Goldie leaps over the fence and runs into the town.

Jonah, Prince, and I jog up to the metal barrier.

Another sign on the fence reads: PEOPLE ONLY. ROYALLY SIGNED BY THE KING OF BEBEC.

People only? That’s weird. Although maybe the royal family doesn’t want the bears prowling around the town. I can kind of understand that.

“What about Prince?” Jonah asks defensively. “Is he not allowed inside?”

“Maybe no one will notice him,” I say, scooping up Prince and cuddling him against my chest.

“Yeah,” Jonah says, offering me a boost over the fence. “Let’s go get your watch back.”

The town is cute and old-timey. The buildings are made of white stone, and there are shops lining the cobblestone streets. Then I see, among the crowds of people, a girl with long blond hair.

“There’s Goldie!” I cry. “She just ran into that alleyway between those shops!”

Jonah puts down his skateboard and gets on. He goes zooming along the cobblestone road. Well, more like bumping along. But he’s a lot faster than me, especially since I’m carrying Prince. I follow as fast as I can.

And finally, we round into the alleyway, and there she is.

Woof! Prince barks. He leaps out of my arms and runs right in front of Goldie, blocking her path.

“Hey!” she shouts. “You’re not even supposed to be in the town, you gross dog! Guards, there’s a gross dog here! Dog! Dog!”

“That’s not a nice way to speak to Prince,” Jonah counters, hopping off his skateboard. He scoops up Prince. “Besides, you’re a thief! Guards, there’s a thief here! Thief! Thief!”

“Shush,” Goldie says, lowering her voice. “What are you talking about?” she adds, but her face is bright red.

“Did you steal my watch?” I ask her.

“No,” she says, lifting her chin. But her face is still red and she won’t meet my eyes.

“I think you’re lying,” I say.

“I …” She hesitates. “Fine! I did.”

She admitted it! I can’t believe it!

She stands there. Not moving.

Is she kidding me? “Can I have it back?”

She sighs. “Fine!” She reaches into her pocket and pulls out my watch. She tosses it to me. “Happy?”

Luckily, I catch it. “Um, yeah. It’s MY watch!” I look at the time as I put it back on. One A.M. at home.

“Well, now you have it back,” she says.

“Aren’t you going to apologize?” Jonah asks.

“Why should I?” Goldie huffs.

Do we need to review the facts again? I shake my head and say, “You literally stole my watch off my wrist. And then ran away. You should apologize.”

“Whatever,” she huffs. “I’m sorry. But I had no choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” I say carefully. “Do you want to tell us what’s going on? Why did you steal my watch? Why were you in the bears’ house? They didn’t really take your book, did they?”

Her shoulders slump. “No,” she says. “They didn’t. It’s a long story. You probably don’t care.”

I do my best to push away my feelings of annoyance. Why is Goldie being so difficult?

“We do care,” I say. “Tell us. We want to help. For real.”

Goldie takes a deep breath. “My mom died when I was little, and I live with my dad. But the king of Bebec put my dad in jail. To free him, I have to give the king a bag of gold.”

“A bag of gold?” I repeat. “That’s a lot of gold.”

“It depends on the size of the bag,” Jonah says. “Ziploc or duffel?”

“I don’t know what those are,” Goldie says, frowning at Jonah. “But everyone knows that a bag of gold is one hundred gold coins.”

“Right … everyone totally knows that,” Jonah says, nodding quickly.

“Why do you have to give the king any gold?” I ask. “He must be super rich. He’s a king!”

“My dad worked as King Ned’s assistant,” Goldie explains. “And when my dad was at the palace one day, he accidentally knocked over a statue of the king. It broke into pieces. The king was mad. Really mad. He put my dad in jail and said he can only go free if he gives him a bag of gold to pay him back for the statue.”

“But it was an accident,” I say. “That seems kind of wrong.”

“I agree,” Goldie says with a tired sigh. “But that doesn’t change the fact that my dad’s been in jail for two weeks, and he could be there forever if I don’t come up with the gold.”

She looks so sad. Jonah and I exchange a glance. It’s obvious that Goldie isn’t lying this time.

“The king doesn’t sound very nice,” I say.

“Oh, he’s not,” Goldie says. “King Ned is awful to everyone. My dad only took the job because he had to. The king saw him in town and liked his shirt and declared him his assistant.”

“Just because he liked his shirt?” I ask.

Goldie nods. “It was a really cool shirt. It had blue and green stripes and polka dots …” She shakes her head. “Beside the point. My dad didn’t want the job. All the king’s assistants end up in jail. But no one refuses the king. My dad used to be a carpenter.”

