“They can’t cross with others, not using their own magic. It doesn’t work. We’ve tried. And they can’t launch a ground raid to retrieve Cornelia because they can only be out of the water for a moment or two at a time.”
Canin growled. “So we do what? Give the Raiff the poor kid? She won’t be able to resist him. And in the meantime he’ll have more time to torment Miss Cornelia?”
“Torment isn’t the word for it,” the mayor answered.
They stood in silence for a moment.
The mayor broke it. “We have no other choice.”
Canin roared. “If you give them Annie and she opens the portal, then the Raiff can escape. He will come back with his minions. We will be overrun. It will be like the Purge, only this time our Stopper will be weak. There will be no hope for us.”
“There is always hope,” countered the mayor. “We have no other choice. The Council has made its decision, and we will deal with the consequences. We will do whatever it takes, deal with whatever it takes to get our Stopper back.”
A horrible, sinking feeling overcame Jamie.
Perhaps it was because her world was suddenly tilted and askew again that Annie didn’t really know what exactly to think. She was only recently thrust into this magical world after a lifetime of living in one foster home after another. She’d always been so unwanted. And then finally—finally!—she came to Aurora, and she had actually believed all that good could be true, and now—AND NOW—poof! Miss Cornelia was gone. And everyone was willing to trade her for the real Stopper.
“It’s okay. I’m not important,” she muttered, catching a snowflake on her hand. “I never am.”
Aurora felt more like home than any town she’d ever lived in, but she felt she’d let her new friends down. She should have known Miss Cornelia was in danger. She should have thought about that horse they’d seen with the crow monster. Tears threatened and the mean voice in her head said, Stupid girl. Coward girl.
Annie closed her eyes and imagined the struggle. Large dirty ropes bound Miss Cornelia. Slumped down about her ankles, her rainbow socks signaled pain. Loose strands of hair strayed from her bun. Fierceness glistened in her eyes. That horrible horse laughed and gnashed its teeth.
“Don’t give up, Miss Cornelia,” she whispered. “We’ll find you.”
Annie’s stomach dropped. It hurt that they’d be so willing to give her up. They wanted to give her up. And nobody believed that she could defeat the Raiff and come home with Miss Cornelia. Even Bloom hadn’t been so sure about it.
“Annie, if there was any other way, we would go, too. We would protect you and ensure we get Cornelia back. But we can’t.” The mayor puffed up his chest. “Maybe you can trick the demon.”
Bloom’s mouth dropped open. “The Raiff is not someone you can trick.”
“Miss Cornelia did once,” Aelfric countered. “She got him and most of the trolls in North America through the portal.”
“That was Miss Cornelia! She was … she is …” Bloom’s face reddened.
“Brilliant,” the mayor finished for him, “and so are we. We might not have a complete plan yet, but we’ll get one and all will be right again with our little town.” He gave a jolly, forced laugh that echoed throughout the barrens and then fell flat. “Just you see. Now come along.” He whisked the children ahead of him with a broad sweeping arm.
“Is the portal far?” Annie whispered, her voice quivering. It was so cold that she had lost feeling in her piggy toes.
“It’s an oak tree in the barrens. It stands tall and has lived for centuries. It’s a good portal,” the mayor answered in the same sort of voice he used in meetings. Annie knew he was trying to comfort her. He was a large man, and even if he was bombastic, he radiated warmth. The heat coming out of his body warmed her slightly, despite the awful cold. “It’s okay to be afraid, Annie, but remember, we will be there with you in spirit.”
They galloped on with Aelfric and Canin in the lead. Annie had no idea how they could see at all. Every once in a while Canin would stop and tilt his ears as if he was listening for a trail. Tala walked beside Annie, occasionally pressing his side against her right leg and making a small growling noise. Jamie walked on her other side. His lip trembled and Annie wasn’t sure whether it was from rage or fear or cold. It didn’t seem polite to ask in front of the others.
“Does he know what he’s doing?” Annie asked the mayor, nodding toward Aelfric.
“He’s a good tracker. The secret is in the ears.”
