by Lysa Daley
When he inched towards me again, I hissed, barring my teeth, and swatted my claws in his direction. He reeled back, finally retreating.
Honestly, I felt sort of bad about being such a bitch.
I mean, he might have been a very nice rat living a lonely life in the troll’s cave. Who knows? He might have even been my type if I actually were a rat.
Unfortunately, my Romeo was going to have to find himself another Juliet. I didn’t have time to deal with this now.
When I was sure the lovesick rat had given up, I hunkered down and waited out the troll.
“Where’d you goes, pretty girl?” he kept repeating. “I can smells your sweet smells.”
Wow, that was creepy.
After ranting and raving for another five minutes, the troll slowly quieted down. I didn’t dare venture out yet. A couple minutes later, I heard snoring.
To be safe, I gave it yet another five minutes before I cautiously crept around all the debris on the floor. I also had to be careful about not getting stuck in some of the deeper patches of mud. Finally, I had a clear line of sight to the troll, who was snoozing on a bed made of discarded tires.
Scurrying closer, I stood up on my hind legs and examined the troll from the tip of his pointy head down to his hairy toes.
In my first lucky twist for the day, he rolled on his side, flopping his left arm onto the ground. Now I was close enough to get a good look at the necklace on his wrist.
The delicate gold chain held what looked like some sort of large sharp tooth. An incisor. But I’d never seen anything as large as this before. It was too big to be from a lion or bear.
Ever so carefully, I approached, reaching up with my small but nimble rat hands. Even though they were trembling, I was able to get the clasp undone. When I finally got it unhooked, I firmly took hold of the tooth and pulled the chain slowly away from his wrist.
Got it!
Winding the necklace up in a neat swirl, my eyes darted up to the sleeping troll. Rats didn’t have the sharpest eyesight, but I could still see that he was asleep (the chainsaw-like snoring was another dead giveaway.)
Slowly, I inched away toward the mouth of the tunnel. I scampered under a torn lampshade to examine the necklace.
Even in my rat form, I could feel the crackle of dark magic radiating off the tooth. It sent a shiver down my spine.
Upon closer examination, I realized it wasn't even a full tooth. It had been split right down the middle. The yellowing tooth had patches of brown, indicating that it was probably very old.
For a moment, I considered leaving the necklace behind. I didn’t want to get mixed up in dark magic. Instead, I could leave it behind and tell Stroud the location so someone else could retrieve it.
Still…
I really needed the four thousand dollars.
I resolved to suck it up and get this whole thing over with as quickly as possible.
Carrying the necklace in my rat form proved to be difficult. Its odd shape made it awkward, and the dark energy seemed to be sapping my strength.
Halfway to the tunnel’s entrance, I was so out of breath that I was forced to stop to rest. I started again, but I could barely carry the necklace.
I needed to change back into my human form. It was the only way I was going to have the strength to get out of there with the necklace. I closed my eyes and concentrated. For a split second, I couldn’t remember the incantation. Transfiguring back to my human form was different than shifting into an animal. Rifling through all the spells I knew, I heard a squeak behind me. I spun to meet the intense gaze of the male rat.
Well, at least, if I was going to be a rat for the rest of my life, I’d have a boyfriend.
Luckily, the spell finally flashed through my brain. I quickly repeated it as I shifted back, rising up to my regular form.
I forgot how disorienting the change back felt. Growing larger threw off your equilibrium. My human eyes adjusted to the dim light as I stumbled backwards, accidentally bumping into an old broken down dresser with a bag of empty tin cans set precariously on the top.
The bag wobbled, and I tried to grab it before it slipped off the edge. But it tumbled down to the cement floor with a loud clang.
The troll’s eyes popped open. “Who’s is in my cave!” He bellowed, instantly spotting me. “Girl! Stop!”
I turned and ran.
The troll struggled to his feet and lumbered after me. He was surprisingly fast. I was running at full speed, but in the span of two or three steps, the troll cut the distance between us by half.
I just needed to make it to the light of day. Trolls turned to stone when hit by direct sunlight. That’s why they lurked in caves or hid under bridges—any place with shade.
I sprinted toward the mouth of the cave with the necklace grasped tightly in my hand. The half tooth swung back-and-forth.
Even with his bad troll eyesight, he saw the necklace clasped in my hand. “Hey! Gives that back! That don't belong to yous, girly. That belongs to important peoples.”
Summoning my strength, I made a final push toward the light.
“Come and get it if you want!” I yelled back, flying out into sunlight.
He took the bait and followed me. The stupid troll, spurred on by anger, literally leapt in the air, hurtling his huge body toward me.
For a split second, I thought he was going to land on top of me. But as he sailed into the daylight, he instantly turned to stone and fell straight down at a sharp angle, landing with a thundering boom.
When the dust settled, all that was left of the troll was a heap of boulders that looked like they’d been washed down the river. He would stay like this until either clouds covered the sun or until the sun set tonight, then he’d transform back into his trollish form.
Even though there was another five or six hours of daylight left, clouds were rolling in from the west.
