At the edge of the woods, Benjamin paused. Chase noticed the bark peeling off the trees' trunks. He pulled off a piece. It crumbled to dust in his fingers.
"Keep close," whispered Ben. "We don't know what sort of danger we might run into in there."
The kids all hunched in their jackets and nodded. "If anyone thinks I'm gonna wander around alone, they're totally crazy," muttered Nori.
"Maybe we'll run into some trolls," Alex said quietly into her ear, a teasing lilt in his voice.
"Great! Slobbering, ugly trolls. Just what we need to make the place complete."
Barely breathing, Ben and the kids crept into the forest. Goosebumps danced along Chase's skin as his gaze darted around. The place gave him the worst kind of creeps. It should have been alive with birds and animals, but except for the crackling of twigs and branches falling off the trees and crunching underfoot, it was eerily quiet. Chase started to get a claustrophobic feeling, like the trees were closing in on him.
He thought he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. He jerked his head to the side and raised his hands. Were people lurking behind the thick trunks? And were they about to attack? He stopped and waited, but the only movement was the eerie, drifting fog.
"It feels like we're the last people left on Earth," whispered Nori, her voice sounding louder than usual in the dead air.
"We've been walking for an hour now," said Persephone, "and haven't even seen any footprints or any trace of leprechauns."
"We still need to stay alert," said Chase, who, despite his intent on being prepared for anything, yelled out in surprise as he stepped on something squishy. "Holy cow!"
The others whirled to stare at him. "What's wrong?" exclaimed Persephone. "Did you see something?"
Chase looked down. "No, but I found something." He lifted his foot. Dark-yellow goo dripped from it and plopped into the growing puddle at Chase's feet. "Disgusting! What is this stuff?"
Ben hurried over and squatted next to the puddle. Dipping his finger into the goop, he sniffed it, then rubbed it between his fingers. "I'm not completely sure, but I think it used to be gold."
"Real gold?" said Nori. "But gold isn't supposed to be all gross and mushy."
"Nothing around here is the way it's supposed to be," said Ben grimly. He stared off into the trees. "It looks like a small stream of it is coming from this direction." Standing, he wiped the goop on his pants. "Come on. Let's follow it." He strode off with Alex and Nori hurrying after him.
Chase scraped his sneaker in the dirt. "Sheesh! Why do I always have to step in the putrid gunk?"
"Don't complain," said Persephone as she grasped his arm and pulled him after the others. "You might've finally found a clue to what's going on around here."
"Tell that to my shoe," he grumbled.
They caught up with Ben, Nori, and Alex at the edge of a wide clearing. The fog was a little thinner here, which only made it easier to see that everything in the glade was as dead as the rest of the valley. Besides the clumps of wilted grass, the ground was dotted with copper-colored pots. Some were still standing upright, but others had fallen over, spilling dark-yellow goo across the dusty ground. A large, dark cave entrance was on the far side. Chase couldn't tell if anyone was in there or not, but he knew he wasn't about to be the one to go in and check.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing at a long object striped in various shades of gray.
Persephone squinted at it. "It kind of looks like a rainbow." She walked toward it, but it moved before she reached it.
"There's another one," said Chase. "And another. They're all over the place if you know what you're looking for." He bent to pick up one, but it slipped away.
"I don't think you can catch them," said Alex. "You know how you can never find the end of a rainbow? If you try, it keeps moving? These are doing the same thing."
"They really are rainbows?" exclaimed Nori. "But rainbows are supposed to be colorful. These look…"
"Dead?" said Chase. "Like everything else around here? Do you suppose the same thing happened to all the leprechauns?"
"We haven't seen any bodies," said Ben. "So, no telling."
"Great," muttered Chase, shivering. "We could run into dead bodies."
Maxwell climbed from his hood hiding spot to sit on Chase's shoulder. The ferret yawned and sniffed the air.
"Look at this!" said Persephone. "It's a whole bunch of four-leaf clovers. They're supposed to be loaded with good luck." She carefully plucked several of the small, greenish-yellow leaves and placed them in the palm of her hand, but as she turned to show everyone, the clovers turned to powder and drifted away. "Darn! All their magic's gone."
