Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia

8: Adventures in trollsitting

Late that night, a goblin made its way up to the top of Claire's house and looked through the window of Enrique's room. He woke up and giggled when he saw it. The goblin smiled.

***

"Check that baby out," Toby said as he and Jim were admiring a Vespa on display at a store.

"Vespa 300 GTS super," Jim smiled. "Single-cylinder catalyzed four-stroke Quasar engine. Can you imagine me going down the road on that? Wind whipping through my hair, Claire holding tight to my back..."

"Me cruising in the sidecar next to you."

Jim looked at him.

"You imagined you and Claire alone, didn't you?"

Jim sighed.

"What are the chances of your mom getting you one for your birthday?" Toby asked.

"Only slightly worse than me winning the lottery and buying it myself."

"How much do you have saved?"

"Only 328 bucks and 52 cents. By the time I have enough, these things will drive themselves." Jim saw the reflection of a creature jumping from building to building through the window. "Did you see that?" He asked, pointing to the window. Toby turned around and saw nothing. Jim looked around and saw a goblin holding a baby, running around the powerlines. "Goblins!" Jim said. He ran to where he saw the goblin." "It's a goblin!" Jim said, still running. "With a baby!"

"Come on, Jim! It's just a bird!" Toby said, running after him. Jim ran through the street, chasing the goblin. He quickly lost sight of it as Toby caught up to him. He picked up a stuffed bunny that was left on the ground. "Chill out, man!" Toby said. "This Trollhunting is making you hallucinate! I mean, what would a goblin want with a baby?"

"I don't know," he said. "But I'm gonna find out."

***

"Let me get this straight," Jim said, climbing up a wall with fire shooting out of it. "They steal babies, so they can replace them with changelings?"

Toby, Blinky, and Aaarrrgghh were waiting for him at the top. "Precisely, Master Jim!" Blinky said.

"Allegedly steal," Toby said. "I just saw a bird."

"And in order for a changeling to maintain its appearance in our world," Blinky said. "No harm must come to the human child in theirs. I assure you, there is no safer place for a baby to be than the bowels of the Darklands nursery."

More fire shot out of a hole in the wall, just inches away from Jim. "Well, that's good to know," he said.

"Hold on there," Toby said. "Okay, suppose they did take the baby to the Darklands. Isn't that where Gunmar is trying to escape from?"

"The doorway to his realm is sealed for now," Blinky said. "But it doesn't exonerate the cracks that inevitably form over time. Cracks that allow small things to pass."

"Small," Aaarrrgghh said. "Like babies and goblins."

"So," Jim said. "If we find out who's baby was stolen, we'll find the changeling in its place, right? And once we have the changeling, we'll have the proof to finally convince Vendel—"

He fell from the wall and the rope that was holding Jim up slipped from Aaarrrgghh's hands. Toby jumped down to grab it and would have fallen himself if Aaarrrgghh didn't grab him also. "Got him!" Aaarrrgghh said.

They pulled Jim up to the top. "I told you I'd fall," he said.

"You fell because you knew you could," Blinky said. "But if you're endangered and we aren't there? Next time, we'll climb sans the safety climb."