Alright, not sure how well this chapter actually turned out so please review to tell me what you think and such. I always love it when you guys review.
I don't own trollhunters and all that jazz.
Enjoy!
Chapter 9: Skinner was in on it the whole time; And, no, I didn't forget about Jim's stitches. Jim did though.
I'm fairly sure Claire fell asleep on under my arm hours ago, I'm kinda just sitting here. I can feel her steady breathing against my chest, and the top of her head under my chin. My purring stopped a few hours ago, and I've been holding perfectly still all the while.
My mind wanders back to the events of the previous day, Skinner, being swarmed by frantic civilians. Randy Cross, turning from nice guy to arrogant, and attacked me. The stalkling. Then Justin, ugh. That's right, Justin was in the other room.
And then Claire, who didn't mind it when I cleaned her hair, or licked her face, or nuzzled her. And finding out how much she loves it when I purr… it just makes me feel more for her. I've never been more grateful for anyone in my life.
Carefully I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the time. 5:16 am.
I move my head around to see Claire's face better, I let myself lick her cheek. She stirs for a moment but is still asleep. I lick the edge of her ear, she giggles in her sleepy state. I crawl around to her other side, and brush some hair out of her face.
"Claire," I whisper in her ear, "Claire, you've gotta get up."
She slowly blinks her eyes open, smiling up at me. "Hey, Jim." she whispered. Propping herself up on an elbow, she moves her face closer to mine, and presses her cheek against mine. When she pulls away I stare at her, my head tilted.
"What was that?" I laugh.
Her face gets angry for a moment, and her nose wrinkles. It's so cute and I can't help but grin at her.
"I was trying to nuzzle you, you butte!" She says her tired eyes gone.
"Oh. that wasn't quite right… could I show you how?" I scoot a bit closer and cross my legs.
"Alright," She moves to a kneeling position, "How should I do it?" She tries to hold on to her engry face but loses it to my growing smile.
"Hmm, I don't think I could tell you. So how 'bout I just show you." I say. She rolls her eyes as I scoot closer.
Gently brushing my cheek and nose across the side of her face, letting myself breathe in her scent and purr. I bow my head lower letting one of my horns brush her cheek. Claire follows suit and returns my nuzzle. I hear footsteps from the stairs, my ear twitches on her cheek and she pulls away.
"Jim, that tickles." she giggles.
I ignore the sound and press my forehead on hers, the base of my horns pressing against her hair.
"Sorry, can't help it."
She presses her head closer to mine and hums quietly. Her eyes closed, completely comfortable, a small smile on her lips. I close my eyes and listen to her heart, and take in a deep breath of my mate's scent before opening my eyes again. Out of the corner of my eye I watch the doorway.
Detective Skinner rounds the corner from the stairs and freezes. "Uhhh…" He breathes.
Claire opens her eyes at the sound, and pulls away reluctantly. She looks in the direction of the noise and her smile falls to a subtle glare.
The now well rested Detective regains his bearings and stands in the doorway, holding a brown messenger bag and… Mmm, a bag of scones. Glancing around uncomfortably he says. "I'm not… uh, interrupting anything am I?"
Scones on my mind I shake my head, "Nope, come on in." I say and the smell of the pastries fills my nose. Making my stomach growl uncomfortably.
Claire sits back on her feet and folds her arms, "Actually, you…"
I interrupt her with an actual kiss on the cheek, not a lick. And whisper in her ear, "He has scones"
She continues, "...You brought us breakfast!" She unfolds her arms and her slight glare turns to a smile. I can't help but smile at her quickly changed demeanor over some food, although I can't blame her. Because I'm starving.
Skinner comes closer and sets the bag on the counter. "Yeah, I wanted to thank you for taking charge last night and Claire, for getting me home. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."
Claire and I glance at each other, to Skinner, then to the bedroom Justin was currently sleeping in. She bites her lip and shrugs.
"Ah, first thing you've should know, is that the creature was a stalkling." I explain. However, the relevance is lost on him. "Giant troll bird, looks just like everyone said, but way scarier. I'm just really glad no one was hurt, it must have not been in the area long. Those things are incredibly dangerous." I run a nervous hand up my horn and get to my feet.
Helping Claire out of the makeshift bed, we walk into the kitchen and I open the bag of scones. Breathing in the warm smell of pastries.
