Tourist Friendly
I grabbed Jack's arm and pointed to the girl. He looked at her, then shrugged. "Does that mean we're done?"
"Come on. Let's check to be sure we know which house." We trailed her down the streets, winding through shopping areas and into a residential district. The brick-and-wood homes were neat and well tended, the streets clean under warm lights. The window boxes were empty now, but I imagined how charming this place would be in the spring and summer, lined with flowers.
I tried to keep a discreet distance from the girl. My only job was to figure out where she was staying and report back. No contact of any kind, which I was more than fine with. I hadn't even brought Tasey along-a fact I was now grateful for, since my little swim wouldn't have been good for her.
We passed a few people sitting on porches. When I made eye contact, I smiled, and they nodded back hesitantly. If they only knew what was in the midst of them. One woman in a pretty red wool coat stood next to a lamppost, dialing her phone. She glanced up, a small look of surprise on her face as she met my eyes, probably because my hair was still dripping wet. She winked at me and I gave a small wave. The Swedes totally deserved their friendly reputation.
Another corner and the little girl bounced up steps and into a nondescript house. "Bingo." I was about to tell Jack we could finally go when a throat clearing sound behind us made me turn.
Every single person we'd passed on the way here, including the woman in the red coat, stood behind us, forming a semicircle. A distinctly menacing semicircle.
"Umm, Jack?" I tugged on his arm.
He glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at the house, pulling a communicator out of his pants pocket. "What?"
The crowd moved in closer.
"Jack!"
He turned around, shooting me an annoyed look. "Let me call it in already. I'm cold."
He couldn't see them. Which meant they were invisible. Which meant they were trolls.
Trolls who knew I could see them.
"Oh, bleep," I muttered. How had I forgotten about their invisibility glamours? Now that I looked I could see a hint of distortion around their faces-my stupid sight piercing straight through the invisibility. They'd known something was up the second I saw them on the streets. I waved to the trolls. "Umm, we were just leaving." I grabbed Jack's arm, startling him into dropping the communicator, and started to back up-bumping into a particularly large guy, whom I now noticed had an unusually flat nose. And a tail. We were surrounded. He clamped one huge hand onto my shoulder. I bit his thumb, twisting out from under his hand.
"Run!" I darted through the growing crowd, but Jack, unable to see them, stood there like a big oaf. I stopped, torn. They had him surrounded. There was a slight shimmer, as though a wave of heat had come up from the cold streets, and by the look on Jack's face I knew they were visible to him, now, too.
They closed in, backing Jack up to the wall. The woman in the red coat glared at me. I wanted to scream in frustration. After everything I'd already been through today, now I had to go face a horde of angry trolls to save Jack.
Jack. Stupid, crazy Jack.
I walked back, my feet feeling like they weighed a ton. Jack darted a look at me to say-what?-and I shook my head. Of course I wasn't going to leave him.
I reached the edge of the circle and the big troll grabbed my arm, carefully staying out of reach of my mouth.
"Evie, you idiot," Jack said.
"I had to come back for you!"
"No, you really didn't." It was then that I noticed his hand on the wall, which opened into blackness. Jack grimaced at me, then slipped through and was gone, much to the trolls' surprise.
"You little fink!" I shouted at the now solid wall. Here I'd come back so he wouldn't die alone, and he abandoned me. After dropping me into a river and nearly getting me killed.
If I ever saw him again, he was going to get a proper introduction to Tasey.
The trolls whispered a conversation in a guttural, harsh-sounding language. I squirmed, but Big Troll Guy's hand wasn't going anywhere. After a moment they pulled me into the nearest house and shoved me onto a floral couch.
There were at least twenty of them now, and they blocked all the escapes. The room wasn't exactly what I expected of a troll den. Instead of gnawed-on bones and trash, it was spotlessly clean with warm paint tones and tasteful prints. I wondered where the family that really owned it was, how long they'd been held prisoner. And whether or not I was about to join them.
I'd be okay, though. Jack knew where I was. He'd get help and bring it back . . . just like when he'd disappeared and left me stranded in the Center for two days.
I was so screwed.
I watched the trolls warily. Many of them were making phone calls-since when did trolls use cells?-but the others were glaring at me. Now that I looked closer, there were the obvious differences between them and humans, other than the tails. Flatter, wider noses, close-set, small eyes, all of which were slate gray. Most of them had one patch of hair that was wild and uncombed, at odds with their downright professional dress. I should have recognized the look before, invisible or not, but I hadn't dealt with trolls since I was twelve.
Finally, the woman in the red coat, hair bundled into braids like spun gold, stood in front of me with hands on her wide hips as her tail twitched rapidly from side to side.
"We know who you are." Her English was heavily accented but clear.
I raised my eyebrows. Apparently even after several months out of the IPCA game my fame had spread. "Then you know you should let me go." Bluffing was my only option at this point, so I sat up straight and maintained eye contact.
She let out a bitter laugh. "So you can slaughter more of our children?" My jaw dropped, then I sighed, exhausted.
When would paranormals stop accusing me of murder?