(The timing is a bit off, but I'm going with it since I can't turn back now.)
"I know what you're gonna say, Jim," Claire said into the phone. At least Angel wasn't lying about feeling better so she could help while she asked Jim to cover for her. "I promise I'll be there in time to help with the Gruesome."
"Isn't this usually the other way around?" Jim joked, but his tone revealed that he knew this was serious. A tone she was still very glad to have back. "What's this about anyway? Do you need help?"
"Um... not at the moment." A whine cut through the air and she had to cover her free ear. "Just- just cover for me and Angel! I gotta go!"
"Claire-" but she hung up the phone and threw it away as the heat became too much.
"Arch!" Douxie yelled and Claire came in to see him running to his bed and putting a blue shield over himself and whoever was there. A small person, by the looks of it. Claire had her Shadow Staff out and stood defensively next to Angel.
As the fireball cried, little bits of flame spread out. A guitar, blanket, and a couple records got hit and caught aflame. Douxie got upset, as he should at the loss of his things, but didn't move from Arch's side. Angel quickly put walls of magic over the flames to keep them from spreading.
"Claire, we need water," Angel ordered and she nodded. It was small, but Claire didn't need the portal to be big. She had it go to the kitchen sink and reached through. It was hard, feeling around for the faucet, but eventually she got it. Pulling back her wet hand, she closed the portal next to her and opened a new one above the fire on the bed first.
The fire fizzled out, so she moved on to the other ones. It seemed like futile effort as the fireball kept whining and setting more fires. Until-
"The sky is dark and the hills are white
As the storm-king speeds from the north to-night," Angel sang softly against the rhythm of running water. It stopped Claire cold for a moment as the fireball stopped whining and made the same noises Enrique did when he was entranced by something.
"And this is the song the storm-king sings,
As over the world his cloak he flings:" As the fireball slowly dimmed and floated towards Angel gently, she brought a blanket over and began wrapping it around him. The boy seemed to realize what she was doing and went back to a human form as she swaddled him. "'Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;' He rustles his wings and gruffly sings: 'Sleep, little one, sleep.'"
The baby she had called Mason was falling asleep as Angel gently rocked him back and forth and hummed. It put Claire's baby skills to shame. She dared a glance at Douxie who lowered his shield and had a soft and thoughtful expression.
"Please tell me you didn't grab the little heetling and that is your new adopted child I hear," a new voice said, the same accent that Douxie had, but a deeper voice. One look to the side of him revealed it to be a black cat.
"A talking cat," Claire stated simply. "Honestly, not the weirdest thing I've seen."
"I'm not a cat. Well, not always." The cat was squinting at her, like he was trying to determine who she was.
"Who are you? And what are you? If you don't mind my asking, anyway. Uh, is that a rude question?" All three around her chuckled slightly with small smiles.
"He's a familiar, Claire," Douxie offered, petting the cat- familiar, fondly. He lost his smile and gave an apologetic look to the little animal. "My familiar. And someone who we both owe an apology. I'm so sorry, Arch." Arch turned to his voice, giving him a long look before sighing deeply.
"I'm really sorry too, Archie," Angel said, giving him the same apologetic look. "I really shouldn't have-"
"Yes, yes. Just don't make a habit of it." Douxie, in a rush of gratitude, bent down to hug him. Claire let her Shadow Staff close and glanced sidelong to Angel.
"What did you two do?" She asked. Angel flushed and tensed, the way she always did when she didn't want to say something. Douxie noticed and took over.
"We were arguing about, well, something stupid," he said as he looked at Angel with his signature kind expression. But there was a hidden emotion behind it, one that was strained and hard to place. Angel seemed to be as clueless as Claire when it came to reading him in this moment. "It's over now."
Claire couldn't help but think he was lying.
. . .
"Angel? What about Angel?" Steve asked the creep who was making it's home on Eli's chair. "I get Jim being the leader of the creeps, but she's-"
"Always been quiet," Eli said from beside him. "And she's been missing school on almost the exact same days as Jim. I knew there was something off about her! No one would be that nice to me." Steve internally winced as he knew who was responsible for his low self esteem.
And he was daring to ask for his help.
"Well, it makes perfect sense for Jim." Steve pulled Eli close. "My nemesis wants to destroy the world and has brainwashed Angel into becoming one."
"You're sticking with that theory?"
"Come on, Pepperjack!" Steve yelled as he spotted a cat carrier and motioned for the creep to get in. He surprisingly obliged. "We're getting to the bottom of this."
And with a quick trip to Jim's in Eli's mom's borrowed car, crashing because of mustache, they found out the best time to attack. They were going to the rock show the next night, Claire getting on the phone close enough to the window they were spying from to call Angel and ask her to come too.
"You owe me," her muffled and whispered voice said. "Especially if you want me to keep your secret from Jim of all people." A beat of silence followed from an unheard reply. "No. No, I just think having a little extra backup is a good idea." Another beat and Claire chuckled a bit. "Don't tell him that. Blinky likely wouldn't let me go after that.
"By the way, how did it go with that heetling?" That beat was longer, and they almost thought that she had hung up and Claire had left. "Huh. Do you trust them?" Beat. Beat. "I don't know. I've heard it a few times. I'll definitely ask around." Beat. "Ok, see you tomorrow night. And take care."
And so, the two had their plan. Steve and Eli would take out two creeps with one stone.
. . .
The events and information from the morning was still playing through her head at the rock show. Thankfully, being a trollhunter for a few months had already made her good at hiding things.