"What did you do with it?" He asked, pulling out a scone and taking a bite.
I stuff a scone in my mouth and pass the bag to claire after pulling out a few more. Than answer his question with my mouth full, "I stabbed it with my big sword, it turned to stone, then I smashed it."
He stopped chewing and stared at me. I roll my eyes and look at Claire. She finishes her mouthful and swallows, because she actually has manners. "While we were in the warehouse with the stalkling. This kid, Justin, was watching Jim. He kinda saw him take off the mask and kill the stalkling…"
Skinner's face blanked and he sighed, looking at the floor. "I'm guessing there's an 'and' or a 'but'?"
"And he's asleep in the other room." I shrink, pointing over my shoulder.
The detective facepalms appropriately, "Are you trying to… you know what, no. Jusin's a curious kid, it was his own fault. And I'm not here just to talk about the troll bird. It's what I wanted to talk to you about before that freaking thing showed up…" He takes a breath.
"What is it?" Claire asks after she finished her scones'.
"Promise you'll both hear me out first. Okay Jim?" Skinner eyed me closely, his eyebrows raised.
"Why are you looking at me?" I say, backing away from the counter. Half laughing.
"Because, and I don't mean anything by it, but because you look like that." He said, holding his hands in front of himself defensively.
Claire snickers, walking up to me she takes my hand and pulls me back over to the empty living room, gesturing for Skinner to follow. Claire and I sit on the blankets while Skinner sits against the adjacent wall, bringing the leather shoulder bag with him.
I sigh, "Fine, we'll hear you out." I growl low.
"Jim, be nice." Claire says. I only roll my eyes.
"Okay, so Jim, you told me that you kinda dropped out of school?" he asked, his heart rate was slowly picking up.
I nodd wearily, and scoot closer to Claire. "It's not like I'd be able to go back."
"What about you Claire?" He asks.
"I have enough credits to graduate early, I just haven't pushed the paperwork yet." she says slowly. "Why?"
"Because, well. Corbin City High's school year starts up in about two weeks. I think you both should enroll." he tenses.
"Like a snowball's chance in Hell I will!" I snarl.
"Jim, hear me out…" he tries.
Claire holds her hand up and stops him. She scoots closer to me and takes my hand, "Jim, what happened to graduating some time this century?" She laughed.
"That went out the window the minute I used that potion." I snarl at her… big mistake.
She reaches up and yanks one of my ears, "Jim, you are going to sit here and listen to what he has to say or so help me, you will be sorry."
I pull away and sigh, rubbing my sensitive ear. And sit on my calfs, "Listening." I moan.
"I appreciate it. So, I know that you've been a little… out of touch with other kids your age, which has been really hard on you both. Probably especially for Claire. And I want you to be able to spend time as a normal kid… ok, semi normal. Point is I think you would both benefit by going to school, socially if not academically at the least."
"Look, even if I wanted to. Those classrooms have big windows that let lots of sunlight in. and currently, I don't feel like turning into stone." My voice raised louder than anticipated, but the message was clear nonetheless. Then I feel Claire brushing her head against my shoulder. I nuzzle her head back.
"I've taken that into account, and I found this window tint…" He reached into his bag and pulled out a square piece of glass, one side slightly darker then the other, and a flashlight. "And it blocks out the sun, while still letting light through. I found a UV light bulb..."
I slowly back behind Claire, now crawling. "What are you doing with that?" I snarl.
He holds his hands up, items in tow. "If you don't want to try it then you don't have to. But if it works, I can get all the schools windows lined with it. And you could go to school, make new friends, be out in the human world." His brows furrow.
"Jim," Claire turns and whispers below human audio range, something we figured out a while back. "Don't you want to have human contact? To have some sense of normalcy? I miss my family, and my friends. And I know you do too. But this may be the only source of contact we have with people for a while, plus, what are they gonna say if two teens show up out of the blue, no parents, no known house, if we don't even go to school?" Her brown eyes are pleading with mine, I can tell how badly she wants this. And I know for a fact if I don't go, neither will she. I glance over her shoulder at the detective, standing still and confused, because he can't hear a thing.
For Claire, I tell myself. I'll do it for Claire…
Though still glaring at him, I motion him over. "After this, you get rid of that flashlight." I growl. Glancing at Claire, I can see how excited she is at the prospect of going to school, but nervous for me. Skinner sits items in hand.
