Alosha (14 page)

Karl glanced back at the leprechaun. Still on the couch, Paddy was painting his toenails green. His feet were as hairy as his arms. Ali was not looking forward to seeing the rest of him.

“Is he a leprechaun?” Karl asked.

“Yes.”

“How did you meet him?”

Ali gave him the short version. “I think we can trust him,” she said in conclusion.

“But everything you just told me says we can't trust him,” Karl said. She had never seen him annoyed before. Once again, she glanced at Paddy. He had his hairy foot almost into his mouth, blowing on the nail polish to dry it.

“He's a crook, I know,” she said. “But I don't sense any cruelty in him.”

“You don't know that for sure. In the legends leprechauns are always tricksters. You've already told me what a liar he is.”

“All these stories about leprechauns and other elementals—how do we know any of them are accurate?”

“Most myths are based on some fact. I believe the books. Let's leave the guy behind. I'm sure Steve doesn't want to bring him.”

“I hate to go into the woods without any idea what we're going to face. Paddy can teach us a lot. That's another reason I want to visit the tree. I have questions to ask.”

“The tree will take us more than two hours out of our way.”

“I think the delay will be worth it.”

“I've hiked these mountains with my father. The going gets tougher the closer you get to the top. Remember the snow.”

“Did you ever go all the way to the top?” Ali asked.

“Close. But we turned back. That tells you how hard it is. We've already got a late start. Ali, we need every hour we have left.”

His words made sense. Time was crucial, and to return to the tree would be like backtracking. Yet a part of her felt uncomfortable leaving without checking in with Nemi.

“Let me think about it some more,” she said.

It was eleven before they were ready to leave. Karl had bought four pup tents in Tracer—cheap plastic things that could hold one person. They were light and they would keep the rain off. Ali insisted on paying him for the tents and the crampons he had picked up. He refused the money.

“I charged them on my dad's card,” he said. They were alone in the living room for the moment. Cindy and Steve were out on the street, helping load the taxi. Paddy was in the bathroom. She just hoped the leprechaun knew what toilet paper was for. He had already showered and asked to borrow her hair dryer. Of course he was probably going to steal it after he was through with it.

“But I have enough. I want to pay,” she told Karl.

“Let's talk about it when we get back.”

“Is Barney okay with the paper route?” she asked.

“You know him. He has the memory of a pumpkin. He might miss a few houses. It's not the end of the world.”

“Not yet,” she added.

He nodded gravely. “I don't think the others know how serious this trip is.”

“They will if Lord Vak attacks.”

“Who's he?” Karl asked.

“Paddy mentioned him. I don't know who he is but he sounds nasty.” She paused, troubled. “He sounds familiar, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like I've heard his name before.”

“Where?”

“I don't know.” She added quietly, “Maybe before I was born.”

Karl stared at her. She hoped she was not freaking him out.

The taxi driver's name was Frank. He was originally from New York. He looked like he had been scraped off skid row with a greasy spoon. Besides not having shaved in days, his clothes were dirty; they could have been plucked from a Dumpster. Ali supposed they would look no better after a few days on the mountain.

Frank seemed to know how to mind his own business. One look at Paddy and he didn't bat an eye. Steve told him that Paddy was from Los Angeles—like that explained why he was three feet tall and green.

“Paddy's been in a cult,” Steve went on, motioning for the leprechaun to
keep his mouth shut. “We just got him out. We're deprogramming him—he's doing a lot better.”

Frank burped and got behind the taxi wheel. “Been to Los Angeles. Strange place,” he said, nodding.

Karl sat up front with Frank. The rest of them were in the back—a tight fit with their backpacks, not to mention the leprechaun. Paddy practically sat on Ali's lap. He gazed out the window as they started up the mountain. She wondered if he had ever been in a car before. For that matter, she wondered where he had learned to speak English. Could elementals hear human beings from their own dimension? Could they see them? There was so much she didn't know.

Again, she smelled Paddy's breath—Ireland in the summer, the odor as fresh as a field of grass and flowers. For all his lies and tricks, there was something innocent about the leprechaun. She studied his green and gold eyes as the trees flew by. He could have been a small child seeing a forest for the first time; he appeared hypnotized.

Maybe it was her imagination, though. Karl's warning came back to haunt her. She would have to keep an eye on the leprechaun.

They came to the roadblock, parked, and got out and stretched. Karl moved the barrier aside. The others were watching Ali, waiting for her to push the talking tree issue. With the taxi driver out of earshot in the cab, Steve made his feelings clear.

“I'm not hiking to the tree,” Steve said. “Karl's right, we'll lose too much time. Now that we've met Paddy, we believe you about the invading elementals.”

“Yeah,” Cindy said.

“You didn't believe me before?” Ali asked.

“No,” Cindy and Steve said at the same time.

Ali saw she could not push the issue. “Okay. We'll keep going,” she said.

They got back in the taxi and continued up the mountain. Eventually they reached the logging site, found it empty. Ali had half expected to see the three trolls playing with the lumberjacks' equipment. She wondered if the beasts
would run the next time they saw her. The higher they drove, the less powerful she felt.

At the logging site she made them stop, however. From that part of the mountain she figured she could see Nemi's tree. Getting out of the taxi with a pair of binoculars, she stepped to the edge of the road and focused in the direction of the meadow where she had taken her long nap. Impatient, the others gathered at her back.

“What are you looking for?” Karl asked.

“Reassurance,” she whispered.

She did not get it.

