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Jim sat at Blinky's large table, surrounded by many books, but none of them held his attention. A certain magical Amulet of Daylight was admirably doing that, his thoughts churning about the recent battle, skirmish?, of Killahead Bridge in the museum and the events leading up to it.
Vendal walked in to discuss the matter of Killahead's relocation but immediately lost the train of thought at the sight of Jim staring at the Amulet while his head laid on the table. Had it only been a passing glance, he would have thought that the Trollhunter was asleep. Sighing, Vendal plodded over to Jim, vaguely interested in what was bothering the human to cause him to think so hard, it almost looked painful. "What is on your mind, Trollhunter?"
Jim's eyes rolled up before he raised his head a hair, answering while staring at the Amulet. "Has the Amulet been known to return to its Trollhunters before?" Sensing he didn't word his question well, he continued, "I mean, if they didn't have it, and it was miles away, is it normal to just…return to them, like a boomerang?"
Vendal paused. This is what was bothering the Trollhunter? "It isn't unheard of. Quite common, in fact. Many a Trollhunter has learned to use the Amulet's returning power in battle."
Jim frowned from his position on the table. "But Blinky said that after the Trollhunter accepted his position that it stopped doing that."
"That's for outright returning." Vendal corrected. "What I speak of is when the Amulet is lost or misplaced. As you've learned, it's very beneficial, if not lifesaving to not have to chase after it in the middle of battle."
Jim sat up, attention solely on Vendal. "But that's what I mean! I didn't lose it, Strickler stole it!"
Vendal raised curious brows. This was a new development. Blinky had conveniently left out that tidbit of information. Not that surprising though, it would be rather humiliating to have the Amulet stolen, to both Trollhunter and trainer. "It must not have been stolen then, or it would not have returned to you."
Jim frowned, poking the Amulet. "I'd think I'd know if it was stolen or not, Strickler left a fake one in my house. Believe me, because for five minutes straight, I incanted the snot out of that thing and it didn't even blink! Ask Claire if you want to, she saw it."
Vendal sighed. "I'm sorry, but I've never heard of anything of the sort. What you're saying it did is impossible."
Jim's pinched in disappointment. "Then how did it happen? 'Cause I know it happened."
"I'm afraid I don't know." Vendal shook his head before gripping his staff tighter as he prepared to stand.
Jim sighed and plopped his head down on his arms again. "Well, thanks anyway, I guess."
Vendal stood and left, Jim continuing to stare at the Amulet, making his way through Trollmarket until he found the teal troll he was searching for in the Hero's Forge. "Ah, Draal. I must speak with you."
Draal turned, face worried. "Have I done something wrong? Is the Trollhunter failing in his duties?"
Vendal shook his head with a slight smile. "No, nothing like that. But it does involve him."
"Oh?" Draal tilted his head curiously but warily.
"Yes. There has been an…interesting development that I struggle to believe. I need your help in proving it true or not." Vendal said carefully.
Draal smiled and relaxed. "Well then, what do I need to do?"
"I need you to steal the Amulet of Daylight."
Draal staggered back and almost dropped his sword. After a minute, he regained enough composure to shout, "Have you lost your mind?!"
Vendal made a quieting motion, his milky eyes glancing back to the entryway of the Forge. "Jim claims that the Amulet was stolen from him before the Killahead Bridge battle, and that it returned to him."
Draal's face scrunched in confusion. "Is that, possible?"
Vendal shook his head and shrugged, an almost unbecoming gesture from the ancient troll. "I do not know. From what we know it shouldn't be, but a Trollhunter has never had his Amulet stolen before."
Draal grinned. "Then it would be my pleasure to help in your…experiment."
Jim dissipated Daylight and removed the Amulet before dropping it into his school bag. "I think I better call it a night. See you later, Blinky."
"Until tomorrow, Master Jim!" Blinky waved with his two right hands.
He turned to wave at Draal, who he had been sparring with, when he collided with him. "Umph! Sorry Draal! I didn't see you move."
Draal smiled. "Quite alright Trollhunter. I will see you tomorrow for another match."
Jim blinked at him, a bit taken aback by his lack of reaction or criticism at his careless blindness—just as happy to not get a lecture just before leaving. But he nodded and groaned quietly at the mere thought. "Yay, can't wait."
Jim beat his mother home by five minutes but was too tired to even properly unmake his bed, he really shouldn't cut it this close next time. Throwing his bag on the chair, he promptly collapsed onto the bed, already asleep.
