Chapter 2

Too late, Billie recalled said former girlfriend’s penchant for twisting the truth until it resembled a large, overgrown, and possibly magically enhanced patch of bindweed. The sizeable scowl directed at her now softened not one iota.

“In your dreams, Twinkletoes. You’ve trespassed on my bridge, and now you’re going to pay.”

Seeing that conciliation had failed, Billie felt it behoved her to give assertiveness a try. “Your bridge? Since when?” After all, this hadn’t usedto be a trollbridge. The last time Billie had passed this way had been only a day or so ago, and trolls, ogres, sasquatches, and other such dwellers of the sylvan depths had been conspicuous by their absence. Billie would almost certainly have noticed, had one been there, demanding money—or other tribute—with menaces. And if ex-girlfriends could lie, why not alarmingly large strangers with arrestingly ample bosoms?