Page 66 of After Darkness Falls

Once she reached the barrier, she frowned. There was no device, no camera, and the heavy black metal doors weren't moving. Maybe she should turn around. Go home now, while she still could.

But then Levi would—rightly—think that she'd chickened out like a coward. That wasn't an option.

She was chewing on her bottom lip when she caught movement in her peripheral vision; she lifted her gaze to see a familiar raven soaring in the sky, flying toward the hill. But instead of heading for her shoulder, the bird landed on a small building she hadn't even noticed.

To her right, a few hundred paces away, stood a small wooden cabin, its lights on so she could see someone moving inside.

Chloe cleared her throat as she reached it.

"Hello?"

Her voice sounded hoarse.

"Excuse me, I'm supposed to go up the hill."

Somehow.

She sighed when no one answered. Chloe glanced down at her phone in her hand. Levi hadn't called from a hidden number; she could just ring him and ask him to pick her up.

Like she was a helpless damsel in distress.

She lifted her fist and knocked at the door just as it swung open in front of the tallest person she'd ever seen.

He had a large head, flat at the top, and his face was contorted into a sullen expression. His eyes were moss-green, bright, and larger than her palm. The man was twice her size at least.

"I don't know you."

His voice was gruff.

"We haven't met before," she said reasonably, glad to hear that her voice was almost even. "My name is Chloe. Chloe Miller. I'm supposed to go on the hill—to see Levi."

The man narrowed his eyes. "I don't like lies."

Well, okay then.

"I'm not lying. We can call Levi and—"

"Why did you go and marry a Miller? Boring name. Not a bit of nobility in it."

Well, he was right about that.

"I didn't marry a Miller. That's my father's name."

His face wrinkled in an exaggerated frown, like the entire conversation confused him.

Then he turned back inside the small house.

"Chloe Miller, you say…Chloe Miller."

He returned with a long roll of paper and was now wearing a pair of gigantic glasses, thicker than the bottom of a wine bottle.

"Ah!" he exclaimed victoriously. "Chloe Miller. Currently blonde, brown eyes, five foot six." He looked up from his paper to take her in and nodded to himself. "Permitted on the hill since January. It appears all is in order, then. You may proceed."

She grinned at him. "Thank you. But you know my name, and it appears we're on unequal footing."

The man laughed good-humoredly. "Unequal footing is all you'll find on Night Hill. But you may have my name; I don't see why not. I'm Billevern. Bill. The last troll on Earth."

He said it quite proudly.

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