Barbara woke up early the next morning to a ruckus coming from Jim's room. Blearily, she opened her eyes and fumbled to grab her phone, then holding it almost to her nose to see the time. Six twenty. It was 6:20 and Jim was already up. She opened her eyes further to check the date. Yup, today's Saturday. She moaned and laid her head down again; she didn't have work today and Jim didn't have school…so why was he up? Did he know how much noise he was making?
Concerned that this might have some reason to do with his 'scratches from coyotes' she quietly made her way to his room and cracked the door open. Stunned to speechlessness by the messy sight just that crack provided.
"Where is it? Where is it? Where is IT?!" Jim repeated, growing more and more frantic.
As Jim dug through his closet, a bat carelessly thrown aside and hit the door, making her jump. Worry finally overtook the mother and she pushed the door open. "Jim? Are you alright? What'd you lose?"
Jim looked up, surprised—this not sitting well with Barbara as it was his 'caught' look. "I-uh, aren't you supposed to be asleep?"
She smiled and gave a little chuckle. "Kinda hard to sleep with how much noise you're making. Jim, darling, what's going on?"
Jim stood and looked around, running both hands through his hair as he looked around, sure signs that whatever was going on was stressing him greatly. "I-I lost the, a-uh, something important. Something really important."
She frowned playfully, trying to lighten the mood. "Well, I hope it isn't homework."
Jim laughed dryly. "No, no, not homework. It was…a gift from a friend."
"Toby?"
"No, a different friend."
"You have other friends?"
"Of course I do!" Jim cried.
Her face lit up in realization. "Oh I see, it's from that girl friend of yours, Clair."
"Wha-no! No, we're just friends." Barbara caught the longing look besides the denial. "Anyway, I thought I had put it in my bag…"
He hurried out of the room and she followed him as he started checking the bathroom, primarily the medicine cabinet. He opened it but didn't find what he was looking for there, much to his dismay. Closing the door, he waited a few seconds before opening it again—as if expecting to find whatever it was to magically appear there.
Worry and concern rising, she walked over to Jim and put her hand on his forehead as he continued searching. "Jim, you're scaring me. You've checked that cabinet three times now. Whatever you're looking for isn't in there."
Jim mumbled and walked out of the bathroom, continuing his search, "That always works. Why didn't that work? Where is it?"
"Jim!" Barbara shouted as Jim continued to ignore her and walk downstairs.
He waved at her as he checked under the couch. "Yeah, I-I'll get your breakfast made in a minute so you can-"
Barbara pulled him up and looked him firmly in the eye. "This has nothing to do with my breakfast. Jim, I'm worried about you. You're acting weird and checking in places you know that you've already checked. Are you going insane? Or, are you on drugs?"
Jim paled, pulling away from his mother in shock. "What, no! Mom, I'm fine, I promise. I'm just really worried that I lost it-"
"What's it?" She asked with a sigh, maybe she'd seen it around.
"An, a really old artifact, an amulet actually from, like, the sixth century or something. A friend gave it to me to keep for him." He explained as he started digging through the couch's cushions.
Barbara sighed. "Oh Jim. I'm sure it'll turn up. I'm going to go back to bed."
Jim waved her off as she left. "Nap well."
Jim growled as meticulously searched every inch of his walk to his room, then dug through his room again. He opened a book from his bag and searched through the pages, hoping it was somehow in there, even though he knew it wasn't. In pure frustration, he threw the book at the door and fought back tears.
He somehow lost the Amulet. Not only that, but it wasn't coming back to him; which could only mean one of two things. One, he was no longer the Trollhunter. But that was impractical as he was still very much alive and he didn't know of any other ways to shirk the Amulet—believe him, he tried. Or two, someone had stolen it. But who?
He hadn't fought anyone from Trollmarket to his house. He hadn't even bumped into anyone from school or, Deya forbid, Strickler. Which meant that someone at Trollmarket would have had to have stolen it. But who? He hadn't run into anyone on his way out of the Forge except Draal…but he wouldn't have stolen it. He was all about honor and knew he couldn't use the Amulet. So what point would there have been for stealing it?
No, that only left the gnomes. One had done it before, what's to say one didn't do it again?
He growled, bawling his fists up on either side of his head from his utter incompetence at a simple task such as keeping the Amulet safe. That made it how many times that he had his Amulet stolen? Three? Falling back onto his butt, Jim buried his head in his knees. If he couldn't even protect the Amulet, how could they—how could he expect himself to protect trolls and Trollmarket?
Banging his fist against the ground, he said in a quiet, strangled voice, "For the Glory of Merlin, Where are You?!"
