October hit Arcadia before anyone knew it and left its bold mark on the odd little town. Jack-o-lanterns sneered from their porches, rubbery bats clung to windows and very fake-looking spiderwebs and their plastic inhabitants were strewn about.
The house across the street from Claire's family had set up a large plastic cauldron and grotesquely hideous witch that she had taken great offense to. Through her sparse lessons from Merlin, she had run into a handful of backyard and self-made magic-users- "hedge-witches", as they'd proudly introduced themselves- and not a one of them had been so physically deformed.
She'd tried sharing her plight with Jim during one of their calls and he'd responded with a chuckle and pointed out that troll reputation was no more flattering.
But, to be fair, Claire had countered, a number of troll species didn't vary far from their media portrayals in either physical appearance or violent tendencies.
Though she had always been a pretty avid participant in Halloween activities, Claire wasn't feeling particularly festive this year. Back in New Jersey, the holiday had given Jim and her an opportunity to hit the town without having to rely on magic and glamours.
The fascinated looks and inquiries Jim's "costume" garnered never got old.
But this time around, Claire felt content with her plan of handing out candy while her parents were out for the night, attending some party for some event she wasn't particularly interested in. Her brother had mentioned trick-or-treating with his friends and NotEnrique was bound to be up to something she wouldn't want to know anything about.
With the house to herself and no shortage of available horror movies at her disposal, Claire settled in on Halloween night, with intention to try and give Jim a call later.
She'd made it halfway through a particularly cheesy slasher when the doorbell rang.
Armed with the candy bucket, she swung the door open and expected to see a group of tiny children dressed as cute little monsters-
-and instead came face-to-face with Pirate Darci and Zombified Toby.
"C'mon, Claire Bear," Darci said with a grin and grabbed her hand. "We're mom-napping you."
Claire blinked, caught off guard by their sudden appearances. "Wait, why am I being mom-napped?"
"The trolls throw the best parties on Halloween and you actually get to go to one this year." Toby explained and he took the candy bucket from her and set it on the porch to be picked over by passing trick-or-treaters. "Come on, go get your stuff."
"I'm too pregnant for a party," Claire groaned, but offered little resistance when Darci pulled her outside. "Guys, I was just going to stay home tonight."
"But that's all you've been doing lately." Toby pointed out, stepped into the house to stoop and pick Claire's boots up off the floor. "Shoes on. Go. You're having fun tonight, Nunez. Not optional."
Darci looped her arm in Claire's and gave her rotund stomach an affectionate pat. "Besides, I think the twins are down for a little partying. Isn't that right, you two?"
Her insubordinate offspring responded with a series of seemingly excited kicks.
Despite all her confidence in her ability to move around on her own, Claire was more than a little grateful to have the company of two of her closest friends as they descended the spiraling steps leading down into old Trollmarket.
"-Every other weekend and bank holidays," Toby concluded, walking beside Claire. He kept a respectful distance but remained close enough to grab her or be grabbed if she needed steadying.
"And birthdays." Darci chimed in, giving Claire's hand a playful squeeze. They walked arm-in-arm, Darci masking her aid beneath a guise of playful comradery.
She knew how stubbornly independent Claire could be.
"And birthdays ." Toby parroted gratefully, shooting Darci a thankful look for reminding him.
Claire laughed. "Are we allowed any time with our own babies? Kinda sounds like you're hogging it all."
"Not true, we're leaving you with every other weekend." Toby countered.
"And all the other time too," Darci added. "Don't get greedy, Claire-Bear.
" Greedy ? They're our twins." Claire gave her a nudge. "We're not sharing custody with you guys. Sorry."
They were joking, she knew- first diaper they'd have to change and they'd surely return both of the twins immediately- but she played along, feeling more like herself than she had in weeks.
They were still a ways off from Trollmarket, but they could feel the steady, pulsing bass of loud music. A small, scattered group of trolls and humans could be seen below, descending the stairs. And, judging from the faint voices overhead, another group was making their way down behind them.
