Green

by Laura Peyton Roberts

  But the walls squeezed in even closer.

  "Here's where things get tight," Fizz said, sliding off his mount. "We're going to need you out of the wagon, Lil, so we can tilt her up and through."

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  Caspar, Balthazar, and Maxwell helped unhitch the team. Reluctantly, I lowered my bare feet to the ground and stood up.

  The stone felt cold and slick on my soles as I ventured a few paces forward. The torches were so far behind me now that the passage was almost pitch-dark. Glancing back, I saw the upended cart plugging the tunnel like a cork in a bottle, everyone but my abductors still stuck behind it. Fizz tended to the dogs while Balthazar, Caspar, and Maxwell worked with the leprechauns behind them to tilt the wagon through on its side.

  No one was paying attention to me. This was my chance.

  My feet slid quickly through the mucky darkness, my heart skipping with fear. They'd have that cart through in a few minutes, and then they'd be looking for me. I moved as fast as I dared, slipping blindly, cringing at each drop of water that fell on my head. I groped desperately for a place to hide, for any sort of escape....

  A hint of light seeped toward me from the tunnel's far end. I hesitated, thinking I must be approaching another torch-filled cavern. Then I caught a whiff of pine and almost lost my mind.

  That was sunlight! I was headed outside!

  "Yes!" I yelped, breaking into a sprint. My feet slid and slithered on the cave floor as I flung myself toward the light, only one thought on my mind: escape.

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  "Lil!" Balthazar shouted. "Lil, you wait for us!"

  I could already taste fresh air, full of sunshine and pollen and grass. I dashed on like a maniac.

  "Lil!" Balthazar hollered.

  Birds sang up ahead. In one final, breakneck sprint, I burst out through the cave's jagged exit....

  And stood blinking in a fairy-tale forest.

  Beams of light slanted through the trees and sparkled on a blanket of dewy green clover, each leaf facing into the rising sun. Tiny white flowers rose on slender stalks, dripping diamonds of dew. Not a footstep disturbed that silver blanket. No planes flew overhead. There wasn't the least sign of a building, or sidewalk, or road.

  "Uh-oh," I said, completely lost. "I don't think we're in Providence anymore."

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  Chapter 4

  "What did I tell you?" Balthazar boasted. "The Meadows is the grandest place in all creation! Wave to the folk, Lil. Smile!"

  I was riding in the dog cart again, being pulled down the center of the strangest, most beautiful valley I could have imagined. Pink wisps of clouds drifted across the yellow sun in a perfect aqua sky. A mile to either side of the wagon, dense trees covered steep hillsides. And down the rolling center of the valley was one long meadow of green grass and billowing clover punctuated by a few giant oaks. Their spreading branches shaded colonies of leprechaun-sized,

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  slightly crooked three-story dwellings with green lace curtains and eager hands waving from every window. Once I'd emerged from the cave and realized I had nowhere to run, I'd reluctantly climbed back into the cart, letting Balthazar and the huge crowd trailing on foot believe I'd been so thrilled to see the Meadows that I'd dashed ahead out of excitement. I hadn't given up, though. As soon as I saw a landmark belonging to the real world, I intended to bolt again.

  "How long have I been gone now?" I asked, glancing pointlessly at my wrist. I did own a watch, but of course I hadn't been smart enough to ask for it--or my phone--when the leprechauns snatched me. I could only guess I'd been missing for twenty-four hours, maybe even longer. "My mom'll be psychoballistic."

  "No point worrying about what can't be helped," Balthazar told me jovially. "Plenty o' time to deal with that later."

  "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who'll be grounded until you turn forty."

  He laughed annoyingly. "I'll wager that when you get home, you'll find your mum less worried than you thought she'd be. So wave to the folk, girl! Show some manners!"

  I shut my mouth and waved, hating him silently.

  A long, bumpy ride later, the landscape began to change. The houses clustered closer together, gradually forming a sprawling storybook village. The dirt road sprouted cobblestones. I waved to the mostly male leprechauns

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  pouring into the streets and was greeted by a roar of "Greeeeeeeeen!"

