Claire and I traveled to to the council meeting to see what was going to come of the Bridge by using her staff. We heard Usurna speaking, "The Trollhunter has gone too far." We sneaked over to get a better look and hid behind a wall of a hallway that led into a chamber room of the Heartstone where the meeting was being held. The queen continued, "The denizens of Troll market will not be safe until Killahead Bridge is destroyed once and for all."

        "You know as well as I, Usurna, the pieces cannot be destroyed." Vendel said.

        "No, but they can be thrown into a hole so deep that no living thing can hope to find them." The queen said.

        "And I suppose you know of a such a place. I cannot agree to this! You are signing the boy's death warrant! Also, what about his sister? What do you plan on telling her when all this done?" Vendel proclaimed.

        "He signed it himself the moment he crossed into the Darklands. The edict has already been made. As for his sister, the Wielder will have to come to terms with this. Her training will have to increase. She will be the last line of defense. Killahead Bridge will never be found again." Usurna stated. Claire and I gasped, then used her staff to get out of there. We traveled out of Troll market and when we were under the bridge under the night sky, Claire questioned,

        "Monica, what are we going to do?"

        "I don't know, Claire." I said. If we didn't get the Bridge, then we couldn't save my brother.

        She rubbed her eyes and I could tell that she was as exhausted as I was. I sighed and stated, "Well, we aren't going to be of much use to Jim if we can't even keep our eyes open. We'll figure this out tomorrow. Go. Spend time with your family. We'll figure this out. I promise." Claire nodded and we both went our separate ways. Tomorrow was going to be a long day due to having a teacher's meeting. Once I got home, I went to the basement and told Draal that I was turning in. He didn't get the phrase turning in at first, but once I explained, he told me goodnight.

        When I went into my room, I flipped through an old scrapbook and saw a picture of me holding Jim when he first came back from the hospital. I miss you, little bro. Soon, I fell asleep.

        "I've got you now!" My mother exclaimed. My five year old self shrieked and giggled as my mother grabbed me and carried me over to the table. I squirmed in my seat getting impatient for having to wait. My father laughed as he set down the food and said, "Now, Monica, we have some exciting news for you and we'll only tell you if you stop squirming." I immediately stopped squirming and I paid attention to my parents. My mother announced, "You're going to be..." She looked at my father for him to finish the sentence and he did, "An older sister!"...

        I felt someone shaking me awake and I woke up to see that it was Claire. What time was it? I rubbed my eyes and asked, "Claire, what are you doing?" I looked at the time and saw that it was 5 am. I have the teacher's meeting in 2 hours.

        "Sorry, Monica, but I couldn't wait till school to tell you. Toby is already in Troll market, but I wanted to tell you before I told the others." Claire said.

        "Tell me what?" I wondered.

        "I had Not Enrique stow away in one of the boxes of Killahead Bridge. That way, I have an emotional anchor to where the Tribunal sends the Bridge that way-" I interrupted Claire by exclaiming, "That way we can steal the Bridge! Claire, that's brilliant!" Claire looked down for a moment and I placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Is there another reason you're here?"

        "Yeah. I've noticed... well, we all noticed how you've been acting lately. You've haven't been yourself. If there is anything that you want to talk about, well, I'm here. We're all here." Claire said. I sat up against the wall and folded my arms around my knees. I guess I haven't been myself. So much has happened, I wasn't sure where to begin. I looked at Claire who waited for my answer. Then, I took a deep breath and said,

        "I miss him, Claire. I miss my brother. I'm worried about him."

        "We're all worried-" I interrupted Claire and said, "I know you all are, but this isn't just a friend that we're talking about. This is my little brother. It's my job as an older sister to protect him and I failed him... twice! It makes me sick thinking about what Gunmar could be doing to him right now. I am so worried that I've barely been eating and I've haven't gotten much rest. I've been trying so hard to distract myself. It's why I've been overworking myself at my job, training more with Draal, and with whatever spare time that I've got left, I help Blinky do some research in his library."

        "Hey. I understand your worry. I really do. When Enrique was in the Darklands, it was the hardest time in my life and it was even harder having to see a fake version of him with Not Enrique. But, I had to believe that we would rescue my brother and Jim did. Now, we have to believe the same for Jim. It's not a matter of if we save Jim, we will save Jim." Claire proclaimed.

