Only some months ago, if someone had told him there would have been such a rift between him and his mother, Jim would have laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement. No, of course, Barbara had always had her secrets and, honestly, he would have occasionally 'forgotten' to mention some details from everyday life, but that had never harmed their mutual trust.
Apparently, it had required a bunch of trolls unceremoniously barging into his life to ruin everything.
No, Jim had realized that the huge secret of his would have never helped with keeping a trusting relationship. And he still wasn't going to tell Barbara a thing about his trollhunting mission.
He just hoped to be better in hiding everything - and had already failed so spectacularly.
His explanation of his injuries was dumb, to put it mildly. Knowing his mom, she would have an investigation of her own, and he hated imagining where it could possibly lead her.
And telling her that the guilty party had already been dead would only make everything worse.
Though, worse? It was already disastrous enough to force Jim into hanging in Domzalski's house together with Claire and Tobes until Barbara had left. He simply couldn't face his mom after the morning. She would keep interrogating for sure until she got a satisfying response.
Jim wasn't even sure what could count as 'satisfying' for her. Was it the truth? Or, perhaps, a convincing lie would be better?
Anyway, apparently, he should have run away until a good enough version would have come to his mind.
Tobes had tried to help, inventing some story involving local mobs, which sounded even less realistic than trolls. Claire had proposed throwing someone under the bus. Too many people wanted Steve as a scapegoat for whatever reason. Somehow, Jim felt some pity for the guy.
Douxie's arrival had only added some fuel to his inner turmoil. It took some briefing about the last night's events to learn that: a) the healing potions existed, and b) there was also illusion magic to cover wounds in case potions were not enough.
"Well, thanks for confirming that I've screwed royally," Jim muttered. He was angry and upset with himself mostly.
Seriously, if he had had at least half of his brain functioning like it was supposed to, he would have contacted Douxie at once. Or, even if he decided to wait till the morning, he could have still avoided Barbara and then gone to Douxie instead of school.
Now using either potions or illusion magic would be pointless if not harmful. Everyone in their right mind would question the miraculous soon recovery, especially a doctor like Barbara.
"I hate to tell you this, but it should be the least of your worries right now," Douxie interrupted his inner beating with a quiet remark.
"How so?" Claire inquired, probably noticing that Jim wasn't in the right state of mind to comprehend everything.
"That troll last night - how had he managed to find you?" Douxie asked instead of answering.
"No idea, but wasn't it quite, you know... random encounter," Toby said with a shrug. "What would you say, Jimbo?"
Jim tried to recall the event in question, but right now, all the details came in a blur. They certainly hadn't used identity-concealing talismans back then, but...
Had that troll known he had stumbled across the Trollhunter? Could it be he had been simply looking for a meal? That Tobes and Jim himself had been just unlucky to pass through the certain area? Had the enemy called him 'Trollhunter' before he had revealed himself?
Jim's memory refused to cooperate, probably because of the recent trauma. Though, it wasn't as if like he had possessed a splendid memory before. He turned to Tobes for assistance, but his friend shook his head.
"Sorry, I was too scared to pay attention too."
"Ok, breathe in, guys," Claire interrupted. "No need for panic attacks. If the enemies had known your identities wouldn't they have ambushed already?"
"Not necessary," Douxie sighed. "They could learn about their ally's failure later... And school is protected."
"Unlike our houses." Toby paled, losing his usual optimism. "Will they attack again?"
Jim genuinely prayed Douxie's response turned out hopeful, but no, he would never be that lucky.
"No idea," his older friend replied sincerely. "It could be both. The only thing we can do is to prepare."
"Like making a trap?" Claire suggested. "If we wait for them here we'll have a home-field advantage."
She was right, even though Jim felt sightly conflicted about her involvement. Except for him, Claire still remained the only one who had nearly died after meeting a troll. She seemed calm, but what if another encounter with a blood-thirsty monster would have become a trigger for her?
He could tell that at least he wasn't the only one worried as Douxie seemed dubious too.
Jim wasn't sure if having Draal occupying his basement was good or bad. He still had no idea how stealthy the troll could be and if he would even bother with secrecy (though, judging from Blinky's random appearances, even bothering with secrecy might have changed nothing).
By some miracle, Draal had spent the entire day down there without Barbara noticing him. Jim thanked all higher forces for that - that would have been some twisted irony if he had damaged his relationship with his mom only for her to discover the secret troll world herself because of some brute not being able to keep quiet in the basement.
"So, trolls can be bulky too?"
Jim heard Claire whispering with Toby. Oh yeah, she had only seen the museum curator, who had a drastically different frame.
"Just wait till you see Blinky," Tobes answered back. "And seriously, those guys are surprisingly diverse when it comes to sizes and build."
