wow these last 2 months have been super hectic! halloween… fall break… finals… hospitals… ugh. Sorry for being so lackadaisical about updating and all. (I like that word a lot. Lackadaisical is a good word.)

Anyways. Nothing like a little pinch of pain meds to get the inspiration flowing, amirite? Enjoy the chapter.

Oh also, since FFN's commenting system is complete garbage I'm gonna start leaving short replies to anything I deem relevant at the bottom. More involved than thanks, though thank you to all that leave reviews, as they really keep me going :)

xXx

The trio emerged from the basement, AAARRRGGHH! and Blinky waving them goodbye as they began to seal the door. Of course, such a paltry barricade of brooms and old floor boards would not do much to stop a troll, but it would go lengths in keeping Barbara away from the trolls living beneath her feet.

Jim merely gave a faint whuff of relief once out of the creepy basement, releasing the daylight armor quietly. He flopped on the couch, quickly followed by his companions.

"What now?" Claire voiced, and Jim merely gave a very informative groan while grinding his hands into his eyes. Toby patted his shoulder and gave Claire a shrug.

"Food?" he prompted as though it were a question, but Toby didn't wait for answers before he was in the kitchen, fishing out delicious leftovers.

The smell of microwaved food drew Jim out of his stressed stupor, and he lost more tension as Toby dumped a meal on him with the unrelenting look of like eat, or else.

As soon as the food touched his tongue, Jim realized that it perhaps did not taste quite as it was supposed to. Definitely not how it tasted when he made it— a day in the fridge and time in the microwave shouldn't have made the stir fry taste like it was vaguely inedible, after all. Jim quickly shrugged it off as just a side effect of being in the Deep for an odd amount of time, and having nothing to drink or eat in the intermittent period, and ate ravenously due to the gnawing hunger.

(He felt a little sick later, as though it was truly inedible, but he chalked that up to the speed at which he ate it; even Toby was impressed).

After a quiet meal, the group said their quick and worried goodbyes, the stress of their situation lurking beneath the surface as they departed. AAARRRGGHH! left the house with Toby, holing up in his room once more, and Blinky remained hidden away in Jim's basement. Everyone had a tinge of fear in the back of their actions, bitterly tainting the night around them to be something where any shadow could leap forth and attack. Well, more fear at the prospect than normal, at least.

xXx

That night, visions plagued Jim. Visions was perhaps not the right word, as such would imply that he saw a concrete thing; no this was simply flickers out of the corner of his eye. A flash of pale white here, a dark shadow flitting by there; nothing concrete, but it couldn't help but remind him of the demon that resided in the Deep.

His skin felt dry, despite the sweat that had sprung from his fear. He coiled into his bed further, keeping a watchful eye on the vague flickers.

xXx

With each day, the Trollhunters continued their efforts of hiding out and researching Gunmar's weak points- a hard task, considering the lack of Blinky's library. With each passing night, Jim could swear that the flickery shadow was becoming more and more substantial, with the faint clop of hooves and a chuckle defining each rest. Still, when he woke up there was nothing, and nothing pursued him into the day.

On the third day of their hide-out-time, Blinky called a meeting in the very formal location of "Jim's basement." It was the easiest to hide out there; Claire's family was too suspicious and used their basement to often, and Nana had an odd attraction to pickled things. After scouting it out and seeing a jar of finely aged pickled fish that had been sitting there long enough for Blinky to suspect it was comparable to his own age, the trolls refused to stay there. Hence, the meeting held in Jim's dusty basement.

"I've finally decided that the Trollhunters need the full knowledge of my library- we must know how to beat Gunmar!" Blinky started off, cutting straight to the point with a bang of his stony fist.

"Carry library here?" AAARRRGGHH! eloquently questioned, an eager expression on his face.

"We can't carry an entire library, my friend," Blink answered with a soft pat as AAARRRGGHH!'s expression turned to disappointment.

"Besides, we only need the stuff on Gunmar," Claire added.

"Maybe the word juice!" Toby exclaimed, looking excited.

"Do you remember what happened last time? No way," Jim input.

"Calm, calm, I have a plan already. You three must infiltrate Trollmarket and grab the books on this list," Blinky stated simply, holding up the list and tapping the book titles. "To get to the library, take this hole to the sewers and follow the directions here," he explained, pointing to a quickly written list of rights and lefts, which was written above a labeled map of the sewers. "You should pop up right behind my books!"

Jim pulled the list and map into his hands, asking, "any tips for staying unnoticed?"

"Mask your scent- use something putrid. That fish should do nicely!"

The three teens just groaned.

xXx

kinda short but eh i needa get back into the swing of things, i suppose!

(my grandmother actually has a pickled fish in her pantry that I suspect to be 50 years old.)