prepared to leave quite promptly."

"If she ain't got the amulet, wouldn't you want your guard to get her and be done with it?"

"The amulet will call for another Trollhunter. No, we won't take that risk. Besides, with a human Trollhunter, I'll have control over the chaos, not Bular."

•••

The door to the nursery opened precisely at feeding time. As Claire stepped in, a green light flashed. "Feeding time," the changeling licked his chops. The girl left the baby bottle on the bureau and took a covered paper cup out of the sleeve on the side of her school bag. The changeling perked up. "Is that root beer? I thought ma never let us get soda at the drive through. Something about it being overpriced and cans at home."

"I made a few stops on the way home tonight. I think we started off on the wrong foot, so I got you your favorite: cheeseburger, Joe fries, and the best part…" she handed the cup to the changeling and he chugged greedily through the straw. She placed the paper sack beside him in the crib and dropped the school bag by her feet.

He finally stopped chugging to inhale. "Glug! Awe, you shouldn't have."

She leaned her arms on the rail of the crib as he devoured the contents from the paper sack. "I know. So you're going to make it up to me and tell me exactly what I want to know."

The hamburger bun suddenly seemed unusually dry and he swallowed hard.

"Where's Jim."

"Never met the guy," he answered indifferently.

She reached a hand out and metal assembled itself into a gauntlet around his throat. She kept her voice steady. "Where's the bridge."

"That's classified!" He wheezed. "I ain't supposed to know and this is exactly why!"

"You knew Strickler was a changeling."

"I'll throw you a bone, just let me wet my whistle and I'll sing you a pretty song." She released her grip and permitted the amulet to deactivate. He took another swig of glug before he spoke. "The professor is dating the boy's mom."

She huffed. "So?"

"She invited him over for dinner. If he keeps his secrets anywhere, it's gonna be in his office. And he won't be there to guard it."

She pondered. There were only so many secrets he could hide on his person. Perhaps he had a hint or two hidden in the office he practically lived in.

"You know, you're not that bad. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"You got me grub," he pointed a fry at her. "I'll consider us even."

•••

"So what's up, Claire?" Toby joined the girls at the bike racks, their preferred rendezvous point since they came to realize that talking during class when a changeling was teaching would be too risky.

"Yeah, Claire. Spill." Mary was impatient about being kept in the dark.

Claire held her hands out as if to brace them with what she was about to say. "First of all, did you know that Strickler is dating Jim's mom?"

"Duh," Mary scoffed.

"What?" Darci exclaimed.

"Oh," Toby deflated.

"Tonight he's supposed to go over for dinner. Since he practically lives in his office, I'm going to break in and see if there's anything there about where they moved the bridge, and maybe even what really happened to Jim."

"I'm going, too," Toby announced. "Jim is my friend, and if he's trapped in Strickler's creepy troll hands, then he needs me."

Claire nodded in agreement. "You live across the street, right? Can Darci and Mary use your place to scope it out?"

"Hold up, C-bomb." Mary threw her hands up, though she couldn't hide the mischievous smirk that began to form. "You want me and Darci to spy on Strickler's date?"

"You're just going to watch. Do not engage, he doesn't know we're going to break into his office and I don't want him to find out."

"Covert operation," Toby karate chopped the air. "My two favorite words. After Taco Tuesday, of course."

"I'll borrow some of my dad's gear," Darci offered.

•••

Draal snorted. "I do not approve of this plan. It lacks a certain "killing the changeling" component."

Claire rubbed her forehead as she shook her head in the dark of the basement. "I know, but if we kill NotEnrique, then the changelings might kill my real brother-"

"Other changeling, then. There are options." He smirked.

"We need to stay focused and find the bridge first," she scolded.

"We could rip off his limbs, make him talk, more like scream. Now that sounds like a good idea."

"We can't have Jim's mom finding out about trolls, or Strickler might kill her. Or maybe he won't. I don't want to find out. Just guard the place, I don't want anything happening to my parents while I'm gone."

A voice from the kitchen called down to the basement. "Claire, are we out of onions?"

Draal plucked an onion off the shelf and handed it to her. "Coming, mama," Claire called out.

•••

A brown sedan pulled up to the house across the street. Darci watched through a set of binoculars from the window in Toby's room for the teacher to be permitted in by the doctor. "The teacher is in the henhouse," she called back to Mary, who sat on a cushion on the floor leaning against the bed.

