“What?” the troll grumbled at them.

“I was saying she’s right. I need to stay still.” Matt managed a smile. “See? I’m staying still now.”

The mammoth creature frowned. It might not know what it had missed, but it was obviously not sure about trusting them, either.

Excitedly, Laurie removed the necklace from around Matt’s neck and held it up so the troll could see the Hammer dangling from the black cord. The troll’s attention left Matt and zeroed in on the Hammer.

“So, if I give you this, you’ll tell us?”

“Leaf wants,” the troll rumbled.

“I know.” Laurie switched the necklace to her right hand and slid the cord free of the pendant itself. As she stepped from behind Matt, she slipped the Hammer into his hand; at the same time, she held up her left hand. The black cord dangled from her closed fist.

She stepped in front of Matt.

“I’ll give you this. You have to bend down, and I can tie it on you.” Laurie shook the hand holding the cord, making Leaf look at her hand again. With her right hand she reached into her pocket, where she had the necklaces she’d brought to sell. She nimbly slipped a pendant off one.

“Now,” Leaf demanded. He bent forward.

“Just hold still, and I’ll tie it on you.” She slid the pendant, a tiny silver unicorn, onto the cord while Leaf’s gaze was on the ground. As she approached him, she let the metal of the pendant flash briefly into his line of sight and then quickly palmed it again.

She peered at his neck, all the while trying not to inhale through her nose. Trolls, or at least this troll, did not smell good at all. She smothered a gag. “I don’t think it will fit around your neck.”

“Twins near,” the troll cajoled. “Leaf made deal!”

Laurie tilted her head and stared at Leaf. “I suppose I could put it on your ear.” She brushed her own hair back. “I wear things there.”

The troll nodded and bent down again. Thankfully, this meant his fetid breath was no longer blowing at her.

She put one hand on his large, slick ear and then paused. “Where are the twins, Leaf?”

“Dead Tree,” Leaf said.

“They’re in a dead tree?” she repeated skeptically. “People don’t usually live in trees.”

Leaf made a loud, grating noise. He slapped the ground with one massive hand, and spit flew from his mouth.

Matt and Fen both surged toward her, and she backed away from the troll in fear. “I wasn’t trying to insult—”

“God girl funny. Place called Dead Tree,” Leaf rumbled.

That horrible noise had been laughter. She shook her head. A troll laughing was not funny. She slowly walked back toward him. As she did so, she saw that Fen stayed right beside her.

“Deadwood,” Matt said. “They’re in Deadwood.”

“Leaf say that.” The troll turned his gaze on Laurie. “Give Hammer now.”

“Right.” She looped the cord around a big wart on the troll’s ear and tied it into a knot. The tiny silver unicorn looked funny on the creature, but it was hanging where the troll couldn’t see that it wasn’t really the Hammer, and that was the goal. They had their information, Matt had his Hammer, and the troll had an earring.

The troll straightened. It smiled, exposing teeth in serious need of scrubbing and flossing, possibly even sandblasting. Oral hygiene clearly wasn’t a priority with trolls. After seeing that, she made a mental note to buy a toothbrush for her cousin, who undoubtedly had not packed one.

Cautiously, she walked over to Matt. Fen was tight to her side. Her wolfy cousin kept looking back at the troll, who was staring at them, but not saying anything.

“Laurie,” Matt said quietly. He was looking past her, and she looked over her shoulder at the almost-lightening woods. Morning was coming, thankfully, and they had what they needed. She didn’t see anything but trees, and all that was left was to walk away.

“What?”

Fen growled. His fur stood up.

“Family come.” The troll grinned. “Show family god Hammer.”

“Crud,” Laurie muttered. Four more trolls were coming toward them. Two of the trolls were even bigger than Leaf.

“Run,” Matt urged as soon as Leaf turned to see his family.

She heard Leaf grumble, “God Hammer on ear.”

And she tried to run faster. Matt was in front of her, and Fen was behind her. They were running as fast as they could, but the trolls would still be able to catch them in minutes. Trolls weren’t fast thinkers, but they certainly could movequickly.

She heard the weird sound of trolls laughing, and then the ground shook as the trolls came toward them.

They were almost at the edge of the woods. Maybe they can’t leave the woods.She hoped that was the case. Please let them be unable to follow us.

Frantically, she looked for a place to hide, as if there were a place secure enough to be trollproof. She didn’t see anything. Matt suddenly grabbed her arm and half pulled her forward.

Before she could ask him why, she heard a deep growl. Fen.She turned to look back just as she saw her fool cousin standing with his paws firmly planted, growling at the five trolls.

Matt shoved her behind him and yelled, “Run!”

The troll in the front had almost reached Fen when Matt used the Hammer and sent the troll sailing backward. He threw another and another thunder of energy at the trolls, and all the while Fen darted out of their reach, trying to keep them too distracted to chase Laurie.

“ Run!” Matt yelled at her again.

She wanted to, but she couldn’t leave them. She looked around desperately for something to use as a weapon. The nearest things were a trash bin and some rocks. She ran toward the bin and tried to tug it free.

Then she heard a sharp yip.

“Fen!” She whirled to see Fen being lifted into the air. “No!” she screamed. “Matt! Help!”

A massive clawed troll hand was wrapped around Fen’s throat. He hung limp in the troll’s grip.

“Do something!” she yelled at Matt. Tears slipped out of her eyes, and she started to race toward the trolls.

“Wait.” Matt grabbed her arm as she ran past him. “Look.”

As the sun rose, the trolls all turned to stone. They looked like a cross between massive sculptures and rock piles. If she hadn’t seen them moving, she might’ve thought they were oddly shaped rocks—well, that and the fact that a wolf hung limply from what was basically a stone noose.

She ran over to Fen. He wasn’t moving, and his muzzle hung open like he was gasping for air. His eyes were closed, and she thought for a second that he was dead.

“He’s still breathing,” Matt said. He was right beside her now.

“Not for long. He’ll choke.” Then she spun to face Matt. “Blast it.”

“Blast it,” he repeated.

“Break the stone with your energy thing, or Fen’s going to die.” She hated the thought of breaking the troll’s hand, even though it had chased them and probably would’ve killed them, but she hated the thought of Fen dying even more.

Matt frowned, but he obviously couldn’t see any other solution, either. The circle of stone that was the troll’s hand had to be cracked to remove Fen. Their only other choice was to wait till nightfall, when it would wake back up—and then probably finish choking Fen anyhow.

The energy blast cracked the stone around Fen’s throat, and he dropped to the ground with an awful thump. He didn’t move.

Laurie pulled the motionless wolf into her lap. “Fen! Fen, wake up!”

As she did so, she petted his face. What do you do when your cousin who is a wolf gets choked by a troll who is part of a mountain?These weren’t the sorts of things ever covered in health class.

“I’ll carry him out of here and…” Matt’s words faded as Fen shifted from wolf to boy.

Blearily, Fen blinked up at Laurie. “Did we win or die?”