Seth didn't want to be stuck puttering around Main Street on his unreliable skateboard in the pouring rain, but Kendra, Warren, Vanessa, and Tanu had all been assigned to different parts of town and had each taken the cars. He had been fine with that plan two hours ago—thing is, two hours ago it hadn't been raining.

Seth slid to a stop under the nearest shop awning and lifted his phone up to his ear again. "Can't we just call this off for today and go home?"

"We're all walking around in the rain, man," Warren's voice said.

"You all have nice warm cars to go back to!"

"I'm walking around the park!" Kendra yelled over the line. Seth pulled the phone away from his ear. It was his sister's first time driving without adult supervision, and she definitely wasn't enjoying it. "It's freezing! My umbrella doesn't help against the cold!"

"Listen, we're gonna be fine," Tanu's voice said. "Everyone just scout out your areas, and then we can get Starbucks or something. Remember, Seth's the best candidate for first one to talk to the troll, so get on the phone if you see it. Anyone got anything?"

There was a chorus of mumbled negatives. Seth sighed and looked around Main Street again. Apparently this was the runaway troll's favorite spot in town, but it was hard to figure out why with all the rain. The storefronts were lit but still lifeless. Puddles decorated the streets and sidewalks, and only a few people were out and about, most running to escape the drizzle.

"I'm gonna get the biggest Starbucks order you can imagine," Seth grumbled, and put the phone back in his pocket. What he would give to go home right now.

He pushed off the ground with his foot, and once more his skateboard was gliding down the sidewalk. He passed a some more storefronts, a theatre with an impressive advertisement for their shows, and a few grimy alleys, but no troll. A few teenaged girls giggled and waved. He awkwardly skated by, trying not to make eye contact.

"If I were a troll, where would I hide?" he muttered to himself. He had plenty of books on the habits and hiding spots of various creatures, but reading was still difficult for him. He got too squirmy. To him, learning was doing.

CRUNCH.

Seth skittered to a stop, nearly tripped over his skateboard, and whirled around. The teenage girls were gone, and in their place was a pair of fat gray legs sticking out of the nearest garbage can.

"Um." Seth picked up his board and slowly approached. "Hey there, I'm Seth. You need some help?"

The troll popped out, and the team's suspicions on why this troll had run away were confirmed. She was female. Female trolls had a pretty sucky life—apparently no one in their tribes had heard of feminism. Seth wasn't sure if she was making a face at him, as her gray features were already wrinkled and pug-like. Her body seemed like a couple of circles stacked on top of each other—round head, round body, round arms and round legs sticking off the sides. She had a patched-together dress and short, tangled hair. Somebody's rotting lunch hung out of the corner of her mouth. "What d'ya want?" she spat.

"Hi, I'm Seth," Seth said again, and waved with the hand not holding his skateboard. "It's nice to meet you."

The troll tilted her head at him. "Um. Sure." She plunged back into the garbage can and rooted around in an attempt to not seem interested, but she kept glancing up.

"I could probably get you some actual food, y'know," suggested Seth, keeping his voice level. "What's your name?"

The troll looked up again, now more obviously intrigued, but still cautious. "Quag. And I got plenty of food right here. Hold up... You're just one of those types trying to get me back on a preserve, aren't ya?" Quag bared a set of pointed teeth and spat at Seth. "I ain't having none of that. Screw off!"

"Hey, listen, listen!" Seth waved his hands. Quag appeared harmless, but there were still things that had to be addressed. "I know preserve life sucks. And there are creatures who don't live on preserves, you can be one of them! But..."

Quag spat out a tin can and narrowed her yellow eyes. "But?"

"You've gotta be a little more secretive," Seth said. "I mean, eating out of garbage cans in the middle of the day isn't exactly low-key."

"Low-key?"

"Quiet. Invisible. Unseen. Some mortal is gonna come after you, and it'll be bad if you get hurt."

"I ain't scared of no mortals!" Quag grinned that sharp-toothed smile again and hoisted herself up to sit on the edge of the garbage can, and Seth realized how short she was—two feet tall, tops. "Couple of 'em tried to grab me the other day, but I bit them and got out of there! I'm the toughest troll on the block." She puffed out her chest with pride.

"You bit a guy?" Seth's mind shifted into overdrive. The last time a magical creature had such an interaction with a mortal, the mortal had ended up in a coma from shock. Bad stuff.

"Yeah." Quag mimed throwing some stubby punches. "They got pretty scared, too. Said a lil' girl shouldn't be able to fight like that."

Oh. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Those mortals might've just seen her as some normal kid, instead of having their minds shattered by the reveal of magic.