"Mission is a go," Mary relayed through the phone.

"Copy that," Toby confirmed. "I am waiting at the rendezvous point." He waited. There was silence outside the locker he hid in. "I said, I am waiting at the rendezvous point." Still there was no response. He rattled the locker door. "NotEnrique!"

A vent overhead swung open and from it descended the small changeling. His nose guided him to the occupied locker. He peered inside with his glowing eyes. "Gimme the sock first, then I'll let you out."

"Now? That wasn't the deal." The changeling fell out of sight from the slits in the locker door. Afraid the changeling would abandon him, Toby struggled in his cramped prison to pull a sock from his pocket. He forced it through the slot and it was greedily tugged at, yet he kept a hold of it. "You'll get the other one when the job is done," Toby warned. Still he waited as NotEnrique gobbled up the garment. "Open up!" Finally the locker door swung open and he fell out like a sack of potatoes. He got back onto his hands and knees to regain stealth.

"Let's make it snappy," NotEnrique instructed. He plopped onto Toby's back as if he were riding a mount. "I've got a 9:00 pm feeding I don't wanna miss."

Toby insisted on slinking against the walls like a spy. "I coulda let you in," the changeling said casually as he strolled down the middle of the hall on all fours. Toby hummed suspenseful spy music to himself until he was adjacent to the double doors leading out. He dragged a finger on the handle and licked his fingertip. He peered through the gap between the door and pressed himself back against the wall before giving the go- ahead to the changeling. NotEnrique climbed above the doors so he could use his weight against the handles.

The doors swung open to permit entry to the patiently waiting trolls and Trollhunter. She rest her hands on her hips akimbo. "You seriously stayed in the locker all this time? NotEnrique could have let you in with us."

Toby shrugged. "Maybe I didn't trust that he'd help us."

"So you were going to take the chance that you'd be stuck in the locker instead?"

"I know how to work the door from the inside. Jim showed me, it's just really hard when you don't have any elbow room."

Blinky inhaled deeply as he stepped in and marveled at the inside of the school. "The fabled halls of Alexandria could not hold a candle to the high school of Arcadia Oaks."

"The halls of what?"

"Aha! Feigned ignorance. You are a funny little man, Tobias."

Claire leaned toward Toby to whisper. "It's a library." Toby shrugged in confusion as to why the troll would be so enchanted with their school.

AAARRRGGHH! grunted suddenly and halted in his steps. Toby swiftly came to his rescue, and at the sound of the boy's voice, the troll reached for him to pick him up, unable to see past the banner in his face that spread across the hall. "Careful, Wingman. We gotta be stealthy." Toby tried to tape up the banner back in its rightful place as the troll held him up. "We can't leave a trace. Covert operations are supposed to be covert."

Claire warned them at the sound of polished leather shoes squeaking on the vinyl tile floors. "Guys, we have company."

Toby stuttered. "I thought the coast was clear!"

NotEnrique shrugged indifferently. "Was that my responsibi-" His mouth clicked shut as AAARRRGGHH! pressed a finger to it before snatching him from plain sight.

•••

"So I said to my co-worker, "I brought you a midnight snack." Too bad for him, he had indigestion for days." Strickler snorted as he laughed, and Barbara couldn't help but chuckle herself. "Well, that's the problem with eating Italian."

Their good humor was interrupted with a phone ringing. "Oh, I'm sorry, it's the hospital. I have to take this."

"Go, go," he encouraged kindly. She stepped into the kitchen for privacy as she engaged in a discussion about bereavement leave.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Strickler took out his phone and brochure from the pockets inside his blazer and quietly placed an order.

•••

"Why is Señor Uhl patrolling the hall at night?" Claire waited until they were secure in the office before she voiced her confusion. "Toby, you were in charge of checking the teachers with the gaggletack-"

"He turned up negative. The only one I couldn't manage was Strickler."

"It's probably for the best, anyway. Spread out, he has to have something here."

For several minutes, there was only a quiet rustle as objects were moved about and an occasional hum from a curious spy. AAARRRGGHH! reached under tables and bookshelves. Claire checked in the front and back covers of each book. NotEnrique looked through a magazine he had stashed there prior to their visit.

