Ali spoke to the leprechaun. “Do you know another way to the top besides hiking up the slope in front of us?”
Paddy hesitated. “No safe way. No, Missy.”
“Sounds like an evasive answer,” Steve muttered.
Before Ali could press the leprechaun further, Farble spoke.
“Cave,” he said.
Ali turned. “What cave?”
Farble gestured up the mountain. “Cave. Dark.”
“You know of a cave that leads to the top of the mountain?” Ali asked.
Farble nodded. “Cave. Sleep.”
“You have slept in the cave during the day when the sun is out?” Ali asked.
Farble nodded. “Dark. Nice.”
Ali stared at the leprechaun. “You know about this cave.” It was not a question.
Paddy shook his head. “No, Missy.”
“Paddy!”
He was a mass of nerves. “Cave is filled with dwarves! Worse than elves! They hate leprechauns! Cut off the head of any they see!”
“Have you been in this cave?” she demanded. “The truth!”
“No, Missy. Only heard of. But dwarves are there, truly.”
“Is this cave like one long tunnel? Or does it have different branches?” Ali asked.
“A vast cave it is, Missy. A place to get lost in. Better to walk outside in the sun, risk the elves.”
Ali was thinking. “But if it is a vast cave, we might be able to avoid the dwarves.”
Paddy took her hand, pleaded. “Missy, listen to Paddy! In the dark, dark creatures have power.”
She caught his meaning. “There are dark fairies in there?”
He nodded miserably. “ ’Tis where they live.”
“The ones we fought last night?”
“Aye. Paddy does not want to see Missy die in there.”
“I’m not going in there,” Cindy said. “I had enough of them last night.”
“It doesn’t sound like my kind of place,” Steve agreed.
Ali looked at Karl. “What do you think?”
He shrugged. “It has advantages. If the elves are going to chase us up the slope, it would be a nice way to disappear. But . . .”
“But it sounds dangerous,” Ali said.
“Yes,” Karl agreed.
Ali spoke to the leprechaun. “Would the elves follow us into the cave?”
Paddy seemed resigned to the fact that they had a crazy leader. He spoke in a defeated voice. “Elves do not like caves. Elves smarter than Missy.”
Ali turned to Farble. “Show us this cave. I’ll decide what to do when we get there.”
“You’ll decide?” Cindy said.
“Our vote doesn’t count anymore?” Steve asked.
Ali hesitated. “I just want to keep us safe is all.”
“You just want to get to the Yanti,” Cindy corrected her.
Ali did not reply. The Yanti had begun to obsess her. Was it a mysterious object or a secret doorway? After talking to Nemi again, she still was not sure. Yet she imagined it was something she could hold in her hands, maybe even wear on her body. She hoped it was made of gold and inlaid with beautiful jewels.
Yet her longing for it surprised her. She was not normally one who got attached to stuff. She never wore jewelry at home or at school. There was simply something about the Yanti—just the sound of its name—that drew her. Even talking to Nemi had not freed her of the desire for it.
But perhaps Cindy was right and her goal had become more important to her than the lives of her friends. She hoped that was not the case. She stared at her friends. They stared back.
“The Yanti is the reason we set out on this trip,” she said. “Of course I want to get to it. I need it to stop this invasion. But you guys owe me nothing. I’m grateful you’ve come with me this far. But if you want to turn around and head home, it’s fine with me.”
There was a long silence. Finally Steve spoke.
“We turn around, the elves might get us,” he said.
“Or the dark fairies,” Cindy added. “We couldn’t get back to the road before sunset.”
“Personally, I still think there’s safety in numbers,” Karl said.
Ali agreed. “I think so, too. But I don’t want to force any of you to follow me.” She added, she could not help herself, “I don’t want any of you to feel like you’re my slaves.”
It was not a showdown; however, it came close. Steve and Cindy exchanged uneasy glances, but did not speak. Ali turned back to Farble.
“Lead us to the cave,” she told the troll.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Finally, they left the trees behind. Right away they ran into a foot of snow. Soggy from the heat of the sun, it did not crunch under their feet so much as splat. The stuff was melting fast. The water from the snow soaked the ground beneath, slowing their feet with mud. Another two weeks of sun, Ali thought, and it would be altogether gone from this altitude. Too bad she couldn’t wait until then to save the world.
The river ran on their right now, galloping down the snowy slope like rain pouring over the side of a white roof. Far below, in the trees, Ali sensed movement but did not see any elves. But Paddy and Farble assured her there were plenty.
“They gather their forces,” the leprechaun said.
“But you said they won’t go in the cave?” Ali asked again.
“Aye. Paddy said that.”
Farble seemed sure that the cave was on their side of the river. But Ali knew it would be a mistake to think of the river as impassable. As Paddy had pointed out, the elves had axes. They could make their own tree bridges. Worse, two thousand feet above them, the river was going to vanish. Ali hated to think what it would be like to hike up the mountain with them on one side of the water, the elves on the other—with the elves just waiting for the river to shrink to a stream. Again, it made her want to take the cave.