While the handful of resident Arcadian trolls had been successfully integrated into life on the surface, it was still very strange to see so many humans underground.
The center of old Trollmarket had been cleared away for the night's festivities and decked out from top to absolute bottom for the event- putting the pitiful porch decor of her parent's suburb to shame . The entire venue positively reeked of All Hallow's Eve, from the music, to the shadowy, atmospheric lighting, right down to the frighteningly authentic skeletal figures strew about.
Claire was almost positive at least some of those skeletons were real.
As they navigated the impressive venue, weaving between costumed-party goers armed with plastic cups and holiday-themed treats, they spotted a particularly large, shaggy figure loping their way.
"Wingman!" Toby broke their tightly packed trio to run up to the familiar troll.
Aaarrrgghh rumbled a greeting in response and bent his head down as Darci fondly scratched behind his ears. His attention shifted to Claire and he lowered his nose to her abdomen. Straightening back up, he struck Claire with a toothy grin and raised a pair of his large fingers.
Claire laughed and mimed the gesture, confirmation once again that, yes, she currently housed two babies.
Somewhere along the way, during her extended stay in Arcadia, that had become their own little special greeting; an inside joke of sorts that she couldn't for the life of her remember how it started.
Toby, having produced from somewhere a pair of cups, passed one off to Darci. He shot Claire a look that meant she was in for another rousing game of Keep-the-Liquor-From-the-Claire, a game which was exclusively one-sided, and unceremoniously tossed her a water bottle.
Darci, after a deep chug of her own drink, pulled Claire onto the dance floor.
Claire ended up having more fun than she had thought she would; dancing had been a frustratingly limited affair- though not to the degree she had initially expected, what with her disproportionally large gut- and while she couldn't drink, watching the dwindling sobriety of those around her had proven amusing.
Aaarrrgghh had taken to hovering protectively by her side, but that had been very short lived; the moment Claire noticed his behavior she'd waved him off, insisting he had fun without worrying about her.
As the night wore on, Claire found herself drifting further away from her friends at the center of the party, and closer to the edge of the venue.
And in doing so, drifted herself right into unexpected but familiar company.
"What are you supposed to be?" Claire asked, noting her new companion was very obviously clad in his usual attire. Not the least bit festive.
Douxie, set away from the crowd and leaning against the wall, took a languid sip from his bottle before he responded with an all-encompassing gesture at himself. "I'm me ."
"Horrifying." Claire commented flatly.
"Alright," he chuckled, nodding at her own painfully normal clothing. "What's this supposed to be, then?"
Touché.
Claire mimicked his earlier gesture toward herself. "I'm a mom ."
Douxie shuddered, his suppressed horror convincingly authentic. " Terrifying ."
As he raised his drink back to his lips, Claire noted the absence of any plastic red cup on his person.
Seeming to follow her train of thought, he supplied, by way of explanation: "I drew the short straw and have to be the responsible one tonight."
He pointed out a vibrant head of pink hair floating through the crowd.
"I guess that makes two of us." Claire said, pointing out her own tiny cluster of friends.
They clunked their water bottles together- companions in sobriety.
Douxie's pupils flashed yellow and he sighed. "Archie will not give me a moment's peace until I tell you he says hello."
Claire glanced around. "Yeah, where is he, anyway?"
"He's checking the perimeter-," Douxie made a circular motion with his index finger, "-making sure all the wards we placed are still good."
"Wards?"
"Oh, yeah," he responded. "You know how deep these tunnels go. Kids around town like to sneak in all the time to explore them. We put up wards to try and do a little gatekeeping, make sure no one ends up breaking their neck."
His eyes flashed again and he seemed to lose focus as his familiar contacted him again.
"Looks like someone found a weak point," he explained after a moment and pushed off the wall. He cocked an eyebrow in Claire's direction. "Want to go bust a bunch of kids?"
