Green (9 page)

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tonight when you venture out after that pisky. Now, take off those shoes and let Lexie give them a polish."

Stepping sullenly out of the silver flats, I kicked them in Lexie's direction. They didn't even look dirty, which was kind of odd, considering all the dirt, grass, and clover they'd stomped through. Taking a seat at the table, I slouched down till my chin touched wood.

Bronwyn climbed up a stool to join me. "Lexie, dear, go fetch the sandwiches," she ordered. "I'm not sure how much longer our Lil will be awake."

Lexie put down the shoe she was polishing and scrambled out the front door.

"So, exactly how am I supposed to catch this pisky?" I asked Bronwyn. "Don't tell me I have to figure that out myself too."

"No, but if I ever had to sleep in the woods overnight, I'd do what any sane leprechaun does--leave out shiny trinkets and clover ale and keep one eye open till morning. If a pisky happens upon you while you're sleeping, your only hope against mischief is a gift it finds acceptable. Piskies are tetchy about their territories, and you don't want to get on one's bad side. Which is why trapping one is ..." Bronwyn shook off the end of that sentence. "Cain will be there to guide you," she said with forced cheerfulness. "And if ever a leprechaun was born as wily as a pisky, Cain Green is the one."

"He's a good shot anyway," I said, remembering his feat

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with, the doughnut hole. "I'm not sure about that mustache, though. It makes him look kind of crazy."

Bronwyn smiled. "Crazy when it suits him. Luck was with you when he won the shooting, Lil. If anyone can trap a pisky, it's our Cain."

The sun was low in the cottage's back windows when a violent pounding startled me to my bare feet. I shoved them into Gigi's flats as I ran to open the door. In the closet, I'd found some jeans and a shirt that fit me pretty well. I'd tried on Gigi's sneakers, too, but the silver flats had already stretched to be the most comfortable shoes there.

Cain was waiting on the doorstep, a knapsack slung over one shoulder and his bow and quiver on the other. "Well, then," he said, hiking up a belt weighed low with leather pouches. "Time to go, isn't it?"

"I guess," I said uneasily. "Except I still don't know where we're going."

"The woods, o' course! That's where piskies live, isn't it?"

I remembered what Bronwyn had said about sleeping in the woods overnight. "We're not sleeping outside, are we? Because I camped out with my mom once, and the ground was all rocky, and a spider bit my eye, and it swelled up till I could barely see."

"By all that glitters, girl!" he exclaimed, hiking up his belt again. "Are you a Green or a grumble?"

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"Um ... huh?"

"Grab your things! Let's get hunting!"

I stared blankly before comprehending that I should have packed a bag. What did a person take on a pisky hunt?

"Just a minute." Leaving Cain at the door, I rushed back into the cottage and grabbed the pillow off the bed. I'd learned at least that much from my previous camping experience.

"I guess we ought to bring some food," I said, glancing around. Bronwyn had cleared the table when she left.

"Got it." Cain patted his knapsack.

I found it hard to believe his little bag held enough for two, but I didn't have a better idea. I stuffed some candles and matches into the pillow's case, then dropped the comb in, too, even though my hair was too short to need it. There just wasn't much to choose from, and I wanted to take
something
.

Cain was halfway down the path, impatient to get going. I started after him, then skidded to a stop, struck by a last-minute inspiration:
It never hurts to take a sweater
.

Pulling Gigi's old sweater off its hanger, I shrugged it on and tied its knitted belt. The heavy, cream-colored yarn felt like wearing one of her hugs. Slipping my hands into the deep front pockets, I found a surprise: an unopened roll of Pep-O-Mint Life Savers. "Look!" I sighed with a nostalgic smile.

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Gigi had loved peppermint, stashing half-eaten rolls, tins, and bags all over her house. I didn't like the stuff myself, so whenever I'd visited, she'd have a supply of butter rum for me. I would never eat this last peppermint roll, but I'd keep it for its memories of her.

Reassured, I slipped the candy back into my pocket and ran to catch up with Cain.

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Chapter 8

"It's getting too dark!" I whined. I hated being so wimpy, but we'd been hiking a couple of hours, and the sun had gone all the way down. Not only that, but Cain walked ridiculously fast for such a short guy. I could barely keep up with him, stumbling over rocks and roots in the dark. "When are we going to stop?"

"Top o' this ridge ought to do it. And by all means, lass, keep to thrashing about like a wounded elephant. Every creature for ten leagues knows we're out here now."

A low-hanging branch slapped me in the face. Shrieking,

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I flailed through its foliage until I realized I wasn't actually under attack.

"You
can
take a thing too far," Cain said dryly.

"I can't see! I have to light one of my candles."

"It'll just blow out, won't it? That is, if you don't set the whole woods alight. The moon will be out soon enough."

"How does that help me? I'm going to break a leg
now
."

Cain exhaled impatiently somewhere near my knees. "How do humans get through a day?"

"Mostly in daylight," I retorted.

The woods went totally silent.
Of all the times to think of a comeback!
I berated myself, horrified.
If he gets mad and abandons me here ...

And then a hearty laugh boomed out of the darkness. "In daylight, indeed! Well parried, lass."

"So ... um ... Should I light that candle?" I ventured.

A green light blazed up on the forest floor. Cain's wide mustache and tall hat were thrown into eerie relief as he straightened up over a miniature camping lantern.

"You had a lantern all this time?" I demanded. "Why didn't you break it out before?"

"The fuel only lasts a wee bit, doesn't it? I was saving it for something important."

"Breaking my neck isn't important?"

Cain gave me a pitying look and struck off through the woods, leaving me to pick up the lantern and follow. He

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seemed to see fine without it, quickly outstriding its small circle of light while I poked along cautiously behind him.