        I hugged her and said, "I'm sorry for being so distracted and thank you. My brother is very lucky to have you."

        "And he's lucky to have you too. You're a great older sister, Monica, and you've been an awesome English teacher too." Claire said and hugged me. I hugged her and gave a slight chuckle, "You know, the two of us need a girl's night out sometime. What do you say to having a karaoke night? I usually do them when I have the whole house to myself because they can get pretty wild."

        "That would awesome!" Claire stated.

        Soon, she left for Troll market and I got ready for the teacher's meeting that was now in an hour. When the time came to leave, I drove over to the school. Yeah. I had to come up with a very elaborate lie that my brother was sick with this rare disease to excuse his late absences over the past two weeks. Surprisingly, they bought the lie and they even had a bake sale that ended up being a huge success. They gave me the money to help with the hospital bills to which I used to repair the house, which was difficult to do without Mom noticing. Everyday, the teachers would ask me how my brother was doing and I would always tell them that he was still fighting, which, in a way, he is.

        Pretty soon, school started. Senor Uhl gave an announcement, "Attention students and faculty. The "Save Jim" Bake sale was a massive success. Together, we will find a cure for this rare and sudden disease. That is all. Thank you." I sat in my chair knowing that my first class doesn't start till around second period. When the first bell rung and the students came filing in, I surprisingly got a lot of letters from Jim's classmates that were get well cards for Jim and a couple hugs saying that they hope that my mother and I were doing well.

        Claire and Toby came in last and I wondered about Claire's plan. What if it didn't work and the Bridge was lost forever? No, I couldn't think like that. It's like Claire said, I can't focus on the what ifs. We will get the Bridge and we will get my brother back. I took a deep breath. I have to push this out of my mind for now. I began my lesson by saying, "Class, today we're going to learning-" I was interrupted by a hand being raised in the air and it was Darcy who raised it.

        "Yes, Miss Scott?" I questioned.

        "I was just wondering how Jim was doing. The teacher's haven't given us much information on his recovery process." Darcy said.

        A couple students agreed with her. I knew it was only going to be a matter of time. Claire and Toby looked a bit nervous and I answered, "Jim is responding well for the moment with some of the treatments that he's been given. With any luck, he'll be back in school very soon. While the disease that Jim has is rare, my little brother is a fighter. He is grateful for the support that you've all given him. My whole family is. I appreciate your concern, Miss Scott. I really do." I continued on with the lecture and I decided to not give them homework for the day to give them a break. Soon, the bell rang and Claire and Toby came up to me after all students had left.

        "Good job, Monica. I know that this must be hard. As soon as Not Enrique texts Claire, we'll contact you." Toby said.

        "We'll see you soon." Claire said.

        The two went off to their next class. I had the next period to myself, but that was interrupted when Claire called and said that Not Enrique had contacted her. I told her that I would meet up with her and Toby outside school.   I informed the other teachers that there was an emergency with Jim at the hospital and they let me leave. Once I met up with the Claire and Toby, Claire told me that she and Toby were heading for the woods. Luckily, I had taken my bike with me and the three of us headed into the woods.

        Over the past couple weeks, we've been using the Fletcher, which was a small portal that led into the Darklands. Chompsky had used it to locate Claire's brother and had used it to get back. Now, we were using it to try and locate Jim. We've been putting a message of: KIC, which was supposed to be a code for Keep it Crispy. To let my brother know that we haven't given up on him.

        "Still no sign of Jim?" Claire questioned.

        "Nothing but barren Darklands. And I'm running out of Nugget Nummies." Toby said.

        "You think this is secluded enough?" Claire questioned.

        "For a magic Bridge? This far out we could hide a few dead bodies." I chuckled nervously. I bumped into someone and the two of us shrieked and I saw that it was Toby.

        "Alright. Let's make this quick. Making portals is exhausting and I don't know how many I've got in me." Claire stated. She made a portal and Toby and I complimented her by saying that she was turning pro with that thing to which Claire responded, "Well, it's powered by emotions. Getting the guy I like out of the Darklands? Plenty of emotion." Toby and I were about to go through, but we were stopped by Claire who asked, "What are you doing?"