"I hate to say this, Claire, but everything appears to be quite normal." Blinky held out a book to free any loose pages as he spoke.

"If I were a changeling, where would I keep my secrets?" Toby pondered. He swiveled in the teacher's seat.

Claire glared at NotEnrique. "What?" She cleared her throat. He exhaled pitifully. "... in plain sight."

Claire considered it. She kicked Toby out of the chair and took his place. She steepled her hands together, elbows propped on the desk.

"What are you doing?"

"Channeling his character." She reached for a pen and clicked it in her hand as she looked around the surface of the desk. He kept the surface too clean, like someone who micromanages, someone who erases his tracks. Someone who would hide secrets where they wouldn't stand out and draw attention. And he had to appear normal doing it. Therefore, it couldn't be in out-of-the-way hiding places like in the ceiling tiles or under floorboards. She turned the chair slightly to analyze the drawers. The bottom one had a lock and so was a much more appealing place to put secrets. Therefore it was more likely to be in the top drawer. She opened it and examined the placement of all the articles before she picked up the journal on top. On top meant more frequent use. She leafed through it and smiled. "Trollish. … sort of." NotEnrique clambered into the open drawer to read the notebook with her.

Blinky leaned over her shoulder. "The Trollish alphabet, yet the words are English. In slang, it would be referred to as changeling script."

"Easier to read than Axel's Almanac," she scoffed.

"Care to read aloud," Toby pouted, arms folded.

"... Jareth was successful in making the Nuñez swap…" Her heart thundered in her chest. NotEnrique's ears twitched downward in uneasiness. She flipped to before it. "YA suggested the Nuñez swap…"

There was a sound of stone clicking on stone as Blinky tapped his chin. "YA? What is that code for?"

Bular's laugh echoed in the chambers of her mind. "Young Atlas. Jim suggested…"

Toby's eyes lit up at the mention. "Jim's alive?!"

"Well, this entry was before the explosion, so maybe not, but he was working for the changelings."

"No way! Why would he do that?"

Blinky answered indifferently. "Perhaps he himself is a changeling."

Toby discarded that possibility. "Who's this Jareth dude? Another changeling?"

"It's another code name. That's the name of the Goblin King in a movie. That's probably the hooded stalker. He controls the goblins, and he used them to swap out my brother." She looked sharply at NotEnrique.

"'Ey, don't look at me! I never met the guy!"

Toby became antsy and jumped around at the ideas this new information triggered. "The entries are dated, right? Does it say what happened to the bridge after you broke into the museum?"

She skimmed through it. There was a note about Groe being dispatched. There was a note about YA being dispatched, the same night as the chemistry class explosion. She wasn't sure what she felt when she read those words. There was a note about Nomura compromised on the same date, followed with a brief message about moving. "It doesn't say. Dead end."

•••

"Is, um… is everything okay with the food?" Barbara returned from the kitchen to find that her guest hadn't taken more than a bite, preferring to fill up on wine instead.

"Oh, yes, I was just waiting for your company."

There was an awkwardness between them. They both knew but were too embarrassed to give voice to it. Barbara caved first. "I'm sorry. I'm terrible at cooking."

"I should have been more considerate. With everything that's been on your mind, it was cruel of me not to offer to bring something."

"No, no. I was the one who invited you to dinner. It's not gourmet, I know, but I should be able to put together a microwave meal. Instead the peas are crunchy and the chicken fried steak is cold." She had until then kept her composure, but her forced smile contorted and tears began to slip beyond her control. "He was such a good cook at such a young age… so young." She hid her face in her hands as if she could push the emotions back into her pores. Something Strickler did not forget was to keep a travel pack of tissues to offer at times like these. She apologized profusely as she accepted the gift.

"You do not need to apologize, Barbara. None of this is your fault. Don't worry about the meal, I took the liberty of ordering some Chinese delivery. Have a seat, I'll top off your glass."

•••

Mary huffed and dropped her phone on her lap. She'd caught up on all notifications and all the new content that had been uploaded in the last half hour and was utterly bored. "Have they kissed yet?"

"What?! That is not why we're here!" Darci called back over her shoulder as she maintained her sight on the house through the binoculars.

"This is boring! The gnome is having a more romantic evening." Chompski played a song for Sally, who's plastic hands were pressed together in delight, the light of a birthday candle glinting off her helmet. "That's it. I'm going in."