"Actually more interested in checking out these wards of yours," Claire responded honestly, too innately rebellious herself to ruin the fun of a bunch of bored small-town kids.
Douxie shrugged, motioning for her to follow. "It's all very basic magic- frightfully dull for a classically trained wizard, such as yourself." The teasing tone in his voice was playful.
Claire snorted. "I'm not classically trained- I'm barely trained at all."
"Then we'll consider this a learning experience."
Douxie lead his impromptu student along the border of his wards, explaining the carefully crafted spell that constructed the protective barrier. It was pretty elementary magic, something low-cost and uninvolved that would do well enough to keep the average, run-of-the-mill teenager from getting too brave.
Anyone with basic knowledge of magic could infiltrate the barrier- as evidenced then.
Claire spotted the splinter in his ward moments before Archie slipped through the break to meet up with them.
The feline-presenting familiar bowed his head in polite greeting to Claire before leaping to perch on a nearby rock, successfully elevating himself to near eye level with the pair.
He briefed them on what he'd discovered; a trio of youths were exploring the abandoned tunnels. They hadn't made it very far- he'd caught the breech fairly quickly.
They followed the tunnel in behind the young intruders, their hushed voices growing louder as they neared. As they approached, one of the voices proved familiar to Claire and she hurried on ahead of Archie and Douxie.
" Enrique!"
Enrique swung around and stared owlishly back at his older sister. NotEnrique, perched on his shoulders, shrank back at her call.
Flanked on either side of the changeling and familiar pair were the kids of the Lake-Strickler household; Nell and Wally.
A vampire-costumed Nell- a perfect miniature of Nomura's human guise- cried out: " Scatter! " and the trio broke apart and bolted.
They didn't make it far before Douxie threw down some quick magic and they crashed into the invisible wall he'd formed behind them, knocking them back.
"I thought," Claire approached the prone intruders and placed her hands on her hips, "you weren't being a bad influence."
NotEnrique, realising he was the one being addressed, lowered his head, ears pined back. He sheepishly scraped a claw against the stone ground. "I'm not! The kid wanted to do a little lookin' around and I- I wanted to be responsible-," Archie scoffed softly at the sentiment, "-and make sure he didn' end up gettin' hurt!"
"...By helping him break past our wards." Archie commented dryly.
NotEnrique narrowed his eyes at the feline, grumbling crossly to himself. He looked up at Claire, who seemed to be considering something.
She glanced down the tunnel before making a decision.
"There's an underground waterfall down here somewhere that I always thought was really cool. At least there used to be," she looked back at the familiars, who regarded her with cautious skepticism. "Let's check it out."
The kids exchanged excited looks before scurrying after her, Nell taking the lead of the boys.
Archie regarded the scene with an expression of such baffled disapproval that Douxie couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, lighten up. She's the best guide we could possible have that isn't a troll."
By the end of their exploration of the abandoned tunnels, only a fraction of the guests remained, doing their intoxicated best to keep the party going.
A tired Nell grumbled as Douxie- who she had successfully convinced to carry her on the way back to old Trollmarket- set her back on the ground.
"I'd better go find Viv," Douxie said to Claire. "You should come by the shop sometime; got plenty of magical mumbo jumbo you might want to check out."
"I am a fan of both magic and mumbo jumbo," Claire responded, confirmation she intended to visit- likely sometime soon.
Douxie raised a hand in farewell as he ran off to begin his search for his wayward friend. Archie brushed past Claire's ankle as he took off after him.
Claire turned back to her bite-sized companions. Nell and Wally, so tired they had to lean on each other for support, grumbled irritably back and forth to each other.
NotEnrique scrambled up Enrique's leg to perch on his shoulder. The boy tottered slightly under the extra weight, but righted himself.
"Come on," Claire carded her fingers through Enrique's dark hair. She ruffled NoEnrique's ears for added measure and he produced a displeased growl. "I'll walk you guys home."
The trio groaned exhaustedly in agreement.
