Shadows of the Redwood (17 page)

Knot went back to lapping his supercharged whipped cream with a loud licky-lick sound.

Keelie drank her rocket-fuel latte, hoping the caffeine would infuse her with more energy. Instead, she was beginning to feel more drained. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. She had to keep her act together. Sean opened the lid of his coffee and sniffed the steam that floated out.

“This is the energy nectar you are always praising. Starbucks. It has an elvish name.” He held his cup up and then took a sip.

“You can’t tell me you haven’t had coffee before,” Keelie said, disbelieving.

“I didn’t say that. It’s just that I prefer tea. However, this was a trip for me to find out more about you. I was curious. And I wanted to drink coffee like you,” he said.

Keelie smiled into her coffee. “You are so sweet.”

Women of all ages shot admiring glances Sean’s way. Sean noticed, then looked at Keelie and rolled his eyes. She laughed. She did wonder if people thought that Sean and Risa were a couple, because they looked more like a matched pair than she and Sean did. Jealousy stung her heart with short little jabs. It was still like having a nest of bees inside her whenever she thought about them together. Of course, Sean was eighty years old, a fact she tried hard to forget. He’d probably had lots of relationships, but she wasn’t ready to know the truth. One day they would have that conversation, but until then, until she was ready, she could pretend he was her age.

Laurie stared at the purple-haired barista. “That girl needs an attitude adjustment. She needs to read the manual on customer service.”

A branch from the pear tree beside Keelie tapped her on the shoulder.

Hey, you. What are you?

Keelie closed her eyes. She just wished she could get a break from trees.

I’m a tree shepherdess.

I’ve never heard of one of those. Are you from the nursery?

No. I’m from the Dread Forest.

But you’re human. You grew up in a forest? I’ve never met a human who grew up in a forest. I would love to see a forest. I hate being stuck in this pot all the time. The people that take care of us aren’t very nice. They forget about me. Sometimes I get so thirsty that my leaves fall off.

I didn’t grow up in a forest. I grew up in Los Angeles, but I live in the Dread Forest.

The tree bent down closer to Keelie and sniffed.

Laurie’s eyes widened in surprise. She obviously could see the tree bending and moving around. Sean arched an eyebrow.

Risa’s eyes were riveted on Knot. “Is that eye shadow on your toes?”

Will you stop it? People are going to notice
. Keelie looked around, but only a couple of children were pointing at the swaying tree.

The tree sniffed again.
I smell magic on you. Can you make my pot bigger?

Trees can’t smell magic.

I can.
He seemed offended.
Sometimes I smell a different kind of magic on some humans who come in here. And I smell it on the gobblers, but your magic is different. You have fairy magic.
The tree’s voice was accusing, as if having fairy magic was a bad thing. Guess it depended on what kind of fairy.

Gobblers? What are gobblers?

They’re the ugly fairies, and they’re not friends of the trees. You’re not a gobbler, are you? They like to steal sap.

Keelie had no idea what a gobbler was. She felt sorry for this tree with his tight-fitting planter.

Suddenly a horrendous smell filled the air. Keelie recognized it, and jumped up as Knot vaulted onto the planter’s edge and made an experimental dig with one paw.

There’s a fair-fair-fairy.
The tree swooned, and fell over with a loud crash. Everyone in the food court leaped up and looked toward them.

“Are you okay?” the woman behind the counter of the Chinese restaurant yelled.

“Fine,” Laurie said. “We’re okay. Is anybody a lawyer?”

Knot had landed on his feet and bolted toward an exit. Keelie rounded the overturned planter and looked down at the tree, its branches splayed out on the atrium’s tile floor.

Are you okay?

Silence.

Knot’s loud meow echoed down the hall.

“The milk must not have agreed with him. You know, he may be lactose-intolerant,” Laurie suggested.

A lactose-intolerant fairy. That figured.

“Knot, wait for me.” Risa pushed her chair backwards and raced after him.

People in the food court were looking, pointing, and whispering.

Sean stood up. “I’d better keep an eye on her. She’s not familiar with the ways of the human world, and she could get into trouble.”

Keelie wanted to protest, but she had to agree with Sean. Knot and Risa on the loose in L.A.? Not a good thing.

The people in the food court resumed eating, but they kept staring at Keelie as if she’d been the one causing all the problems. Or as if she was paid entertainment.

She should be used to it, after all the numerous jobs she’d had at the Wildewood Faire. She hadn’t been good at those, either, and people had stared after every disaster.

“Sit down, Keelie, people are looking.” Laurie tried to look nonchalant as she sipped her drink.

“I hope they get this poor tree a new planter. He’s outgrown this one,” Keelie said loudly. She yanked on its slim trunk and the crumbly earth ball held by its roots popped out. His branches drooped and several leaves skittered across the floor as if it was autumn. Some of the nearby people nodded sympathetically.

Keelie stared down at the root ball. If the tree had been watered regularly, it would have been impossible to pull out. And the root ball was big, too. The tree’s roots had been cramped, with no room to grow. It was like having a person’s feet crammed into too-small shoes. She had to do something.

As two big security guards rushed forward, Keelie pointed to the tree. “You really need to talk to the company that takes care of your plants. That tree could’ve collapsed on me. I could be suffering from a concussion, and you’re darn lucky I’m not.”

One of the beefy security guards, whose nameplate said “Dan,” looked uncomfortable. “Yes ma’am. Are you okay?”

“Who takes care of your trees?” Keelie demanded.

“We’re not sure.” The two guys exchanged I-dunno-do-you-know? looks.

The tree was beginning to come back to consciousness. Huh!

“I’m taking it with me as evidence,” Keelie said.

The other security guard, with “Don” on his name tag, scratched his head. “I don’t know if you can do that.”