Darci finally put the binoculars down. "We're not supposed to engage! We're just keeping watch so we can tell Claire when he leaves."

"Don't call, I don't want you giving away my position." Mary shut the door after herself.

•••

Claire held out the notebook in one hand while she skimmed over the binds of the books on the shelves. She counted books on the shelves, counted days in the month, frowned, divided the number of books by days in a week, grumbled, and kept on, flipping through the notebook for a legend or reference to a code language.

Toby thought he'd try Claire's trick and sat in the desk chair, fiddling with the pen. "If I were Strickler, where would I keep my secrets?" He removed and replaced the cap to the pen repeatedly. Then, it clicked differently and he examined the utensil in his hands. "Oh shoot, I broke his-" Suddenly he realized that the base of the pen he'd exposed was actually a warped piece of metal. "I found a key! I found a secret key! How spy is this?"

Claire abandoned her fruitless attempt with the bookshelf. "Great job, TP!"

"A changeling key for a changeling lock. Look for a lock," Blinky instructed.

Claire took the largest books and opened them to check for secret compartments.

Blinky got sidetracked. He gasped when he lifted the lid on a piano. "I haven't seen one of these in ages," he commented. He proceeded to test his memory with the song Chopsticks.

Toby followed Claire's lead and removed a book from the shelf, but stopped at the keyhole in the wall. "I found it! What the." He wiggled the key in the keyhole but it was harder to work than his own back door. "It won't open."

Blinky regained focus and closed the piano. "As I told you, by only the hand of a changeling can one open a changeling lock."

Everyone's attention turned to NotEnrique. AAARRRGGHH! snatched up the miniature troll and Toby forced the key into his hand, which was then extended to the lock. NotEnrique glared bitterly as he tried the key, and a rumble rewarded the intruders as the bookshelf slid out of view to reveal a hidden chamber. Once AAARRRGGHH! released his grip on the changeling, NotEnrique shuddered. "I feel violated."

Toby glanced around the cave. "Gee! Look at all this stuff!" Toby found a book propped open on a stand. "Woah! Wicked."

"Undoubtedly so." Blinky regarded the text from over the boy's shoulder. "The Book of Ga-Huel, Gumm Gumm history."

"Woah, is this Gunmar? Dang, look at this guy. He looks just like you, AAARRRGGHH!"

"That's 'cause it is," NotEnrique explained as he marveled at the images from Toby's shoulder. The subject of their discussion looked away.

"Okay, yeah. Real funny." AAARRRGGHH! sighed heavily. Toby caught on from his roommate's sullen behavior. "You... used to eat people?"

Blinky interjected, recognizing that this was a sore subject for his partner. "You speak the unfortunate truth. AAARRRGGHH! was a Gumm- Gumm and a general in Gunmar's horde. But just before the Battle of Killahead, he absconded his flesh-eating ways to take an oath of peace. If it weren't for his aid, the world as you know it would look remarkably different."

"People ran away. Scream AAARRRGGHH! No. No. Stop."

Toby considered his friend's dark past and compared this new knowledge with his experiences with the gentle giant. "You might have been one then, but you're one of us now, Wingman." He held out a fist in camaraderie. The troll measured the trust in the boy's face before netting his fist with his own.

"Boom, boom."

•••

Darci heard steps climb the stairs and rolled her eyes at Mary's cowardice. The door opened, and a voice that wasn't Mary's made her leap.

"I thought you girls would like some apple pie while you study."

"Nana!" Darci turned away from the window and hid the binoculars behind her back. "You… shouldn't have."

The older woman looked around, squinting behind her coke bottle glasses. "I thought someone else was here."

"Mary's using the bathroom. The chicken surprise from school really did a number on her." She cringed at the habits she was picking up from Toby.

"Oh dear. Does she need some medicine?"

"No, that's okay, she would be embarrassed-"

"No need for anyone to be embarrassed." Nana tilted her head inquisitively at Darci. "Are you birdwatching?"

"Um…" Darci looked at the binoculars in her hands. "Yes. I know, we should be doing homework-"

Nana crossed the room and placed the pie on the desk. She pulled out the chair and held a hand out. "May I?"