At first I was glad just to be able to see again. Then the shadows behind every rock, trunk, and branch started looking creepy. They moved with each swing of the lantern, making me even more nervous.

If I
do
catch a pisky, I'll wish for it to send me home!
I thought, my first hint of actual enthusiasm for the project encouraging me to walk faster.

Somewhere in the distance, an animal howled. "Cain?" I called, freezing in place. He didn't answer. "Cain!"

Branches stretched toward me like bony fingers. The creature howled again, closer.

"Cain!"

A light winked on up ahead. I sprinted toward it, vaulting rocks and roots, my lantern swinging wildly. In a sheltered nook against a cracked boulder, Cain was building a campfire.

"You're an odd one, aren't you?" he remarked as I collapsed, panting, in the dirt. "I guess it's to be expected. Most initiates come to trial with the old keeper to guide them. You're having to learn it all the hard way."

"Yes!" I said, amazed that the only one who got it was the dude with the Yosemite Sam 'stache. "Everyone expects me to know everything and no one tells me squat!"

"Well, you're lucky I won the shooting today, because

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catching a spotted pisky is no small thing. I'm one o' very few living who knows how it's done."

Relief swelled my lungs. "You do? Have you done it before?"

"Well now, not exactly. Bit illegal, isn't it? But tales get passed down over ale--and I've been listening my whole life. Piskies have wild magic, Lil, magic that gets a body's attention."

"Aren't leprechauns magical too?"

Cain sighed. "Not all o' us. Scarce one or two in a generation is born with the touch, and usually only enough to handle a magic mirror or a tricky bit o' cobbling. Master cobblers, leprechauns are, but the last great magician was Donal Green. Ach, he was a mighty one, Lil--created the keeps and security spells for all five clans. But even Donal was no match for a pisky. Leprechaun magic, see, it's all connected to gold. Only gold bows to our bidding. But piskies! Aside from not being able to break existing spells, their magic is wicked strong. Strong and dangerous."

I couldn't say I found that reassuring. "So why are you helping me? I don't have much choice, but you didn't have to sign up for this."

"Plenty o' honor to be had, isn't there? Plus, if you succeed, you'll be keeper. That's a powerful position, lass. Lots o' gold involved." I couldn't tell if the glint in his eyes was firelight or gold lust. "I'll help you now, and you'll owe me later."

"Owe you what?" I asked warily.

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Spreading his hands, Cain smiled sheepishly. "Can it hurt to have friends in high places, Lil? A body can't have too many friends."

"Right." Not that I'd know that personally. "So how do we catch this pisky?"

Cain opened his knapsack and took out five small bottles. Uncorking one for himself, he offered another to me. "Clover ale? Three should be enough."

"I'll pass."

With a shrug, Cain opened a pouch on his belt and removed a thin coin with a hole through its center. Gold glinted in the firelight as he flipped it over the flames to me. "There's a dymer," he said. "Piskies crave our shiny things even more than our ale. I've got some buttons too."

Plunging his hand into a different pouch, Cain brought out a handful of the ornate silver buttons the leprechauns wore on their coats. "Can't understand for the life o' me why a creature would choose silver over gold, but these are piskies we're talking about. Their magic may be fearsome, but nobody said they were smart." He handed me the silver. "Place this bait around, right? Make it look tempting-like."

I used the little lantern to find good spots for the buttons--one on a rock, two on a log, one balanced in the crook of a tree--before something occurred to me: "If piskies have so much magic, why do they care about

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stealing buttons? Can't they just conjure up whatever they want?"

"For all I know, they can, Lil. But piskies never use magic for themselves--some sort o' code they have. Folk say that's what makes them so tetchy when they have to grant a wish. Now hurry up with that bait."

At Cain's suggestion, I set the dymer on a rock by the fire, where it reflected the flames in an eye-catching way. I placed the bottles of clover ale at the corners of our campsite.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now we lie down and wait, don't we? If you're meant to be keeper, a pisky will show."

"Okay, but ... When it does, how do I catch it?"

Cain gave me an incredulous look, then burst out laughing again. "By gold and by glory, girl! You've got two hands, don't you?"

"I'm just supposed to grab it? I thought we were using a trap!"

His eyebrows drew together like a second, smaller mustache. "A
trap?
You're going to ask this pisky for a wish, lass. How angry do you want to make it?"

"Yes, but ..." I flexed my empty hands in the firelight. They looked small and helpless. I
knew
they weren't coordinated. "It's just that I'm not very quick. Or strong. Or brave."

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"Brave just means doing what you'd rather not. We all get pushed there sometime. Now lie down and pretend to sleep."

Cain stretched out in the dirt. Reluctantly, I did the same on the opposite side of the fire. I had no blanket, but at least I had a pillow. I didn't expect I'd be sleeping anyway. The thought of catching a pisky with my bare hands had me wide awake.

I hope they're slow
, I thought, wondering what piskies looked like.
Tinker Bell would be good. All frilly-skirted and sweet, maybe with a cute magic wand
.

I wanted to ask Cain, but he was already passed out on his back, his "pretend" snoring a little too convincing for comfort. The fire gradually died to orange coals. I curled up on my side, eyes fixed on the gold coin, with only Gigi's sweater and adrenaline to keep me from feeling the cold.

Just like Tink
, I reassured myself, repeating it over and over. I wondered if Kendall had gone to see that princess movie without me. No way her mother hadn't filled her in on that mess on my front porch, so maybe Lola had given in and gone with her.

It's not like she'll want to see it with me now anyway
, I thought miserably.
She's sure to be mad at me for ditching her
. Unless I was totally flattering myself. Kendall probably didn't even miss me.

I missed her, though. And I missed my mom worse. I even missed our creaky rented house and stupid Providence.