*O*
Vendal stood at a desk of sorts, shuffling around items of value, shifting through aged books and staring at the Amulet of Daylight which Draal had craftily stolen. As he thought back to when Draal had given him the Amulet the night before, he did look a little too proud of stealing it so easily. Though, in its entirety, he couldn't—or wouldn't—blame Jim for its loss. Draal was a trusted ally and even more trusted friend, even if the two of them would deny it to their dying breath and prefer to have a mutual rivalry.
Hours had passed before Vendal even suspected that Jim might notice its absence. As a clock began to tick the early hours of the upper world, Vendal started watching the Amulet closer. Sometime close to six, the Amulet began glowing, a sure sign that the Trollhunter was beginning to notice the lack of its presence. Over the course of the next half-hour, the Amulet glowed and even vibrated and shook on the table as it sensed its Trollhunter's distress.
Vendal turned back to a book while he examined a rare crystal. After a time, clanking on the table snapped his attention back to the Amulet as it started vibrating violently, its gears and dials turning—slowly at first but picking up until they were a blur. It started to rise off the table and he grabbed it, only for it to shock his hand and shoot out of the room.
He followed, running out of the room within the Heartstone, spying the Amulet race over Trollmarket in a blue blur for the doorway to the top world.
Draal saw it shoot overhead like a comet and turned to Vendal with wide eyes as he pointed at the Amulet with his staff and shouted, "Follow that Amulet!"
Without a word or even a motion of acknowledgment, Draal raced through Trollmarket—already far behind the Amulet's speeding trail. By the time he reached the bridge doorway, the small hole that the Amulet punched through the rock was sealing. He immediately grabbed the Hornguazle and opened the doorway, stepping into the thin shadow of the bridge. A small, light blue speck of the Amulet angled out of the brightening sky towards Jim's house.
Draal watched the sky/treetop line where he'd lost it from view for another minute before turning back for Trollmarket, unable to follow because of the sunlight.
*O*
Jim laid on the floor in defeat as he stared at his ceiling, pondering how he should ask Blinky or, heaven forbid, Vendal or Draal for help in locating and reacquiring the Amulet. The two-way radio that always sat on his desk cackled with static before Toby's slightly distorted voice echoed through, "Hey, Jimbo, what's up? Aaarrrgghh! said he saw you tearing up your room like a gnome at a picnic."
Jim sighed, snatching the radio. "I-I lost the Amulet, Tony. Actually, I think it was stolen."
Toby gasped. "What? When!?"
"I'm not sure." Jim shrugged despondently on the floor. "Probably by some dumb gnome at Trollmarket…"
"Open window." Aaarrrgghh! said suddenly.
"What?" Jim asked, sitting up, "Why?"
"Just open."
Jim shrugged and opened the window, a cool spring breeze blowing in. Toby waved at him and he waved back, though his confusion was evident. Toby asked something as he leaned out his own window—looking at something in the sky—but Jim couldn't hear what it was, nor Aaarrrgghh!'s answer, so he grabbed the radio. "What's going on Tobes?"
Toby answered, but was still looking up at something in the sky. "There's just this weird blue star…and I think it's getting closer."
"What?" Jim leaned out his own window and saw the star that Toby was pointing at, and it did indeed look like it was coming closer. With a jolt of shock and surprise, Jim realized what it was just before he ducked back into his room—the Amulet hitting him in the stomach as it flew into the room with enough force to knock him back with a grunt.
Toby's voice came in again on the radio, sounding worried, "Jim, Jim?! Are you ok? What is it?"
Jim didn't hear the radio or anything else as he stared at the Amulet in wonder. "How did you…why did you?"
A minute later, Toby was running into his room, out of breath. "Jim! What, what happened?!"
Jim looked up, confused. "Toby, what are you doing here?"
"What, what am I doing here?" He asked, still trying to catch his breath, "You ducked into your room just before the light thing dove in after you. What is it? Is it a little blue alien trying to examine your brains!? Why didn't you answer me when I radioed you?"
Jim looked sheepish. "Oh, sorry Tobes, didn't mean to worry you, I just…didn't hear you I guess. But no, it's not an alien, it's the Amulet."
"What?" Toby fell silent, head tilted curiously.
Jim held up the Amulet as it glowed and pulsed, almost as if it was content or pleased. "I-I don't know. But it came back!"
"So…" Toby drawled out, "maybe it wasn't stolen, you just lost it."
Jim looked at him flatly. "I know I didn't lose it. Besides, if I had lost it, it would have reappeared somewhere annoying like the medicine cabinet or on my face if I lost it somewhere really stupid and it got annoyed."
Toby smirked. "Jim, I don't think it has emotions. It's just a hunk of metal. Magic metal but metal."
