For the second night in a row, the nightmares stayed away.

*     *     *

Slipping away to see Remy or anyone else turned out to be a lot harder than I had anticipated with my two Mohiri bodyguards stepping up their watch after the attack. It wasn’t like I could just jump on my bike and ride down to see my troll friend, and if I admitted it to myself, I wasn’t too keen on going out into the woods alone right now. But it was as frustrating as hell to have someone watching my comings and goings around the clock.

It wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon that I finally saw an opportunity to steal away. I got home from school to find a note from Nate saying he was at one of his environmental meetings. Peering out the window, I saw that Chris was on duty, sitting casually on a bench as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Didn’t he get bored just sitting there? I thought warrior business was supposed to be a lot more exciting.

As I watched him, two girls approached him and sat on either side of him, engaging him in conversation. At that moment, I could have kissed Jessie and Marie. I felt no pity for Chris because he seemed more than capable of holding his own against two teenage girls and this was the perfect diversion to keep him occupied long enough for me to make my escape. In minutes, I was pushing my bike through the back door and between two buildings to Market Street.

Remy was standing just off the road waiting for me when I arrived. It was uncanny how he always knew when I was coming to see him. I’d asked him about it more than once and he only smiled and said it was a troll thing.

Today he was not smiling. He spent a full five minutes going off about the crocotta attack and how I’d almost been killed. I should have known he’d know all about it. There was no way something that big had happened close to troll territory without them being aware. “This what happens when you go to city. Bad things come from city,” he ranted as we walked to the cliff.

“I know, I know. But I can’t go back and change that now. I guess you probably know about my new bodyguards too huh?”

He nodded seriously. “Warriors are strong. They protect you.”

I told him about Nikolas coming to see me last week and his news that I was Mohiri. Remy didn’t blink an eye as I shared my news. “Did you know what I was all this time?” The possibility that he had known sent a pang of hurt through me.

“No,” he answered sincerely. “I knew you not normal human, but even trolls not know everything.”

“You knew I wasn’t normal?”

He smiled wickedly. “Everyone know that.”

“Funny guy!” I retorted, hitting him in the shoulder.

We sat in the cave for an hour while I told him about Nikolas and how he wanted me to go live with the Mohiri. “I don’t want to leave here. And I don’t want to live forever. Everyone I know will get old and die and I’ll still look like this.”

“I live long time.”

My eyes widened. “That’s right!” There was nothing I could do to change my immortality but for the first time, the long years stretching before me didn’t seem quite as bleak.

“Do you think we will still be friends in a hundred years, Remy?” Just the thought of the two of us still being here after a century and looking like we did today was too much to imagine.

“We always be friends,” he stated with conviction.

My joy dimmed when another thought hit me. “I’ll have to go away for a long while because if I stay here people will know I’m not aging. I won’t be able to come back until they are all gone.” I gave him a hopeful smile. “You could come with me if you want. I could find us a place out in the country somewhere, maybe up in the mountains.”

He shook his head sadly. “Have to stay with family.”

“Oh.” I sighed heavily. Remy was adventurous for a troll but he still had the deep sense of faith and family ingrained in all of his people. He was a steadfast friend but his first loyalty would always be to his family. I understood it and respected it even if the thought of leaving him for years saddened me.

I shook off my gloom; I would worry about leaving my friends behind when the time came to do it. Right now, I had more important things to take care of.

“Remy, I need to protect Nate in case a vampire or some other monster finds out where we live, maybe some spells to watch over him. You have warding spells, right?”

“I have strong ward for home but it not help when uncle not at home. Troll magic not good for humans. But there some good spells you can use.”

“I need something really strong. Nate’s all the family I have.”

He stared at the floor of the cave for a minute before he said, “Ptellon blood. It most powerful protection but it only last one moon. Then you use again.”

I made a face. “Blood! You want me to give Nate blood?”

His raspy laughter filled the cave. “Not real blood. Ptellon is special flower from mountain in the Asia land. It have red nectar like blood.”

“Oh okay. I just didn’t want a repeat of the baktu – which was pretty gross by the way.” I rubbed my arms against the chill coming off the ocean. “How do I use it and what does it do?”

“Put it in drink or food. It make bad smell to demons and Peoples and they not go near him.”

“Won’t he smell it?”

“No smell for humans and animals.”

I gave him a wide smile. “That is brilliant! I’ll see if Malloy can get it. How much will it cost?”