"It's still gotta be hard living here, though," Seth wheedled. "It really rains a lot here, doesn't it? How many friends do you have here?"

Quag stopped and thought for a moment. "Well."

"You know, I'm a shadow charmer," Seth continued. "I can make sure you get a much better place. A place where you can do everything you want, without worrying about people coming after you." The place he was referring to was a small tribe of troll women Elise was helping organize, out in rural Montana where they wouldn't be bothered.

Quag wiped off her mouth, he expression hopeful. "Not back to trolls?"

"Not back to trolls. Lots of garbage cans. Good stuff."

Quag dropped off the garbage can and rolled to the ground like a pudgy basketball. "Okay! But I wanna grab some stuff first. I made a collection of treasures! It's right back where I live, can we grab it?"

"Sure thing, Quag," Seth said. "Let's make it quick, though."

"Great! Let's go, shadow charmer Sally!"

"It's Seth."

"Okay!"

—

As they walked down Main Street, Seth quickly called the others and explained. There was a lot of relief—no more running around in the rain.

"How's Mara doing with helping the girls in the troll society, by the way?" Seth asked.

"Not good," Vanessa had muttered back. "Those guys are stubborn jerks, but we gotta keep it up. This is the third one to run away this year, that really says something." She paused. "Also those guys just suck, man. I'm gonna go there and knock some feminism into them myself at this rate."

Quag was more than happy to splash in puddles and tell Seth about what she had been doing for the past few weeks. Apparently she had shoplifted from the mall, spooked a couple taking a late-night walk, and adopted a dog for a total of nine minutes before it ran back to its owner. Her wild pantomime and excitability made her an excellent storyteller.

Eventually Quag marched out of the puddles, shaking out her dress and stomping her feet. She stopped in front of an alley and proudly put her hands on her hips.

"This is my alley," she said smugly. "I been living here. It's real nice, don't ya think?"

The alley smelt like death and there were way too many garbage cans, but considering Seth had camped out in a few alleys himself (long story), it was pretty decent. "It's really nice," Seth said.

"I thought you'd say that!" Quag excitedly scampered over to a pile of boxes and jumped in. The shadows fell over her in a way that the only thing Seth could see was her shining fangs. "This is where I sleep. It's real cozy."

Seth laughed and bent down to Quag's level. "It looks it. Too bad I'm too big."

Quag laughed too, but her laugh was more of a cackle. She burrowed her way through the cardboard until she landed back on the asphalt, and ran back with a plastic jewelry box.

"These are my treasures," she said in a voice that was probably trying to be hushed, but wasn't doing a great job of it. Quag briefly opened the box, and Seth got a glimpse at a ring pop and a cat collar before the troll snapped it shut again.

"Those are awesome," said Seth. "You got those yourself?"

"I sure did!" Quag did a happy little dance.

"That's really cool. So, you ready to go—"

There was an angry shout up from the mouth of the alley, and Seth instinctively ducked behind the boxes. Quag jumped back into her sleeping spot.

"What's going on?" Seth whispered to Quag.

Quag's yellow eyes flashed. "Nasty meanies," she said. "I bit 'em."

There were footsteps coming closer, but now Seth was trying to think and there were too many things to focus on at once. "Quag," he hissed, "did you check if this alley belonged to anyone before you settled here?"

"Belong to anyone? It belongs to me."

It sounded like there were three people, most likely all male, arguing as they made their way down the alley. Seth pressed his back against the wall and prayed his shadewalking would work as the people came closer.

He had been right, it was three guys, all middle aged and well dressed. The guy on the left was yelling at the other two, the guy on the right was trying to fight back, and the middle guy looked like he just wanted to be anywhere else. It took Seth a moment to notice, but behind them was a lady their age in a white dress, quietly walking with her head bowed.

"...bunch of idiots!" the guy on the left was saying. Judging by his arrogant demeanor, he must've been the boss. "I told you a million times, you can't nab a kid when you're too close to home. Don't want to draw the cops in."

Seth tensed. Oh man. Maybe sixteen was too old for these guys. Or maybe that would just mean they'd shoot him straight away if they saw him. He went to reach for his sword, but his hand brushed against empty air. Of course—it was a simple, supposed-to-not-be-dangerous mission, and carrying a weapon around normal people drew unwanted attention. All he had was his skateboard, his wit, and an easily excited troll.

The guy who had been arguing huffed and smoothed down his toupee. "Yeah, but it was just a perfect situation—"

"No excuses!" Boss-Dude barked. He rubbed his forehead and muttered something about god damn acid reflex, and waved a hand at the quiet man. "Just open the door, dumbass." His jacket shifted, and Seth caught a glimpse at a gun in its holster.

