Green (20 page)

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the gold--or at least the extra bag--but I was way past listening to common sense. I was working under some completely different theory now, one in which gold was a living thing, something I'd no more abandon than a wounded best friend. I could feel its energy bubbling up through the bag tops, seeping into my blood, keeping me moving forward.

At last a few red lights came into view, glimmering through the trees. The excitement at the keep hadn't yet spread to the sleeping town. Remaining hidden in the woods, I worked my way along the town's outer edge until I could see the back of the Greens' guest cottage.

No lights were on in the hut, but outside in the yard, working alone by moonlight, Cain was harnessing the dog cart. All but two dogs were already hitched, and the corral gate stood open. I felt a rush of love for him and his crazy mustache. How had he guessed I'd be coming?

I nearly dashed out to meet him, but caution held me back. It was possible Scarlets were watching the cottage, and my situation would only get worse if I was caught with stolen gold. Untying the bags from my belt, I stuffed them deep beneath a bush. Then I retied my sweater, brushed myself off, and slunk into the yard.

Cain greeted me with a wry smile. "It was my watch with the dogs," he whispered. "I heard a bit o' thunder out by the keep, and my bones told me it'd be you. Did you get the gold?"

I was about to tell him everything when something in his

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expression prickled the hairs on the back of my neck. Was I sure Cain could be trusted?

The last bit of advice from Gigi's letter screamed back into my brain:
Lying here is A-OK
.

I finally understood what she'd meant. She wasn't telling me to nap in the keep--she was telling me to
lie
. Just like all the leprechauns did. Like I'd been lied to by Kylie. Like Cain could be lying right now.

Lying here was more than okay; it was self-defense.

"I couldn't get any," I whispered back, saving the truth for Balthazar. "Let's just get the others and get out of here."

Cain's gaze turned suspicious.

He knows
, I thought, panicking.
He's going to see the gold anyway. I'm wasting time!
I was just about to confess when Cain dropped his gaze.

"Go wake the others," he said. "I'll hitch this last pair."

He already had the dogs' harnesses on. I hurried across the yard, eager to wake Balthazar. I had just reached the cottage door when Cain cried out behind me. "Hie! Hie!"

Wheeling around, I saw him astride a lead dog, his hands gripping its ears and his heels dug in for all he was worth. The empty cart careened forward. I dashed after it as the dogs picked up speed, angling to cut them off at the gate. Launching myself like a football tackle, I sailed over the team and knocked Cain off his mount, trapping him under my body as we hit the ground.

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The impact must have stunned him, or maybe he just couldn't breathe facedown in the dirt. Before he could muster a proper fight, I whipped off my trusty sweater belt and hogtied his hands to his feet. Flipping him onto his back, I read the truth in his lying eyes. Cain was the traitor I'd been looking for.

"Aw, Cain," I sighed. "I really liked you."

"I like you too, girl. What does that have to do with gold?"

Footsteps charged up behind me--Balthazar, red-faced and out of breath. I heard Fizz whistle for the dogs.

"We have to go
now!"
Balthazar barked. "Get in the cart, Lil. Leave this rogue to me."

Lights were beginning to fill nearby windows. Kneeling, Balthazar grabbed the ends of Cain's mustache, crisscrossed them through his mouth like a gag, and knotted them behind his head.

"Don't hurt him!" I begged as Balthazar pulled on Cain's whiskers with all his strength.

Ludlow stumbled out, half dressed and wearing a flannel nightcap. "Lilybet! What's hap--" he began.

"In the cart!" Balthazar shouted at him. "In the cart
now!"

"Not dressed like this? My hat!"

"Leave it!" I said. Dashing back to my hiding place, I returned dragging the stolen gold.

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Four sets of leprechaun eyes just about fell out of their heads. Fizz and Balthazar looked proud enough to burst, Cain looked furious, and I thought Ludlow might faint. Somehow he pulled himself together enough to help Balthazar hoist Cain into the wagon. I hefted the gold in with him and we all scrambled in beside it.