It must have been so nice to discuss an unrelated topic. Jim would have gladly joined if he had no obligation to explain the situation to Draal.
"I think, they'll ambush you," the troll stated grimly. "Last night, someone else was watching."
"Are you sure?" Douxie butted in, his eyebrows furrowed.
Draal huffed instead of the answer. Well, it seemed like he had no trust in Douxie or his skills, even though Jim had introduced him as a 'wizard'. Was there some detail regarding trolls-wizards communication no one bothered to mention?
Jim regretted that neither Blinky nor Archie had been present - both of them would happily provide the so-much-needed piece of missing trivia.
At least, Draal wasn't against cooperating, even if he intended to cover the fighting part by himself. Not that Jim could complain - that was already a tremendous improvement over his previous ass behavior. Besides, it would be outright stupid to deny his former rival's battle prowess. Draal had been serious about training for the Trollhunter's role for decades, that was for sure.
Thinking that way made Jim relax a bit. Surely, he was still just a fledgling Trollhunter and needed all his luck and skills just to survive, but there were also his more competent allies. Douxie had already helped a lot with several magical tricks and who knew what else he had in his sleeves. And Draal was a warrior through and through.
"Will we get more firepower?" Toby asked. "Like Zoe or Archie?"
Douxie shook his head.
"They've got a different mission tonight, trying to find out how the bookstore ended compromised..."
Oh yeah, that was another fishy lead and another possibility that their enemies had already known everything and were just toying with everyone.
"And those other troll allies you mentioned?" This time it was Claire.
"Nah, Aaarrrgghh is pacifist and Blinky... no idea, but probably not a fighter," Jim said with a shrug. Blinky himself called himself a scholar first and utmost, but his stone-throwing skills weren't something to take lightly. He could play a distraction or something.
"I see." Claire nodded. "So what is the strategy?"
Barverra had always known her past would have caught up to her sooner or later. Her peaceful life was just an illusion. At times, she wondered if she would continue if she had never given birth to Jim.
She didn't care what would happen to her. Steeling herself for a possibility of a gruesome death and a life full of dangers and injuries was her way.
However, Barverra had never realized that seeing Jim - her dear boy - injured so much would make her blood boil.
He should have just told her the name of the bastard who dared to touch him. She was more than willing to demonstrate the full extent of her ire to them.
Jim had lied to her? Fine - he was the only person she would forgive for not giving her the truth. It never meant Barverra wouldn't turn the entire Arcadia upside down only to get her payback.
The day seemed to drag for eternity as she waited for the nightfall. Her patience was already at its limits as she passed through the room, trying to compile the mental list of possible suspects.
Somehow, Stricklander kept getting the top position even though he had an alibi for sure. Heck, she was his alibi! No matter how much of a convenient scapegoat he was, he simply couldn't have gotten an opportunity to harm her son physically.
If it had been some other troll, Barverra would have stopped thinking about them altogether. However, the suspect in question was Stricklander, someone who usually started acting only after crafting an intricate plan.
Could his own actions last night be a diversion while some of his goons attacked her son?
No, Stricklander's actions always followed some logic. There should have been some sound explanation for that kind of action, like...
Like double-checking to be sure. Even if he suspected Barbara of being a troll, he couldn't possibly know about Jim being a halfling. So, could Stricklander have made a guess of her son being some kind of changeling? In that case, the beating had been just a way to force Jim to transform.
Obviously, it wouldn't have worked, but... Her son had already demonstrated his tendency to invoke his primal instincts in case of extreme stress.
Last night could easily be the end of so much cherished peace! Who knew how much they pushed Jim - what if he had gone full feral mode?
And that would have explained his own stubborn refusal to tell the truth the next morning.
Jim was scared to be a monster.
And if Jim had been actually forced to act like one, he would have been frightened and ashamed.
Stairs! Oh, she would break those so-called 'stairs' so much! And Stricklander! No way he would be able to get away after hurting her boy!
She had been such a fool to believe that their treaty would have had any value to that self-centered sleazy bastard! Oh no, Stricklander had most likely tried to find a way to outwit her while using it as a way to buy more time and space for a maneuver.
Barverra had definitely tolerated him for too long. She had to put an end to it immediately.
She stopped momentarily as the cold reason tried to calm down her raging emotions. What if she had missed some vital part of the puzzle and simply let her imagination fill the gaps? Wouldn't her reckless attitude bring more harm?
No, she had to sit down, wait for Jim's return and try to have a heart-to-heart talk with him. Maybe those injuries had nothing to do with trolls (not that Barverra would ever let any creature who harmed her son live, though).
She sat down on the couch after brewing some coffee for herself.