Annie nodded, but she felt as if they were walking into a horrible nightmare. The dark night seemed to push against her, grabbing her, shaking her. She wondered if they’d fall off one of Aurora’s cliffs or land in a trap.
“Cold, Annie?” the mayor asked, his big pillow of a hand on her shoulder. He wiped the half inch of snow that had accumulated there.
“She needs to keep up,” Aelfric said. “It’ll be colder in the Badlands. Unless it’s hotter. I hear that it can be as hot as the fire pits of Mount Forgeolympus, the dwarfs’ ancient lair. But either way, if she hopes to survive at all, she needs to keep up, be tough. Cold can’t bother her.”
“She is keeping up. We aren’t all elves and vampires, you know,” Canin gruffed back, his voice getting louder. “You are too hard, Aelfric.”
“I survive,” he answered.
“But at what cost?” Canin asked.
Aelfric stopped and turned around. He glared over Bloom’s and Annie’s heads at Canin. In the darkness, she could see his eyes glint like an angry predator’s.
“Are you lecturing me?”
“You two act like children.” The mayor sighed. His hand still rested on Annie’s shoulder.
“I am saying nothing, Aelfric.” Canin sniffed at the air.
Aelfric twisted around. “I can hear what you’re saying without words.”
Bloom interrupted the argument. His hand grabbed his bow, and he notched an arrow in it quickly. “Shhh. Something comes.”
The mayor glanced over at the trees and then down the road. He pulled a massive sword from his parka. It glinted, reflecting the snow. They all froze. Annie held her breath and clutched Jamie’s hand in hers. Aelfric’s nostrils flared quickly, and his fangs popped out with a slight clicking noise. At her side, Tala sniffed the air. The mayor’s stomach rumbled. She prayed that they would stay quiet. Canin doubled back, and the mayor’s hand tightened on her shoulder, giving her tiny hope.
“What is it?” he whispered.
Bloom crouched to the ground and listened. “Trolls. Close.”
“How many?”
“Five.”
“How did they get past the gnome? I said we shouldn’t follow the road,” Aelfric grumbled. “But did anyone listen? No. They never listen to the vampires, do they? Giants and elves. Giants and elves.”
The mayor shot him a look.
Bloom suddenly grabbed Annie’s leg and sprang back up from where he listened to the ground.
“They’re very close, Annie.”
“How close?” she asked.
“Run!”
He snatched her hand, pulling her and Jamie along, and raced off the road into the barrens back toward Cornelia’s.
6
Trolling for Tutus
Annie hoped that Bloom could see enough in the darkness to know where they were running, because she certainly couldn’t. Dashing through the scrubby hills dotted with boulders, the low-brush blueberry bushes scraped at her ankles and tangled up her feet. Behind them, Jamie, Canin, and Tala rushed, keeping a second line.
Even as they ran, Jamie was trying to sort everything out. “Wait. Someone kidnapped Miss Cornelia, Canin. It wasn’t the Raiff, but one of his henchmen. It seems like lots of evil things might have snuck over here when the gnome was gone.”
Canin thought for a moment. “That’s not the only way evil can get in the town.”
“What? I thought the town was protected when the gnome was here.”
“It is
…”
“But?”
“But someone can invite them in.”
It took a moment, but then Jamie thought of the person with the spicy scent who had been there when Miss Cornelia was taken, and he understood. “But why would someone bring trolls into Aurora?”
“Because they are working for the Raiff, that’s why.”
They ran until Bloom stopped, suddenly dead still. He put his finger to his lips.
They ducked down low. Canin, Tala, and Jamie crouched beside them.
A horrible stench filled the air, just an absolutely foul stench, like the locker room at the YMCA mixed with old shrimp shells. Annie tried not to gag. Bloom covered her mouth and nose with his hand. She jumped, surprised at the mint leaves he held inside his palm. The leaves’ fresh scent helped to keep her from coughing. All her senses were heightened now; a crunching, shuffling noise along with the sound of rocks breaking and being crushed between massive teeth broke the air in front of her.
Bloom pointed. Darker shadows formed against the night sky. Trolls.
