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"Donal had a brother, an identical twin named Doral. Those two were tight, Lil. Thick as thieves. But they had different gifts. Doral was daring and reckless; he loved to dance and drink and race fast dogs. Donal was quieter, but he had the touch."

"Did it make Doral jealous?" I asked. "His brother being so much more powerful than he was?"

"But it wasn't that way at all! Doral was a dog skipper very young, and as fearless a racer as ever there was. He commanded plenty o' respect, while Donal labored in obscurity, barely able to rise to a good pair o' shears." Bronwyn shook her head. "The touch is an unstable thing, Lil. Sometimes it shows from the cradle, then fizzles into nothing. More often, it grows with age. In Donal's case, it was grief fueled his magic. Grief pushed him into greatness."

"Grief about what?"

"Why, you already know the tale. Doral was out racing dogs with that poor doomed pack o' lads. He helped trap that spotted pisky. And he made the pisky change. When Donal found out how he'd lost his twin, he was inconsolable. But there's no going back, not with pisky magic."

"So Doral ... died?"

Bronwyn nodded. "He was one o' the changelings who chose to live with humans--figured he'd already had the bad so he might as well take the good. Went on to have six children before he succumbed. Doral's death made Donal

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crazy. He vowed all five clans would remember his brother. And it was right about then that his magic took off."

"Wow," I said, feeling sorry for them both. "That's kind of sad, isn't it?"

"Aye, but grief is a funny thing. It can take the best o' us places we never meant to go. Donal became a hermit, locked himself in his workshop for forty-nine years, and when he finally came out, he had a beard down to his feet and that key you're wearing clutched in his hand. Our security spells were Donal's labor o' love for his brother. He made sure Doral was never forgotten by binding his lepling offspring to the piece o' magic leprechauns coveted most. One o' Doral's granddaughters--Donal's grandniece--was the first to wear the key, and it has come straight down to you."

My mind spun with the implications. "So, I'm not actually in
Donal's
line. I'm in Doral's."

"Same thing, Lil. Identical."

But there was something else that didn't make sense, something Cain had alluded to. "The other clans, their keeps, do they all have the same security spells we do?"

"Aye. The very same."

"With lepling keepers too? How did that happen, if Donal made the spell to honor his brother?"

Bronwyn smiled indulgently. "Well now, they paid him, didn't they? Donal was on the mad side all o' his life and

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powerful as they came, but he was still a leprechaun, Lil--the richest in all five clans before he went to his reward."

"Super," I sighed, sinking low at the table. "Thank you, Great Uncle Donal."

The only way back is forward
, I told myself over and over as our dog cart rolled through the Meadows. If I wanted to remember Gigi, go home to my mother, have a chance to make up with Kendall, and live with normal people again, I needed to steal a bag of Scarlet gold. The choice was so far out of my hands that I'd given up caring about right and wrong.

I obviously wasn't making the rules here.

"Hie!" Fizz called, urging the dogs faster. He was driving again, but in place of Caspar, Cain rode the other lead dog, the ends of his long mustache trailing in the wind. Maxwell had been replaced by a leprechaun named Ludlow. And riding in front of me like a bad dream I couldn't wake up from was Balthazar.

Cain had earned the honor of escorting me through his success with the pisky test. Ludlow was some sort of ambassador, along to make sure I didn't commit any major breaches of etiquette in Scarlet country--which was pretty ironic, considering. And Balthazar was obviously there to irritate the heck out of me, although he claimed to be a guard.

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"Are you listening, Lil?" he whined for the millionth time. "You're not paying attention to me!"

"What tipped you off?" I asked, gazing pointedly over his head. Somewhere in the rolling green distance was a whole new clan of leprechauns, the hollow where they lived, and the unfamiliar new keep I was supposed to break into. The last thing I wanted to focus on was Balthazar's nonstop yammering.

"I'm trying to school you, Lil! You may have passed your first two tests, but you don't know everything."

