Green (14 page)

If he gets in trouble, it will be my fault
.

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"How long have you been keeper?" Kylie asked. "Not long, or we'd have heard of it."

"Oh, I'm not even"--caution jumped in again--"used to being keeper yet." If Ludlow was pretending I was already keeper, I probably should too.

"And your trial, was it hard?" Kylie asked.

"Not really," I lied. "Was yours?"

"Ach!" Kylie groaned. "The worst! What? Why are you laughing?"

"'Ach, aye,'" I imitated. "You talk like a leprechaun!"

He rolled his eyes. "You'll pick it up too," he warned. "You can't help it after a while."

"It's not a big deal." I wanted to tell him it was adorable, but I didn't have the nerve.

He smiled, and the sunlight edging his shaggy hair framed his face like a halo. "Can I tell you a secret?"

I nodded, pushing down the guilt of not sharing mine.

"Beryl and his men were up all night trying to figure out why you're here. Even our council is suspicious of your visit, but I totally understand. It gets weird, doesn't it, being the only human for miles?"

"So
weird," I agreed.

"It'll be great having a friend so near, and us nearly the same age too. How old
are
you, Lily? Fourteen?"

"Um, just about." Mathematically speaking, that wasn't

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a lie, and if I told him I'd just turned thirteen, he might have guessed I wasn't keeper yet.

Worse, he might have thought I was too young for him.

"Are you going home soon?" he asked. "Back to Providence, I mean?"

"The second I can."

Kylie's face fell, then creased with confusion.

"But, you know, not right away," I backtracked. "And not before breakfast, for sure. When do we eat around here?"

Kylie gauged the angle of the sun. "Right about the time we'll get back, I'd say. And wait till you see the feast they're putting on in your honor!"

"Really?"

"Just wait," he promised, pulling me to my feet. "Do you like cheese and doughnuts, Lily?"

"I don't know why we couldn't do this in my room," I complained, swiping at the swarm of gnats dive-bombing my face. "It's way more comfortable there." After getting up so early, hiking for miles, and then stuffing myself with brunch, the last thing I'd needed was another long walk, but Balthazar had insisted we all meet up in the woods behind the Greens' cottage.

"The Scarlets have spies," Cain reminded me, glancing

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about as if one might be hiding behind any bush. "Best not to plot in their own hall, isn't it?"

I shot Balthazar an annoyed look. If he had explained it like that, I would have come more willingly. Taking a seat on a mossy rock, I waited for him to get on with it.

He laced his fingers over his round belly. "Lil needs our help," he announced, gazing from Cain to Fizz to Ludlow. "It's our duty as her brothers to make sure she passes this test."

"What?" I objected. "I thought you weren't allowed to help me!"

"Not directly," he admitted. "But there are--"

"Lilybet is right," Ludlow interrupted. "Our interference would only invalidate her test."

Balthazar gave Ludlow a dangerous look. "Heed me now, pup, and believe I'm serious. I've had all the 'diplomacy' I intend to hear from you. I was a guard before you were born, I know things about Scarlets that you've never dreamed, and I know a bitty loophole when one is staring me in the face."

"Loophole?" Fizz was standing on a fallen tree, minding the dogs through a gap in the woods, but that got his attention.

It got mine too. "What kind of loophole?"

"Well now, Lil, I'm glad you asked." Reaching into his coat, Balthazar pulled out a handful of fine gold chain wound up like a ball of yarn.

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"Binding gold!" Ludlow gasped.

Cain gave one end of his 'stache an uncertain twist. "Bit o' a stretch, isn't it? What are you brewing, Balty?"

"We can't help Lil break into the keep. But we can help her with Wee Kylie."

A slow, appreciative smile crinkled Cain's green eyes. Ludlow swayed in his boots as if he might pass out.

I stood up and glared. "Are you saying you want to tie up Kylie with binding gold?"

"Brilliant, yes?" Balthazar asked smugly.

"No! You're not using that stuff on Kylie!
You're
not going anywhere near him!"

"Praises be!" Ludlow exclaimed. "The lass has more sense than her advisors."

"Come up with another plan," I demanded.

"We could try luring him off," Cain suggested. "Did he show you where his keep is, Lil?"

"Of course not." And if he had, I wouldn't have shared that information in front of Balthazar. "Besides, even if I knew where the keep was and Kylie wasn't around to stop me, how am I supposed to get inside? How am I supposed to carry out gold when I'm not even keeper yet? You guys want to help me? How about some help with
that?"

Fizz met my challenging gaze with an apologetic shrug. "I'm a dog skipper, Lil. If dogs come into it, I'm your lad. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm not much use."

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At least he admitted it. I turned my glare on Ludlow.

"One thing I
can
say," Ludlow offered, squirming, "is that once the stolen gold is in your hands, you've passed the test and become our keeper. We'll celebrate formally later, of course, but you'll be able to exit the inner keep with your prize."

"And in?" I asked Balthazar. "How am I supposed to get in?"

"Well now, Lil, let's work this problem together, one step at a time. No point rushing, is there?"

"That's the first sensible thing you've said," Ludlow told him. "My advice is to do nothing at all for the first month. Lull the Scarlets into a false sense of security."

"Are you crazy?" I cried. "I can't stay here a
month!"
I turned to Cain, my last hope.

"Be certain the Scarlets are wondering why we've really come," he said. "And they'll wonder harder the longer we stay."

