A/N: I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! I've been on a writer's block on what to do for this chapter because I wanted it to keep your guys' interest in the chapter without making the chapter too cheesy or cliche and also college has been keeping me busy as well. Anyways, I hope you all are having a great day and have a good rest of the week! Also, Happy Thanksgiving!

        Throughout the night, I couldn't stop thinking about what Angor Rot had said. What was Jim hiding from me? Why did Angor Rot expect me to be terrified of him? I needed to get to sleep. Tomorrow was probably going to be a busy day. We needed to figure out how to get the Kill stone back from Angor Rot and I was going to ask Jim what he meant...

        "HAPPY 22ND BIRTHDAY, MO!" Jim shouted at the top of his lungs. I jerked awake which caused me to collide heads with Jim. He and I both groaned and rubbed our heads. After my vision cleared, I shrieked in surprise when I saw that Draal, Toby, Blinky, and Claire were also there holding a birthday cake and they yelled, "Surprise!" Today was my birthday? I guess I've been so busy that I forgot. I stuttered a bit trying to find the right words to this wonderful surprise, "I-I um... Th-thanks, everyone." I only honestly was surprised that they even remembered because even I didn't remember and I also wondered how they were able to pull all of this together without me noticing noticing. Now I'm rambling to myself too much.

        "We're hosting a party for you later in Troll market after you have lunch with your mother and Jim." Claire said.

        "Claire, that was supposed to be a surprise!" Toby exclaimed. I laughed and Jim announced, "Alright, everyone. Let's gather around and take a group picture before you start telling her what you guys got for her birthday too." We gathered around to take a photo and afterwards, I commented, "I can't believe you guys did all of this. When did you guys have the time to do this?"

        "We've been working on it the past few days. Whenever you had to work at the school, we spoke on what to do. We did have a scare earlier this morning when Jim said that the cake kept tilting because he thought he put too much filling for the layers of the cake, but it all worked out." Claire explained. After a while, I heard mom's car pull up in the drive way and Claire, Toby, Draal, and Blinky left. Before Mom entered the house, I pulled Jim aside.

        "Jim, yesterday while Angor Rot and I were fighting. He was ordered to do this when Strickler felt threatened, but he was going to do it to me anyway. He said that you knew what that meant. Jim, what aren't you telling me? " I questioned. Jim looked at me with a guilty expression on his face and admitted,

        "When Strickler dropped Mom off not too long ago, he told me that he had made an enchantment that whatever harm that's done to him would be done to Mom. He also told me that he had ordered Angor Rot to assassinate you if he ever felt threatened. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner. I didn't want you to be afraid and for you to have to look over your shoulder every day." My jaw dropped at what I was hearing. Angor Rot was going to kill me. This is why Jim wasn't going after Strickler. He's been trying to protect Mom and I the whole time.

        I quickly embraced Jim, which caused him to jump, and I whispered, "It's okay, Jim. If something like this ever happens again, please promise that you'll tell me. Your my little brother, Jim. You don't have to face these things alone."

        "I promise." Jim said. We heard the door open and Mom, Jim, and I went to lunch. Lunch was a blast. We went to our favorite restaurant and we goofed off. It felt so good just to sit together as a family. After lunch, Mom had to head back to work and Jim and I went to Troll market for the 'surprise' birthday party. Jim figured that they were still going to try and surprise me, so he had me come in blindfolded. When Jim finally to Troll market, he said,

        "That's weird. There's barely anyone here. I could've sworn Toby said that they were having the party in the main square." Nice try, Jim, but you're not going to fool me.

        "Very funny, Jim. Wouldn't Toby have called to tell you that they had cancelled the party?" I asked. Suddenly, extremely loud music started playing and everyone yelled, "SURPRISE!" This nearly gave me a heart attack. Well played Toby Domzalski. Well played. After several people wished me happy birthday, we went on to the dance party that Toby and Claire had planned.

        One of the first songs they had up was the chicken dance. That is one of my favorite songs for the start of a dance and I was laughing because it was funny seeing Claire and Toby attempting to teach everyone.

        After a while, a couple of trolls got up and started playing some traditional troll music and that was cool to here and I noticed people grabbing a partner and heading to the dance floor. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Draal. 

        "May I have the honor of dancing with you?" Draal questioned. I smiled and answered, "You may." Draal took my hand and led me to the dance floor. Over the past few weeks, I can confidently say that Draal and I have become fairly good friends. He's been teaching me a lot about how to wield the Thriskule and I've grown to trust him. Once the dance ended, I pecked Draal on the cheek and I said,

        "Thank-you for everything you have done for my family and I." I whispered and Draal gave me a smile.

        After a while, the party was over and Jim and I went home. Jim entered the house and I was about follow him inside, but something caught my eye. There was a package on the porch. I picked it up and I noticed that it was addressed to me from... My father? I froze there for a couple seconds not quite sure what to do.

        "Monica?" Jim called.

        "Coming!" I called back. I quickly went inside the house, ran up to my room, and shoved the package under my bed.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter seemed a little cheesy. Thank-you so much for 2k reads! The package will be introduced again fairly soon. Again, sorry for the lack of updates!