“Is there a queen?” I ask. “Is she as bad as the king is?”

Goldie shrugs. “She’s pretty quiet. She wasn’t always a royal. When the king gives his speeches from the grand palace tower, she just stands beside him and listens like everyone else. Sometimes I think she forgets she’s the queen.”

“So she can’t help us,” I say.

“No,” Goldie says, and covers her face with her hands. “What am I going to do? I’m running out of food, and options. I know stealing is wrong. I never want to hurt anyone. But I’m only taking stuff to sell for food and save up the coins for my dad. And I’ve mostly been stealing from the animals. That’s allowed in Bebec.”

“Seriously?” Jonah asks.

Goldie nods. “The law in the kingdom is that you can’t steal from people. But you can steal from the animals. King Ned doesn’t care about the animals at all.”

“The forest isn’t part of Bebec?” I ask.

“Oh, it is,” Goldie responds. “Bebec is divided into three sections. The forest, where the animals live. The town, where the people live. And the palace, where the royal family and their servants live.”

She turns and points to the huge gray castle in the distance.

“Do all the animals live in houses?” Jonah asks.

Goldie laughs. “Don’t be silly. Just the bears. And the foxes.”

“What about dogs?” I ask, looking at Prince.

“Now you’re really being ridiculous,” she says. “Ha! We don’t even have dogs in Bebec! They all moved to the neighboring kingdom, Montario.”

Prince looks offended.

“Anyway, I hadn’t been to the Bear family house before,” Goldie goes on. “I slid a note under their door this morning saying that a local store had honey. That way, I knew they’d leave. But still I found nothing!”

Jonah’s eyes widen. “You faked a honey sale to get them out of the house?”

She shrugs. “I was desperate.”

“Did you steal anything from them?” I ask.

“No,” she says. “I didn’t have a chance.”

That’s good at least.

“I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” I say. Poor Goldie. Now that she’s opened up to us a little, I’m starting to like her more. And it’s awful that she’s cold and hungry, and desperate to get her dad out of jail.

She kicks at the cobblestone in the alleyway. “You said you’d help me if I needed it. And I do need help. So are you going to help me or not?”

“I …” I look at Jonah.

He wrinkles his nose.

“You’re not going to help me? Fine!” Goldie snaps. “Then don’t waste my time!” She turns and marches off, her curly hair bouncing. Prince barks after her.

“Why don’t you want to help her?” I whisper to Jonah.

He twists his lip. “How do we know we can trust her? She stole your watch!”

True. “But she stole it to sell it for gold,” I point out. “To get her dad out of jail.”

Jonah shrugs. “Maybe. Or maybe she’s lying again.”

Usually Jonah’s the one who trusts people and I’m the one who needs convincing. “I don’t get the feeling she’s lying this time. Why would she make up a story like that?”

“Uh, to get gold?”

“But if her dad is in jail, we should help get him out.” I think about Maryrose, trapped in our mirror. How would she feel if we didn’t help someone who was trapped?

“I guess,” Jonah says. “Although we could get stuck in this story forever.”

“We’ve never gotten stuck anywhere forever before,” I say. “Although the mirror has never been broken before.”

“It isn’t broken,” Jonah says. “It’s just … cracked.”

Suuuuuure.

“How do we help, anyway?” Jonah asks. “Are we going to help her steal gold?”

“No,” I say. “Of course not. But help her find gold, maybe. Are you okay with that?”

Jonah thinks for a minute, then nods.

“Okay,” I say. “Let’s catch up to her again before we lose her for good.”

With Prince tucked in Jonah’s arms, we hurry through the crowded streets until we spot Goldie walking along a row of shops. She’s staring into a grocery store window with longing.

“Goldie!” I call.

She looks over and frowns. “You two again? If you’re not going to help, just go.”

“We are going to help,” I tell her. “Promise.”

Goldie eyes us up and down. She seems to be thinking things over.

“I guess it can’t hurt,” she finally says. “It’s not like you can make things any worse.”

Thanks for the vote of support. “Why don’t we go sit down somewhere to brainstorm ideas?” I suggest.

Goldie yawns. “Good idea. Should we go to your house?”

Jonah and I exchange a glance. “Um … why don’t we go to yours?” I ask.

“Because you think I’m going to steal from you?” she asks huffily.

“No,” I say. “Maybe. But that’s not why. We just, um, live very far away. Can we go to your house?”

“Fine,” she says a little grumpily. “Come on.”