"Go, Fizz!" I cried as red lights spread from building to building. Shouts rang out over the town. There could be only seconds before Scarlet guards showed up. "Go, go,
go!"

"Hie!" Fizz hollered. The dogs took off at rocket speed, knocking me over backward. I tumbled about with three leprechauns, two bags of gold, a random boot, some dog biscuits, and a bottle of clover ale before I was able to sit up again.

Fizz lay flattened to his dog, driving like a maniac. The cart bounced dangerously, threatening to throw us out with every bump. Ludlow held on with white knuckles, but Balthazar didn't seem concerned about our imminent death. His eyes went to the stolen gold and watered up like he wanted to cry.

"Did you, Lil?" he whispered, as if he barely dared to believe it. "Tell me true: did you
really?"

"Aye, that I did," I replied, smiling broadly.
"Two
bags of Scarlet gold."

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"And a lot of good if it gets us all killed," Ludlow whimpered.

"Silence, idiot!" Balthazar roared. "How dare you speak that way to the keeper o' the Clan o' Green?"

That was when it dawned on me. I was keeper. I was keeper
already
. And Ludlow had my key.

"Give it," I demanded, shoving my hand under his nose. "And if you tell me it's back with your hat, I'll throw you out of this wagon."

Ludlow went three shades paler, gripping the wagon rail for dear life.

"Fitting justice that would be," Balthazar said. "But the coward doesn't have your key. No, that's with the traitor here."

Leaning over the hogtied leprechaun, Balthazar felt unsuccessfully through the pouches on Cain's belt. Then he grabbed Cain's green lapels and yanked them in opposite directions, stripping the coat to Cain's waist. My gold chain was around Cain's neck; my key rested on his bare belly. But it was another sight that made me gasp. Just below Cain's right shoulder, a raised four-point scar disfigured his arm, swollen like an angry welt and glowing red in the moonlight.

I wasn't the only Green who'd been bitten by a pisky.

"By gold and by glory!" Balthazar exclaimed. "What is the meaning o' this?"

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Before he could untie Cain's 'stache for the answer, Fizz cried out up front.

"Balthazar! Lil! They're coming!" Riding as if he were part of his dog, Fizz shouted his team into a turn. "Haw! Haw!
Hie!"

The cart veered left so abruptly that I fell over again. Flat on my belly, I grabbed the railing and pulled my head up for a peek. We were flying across the front edge of town on an angle toward the bridge, and suddenly I realized how vulnerable we still were. If the Scarlets managed to cut us off before the river, we'd be trapped. I glanced backward over my shoulder. Surging after us like an angry red tide was an army of torch-wielding Scarlets.

"Fizz!" I yelled, terrified. "Hurry!"

And then I saw something even scarier. A gang of leprechauns riding fast dogs was charging toward us through the woods, followed by a tall, loping shadow that could only be Kylie. Ducking below the rail, I grabbed my keeper key and yanked it off over Cain's head. If I was going down, I wasn't going without that. Pulling the chain on around my neck, I peeked back up again.

We were nearly to the bridge. Its narrow arc rose over the river a hundred yards away. We were going to beat the mob on foot, but the pack riding dogs was closing fast.

"They're gaining," Balthazar said grimly.

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"No, we'll make it," I said.

"Over the bridge, maybe, but that's not the border. We're all in a spot o' trouble now."

"All?"

"Aiding a gold thief," Ludlow moaned, "is punishable four different ways."

"You're completely safe, then," I retorted. "If we're caught, I'm going to tell everyone that you were no help at all!"

Even through his mustache gag, Cain snorted with laughter.

We raced through the tunnel of trees. Boards rumbled under our wheels as we hit the bridge. The Scarlets trailing on dogs were barely an arrow shot behind.

And suddenly I knew what I had to do.

Snatching the last six Life Savers out of my pocket, I started shredding off wax paper.

Balthazar's eyes bugged out. "Are those--?"

"Find me that bottle of ale. Hurry!"