She holds out her hands, "Give them to me. I'll do it." he hands her the square piece of glass and the stout black flashlight. "Jim, do you want to make sure that the flashlight actally works in the first place? So there isn't an incident later." her brows are furrowed in concern.
"Not really, but we should." I take a deep breath and crawl to the other side of Claire. Holding out my hand. "I'm ready."
Claire points the flashlight away and at the floor before clicking it on. She scoots a bit closer and takes my hand, moving the flashlight toward my outstretched hand. Every instinct telling me to pull away, I fight, it's for Claire, I tell myself.
The light finally brushes the side of my hand and I immediately pull away in pain, growling and snarling. I cradle my hand, and watch as dull greys and glowing blues crawl across my hand where the light touched. Slowly returning to my normal blue. Through the pain I gasp out, "Yup, definitely works." I grit my teeth and growl until the pain goes away. Breathing out a long breath I'd been holding, and crawl back to Claire.
"Jim, are you ok?" Skinner asks cautiously. I nodd.
"Sorry Jim." she says, but keeps her eyes away.
I lift her chin and smile, showing her my hand. "It's fine, a necessary pain. Lets try the next one."
She glances up at me, holding the glass tile in front of the light she switched it on again, but holds it still, pointing down. "I don't want to push you into this…" she shakes her head.
"If it's going to lead to something that will make you happy, then I'll do it." I reassure her, and force my hand into the light under the filtered glass. And nothing happens. I move my hand around under the glass, no pain. A grin spreads to my face, and on Claire's and Skinner's.
"It works. I'm so glad it works, I don't think I could watch that again." Skinner says.
"Ha, you? What about me?" I laugh.
"He's gotta good point, but anyways. You really think you can get the school to line all the windows with this stuff?" Claire holds up the square after turning the light off.
"Yeah, it's inexpensive and easy to install. But only if Jim is up for school, otherwise there would be no real point for it." He turns to me waiting for an answer.
My eyes flutter to Claire, now sitting on her hands waiting for my response. Biting her lip, and eyes trained on me. I let out a long sigh, I look at Skinner.
"For Claire, I will." I turn and move closer to Claire, and sit in a crouch. "For my mate." I whisper to her.
Claire squeels happily, I have to fold my ears against my head, wincing slightly. She throws her arms around my neck, knocking me over and violently nuzzles my entire head and face, I reciprocate without hesitating. She pulls away beaming, eyeing my face. Now kneeling on my lap, she turns her head to Skinner, who looks really weirded out, and her hair whips me in the face. "Detective, close your eyes." she smirks.
The detective tenses up, and hesitates before doing as he's told.
"Good, now stay there for a sec." She smiles and turns back to me, hair whipping my face again. I never knew how bad that could hurt…
Suddenly and slowly, Claire presses her face toward mine and proceeds to pull her tongue along my face, from my jawline up to my cheek.
I'm floored.
And I'm fairly sure my heart stopped for a moment there. I blink a couple times, staring at Claire's blushing face, and my lips turn up to a large toothy grin. She giggles at my face, then I chuckle.
"What provoked that?" I whisper, grin still plastered to my face.
"I wanted to make my mate as happy as he made me." She whispers, eyes sparkling.
I bring a purr to my chest, and flick the upturned corner of her mouth with my tongue. Then rest my forehead on hers, "Well, I don't understand why school could make you as happy as I am right now, but if it does, then I'll go." She snickers, and scrunches her nose.
"What?"
"Your going to need a lot of mints, because no human's breath smells like that." she smiles
I quickly pull my head away, "Sorry."
"Umm…" Skinner's voice enters the atmosphere again. "Can I open my eyes yet?"
Claire sighs, "Yes."
He blinks a few times, then looks at Claire's position on my lap, her arms draped over my shoulders, and probably hears me purring. "Uh, I'm not sure if I want to know, but what happened?" he says it slowly and warily.
Claire's face turns pink again, and I speak. "She did this." I lean toward her and bring my tongue from her chin, around to her temple. Then pull back, snicker at the increased color on Claire's cheeks. I look at Skinner, he's glancing back and forth between her and I.
"You… yo… you licked him?" He said, then looked at me, "You licked her. Why would you do that?" His face betrayed his normal cool demeanor. "Are you purring, Jim?"
