Hellooo... sorry I dropped of the face of the earth... I don't remember the last time I updated. I have completely lost all sense of time, does anyone know what today is? I keep forgetting.

I won't be able to keep a regular update schedule because of something that is totally and completely unavoidable... LIFE.

Without further adue, I own nothing... I do own my laptop, be glad I own that.

Chapter 4: New names New Places And Merlin being a Creep

I wait a minute behind the cafe and the other shops eating the scones and some trash behind the cafe when Claire and Detective Skinner show up to meet me.

"You done?"

"Done what? Eating the scones? Yeah," I crumple up the bag and eat it like an apple.

"Done messing around." She says, crossing her arms and cocking her hip.

Girl that sass!

"I wasn't messing around, I was testing my new prowess. I like that word. Prowess."

"Well, don't overuse it. We need you back at the new Trollmarket." She points back in the direction I came from. Skinner holds his keys up.

"Wanna race?" he says.

"Next time, I'm taking the long way. And I'm going to show Claire the high road." She looks at me, smiles, and nods. Then double takes.

"Wait. You mean like, with you? Going, that fast, jumping around like some kind of grasshopper? No."

"Ouch! Claire, you think of me as a grasshopper? I am hurt."

"No, that's not what I think…"

"No, no, if you think I'm some kind of bug, you don't have to come with me. You wouldn't want to kiss a bug or want a bug sleeping outside your tent, protecting you…"

"FINE! I'll go with you. Just drop it!" she says.

Skinner looks at me with a sly look on his face and does double finger guns. Nodding approval. I roll my eyes as Claire climbs onto my back.

"K, hold on tight. And don't be afraid to squeeze, just don't cut off my air supply."

"Ok, please don't drop me." She tightly wraps her legs around my waist and loops her arms under mine holding tight.

"You ready?" before she has a chance to answer I jump over the cafe, onto main street. She screams in my ear, it felt like a jet engine started in right next to my eardrum. Especially because of my heightened hearing. I snarl, and slow down, stumbling, then stopping in the middle of the road.

"Claire, grahh! Could you do that a little quieter?"

"Sorry, but I didn't think you would be jumping over a building. I didn't even know you could do that. Especially with me on your back."

"Like I said, new prowess."

"Yeah, well the word's worn out."

"Are you ready this time?"

"Yes. but could you please start slower?"

"Alright."

I slowly start running through the town, eventually slowly moving to my fours. I run as smoothly as I can for Claire's sake. We reach the forest and I start bouncing around on the boulders and swing on some tree branches. Soon enough Claire's grip loosens a bit and she starts whooping and cheering. Now that she's comfortable I speed up and run as fast as I can, jumping 20 and 30 feet into the air, landing and keep running. When we finally reach the tunnel entrance I have to plant my feet and dig my fingers into the ground to stop.

Blinkey and AARRRGGG! are at the entrance waiting for us. Skinner pulls up just as we get there.

"That was amazing! I take it back, prowess is a fun word!" she says.

"Told you," I lower Claire down by crouching onto the balls of my feet. "Blinky, why did you want me back here?"

"We didn't want you to miss it." Blinky says as Skinner walks up.

"I don't want to miss this either. Not many people can say they were there when history was made." He says. Chills run down my spine. Those were the exact words Strickler said when he forced me to open the Kilahead bridge.

"Has anyone poked him with a Gagletack yet?" I look the others, everyone shakes their head. Skinner's face dropped and he looked shocked.

"What's a Gagletack?" his eyes shifting left to right, looking worried.

"Do you really think that's something we need to do?" Claire asks.

"Probably not, but I still want someone to." I shake the feeling off and look at skinner, "It's nothing." I smile and walk inside the tunnel.

"Master Jim, where are you going?"

"Inside," I say. But I'm obviously missing something.

"The new entrance to the heartstone is over this way."

I facepalm, "duh, that's what you guys don't want me missing." I feel like an Idiot, they all stand there dumbfounded at what I had just said. "Lead the way."