Quiet pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket and pushed aside a few trash cans not too far from Seth, revealing a metal door in the side of the building.

As Quiet fumbled with his keys, Seth quickly tried to take stock of the situation. The front of the alley was way too far away, and Boss-Dude had a gun, there was no way Seth could grab Quag and make it out alive. Boss-Dude was still giving Toupee a serious talking-to, and the woman was silently standing a few feet behind them, staring at her feet. She seemed horribly uncomfortable but unfortunately used to everything that was happening. Quag... oh no. Quag.

"Get out of my alley!"

Quag lunged out of her cardboard castle and knocked out one of Toupee's legs. Toupee wiped out, but there was no way he would stay down for long. There was a commotion as the other three realized what was going on, and Boss-Dude pulled his gun out of his holster.

"It's the girl!" Quiet yelled, finally breaking his silence with his thick Boston accent. The woman backed up against the wall and shielded her face with her hands.

Boss-Dude took aim, but before he could shoot, Seth lunged and smacked him with the only weapon at hand—his skateboard. The wood cracked under his hands, and he dropped two splintered pieces onto the ground. Boss-Dude staggered back, blood dripping from his nose onto his suit.

"What the—" Boss-Dude crashed against the wall and slid to the ground.

Toupee was still struggling to get Quag off his foot, where she was hanging on like a territorial koala, so he wasn't a problem. Seth whirled to face Quiet. Quiet barreled forward and swung hard right, but Seth danced aside. Warren's lessons flashed across his mind: "If they're acting like a bull, just get out of the way and it'll take care of itself." Sure enough, it was only two more passes before Quiet couldn't stop himself and crumpled against the alley wall.

Toupee was still yanking at Quag, but a swift kick from Seth put him out of commission. Quag rolled off and scrambled around, searching for where she had dropped her box of treasures.

Seth looked over at the woman. She hadn't moved, and was just looking at Boss-Dude with a look of... Fear? Disdain? She didn't look upset, to say the least.

"...You're not going to attack me, right?" Seth asked.

The woman glanced over at him. "No," she said. Her voice was hoarse from disuse. "I promi—" Her eyes suddenly widened. "Look out!"

Pain shot through Seth's head, and the next thing he knew, his cheek was against the asphalt and his ears were ringing. He groaned and grasped at his head, but there was a lot of pain. It was hard to move.

He was vaguely aware of Boss-Dude yelling at the woman, "You don't let him know I'm coming! Don't you dare do that again, you bitch!" The woman mumbled something back and folded her hands in a pleading motion, but was shoved aside. Boss-Dude marched over to Seth and heaved him up by the collar.

"Now listen here, you little brat." Boss-Dude pressed the barrel of his pistol against Seth's forehead. "You gotta learn a real lesson—"

There was a flash, and again, Seth was on the ground. This wasn't fun. It would be much better if his ears stopped ringing.

"Seth!" And then Kendra was next to him, pulling him off the ground. "Seth, are you okay?"

Seth gave a dazed thumbs up. "All cool," he groaned.

Boss-Dude was several feet away, his clothes smoking with what must've been the remnants of Kendra's energy blast. The woman had her back flat against the wall, eyes wide with fear. Only Quag seemed unaffected—she was skipping around Boss-Dude's prone form, cackling and spitting on his suit.

With Kendra's help, Seth managed to get to his feet, but his vision still spun like he was on a carnival ride. "The car's up at the street," Kendra said. "The others are on their way, so just pull yourself together. You can hold on for a few minutes without passing out, right?" She put a hand against his temple, and Seth recognized the warm feeling of healing magic.

"Lady," he said, and waved a hand.

Kendra looked up and locked eyes with the woman. There was a moment of staring, and then a flash of understanding crossed through the lady's face. She pressed a finger to her lips.

"Don't tell me how you did that, I don't want to know," she said softly. "I have to call the police... these three deserve to go to jail. I don't want you to get arrested too, so please leave. Take your little girl." She waved a hand at Quag, who had nicked Boss-Dude's ring and was chewing on it.

"Thank you for helping me," Seth said. He tried to give her a salute, but smacked himself in the nose instead. Kendra sighed and moved his hand for him.

As the two siblings stumbled out of the alley with Quag on their heels, the woman gently tapped each of them on the shoulder. They turned.

"I should thank you," she said. She folded her hands against her chest and smiled. "You two are true heroes."

Seth grinned, and Kendra gave a giggle. "You don't know the half of it," Seth said.