Darci tried not to stutter, and wondered if Mary needed her to stall so as not to be noticed heading to the house by Nana. As slowly as she thought she could while appearing casual, she gave up the tool for the woman to use. Nana adjusted the lenses as she peered through it. "My girlfriends and I used to call it birdwatching, but we could tell you all the juiciest secrets in our neighborhood. They say you never know what goes on behind closed doors, but that's not true if there's open windows." She giggled at her own joke and trained the binoculars at the house immediately across the street. "Who's the young gentleman the doctor's been seeing?"

Darci considered for a second that Strickler was probably older than Nana. "Mr. Strickler, our AP history teacher."

"Oh, I see now why you children are taking such an interest."

•••

"They're coordinates written out in the margins here." Claire snapped a picture of the notes with her phone and sent a copy each to Toby, Mary, and Darci. She then proceeded to look up the location. "It's in Arcadia- I think this is where they hid the bridge."

Toby continued to wander around in an attempt to be useful. "Uh, guys, is this important?"

NotEnrique tried to dismiss it. "Oh, that's nothing. Probably just... decorative art."

Blinky glanced over, and at the sight of the artifact Toby held, his eyes grew large. "Tobias, do you realize what you've discovered?"

The boy looked over the circular object. "Strickler's got hemorrhoids?"

"No, it's a "fetch", an artifact of great power, a pinhole sized breach into the Darklands. It's how our changeling friend here came into our realm. Handle that with care."

Toby puffed with pride to have discovered something and scoffed at NotEnrique. "Some expert you are." His pride melted as he warily looked over the artifact. The crystalline protrusions looked like they could hurt. He tapped a tip and a hum began to build like an engine starting. A plane that shimmered with green light manifested. He poked his hand through the portal. "Ooh. Feels kinda tickly."

"Why don't you take a peek on the other side," NotEnrique suggested. "Maybe you'll see the Nuñez kid."

Toby considered. He looked through the fetch. He held it over his head. Instinctively he ducked his head as he was about to pull it down. When he realized it, he took a deep breath as if he were submerging his head into water.

The surface of the portal tingled his skin, but on the other side there was a slight, chilling, wet breeze. "Woah." It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, and he realized that from where he'd looked through the portal there was nothing below but darkness and the cragged peaks of stone that jutted up in columns around him. "So this is why they call it the Darklands." The black stone seemed to absorb rather than reflect any light, which seemed to be faint and green and without a source. "Enrique? You here, little dude?" His voice echoed off the stone, sounding more and more lonesome the further it traveled into the realm.

Off in the distance cackled a fire like a torch, but it had no visible fuel source. The fire floated, and though it was far off, it seemed to head in his direction. "Who are you," bellowed a voice from the direction of the fire.

"Uh oh."

The trolls and Trollhunter, oblivious to Toby's adventure, continued to rummage and spy when a sizzling sound caught the wary changeling's attention. The glowing purple crystal cluster hummed to life, a black tendril of smoke defying gravity as it unfurled to detect movement. "Uh, sis, looks like security found us."

AAARRRGGHH! sniffed the air, always quicker with his nose than his sight. "Smoke?"

Claire frowned at the sound of cackling and saw the sparking, black vapor. "What is-"

Blinky identified it fearfully. "We've got an antramonstrum!"

She held out her amulet. "For the glory-"

"Ain't got time for that kid, run! Metal don't work on those things! It'll slow you down!"

Claire nodded at NotEnrique's advice, recalling her struggle when trying to escape the goblin horde.

"Get out of here. Get away. Be gone!" Blinky threw books at the smoke and the books never fell to the floor, and neither did the wind they generated cause the smoke to waver. AAARRRGGHH! yanked the door from its hinges and forced it over the smoke.

"Not the scruff!" Claire snatched up NotEnrique on her way out, and was followed by Blinky. AAARRRGGHH! picked up Toby and carried him out. The antramonstrum gathered enough of itself to force the door out of its way and pursued them.

•••

Strickler returned to the dining room and deposited the plastic bags on the table to sort through the contents. "Spring rolls, crab rangoons, ah-" He held out a carton with a set of chopsticks.

"Why thank you," she beamed. Her eyes were still rimmed with red, but she tried to soak up the attention he gave her to bury the sorrow. She opened her carton with reverie. "Cashew chicken- have you been reading my diary? How did you know that was my favorite?"