Annie shrunk into herself as two trolls shuffled through the barrens. Trolls grew enormous, like two professional basketball players stacked up on each other. These monsters were as wide as garage doors. Everything about them was foul—their teeth, their smell, their manners. Even though she could only smell them slightly through Bloom’s minty hand, the odor was still strong enough to remind her of gas station toilets.
One of the trolls bent and scooped up a massive boulder. Smashing it into his mouth, the troll began to chew. Pebbles sprayed in all directions and some of them hit Annie and Bloom, like tiny bullets piercing their skin.
“Ouch,” Annie said.
The troll stopped munching.
Jamie gasped.
Canin clamped a furry hand over Jamie’s mouth, but Jamie was too scared to make a noise, too horrified that people would think he was like his grandmother and father.
Never, he swore. I will never be like them.
And then he made a promise. He would go with Annie. He would find Miss Cornelia and rescue her. That would show them—it would show everyone.
In the snow in front of Jamie was a small vial shaped like a long test tube. Its liquid contents sparkled and shimmered like a disco ball. This must be magic, Jamie thought. But what kind? Not knowing what else to do, Jamie plucked it up from the snow and tucked it into his pocket, like every lucky penny he came across.
“Hear noise? Disgustopuke? You hear noise?” one troll asked. His voice was hysterically high-pitched, squeaky like a church soprano who couldn’t quite hit the notes.
The other grunted in reply.
Canin’s eyes grew big. His lips stretched up, exposing a full, sharp set of wolf teeth. He released Jamie’s mouth and pushed him forward, urging him to crawl.
Canin pushed Jamie forward again. It took all of Jamie’s willpower to get himself to move.
“I hear noise,” the troll said again.
He began to toddle toward them. Annie peeked at Bloom. His face shone white in the darkness. Jamie’s mouth flapped wide open. Bloom yanked Annie’s hand and started crawling away, creeping over the snowy bushes. Jamie and Canin followed. Above them, a group of bats swooped. She hoped that if they were vampires, they were the good kind.
“Hear crawling,” the troll said.
They stopped. They were absolutely, totally caught, Annie knew, but she wasn’t about to be part of a troll fondue. It might have been fruitless, but she was not going to just die without trying. Standing up, she pulled out the phurba Miss Cornelia gave her, ready to fight. She could feel power surging through her.
I am not a wimpy person. I am a Time Stopper, she thought. I will fight.
The trolls stepped closer, their stench overpowering.
Whew, do they need deodorant, she thought as Bloom stood beside her. He notched an arrow in his bow and pulled it back. Canin and Tala growled behind them. Jamie slowly stood.
The trolls were almost on top of them, coming closer, smelling worse. Three yards away. Two. A loud masculine voice broke the silence, “Yoo-hoo, trollies. Over here! I have some nice tutus for you.”
“The mayor,” Annie whispered.
A troll grunted and squeaked out, “Hungry. Rearfungus is hungry.”
“Oh, but these are nice tutus,” came the mayor’s voice. He was probably a good three hundred feet away, but his voice carried well and it attracted the trolls. They glanced in Annie and the others’ direction again and then turned.
“Tutus?” Annie whispered.
“Trolls like to dress up,” Bloom explained. “Occasionally.”
Annie tried to digest that particular piece of information as she stood ready with her phurba, heavy in her hands. The closest troll leered just yards in front of her and Bloom. She strained her neck looking up toward his head. All he needed to do was lean forward and he could grab them in his meaty fist. Her weapon hand trembled.
Bloom swayed from the stench of the trolls. So did she.
“Come on,” yelled the mayor. “Lovely tutus, which I am sure you will like. They are pink and purple and very, very shiny, frilly tutus.”
Annie tried to imagine the gigantic warty trolls in frilly little tutus. She didn’t have much of a chance to conjure up the visual image because suddenly a large dark bat and Tala appeared. The white dog reared up on two legs and placed his front paws on Annie’s shoulders. The bat landed on Annie’s hair and hissed into Annie’s ear with a voice that sounded a lot like Aelfric’s, “Run. We will hold them off.”