  "That's the way!" Balthazar said, waving wildly himself.

  Ahead of us in the village, green streamers festooned the streets and swung in the breeze between crooked town-homes. Our cart moved forward through throngs of leprechauns waving hats, handkerchiefs, and handfuls of clover arranged like bouquets. At the center of town, where the buildings crowded close enough to bump into each other, the dogs took a sharp left down a new lane, one with a human-sized house at its end.

  The thatched one-story cottage dwarfed the leprechaun houses, its little square of front lawn starting at the last row of cobblestones. I scrambled out of the wagon as the lower half of the cottage's green front door opened and three female leprechauns filed out.

  The woman in front was obviously the oldest, with streaks of white in her greenish blond hair. The buckles on her shoes were shaped like oversized silver bows, and the curved feathers pinned to her hat were nearly as long as she was. The woman behind her had a flounce on her coat and a bouncy step to match. And the last of the group was a teenager with waist-length hair and a shy, eager glint in her wide green eyes.

  "Welcome, Lilybet!" the oldest one called. "It took you

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  long enough," she scolded in an aside to Balthazar. "Where have you been? Touring the whole countryside soaking up your five minutes of glory?"

  "Well, now, Bronny," he replied uncomfortably. "We had a few unexpected hiccups."

  "You know the banquet is tonight! Yet here you are, as late as dawn after a nightmare, barely giving us time to get ready at all!"

  "Can we talk about this later?" he begged.

  "Aye. That we will," she promised before bowing her head to me. "Your sister Bronwyn," she said. "Welcome, Lilybet."

  The other two women dropped curtsies behind her.

  "Kate," said the second in line.

  "Your sister Lexie," the youngest one ventured. "'Tis an honor, Lilybet."

  "Well, come in, girl. Come in!" Bronwyn said, herding me toward the door. "Your banquet starts in a few hours, and we've got fixing up to do before then." She shook her head disapprovingly. "More fixing than I'd expected."

  "I don't usually dress this way," I said, cringing under her scrutiny. "And what happened to my hair was not my fault."

  "No, I daresay it wasn't," she agreed. "Menfolk! Well, come along, Lilybet. The four of us will set things right."

  The cottage's front door was farmhouse-style, with upper and lower halves. The leprechaun women walked

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  inside through the open bottom section. Without a single glance back at Balthazar, I opened the door's top half and followed them in.

  Half-burned green candles sat on ledges around every wall. A lumpy-looking bed lay beneath a comforter next to a tall cupboard. The room's center held a square table surrounded by three tall stools with ladder-rung legs and a normal, human-sized chair. But the most surprising feature was a claw-foot iron bathtub half hidden behind a wooden screen. Curling steam rose from its water, scenting the air with cloves.

  "Dive in," Bronwyn offered, following my gaze. "We're going to have tea, but that can wait." She wrinkled her small nose. "We'll probably enjoy it more after you've had a wash anyway."

  That seemed like a low blow, but she wasn't wrong. My blue satin shorts were a mess--dirty, wrinkled, and as covered with grass stains as my bare legs. My striped vest was in even worse shape. And then there was my hair, which had to be the sorriest sight of all. I took a step toward the tub and stopped. "I don't have anything clean to put on."

  "Right here, Lil." Lexie ran to the cupboard and pulled o
n a tassel attached to its door. The door swung open to reveal human-sized clothes on hangers, some of which I recognized.

  "That's Gigi's sweater!" I cried, crossing the room in

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  three bounds. "And those sneakers! I remember those! Why do you have her things?"

  "Balthazar didn't explain?" Bronwyn sounded annoyed again. "This is the keeper's hut, Lil. Maureen left them here."

  Grabbing a pole with a hook on its end, Lexie snagged the hanger holding a green velvet dress. Its silver-embroidered hem swayed above her head. "This one's for tonight, for the banquet!" she told me.

  "Maureen wore that frock herself, her first night here as a girl," Kate said nostalgically. "A grand banquet that was--so grand she saved the dress all these years."

  I gave Kate a closer look. She looked to be my mom's age, but she was talking as if she'd attended Gigi's party.