Yet the cave terrified Paddy. Leprechauns, she thought with a sigh. Even when they told the truth, they never told the whole truth. What was he hiding? She noticed that he no longer walked beside her, and did not meet her eyes when she looked at him.
Farble carried Steve and Cindy, one at a time, giving each one a breather every twenty minutes. Well, actually, Steve was getting the most mileage out of the troll, but he probably needed it.
Ali had to stop regularly to catch her breath. She missed her sunglasses. The glare of the sun was blinding. No matter how much she drank, she was constantly thirsty. Plus she had a headache. Without bottles, what would they do when they left the river behind?
“It’s tough, isn’t it?” Karl said, as they both stopped to rest.
She forced a smile. “I can make it.”
Karl nodded, gestured to Paddy and Farble, who continued to walk ahead. “Those two have more endurance than all of us put together.”
“They’re lucky. Farble’s helped a lot.”
“But what if war does break out? Are we sure they will remain on our side?”
A disturbing question. Ali had not thought about it that way.
The cave appeared suddenly, which was a surprise given that the square entrance was big. However, the opening pointed due west, and was tucked behind an outcropping of rock. They might have missed it if Farble had not stopped them.
Still, its size raised questions in Ali’s mind. Why was the cave not on the map? Over the years, hundreds of people had hiked to the top of Pete’s Peak. Someone must have seen it before. Or did it mean the cave was new? Standing near the entrance, she brought up her doubts to the others. It was an example of how tired they all were that no one seemed to care.
“Well, it’s here now,” Steve said.
“Yeah. And I don’t like the look of it,” Cindy said.
“What do you think, Karl?” Ali asked.
He had sat down to rest, unusual for him. His burnt stomach must have been bothering him more than he let on. “The entrance looks kind of square,” he said. “It might have been cut out.”
??
?When? By whom?” Ali glanced at the leprechaun. “Paddy?”
He was disgusted they had even brought him to the cave. “Dwarves like caves. Dig out many with their steel tools.”
“But was this cave here a few weeks ago?” Ali asked.
“Don’t know. Paddy wasn’t here then.”
“Do you know, Farble?” Ali asked.
The troll shook his head.
“But you’re sure this cave goes to the top of the mountain?” she asked.
Farble nodded. “Close.”
“It goes close to the top?” The troll nodded. Ali continued, “Does it come out on the backside of the mountain?”
Farble nodded. “Nice cave.”
“Is this guy telling you what you want to hear?” Steve said.
“I don’t think Farble lies,” Ali said.
“He might be wanting to please you,” Cindy said. “You have to be careful how you question him. For all we know this cave leads to a sewer in town.”
“I sort of doubt that,” Ali muttered. Her friends did have a good point, though. She studied the troll. “Farble, do you know how to get around inside the cave?”
He nodded. “Lost.”
“See,” Steve complained.
“You got lost inside the cave?” Ali asked.
Farble nodded. “Lost.”
That was not what she wanted to hear. It made her decision more difficult. Karl spoke up.
“If this cave opens on the other side of the mountain,” he said, “then there should be a breeze blowing through it from one side to the other. If we do come to a fork in the cave where there are several ways to go, we should be able to tell the right way by the freshness of the air.”
“I’d like to see that,” Steve said.
Karl glanced at him. “It’s not as hard as it sounds. Anybody can smell fresh air.”
“Wait a second,” Cindy said. “The main reason to go in the cave is to avoid the elves, right? Well, I don’t see any of them chasing us up the mountain. I say we stay outside where at least we know where we’re going.”
“Aye,” Paddy said.
“I agree with the cheerleader and the leprechaun,” Steve said.
“I’m not a cheerleader yet,” Cindy said. “Just a wannabe.”
The discussion might have gone on for awhile if they hadn’t become aware of two large heads poking out of the cave. As a group they quickly ran away from the entrance. They ended up a hundred yards down the mountain.
All of them except for Farble. Because the two big heads belonged to two trolls. Ali supposed they were the same two who had attacked her at the river. They looked the right size, a head taller than Farble.
Farble, carrying his umbrella and sporting his sunglasses, walked over to his friends and struck up a conversation. Just three trolls standing in the shade on a nice afternoon, checking out a pal’s oily skin and cool glasses. But since Farble could take direct sunlight without frying, his friends must have thought something special had happened to him.
Ali did not have it so easy. Her friends were rebelling.
“No way we’re going in there now,” Steve said.
“There could be a whole herd of trolls in there,” Cindy said.
“ ’Tis always a bad omen to see trolls at the door,” Paddy agreed.
“Hold on a second,” Ali said. “We don’t know if there are more than three trolls on this whole mountain. Three’s all we’ve seen so far.”
“You’re really determined to go in that cave,” Steve said, disgusted.
He had a point. Like the Yanti, the cave called to her. Enter Ali, it seemed to whisper in her ear, and you will be shown real magic, even dark magic, if you’re ready for it. She understood the source of the call. She felt the cave was where she was destined to face her last four tests. Either she would pass them far beneath the earth and claim the Yanti for her own, or else she would die trying and never be heard from again.