"I figured it would go well with the wine," he chuckled dismissively. He thought back to when he first showed Jim the apartment he would be staying at. As the boy cooked, he couldn't help but talk about his mother and the things he would miss about her, and Strickler couldn't help but listen.

•••

Darci took another bite of apple pie. She loved how Nana made it in such a way that a slice could be picked up like a piece of brownie. Nana continued her story. "The real fun happened when we witnessed an act of domestic violence. Oh, you bet your left back pocket we were so fast to call the cops. It felt good to know we had a hand in protecting our neighborhood." She sighed dreamily as she peered out the window. "But I tell you, ain't anything sinister going on here. Just a lonely man feeling needed, and a poor mother with a hole in her heart, softening his." Darci bit her lip to keep from revealing what she knew. Her phone alerted her to a text from Claire. She must have found something in Strickler's office. "Well, I'm going to go watch another detective episode. You keep watching those swallows and chickadees or whatever birds live around here. I guess bats will be coming out soon."

•••

Cold air rushed past him. Toby couldn't see the stones that protruded near him until after they rushed past. His body was in a vice beyond his sight and he had no control over the direction he was rushing through the world.

"Who are you?" The flaming sphere bellowed as it chased him down.

"What's happening?"

"Who are you?!"

"Aaaaaaah!" The light glinted off a shard of obsidian as he flew headfirst toward a boulder of volcanic glass.

Suddenly he was blinded with light, and the echoes of his screams were stifled in the narrow halls of his high school. "I'm okay," her declared as he observed the familiar setting and friendly faces.

A hissing down the hall drew closer. Black, narrow billows of smoke streaked across the ceiling, blocking the fluorescent lights. "I'm not okay," he decided fearfully.

"AAARRRGGHH!, take Toby and NotEnrique and get out of here." Claire tossed the changeling in his direction, who grabbed onto the mossy mane. Immediately they made their escape.

"I said watch the scruff!"

"Yes, and we'll lure it away from you." Blinky waved his arms. "Follow us, you gaseous cretin!"

It sparked and hissed. Then it obeyed. Scholar and student sprinted down the halls. "So what do we do, Blinky?" Claire called out to him as they ran.

"We're luring it away!"

"And then what?"

"I don't know-" he turned down the hall with her. She had flashbacks to when she was trying to out run Bular.

"You don't know?"

"They're not native to the surface. There wasn't a reason for me to study them."

"You play Chopsticks on piano. What was the reason for that?"

"A story for another time."

At the end of the hall were the double doors to outside. "If we close the doors behind us, it would be trapped in the school, right?"

"Unfortunately it would behave as any gas would and expand. And I doubt this structure is airtight."

The last thing she wanted to do was set the thing free. "Can it see?"

"I doubt it, it seems to sense its prey by feeling for changes in the air."

Claire looked around. She pointed at the stone ring in his hand. "What did you say that thing did?"

"The fetch? It's a pinhole to the Darklands."

Thoughts fired away in her mind. Perhaps the creature could sense the pressure in the air generated by the portal. "Then let's send it home."

Together they held up the fetch. The antramonstrum billowed and curled into itself before it charged at them. Claire cried out in anticipation. The vapors slammed into the portal braced by the troll and human, and though it was being fed into the portal, the force of it pushed the two back. Claire's shoes left skid marks, and Blinky's feet scraped at the vinyl.

The double doors opened behind them with a clamour of worried voices and three more sets of hands found a grip on the fetch. With the support of AAARRRGGHH!, Toby, and even NotEnrique, they stopped sliding. The cackling of the creature contended with the cackle of the portal, yet the sound from each diminished as the hallway cleared.

Finally the smell of smoke ceased and the lights shined brightly in the mundane hall. Claire sighed. "Good work, Trollhunters." She looked at NotEnrique as she said it, smiling warmly. "You should probably head back before mom and dad notice you're gone."

"Eh, right. Sis." He leapt down from the large troll's back and snuck out between the double doors.

"Thanks for coming back for us," she said to AAARRRGGHH! and Toby.

"We're a team," the boy beamed. He extended a fist to the troll, who in turn curled his paw into a fist to tap against his.

"Boom, boom."