  "I was just a child then," Lexie told me, "too young to be allowed to go. But I'll be there tonight, Lil."

  Lexie looked sixteen, at the oldest. "When, exactly, was this banquet?" I asked.

  Bronwyn calculated. "That would be nearly fifty years ago now." She sighed. "You humans age so quickly. But let's chat after your bath."

  I glanced at the tub again. Then I snatched the dress from Lexie and crushed its velvet to my face. The fabric smelled of Gigi. She suddenly seemed so close I almost expected her to walk into the room. When I reopened my eyes, though, I was still alone with three leprechauns.

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  Rehanging the dress, I walked over to the tub and stepped in, fully clothed. Slumping dejectedly against its curved bottom, I slid down till the water closed over my head.

  "You'll want to give that hair some attention," Bronwyn bossed, rapping on the tub's iron side. "There's shampoo on the ledge."

  Exhaling a long sigh of bubbles, I surfaced again.

  A shelf next to the tub held an assortment of bath products. Their familiar labels seemed out of place there, beamed in from any normal bathroom in America. Filling my hands with shampoo, I forced my fingers through my tangled hair, too worn out to argue.

  Surprisingly, my head felt fine, already completely recovered except for its patches of scorched stubble. I scrubbed away, then slid underwater to rinse. When I came back up, I saw that Kate had dragged one of the stools to the tub's end and was standing on its seat gazing down at me.

  "I thought that screen was for privacy!" I protested.

  "You're dressed, aren't you? Besides, if I give you your privacy, who'll be taking care o' that rat's nest on your head?" She brandished a pair of tiny gold scissors, snipping the air in a way that made me shrink toward the other end of the tub.

  "I don't want short hair." Tears welled into my eyes. "I'll look like even more of a freak with short hair!"

  "I'll do what I can, but some of those places are down to your scalp. You have to compromise, Lil."

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  Kate pointed at the edge of the tub, an expectant look on her face. I hesitated, then laid my head there. Short of shaving me bald, there wasn't a lot more damage she could do.

  "Lexie! Bring us a comb," Kate called. "Now then, Lil. Are you ready?"

  The next twenty minutes were a flurry of snipping scissors. Lexie climbed onto the stool with Kate and used a human-sized comb to lift my long snarls, sweeping it along my scalp whichever way Kate said. At first the comb got stuck every inch, but soon it moved so easily I could tell I had no hair left.

  Bronwyn climbed up to check progress. "You've got a spot here needs filling in," she told Kate.

  Moving near my left ear, Kate snipped repeatedly a few inches from my scalp. I could see her shears from the corner of my eye, cutting empty air.

  "Um, Kate," I finally ventured. "Don't you have to put some hair between those blades?"

  "I would if I was trying to make it shorter. I thought you wanted me to grow it. Make up your mind, girl!"

  I sat up so abruptly I nearly knocked all three off the stool. "Wait! Are you telling me you can cut hair longer?"

  Kate glanced at her scissors, then back at me, as if I might be trying to trick her. "What good is a pair o' enchanted shears that only cuts things shorter?"

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  "But ... then ... Why didn't you make my hair all long again?" I wailed.

  "Well, now, Lil," Bronwyn said. "It's a bit o' magic, not a miracle. Anyway, Kate's finished now, and a fine job too."

  Kate beamed. "Shall I fetch the mirror?"

  "Maybe later," I said, too depressed to look.

  "Out o' that tub, then, and see what we've got for tea," Bronwyn said.

  I stood up, streaming water. Lexie dashed down off the stool and came back struggling to see over a folded, human-sized towel in her arms. Alone behind the screen, I took off my wet clothes, dried myself, and wrapped the towel around my body.

  The hut's back door had been opened, revealing a wide field of clover ending against a rocky hill. A teapot had appeared on the table with a heaping tray of sandwiches. Despite everything, my stomach growled as I took the only chair. Kate dragged her stool back over, and the leprechauns climbed up to join me.