"You discovered trolls and a half breed. Me kissing my mate disturbs you? And yes, I am purring."
"Kissing? Mate?" his eyebrows reached his hairline.
"Yes, kissing my mate. Do you even know how screwed up my head is?" I deadpan.
"Jim, you're head isn't screwed up. Just different." she smiles and puts a hand on my horn. I lean into her touch.
"I'm just going stop questioning anything." He rolls his eyes.
"That's the smartest course of action." Claire says.
"Alright, I have one last reason I came." Skinner says.
"If you tell me to get a job, I'll eat you." I say, and let the sarcasm drip from my voice.
"No, I need to take the stitches out."
"What stitches?" I say.
"Uh, the ones in your head, Jim." Claire says, laughing.
I run my fingers up my forehead and remember the stitches Skinner had put in days before.
"Oh, those. I totally forgot about those."
He raises an eyebrow as he gets up and pulls a pair of thin silver scissors and pliers out of his bag. He waves his hand over, "Come over here so I can take them out."
I get up and walk over, crouching so he can reach my head.
"So, why is Justin here? Wait, you didn't kidnap him did you?" He freezes as he was about to get to work removing stitches.
"Pht… no we didn't kidnap him… Mostly." I say.
"What do you mean mostly?!" He shouts.
"Shhhh!" Claire spits, "He's sleeping."
"What do you mean mostly?" He repeats whispering.
"Well, we couldn't exactly let him run around spouting secrets he shouldn't know. He was threatening to tell you…" Claire starts.
"The Fuzz." I help.
She rolls her eyes and continues, "The fuzz, and if he was gonna tell law enforcement, what's to say he wasn't going to tell other people. So we used his phone and texted his mom to get permission to stay the night at 'someone else's house'." she did air quotes, "and we took him here."
"He kept calling me a monster, and thought I was going to eat him or something. We figured if we could get him to promise not to tell, we would let him go. He's good now though, just a bit freaked out. He promised not to tell, I'm gonna let him go when he wakes up… You actually gonna take those out?"
"Oh!" he starts clipping the strings and the little snip of each thread fills my ears. "You two are incredibly clever, but don't do that again."
I can feel the pull of the stitches as he takes them out of my stone skin. "Well it's not like we were trying to let…"
Claire cuts me off, "Noted."
My ears twitch, my attention is drawn to the sound, I hear Justin getting up in the other room, shuffling around with something.
"What is it Jim?" Claire whispers to me.
I snort, and using my eyes I direct her attention to the smaller room. She snorts in response. Knowing full well this is going to be hilarious.
"So, when I leave, I'm going to get the paperwork to enroll you and be back later. I don't know your sleep schedule, if you even have one. So what would be the best time?"
I listen as Justin shuffles toward the door of the room slowly. Then respond to Skinner's question, "Eh, we'll be in town later tonight. I'm going to need a few more clothes. So we'll stop by the station and pick them up than." I grin as Justin walks out, bleary eyed and sleepy.
"Alright Jim, I want to go home now. I promi…" He starts, then he spots detective Skinner standing over me. The fatigue leaves immediately, and his face scrunches up in anger. "YOU!" He points and marches toward Detective Skinner. The detective jumps out of his skin… (Pun intended:)
"You!" Justin continues. "You were in on it the whole time! You… Ugh…" He face palms. Then mumbles something the others couldn't hear, "Skinner found you digging in the dumpster behind the auto shop, and found out you were a large troll with horns…" He raises his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Ha, thats funny Jim. Real funny." he remarks sarcastically.
"Well I thought so." I chuckle. Claire and Skinner look at a loss, but I shrug it off. "You said you were ready to go home?"
"Yeah, and I promise not to tell. Really." He says.
"You don't have a blog of supernatural stuff do you?" Claire asks, though uninterested.
He shakes his head, an offended look on his face. "No, I'm smart not a weirdo."
Pht… Modest kid.
"Well, I can't take you." I glance at the detective putting his tools back in his bag, along with the glass and flashlight. I run my fingers over the spot where the stitches were, the skin now smooth.
"I'll take him, I've got my car. I'll drop him off at home than swing by the school and get them started on putting the tint on the windows, than get the paperwork." Skinner says.
"Thanks," I stand, and walk over to Claire.
"And thanks for the scones." Claire adds.
"Anytime." he picks up his bag and motions Justin toward the door. "Thanks for taking care of the… uh, stalkling."
