Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia

7: To catch a changeling

"Sorry," Toby said. "Draal was training Jim."

"Draal?" Aaarrrgghh asked.

"Training?" Blinky asked.

"Yeah," Jim said. "He sort of made a home in my basement to look out for the place."

"Of course," Blinky said. "When a troll is defeated in combat, it's completely natural for them to take refuge in the victor's domicile."

"So, you understand?"

"I understand such an arrangement could only end in disaster. Utter disaster!"

"Are we simply waiting here to be discovered?" Vendel asked. "Or were you planning on showing me this thing you believe to be the Killahead Bridge?"

"The Trollhunter was just about to show us the way," Blinky said.

They walked through the door to the room they were fighting Nomura in. "And as we were chasing away the goblin pack," Jim said. "We ran past this closed exhibit. And there it was: the Killahead Bridge."

They walked over to a sheet covering something up. Jim and Toby pulled the sheet off to reveal a giant ship. "That is not a bridge," Vendel said.

"But it was right here!" Jim said. "You saw it, Tobes. You took a picture of it."

"It was out of focus, and I did forget to turn on the flash. We were running so fast. We were being chased; you know. Maybe we only thought we saw it?"

Vendel turned to Blinky. "Blinkous Galadrigal. I've not left the Heartstone in a century. I only did so tonight because of the grave peril the Killahead Bridge represents. For you to invoke that danger without just because--"

If Master Jim says it's so--"

"You will be only too quick to believe him. You've never met a conspiracy theory you didn't like."

"I hate conspiracies. This is why I am dedicated to rooting them out."

"Like you rooted out the plot to rid Trollmarket of all its cat meat?"

"That was a misunderstanding."

"Or the time you were convinced we were infested with flea trolls?"

"Precaution is the soul of virtue."

"Everyone in Trollmarket thinks you're paranoid."

"If it's everyone, it must be a conspiracy!"

Vendel sighed. "It would seem your pupil is desperate to play the hero, while you are desperate to see danger where none exists."

He walked out of the room. "Aaarrrgghh, take me home."

Aaarrrgghh and Toby followed him out. "It was right here," Jim said.

"Perhaps Vendel's right," Blinky said. "Perhaps I have flooded your imagination with flights of fancy. I blame myself."

"Not you, Blinky. You have to believe me. I know what I saw."

Blinky looked at him. "If the proof isn't here," he said. "It has to be somewhere. You worry about your studies. I'll worry about this."

***

"So, say what we saw isn't just an illusion and they really did move it," Toby said the next day at school. "How could we possibly find it?"

"Well, I don't think we're gonna be lucky enough to stumble on it again, Tobes." Him said. "But one thing is for sure. That curator did not move it by herself."