(no subject)

[darkluna]

Jordan never knew her mom, but she knows she had one, 'cause everyone does, or did one time. She isn't a dummy, she can do math. She knows she was born two years after all the real grownups got sick and died, and that means her mom wasn't a real grownup. She was probably only like thirteen. Jordan guesses she just kind of skipped out instead of taking care of her baby. People still do it now. It's nothing new.

Besides, having parents would just hold her back. Jordan's pretty important. The other kids look up to her. She has stuff to do almost every day, magic stuff sometimes.

The grownups would never believe it, but Jordan and her friends are the reason this place is still safe.

It's the center of the universe! She didn't make that up, either, there's a sign that says so. It says other stuff, too, with arrows pointing every which way. TIMBUKTU 10021 KM, and RIO DE JANEIRO 1225 KM, and TROLL 2 BLKS.

When they found the signpost, the arrow that said TROLL worried Jordan the most. The sign was on the ground, so who knew where the troll really was?

The other arrows pointed to places, mostly. TIMBUKTU was a place, and so was LOUVRE. They tracked down most of the words secretly, in the old book buildings. You couldn't walk to where most of the arrows pointed. XANADU was a mystery. INTERURBAN was a train.

But TROLL was a problem.

When they finally figured it out, it was funny, especially after seeming so scary!

Jordan and Lucia were always on the lookout for hidden places--places to hide or meet or keep things safe.

There's a bridge on the ground. Most of it's on the ground, at least. Big chunks fell and landed in pieces, but one fell whole, slanted. Jordan finally got up the nerve to go under it one day, and there he was! The troll! A big-headed guy made of rock. One of his eyes was broken.

It made perfect sense, Jordan would explain to the other kids later. Don't trolls always live under bridges?

But when she found him she felt a little more impressed than she later let on. She bowed to him and said, "Hello, Mr. Troll. I'm happy to have found you. Even if you're made of rock, I know you guard this place. I'll bring the others and we'll fix your eye. Then, if you feel like it, you can help us."

It didn't bother her that he was a real piece of something imaginary. Anything was, if you looked at it the right way. Jordan knew a magic place when she saw one.


It's almost too fun to be in Jordan's point of view.