"Of course, anytime you need me to slay a killer troll bird just call me up." I say casually and shrug, a small smile crosses my lips. He rolls his eyes and walks out with Justin.
I listen to a bit of their conversation.
"How long has this city been down here?!" Justin exclaims.
"About four days." Skinner says.
"WHAT?!"
I laugh to myself and glance around the empty house. Then turn to Claire. "Now what are we supposed to do?"
"Hmm, well let me think. We've successfully got the trolls across the country." she starts counting on her fingers.
"Check." I say.
"Found the heartstone and got the basis for NTM going."
"Check."
"Got ourselves a place. Made some new friends."
"Check and check." I laugh.
"Got rid of the Stalkling. Got Merlin to actually apologize, that was quite a feet."
"Yup." I snicker.
"And, figured out your very weird, but strangely pleasurable new… behaviors." She smiles.
"I liked that one the most," I grin deviously. "So, what now?"
"Well, mighty Trollhunter, why don't we go down and see if Blinkey and ARRRGGG! need any help."
"Fair Claire, that sounds like a great idea."
"Great, just let me run a brush through my hair." she walks over to her pile of stuff and pulls out a hair brush, and combs out any tangles. Then she pauses, "Oh my gosh! My hair is SO soft." she smiles and frantically runs her hands through her hair.
I can't help but snicker at her cute behavior, "Well, you did have a nice long bath last night." the corner of my mouth upturns, I walk closer and run my own fingers over her hair. "Wow, that is really soft."
"Mary is going to be so jealous." she squeals, "All the girls at school are going to be so jealous!" she pauses, spinning around. "Oh my gosh! School. We get to go to school! Meet new people, learn stuff that we're never going to use later in our lives like ever!" she whips around to face me again, and slows her speech. "Jim, you're going to school for me. You, you're doing it just for me aren't you?"
I tilt my head and smile. "Claire, I'd do anything for you." I set my hands on her shoulders. I let a small laugh slip, "You know that. Even if I have to share you, by going to school." she giggles. "Even if I have to stop myself from doing all those weird things, I will. Anything for you, to make you happy. Anything for my mate."
"Jim," She smiles at me. "l love you, and your weird behaviors. And your little body nest thing you do. Calling you my mate. The nuzzling, the bath, the kisses. All of it. I love your horns and your… little tusks." her face steels. "I've told you that before and I'll tell you again. A million times over. I love you."
I press my forehead against hers, she presses back, her hands reach up and grasp my horns, on in each.
"I really love the horns." she breathes out and presses her lips against mine, they press against one of my tusks, a small purr rumbles in my chest, and she pulls away. "Now, let's go see what Blink's up to." she lets go and walks toward the stairs. I follow her lead and we begin our descent down the stairs
We walk through the streets, it's early in the morning so most of the citizens are heading home. A few trolls setting up their shops or digging out caves, some say hi as Claire and I pass, a few give a nod of the head, but most ignore us as we make our way to Blinkey.
"Jim," Claire says. "So, I understand how you're going to be able to be safe in the school. But how are you going to get to the school?" she gazes up at me, brows furrowed.
My fast pace walk slows, and I stare down at her. "I have no Idea." My hand grasps a horn, I think for a moment. "I guess I could leave early to get there before the sun is up…" I continue my walk.
"But what about after school? What are you going to do, stay till dark? That's unreasonable." She picks up her pace to keep up.
"Yeah, I really don't want to do that." I drop my hand and shake my head. We round the corner into Blinkey's soon to be library.
"Ah, Master Jim. What brings you here?" Blinkey says, spreading his arms wide. In two of his hands he's holding a couple tools, the wall next to him slowly being carved into shelves.
"Claire and I got everything we need done for now, and can't do anything else until the sun goes down. So we thought we'd come see if you need anything."
"Not currently, however some company would be indeed welcome." He says, returning to carving at the wall.
"Where's ARRRGGG!?" Claire asks, moving to sit atop a pile of books.
"He's currently working on our dwellings', they are not far. However, they are in need of some… how do you humans say it, TLC." He focuses on his shelfs, then turns to me. "Master Jim, have you spoken to the fair lady Claire yet?" a pair of eyes glances at her, the others focused on me.