"What did you say?" said Benjamin, drawing his eyebrows together into a deep frown.
"I said all the magic's gone from the clover," said Persephone. "Why?"
"Holy cow, that's it!" Ben exclaimed. "That's why everything's wiped out. These are special lands filled with magic and enchantments, and the heart and soul of the beings who live here. But now all the magic has been destroyed. Or removed."
"You think my family did all of this?" asked Alex, sweeping his hand through the air.
"Oh, man!" said Chase. "I never dreamed they were capable of something like this."
"Neither did I," said Ben. His shoulders slumped as he shook his head. "Maybe we should leave. I don't know of any way to fix this."
"I wonder how the other magical communities are doing," said Persephone.
Chase kicked at a clump of dead grass. "We might as well go see—" Whack! Something hit him on the back of his head. "Ow!" He swung around right as another rock flew toward him. Thump! It hit him on the chest. "Ouch! What the heck?"
"Oh!" cried Nori when one of the rocks hit her leg.
"Look!" yelled Persephone, pointing at the cave.
A small man was crouched in the entrance. His dark beard and hair were both long and scraggly and his faded green clothes were torn and ragged. He looked as skeletal as the trees.
"It's a leprechaun!" said Chase. "They aren't all dead."
"Sure, and it's no thanks to the likes of ye!" yelled the leprechaun.
"What does he mean by that?" asked Nori.
"He must think we're Marlowes," murmured Ben.
"Back for more, are ye?" yelled the leprechaun. "Haven't ye taken enough from us?" He waved a long, thick stick in the air. "Our shillelaghs were once overflowin' with magicks. Useless sticks is what they are now."
"But that wasn't us!" said Chase.
"Oh my gosh, you guys!" said Nori, her voice trembling. "He's not alone. We are seriously outnumbered."
Well over a hundred small, elvish-looking men and women had appeared from the surrounding forest. Some of them were so close, Ben and the kids could've reached out and touched the pinch-faced, scowling beings. All of them had dark-red circles burned into their temples.
The cave leprechaun stepped out into the open. "Thought ye'd come back to make sure ye got every drop of leprechaun magic, did ye? I don't suppose this is what ye were expectin'. Thought most of us would be dead and gone, sure as I'm standin' here. Wicked is what ye are, but we're not afraid of ye anymore."
"Please believe us," said Ben. "We're not the ones who caused all your suffering. We came to ask for help to fight the ones who did."
One of the other leprechauns pointed at Alex. "I'd know those blue devil eyes anywhere, so don't go lyin' to us!" he shouted.
"I—I don't think they're in any frame of mind to listen," said Persephone.
"You're right," said Ben. "Retreating would be best."
"Then teleport us out of here," said Nori. "Quick!"
Ben slapped his hand to his shirt pocket. "Oh, crap! I left the card in the side pocket of my pack. Chase, it's up to you."
"I—I can't."
"Why not?" snapped Nori. "Use your lucky race car!"
"I, uh, lost it."
"You lost it!" cried Perse
phone. "After all the times you yelled at us? Chase Tinker, you are such a hypocrite!"
"Alex can morph us," said Chase, looking hopeful.
"But I've never transformed anyone but myself," said Alex, shaking his head vigorously.
"When it comes to magic, you are the worst Marlowe ever!" cried Persephone.
"Why are we standin' about?" yelled the cave leprechaun. "Attack!"
Chase, Nori, Persephone, Alex, and Ben were buried in angry little people waving their magicless shillelaghs. Before Chase had a chance to switch his thoughts to using his telekinesis, a bash to his head knocked him to the ground. Pain exploded inside his skull. More agonizing blows rained down on him. "Run, Max!" he choked out before his mouth filled with dirt.
Mixed in with the leprechauns yelling, Chase thought he heard his dad and the other kids screaming and shouting. He wanted to push himself up to go help, except the piercing pains in his head, sides, and back wouldn't let him. Closing his eyes, he curled into a ball.
He had a hazy thought that some things in his body were about to be seriously broken, when the hitting stopped. He peeked out through half-opened eyes. Dazed leprechauns were sprawled on the ground next to him.