I follow Blinky around and under to a concrete bridge a little closer to the town where the rest of the trolls are waiting. And -ugh- Merlin. The chill runs down my spine again, I glare at him as I walk closer.

"So, how does this work?"

He hands me a newly crafted Horngazzle, but instead of it glowing amber, it was the color of blood. The glow reflecting on my hand makes my skin look purple.

"Draw an entrance point here," Merlin says, and I do as I am instructed. "These are able to do more than just opening doors. Now carve this rune." He says, holding up a piece of old yellowing paper.

Merlin cast a long spell and the letters glowed.

The wall opened up, in an old familiar way dissolving the wall in a red glow, but there was nothing behind it, only more dirt and plumbing. Instead of stopping, the dissolving wall kept going. Hollowing it's way down, leaving the gem staircase in its wake, not blue but almost like seafoam, and more transparent. Slowly one by one, the trolls shuffle in. Claire climbs onto ARRGGG's! back and offers skinner a hand. He shrinks and declines. I pick him up and hold him like luggage under my arm. And climb the side of the cave wall. He screams like a small child and says.

"You know what, I think I will ride with Claire." he laughs nervously and I jump down from the wall, carefully tossing him onto ARRGGG!

"Heh, that's what I thought," I say. And leap back onto the wall. I watch the deep red magic tunnel deeper until like a pebble hitting still water, it ripples out clearing the way for the new caves and shops of New Troll Market.

I push myself from the wall, dropping in on the spiral gem staircase, next to ARRRGGG! who is carrying Claire and Skinner, so that they don't get stepped on.

"Jim this is amazing!" Claire says, with a wide grin. Skinner on the other hand, becomes more and more dumbfounded, as we go deeper and deeper.

"Is this what the last place looked like? How deep are we going?"

I lean over the edge a bit, just to check. "Not too far now. And the staircase is similar, but I don't know how the rest of it will look. I doubt the Heartstone formation will be the same though."

Once we reach the bottom of the staircase, all jaws drop. The space is huge and everywhere we look there are clusters of gemstones, small and large and all sorts of formations. The heartstone is huge and more scarlet than the amber color of the last one, but it stands the like a formation similar to quartz stabbing into the ceiling of the cavern, with smaller shoot-offs at the side. I can feel the life that it gives. Not having been able to before, because it was basically dead by the time I was trolled. But the strength it gives. It feels like pure energy flowing into my body, and I can feel more strength enter into my limbs than ever before.

"Wow. This is… this is…" Skinner gasps.

"New Troll Market." I say. I stand at my full height, feeling successful. Having found the new Heartstone, and not losing anyone on the way. I got the armor off and gained a human ally that isn't from Arcadia. Very successful indeed.

"New Troll Market?" Claire asks snidely. Knocking me off my pedestal of accomplishment.

"It Kinda, just felt right. I figured we could call it NTM. It rolls of the tongue nicely, don't you think?"

"NTM, I like it" She replies. And looks at skinner as if for a second opinion.

"I wouldn't argue with anything. I don't think my jurisdiction covers this kind of thing." he chuckles.

"Master Jim, let ARRRGGG! Tend to Detective Skinner. You must find yourself a cave. Seeing as you may now need to live here, you should find yourself a nice place to call your own." Blinkey says, gesturing four handedly.

I sigh, but it comes a low growl. "You're right. Claire, care to join me?" I hold out my hand to help her off of ARRRGHs back.

"You know I can get down on my own." She says, taking my hand.

"Of course I know that. I'm trying to be a gentleman." I say, helping her to the ground.

"How very chivalrous of you."

"I try. Now do you want to go the low road, or the high road?" I say, a wide toothy grin crosses my face.

"Oh, you know the high road. But again, please don't drop me."

"If I drop you I'll catch you. And If I drop you I will eat Skinner's shoes." she laughs at this.

"I only have so many shoes, ya know." I hear Skinner say from behind.

I help Claire climb on my back, she wraps her beneath my underarms and squeezes her legs tight around my waist. It may not be a vespa with wind in my hair. But this works too.

