Seeking Eden Read online

  Tobin looked to the sky, which had lightened dramatically. “We’d better go. Reb Ephraim will have found the map by now and noticed I’m gone. Maybe they’ll have seen you’re gone, too. We’d better keep moving.”

  “There’s the bus station,” she said, pointing to the large building straight in front of them. We can get to the tunnel from there.”

  “Then let’s do it.” Tobin shot her another grin.

  Laughing, she took his hand and they ran toward the building. The bus station was long, with many doors that had once been glass but now only held darkness. It didn’

  t look inviting. They were almost there when the troll reared up from its hole in the street.

  −20-

  Tobin didn’t hesitate. He shoved Elanna behind him and held out the blanket roll. It was a poor weapon, but the only one they had. Elanna let out a small cry and stumbled against him.

  “What’s it got?” shouted the thing emerging from the hole in the middle of the street. “What’s it got, now? What, what?”

  Tobin thought about Golem, the creature from Tolkien’s The Hobbit. A shrill giggle escaped him, and he bit it off. This was no time for laughter.

  “A troll!” Elanna moaned in his ear.

  The troll climbed out of its hole and stood. Although it looked as though it only stood as tall as Tobin’s chest, it was at least twice as wide. A flat head covered with sparse wisps of gray hair topped lumpy shoulders that ended in dangling arms and wide, flat hands. It wore clothes, or at least what once had been clothes but now had disintegrated into rags. More wisps of the same gray hair covered its chest, and spots mottled its skin.

  Still, it had the shape of a man and the voice of one, too. It hadn’t moved any closer to them, just stood beside the hole and rocked back and forth. Once in awhile it scratched itself under the arms or on the head. It was ugly, yes, but a monster? Tobin didn’t think so.

  “It’s just a man.” Tobin didn’t put down the blanket roll.

  “What’s it got, now? What, what?” shrieked the thing in the street, scratching. It still made no move toward them.

  “It’s not like any man I’ve ever seen,” Elanna said doubtfully. She grimaced. “I saw a Savage once that had wandered down into Tribe territory. He didn’t even look as bad as that.”

  “Maybe it’s because they live down in those holes,” Tobin said, still watching the thing. It shifted back and forth on dirty feet, mindless of the rubble and debris on the pavement. “What’s down there?”

  Elanna shrugged. “Old sewers, I guess. There are lots of tunnels under the city. Sewers and subway tunnels. The holes and entrances in the Tribe’s territory were sealed off a long time ago. I think there used to be people that lived down there, who used to come up sometimes and steal from us. But not in years. Not ever since I can remember.”

  “We’re not in Tribe territory anymore?” Tobin relaxed a little bit, but kept his eyes on the shaking and scratching troll. At least it had stopped its shrieking.

  “We’re at the very edge. I think this part of the city has been pretty well gathered already. Not much left. Oy vey, that thing is ugly!”

  From the hole emerged another thing just like the first. This one stood a little taller, and a little wider, too. Its clothes were in even worse shape than the first one’s. Its legs showed through the tears in its pants; lumpy and gnarled, they were the same mottled brown, and covered with hair.

  “What’s it got, what? What’s it got?” The second troll cried in a higher voice. It pulled itself out of the hole and stood by the first, making the same rocking motion.

  “I don’t think they’re going to attack us.” Tobin let the blanket roll drop in front of him, but he kept a good grip on it. Just in case.

  The pair of weird things in front of them rocked and scratched. Every few minutes one would spit or sneeze, then the other. It was pretty disgusting to watch, but really not that scary.

  “What’s it got?” shrieked the pair in unison. “What’s it got, now? What! What! What?”

  “Nothing for you,” Tobin shouted back, not sure what to say.

  The two ugly things stopped rocking and scratching. They looked at each other, misshapen jaws dropping. The taller one turned back toward Tobin and Elanna.

  “Nutting?”

  “No!” Elanna cried bravely from Tobin’s side.

  “Nutting?”

  Now the two began rocking again. “Nutting?”

  “Nutting?”

  “What’s it got, now?”

  “Nutting?”

  “What, what?”

  “Nutting?”

  “No, nothing!” Tobin shouted, just to shut them up. They were getting on his nerves.

  The taller, thinner thing began to cry. Now it rocked, scratched and cried. The shorter, heavier one just grunted.

  “What’s wrong with them?” Elanna asked.

  “When people talked about trolls,” Tobin asked, “did they say they looked like that?”

  “They never said they cried,” Elanna said. “And I’m not sure what they were supposed to look like. Ugly, I guess.”

  “Well that fits those two for sure.” The trolls weren’t moving from their place in the street, but they blocked the way to the bus station. “Is there another way to get to the tunnel?”

  Elanna shook her head. “I don’t really know. Ari said to go through the bus station, and the tunnel entrance was in there.”

  “How fast can you run?”

  She laughed shortly. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever tried.”

  Tobin sighed, looking back at the pair of rocking, wailing things that stood between them and the bus station. “I don’t know if they’ll attack or not. They seem pretty pathetic, but it could be an act.”

  “Nutting!” shrilled the taller troll. Tears streamed down its mottled cheeks. Snot dripped from its nose in thick curds. Disgusting.

  “What, what?” answered its companion.

  Elanna shook her head. “It’s a pretty good act.”

  “We can try to go around them,” Tobin said. “We may have to run, though. Or fight.”

  Elanna looked up at the sky. “It’s daylight now. I’ll feel safer when we’re crossing the tunnel. Let’s try it.”

  He looked at her in admiration. She really was pulling through. He was glad she’d decided to come with him. More than glad, really. Near to ecstatic. The feeling gave him courage he might not have had if he’d been alone.

  “Yeah, let’s.” Tobin hefted his bundle and took her bag from her. When she protested he stopped her with a look. “If you need to run, you don’t want to be carrying extra weight. I’m stronger than you. I’ll do it.”

  She let him take the bag. Tobin wanted to take her hand but didn’t. He’d need to be ready, in case the things started after them. He tensed, judging the distance to the doors of the bus station and hoping he was right.

  “I feel bad for them,” Elanna said quietly. “Look at them!”

  Now both trolls were sobbing and groaning. The shorter one stomped its feet up and down in grief. The taller one pounded its chest. Tears and snot flew as they shook from side to side.

  “If nothing else, let’s run fast enough so we don’t get hit with any of that,” Tobin said. “Damn, that’s nasty.”

  “I’m ready,” Elanna said.

  “Go!”

  Tobin ran, aware that she was beside him, keeping up. Not bad for a girl who’d probably never had to run more than a block in her life. The bags slapped against his legs as he ran. They were nearing the farthest point of the trolls’ reach.

  With a strangled cry, Elanna tripped and fell. The string holding her blanket roll had come undone, tangling her legs. She landed hard on the street, shredding away the leg of her pants. Bright blood spilled from the gash in her calf.

  What’s it got, now!” shrieked the taller troll, whirling on Elanna as though it had been pulled by a string.

  “What, what?” yelled the shorter one, al