Roland blanched.

The doorbell rang making me and Roland jump. Nikolas opened the door to admit Chris whose good-natured smile did not falter even when he saw our grim faces. Then he saw Remy. I don’t think I had ever seen someone’s eyes go that round before. Roland shoved a glass of Nate’s whiskey into Chris’s hand while Nikolas brought him up to speed on all he had missed.

The kitchen was getting crowded so we moved into the living room. I took the chair by the fireplace and Remy sat on the ottoman beside me. Roland and Chris sat on either end of the sofa. Nikolas stood by the window looking like a sentry.

“Your little orphan is just full of surprises,” Chris quipped to Nikolas. “Never a dull moment.”

I bristled at Chris’s words. “I’m nobody’s little orphan.”

Chris ignored my denial. “So, what’s the plan?”

There was no question in my mind about what had to be done. “We’ve got to find them.” No one said anything so I said, “They’re only babies. God knows what those people will do to them.”

Roland pointed at Remy. “Can’t he track them?”

Remy shook his head unhappily. “Only elders know tracking. If I close I find them.”

I pulled out my phone. “I’m calling Malloy. If anyone has heard about this, it’s him.”

“Who is Malloy?” Nikolas asked suspiciously.

“Buyer,” Roland offered as I dialed the number. Nikolas shot him a questioning look and Roland grimaced, no doubt remembering his last encounter with Malloy. “Don’t ask.”

Malloy picked up right away and I cut right to the chase about the missing trolls. “If you’ve heard anything at all, tell me now. If we don’t find them, their parents are going to come looking and you really don’t want that, especially after what I sold you.”

“You got to be crazy to mess with them trolls,” he uttered in a frightened voice. “Don’t I always tell you that?” There was a short pause and then he said, “Give me half an hour and if there is anything to find out I’ll know it.”

I hung up. “He’s checking into it.”

I saw that Nikolas had pulled out his own phone and was speaking in a low voice to someone. He hung up and looked at Chris. “I called in Erik’s team. It has to be a big player to risk the trolls’ wrath. I guess we know who sent the witch too. It had to be someone with a lot of power and influence to get one of them.”

His words sank in and the pieces began to slam into place like bullets sliding into a gun chamber. A big player who was able to employ a desert witch who lived in a tribal region of Africa. The man on the yacht. Tarek with his a Middle Eastern accent. Malloy’s wealthy overseas buyer.

Oh God, what have I done?

The weight of my actions threatened to suffocate me. I’d been so caught up in all the drama in my life the last few weeks that I did not see this new threat until it was right on top of us. I’d thought I was helping Remy by getting the Baktu but all I’d done was put his family in danger. If the trolls went on a rampage, a lot of people were going to die and that would all be on my head. “This is all my fault. I’m so sorry, Remy.”

He laid his slender hand over mine on the arm of the chair. “It my fault too.”

I leaned toward him and gave him a quick hug. “I promise we’ll get them back.”

We pulled apart and I saw three pairs of eyes watching us with open curiosity. It occurred to me how strange it must look – a teenage girl with a troll friend – but I was in no mood to offer explanations. There would be time for that after Remy’s little cousins were safe.

“Am I delirious or do I really see a troll over there?” Peter stood in the doorway, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head. Except for the mussed hair and bloody t-shirt, I never would have said he’d been stabbed an hour ago.

Roland gave him the condensed version of the story. Peter listened open-mouthed, his eyes never leaving me and Remy and when Roland finished, Peter sat on the floor with his back against the archway, not saying a word.

Malloy called me back ten minutes later. “Now you did not hear this from me, understand?” he said as soon as I picked up. “I got nothing about those trolls specifically but supposedly there are some very rare goods being shipped out of Portland tomorrow morning on a private jet. More security than anyone’s seen around here. Word is that it’s living cargo.”

My pulse quickened. “That’s it. It has to be. Do you know where the shipment is now?”

The others watched me expectantly when I hung up. I related what Malloy had told me and jumped to my feet. “Come on, we have to go before it’s too late.”

“Chris and I will go,” Nikolas said. “I think we can handle whatever kind of security they have in place.”

“I’m coming too. I got them into this nightmare and I’ll get them out.”

Nikolas crossed his arms. “Forget it. It’s not going to happen.”

I matched his stance. “Stop telling me what to do. I’m going whether you like it or not.” The trolls were my friends and my responsibility. How dare he try to stop me from helping them?

A tic started at the corner of his jaw and he took a step toward me. “Like hell. I’ll tie your little ass to that chair over there if I have to.”

“You can kiss my –”

Chris jumped between us, facing Nikolas. “I don’t think this little debate is getting us anywhere.” He turned sideways and his eyebrow rose when he looked at me. “As entertaining as it promises to be.”