The giant… thing, hefted the tree up like a club and took a step in my direction, covering the distance between us in that one stride. The club came down hard, right at me. I jumped to the side and it missed. The impact of the club on the ground still knocked me off my feet, dirt and small stones raining down on me. A fist sized rock slammed into my arm.

I tried to catch my breath, flat out on my back, the wind knocked out of me and my arm screaming in pain. That’s going to leave a mark, the nearly hysterical thought ran through my mind. At least for a few minutes. I looked over to assess the damage. Shoot. My sleeve was shredded and my clothes, unfortunately, would not regenerate like the rest of me. Nina was going to have a fit when she saw this. I scooted back a little but had to bite my lip to keep from yelling as my hip and side shrieked. I’d landed on a rock and hadn’t noticed while I was trying to catch my breath.

A rumbling started. The thing was trying to talk. It had massive moss green eyes with big crooked teeth hanging out of its mouth. The rest of its body looked fairly human, other than the size. It rumbled something again, then coughed.

Troll or ogre? What was the difference?

I rolled over to stand and a crunch sounded from my pocket. Shoot again. My phone. I pulled it out. The screen was shattered. Great. No time to worry about it right now. I stuffed it back in and moved into a crouch.

The troll took a step toward me, ground shaking under its massive foot. So this was why California had so many earthquakes. So much for the fault theory.

“I’m gonna rip your head off your body,” the troll finally got out. I could barely hear the words, his voice was so deep.

I wished I hadn’t been able to understand because for the first time since I’d started regenerating, I felt a thread of panic. How did that work? Even I probably couldn’t recover from that.

“Starren, Wade, where are you?” I muttered under my breath.

The troll swung again, this time making contact and sending me flying. I crashed into a tree and rolled to the ground. A groan slipped out of my mouth, my body frantically trying to deal with the damage. The troll shuffled my way. I stood and limped toward the trees, panting, fast as my battered body could move.

Two gunshots sounded and then there was Wade. A confusing amount of happiness went through me. It was just because he was saving my life. And he was just saving my life because the team needed me. He didn’t come forward, just raised his gun again.

The troll didn’t even notice the shots. The bullets must not have penetrated. Didn’t fae have anything better to use than a human weapon? Suddenly there was Starren, standing between me and the troll, some type of bright sword in her hand. Where had that come from? She swiped a couple figures in the air.

The troll lumbered to a stop, confusion on its massive face. “What you want, Fae? Leave my supper alone.”

Not just something to be crushed then. Dinner. So much better. That hysterical feeling was back, full force.

“This isn’t supper. She’s fae too. You know the rules.”

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A massive hand went up and scratched the tuft of hair on the things head. “She no look fae. Clothes human.”

Starren relaxed a little, letting the tip of her sword sink toward the ground. “Yes, she does have some style issues, but she is one hundred percent fae, I promise you. And you know I can’t lie.”

A nod started slowly. “I believe you. But I’m still hungry. And we aren’t in Faerie, so no rules.”

Starren tensed back up, the sword slipping into a defensive position. “Take another step and lose a finger,” Starren snapped. “And after that a hand. We’ll see how far you get before you’re lying on the ground in pieces.”

A low growl came out of the troll’s mouth. It stared at Starren hard for a moment, then turned and started away. It vanished between trees on the other side of the clearing, its footsteps still shaking the ground for a good couple minutes before they started to fade.

“Now what?” I asked Starren.

She slid her sword into a sheath on her back and it disappeared. I blinked, but it was still gone.

“Now we hope that wasn’t what Cray was sensing and that Jaden is actually around here somewhere.”

Seriously? She was just going to go on with the mission? “We can’t just leave it here,” I said.

“What?” she asked, like I wasn’t making any sense at all.

“We can’t just leave it here. What if some poor hiker comes along and gets eaten?”

“The things of Faerie have a way of not being seen if they choose. If a hiker gets eaten, everyone will think it was a bear, or some other Earth creature.”

“What? How can you say that so calmly?”

Starren looked genuinely confused. “They’re just humans, why do you care?”

“Is that what you two think?” I turned and asked Wade and Cray. They were barely out of the trees, I had just caught sight of them out of the corner of my eye. “Where were you anyway?”

“You don’t want to make a troll uncomfortable. Once Starren got his attention I knew she would get him talked out of eating you, so I moved back into the trees. Too bad for him she didn’t let him have you, that would be the last lunch he ever needed. You’d just keep coming back.” Wade started laughing at his idiotic joke.

“You really don’t care if people get killed?”

Wade calmed down a little. “You’ve lived here too long, Trish. You need to make a trip to Faerie, then you’ll understand. These people are not your kind.”

“So what?” I exploded. “They’re still people!” I had so much on my plate right now that I shouldn’t be worrying about a troll, but for some reason I just couldn’t let it go. What if the hiker that got killed had a kid waiting at home for them? What if they had a kid with them when it happened? For that matter, what if it was a kid? It was that great power, great responsibility junk. “Whatever. I’m not leaving until that troll is sent back where it belongs. How did it get here anyway?”

Wade crossed his arms and glared at me. But he must have seen the expression on my face, because he sighed and loosened up after a second. “There must be a cave or pool around here that has a hole between worlds,” Wade said. “If we put enough pressure on the troll, he’ll go back on his own and we can report the hole. Then we’ve taken care of the problem and the Court will thank us for finding the hole.”

“What about Jaden? The more time he spends here, the greater likelihood he’s getting into trouble. He could be much more dangerous than that troll if he isn’t taken care of,” Starren said. “And we don’t have much time before he gets his powers.”

“He could be more dangerous. Or not. We don’t know.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not asking about this. It needs done.”

“She’s stubborn, Star. No use arguing when she gets like this,” Wade said.

“Maybe we don’t need her as bad as the Council thought,” Starren said, her eyes going into slits. “Cray, let’s go. You can find the kid, I’ll drag him back, with or without these two.”

Cray looked uncomfortable. He looked to me like he was asking for help.

“He thinks we should take out the troll,” I said for him.

“Cray?” Starren asked.

He nodded.

“This is ridiculous, I can’t find Jaden without you, Cray. I don’t have any idea where to start looking. Let’s go.”

Cray shook his head and moved over to stand by me.

Starren’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Are you sure about this?”

He nodded again.

“Wanna explain it to me?” He shook his head.

Starren closed her eyes. “Fine. Be it on your heads if Jaden gets away and the Council holds us accountable.” She stared hard at each of us until we nodded in turn. “Then let’s go hunt a troll.”