“Do you have a larger container and fresh clean soil?” Keelie asked, using her best lawyer voice.

Laurie crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, do you?”

Tweedle Dan and Tweedle Don shook their heads.

“I’m going to take this tree, and consider yourselves lucky I don’t sue the mall.” Keelie said.

“We need to talk to our boss,” Tweedle Don replied.

“Go talk to him,” Keelie said. “I need some answers.”

“Okay!” They both left.

Once the guards were out of sight, Keelie motioned to Laurie. “Come on, we’re getting out of here.” She grabbed the tree by its slender trunk. “Help me carry this.”

Laurie grabbed a leafy branch. “Is this like shoplifting, or more like a PETA rescue, only with trees?”

“We’ll figure it out later. Walk faster.” The two girls scooted through the mall and wrestled the tree up the escalator and out the front door. Few people gave them more than a glance.

“L.A. is so blasé about everything,” Keelie observed. “We could have been leading an elephant around in here and no one would notice.”

They found Sean, Risa, and Knot standing on a four-foot-square patch of grass in front of the mall. All three were avoiding a corner of the patch. Knot looked relieved to see them.

“Time to go,” Laurie said. Sean grabbed the tree trunk, freeing Laurie to search for her car keys.

They ran to the car, the branches sticking up over their heads as if they were smuggling giant broccoli. Knot was leading the way.

“I can’t believe we’re tree-napping. What if those two guards put two and two together and come after us?” Laurie asked.

“That’s why we need to get out of here,” Keelie replied. She had no idea what she was going to do with the pear tree. She needed to plant him somewhere safe, with lots of tree company.

When they reached the car, an out-of-breath Risa was holding her side. “I thought we were going shopping at La Jolie Rouge? Now you two are stealing a tree. We just left a forest filled with trees. We live in a forest. Can’t you get enough?”

Sean’s face was serious. “Come on. I’ve had enough of the mall.”

“Thank you.” Keelie’s eyes held Sean’s.

“We’ll talk about this later,” he said firmly.

Laurie pressed her key remote and the BMW doors clicked open. She tossed Keelie the keys. Knot hopped into the front seat, yowling loudly as if saying, “Hurry, hurry.” The tree was too big to fit into the back seat of the car with Risa and Sean, so it would have to ride in the trunk.

Keelie could see Tweedle Don and Tweedle Dan surveying the parking lot. They were scratching their heads and talking into their remote control walkie-talkies like they were calling for reinforcements.

Like Sean, Keelie’d had enough of the mall. “We need to go.”

The tree was fully conscious.
What are you trying to do? Kill me? Take me back. I’m going to tell the gobblers about you.

Laurie pointed. “The security guards have found us.” She hopped into the car while Keelie cranked the engine. Sean lowered one of the back seats, then angled the tree in, so that the branches were in the back seat and the root ball was in the trunk. He slammed the trunk door closed, then he and Risa opened the back doors and fought the branches to find a seat.

Keelie pulled out of the parking space. Looking in the driver’s side mirror, she saw Tweedle Dan and Tweedle Don gesturing wildly at the BMW.

Oh, Great Sylvus, my planter is gone. My roots will wither away and die without soil. I’m going to die.
The tree’s voice penetrated the cab of the car, but Keelie was the only one who could hear him. Lucky her.

You’re not going to die
. Keelie tried to send soothing green thoughts to the tree, but they were rejected.

I’m going to die. I’m going to die.

We’re saving you.
Keelie was getting irritated with this ungrateful tree.

The gobblers were right about fairies. They’re all bad. They’ll find you, and you’ll be sorry.

Keelie drove slowly through the crowded parking lot

“Hurry it up. Once we get on the expressway, they’ll lose us,” Laurie said. “Only you would come to L.A. and steal a tree.”

“I couldn’t leave him there with an overturned tiny planter. His root system didn’t have any room to grow,” Keelie insisted.

Risa leaned forward. “See, your friend agrees with me. You’re surrounded by trees. Why rescue this one?”

Keelie ignored her. She glanced into the rearview mirror.

Sean rested his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes as if he was wishing himself anywhere but here.

As they drove past a huge SUV with tinted windows, Keelie felt a sudden wash of dark power come over her, similar to what she’d experienced in the redwoods. The sharp pain pierced her forehead. “Ow!”

“What’s wrong, Keelie?” Laurie asked. Knot hissed and scrambled into the back seat, climbing onto the car’s rear deck to look out the windshield. Sean’s eyes opened wide and he too turned to look back at the SUV.

Risa hugged herself. “I don’t feel well.”

Overcoming her pain, Keelie felt a primal urge to get out of the parking lot. “I think the quickest way out of here is to take the access road and then follow the state road to Baywood Academy.”

“We’re going back to that boring place?” Risa whined.

“I’m going to plant the tree there.”

Laurie rolled her eyes. “You need to turn right. “

“No I don’t,” Keelie answered.

“When we get to the red light, stay on the access road and merge onto the expressway. That’s the fastest route there.”

Keelie slammed on the brakes. “The expressway! I can’t drive on the expressway.” She was as panicked as the tree in the trunk.

I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die
, the tree wailed in Keelie’s mind.

“Don’t slam on the brakes. Go. Go. Go.” Laurie motioned with her hands. Cars were honking behind them.

“We’ll just have to go a mile on the expressway, then you’ll take the exit. No big deal. That’ll take us to Baywood Academy. We can stop there and I can drive.”

I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die.

“Shut up,” Keelie shouted loudly.

“What?” Laurie looked at Keelie in shock.

Keelie pushed on the accelerator. “I’m talking to the tree.”

Somebody in a Jeep drove around them, giving them the finger as they passed.