'Jim will scold me again for not having a proper meal,' she thought absentmindedly before remembering that her son had stormed out of the house this morning without finishing whatever stuff he had been cooking.
Well, it wasn't as if Barbara had any appetite.
She checked the clock. Jim should have come a long time ago. Unless...
Something horrible had happened.
Another wave of irrational fear and anxiety hit her.
No.
Barbara shrugged it off. Besides school, Jim also had play rehearsals. Or maybe he was hanging out with Toby, like usual, or...
Her phone vibrated, and Barbara checked the message absentmindedly.
B back late
It was the first time Jim's message sounded so dry. No 'love you'. No nagging about the dinner. Nothing to show affection.
It was official - for whatever reason, Jim tried to avoid his mother.
She ended up ditching her human job altogether, going for a full-mode investigation in the hope of finding out what she had missed while spending the night with Stricklander.
Barverra started with changelings scattered around Arcadia. and the first one provided her with a rather unexpected development.
Montgo, the former Gumm-Gumm soldier had fallen, defeated by the Trollhunter's party. Not the Trollhunter himself, though - the honor belonged to one of his troll allies.
On any other day, Barverra would have inquired for more details, but currently, she didn't care about the amulet or freeing her father or whatever kind of clashes the dumb human kid Trollhunter had.
There were only two things that truly mattered. One - what the hell was going on inside Stricklander's head. And two - who was the bastard that injured Jim. Though, the order should have flipped. Or not - if those two were connected.
Unfortunately, the first changeling swore he had never received any odd orders from Stricklander. So were the second and third.
Barverra didn't think they were lying - probably, the only member of the Janus Order with enough guts for that stunt would be Stricklander himself. His goons were more likely to backstab him the second they had an opportunity. There was simply no way that one of the changelings would have covered for their boss.
On the other hand, all three had rather an odd reaction after hearing Stricklander's name from her. The bravest one even attempted to ask something but lost his courage at the last second and tried to pretend that no words left her lips.
Nevertheless, she had no time for listening to something dumb. If it was something big enough to destroy Stricklander, those guys would have spilled the beans a long time ago. Anything less than that would be just a neglectable factor.
Barverra was heading toward the fourth changeling's apartment when Bular appeared out of nowhere, blocking her path.
Just great! Couldn't he have found some better time for whatever bushigal he would be blabbering?
"Where have you been?" he roared. It reminded Barverra of another night when Bular had been aggressive only to cover his own misstep.
"Don't tell me you've killed another Trollhunter and lost the amulet again," she said without any interest or enthusiasm. Honestly, the possibility of that was next to nil. And even if, by some twisted joke of fate, that scenario had happened, it would have changed nothing.
"What? No!" Bular was slightly taken aback by the response. "Why would you even think that?"
"Look, if you are going to complain about some dumb stuff - I have no time for it! Move!"
She tried to go past her brother, and surprisingly there was no resistance. Unfortunately, he still decided to follow her.
"It's not the dumb stuff," he ranted, starting a long-winded spiel about the troll's honor and the need to put priorities straight.
Barverra wasn't listening to that. Bular's lectures were the last thing she needed now. Hopefully, he would have gotten tired soon, leaving her alone.
Surprisingly, his presence had an additional effect on interrogation as changelings were seemingly more willing to talk once they noticed Bular's furious expression.
If only they could tell something meaningful!
Alas, their information was pointless in the best case - they kept repeating the stuff Barverra already knew. And Bular stubbornly tagging along only added to her annoyance.
"They say Stricklander's in your favor," he broke his silence with a comment while they were heading to the next changeling.
"Does it look like that?" Barverra growled. No, obviously the previous night there had been the closeness that crossed all the red lines, but that shouldn't have become the common knowledge regardless of Stricklander's opinion.
"Some impures believe in that."
"Since when does the impures' opinion matter to you?"
It just kept getting more ridiculous. Was it Stricklander's fault?
Barverra shook her head. Stupid gossip and Bular's delusions could wait. The next changeling in her list was Nomura - and that one was the closest to Stricklander.
If she knew nothing - no one knew.
Nomura met them with some caution. She kept giving nervous glares in the Bular's direction. Barverra half-expected her at least to attempt hiding something, so the direct response came out of nowhere.
"Any recent tasks from Stricklander? Oh, there's one, rather annoying if you ask me."
"Really? And what was the task?"
That had to be it, something that might have put some light on both Jim's injuries and Stricklander's plan.
"Well," Nomura drawled. "He told me to watch a fleshbag kid non-stop and report each of his steps. Could at least give me a helper, but no!"
The end of the rant fell on deaf ears. Barverra felt her anger spiking again. There could be only one 'fleshbag kid' Stricklander would wish to observe. That had to be her son. No other human teen should have been interesting from that bastard's point of view.