Jim frowned as he looked at the Amulet. "Yeah, but…I don't know. You don't know, don't feel this thing like I do. If it's not sentient enough to have emotion, it's darn close I think."
"So what?" Toby asked as they walked downstairs, "It's like my Nana's GPS when she takes a wrong route and it gets snarky?"
Jim laughed at the oversimplification of it. "Yeah, something like that."
They eventually made their way back to Trollmarket with Aaarrrgghh! after painstakingly concealing him under a blanket as they trekked through the woods. However, when they entered Trollmarket, they found it in a state of borderline chaos. As soon as Jim stepped foot into clear sight, a troll cried out, "He's still alive!"
Jim blinked and looked at Toby and Aaarrrgghh! "Was I dying?"
Both shrugged and held the same look of confusion.
Vendal walked through the crowd with Draal, pushing them back as Vendal gestured them forward. "Come Trollhunter, I believe we have something we need to discuss."
Jim paled a bit as he followed the elderly troll. "Ok, I swear, whatever it is you think I did, I didn't do it! You can ask Toby and Aaarrrgghh!, they were with me this morning."
Vendal looked down at him. "Actually, I know you did it. Maybe they can help clear up how you did it."
Jim stopped, confused. How I did it? How I did what? They followed him to the Heartstone and to his study room before anyone said anything more. "Jim, let me see the Amulet of Daylight."
Jim gave Vendal the Amulet with more than a little confusion as he inspected the magical device, Draal looking closely at it as well. Several minutes of tense silence passed before Vendal finally asked, "Jim, do you know what happened to the Amulet last night?"
Jim looked down, still ashamed with his failure to notice its absence. "Yeah, a gnome stole it."
Draal smiled, laughed actually. "No Trollhunter, I stole it."
Jim blanched. "You, what? Why?!"
Vendal returned the Amulet as he spoke, "To prove a theory. Your theory actually, that the Amulet returned to you after it was stolen. It appears that you were correct, though if I may have the indulgence of asking, how did you do it?"
Jim stared at the Amulet that rested in his hand again. "I-I don't know."
Vendal straightened. "Recount to me what you did this morning, everything."
Jim sighed as he thought back. "Well, I woke up then got ready to come here since it's a Saturday."
Vendal nodded. "Yes, then?"
"Well, then I couldn't find the Amulet. I searched my entire room and half the house-"
"More like tore up your room." Toby cut in, "I don't think I've ever even seen the boys' locker room as messy."
Jim's cheeks reddened a bit. "I wanted to make sure I checked everywhere for it. But after I realized that it was stolen, well, I kinda gave up looking for it."
Vendal frowned, that didn't seem right at all. There had to be something more. "Is there anything, anything at all—no matter how trivial, that you did the same this morning as well as the night that you realized you'd lost the Amulet?"
Jim's face scrunched in thought before he shrugged. "Not that I can think of…"
"Yes?" Vendal prompted, seeing the flicker in his eyes.
"Well, I—that night I yelled in frustration and said, I think, 'For the Glory of Daylight, Where are You?'"
"And this morning?" Vendal pressed.
"I said the same thing, though I didn't yell it."
Vendal's eyes lit up, staring down at the innocuous Amulet. "Could it really be so simple?"
Jim looked at him with a hopeful and disbelieving gaze. "You really think that that's what made it return?"
Vendal nodded. "As Blinkious has said, no Trollhunter has lost, or more accurately—had his Amulet stolen, before. Therefore, it isn't illogical to think that there is a safeguard against it…just not discovered until now."
Draal suddenly grabbed the Amulet from Jim's hands, possessively holding it up and away from the Trollhunter. Jim cried indignantly as he was easily held back. "What are you doing!?"
Draal smirked. "Make it return to you."
"WHAT?!"
Vendal nodded at Draal's suggestion. "Say your incantation to make it return."
Jim stepped back and sighed, glaring at both trolls. "For the Glory of Merlin, Where are You?"
The Amulet glowed and shook again, shocking Draal's hand to make him release it as it hurried back to Jim, nestling safely in both his hands. Draal starred, open-mouthed. "I see it, but I still don't believe it."
Aaarrrgghh! grinned, pointing to the Amulet. "Neat. New trick."
Jim laughed. "Yeah, that could come in handy."
Toby grinned, laughing. "Dude, you have, like, a real life Mjolnir! That's awesome sauce! Oh, think about it, now no matter where you stick it or lose it or have it stolen, you can get it back!"
Jim placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and smiled at the pulsing Amulet. "You're right, I guess it does have a kind of Mjolnir effect, doesn't it?"