"Yes, and what a fruitful conversation it was." I chuckle, then crouch down next to Claire, and pull her onto my thigh off the stack of books. I rub my cheek against her incredibly soft hair. She silently giggles.
"Very good." He returns his attention to the stone.
"So, uh, Skinner stopped by this morning. Took out the stitches, brought some food, took Justin home…" I bite my lip, not sure how to tell him about school.
"Yes, it has been advantageous having a human adult alli." he says, distantly and not quite paying attention.
My stomach growls painfully, I thought the scones would have been enough to fill the growing hole in my stomach. Guess not, "Hey Blink?"
"Yes?"
"So isn't the heartstone supposed to keep you from feeling hungry?" I ask, noting that I've been even more hungry since getting the armor off, and the heartstone effects haven't done anything to help it.
"Yes, however it should not have full effect on you because of your only half troll, so you will still need to eat." He brushes off the rocks on a finished shelf.
"I have been. More than usual actually. So why am I so hungry?" My stomach gurgles again, uncomfortably.
"Jim, do you need me to go get you more food?" Claire asks, a small frown on her face.
"Master Jim, what have you been eating?" Blinkey turns his attention to me.
"Soda cans and some other metal things, some scones… it's human food."
Blinkey's bottom arms fold, and his other scratch his chin thoughtfully, "Your troll age compared to your human age, would be still relatively young. I don't know the extent your physiology has changed, however, considering you can digest hard metals. I would guess you are not fulfilling your trollish dietary needs."
My brows furrow, I nervously hold Claire closer to myself, "What does that mean?"
"All things taken into account, I would say you are lacking the main source of food and nutrients for a troll relative your age."
"And that would be?" Claire asks, getting impatient. As am I. I can feel my ears twitching.
"Meat." He says it candidly.
"Meat?" Claire and I say in unison.
"Raw meat, to be exact." he begins pacing, holding up a finger.
For a brief moment, I can taste the bile in my throat, but choke it back. Then in my head, something clicks and it sounds really good.
"You want Jim to eat raw meat? Isn't that like not safe?" Claire asks, slightly disgusted.
"Not for trolls, the liquid from the meat and the animals blood holds many nutrients that would normally get drained or 'cooked out'. Also, for younger trolls. Chewing and tearing the muscles helps them develop strong teeth and jaws." He says, and Claire looks disgusted.
My mouth begins to salivate, my tongue crosses the front of my teeth like a hungry animal, and I am.
Claire looks at me then does a double take, noticing the strange action. "Jim, what are you doing?"
"Uh… It kinda just sound really, really good." I tense and lean away from her, sitting on my lap. Her expression changes from disgusted to dumbfounded.
"Your head really is messed up." she gives a week smile and a forced laugh.
"I know." A small rumble echos from my stomach again. "Blinkey, is there any specific type of meat I need?"
"No, just stay away from anything swine related. I'd say the best would be venison or beef, chicken will work as well." he says, listing off on his fingers. My mouth begins to water again.
Claire giggles, "Blinkey you might want to stop, if he drools anymore I might get wet."
He allows a deep belly laugh, "I suppose it wouldn't do to have him thirst over what we currently do not have."
Laughing I say, "I actually have another question, about the Glamour Mask?"
"What is it?" Blinkey replies.
"How does it work? Like, when Skinner arrested me he put handcuffs on, my wrists used to me tiny compared to how they are now." I turn over my arms studying them for a moment. "And Justin was messing around and punched me in the shoulder, and shouldn't he have hit hard stone skin? But, I still have my strength and hearing and other things."
"Yeah, I've actually wondered that too." Claire adds.
"I do not know everything about it, however, I do know that it involves physical illusion magic." He says returning to carving out the next shelf. "So that mask will allow you to eat without removing it, but you shouldn't have to. Because you will be spending minimal amounts of time around the humans now."
Blinkey was rather excited to have me and Claire embark on our little cross country trip. I had to of course, but he was glad that Claire could come with and accompany me for 'Trollhunting' purposes. I'm fairly sure he doesn't understand exactly why Claire came. I'm also pretty sure that he was hoping I would devote all my time to Trollhunting and learning about the trollish world. I know how mad he's going to be but he has to know...
"Um, actually. We'll be spending a lot more time with them than you think." I say cautiously. He slows his carving, listening intently but doesn't react, yet.
"We've decided we're going to enroll in the high school they have here." Claire says, excitement in her eyes.