"Are you ready?" I ask

"Yes."

"Are you going to scream in my ears? The ones with heightened senses?"

She giggles "Nope."

"Good, now hold on tight." I run at the wall and jump, grabbing the walls with my fingers and toes. I climb it like a lizard and start going faster, grabbing and swinging on the random crystal formations protruding out of the wall. Currently there aren't any shops to run on or any onnings to bounce off of, but there will be. Soon.

After about a good half hour of looking at some caves I spot one. From the wall of the caver I see a ledge, with a cavity. Protruding high above the rest of NTM, with no other caves in sight. "Do you see that one Claire?" She nods and says, "Lets go check it out, my arms are getting tired."

I get to the ledge and crouch on the balls of my feet to let Claire slide off my back. "Your arms are tired?"

"Yes, holding on isn't as easy as you think. You don't make it easy."

"Have to get around somehow," I shrugg. "Shall we explore?" I bow, gesturing to the mouth of the cave.

"We shall."

The entrance is about the size of ARRRGGG! The cave itself is very large and spacious, about the size of a three car garage, with two smaller split off caves. The walls are dark stone, and some bright crystals here and there lighting the space. I Wander into the first cave-within-a-cave. It is definitely much smaller, about the size of a hanging cage that one might be dangled over the deep in.

The second is about the size of the main cave, maybe a two car garage. It has no glowing crystals in this room. I walk back out of the split off into the main cave, "I really like this one Claire, what do you think?"

"I think it's perfect." her face is lit up, and the glowing gem formations I can see her big beautiful brown eyes. I just smile at her for a second. "What?" She asks.

"Nothing, just that you are probably the best girlfriend in the history of girlfriends."

"I'm glad you feel that way. It may just be true."

As we begin to walk out of the cave I say, "I hereby claim this cave to be mine." laughing. But as we exit the mouth of the cave, a cold chill runs down my spine, and I see Merlin.

"Would you stop doing that?" I grunt

"Stop doing what?" he asks, puzzled. Claire looking just as confused.

"Everytime you come near me I get a freaky chill that runs down my spine. It's not natural, so you must be doing it."

"Well, how else would you have me announce my presence?" he says.

"Grunt, or knock on the wall, or say something! That chill is going to give me nightmares one of these days. And just me? Not Claire or anyone else gets it."

He knocks on the wall, with a smug look on his face. I just glare at him for a sec. "Anyway… what are you doing all the way up here Merlin?" Claire asks, gesturing to the ground far below.

"Besides being a creep?" I whisper to claire, she elbows me in the side. Then rubs her now bruised elbow, glaring at me. "Stone for skin." I grin.

"I am here to offer you a gift. As an apology." The last part barely audible.

"What did you say?" Claire asks, not being able to hear as well as me. I just glower in the bask of Merlin having to be humble.

"As an Apology!" he yells.

"Well I for one would like to see this gift." Claire says.

"So would I," I gesture Merlin to do whatever he's going to do.

He waves his hand to follow him back inside the cave, "Follow me." We walk back into the cave. Merlin's staff appears in a puff of smoke directly into his hand. Pht… show-off.

He stands in the middle of the cave his staff lights up and he chants some weird crap, I don't even think it was trollish, then a flash of green light fills the cave. Leaving cabinetry, and some shiny appliances. They stand out against the dirt covered floor and the stone walls, but nonetheless, they're there. A crystal light fixture, not modern, like the one blinkey had in his library, only this one gave cool glow from the light blue crystals. The extra light shone into the smaller cave, which was now a bathroom, with a toilet and a shower. The other large room still remained empty.

I'm not one to get excited and squeal like a little girl, and I'm not. Much. I run around the new kitchen which only took up about half of the main room, and run into the bathroom, and try the water. Which works! A nice white porcelain toilet, and a stand-in shower which is set a few inches below the regular cave floor, it had soft medium river rocks cemented into the shower floor.