"They
are
wondering," I confirmed. "Kylie told me so."

Balthazar staggered. "What else did Wee Kylie tell you?"

"Just ... stuff. Nothing I want to share with you."

Balthazar's cheeks flushed purple. For a second, I worried I'd gone too far, that he would retaliate somehow.

Then Cain burst out laughing. "Let the lass do it her own way. It's her test, isn't it?"

"B-b-but--" Balthazar sputtered.

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"Can't force ourselves where we're not wanted, can we? Just remember, Lil: we're here when you need us."

At that moment, I couldn't imagine ever needing any of them. Not one of them had had a single useful suggestion. Tossing my head in frustration, I stalked off into the woods.

"Lil! Come back here!" Balthazar ordered.

I didn't even slow down.

All morning, hanging out with Kylie, I'd managed to keep the real reason for my visit mostly out of my head. But now the enormity of my third test hit me like that whirling house from Kansas, squashing me under its weight.

If I didn't steal the gold, I'd lose my right to be keeper and every memory of Gigi.

If I did steal the gold, I'd be betraying Kylie, a really nice guy I already liked. A really nice guy who--to make things worse--had no place else to go.

And what if I try but the Scarlets catch me?

I didn't even want to think about that.

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Chapter 12

I stamped through the woods for a long time, until I was dirty and sweaty and thoroughly lost. I knew I ought to stop, holler for help, and pray one of the Greens had followed me, but I kept on anyway, too upset to admit I'd messed up.

And then I heard the river.

Ha!
I thought, feeling vindicated.
I'll just follow the river to the bridge. Then I can take the road back to town
.

No help from leprechauns required.

Pushing my way through a thicket, I headed for the sound of water. The upper edge of the riverbank appeared

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and then, as visible as a stop sign in his red pants, Kylie. He was throwing stones with his back toward me, unaware of my presence. Sunlight glinted in his light brown hair as he sidearmed a rock into space and watched it fall to a river I was still too far back to see.

My first impulse was to run out to meet him, but I didn't want him to see me all grubby. Before I could lose myself in the trees, Kylie turned and spotted me.

"Lily!" he cried, lighting up. I barely had time to swipe at my face with my sweater before he was two feet away.

"Hi!" he said happily. "What are you doing out here?"

"Just ... you know. Walking," I said lamely.

"Walking?" He took a closer look at my face. "Have you been crying?"

"No." I tried and failed to meet his gaze, picturing dirty tracks down my cheeks. "Maybe just a teeny bit."

"But why?" he asked worriedly. "Have we done something wrong? I know your room's a closet, but it practically never gets used. Hey!" he said, grabbing my hands. "How about
I
stay there and you can take my cottage? It has a shower and this great porch swing."

His being so sweet only made me feel worse. I hated the Greens all over again for making me steal from him. My throat tightened over an achy lump. "The room is fine," I forced out.

"Then what's the matter? Tell me."

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"I just ... don't want to be here right now. Not
here
," I added as his face fell. "Just ... here. You know?"

"Not really. Unless ... are you feeling homesick, Lily?"

"Yes," I said, latching on to the perfect excuse. "I really miss my mom."

Kylie blinked a couple of times, baffled. "Then just go see her. Go and come back. What could be easier?"

I felt my mouth drop open, trying to catch a good answer, but I had already said too much. With a sick, sinking feeling, I watched understanding dawn in Kylie's wide eyes.

"You can't!" he gasped. "But that doesn't make sense. Not unless ..." His eyes went even wider. "You're not keeper yet!"

"No! No, I am!" I could tell he knew I was lying. "I mean,
practically,"
I amended. "All but the formalities."

"Your ambassador told Beryl you were keeper. You were introduced to the council as keeper! You told me yourself that your trial was easy. Why would you lie to me, Lily?"

"I didn't want to." The way he was looking at me broke my heart. I wanted to tell him I wasn't a bad person, that any lies I had told were not my fault. Except the whole time I was thinking that, my mind was spinning with
new
lies, ones Kylie might believe. Because even though I wanted to, I couldn't tell him the truth. "I can't tell you why. It's kind of a test."

"A test?" Kylie dropped my hands in shock. "Not a
keeper
test? You're here for a keeper test, aren't you?"

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I needed to deny it--convincingly and right away--but the woods had started spinning so I could barely stay on my feet. "Kylie," I begged. "Kylie, please. You can't tell."

But of course he was going to tell. He had to. Every single precious memory of Gigi ... all about to be gone forever. My legs collapsed, dropping me to the clover.

"Lily, relax," he said. "I won't tell."

I hugged my knees to my chest, not daring to believe him. Crouching beside me, Kylie put his arm around my shoulders.

"Lily! Breathe," he directed. "So you haven't passed all your tests yet. So what? Your clan obviously believes you will or they wouldn't have dared pass you off as keeper."

I shook my head. He had no idea what my clan was capable of.

"Come on. Smile!" he pleaded. "I'm not going to tell, okay? If you fail your trial, the Greens will just have to bring in someone else, and not everyone comes to their clans as young as we did, Lily. You're a little funny-looking, but I like you. What if your replacement is some middle-aged nut-job?"

Funny-looking?
I lifted a stricken face only to find Kylie grinning. He was teasing me! My heart did this weird, hopeful skip, and even in the middle of that totally called-for meltdown, I couldn't help wondering: was he kidding about liking me too?

"What test are you on?" Kylie asked. "Two? No, wait. It

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