"Give me your hand!" yelled Alex.
Chase squinted up at a blurry Alex. He reached out. Alex hauled him to his feet. Chase coughed and spit dirt from his mouth. His mind was spinning like crazy. "Where—where are…others? Max?"
"Running for their lives," said Alex. "I had to help them as well. I don't know about your pet."
"You saved—by yourself? But how—"
"No time!" said Alex. "Let's go."
"They're escapin'!" yelled a leprechaun.
"This way!" hollered Benjamin, waving to the boys from behind a tree off in the forest.
Alex grabbed Chase's arm and practically dragged him from the clearing.
"Can't leave—Max." Chase slowed down.
Alex yanked him forward. "If you stop, those pesky little people will beat you to death. You're in no condition to do any magic!"
The five travelers ran through the forest. Dust and dead leaves flew up around them as they dodged branches and rocks. Chase now knew how Janie had felt on their time-traveling trip, when she'd thought Maxwell was lost forever. Pain shot through him at the thought of never seeing the ferret again.
After several more minutes of dodging around trees, they came to the edge of the woods. "This is it," said Ben. "I recognize the ridge up there. Come on."
A wave of dizziness rushed through Chase. He clutched his aching head and leaned against a tree to keep from toppling over. Ben, Nori, Persephone, and Alex hurried across the open area and started up the hill. Chase drew in a deep breath and pushed away from the tree, right as something knocked him to the ground.
"Caught ye!" said a leprechaun's voice.
"Good work, Seamus," said another leprechaun.
"It'll be my pleasure to tie the devil up," said another. "And then torture the holy daylights out of him."
"Chase!" screamed Persephone. Followed by the others, she ran back down the hill.
Chase shoved the leprechaun aside and rolled to his knees. He hoped his brain was clear enough to work up some telekinetic energy, but he never got the chance to find out, because Andy leaped from behind a tree and yelled, "I'll save you, Chase!"
Chase's heart jumped up into his throat at the sound of Andy's voice. He swung around as his brother flicked his fingers, but instead of the leprechauns, Chase was the one who was caught in the time-stopping magic. "Oh no!" cried Andy as he stared at his brother's waxy face.
"It's another one!" screamed Seamus. He flung his shillelagh.
The heavy stick struck Andy on the nose. Seamus leaped forward and tackled the boy. Andy tumbled to the ground and smashed the back of his head on a jagged rock. Blood poured from the deep gash.
"Andy!" Ben tore across the cracked, dry earth. "Get away from my son!"
Silvery-red energy beams flew past Ben and slammed into Seamus. The leprechaun screamed as he flew through the air and crashed into a tree. The other two leprechauns turned and vanished into the foggy woods.
Ben dropped to his knees next to Andy. Persephone hurried to Chase to help unfreeze him.
"I'm sorry, Dad, I'm sorry," cried Andy. Tears streamed down his face to mix with the blood running from his nose. "I only wanted to help. I used my invisibility cap to sneak into the fairy room. I only wanted to help."
Ben scooped Andy into his arms. "We'll talk about it later. We have to get out of here!" He turned and ran toward the hills.
As Persephone helped Chase across the dead meadow and up the hill after the others, she glanced over her shoulder and gasped. "Chase, look!"
Chase turned and squinted down into the valley.
The reddish-orange glow of the late evening sun was spreading its light along the edge of the forest. At least two hundred leprechauns stood in a long, unmoving line just outside the forest's creepy darkness. The fog swirled and twisted around them.
Chase's gaze swept across their haggard, scowling faces. Even from a distance, the hatred in their eyes was like a punch to his stomach. He swallowed the lump in his throat. The Marlowes had taken everything from them. If this was any indication as to how the rest of their quest was going to go, the Tinkers were in serious trouble.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Stop and Go
Chase flopped to the ground. His brain had begun to have a few coherent thoughts again. "I should start wearing a helmet," he moaned as he stared up at the sky. Rolling his head to the side, he forced himself to focus. "How's Andy?"