Aaarrrgghh, Darci and Toby had retreated to a quiet corner away from the party and fallen into a weary pile on top of each other.
"There you are!" Darci called when she spotted Claire approaching. She got to her feet and hurried toward her. "I thought someone had mom-napped you from us.
Toby sat up and quirked his brow at Claire's new little group of followers. "Where'd you guys come from?"
The kids grumbled disjointedly in response.
"Yeah, that clears that up."
They decided to call it a night and, with her aching feet and lowerback, Claire nearly took Aaarrrgghh up on his polite offer to carry her the way home.
Back at her parent's house, as Enrique sluggishly climbed the stairs up to his room, Claire threw herself onto the couch and pulled her phone from her pocket.
"Hello?" Jim's voice was husky with sleep.
Claire winced guiltily. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"No. Well, I mean- yeah," Jim yawned. "Why am I-? I'm at Nomura's?"
"You sat down on the floor and immediately fell asleep." Nomura's voice was distant in the background. "Is that the girl?"
"What? Yeah, it's- Hold on." Claire heard shuffling as Jim rose. She heard Nomura calling after after him as left, her voice too faint to make out her words.
But, judging by Jim's offended scoff, it was probably funny.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to- I guess just pass out on the floor? I wasn't even that tired. At least, I didn't feel tired."
"Aw, look at you. Already a dad; able to fall asleep anywhere."
"Really? That's all I get? Power napping?"
They kept conversation light; Jim briefed her on how things were going in Trollmarket, about how many of the trolls were apparently rather fond of her and would regularly pester Jim for updates on the well-being of both Claire and the wombmates. Nomura's introduction as a newly appointed figure of authority had gone better than expected; she'd only had to put down a couple of the more pig-headed trolls.
Claire lamented about how she was going crazy with boredom, how she was not enjoying the reintroduction to the mundane. There'd been a discovery of a surprisingly large goblin den near the bluff and Claire, benched from any gallivanting, had to sit out taking care of them. No, her life these past weeks had been keeping NotEnrique out of her prenatal vitamins and dreaming of being able to feel useful again.
Jim assured her she was plenty useful and encouraged her to try and enjoy the break from everything.
Fat chance of that, Claire thought.
"So," Claire plucked absently at a loose thread on one of the surrounding throw pillows. "I had another appointment yesterday."
"Yeah? How'd that go?"
"Pretty good. Do you, uh, remember that conversation we had about leaving the twins' genders a surprise?"
A beat passed. "You didn't."
"In my defense," Claire began, grinning. "I told the nurse we didn't want to know. And she accidentally dropped a pronoun as I was getting ready to leave. She apologised profusely."
"So you know one of them?" Jim clarified.
"Yeah... until I asked about the other one." She laughed at Jim's exasperated groan. "I couldn't help it! Curiosity got the better of me."
The line was silent for a moment.
"Jim?" Claire said, smirking to herself. "Do you want to know?"
"...No. Yeah. Wait- no. Ugh, I don't know." Jim chuckled at his own indecision. "I've- No. No, I don't want to know. I like having that something to look forward to, you know?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, is me literally growing our children not enough for you?" Claire teased.
"You know what I mean." She could practically hear the eye roll. "We'll call it incentive on top of incentive."
At the faint but bitter edge to his voice, she almost asked about the gyre. But she stopped herself; the gyre topic tended to sour their sparse conversations.
So, instead, she said: "I went to a party tonight."
Jim seemed caught off guard by that. "Like a party-party?"
"Yeah, in old Trollmarket. TP said they the trolls usually threw parties on Halloween."
"Oh, man. Old Trollmarket would be the best place for a Halloween party."
"It was pretty impressive," Claire confirmed. "They used, like, actual skeletons- not confirmed, but I'm highly suspect."
"Bet they were actual skeletons."
"Remember that waterfall we found?"
"Yeah." There was a smile in his voice at the memory.
"Still there."