I didn’t want to take the chance he’d be back, so I jogged toward the bus depot.
My hand brushed against the pocket of my jeans to make sure the necklace was still there. I didn’t want to stop to examine it any further until I was safely away from this place.
I hurried up to the pathway that rose above the river and hiked back to my car. Coming around a bend in the walkway, I saw that all the yellow school buses were gone, leaving the depot nearly empty. It must’ve been school pickup time.
A few puffy gray clouds slid in front of the sun. Not enough to cover it but a winter storm was moving in fast. I thanked my lucky stars that this hadn’t happened ten minutes earlier, or I’d still be running away from the troll. Or flattened like a pancake.
In the distance, traffic rumbled on a nearby freeway. This sign of normal L.A. life made me feel secure enough to stop for a moment to examine the necklace.
I pulled it from my pocket and turned it over in my hand. Whatever creature it came from must have been huge judging by the size of this half tooth.
As I stood alone, a fat drop of rain landed on the tooth, causing a little spark of fire to flare up. A second later, it died out in a small puff of billowing smoke.
What the heck!
As it started to sprinkle, another drop of rain landed of the tooth and the same thing happened again. The tooth grew warmer in my hand. I slipped it back into my pocket, shielding it from the now softly falling rain.
I kept walking back to my car. As I got closer, a police motorcycle approached, pulled over and parked.
The cop got off his motorcycle and stood right next to my car.
Chapter Six
Why was there a police officer standing by my car?
I froze in my tracks, reminding myself that there was no way this police officer could possibly know what I had in my pocket. And cops were almost always human, so he had no clue about the troll in the river tunnel. Also, I’d done nothing illegal.
Except jumping the security fence and walking on the floor of the river.
Had someone seen me and called in a complaint? I s
wallowed my nerves and approached my car.
A few feet away from the motorcycle cop in his tall boots, leather jacket and smoky helmet, I called out, “Afternoon, Officer. Can I help you with something?”
He turned in my direction then took off his helmet. I was surprised by how young he looked, not more than a couple years older than me.
“Is that your car, miss?” he asked. He had dark eyes and thick wavy black hair. He was really cute. And 100% human.
Witches and humans don’t mix well.
“This one? Yes.”
“Are you here by yourself?”
I nodded. “Just going for little hike.”
“Here? Under the freeway, between the river and the bus depot?”
He was right. It was weird. I smiled, stalling to try to think up some sort of plausible answer.
Los Angeles had tons of beautiful places to hike. There were the cliffs above the beach and lots of forested canyon paths that rose up and over the city so that you look out over the Hollywood sign, or downtown, or even the Pacific in the distance.
“I know it's not exactly picturesque out here,” I began. “But sometimes wild larkspur grows along these paths, and I wanted to see if I could find some.”
“Larkspur?” he asked, wrinkling his brow.
“It's a flower. It grows wild in California. It's tall and purple and only blooms for short time.”
He looked at my hands. ”Didn’t find any?”
I shook my head. “No, probably too early in the season. Maybe another week or so.”
“Miss, I have to tell you that this is not a safe place to be hiking alone.”
“Why is that?” I played dumb because I was interested to hear why he thought it wasn't safe. Did he know about the troll?
He hesitated. “We've had some… incidents… with transients living in the tunnels and harassing people. Very aggressive transients.”
Transient? Did he mean transient trolls?
“Oh gosh,” I gasped, pretending to be surprised. “I sure wouldn't go down near those rain tunnels anyway.”
“I’m on my way down to take a quick look.”
“Now? In the tunnels?” I asked, looking up at the sky. Suddenly it looked like the sun was going to come back out.
I didn’t know how long it would be before the pile of rocks transformed back into the man-eating troll. I’d never forgive myself if my car made this cute cop stop and then he was attacked by the troll.
“Is it a good idea to go down in this weather? I mean it is a big rain gutter.”
He laughed at me. “I think I’ll be okay. It’s pretty dry down there.”
“Yeah, but it’s supposed to rain. Later. Like a lot.” This wasn’t true, but I kept talking. “In fact, it could be raining right now farther north. You could be swept away.”
Right then, the clouds broke and the sun started shining.
He glanced up at the sky and grinned, his adorable dimples framing his mouth. “I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be fine.”
He obviously wasn’t going to listen to me. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I needed to intervene in order to stop him from wandering around near the troll’s tunnel.
I was never great at ordinary spells. Mostly because I never listened in class. And the wand was still in my car, so I couldn’t get that out. He started to walk away. I mentally rifled through possible incantations, which were a lot more difficult without a wand. This was going to be tricky.
“Okay, miss, you stay safe,” he said with a nod.
I could wipe his memory. That was sort of severe, and to be done correctly generally required a good deal of practice. I could accidentally wipe away important memories he needed. Like his name and address and how to speak English. But it was all I could think of on such short notice, and it was better than letting him get eaten by a troll.
“Hey, um…” I called after him. I needed to be looking directly in his eyes for the spell to work without my wand.