Angel was thirty, turning thirty-one in a few days. Douxie was over 900 years old and had a talking cat as a familiar. She really didn't want to think about how heetlings were made, or what they meant by 'getting their dues once night was eternal'.
Angel and Douxie had returned the baby, apologizing for the mix-up in thinking it was a human baby. But really, after learning that heetlings took that which is most precious from a person only to consume it later for strength, it was no wonder they fought tooth and nail to keep the baby safe.
Speaking of keeping babies safe-
"Jim! Did you blow up our child?"
"Trust me, she did not die in vain," Jim said, deactivating his armor. "The flour in the air; it hurt it. We need more flour."
"But we just had the one. Except... Sir Issac Gluten!"
. . .
Eli would have pulled the fire alarm, but Angel surprisingly beat him to it. While she was calm enough, there was a worried spring in her step. Luckily, she didn't notice Eli.
He didn't want to kill her. She was one of the only nice ones in school. But Steve had shut up long enough for them to hear Claire's conversation with Angel. How even Jim couldn't know what she was. How Claire had done her a favor earlier. She might be the bigger threat here.
He looked around for something to use as a weapon since his ninja stars were inside whatever that sludge was. A nearby mace caught his eye. But just as he was about to attack, he saw a woman coughing from what seemed like an asthma attack, unable to get her inhaler.
Angel noticed and began helping her, silently asking if it was OK to go into her purse. She just barely nodded before Angel quickly found it and helped her. The kindness she showed as she helped, the way that she kept making sure she was alright...
Despite what Steve said about it being an act, though that was about Jim, he couldn't hurt this kind and thoughtful girl that had been kind to him and many others all year. He'd just... let Steve handle that one.
. . .
Walking was a nice way to clear her head. After getting everyone outside and leaving once Claire gave her the go ahead, it was in her plan to go home, to talk to Douxie. But as her feet took her in the opposite direction, towards the woods, she didn't protest.
The bridge didn't seem so bad anymore. Claire told her that Angor had been killed and Bular had been gone since before Christmas. So she felt fine walking across it alone.
Night was when she felt she thrived. It was calmer, quiet; no chaos. Well, the owls hunting for their next meal and the crickets creating a symphony could be considered chaotic, but it really wasn't. It was just nature.
Fireflies seemed to light the way to her favorite spot in the whole woods. It was easy to miss if she weren't looking for it. The dark wood and green vines hid it well, though the wards and illusion spells negate that.
Sighing, she pulled out her phone and sat on the steps. She stared at the last few messages that she had exchanged with Douxie.
It was such a mundane thing, the asking for what she wanted from the store. But she was finding that she like it, she missed it. Everything that made living with Douxie great.
And she'd ruined it.
. . .
Staying at a friend's house. No need to wait up. See you tomorrow.
Douxie had stared at that text for a long while before finally deciding to practice his guitar. It was only random cords over and over, but it was calming. It cleared his head.
Angel needed space and he got that, truly he did. And she needed to learn magic, defense and offense. So far the most she could do was turn invisible, make little things float, teleport, and slow down time on an object for afew seconds if she really focused.
She didn't like to use that last one much because it drained her. He'd worked on it off and on with her over the last couple years, but it never got better. Maybe Merlin was right. He was such an ignoramus that his own roommate- friend- whatever she was to him! Important to him, as much as Arch is, as much as Merlin was....
Where was that old guy anyway? Oh, right. He had been entombed somewhere that Douxie wasn't allowed to know. The whole conversation they'd had was fuzzy as were the events leading up to it.
All he actually remembered was that he was practically useless in the Battle Of Killahead. He was pretty sure he got knocked out within the first minute. Arch said that he protected the boy during a three day coma he'd had after the battle. Arch had pointedly refused to talk about it as they traveled.
Camelot was gone and it's people were in shatters by the the time he had made his way back from being stranded somewhere in the forest. He had done the best he could to help, but in the end, most traveled on their own to new kingdoms and lands.
He went all over Europe before moving to the newly proclaimed United States of America. But still, he seemed to make a mess wherever he went. His magic had gotten better over the years, but only because of people like Zoe who were no nonsense yet understanding of his limits.
He sighed, putting down the guitar he'd stopped playing minutes ago. Zoe was an amazing teacher and would less biased than himself when it came to teaching. She was likely the best teacher for Angel.
He was just a mess.
. . .
Chirping woke Angel up. That and immense pain in her neck. She had fallen asleep leaning against the railing on the gazebo and she was probably late for school, but that chirping sounded bad.
Looking down the steps on the ground, she saw a beautiful red bird laying down on its side. Slower than she should have been, Angel approached the bird. Upon closer inspection, it was a red Cardinal that had a bad run in with some kind of predator.
"Oh no," she muttered, carefully trying to pick the little bird. It chirped in protest, and Angel stopped immediately. "I need to get you to a vet. Um, ok, hang on." It was by some miracle that he had something that she could at least cover the bleeding area with. She'd have to get a new face mask, but they were cheap.
"It's OK, birdy. I'm going to get you help." The bird still gave a chirp of pain, but was OK with being picked up. "And I really hope this doesn't hurt you more, but we're miles from town."
In a maroon flash of light that no one saw, they were in an alleyway just around the corner of the vets office. With a small smile, she turned to the little bird.
"You won't tell anyone, will you?" She asked jokingly. Weirdly, the bird seemed to look her directly in the eye as it chirped again.
Angel brushed it off and hurried to the vet.