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"Leave it open We’ll take soain"

The houses on the street were e, and a driveway stretching across a long property Thanks to the landscaping, I couldn’t see into the Conroy’s yard very well Thick hedges and trees blocked the line of sight We jogged to the neighbor’s house, and encountered a similar problem

"Maybe if you open the portal as far into the property as possible, we’ll be able to see more from there," Elyssa said

Unlike the other yards, I couldn’t even see the Conroys’ house fro to risk even a step onto the driveway, I took a picture through the gate, using the zoom on the carass bush blocked the view ahead I poked h the portal and looked to the left where the driveway curved beneath a curtain of branches fro another picture so we could get closer to the branches, hoping they weren’t booby-trapped to electrocute intruders

Elyssa procured a long wooden rod and tied a sital camera to the end while I opened the portal closer to thetree She set the tih thebranches She pulled it back, and we looked at the picture

Sorinned back at us, razor sharp teeth glea in the flash of the cae head full of bristling hair, and a h to s Cutsauce whole

"Holy shi--" I closed the portal "What the hell is that thing?"

"Looks like a troll," Shelton said with a lohistle "Haven’t seen one of those in a long time"

"So they don’t just exist on the internet," I said

"Old man Conroy doesn’t play around," he said "Trolls don’t just work for anyone"

I groaned "We need to find another way in"

"Through those trees where the driveway curves?" Elyssa said

I shrugged "Might as well try"

I opened the portal well away from thetree and poked the ca jerked hard on the pole I tugged on it The next yank nearly dragged , and fell over backward as the pole caone, only the well-chewed end of the pole left

"I don’t think this idea is working," Elyssa said

I pounded the floor Flung the pole against the back wall "That old bastard won’t stop h scenarios before I decided I needed to see the outside of the house again Elyssa and I stepped through the portal onto the sidewalk in front of the house We walked up and down the road, peering through fences, but the landscaping in the Conroy yard blocked vision froh the yards boasted custo from a desert theme with an adobe-styled Spanish house, to yards filled with fruit trees or hedges, none had a really tall tree in position to overlook the Conroy residence

"Can I knock out a troll with a Lancer?" I asked Elyssa

"Maybe with a hundred darts," she said "They’re built like tanks"

"Are they all so short?"

She shook her head "I think that one is young Then again, I haven’t seen many trolls, either The last one I saas in the Cho’kai"

"How did you deal with it?"

Elyssa chuckled "I ran"