Page 5

GUNNAR

T he day was pleasant. The smells and sounds were all still new to me and slightly overwhelming. But not in a bad way. It was more that I could not choose what to pay more attention to. The sound of birdsong and seeing them flying tree to tree while squirrels chittered and other small animals I could not name played and foraged throughout the forest caught my attention and made it hard for me to focus on anything else.

“Gunnar, help me gather all the branches into a pile,” Ben Jackson said.

“Yes, Ben Jackson,” I said, and I watched as he showed me exactly what to do. I picked up as many branches as I could carry and set them down where he’d indicated. He looked at the pile then looked at me. “Did I do it wrong?”

“No, you did it all,” he said and laughed. “Come on, let’s see what else we can find for you to do.” He led me closer to where the human with the chainsaw cut the fallen tree into shorter pieces. “We need to put these all in a pile. Get the other end and you and I can—” He stopped midsentence as I hefted the log on my shoulder.

“Where did you want it?” I asked. He pointed to a flat area, and I put the log down there. “Do they all go there?”

He shook his head before answering. “Yes. We need to put them all there.”

I walked back over, and he and another worker picked up one log while I hefted another over my shoulder and set it down next to the first one. “Did I hear you say you’re a troll?” asked Ben Jackson.

“Yes.” I walked back to pick up another log and could feel his eyes on me the whole time. Humans were curious—when they weren’t terrified.

“So, what’s that like?” he asked and hurried to catch up to me.

“What do you mean?”

“What’s a troll?”

“ I am a troll.”

“I know but I mean what are you? I watched one movie, and it said trolls help witches, then I saw another and they ate kids. Then there was another that they were giants and were asleep for years, but no one knew because they looked like rocks and mountains. So which kind of troll are you?”

“Icelandic trolls are all made of rock. It is said that a witch brought us to life, but I have never seen a witch, so I do not know if this is true. It’s also said that we turn back to stone if we’re out in the sun, but that’s not true either. We just are . I don’t know how else to better explain it.”

“I think you explained it pretty well. I’ve always been very curious. If I ask too many questions just tell me to shut up,” he rambled.

“I don’t mind questions. I too tend to be curious which is what made me leave Iceland through the monster realm to get here.”

“What was the monster realm like? Was it scary? Were there lots of monsters?” he rambled even faster and walked sideways to face me as I stomped over to the last log.

“I’ve only seen a small part of it. The part I lived in was very desolate and nothing but wasteland. Which is why I preferred to live at the edge of the human world there so I could go back to Iceland regularly. Even though Iceland is barren and mostly made of rock, it’s beautiful to me, and will always be my home.”

“You’re from Iceland? Wow, we gotta talk some more. I haven’t traveled outside the county line.”

“There is much to see outside this world.” He stopped walking and was frozen in thought long enough for me to worry he’d been stunned by some unseen evil.

“I can’t believe you’re from Iceland!” he finally yelled and slapped me on the base of my back. “Sorry, you’re really tall.”

“Humans are strange,” I mumbled making him laugh again.

“I know a lot of humans who think that about monsters, but I love learning more about them. You’re all so different,” he said and stared at my horns. “Are those functional?”

“What would I use them for?” I asked and tried to imagine a situation where my horns would come in handy. This human was strange, but he was friendly and very entertaining. I gripped one of them and tugged on it. “They’re not long enough to gore anyone.”

His eyes widened before he laughed. “I guess. But they’re cool as fuck.”

“Thanks, I think,” I said, making him laugh again.

“Can I touch them?” he asked but cringed away when I gave him a stern look.

“No one touches my horns,” I growled. Our horns were special, and something that made each of us stand out. They also were used in ways he did not need to know about. Ben Jackson was pleasant to speak with, but he wasn’t the human I would have as my mate.

“Sorry.” He cringed again and held his hands up. “I didn’t know. I’ll never touch them, I promise. No matter how much I want to,” he mumbled that last part making me laugh.

“You’re funny, Ben Jackson. I do enjoy talking to you.”

“Good thing, I’d rather keep my arms attached. Come on, we’re moving to the next tree,” he said changing the subject. I looked ahead and got a glimpse of Flynn Davies. He was a human I would consider to be my mate, but I wasn’t sure exactly why that was, or what made me think of it. But I decided it might be okay to spend more time with him. And Ben Jackson, because he really was funny. “Hey, where are you staying?”

“I was told there would be a place provided for me.”

“You’re probably staying at the camp then. We have a semi-permanent base camp nearby, so we don’t have to drive all the way from town. Most of us stay there during the week and go to town on the weekends.”

“I do not have a place to stay in town other than the facility.”

“I’m sure they’d let you stay here. Just talk to Flynn or Frank. They’re both great to work for.”

“Thank you, Ben Jackson.”

“You can call me Ben,” he said.

“I will consider you a friend,” I said mostly because the only other friend I had was Einar, but he was in the monster realm, and I was beginning to realize I needed friends here.