I sprinted back to the kitchen and looked at the rustic, grey wood cabinets, the countertops black glittery granite that looks poorly cut and rigged around the edges. The sink is a shiny copper, the water there works too. The fridge and stove are both black. And all of the cabinet handles match the sink.

Running my hands along the surface of the countertops, mouth gaping, Claire giggled to herself. "Look at this Claire! Isn't this amazing?" she nodded her face a light shade of pink.

Merlin cleared his throat. Our attention turned to him.

"This is my gift to you. And… ium sury."

"What was that?" I ask, trying to keep a straight face.

"I'm sry."

"I don't have super hearing," Claire says. "What did you say?"

"I'm sorry for turning you into a troll!" he shouts, almost rattling the cave walls.

"Apology accepted." I say, grinning ear to ear. Man this is almost as good as the kitchen.

Merlin chants a few words then vanishes in a green puff of smoke.

"I liked watching that." Claire says.

"That must have been as hard as giving up his magic to trap Morgana," we laugh.

"But, wow! What a gift." Claire says, brushing past me.

"It's all top of the line too. And the shower works." I say. Now all we need is some furniture and flatware." I smile down at Claire, she smiles back but I can see something else. "What's the matter Claire?"

"I… I just miss home." she says, smile gone. She rubs her arms as if she were cold and stared down at my feet. She tries to hold in a snicker but it gets out. "What happened to your pinky toes?"

Not having noticed them, I look at my feet. And sure enough, something did happen to them. They were gone. "Hm, how long have those been missing?" I say wiggling the four on each foot. "At least I have one left." I wiggle the pinky on my right hand. This makes claire giggle, but only for so long.

"We will go home, soon. I have something in the works. I think you'll like it." I lift her head with my overly large blue hand. She smiles warmly back. "This wouldn't have anything to do with my birthday coming up would it?" My cheeks turn a reddish purple, and my voice goes high.

"No, what? Pft… Never…" my ears drop. "Yes."

"You're so cute when you're an animal." she scratches behind my ear. Crap, that feels good. Uncontrollably I begin to purr… Crap!

"Did you just…?"

"No, I… I'm not an animal." I growl low. "I was growling… see, grrrr."

"You so were! You were perring." She smile brightly, her eyes lit up, sadness gone.

I sigh, but a growl escapes instead. "Fine, I was purring. But you tell anyone. I will eat your barrets."

"Ugh, fine. Just don't touch my barrets." she says putting her hands up defensively to block them from my swipes. "What time is it?" she gives a long tired yahn.

I pull out my phone and check the time, "It's about 4:30am." I say, yahning. My tounge sticking out way farther than it used to and curling at the tip. Wow, I really am an animal. I then notice the large dark circles under Claire's eyes. "Claire, when was the last time you slept?" I say grasping her shoulders and crouching down to her level.

"I don't know a few days. I slept the night we got here but I haven't gotten any since."

"That was almost a full week ago Claire, and just because I don't need that much sleep anymore doesn't mean you don't need sleep. You are human. And I'm… well I'm not."

"I know you've just been so stressed of late, I wanted to stay up with you to make sure you were ok. And didn't do anything stupid." that last bit hurt some. But she's right. I do stupid stuff sometimes.

"You need sleep." I say firmly. "Your tent is back in the sewer lines isn't it?" She quietly nodes. Taking off my new jacket I wrap it around her. I scoop her off her feet and hold her gently against my chest. One arm behind her knees and the other behind her shoulders. The tent is too far away to carry her. So I walk to a small alcove in the main room, and carefully sit down. Careful not to jar Claire.

"Jim?" She says quietly.

"Yes, Claire?" I whisper.

"You are much more comfy without your armor." she rubs her head against the white t-shirt like cat and snuggles closer to me, pulling the hoodie tighter. I purr quietly, letting her fall asleep quickly against my chest.

I relax a bit and sit on the side of my legs, gently letting Claire slip to the floor nestled in the crook of my legs and body. I fall asleep within minutes against her warmth.