“But the mayor …,” Annie said.
“He will be fine,” the bat said, fluttering up into the night sky. “Go. Canin, Tala, come with me.”
Tala slammed his body back to the ground, turned, and left, only looking back once. Canin howled and morphed, his body quickly shuddering into wolf form. It happened so quickly that Jamie and Annie weren’t quite sure it even happened. He howled once more and loped off.
The children did not hesitate. They stowed their weapons and ran.
Annie, Jamie, and Bloom raced as quickly as they could through the snow to the Beryl-Axes’ house. They needed Eva, who would never forgive them for letting her miss all the action. That is, if she didn’t faint and miss it anyway.
At every sound, every twig crack, Annie imagined a troll or a demon or a vampire ready to pounce. She clutched Bloom’s hand as they ran across the barrens. Jamie raced alongside.
Something crashed behind them. Something screamed, high and piercing. That has to be a troll’s scream, Annie thought. She refused to believe it was anyone else’s. Still, she crossed her fingers and hoped Tala, Canin, the mayor, and that somewhat creepy vampire guy, Aelfric, were all right.
“Maybe we should go back,” Annie said, gasping for air as she ran; every breath felt like someone had stuck an ice cube into her lungs.
“We’ll be a distraction,” said Jamie.
“What do you mean?”
“Annie, do you remember? Trolls like to eat elves and Stoppers. It’s rare they get us, though,” said Bloom.
“Why?”
“They trip on their boas, and it’s hard to run fast in a tutu.”
Annie laughed at his joke, so he wouldn’t feel bad, but she was so worried that the laugh came out sounding more like a cough … a sad, scared cough, actually.
Storm clouds thickened the air and really darkened everything, but Annie spotted something glowing on the road below them. She stopped. Maybe it was cars. Maybe someone could help them out. Maybe the sheriff had come or the Maine State Police.
Then she remembered. This was Aurora. Sometimes she couldn’t believe how easily she forgot about the rules of Aurora. Regular people couldn’t just find it and be there to rescue them. They had to be their own rescue.
“Bloom?” Jamie had seen it, too, and his voice made the elf’s name into a question.
Along the road, a series of hay carriages swayed and bumped. Enormous trolls heaved and pulled ea
ch of the carriages in the caravan. As the convoy passed beneath them, screams and cries shrilled out from the beds of the carriages. Leaning forward, they spied faces of pixies and fairies. Iron bands bound their tiny legs, burning their skin.
“Horrible!” Bloom said and he began to run down the hill.
Jamie caught him by the arm, counting the trolls. “There are too many.”
“We can’t let them take them!” Bloom said, stopping. His hand jerked to his forehead and he pulled off his hat and used it to brush the wet snow off his face. His hand trembled.
It was then Annie realized that this was part of what had happened to Bloom’s parents. She closed her eyes and saw what felt like a dream. A lovely woman with long, braided blond hair held hands with a tall man whose eyes twinkled like Bloom’s. Their wrists were bound, but their fingers clung to each other. Sadness settled in their hearts. It made an ache right in the middle of Annie’s chest and tasted like old snow. That same sorrow was burrowed into Bloom’s heart. She could feel it.
She shook the image out of her head. She would not let the Purge happen again. Not on her watch. Miss Cornelia might not be here, but she was, and she had to do what she could to keep this town—and its people—safe. She remembered her promise to the ghosts, and knew they would understand.
“We won’t let them take them,” Annie told him. She grabbed his hand and Jamie’s. “Hold on to me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Just don’t let go.”
Annie closed her eyes and cleared her head. The circles of her palms tingled. The power was there, so much it almost hurt. It pulsed through her body like blood, racing. I am a Time Stopper, she thought. She could do this. It had to work. It just had to.
Every single nerve she had sang out in a different way, and she could feel it; the changing vibrations within her matched the changing vibrations in the world. She hummed. She trembled. She sang with it. It was power and magic and it was Annie. Jamie shifted his fingers to Annie’s wrist as she bent down and wrote the word on the snow, and in the loudest voice she could muster she yelled, “STOP!”