Only the fact that, apparently, Nomura had nothing to do with Jim's injuries saved her from certain death. Stricklander, on the other hand...
"Does that 'fleshbag kid' have a name?" Barverra inquired slowly, fully anticipating the incoming confirmation. James Lake. It simply couldn't be a different one.
"Steve Palchuk."
Unless it was a different one. It took Barverra several painfully dragged moments until she realized that all her theories crumbled at once after the one name.
Steve Palchuk? Wasn't that the name of a bully in Jim's school? The one her son apparently had fought not that long ago?
What kind of interest Stricklander could possibly have in that one?
Wait, no. Her son wasn't the only human teen with a connection to trolls.
The current Trollhunter would make even more sense to be under constant observation.
But then Nomura had committed a grave mistake blabbering about the vital information and basically obliterating Stricklander's only trump card.
No, she wasn't that dumb. Barverra mentally corrected herself. Another case of backstabbing? That wouldn't be so farfetched.
That was something valuable to know, but Barverra was still more disappointed than happy.
She turned away, feeling some powerless rage building. The investigation had hit the wall already. Asking anyone else would change nothing.
Stricklander would obviously be cryptic and misleading.
No, she should have made another attempt to talk to Jim, or else she would lose the right to be called a mother.
Barverra lept to the roof, hoping the night breeze would calm her inner turmoil. It had worked before - so why would it fail now? Though, probably, she simply hadn't been that upset all those previous times. Otherwise, why the anger kept growing?
A run through the city could be her possible answer. Some other day, she might have chosen a spar with Bular, but currently, she wasn't in the mood for that one.
Unfortunately, even the run changed nothing. Was it because Barverra had killed no one despite silently swearing to make someone pay?
She heard someone chasing and slowed down. Couldn't Bular just leave her alone? Even he couldn't be that dumb not to get all the hints!
Wait, the steps were too light to belong to him. Their owner should have been a smaller troll, but who?
It didn't remain the mystery for that long as Shen appeared from the shadows.
Just great - another one Barverra didn't want to see right now. This one was an outsider without much inside information about what was going on in Arcadia.
"Your Highness, can you listen to me? I believe I've found something," Shen said hastily as if afraid that Barverra would just go away without paying attention. "Stricklander has broken the Order's law!"
"And what?" Barverra snapped at last. "Deal with him yourself! Do I look like an executioner to you?!"
Seriously, she picked the wrong sibling if she wished to sic someone on Stricklander. Bular would have been more than happy!
"No, it's just that there's no one hundred percent proof, but I'm sure he has another subordinate in school," Shen squeaked, shivering in terror.
Subordinate. In school.
Barverra felt her rage dissipating, making way for some cold reasoning.
Stricklander's subordinate could only be another changeling.
"Nonsense," she said. "Stricklander is the only one in that place. Everyone else is stationed elsewhere."
Barverra had seen all the profiles of Arcadia's changelings - simply to keep as many of them as far as possible from her son.
"It's true when it comes to the official members," Shen responded more confidently, noticing that her life wasn't in imminent danger anymore. "But apparently, Stricklander's managed to raise a spy who doesn't exist on paper... Young ones tend to perish a lot during the training, so sneaking away one of those could go unnoticed. And with Stricklander's influence, he would have no problem to implant a changeling into some family and keep them close enough all the time..."
"That's an interesting speculation." Barverra frowned. All those words made too much sense. Stricklander could and would have definitely used such a chance. Having a 'phantom' assistant for the most important tasks would have been too convenient for his plans.
"But it's not just speculation. The changeling in question is, apparently, too young and inexperienced. The whole school has noticed how often he visits Strickler's office. Some teachers even joke that the boy is his secret son or something. And, most importantly, some students have noted the kid's feral tendencies. Forgive me my insolence, but don't those point out to his inhuman nature?"
Was there actually someone that dangerous so close to Jim? But her son had never mentioned anyone acting feral. Had he never noticed? Or, perhaps, even sympathized with that changeling kid?
"And yesterday there was a fight between him and another student. I'd say a gruesome one, yet both deny their involvement," Shen finished nonchalantly.
She definitely paid less attention to that fact, probably dismissing it as the one without any weight, but it was the other way for Barverra.
The fight. Gruesome one. Both kids denying their involvement. That sounded eerily similar to the recent situation with Jim.
And now Barverra had the perfect idea of the one she needed to obliterate.
"Can I leave this matter to you?" she asked coldly. Young or old, everyone should have paid for crossing Gunmar's family.
"Sure thing!" Shen beamed. "I'll corner both Stricklander and his protege."