Did I feel bad about leaving her? Yes. Did I want to go back and take her far, far away where no one would find us? Yes. Did I do any of that? No (unless you count in my dreams, then yes, I did).

I kept on forward, running past the bloody bodies of those who passed.

This is terrible.

Where are the goblins? Where are the authorities? Where is the collective? Where is the council? Probably cowering in their sparkly castles, as Sophie always says. 

Ignoring the bloody sidewalks and red I saw in the distance was proving itself a hard task. Same with focusing on the task when I've just fallen in love. All of you younger people reading this, what you think is love is probably just a crush.

After running what felt like five hours (it was only 1 minute), I finally arrived at the place that the trolls were stationed. In their arms, they held a brunette with the teal eyes of a Vacker. 

Fitz Vacker.

I heard about all the things he did to Sophie, which is why I think he rightfully deserves his jerk-y position as her ex. Screaming at her, blaming her for stuff she didn't do, saying hurtful things to her, and I think there was actually a time he slapped her. I was tempted to let him die.

The girl in one of the windows seemed tempted, too. Judging by the flecks of power swarming her in a dome shape, I could tell that the black girl had the power to save him. A minute ago, I thought that was something I lacked. 

Apparently, the trolls deemed me a better target, releasing the cracker and other elves, sprinting after me. 

I was quite fast, and their bulky figures must've made it hard for them to run. I didn't have forever, though. I was gonna run out of stamina, or reach a dead end. I wondered where Ro was. The few dead trolls gave off 'Ro was here!' vibes, so I assumed she was.

But where was she now, when I actually needed her (A/N I have the kind of humor where I insult people and laugh. The people who know me know I'm jk, but I don't do it with y'all, in case you don't do like that humor. If I insult u and laugh, it's a joke and you are perfect just the way you are :D).

Forget her, I need to focus on running and getting away from these weirdos.

Looking back, I saw that the losers were gaining on me. That gave me the most helpful thought in the history of helpful thoughts:

I'm so coo-

Oh, ok! I can't finish that sentence, and glad not to. Marriena popped into my vision, holding two melders. She tased one troll after another, until there were only 5 more left around us. 

She ran in sync beside me, handing me a melder without looking. 'Grab my hand, I'm gonna light leap us.' Her voice spoke in my head. In any other circumstances, I would've been over the moon if she said to hold her hand.

Nonetheless, I grabbed it, and she fished a crystal out from under her shirt. Sweating, she held it up to the light and ran into it, blinding me a bit when she dragged me in.

~<------------------------------------------>~

Ro POV:

Oh, goodie! I'm in the worst possible place, with the 2nd (goblins are eh, humans are 1st) most annoying creatures on the planet. 

I'm a troll's hostage.

I wonder what my dad will say when he realizes. He'll be ashamed, probably. Much as I am now. I wonder when the girl will realize, too. I wonder a lot of things.

I wonder how long I'm gonna stay here.

~<------------------------------------->~

Amy POV:

A medieval looking castle shimmered into focus for a second before I dropped to my knees. Panting, I managed to lift my head up to inspect if Marriena was ok. She was laying down in the grass, smiling.

I crawled over next to her. "Thank you," I said, smiling. "I would've been dead if not for you." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "It's ok, but I have to put these melders inside before dad is back, though. Oh, yeah! Welcome to Pinedale!" She stood, pulling me up with her. 

"C'mon! Mom would love to meet you! Our whole house is based off humans' tastes back in the day!" She exclaimed, a wide grin covering her face. I didn't want to wipe it off. "Well, I can't..." I trailed off. I wasn't exactly allowed to be here. "Nonsense! Meeting an actual human will be good distraction from..." It was her turn to trail off.

"Marriena, when I was going to try and save everybody, you said you couldn't. What did you mean by that?" I asked, feeling like I was crossing a line. "Well..." She started, looking away. 

I was definitely crossing a line.

She lifted an arm to wipe a tear, shaking her head. "I... Couldn't. My mom and dad told me not to. The trolls have been coming for weeks, and my mom owns a jewelry store in Mysterium, so we were there when the first attack happened..."

She wasn't telling me something, but I didn't press. It wasn't my business.

I walked in with her anyway, and her perky mood returned when she called for her mom. 

"MOM, I HAVE A SURPRISE!!!" She exclaimed, plopping down on the couch. A sweet voice rang through the house as a lavender dress began do show itself on the stairs. "Marriena, were you just in Mysterium? Another attack happened, the kill count is skyroc-" she paused, noticing me. She examined me head to toe before walking over.

"My- are you human?" She asked, a little smile forming on her lips. "Yes, mom! Can you believe it!?" Marriena shouted. I nervously laughed. 

After that, we talked for a bit. They told me about the house, how Marriena's dad is a physician that studies broken minds, and how Marriena's mom, Mrs. Leanila, used to monitor humans for the council.

I told them I had to go, cause I had to focus on my problems. Marriena volunteered to go with me, which made my heart flutter around.

Alright, I need to focus.

Problems:

-Trolls killing elves

-No Mallowmelt 

-Fact that I am bi

I told Marriena these things I needed to fix (except the latter), and she said she wanted to help. 

I can't really do anything about the first one, but the second one was an easy fix, because all that had to be done was a quick stop into Marriena's kitchen. The third, though, I have to figure that out in my own time.

I hesitantly said goodbye to Marriena, and thought about kissing her goodbye...

Nope, I just met her.

I had to settle for a longing glance as I held the crystal up to the light. Stepping into it was when I remembered something important: 

Ro was missing...

I appeared in the living room of Irena's house, smiling at her dad and returning his stuff. I sprinted up to Sophie's room and set the Mallowmelt down on the floor before collapsing on the bed.

Oh boy, what do I tell Sophie?

This one isn't long, but it took soooooo long lol. Anyway, this is the end of the bonus chapters, so I hope you enjoyed!!!!

XX-Mimi❤️