"Son, it's late."

Agate doesn't even bother to look up from his book. "I know."

Draal gave a heavy sigh as he entered the library, taking care not to bump into one of the numerous overhead lamps that cast a soft glow to the room, and sat himself on one of the stools next to his son. Agate again didn't look up, turned the page of his book. Draal then noticed the large stack of books on the table in front of his son, and out of curiosity he picked one up.

"Monsters of the Highlands?" Draal asked, glancing at the title of the book he held in his hands and looked at the one his son held. "Agate, why are you reading books of monsters?"

"Trying to look up what those things were that followed Jim home." The young troll replied as he turned another page. "So far I've found nothing that describes what Laura and Claire saw; glowing red eyes, body made of black smoke, becomes a sort of solid when it attacks. It's like...it never existed until that night."

"So it's something new?" Draal asked and Agate nodded before shutting his book. "Blinky must know, as does Claire. And I hate to say this, but Merlin needs to know about this too."

"He hasn't even been any help since Jim awoke him, everything he has been doing was for his own gain!" Agate argued. "Not once since our last hunter died has he done anything to help Laura!"

"Son-"

"He's done nothing!" Agate roared and slammed the book down onto the table, causing several of the other books to shift and fall to the ground. "He's useless! Why do we even need him?!"

Draal let out a tired sigh and shook his head. "I know you're upset son, I am as well that Merlin hasn't done anything to help find Jim's killer as far as we know. For all we know he probably created the beasts by accident and they got loose in Trollmarket."

"Or created them on purpose." Agate mutters to himself as he moves to pick up the books from the floor. "It's just not fair, Laura has this tiring responsibility and she can't even finish her homework most nights because of it. And on top of that she's worried that theses things will come back to kill her and her family. I promised her I'd help her find out what they are so she could figure out how to protect her family and the rest of the town."

"At least we know Daylight can pierce it with no problem." Draal pointed out before giving a yawn. "I'm headed back to bed, clean up when you're done."

Agate nods in acknowledgement as his father exits the library and proceeded to look through another book. So far nothing yet, and he was already starting to give up hope. He didn't want to disappoint his friend in coming up empty with results on these creatures, and he hated seeing Laura look so sad. It seemed like nothing could cheer her up, not even watching her favorite comedy crime show made her smile anymore, and that always made her smile.

If only I could find a way to make her smile again, that'd make everyone happy at least. The young troll thought as he shut the book he had been reading and walked back to the shelves to put it away. It's just not fair...and I can't even keep my promise to her."

Why did he even promise this? As he was placing the books back where they belonged, Agate noticed a book he didn't recall seeing before. Curious, he pulled it out and flipped it open to the middle. As he scanned the dusty yellow pages, his eyes widened in horror.

"By Deya's grace..." He murmured in horror. "I have to find Laura!"

⚔️⚔️⚔️

Laura could hear something knocking outside her window, but she knew who it was. She shoved her blankets back to crawl out of bed and walked to the window to find Agate outside and clinging to the overhanging roof with one hand. The indigo troll grinned and held up a book in his free hand as she carefully opened the window.

"Find anything?" The Trollhunter asked softly as her friend slipped into her room.

"No, but I'm still looking." Agate admitted as Laura switched on her desk lamp to give them some light. "It's like this thing doesn't even exist- like at all."

"So some creature that's not even in the books killed my dad?"

"Seems like it, or it's probably something new or so old it wasn't even recorded into books- written by trolls."

Laura's eyes widened when she saw the book Agate held. The whole thing looked like it was made out of stone and the writing on the cover was so faded she could barely read it.

"Is that...what I think it is?" She asks and Agate nods.

"Monsters from the Darklands, do you know what this means Laura?"

"My father...he was killed by a Darkland monster...so that means..."

Agate nods, his expression grave. "Someone found a way to open a portal into the Darklands."