Chapter Text
Allegra
The only reason Allegra was standing in front of a full classroom with twenty-first century teens was because she looked like one of them and the principal had dragged her to his office after seeing her wandering around during school hours.
Sure, she could have retorted she was older than she looked - which isn't hard when you're several centuries older than said man - yet had wisely decided to stay inconspicuous and tell him she was new in town. She did have a problem when being asked about her parents. She wasn't entirely sure how he would react to her telling him her parents had been dead for years.
Instead, she had told him she never knew her parents and ran away from the orphanage several towns away. It was a stretch, but at least he believed it and didn't ask too many questions about it... Yet.
Everyone was staring at her, even though she deemed herself to look normal. Golden eyes and black hair with purple tips. Being tall for your 'age' wasn't too normal around here either, apparently.
"Don't be shy, introduce yourself," the history teacher said, whose name she learned was Strickler.
"Hi everyone , my name is Allegra Garcia. I'm new here, obviously."
Strickler nodded and gestured towards an empty chair, "Take a seat, miss Garcia, then we'll continue my lesson on the Peloponnesian war." He then continued his explanation while walking through the classroom.
"Look up talking amulet," Allegra overheard.
Her interest in their conversation peaked an her attention on the actual subject of the class had vanished. It wasn't like she needed the explanation to get a passing grade, considering her actual age.
There was only one 'talking amulet' she knew about and it sure wasn't a toy. Could it be Merlin's? It would be unusual for it to choose a human though...
"Jim, would you agree on Herodotus' opinion on his tactics of war?" Strickler said, gaining the attention of both Jim and Allegra.
"Absolutely!"
"Which ones specifically?"
"The, uh, winning ones?"
As if on cue, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. She stood up and walked away, looking back one last time to see Strickler talking to Jim. Who are you, Jim?
She immediately bumped into a blonde boy wearing a blue polo. "What's so interesting about Lake over there? If you want to be cool, stick with me, I'm Steve, Steve Palchuk."
She gave him an undifferent look. She wasn't interested in being cool since she didn't intend to remain a high school student for too long. "What if I don't care about that? Should I then be friends with him?"
"Trust me, you'll want to be friends with me." The look on his face gave her the idea he wanted to be more than friends.
"Tell me, Steve, do you flirt with every girl you meet? If so, I suggest you find someone who's actually interested or single."
Before he could say anything in his defense she already walked away. She wasn't interested, that much was true. Was she in a relationship? Technically, yes. Being ghosted by the other wasn't the same as breaking up, right? Even if the ghosting in question happened centuries back...
Allegra's next class was gym with coach Lawrence. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and, unlike some of her girls, she was actually participating by climbing the rope.
Maybe she shouldn't try to hard, attracting too much attention was the last thing she wanted. Or needed for that matter.
However, she drew the line at a teacher insulting a student and it was no surprise that it ended with a thankful Toby, an angry coach Lawrence and her being given detention on her first day. Note to self, don't talk back even though you're older and wiser than the teacher in question.
"Mrs. Garcia," Principal Levit began, "You've been here for less than a day and you've already gotten in trouble."
"It was against my principles not to do anything, sir," she retorted, "I wouldn't want to be at war with myself."
"And I wouldn't want you to be at war with your teachers."
The urge to roll her eyes was great, but I'm doing so, she would probably 'disrespect ' her elder. Why had she stopped fysically aging at sixteen again?
"If I say I'm sorry, do I still have detention?"
Principal Levit shook his head, "Don't think you'll get off too easy just because you're new. You will still have to serve detention."
Guess I'll have to tell him I can't keep up my promise for today...
When she walked towards her locker, she was approached by Toby and Jim. "Thanks for standing up for me during gym. I hope that didn't get you in too much trouble," Toby said.
"It's not a problem," Allegra told him, "Just detention. It's not like it's the end of the world or something."
The three of them than noticed Steve forcing Eli Pepperjack into his locker. Both Jim and Allegra wanted to do something about it, despite Toby insisting to just leave it. In the end, it was Jim who beat Allegra to it and got himself in trouble instead of her.
"Tell us about the monsters!" Steve demanded.
Eli proceeded to explain what he had seen that morning. Allegra was quick to realise what he was talking about: trolls. To be frank, having people know about the existence of trolls wasn't the best idea, even if no one but a select few would believe him.
"Are you glad you didn't go in now?" Toby asked her, "Jimbo will only get himself a beating!"
"I think the only thing Steve would make me suffer through is more flirting," Allegra mused, "Besides, he's all talk. All 'tough' guys are. You just need to find his weak spot."
Toby looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Sounds to me like you've got some experience with this sort of thing. You might want to tell Jimbo all of this."
Allegra nodded, "Plenty of it. And don't worry, I might."
Toby must have found his courage during their conservation because he started to chant 'let him out' until other joined in. In the end, it was coach Lawrence who prevented a beating by telling Steve that he should be at practice.
"Need a ride home?" Jim asked, "Arcadia might be new to you after all."
Allegra shook her head, "Thanks for the offer, but no need. I'll get home. Besides, I still have detention."
Jim
Once Jim was back home, Toby called him to ask him if the amulet had started talking again yet. After hanging up, Jim sat down and turned on the TV. He took out the amulet and tried to get it to talk again by talking to it.
What am I thinking? An amulet can't talk.
His senses were heightened when he heard sounds coming from below. Probably racoons, but still worth checking out. Holding a broom as if it was a sword, he made his way downstairs, into the unlit basement.
Just when he thought he had just imagined the noise, he looked back to see a six-eyed creature walking towards him with its four arms spread out like it was going to grab him. He hit his head against a pipe. In an attempt to get away from the thing, he moved backwards, hitting his head again.
"Master Jim, we have found you!" the creature said, "I am known as Blinky."
Jim tried to crawl away, only to bump into another, even bigger, creature who looked down and waved at him. "Hi."
Looking back in the direction of 'Blinky', he saw a third one had joined them. A female, judging by the posture and hair. In comparison to the other two, she looked almost human. That was, aside from the light purple skin, the grey-ish horns, the tusks, and the fact she was taller than the already tall Blinky.
"Aaarrrgh," the big brute said, "Three R's."
"The name's Yllaria," the female one said.
Knowing their names didn't make the situation less frightening. Jim yelped and closed his eyes, hoping all of it had just been his imagination.
After Blinky had explained to him he was destined to be the trollhunter, charged with the protection of a secret world unbeknownst to humans - not without more screaming and being held upside down by Aaarrrgghh - he fainted.
"Is that a yes?" Aaarrrgh questioned.
"I think it's inconclusive," Yllaria mused. She couldn't help but check Jim out a little more by trying to open his eyes and lifting his limbs. "I told you we'd scare him, he's the first human trollhunter after all."
"We've been nothing but kind to him!"
"Blinky, you have six eyes and four arms, even my wizard ex-boyfriend would have freaked out." She then turned to Aaarrrgghh, "Also, I don't think humans would appreciate being held like that for too long.
"You think he'll wake up soon?" Aaarrrgghh asked.
Yllaria shrugged, "Maybe. Maybe not."
"Then we should leave. We're losing moonlight!"