        "What does it look like?" I asked and Toby finished for me, "We're helping you."

        "I have no idea where we are. I need one of you to stay back to be my emotional anchor." Claire said.

        Toby and I looked at each other and I suggested, "Rock, paper, scissors? Two out of three?" Toby agreed and I ended up winning. When we had finished, Toby turned to Claire and asked, "Okay, so Monica won, what I am supposed to do here?"

        To this, Claire answered, "Get ready to catch. Come on, Monica." The two of us ran through the portal. We bumped into a box and we looked around to see that we were in a steel industrial shipping crate. Where are we? We heard something opening and Claire and I turned our flashlights to a box that was opening and out popped Not Enrique who exclaimed, "Took you long enough!"

        "What are you doing in there?" I questioned.

        "I--uh. Suzy's a little scared of the dark. And, with all the freaky noises, this place is giving her the heebie-jeebies." Not Enrique said.

        Claire and I chuckled and Claire said, "Alright come on. Where are we?" We began pushing the boxes and Not Enrique helped us and explained, "All I could make out was someone saying"starboard" or "captain". We could be on a spaceship for all I know." Starboard... captain... oh please don't let this be on the ocean. We heard some noise outside and someone was speaking, "Yeah, yeah, the paperwork says to dump it here."

        "Dump it?" Claire questioned. Suddenly, the crate shifted and we fell to the floor and I shouted, "We're on a cargo ship!"

        "They're dumping us into the ocean!" Claire exclaimed. Oh no. This was seriously not good.

        "The ocean, but--I--uh... But Suzy can't swim!" Not Enrique yelled. I wasn't going to tell them this, but I couldn't swim either. Whenever Mom and Dad took me to swim lessons with the other kids, I would always run off and come back when they were getting over and rinse my hair in the sink so that Mom and Dad wouldn't get suspicious. I just don't like the water and whenever Mom and Dad would take Jim and I to the ocean, I would fake being sick with a stomach ache and get out of it.

        The crate kept jerking around and we kept tumbling around inside the crate. The crate began falling and we were lifted into the air and the three of us screamed as we plummeted into the ocean. We slammed into the floor once the crate hit the water and the portal closed. Great. This is great.

        "You never said nothing about no water! I knew this idea was lousy!" Not Enrique exclaimed. I could feel myself panicking, but kept thinking to myself that this was for Jim. If we didn't get these boxes out of here, Jim would be lost forever.

        "Just stick to the plan and let's get out of here before it's too late." Claire said. Claire and Not Enrique lifted a box and threw it into a newly created portal and I threw another box after them. The crate began to creek and I said, "The metal can't hold for long. The water's going to pour in at any minute! Hurry!"

        We lifted the boxes and threw them into the portal at a quick pace. After a while, I noticed that Claire was growing tired and I was growing worried about her. After the next one we threw in, Claire huffing. The metal walls of the crate creaked and more water started pouring in. The portal closed and Not Enrique shouted, "Oh no! The portal!"

        "I can't. It won't work. I got nothing left." Claire said. What should we do? What should we do?

        "Right. I knew that you'd get us killed!" Not Enrique exclaimed. Of course! Get Claire angry!

        "What?" Claire questioned.

        "You wanna know the truth. Fine. About to die anyway. I decided to stick around 'cause you're a pushover. I can do whatever I want and you're too weak to stop me!" Not Enrique stated.

        "Excuse me? How dare you!" Claire proclaimed outraged. Not Enrique continued, "I use your toothbrush to clean me ears. I steal cash from your purse. And you know you're lucky Papa Skull's jacket? I like to call it my snot rag! Hilarious!"

        "Ugh! Why you.... you baby genius!" Claire exclaimed realizing what he was trying to do.

        "Yeah. I know. Now, come on! We've got just a few more!" Not Enrique shouted.