"I've done what I can," said Ben. "He's lost a lot of blood, and I'm pretty sure his nose is broken. And to top it off, he's going to have a couple black eyes." He sat back on his heels and raked his hands through his hair. "Why didn't he listen? I don't even want to think about how angry your mom is going to be."
Chase crawled on his hands and knees to his brother's side. Andy's head was wrapped in one of Ben's shirts. It was drenched in blood. Chase reached out and straightened Andy's glasses. "At least they didn't break this time."
Andy opened his eyes. Chase wanted to yell at him, but he looked too pale and pitiful. "You are in so much trouble, shrimp," Chase finally said. "You'll probably be grounded for the rest of your life."
Andy's bottom lip trembled. "I only wanted to help," he whispered.
"Tell that to your mother!" said Ben. He grabbed his bag and zipped it shut. "We need to get going and take Andy home."
Chase shook his head. "You go ahead. I'm not going back until I see how the other magical communities are doing." He held up his hand when he saw his dad looking ready to argue. "Come on, Dad. This needs to be done and you know it."
Ben sighed and nodded. "All right. But be careful. If anyone looks even a little dangerous, get out of there immediately. No hesitation."
"I promise."
Ben turned to look at Alex. "Thank you, Alex. If I hadn't seen what you can do, I wouldn't be allowing this mission to continue."
Alex gave a sheepish shrug. "I wasn't certain my magic would work. I'm quite happy it did."
"I think we all are," said Persephone.
"But before continuing on," said Ben, "I think you should rest and recuperate. That old farmhouse by the portal would probably be a good spot. Put a strong shielding spell around it in case any leprechauns plan to venture out of their valley."
Ben pulled the teleporting Ichiro baseball card from his pack and slid it into his pocket. "You better get going before it gets dark." His eyes darted from Chase to Nori to Persephone to Alex and then back to Chase. "I'll see you guys in a few days." Moments later, Ben and Andy vanished in a quick swirl of wind.
As the other kids hurried to gather their belongings, Chase pushed himself to his feet. Besides the throbbing in his head, his legs, arms, and back ached from the pounding they'd taken. He gingerly slipped his backpack over his shou
lders and paused a moment to stare out across the valley. Where was Maxwell? He'll find us, Chase thought. He's a smart little guy.
"If he's alive, he'll follow our trail," said Persephone as they headed down the hill.
"That's what I'm hoping," said Chase.
Five minutes later, the four kids pushed open the sagging wooden door of the crumbling house. Several grimy windows let in enough light to show cobwebs, dust, and debris blanketed everything. The purplish sky and darkening clouds were visible through a gaping hole in the roof.
"What a mess," said Persephone, wrinkling her nose. She tip-toed across the floor and glanced into the three doorways leading to other rooms. "We have two bedrooms and a gross bathroom that looks like it was the first one ever invented."
"No worries," said Nori. "I'll redecorate the place." She flicked her fingers. "Clean and fix everything, tidy tornadoes."
Six small tornadoes popped into the room and whirled around the whole house. When the tornadoes spun away at last, not only the building and furniture, but Chase, Persephone, Nori, and Alex were spotless as well. Even the hole in the roof and the crumbling walls were repaired.
Nori flicked her fingers again. "Fluffy carpet, lanterns, pepperoni and mushroom pizzas, and lemonade. And of course, a super strong dome of shielding for the house." Magic swirled throughout the house and transformed it into a cozy hangout, while a bluish-white glow flowed through the walls and roof to surround the house in its protective light. The tantalizing scents of garlic and tomato sauce wafted around the room.
"Well done then, Nori!" said Alex as he darted to the table and grabbed a slice of the steaming pizza. "I'm famished."
"I'll start a fire to help warm things up," said Chase. "The charm book has a quick spell for it." He plopped his pack next to the fireplace and bent to open it. The zipper was partway undone already. Oh no! I hope nothing fell out, he thought. He unzipped the pack all the way and dug through it. His fingers touched something warm and fuzzy. "Ahh! What the heck!" he yelled, jumping back.
They all stared at the bag as it wiggled and shook.
"Did you bring back a little leprechaun, Chase?" asked Alex.
Chase Tinker and the HOUSE OF DESTINY Page 16