in the ignition and cranked the engine.
“I don’t know.”
“I can’t leave if they didn’t see us.”
“Well, what do you propose we do?” David asked, peering out his window into the darkness.
Laurel took a quick breath, hardly daring to even think about what she was about to do. Before she could change her mind she slipped out of the driver’s seat and jumped up and down, waving her arms. “Hey! You looking for me?”
A dark shape rose up twenty feet in front of them. Laurel gasped and threw herself back into the car and shoved the gearshift into reverse. The troll rushed forward, its navy coveralls and fearsome visage illuminated by the Civic’s headlights. It slammed its hands down on the hood of the car just as the stick shift popped into place.
“Go, go, go!” David screamed.
Laurel slammed one foot on the gas and popped her other off the clutch so fast the car shot backward, almost hitting the truck parked behind them. The troll stumbled into the spot where the car had just been, but it was already getting to its feet. Laurel shoved the stick into first gear and peeled out of the driveway. David was twisted around in his seat, staring out the back window.
“David!” Laurel shouted. “Watch for cars for me. I can’t stop at the stop sign up here.”
David turned forward and peered into the darkness in both directions. As they approached the intersection Laurel’s foot hovered over the brake.
“You’re all clear. Go!”
Laurel pressed on the gas, carrying the car through the intersection. She stepped hard on the brake as she turned off the road that led to Ryan’s house and onto Pebble Beach Drive. The car skidded and the tires protested noisily, but Laurel managed to keep the headlights facing the right direction.
“It just came around the corner,” David said when they were less than ten seconds up the road. “It’s wicked fast.”
“The speed limit’s thirty-five here. How fast can I get away with going?” Laurel asked, the needle on the speedometer already creeping toward forty-five.
“Cops are the least of our worries tonight,” David said. “You can just — Laurel, look out!”
A menacing shape darted in front of them, stopping in the middle of the road. Laurel slammed on the brakes and the car slid over the pavement as she fought to keep control. They skidded, barely missing the large animal — a troll, surely — and slid off the shoulder into a crumbling ditch on the other side. The car lurched to a stop, its wheels spinning uselessly in the mud and gravel.
David groaned as he tried to right himself after being thrown against the dash. Laurel peered into the darkness but couldn’t make anything out. Then her eyes focused on the jagged outline of the forest’s edge, only a hundred yards away. “The trees, David,” Laurel said urgently. “We have to run for the trees.”
“I don’t know if I can run,” David said. “My knees got hit really hard!”
“You can do it, David,” Laurel said desperately. “You have to. Let’s go!” She threw the door open and dragged David out behind her. After a few wobbly steps he managed to find his bearings and they ran, hand in hand, toward the forest.
“He’s going to smell me,” David said. “My left knee is bleeding.”
“You’re no worse off than me,” Laurel said. “He’ll totally smell my blossom. We stick together. No arguing.” Suddenly she realized her mistake — the trolls must be making their move because she had blossomed. There was no way she could evade them, not when they could track her inescapable scent. She hated that she’d so easily let down her guard. She’d
As they ran, Laurel dug into her purse and pulled out a set of vials that would make the monastuolo serum when crushed together. She knew it wouldn’t be very effective in the open air, but she had to try something; maybe it would slow them down. Her sash loosened and her blossom slipped free as she and David tore through the bushes, but she wasn’t about to stop to fix it; she could hear one troll behind them and another approaching from their right. David stumbled, betrayed by his injured knee, and the troll behind them growled and sprang. A stabbing pain shot up Laurel’s back from her blossom. Biting off a scream, she whirled and, with an open palm, smashed the monastuolo vials against the troll’s forehead. He reeled back, howling in pain, enormous hands clapped to his face. Laurel leaped away, her back throbbing so badly a sob built in her throat and she fought to quell a wave of nausea.
Her legs ached almost unbearably when they reached the tree line at the top of the hill. “Come on, David,” she urged.
They stumbled into the forest, branches clinging to their clothes and whipping against their skin, scratching their faces. When they reached a small break in the trees they jolted to a stop, turning in circles.
“Which way?” David asked.
A low growl sounded from one side of the clearing.
“That way,” Laurel said, pointing away from the sound. But even as she pointed, another growl sounded from the other side. They spun again, only to be confronted by the shadowy silhouette of a third troll, his warm breath steamy in the brisk autumn air.
David pulled Laurel back against his chest, crushing her blossom painfully between them. They tried to keep their eyes on the trolls as they circled, but the creatures were too fast, whirling around, then switching directions and spinning the other way, circling them like sharks.
The sound of metal scraping against metal filled the air, and the flash of a knife glinted in the moonlight. Laurel felt David’s breath catch in his chest.
David squeezed Laurel in a quick hug, then stepped away with his hands raised. “I give up,” he called loudly. “Take me and let her go. She’s harmless.”
Laurel gasped and grabbed the back of his shirt, trying to pull him back, but he continued walking forward.
Raucous laughter filled the air. “Harmless?” a harsh, gravelly voice said. “How stupid do you think we are, human? If anyone is going to live tonight, it is not going to be her.”
Before David could get back to Laurel, two trolls stepped between them. One was taller than David, his broad shoulders straining his faded coveralls. The other was hunchbacked, her hair long and stringy, and even in the moonlight Laurel could see that her bone-white skin was cracked and bleeding at the joints. Laurel forced herself not to squeeze her eyes shut as the tall troll closed in on her, knife raised.
LAUREL COVERED HER HEAD WITH HER ARMS AND wished that David would run — save himself — even though she knew he wouldn’t. Then a loud clang reverberated in her ears and it took a few seconds for her to realize she was still alive.
The trolls were shouting and grunting as they looked around for their assailant. Their blades had been knocked to the ground by a strange-looking metal disc, now buried in the trunk of the tree right behind Laurel, a scant six inches above her head. Laurel’s whole body shook with relief and for the first time in her life she thought she might faint — but the danger wasn’t over yet. Taking advantage of the trolls’ momentary distraction, Laurel dropped to her stomach and slithered toward the edge of the clearing. Something big and heavy slammed into her, carrying her away from the clearing and behind a large tree. A hand covered her mouth as she tried to scream.
“It’s me,” David hissed into her ear.
David. He was alive, too. Her arms wrapped around him, her ear close against his chest, where she could hear his heart racing in loud thumps. It was a beautiful sound. “Do you think we can sneak away?” Laurel asked as quietly as she could.
“I don’t know. We have to wait for a good chance or they’ll just catch us again.”
Laurel had an iron grip on David’s arm as the trolls started moving in their direction, noses aloft. Laurel heard a hollow click and, before she could even guess what it was, David’s hand came down hard on the top of her head, forcing her to the ground, where he settled in beside her. No sooner had her belly hit the dirt than a volley of gunfire filled the forest with its sharp, staccato rhythm. Laurel threw her arms over her ears and pressed her face against the damp leaves as she tried to blot out the sound of the gunshots and, with them, a flood of memories from last fall.
