"Wizard," Gogoth snarled, spitting drool and foam. The cleaver swept the air again and the troll stalked towards me. "Now you die and Gogoth chew you bones."

I gathered myself to my feet, but it was too late. There was no way I could run, or throw myself over the railing in time.

Faith screamed, "Harry!" and a brilliant flash of pink light flooded the bridge and made the troll whip its ugly head towards the far side of the river. I ducked to my left and ran, towards Faith and away from the troll. I looked up, and saw Nick's car roaring towards the bridge at enough speed to tell me that my partner had seen that something was going on.

The troll followed me, and though I had gained a few paces on it, I had the sinking realization that the beast was lighter on its feet than I was. There was a whistling sound of the cleaver cutting air, and I felt something skim past my scalp. I bobbed to my right, ducking, and the second swipe missed by an even narrower margin. I stumbled, and fell, and the troll was on top of me in a heartbeat. I rolled in time to see it lift its bloodstained cleaver high above it, to feel its drool splatter onto my chest.

"Wizard!" the troll bellowed.

There was a yell and then the cop, the one who had followed us before, hurled herself onto the troll's back and locked her nightstick across his throat. She gave the stick a practiced twist, and the troll's eyes bulged. The huge cleaver clanged as it tumbled from Gogoth's grip and hit the pavement.

The cop leaned back, making the troll's spine arch into a bow – but this wasn't a man she was dealing with. The thing twisted his head, squirmed, and popped out of her grip, then opened his jaws in frenzied roar that literally blew the patrolman's cap off of her head and sent her stumbling back with a wide-eyed stare. The troll, maddened, slammed one fist into the pavement, cracking it, and drew the other back to drive towards her skull.

"Hey ugly," I shouted.

The troll turned in time to see me grunt and swing the massive cleaver at its side.

The rotten, grimy flesh just beneath its ribs split open with a howl of sound and a burst of motion. Gogoth leaned his head back and let out a high-pitched, wailing yowl. I backed off, knowing what came next.

The poor cop stared in white-faced horror as the troll's wound split and dozens, hundreds, thousands of tiny, wriggling figures poured out of the split in its flesh, squalling and squealing. The massive thews of the beast deflated like old basketballs, slowly sinking in upon themselves as the bridge became littered with a myriad of tiny trolls, their ugly little heads no bigger than a president on a coin. They poured out of Gogoth in a flood, spilling onto the bridge in a writhing, wriggling horde.

The troll's cheeks sunk, and its eyes vanished. Its mouth opened in a slack-jawed yawn, and, as the leathery, grimy sack of tiny trolls emptied, it sank to the ground until it lay there like a discarded, disgusting raincoat.

The cop stared, mouth wide, attempting to form words of a prayer or a curse. Nick's headlights whirled and spilled across the bridge, and with twice ten thousand screams of protest, the tiny trolls dispersed before the light in all directions.

A few seconds later, there were only myself, Faith, the cop, and Nick, approaching us across the bridge. Faith threw herself at me and gave me a quick hug around the waist. Her eyes were bright with excitement. "That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. I want to be a wizard when I grow up."

"That was… was…" the cop said, stunned. She was short, stocky, and the loss of her cap revealed tightly braided, pale hair.

I winked down at Faith, and nodded to the cop. "A troll. I know." I walked over to the cap and dusted it off. A few trolls, squealing protest, fell to the street and scampered away. The cop watched with stunned eyes. "Hey, thanks a lot for the help officer…" I squinted down at her badge. "Murphy." I smiled and offered her the hat.

She took it with numb fingers. "Oh, Jesus. I really have lost it." She blinked a few times and then scowled up at my face. "You. You're the perp on the Astor kidnaping."

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but I needn't have bothered.

"Are you kidding?" Faith Astor sneered. "This… buffoon? Kidnap me? He couldn't bum a cigarette off the Marlboro man." She turned towards me and gave me a wink. Then offered both her wrists out to Murphy. "I admit it, officer. I ran away. Take me to the pokey and throw away the key."

Murphy, to her credit, seemed to be handling things fairly well for someone who had just confronted the monster under the bed. She recovered her nightstick and went to Faith, examining her for injuries before directing a suspicious gaze at Nick and me.

"Hoo boy," Nick said, planting his stocky bulk squarely beside mine. "Here it comes. You get the top bunk, stilts, but I'm not going to pick up your soap in the shower."

The cop looked at me and Nick. Then at the girl. Then, more thoughtfully, at the leathery lump that had been Gogoth the troll. Her eyes flashed back to Nick and me and she said, "Aren't you two the ones who run Ragged Angel? The agency that looks for lost kids."

"I run it," Nick said, his voice resigned. "He works for me."

"Yeah, what he said," I threw in, just to let Nick know that he wasn't going to the big house alone.

Murphy nodded, and eyed the girl. "Are you all right, honey?"

Faith sniffed, and smiled up at Murphy. "A little hungry, and I could use something to clean up these scrapes. But other than that, I'm quite well."

"And these two didn't kidnap you?"

Faith snorted. "Please."

Murphy nodded and then jabbed her nightstick at Nick and me. "I got to call this in. You two vanish before my partner gets here." She glanced down at Faith, and winked. Faith grinned up at her in return.

Murphy took the girl back towards the far side of the bridge, and the other police units. Nick and I ambled back towards his car. Nick's broad, honest face was set in an expression of nervous glee. "I can't believe it," he said. "I can't believe that happened. Was that the troll, what's-his-name?"

"That was Gogoth," I said cheerfully. "Nothing bigger than a bread crumb is going to be bothered by trolls on this bridge for a long, long time."

"I can't believe it," Nick said again. "I thought we were so dead. I can't believe it."

I glanced back over the bridge. On the far side, the girl was standing up on her tiptoes, waving. Soft pink light flowed from the ring on her right thumb. I could see the smile on her face. The cop was watching me, too, her expression thoughtful. It turned into a smile.

Modern living might suck. And the world we've made can be a dark place. But at least I don't have to be there alone.

I put an arm around Nick's shoulders, and grinned at him. "It's like I keep telling you, man. You've got to have faith."