He scrambled to trap it.

"Slow down, Fizz!" I shouted. "I'm getting out."

"Ho!" Fizz reined back the dogs. Stepping over Cain, I grabbed the ale from Balthazar and tumbled out the back of the moving cart.

"Go, go, go!" I shouted, scattering Life Savers on the narrow bridge as Fizz spurred his team on. The Scarlet dogs were nearly to the boards. Alone high above the river, I

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smashed the bottle's top against the bridge rail and sprayed fizzing ale on the candies.

I was not prepared for what happened next.

The Life Savers absorbed the ale instantly. For one horrifying split second, I thought I didn't have enough liquid. Then all six candies literally exploded into trees. Roots, branches, and trunks shot in all directions with a crack like heaven splitting. Wheeling around, I tried to run, but it was already too late. The dog cart reached the opposite bank as the bridge broke apart and I fell, plunging through the darkness beneath it.

I'm going to die
, I thought, surprised by how calm I felt. There was nothing I could do to save myself now. My hand went to Gigi's key, one last good-bye.

I smacked into water so icy it took my breath away. Churning, swirling darkness closed over my head. My feet kicked instinctively. My arms flailed in the current. Every bit of calm deserted me as, lungs burning for breath, I tried to find my way up. My sweater snagged, then tangled in something submerged. Yanking and kicking and choking, I broke free all at once and popped up through the river's surface.

"Lillllll!" Balthazar's anguished cry hit my ears as I came up gasping for air.

"What?" I hollered back.

There was a split second of stunned silence. Then about a million leprechauns all started shouting at once.

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"There she is! I see her!"

"This way, Lil! Over here!"

"Get her! Get her!"

"Keep your head down, Lil!"

I treaded a circle to get my bearings. On the Scarlets' side of the river, a whole town's worth of leprechauns swarmed up and down in frustration. The bridge was gone, having collapsed just in time to strand the Scarlets on dogs with the others. And in the middle of the river, stopping me from drifting downstream with the current, a tangle of fallen peppermint trees choked my chunk of water like some sort of trippy beaver dam.

I grabbed a white branch. The once-chalky bark felt slick in my hand.
It's dissolving
, I realized.
Like
normal
Life Savers do
.

I suddenly wondered if other candies made magic here too--and if so, what they did--but I didn't have time to think about that. Balthazar was standing in the cart atop the other bank, jumping up and down and waving his hat frantically.

"Lil! Pull yourself across on the trees, Lil!"

But I didn't need help from the trees. Glancing back, I smiled to see that not a single Scarlet had ventured down to the water after me.
Leprechauns don't swim
. So long as no one shot me, I had it made.

Pushing off the dissolving tree, I kicked toward Balthazar.

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In water safety class, they'd taught us to ditch loose clothes and shoes during emergency swims, but I wasn't about to part with Gigi's sweater or the silver flats. They churned like miniature swim fins, propelling me along.

"Look at our Lil!" Balthazar bragged. "She's
swimming!"

I angled up current, swimming strong and enjoying myself despite the freezing water. Not only had I escaped the Scarlets, but the Greens were cheering me on like an Olympian. Fizz stood upright on his dog, Ludlow jumped wildly next to Balthazar, and even Cain had wriggled his head up over the rail. I did a few backstrokes, showing off. When I flipped over again, the Greens were hollering their heads off.

"It's not
that
hard," I called modestly, lifting a hand to wave. That was when I realized my team was no longer cheering. They were pointing behind me.

Kylie was at the river's edge, kicking off his boots. As I watched, he stripped off his vest and shirt and splashed into the water, egged on by the screaming crowd above.

Leprechauns don't swim. But Kylie did.

Putting my face in the water, I started kicking for all I was worth. As soon as I cleared the fallen trees, the current became stronger, fighting me for every inch. I could practically feel Kylie gaining on me, making me afraid to lose even the second it would take to glance back. At last my fingertips raked slimy gravel. Gathering my legs