Blinkey whips around and yells, "You what?!"
"We decided to enroll in school." I say flatly.
"You can not do that, there are so many reasons that this is a bad idea. Why would you do such a thing? What about your Trollhuning duties? What about you, you're half troll now. You'll have to wear the mask all the time. And what about the SUN!" He yells louder, eyes frantic.
I growl lowly at him as he marches forward with each new sentence his volume growing. I didn't think he would get this mad.
"I don't see a need for it, it would be a waste of time." He stomps.
Claire, shrinks in my lap, bringing her legs up to her chest. I don't think I've seen him this mad and I don't understand why this is so bad. Claire lets out a whimper I'm sure only I herd, and I hold her tight against myself, getting angry.
"Claire hasn't seen Mary or Darci, and I haven't seen Toby. She's human starved, Blinkey!" I snarl, making him jump. "She hasn't spent time with other girls her age in well over three months." I rise to my feet Claire still in my arm. "There is a need for it, She needs this. I can't be the only human she talks to. I'm not even human anymore." My voice grows to a low roar. "And I've already handled being the Trollhunter and being a highschool student. Now that Gunmar's dead, it will be fine. I'll handle all of my Trollhunter duties, just like I used to." I take a deep breath. I glance down at Claire, her eyes are shut tight and her hands were clasped over her ears. "Blinkey, this is something we both need. We've got everything handled. We're going to go." I walk toward the door than pause, and turn back to Blinkey, but not daring to look at him. "I don't understand why you're so mad about this. Come talk to me when you've decided to be reasonable." I shake my head and exit the library.
I walk toward the steps to our cave, Claire still in my arms. I can't get her to say anything, and I'm not sure why she's acting like this, because she's one of the strongest girls I know. But I don't like the thought that it was Blinkey's or my yelling. I would hate it if her feeling like this was my fault.
I begin the climb up the stairs. Rubbing my forehead against hers I whisper. "You ok?"
She nuzzles my chest with a sort of nod, and lets a long held breath of air free. I decide not to press the subject unless she brings it up, for some reason she's really bothered by it. Once at the top I take Claire to the pile of blankets, and wrap her in my jacket. The other wool blankets might be too itchy for her.
With a quick nuzzle to her cheek with my nose, I whisper. "I'm gonna have a shower, you get your sleep."
Her only response is a quiet whimper and a nod.
I leave her and head for the bathroom, I strip myself of my clothes and turn on the water as hot as it will go. I let the water sear my skin, let it just hit my face. It runs down my horns and drips off the tips of my ears. Wetting my course fur and scruff, which apparently runs along my spine to the middle of my back.
The water washes all the dirt and sweat away. And I'm left with my thoughts.
What could have caused Blinkey to go off the rails like that? I knew he would be mad, but not to that extent. And what caused Claire to curl up like that? If I scared her… no, I'm not going there.
I shut off my mind and just stand in the comfortable heat that would burn the skin off of a human, just another reminder that I'm not.
After an unknown amount of time, I shut off the water and step out of the shower. I shake myself off like a dog, and put my pants and such back on, but leave the shirt off. It feels more natural to not have it off, more weird things my brain is telling me.
I enter the main room and begin mindlessly tidying up. Cleaning up the vegetables and fruits, wrapping them in one of the used veggie bags and place them in the fridge. Thank you Merlin.
I move Claire's things into the bedroom and laugh at the neatly folded pile of blankets, Justin had cleaned them up. What a polite kid, I bet he has a great mother.
His mother…
Oh my gosh! I haven't called mom in like four days she's going to kill me!
I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial my mother, the dial tone doesn't get halfway through the first ring before she picks up.
"Jim! Are you ok? Why haven't you called? What's going on?" She says, I hear Stickler speak.
"Calm down Barbara, I'm sure he's just been busy."
"Ah, hey mom. I'm fine. And yeah I've just been busy." I say, rubbing my scruff.
"Oh, ok. Well I'm glad you're doing ok." she says. "What's been keeping you so busy?"
"Well, a lot actually." I smile to myself. "I got my armor off!"
"You did! Oh I'm so happy for you kiddo… everything there?"
"Mom!"
"What? I'm just making sure." she laughs.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. "Yes, mom. Everything is still there."
"That's good, and…" she starts but pauses. "You're not married yet, so none of that."