"I know I passed them both without any help from you."

Up front, Cain snickered loudly. "That she did, Balty! Lass has you there!" He flashed a grin over his shoulder, but I was the only one who saw it; Ludlow and Balthazar were riding their dogs backward to face me.

"Perhaps I should take over now," Ludlow cut in. He was a little thing, even for a leprechaun, with an extra-tall hat to make up for it. He fixed me with wide, hypnotic eyes. "Now then, Lilybet. The Scarlets aren't our enemies, you understand. More like rivals. Friendly rivals."

"Friendly!" Balthazar humphed. "Maybe until you cross 'em."

"To be sure. But there's a long and celebrated history of thieving for sport among the clans. If Lilybet succeeds, the Scarlets will be certain to embrace the renewed tradition."

"They won't have a choice, will they?" Cain asked.

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The first trace of a grin cracked Balthazar's beard. "He has a point, Lil. Make it past the border, and you'll have amnesty. That's a pure fact."

"Your crime will be completely wiped away," Ludlow assured me. "Only the glory will remain."

"Aye, the glory." Balthazar smiled wistfully. "Glory, to be sure! Taking the Scarlets in their own keep ... Ach, but they're insufferable, Lil! Never showing us Greens due respect. They
might be
grateful for our Donal's contributions, but there you go. That's a Scarlet for you."

Ludlow gave Balthazar an impatient look. "Those old grievances aren't helpful here. The important thing now is Lilybet's test. None of us can help you steal the gold, Lilybet, but I'm here to make sure your introduction to the Scarlets goes smoothly. A
social
call, that's what we're on."

"As if anyone could enjoy associating with the likes o' Scarlets," Balthazar said, rolling his eyes.

"I seem to recall that at the last Rendezvous, you associated with them fine until their clover ale ran out."

Off in the distance, jagged hills filled the horizon. "Those mountains," I interrupted. "Is that where we're going?"

"Near enough," Ludlow replied. "The Hollow lies at their base."

"Soaking up shadows," Balthazar muttered. "Trust the Scarlets to skulk in the dark when they could live out in the light."

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Ludlow sighed with annoyance. "Lilybet's best chance is for us to seduce the Scarlets into believing we're no threat. That means being on our best behavior--and keeping our opinions to ourselves. Surely we can
all
understand such simple diplomacy?"

"The lass ought to know what she's up against," Balthazar said stubbornly. "You haven't even touched on Wee Kylie yet."

"I'm not sure how relevant he'll be."

"Relevant!" Balthazar exclaimed. "He's their keeper, isn't he?"

"He's a boy," Ludlow said.

Balthazar shook his head. "Never trust a male keeper. Only the Scarlets would dream o' having one!"

"They found it preferable to switching lines, as you know very well. It could happen to us someday."

"Never!" Balthazar exclaimed. "The very shame!" He gave me another dark look. "Lives with his clan full-time, I've heard. There's something not right about that."

For once I agreed with Balthazar. What kind of loser would want to live with leprechauns full-time?

Ludlow shook his head. "We don't know that for sure. And even if it's true, he's still only a lad. You shouldn't suggest Lilybet is overmatched."

"I'm
not!"
Balthazar tugged on his beard as if he'd like to pull it out. "Just that she needs to be prepared."

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"And that's my job," Ludlow said. "You'll confuse poor Lilybet until she doesn't know what to believe."

Lexie's suspicions of the day before rippled through my mind. If someone in the clan wanted me to fail, Balthazar was my prime suspect. He'd been messing with me since the minute we met.

"Whoa! Ho, there!" Fizz called, stopping beneath a shady tree. "Halfway," he announced, jumping down to unbuckle the dogs. "We'll rest the team here a spell before we press on to the Hollow."

"About blessed time." Cain slid bowlegged off his mount like a cowboy too long in the saddle. "My stomach's been growling the best part o' an hour."