  Bronwyn poured us greenish tea from a teapot twice the size of her head. The three of them slurped from miniature cups as we sat there eyeing each other, equal height for the first time. I felt like I'd been transported back to one of the pretend tea parties I used to give when I was younger, except that instead of my motley assortment of half-bald babies and teddy bears, the other seats at this

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  table were filled with, perfect living dolls in seriously collectible outfits.

  "Have a sandwich," Bronwyn offered.

  I took one off the stack: brown bread, butter, and some sort of wilted green herb. Too hungry to be particular, I stuffed the entire saltine-sized thing into my mouth.

  Kate smiled at me over her cup. "It's a little ray o' sunshine having another girl around."

  "Yeah, where are all the girls?" I asked. "You're totally outnumbered out there."

  "That we are, but that's how we like it," Kate said with a wink. "Makes us special, doesn't it?"

  "I guess," I said uncertainly.

  "We leprechauns live a long time, Lil," Bronwyn explained. "A very long time, indeed, by human standards. If our numbers were equal between the sexes, we'd have overrun you ages ago. But our lasses are born scarcely one to four lads. It's nature's little way o' keeping the folk in check."

  "Lexie here hasn't even chosen her first husband yet, let alone increased the clan." Kate poked Lexie in the arm. "Such a shy, delicate blossom," she teased. "Give us a hint, Lexie. There must be some lad you fancy."

  Lexie blushed and looked down at the table. "I'll choose when I'm willing," she murmured.

  I took another sandwich, preferring not even to think about the subject embarrassing Lexie. Except ...

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  "How does a human get leprechaun blood?" I blurted out.

  Lexie went even redder. Kate laughed merrily.

  "Surely you don't need that explained at your age?" Bronwyn asked. "Your mum didn't teach you about birds and bees?"

  My cheeks heated up to match Lexie's. "She taught me birds don't do it with bees," I got out.

  "Aye, you've caught me there," Bronwyn said.

  "Go on," Kate urged. "Tell her!"

  "It happened hundreds o' years ago"--Bronwyn poured more tea, settling into her story--"during a Rendezvous, where the clans meet to mix together. A pack o' lads from all five clans had their fill o' clover ale and were racing dogs in the moonlight when they came upon a dance at the edge of a human village. The sight of so many fine single girls all eager to be wooed by young men near drove our poor lads out of their minds. They knew how heavily the odds weighed against them ever having wives o' their own. So in a fit o' drunken inspiration, they trapped a spotted pisky and demanded a wish for its release."

  "More heart than smarts," Kate muttered with a roll of her eyes.

  Bronwyn sighed and shoo
k her head. "Piskies are a contrary lot, Lil, and spotted piskies are the worst. Anyone with a whit o' sense would sooner ask for a lump on the head than a wish from a spotted pisky. But those lads were

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  in no condition to think things through. They dragged that tetchy pisky right up to the edge o' the dance. 'We wish all these women were o' a size to be our wives!' they said. 'Granted,' said the pisky."

  Bronwyn sighed again. "When those young fools picked themselves off the ground, that pisky was long gone and our lads were human size. And that wasn't even the worst o' it--they'd lost their leprechaun strength, were subject to human diseases, and had human life spans too."

  "What happened to them?" I asked.

  "Most regretted their unlucky wish and lived out their short lives with their brothers," Bronwyn replied, "but a few went ahead and took human wives, living in human villages and never revealing their true nature to anyone for fear o' jeopardizing the clans. In fifty years, they were all dead. But those giants who wed had children, Lil--leplings--and their descendants live on. Like you."

  I had no idea what to say to that. I filled the silence by polishing off sandwiches, forcing myself to chew and swallow.

  Leprechaun blood!

  The mere idea was ridiculous. I wanted to tell them how wrong they were, to recount all the perfectly normal generations of my family. The problem was, my family wasn't that normal.

  Rising from the table, I went back to the cupboard.

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  There were dresses I recognized and ones I didn't. Two nightgowns hung next to a fuzzy bathrobe. There were a few pairs of pants, some button-up blouses, and, at the end of the pole, a belted sweater with pockets I had seen Gigi wear a hundred times. I stroked its sleeve longingly, as if she were still wearing it.