"MOM!" I clasp my hand over my mouth, trying to be quiet because Claire's asleep in the room.
"Barbara!" Strickler gasps. "They are both very responsible children. Have some faith."
"Thank you Strickler." I sigh, and fall into a crouch. "Anyways, I made an adult human alli, and he's nice. Claire and I've decided to enroll at the highschool. He's helping get the school safe for me. You know with the sun."
"That's awesome sweet heart."
"I'm glad to hear you will be furthering your education, young Atlas."
"Yeah, we're just trying to figure out how I'm going to get to and from the school during the day. But Claire needs this. She needs people, humans, it's something I can't give her. But I want her to be happy, so I'm doing this for her."
"For her?" Mom says.
I nod, not that they can see it. "I'd do anything for her." I let out a long sigh, on the other end I hear.
"Barbara, may I talk to Jim for a moment?" there's some shuffling. "Jim, it's just me, your mother is in the other room. May I ask you a rather odd question."
"Uh, sure…"
"Is Claire your girlfriend?"
I'm slightly caught off guard by this, and wonder if I should lie. No this is Strickler, the closest thing I have to another half troll. "No she is not. Not really."
"What is she to you?" he says it slowly.
"Why?" I'm not sure if I want mom knowing, and I'm not sure why. But I feel like she might freak. "Who are you going to tell?"
"No one, this stays between you and me. So, young Atlas, what is Claire to you."
I pause, "Claire's my mate." I say with confidence and passion.
"I thought as much. How long have you had the armor off?"
"A few days… Can you stop being cryptic? It would be nice if you just said what you were thinking for once." I roll my eyes with a sigh.
Stickler gives a small laugh. "To the point, I figured that the amulet would have inhibited your new trollish behavior until you got it off. The armor is meant to make you the best you can be for battle, so in some cases, I suppose it could dull ones more farrell behavior." he explains.
My stomach growls again.
"And make me less hungry?"
"I suppose. Jim, what exactly have you been feeling for Claire?"
My shoulder slump I roll my eyes. "If you're talking about the weird things like nuzzling her, or licking her face… Why am I even telling you this?"
He chuckles on the other end. "Because, I asked. But that is strange, I don't know of any troll species that licks…"
"Their kisses, ok? And my head is so messed up that I see things different. And now raw meat is making me salivate."
"Well that's to be expected, when I was younger I had to sneak large portions of meat from my familiar's family. I highly recommend rabbit as well. Although they do not make a sufficient meal, they are a healthy snack."
My mouth begins to water at the talk of food. Although I'm slightly weirded out by the prospect of killing the rabbit myself because I know the store doesn't sell rabbit meat. That would be weird. "Thanks for the tip, can I talk to mom now?"
He sighs and there is some more shuffling.
"What was that about?" my mom askes.
"Yeah, um just a question about troll stuff. But, hey. Merlin finally apologized and furnished my cave with a bathroom, some cupboards and appliances. So that's awesome."
"That is awesome. So if you got your armor off what have you been wearing?"
"Oh, Claire found this little thrift shop, and she got me a pair of cargo pants and a plain white T-shirt. And a jacket. So I have those, but we're going into town later to get some more. I'm going to need more than one shirt and one pair of pants." I laugh.
"You still have your wallet?" She asks.
"Yeah."
"I'm going to put some money on your debit card. Enough for food for you and Claire. And for clothes and maybe some cheap furnature."
"I didn't want to ask, but thanks so much mom. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get a job. But maybe I can find some gemstones from NTM and sell them to make money or something."
"NTM?"
"New Trollmarket. It's not the most original name, but it works."
She laughs, "It does, I'm going to let you go. It's almost noon here, which means it's really late for you. Go get some rest, you're nocturnall, and if school is going to be disrupting you I want you to be able to get as much sleep as you can."
"Alright, I will mom. Love you."
"Love you too, Jim."
She hangs up and I can't help but love her. I get up and enter the kitchen and put the pots and pans away, slowly so I don't wake Claire up.
I hope school doesn't disrupt Claire's sleep or mine. Knowing her, she's not going to sleep unless I do, and I don't (or maybe can't) sleep when the sun is down. These weird trollish things.
I put an alarm on my phone, and lay down behind Claire, curling around her so the back of her head rests against my bare chest. Comfortable with my place, my mind slows and I drift off to sleep.