•••

"Oh my gosh," Mary panted as she entered the bedroom. "He is a hopeless romantic! He knew her favorite food? He saved the dinner, and didn't directly criticize her cooking once. I almost forgot he was a bad guy."

"You missed the kiss," Darci announced.

"I what?! They-"

"Calm down, it's not like it was a lengthy session. They just definitely dig each other."

Mary plopped onto the bed. "He's so good at pretending. The whole time he talked like Jim was dead." She stared blankly at the ceiling. "What if he is?"

"But the point is that it's in question," Darci reminded her, "and if Jim is dead, then Strickler had something to do with it."

"Are we sure that's what Bular said? What if he's the one that's lying?"

Darci packed away her father's binoculars. "Seriously, Mare?"

"Strickler just sounded like such a nice guy that I want to root for him!"

The door to the bedroom opened and the chamber suddenly filled to capacity, AAARRRGGHH! being last to force his way through the doorway. "How'd it go," Darci asked.

"We found a thing!" Toby brandished the fetch like a trophy.

"A few things," Claire added.

"The late classmate was a changeling," Blinky contributed.

"What?!"

"Hold up!" Toby's demeanor became aggressive. "There is no way that Jim was a changeling!"

"Tobias, it is in a changeling's nature to be deceptive in order to gain the trust of humans and secure their role-"

"I know Jim, he's not like that!" Toby stomped in anger. The girls looked warily at each other, and AAARRRGGHH!'s eyes frowned with concern.

Claire noticed his eyes begin to water. "It's been a long night, and we've made several discoveries. Let's get some rest and we can talk about it more tomorrow."

"Good idea, Claire." Darci muttered her agreement and touched a hand to Toby's shoulder as she passed him. "Call me if you need to talk." He continued to fume, though he tried to look away before tears spilled. Mary mumbled as she gathered their things to leave.

Claire didn't know what to say to comfort Toby. She read herself that Jim had a hand in her brother getting kidnapped, and in that same journal was echoed his death once more. She couldn't claim to really know him, they spoke on the phone once since he moved and not at all before then. But Toby was best friends with him since Jim moved in across the street. To be told that the person he trusted had been a villain must have been devastating. She pointedly nodded at Blinky to leave Toby alone to deal with the emotional blow. Only AAARRRGGHH! and Toby were left, with the quiet whistle of Chompski's snoring.

"Wingman okay?" The gentle giant finally broke the silence.

He didn't answer immediately. "Not really."

AAARRRGGHH! looked around and his eyes settled on the console. "Go Go Sushi?"

Toby shook his head before answering. "Not in the mood." He took a seat on the edge of his bed. The troll looked around for more ideas. He found Toby's top hat.

"Blood magic?"

"Not unless I can raise the dead." AAARRRGGHH! regarded him with alarm. "It's a bad joke," Toby assured. "I wouldn't actually bring him back. I just really miss him. And I can't believe that he's one of them. He's my best friend. And he's good- I know he is!" Momentarily he reflected on the times that Jim stood up for him against Steve, and even for Eli. He recalled how maternal Jim was with his own mother since his father walked out on them. Toby exhaled and then looked up to the troll and genuinely considered AAARRRGGHH!'s dark past, and that even he changed sides. "Know what? Let's make some tuna rolls, Wingman."

•••

Mr. Strickler stopped in the doorway of his office. He examined the destruction, valuable volumes and artifacts strewn across the room as if a scuffle had taken place. He picked up the door and leaned it up against the wall, slightly overlapping the doorway. He went to the glowing purple crystal and tapped at it before humming to himself.

The changeling on the top of the bookshelf clambered down. "I tried to stick to your plan, boss man, but they found the fetch."

"We can't expect everything to go our way." He took a seat at his desk. At least the children weren't terribly inconsiderate and most things were left where he intended them. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

NotEnrique climbed up to the top of the desk. "Nah. The parents think I sleep through the night now." Strickler reached in the drawer and withdrew the amulet from where NotEnrique had stashed it earlier. He examined its glow and soft ticking to be sure it was the legitimate one. He got up and made for the door again. "Where you going now?"

"I'll be making a peace offering to my apprentice."

"The Atlas kid? You gave him two names," NotEnrique referenced the notebook.

Strickler hummed to himself. "No, he took the name Nomura gave him. I think he's coming to terms with his humanity dying."