As fast as we could climb, Riley, Jerron, and I are on the arch and enter Caunte's House. Troll Dag crowded inside behind us. What is nice about our magical houses is space grows to allow all our things and us to fit. Troll Dag crowded inside behind us. Everything was torn and throw all over. Dag said, "Caunte was neat, too tidy. Something else did this, looking for something."
Troll Father Harian yelled to us, "Well, any clues?"
Dag answered his father, "Everything ripped up, only pieces left."
I said, "This happened before the house fell off the bridge. Even the furniture torn from the floor as well as the lights and the cupboards." We felt negative energies and quickly pushed our way out of the door.
Safe in the Dancing Circle, we were gripped by JooJee's determination, we watched as she walked across the bridge to the front garden.
I thought out loud, "Could Hornet Warriors do this?"
Jerron answered, "They did search for the sherrie."
Troll Mother Maude and the Troll girls were on the bridge arch and shouted to us, "The girls will clean, a clue must be there." The Trolls girls entered the house.
Riley said, "The creepy smelly Ole Fog could not destroy a house."
Jerron agreed, "He is fog, just crawling fog."
Edwin said, "The Hornets did this. They were angry."
Soothsayer Olaf sat beside us, "This is the destruction from the Ole Fog, Death and his GREED for life."
JooJee ran back across the bridge, shouting, "I found a butterfly!"
With a 'BUMP!' Grunda Faye appeared beside us and her brother, Dag.
"Scared you, Brother!" Grunda Faye chuckled. Dag frowned.
Instantly, Father Harian appeared, "Where have you been?"
Grunda Faye's face glowed vividly for a Troll. "See JooJee, what holds in her hands, I guarded the sherrie?"
We watched JooJee carry the sherrie into the OakGrove House.
Grunda Faye said, "Dad when you were busy tearing the wood apart and wiping Hornets off. I dashed up the stairs to the front garden and hid the sherrie in a poppy flower. I stayed to guard her."
I looked at Grunda Faye, as did the rest of my friends, Dag, Olaf, the Troll girls and whoever else was there. "This does not make sense?"
Ole Elf looked at me and said, "Grunda Faye took the sherrie to the poppy flower for protection."
My sister Maeve Lynn adds, ". . . Because of image shifting in our realm, the sherrie to JooJee is a butterfly."
Most annoyed, I said, "What about last night and all the uproar?"
Grunda Faye's glow disappeared. "Well, the sherrie hid in my house. No one knew, until last night."
Troll Father Harian asks his daughter, "Why?"
Troll Mother Maude comforts, "Grunda Faye had her reasons, and they will be good."
"A few nights ago, I found her sitting on the stone wall crying. Escorted by her handmaidens, the sherrie ran from Ole Boneless, Ole Fog. They entered the InBetween to travel to the pond within the Ponds to her home. They separated, the sherrie fell through our PortHold. She asked me to protect her until her handmaidens came."
Troll Father Harian asked, "Why is Caunte missing?"
"Last night, when Dag visited me, unannounced, we argued when he found the sherrie. I pushed Dag outside. Caunte appeared because he heard us fighting and told us to be quiet. We invited trouble. That's when something chewed and clawed at the top of Caunte's house. With a stick to fight, Caunte jumped on the roof. By that time the creature pulled up the house, which fell hitting the cement edge and bounced. Caunte with the creature fell and sucked into the PortHold."
Dag continued, "When Grunda Faye and I jumped into the garden. I heard the buzz of hornets, loud buzzing."
Grunda Faye added, "Before I could focus, the buzzing stopped. I was sure the Hornets took the sherrie into the PortHold. When Dad dug out the Hornets, he found her."
Thinking out loud, I said, "I miss all of this hiding in the bushes."
Riley asked, "Why did the Hornets chase us?"
Edwin asked, "And why would the Hornets disappear with the sherrie still here?"
Grunda Faye answered, "The handmaidens went for help."
Maeve Lyn said "JooJee has a butterfly. That means the sherrie is in both realms. Much as we appear to JooJee as birds, butterflies, squirrels, bees, and hornets."
Pondering, I was about to say, that's why the Hornets chase us, they thought we had the sherrie. Before I could say anything, everyone watched JooJee sat a glass jar on the bridge railing. From the inside, the sherrie waved to us.
Olaf the Soothsayer offered, "The humans are the best guards, Ole Fog can't show himself until their death. JooJee will keep her safe."
Grunda Faye said, "I must go. I am to protect the Princess."
As we watched, the glass jar tumbled as pushed off the edge. The sherrie jumped into the air. With a leap, Grunda Faye caught her, and both disappeared into the PortHold.
We stared astonished, not a word spoken.
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