He stopped and turned. “Yes?”
Our eyes locked.
As I began to speak the enchanting words, the police radio that dangled from his belt crackled to life. “Two-Delta-Five, come in.”
He looked away, grabbed the radio, and replied, “Two-Delta-Five, over.”
The radio dispatcher continued, “Officer requests backup near the entrance to the mission.”
“Roger. On my way,” he said, pivoting and heading back toward his motorcycle. As he passed me, he said, “You might want to stick to those trails up in the Hollywood Hills that all the hipsters use.”
“Do I look like a hipster?” I asked, not sure if I should be offended or not.
“You look…” His cheeks reddened. Flustered, he said, “I’ve just heard there are some beautiful trails in the Hollywood. You might like them.”
“Right.”
“Great.” He nodded. “Thank you again,” I babbled. Why had I thanked him? I sounded like an idiot.
He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. “Here’s my card. Call me if you need any help.”
“Oh. Okay.” I said, taking the card. I didn’t know cops had business cards. It was embossed with metallic letters and listed his name as Officer Samuel Brown.
“Have a great day.” He put his helmet on and started his bike.
I opened my car door and slid behind the driver’s wheel. I pretended to fuss with my bag as I looked in the rearview mirror and watched the cute cop drive away.
That was a close call. Closer than I liked.
I pulled the half-tooth necklace from my pocket. It was still radiating dark magic. And dark magic was illegal. This job was getting more complicated than I liked.
I only knew one person who might be able to identify this tooth.
Part of me wondered if I should’ve turned it in to the proper supernatural authorities instead of handing it over to Mr. Stroud. Who knew what his game really was?
The little bell on the door tinkled as I entered Radagast’s Books. The sign on the door said they closed at 5:00, and it was already pushing 6:15. Mr. R sold a mishmash of things from expensive first edition books to cheap comics. He also had an excellent collection of magic books and old grimoires.
The front of the store catered to the non-magical, with bestselling paperbacks and an array of travel guides and cookbooks.
It wasn't until you passed through the old carved wooden door in the back of the store that you finally came upon the magical section. And, of course, you had to be able to actually use magic in order to even gain entry through the enchanted doorway.
Humans never even noticed the door, let alone tried to go through it.
“Hi Lacey,” Mr. R greeted me with a smile from behind the counter. “What’s so urgent that you needed to meet with me this late? The Mrs. isn’t going to be happy if I’m late for dinner. It’s chili night.”
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, Mr. R.”
He winked. “Don’t be. I’m not really a fan of her chili. Just don’t have the heart to tell her.”
“Still, thanks for staying open for me, Mr. R.” I moved over to the counter. “I have something to show you, but you can't tell anybody about it.”
His brow furrowed. “Alright…”
“I didn't know who else to turn to,” I said, pulling the necklace from my pocket. It felt unnaturally warm in the palm of my hand.
No one had a greater knowledge of magical items than Mr. R. — including all my university professors — and if he didn't know what it was, he certainly knew how to find out.
His eyes went wide. “I never thought I’d live to see one of these.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“Oh yes.” He nodded, carefully taking it from my hand and holding it up to the light. “It’s a charmed dragon’s tooth. Or to be more precise, half of a dragon’s tooth.”
Animal teeth were commonly used in various forms of magic. They imbued regular spells or potions with traits the animal possessed. Th
e larger and more dangerous the creature, the more powerful the magic.
“Dragon’s teeth are incredibly rare and highly illegal. They're exceptionally difficult to get because dragons only have one set of teeth that they keep for their entire life. As you can imagine, they’re not too keen on giving them up. Especially since they live for 500 years or more.”
“It feels like dark magic is crackling off it.”
The look on his face told me he could feel it too. “Legend has it a dragon’s tooth gives the owner the power to control fire.” He turned it over. “But because this is only half a tooth, it’s only half the spell.”
“You’d need both halves to control fire?”
“Exactly.” He handed it back to me. “They probably fit together like two puzzle pieces to form a complete tooth.”
I felt like I needed to tell him everything. “It sparked in my hand.”
He stiffened. “Did it?”
“Is that unusual?”
“I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “Where in the world did you get this, anyway?”
Because I trusted him, I quickly recounted the events of the last couple days, not leaving anything out.
He listened patiently, then said, “You could've come to me and Mrs. R if you needed money for school.”
“No, it’s way too much money. Besides, that wouldn't be fair to you two. I have to find a way to pay for tuition myself.”
“Lacey, I'm not sure this is a good idea. Working for these people. You don't know who they are. Did they tell you the name of their firm?”
I was embarrassed to confess that I hadn’t even thought to ask. “No.”
“And considering the first item they have you retrieve is highly illegal and potentially very dangerous, I’m even more concerned.”
I looked at the necklace in my hand. “What should I do with it now?”
He paused and removed his glasses. “I think you should return this to the man who asked you to find it. Then collect your fee and never go back.”
Leaving his store, I felt even worse than I did when I came in.
Chapter Seven