        "Wait a minute. You didn't really do all that stuff , right?" Claire asked as we continued to lift the boxes and through them into the portal. To this, Not Enrique said, "Uh, don't use your toothbrush." The metal started to collapse more and more water flowed through. The portal had disappeared again. Oh no. Not good. I shrieked and climbed up on a tall box along Claire and Not Enrique who were surprised by outburst. Claire asked, "Monica, what's wrong?"

        "Is it bad time to say that I also don't know how to swim?" I questioned.

        "What?" Claire yelled.

        "I didn't want to worry you guys before." I said.

        "Okay. That's it! We're never going to get them all! Time to bail out of this death trap!" Not Enrique exclaimed.

        "No!" Claire and I yelled and I continued, "I am scared of water just like you, but I will not leave. If we lose this Bridge, we lose Jim. We need this last crate." Not Enrique calmed down after that.

        "Come on, just power up that staff and make a portal under the crate, or we are doomed! Do it! Do it! Do it now!" Not Enrique proclaimed. Like he needed to tell us twice. Claire was still struggling and I said, "Come on, Claire. Last piece."

        "Oh, I can't! I'm exhausted!" Claire declared. We kept trying to encourage her, but she kept insisting that it wasn't charging. She kept trying, but she still couldn't get it to work. Then, Not Enrique said, "Come on, Big Eyes! Dig deep. Maybe anger isn't your thing. Maybe you've gotta find somethin' stronger inside."

        "He's right, Claire. You have to connect with the staff on a deeper level other than anger." I said.

        "I can do this!" Claire stated. We told that she could and she continued, "I can do this. I can do this."

        "So, do it already!" I exclaimed. We dove back down into the water and watched as Claire was attempting to create the portal with another emotion. My vision started to blur and I looked up to see that the crate was filled with water. I wasn't going to see Jim again, was I? I looked at Claire who was growing blurrier by the moment and she looked at me with panic in her eyes and she looked beside me with the same expression. Was something wrong with Not Enrique? Then, I lost consciousness...

        I could see a light and I heard a familiar laugh. Jim? The laughter continued and I kept looking around for the source, then I heard someone calling my name...

        "Monica, please wake up! I already lost Jim and Aaarrrgghh. I'm not going to lose you too!" I heard Toby yell. I started coughing up water and Toby declared, "Oh. It worked! Not Enrique and you are going to be alright. Thank you, Ms. Janeth!"

        "We told you. We can't swim." Not Enrique said as Claire hugged the two of us.

        We all chuckled and Toby proclaimed, "Claire! You got all the pieces! We did it! We stole an entire freaking Bridge!"

        "Yeah. Don't let Jim ever say we never did anything for him." Claire stated.

        "Thank you. You did good back there, Claire." I said.

        "Thank you also, kid. What emotion did you use to get us out of that tin can?" Not Enrique wondered.

        "Fear. I was afraid... I lost the both of you. Even though I have the real Enrique back, you're still my brother, Not Enrique, and Monica, you're more than a teacher to me. You're my friend." Claire stated. I smiled, then we heard some sort of mumble about being king of the ocean and turned to find Steve. Claire wondered, "What are we going to do about him?"

        Toby explained what happened about Steve finding us and not believing the lie about Jim. Toby posed as Jim with the mask and Steve had Toby who was posed as Jim say that Steve was king of the ocean. I grabbed Steve's phone and managed to get into it. We filmed Toby who wore the Spring Fling crown and said, "Yeah! Who's the king now? Boom! Ha-ha!" Then, we went into town and left him on a park bench for the police to find him.

        When Toby left, I grabbed Claire and hugged her saying, "Thank you again, Claire."

        "You would do the same for me, Monica." Claire said.

        "Come on! Let's not get sentimental now! Let's go!" Not Enrique exclaimed.

        We both laughed and we went our separate ways. When I got home, Draal was super confused as too why I was soaked and wondered what happened. To this, I chuckled and responded, "I'll tell you tomorrow." I kissed his cheek and told him goodnight. I went upstairs and collapsed onto my bed. Not caring that I was soaked I was. I quickly fell asleep and I had the best sleep that I gotten in weeks.

A/N: Hi, guys! I just wanted to let you know that for these next few chapters, I'm going to have Monica bond more with Claire, Toby, and Blinky since these guys haven't had much one-on-one interaction.