I climbed out to stretch my legs as the four of them watered the dogs and laid a picnic under the tree. The hills in the distance looked forbidding, their folds purple with shadows even at midday.

Scarlet territory.

The only way back is forward
, I thought again, chewing my lip.

A poke in the calf startled me. "If you're not going to eat that cheese Bronny packed, how about sharing it?" Balthazar asked.

I looked down at his round belly. "If you really think you need it."

"You can never have too much cheese, Lil," he said, completely missing my point.

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I gave him the cheese and some doughnuts, too, and wandered off by myself, still not hungry. I hoped for the hundredth time my mother wasn't too worried about me. I hoped there wasn't a reason to be. I fingered Gigi's key, then the tiny gold button Lexie had given me, recalling her anxious expression as she knotted it on a string around my wrist.

Forcing down a shaky breath, I squeezed the button hard.
Be as lucky as she thinks you are
, I willed it silently.

The sun was sinking behind the hills as we crossed the border into Scarlet territory. Boulders sprouted from the ground, forcing the road to wind around them. Even the clover looked different from the brilliant green blankets we'd left behind in the Meadows. Clumps of maroon-tinged leaves turned their faces into the setting sun and their backs toward us.

I heard a far-off rushing of water. Then a voice cried out just a few feet away, startling me nearly out of the cart.

"Oy! Oy! Oy!"

A leprechaun astride a russet dog dashed out from behind a tree to face us down in the road. He wore tight yellow breeches and a bright red coat, a plume of orange hair rising like a flame atop his head.

"Oy!" he cried again. Yanking his dog's ears around, he turned tail and bolted.

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Balthazar groaned. "So much for the element o' surprise."

"Let him tell his council we're coming. We have nothing to hide," Ludlow lied, nodding toward some boulders as if to remind us that more sentries could be lurking. I sat taller in the cart, my eyes flicking nervously over each rock, tree, and bush. The lengthening shadows and thickening woods made more hiding places than I could count.

The sound of water grew gradually louder. We emerged from the trees onto a narrow bridge that arced up over a river. I stared down as the dogs pulled our cart across, my heart thumping in time with the wheels rolling over the bridge's rough wooden planks. The river flowed twenty feet below us, its depth impossible to gauge in the failing light.

"I hope this bridge doesn't break," I said.

Shuddering, Balthazar knocked twice on his pilgrim hat. "Don't even think it, Lil."

On the opposite bank of the river, two rows of trees created a gloomy tunnel over our heads. A cobweb broke across my face, trailing sticky wisps to my ears. Whimpering, I flapped my hands around, hoping to fend off any spider that might be attached.

And then we rounded a bend, and the first lights of the Hollow glowed red through a gap in the trees.

We fell silent as our dog cart rolled down the Scarlets' main street. Town houses six leprechaun-stories high

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crowded in from both, sides, nearly every window glowing red. Startled faces peeped at us through the glass, sporting crowns of hair so brilliant they seemed like the source of the light.

A delegation of scarlet-coated leprechauns appeared in the lane and strode out to meet us, red torches hissing.

Fizz pulled the dogs to a stop. One of the Scarlets stepped forward. I braced myself for anything.

"Greetings, brothers!" the Scarlet leader called with a slight, stiff bow. "You are welcome in the Hollow."

Ludlow jumped off his dog and hurried to make his own, much lower bow. "You are gracious, my brothers. We thank you."

Everyone looked at me.

"Allow me to introduce our new keeper, Lilybet Green," Ludlow said, "come to pay her respects to your council."

"Truly!" The Scarlet leader covered his surprise by bowing in my direction. "An honor, Lilybet. I am Beryl Scarlet. You must allow me to escort you to the hall."

"Um ... okay."

"There will be food there and such poor entertainments as we can provide on short notice. Had you given us time to prepare a banquet--"

"I'm sorry. I--"

"Lilybet was so eager to meet her Scarlet brothers that she wouldn't hear of waiting to send messengers," Ludlow