Intertwining Destinies

Chapter 9

Emerald found herself sitting between Abraham and another human agent on their way to Brooklyn Bridge. Johann Krauss, the tin-suited robotic man had located the troll market to be somewhere under the Brooklyn bridge.

She felt very excited. This would be the first time that she would see proof of the fae folk if they could locate the troll market. She vaguely wondered if she would see the topaz-eyed elf and his side-kick of a troll. She couldn't stop feeling that the troll had something to do with her still being alive. She was also given a gun which made her feel little anxious. She had learnt to shoot but she had never owned a gun before. Her father was against owning fire arms and she hoped that she wouldn't have to use it on anyone or anything. Being a researcher, she wanted to see the trolls in their natural surroundings and learn about them from observation. She had borrowed one of Hellboy's ruined coats to disguise herself. It completely covered her and she was sure it would make a good disguise.

The truck stopped after about two hours. They got out and looked around. The trucks were parked off the main road. Liz remained with Manning in one of the surveillance trucks. Krauss brought out wooden crates which revealed odd-looking helmets with small telescopic looking lenses. "These will allow us to see the faerie creatures. They generate a cloaking aura or glamour to hide their true selves from the humans", explained Krauss. Abraham picked one of these head gears to test them and exclaimed with delight and surprise.

They had walked some distance until they reached directly under the bridge to a dirty patch filled with rubbish and overflowing bins.

"The entrance should somewhere around here. Look around", said Krauss.

"I think I see something", said Abraham and pointed towards an old haggard looking woman with a trolley of cats.

Emerald found her vision swim for a second and then she was looking at a stumpy-sort of creature with thick yellowish rolling skin.

"I believe it is a fragglewump!" Emerald said excitedly.

"You can see it without any aid Dr. Bruttenholm?" asked Krauss.

"Yeah".

Abraham took out a mouldy looking book and ruffled its pages. "Fragglewumps feed on cats and are scared of canaries", he said reading out from the book.

"We gotta do something" said Hellboy.

He seemed agitated. It was hard to believe but this demonic man really had a soft spot for cats, thought Emerald.

Next second, Hellboy was approaching the lady. Krauss sputtered something about authority and executing plans and they ran to catch up with Hellboy. Before Hellboy could speak, Krauss asked, "Can you show us the entrance to the troll market".

The creature nodded and led the way to what looked like a meat-packaging factory. At the back of the building, they found themselves looking at a round stone gargoyle embedded into the wall. It had a number of strange symbols and runes all around it.

Emerald and Abraham went ahead to study it. "Open it old hag", said Hellboy. The fragglewump vehemently started protesting and Hellboy punched her to shut her up. The creature flew several feet away and landed among the trash cans.

"You didn't have to do that Hellboy", Emerald said with a frown. She didn't like the idea of hurting these new and strange creatures that she was starting to get to know. As far as she was concerned, no one had the right to treat them like dumb animals.

Meanwhile, Krauss had managed to unlock the gargoyle. They looked on in amazement as it revealed a very busy and noisy bazaar filled with the strangest looking creatures. They climbed in and looked around the place filled with rows of shops that wound its way in all directions. Emerald pulled her coat closely around. She didn't want to draw any attention to herself. Nobody seemed to give them a second glance and continued with their shopping and haggling.