In the spot where she remembered finding the tree, she saw what looked like a large pile of ash. It was gray and flaky, stacked like a ghostly pyramid that could be destroyed by a gust of wind.

“Oh no,” she gasped. Her heart sank when she saw the ruin; she felt tears coming. It had meant so much to her to find Nemi. And now he was gone.

“What is it?” Steve demanded.

From such a distance, it was impossible to be sure, but it did not look as if any other tree in the same area had been touched by the fire.

“The tree—it's been burned down,” she said, handing the binoculars to Steve. She pointed out where he should search. He found the pile of ash, but was unsure what he was looking at.

“That could be ash,” he said, giving the binoculars to Karl.

“What else could it be?” Ali asked.

Steve frowned. “I'm not sure.”

“It sure looks like ash to me,” Karl said, studying the area through the binoculars. “I think I see burned bark.”

“Let me see!” Cindy demanded.

Karl handed Cindy the binoculars, spoke to Ali. “What do you think happened?”

“I can't imagine,” Ali said.

Cindy got excited. “Maybe this is a case of spontaneous human combustion.
You know, when people suddenly catch fire for no reason and burn to cinders?”

“Cindy,” Steve said.

“What?”

“This cannot be a case of spontaneous human combustion.”

“Why not?”

“This was a tree, Cindy. It was not a human being.”

“I know that! But what if there was another person inside the tree, talking to it, and he or she caught fire, and burned the tree down?”

No one wanted to answer that one.

Karl was thoughtful. “It's odd how the trees right next to it look fine. Maybe it's like Ali said—it was no ordinary tree. It probably did not burn down the same way another tree would.”

Ali wiped her eyes. She did not want them to see how badly she was shaken. “Why did it burn down at all?” she asked.

“If it was a magical tree,” Steve suggested, “if there are such things—then maybe this was its way of going elsewhere.”

“Where?” Cindy asked.

“Beats me,” Steve said.

“Do you think someone intentionally burned it down?” Karl asked Ali.

“I guess the trolls could have got it. Or other elementals—they might have known about it, seen it as an enemy. But . . .”

“What?” Karl asked.

Ali shook her head. “I thought it would have been able to protect itself. It was so wise.”

“A tree can't do much to protect itself,” Steve said. “It can only stand there.”

“Or it can fall on you and kill you,” Cindy said.

Ali was annoyed. “A tree didn't fall on Ted and he's not going to die.”

“Okay, don't get mad,” Cindy said. “I was just talking.”

Karl put his hand on Ali's shoulder. “There's nothing we can do here,” he said. “We'd better keep going. Whoever was in the tree—I'm sure he would want you to go ahead with your mission.”

Ali felt terribly alone. Nemi had swept into her life like a dream, told her she was fit for brave deeds and magical acts. Now that he was gone would the magic leave her as well?

They got back in the cab, drove farther up the road. The others chatted easily but Ali sat silent, lost in thought. Her resolve to reach the Yanti was not as strong as it had been a few minutes ago. She had wanted to close the Yanti to make Nemi proud of her, she realized. Now there would be no pat on the back at the end of the job; it made her sad. At the same time she realized how childish she was being. Closing the Yanti could save the whole world. She had to push her small desires aside, do the job and shut up.

She felt she had done little else since her mother had died.

They came to the end of the road, got out. Unpacking took only a few minutes. Karl tried to give Frank a tip, but the guy waved away the extra cash.

“That's okay, Karl,” he said. “The hundred on the meter is enough.”

That sounded like a lot to Ali.

Frank left. As the taxi went out of sight, and the noise of its engine faded in the distance, the silence of the forest deepened. At last, she thought, they were cut off from civilization. They had cell phones, true, but it was not as if they could call anyone if they were attacked.

Finally, their adventure was about to begin.

A
path led away from the end of the road, and there was an outhouse. They all used the latter, Paddy included. He seemed to like human toilets. A comfort to the bum, he called them.

Karl had remembered to bring a map. Before they left the road, he spread it out for them to study, pointing out landmarks.

“It's just after twelve,” he said. “It'll be light till nine. We have nine hours to hike. Before then I want to reach this spot, it's called Overhang. It's a great place to camp. The cliff sweeps overhead—it'll keep the rain off us if the clouds are pouring.” He added, “And it's an easy place to defend.”

“If we're attacked, you mean?” Steve asked him.

“Yes.”

“But we have nothing to defend ourselves with,” Steve complained.

Karl and Cindy exchanged a look. Ali caught it.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Cindy said.

Karl pointed to a line on the map. “This path is called Treeline. It starts twenty feet behind us. It follows the ridge above the Mercer River. We should stay on it for today.”

“If there are elementals in these woods,” Ali said. “They might be on the path. Maybe we should avoid it.”

Karl shook his head. “We can't. We'll lose too much time trying to cut through the trees. They're thick around here. We have to risk the path.”

“How far is Overhang?” Steve asked.

“Twelve miles from where we stand,” Karl said. “It's at an elevation increase of four thousand feet. Right now we're more than a mile above sea level. The higher we go, the harder it will get to breathe. Twelve miles in nine hours doesn't sound like a lot but we'll be lucky to reach Overhang by nightfall.”

“It sounds like a lot to me,” Steve said.

“ 'Tis a nice place to sleep,” Paddy remarked.

“You were there?” Ali asked.

“Yes.” Paddy added quickly, “Maybe.”

“Paddy,” Ali said. “You have to be straight with us. We're partners on this adventure. Haven't you ever had a partner before?”