Five minutes had passed since the leprechaun had appeared—and disappeared—and they were still in shock. Well, perhaps shock was too strong a word. After all, they had seen many strange and even supernatural things in Spooksville. But they had never lost a chocolate cake before.
“Are we sure we saw what we thought we saw?” Cindy asked. “Maybe it was just a kid dressed up like a leprechaun.”
“No kid could move that fast,” Watch said.
“Or be that ugly,” Sally added.
“I thought he was kind of cute,” Cindy said.
“You would,” Sally said.
“It doesn’t matter whether he was cute or ugly,” Adam interrupted. “The fact is he was a leprechaun and we have to ask ourselves what leprechauns are doing in Spooksville.”
“We have everything else,” Watch said. “Why shouldn’t we have leprechauns?”
“But why would he steal our cake?” Cindy asked.
“Probably because he was hungry,” Sally said.
“I think Cindy means, why does he care about a cake?” Adam said. “Aren’t leprechauns only worried about guarding their treasure, their pots of gold?”
“Their treasure can be anything: an old shoe, a ring, a hat,” Watch said. “The main thing is that the treasure is special to them, and that they guard it with their lives.”
“So, you’re saying we now have a leprechaun with a chocolate cake for a treasure?” Adam asked.
“It looks like it,” Watch said.
“Since when did you become an expert on leprechauns?” Sally asked
Watch shrugged. “It’s useful in Spooksville to know a little about every kind of supernatural creature.”
Cindy pouted. “But I want to have a piece of my cake. I made it to eat.”
Sally laughed. “How can you be so attached to a cake?”
Adam stood. “I want to find this leprechaun, to talk to him.”
Watch got up too. “Leprechauns are impossible to find unless they want to be found. You saw how fast he moved. He could be miles from here by now.”
But Cindy was adamant that they go after him. “He won’t move so fast with a big cake in his hands.”
They entered the woods where the leprechaun had disappeared and found a path of sorts that was heavily overgrown with briars. They hadn’t gone far when they were in deep shadow. Here the temperature was at least twenty degrees lower than it had been in the bright sun of the meadow. They were able to check it on a thermometer on one of Watch’s four watches. In fact, it was while they were doing so that a leprechaun suddenly appeared in a tree above them, reached down, and grabbed that watch.
The creature was gone before they could move.
Watch was upset, which was rare for him. “He has our cake. He didn’t need to steal one of my watches.”
“That wasn’t the same leprechaun,” Sally said.
“How do you know?” Adam asked.
“He was older and had a wart on the end of his nose,” Sally said.
“Then there are at least two of them,” Cindy said. “There could even be dozens of them.”
“Or thousands,” Sally said darkly. “This could be the prelude to an invasion by leprechauns.”
Adam was concerned. “Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to chase after them. The forest is thick here. They could come at us from all sides. Maybe we should get back to our bikes and go for help.”
The gang agreed. They headed back in the direction of the meadow. When they got there they discovered that their blanket and picnic baskets were also gone. Now it was Sally’s turn to be angry.
“Those horrible little creatures,” she said. “That was one of my mom’s best blankets.”
“How can you be so attached to a piece of cloth?” Cindy asked.
“Shut up,” Sally snapped.
“Quiet, both of you,” Adam interrupted before the girls could get going. “We better get back to the road as fast as possible. We’ll be lucky if our bikes are still there.”
Of course, their bikes were gone. The leprechauns had more than a few treasures now, and the gang had to wonder if the creatures would ever give them back.
“But we have to try to get our bikes back,” Sally said. “Walking home will take us the rest of the day.”
Adam spoke to Watch. “In all you’ve read about leprechauns, are they ever described as dangerous?” he asked.
Watch scratched his head. “They can get pretty mean if you steal their treasure. But they’re usually so small, and have so little magic, that a human can handle one.”
“But what about a dozen?” Cindy asked, worried.
“If you’re scared you can stay here and guard the dirt,” Sally suggested.
Cindy scowled at her but didn’t say anything. Adam paced the spot where their bikes had been. “If we go back into the woods,” he said, “we might lose more stuff.”
“What else have we got to lose?” Sally asked.
“They might take another of my watches,” Watch said.
“Or our clothes,” Cindy said.
Sally shook her head. “They’re not getting our clothes off.”
“We don’t know what they’re capable of,” Adam warned. “There’s got to be some risk. But if we walk back to town now, we know we’ll be safe.”
“But for how long?” Sally asked. “What if they’re working their way down into town. I say we confront them here and now and show them how tough we are.”
After another five minutes of bickering, they decided they wouldn’t hike all the way back to town without trying to get their bikes back. They figured the leprechauns wouldn’t be able to move around very fast with the bikes in the thick woods. Of course, they had no idea how long their bikes had been gone. They may have been the first items stolen.
They hiked back toward the meadow and then moved off in the direction the original leprechaun had disappeared. Soon they were deep in the trees again, unable to find a path as they pushed their way through hanging branches and overgrown bushes. Nettles scratched at their faces and arms, and although it was cool in the shade, they began to sweat.
“I wish they had at least left us the lemonade,” Sally grumbled.
“They’re scavengers, that’s for sure,” Adam said.
A half hour later, when they were pretty sure they were lost, they wandered out of the woods and stumbled upon a cave. It wasn’t a normal cave, though. Dug into the side of a low rock hill, the opening was lined with cut stones. There was no question about it—the place had been built.
“Do leprechauns dig into the earth?” Adam asked Watch.
Watch studied the carved stones. “Not in any of the books I’ve read. But I’m pretty sure leprechauns didn’t have anything to do with making this cave. These are almost the size of boulders—a leprechaun wouldn’t have been able to lift them.”
“What are you saying?” Sally asked. “Who do you think made this cave?”
“I don’t know,” Watch said. “But these rocks were recently carved. This cave hasn’t been here long.”
“We were getting nowhere wandering around in the woods,” Adam suggested. “I say we go inside and have a look.”
“But we don’t have flashlights,” Sally argued.
“You can stay here if you’re scared,” Cindy replied.
Watch peered into the cave. “I see a faint yellow light. There might be torches of some kind in there.”
It was finally decided that they’d enter the cave. It didn’t take long for them to make it to the light source. There were lamps, carved from stone with dark candles inside. They were arranged neatly along the sides of the cave, every thirty feet, and gave off enough light to see by. Watch mentioned that leprechauns ordinarily didn’t like fire.
“Then another kind of creature created this cave,” Adam figured.
“It looks that way,” Watch agreed.
“I love Spooksville,” Sally said sarcastically. “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the woods.”
The tunnel continued on in a relatively straight line for about a quarter of a mile, then abruptly it opened up into a vast cavern. Here there were many burning lamps, running water, and the sound of hard stone being shaped by hand tools. The cavern was far from empty.
The place was filled with dwarfs.