Best to get it over with, she thought.
Ignoring Steve, Ali called to their troll. “Farble!” He came lumbering over, and she patted him on the shoulder and asked, “Do you still want to stay with us? Or would your rather go off with your friends?”
Farble gently squeezed her arm. “Ali.”
She smiled. “That’s great. But we have a problem. Your friends are blocking our way. Could you ask them to please let us pass?”
Farble nodded and walked back to his friends. The three trolls talked a couple of minutes and then Farble returned. He pointed to his sunglasses and his umbrella.
“Want,” he said.
“They want umbrellas and sunglasses to get out of the way?” Ali asked.
He nodded. “Sunscreen.”
“We’re all out of sunscreen and umbrellas. Maybe we could give them a couple of pairs of sunglasses.” Ali turned to her friends. “Guys?”
Steve put his hand to his glasses and took a step back. “These have Polaroid lenses. They cost me fifty bucks. I’m not giving them up to a couple of smelly trolls.”
“Same here,” Cindy said.
“You bought your sunglasses at the drugstore for two bucks,” Ali told her.
“It makes no difference. I don’t want to go in that cave. None of us do,” Cindy said.
“I do,” Karl said, handing over his sunglasses.
“Thanks.” Ali took them and gave them to Farble.
“I thought we agreed that we’d all have a say in what we were going to do?” Steve said, although he must have known they had reached no such agreement. He continued, “Three don’t want to go in the cave, two do. You’re outvoted, Ali.”
“Farble likes the cave. He has a vote the same as the rest of us,” Ali said.
“What!?” Cindy and Steve screeched.
“My poor head,” Paddy said, looking ill.
“We have a deadline. We cannot keep stopping to argue,” Ali said. “Cindy, give me your sunglasses.”
Cindy practically threw them at Ali. Ignoring her, Ali handed them to Farble, who seemed unaffected by their argument. She spoke to the troll.
“Tell your friends this is all we have to give them,” she said.
Farble left to deliver the message. He was back quickly. He pointed to Paddy.
“Hungry,” he said.
Ali frowned. “They’re hungry and they want to eat Paddy?”
Farble licked his lips and nodded. “Leprechaun.”
Paddy’s headache got a lot worse. He had to sit down. “Oh Missy. Negotiating with trolls. It’s not done.”
Ali shook her head. “No way. Farble, you tell your friends they’re making me angry. And if they don’t let us pass, I’ll use my fire stones and cook their hides.”
Farble’s huge yellow eyes grew wide, and he hurried back to his friends. This particular conversation lasted a while, and was quite animated. Ali wondered what it would be next. Finally, Farble returned.
“Names,” he said.
“Huh?” Ali said.
“Want names,” Farble said.
“New names? Like I gave you a new name?”
He nodded. “Pretty names.”
“This has got to be a first,” Cindy said.
“If I give them new names, do they promise to let us pass and never bother us again?” Ali asked.
Farble nodded. “Like Geea.”
Ali was not sure if they wanted pretty names like Geea or if they personally liked her. But since she had almost killed them the last time they had met, she doubted it was the latter. With Farble by her side, she walked over to meet the trolls. They lowered their heads as she neared, although they continued to drip green spit out their mouths. Ali tried to sound friendly.
“I hear you guys want new names?” she said.
They both nodded vigorously. Standing near his friends, acting incredibly proud, Farble pounded his chest. “Farble,” he said.
“So what are your names now?” she asked, thinking she might make the new ones rhyme with the old ones.
??
?Spit,” the one on the left said.
“Snot,” the one on the right said.
“Oh boy,” Ali said. She had to rack her brain for a minute, but then she had it. She pointed to the troll on the left. “Spit,” she said, “from now on you shall be known as Sprite. That means, ‘He who is tasty and refreshing.’ ” She paused. “Do you like it?”
Sprite positively glowed. He nodded and patted her so hard on the back that she almost fell over. She had to put up a hand to stop him. She turned to Snot.
“And you shall be known as Snickers,” she said. “That means, ‘He who is chewy and crunchy.’ ”
Sprite and Snickers were the happiest trolls on Earth. They pounded their heads as if they were coconuts to split open, then bumped their butts together out of sheer joy. Ali was relieved. She wished her friends were as easy to please.
Ali returned to the gang. Again she argued for the cave. They could hide from watchful eyes. It could be a shortcut to the top. They could avoid most of the snow. They might find water underground. They would need less water if they were out of the sun. The argument seemed logical to her.
They hardly listened, she saw that. While she had been talking to the trolls, they had resigned themselves to the fact that the new and improved Ali Warner had to get her own way.
She didn’t like the feeling she got from her friends as they walked past Sprite and Snickers and into the cave. Paddy had spoken of omens. Perhaps their anger was a bad omen. It seemed a bad way to start the darkest leg of their journey. She wondered if it would come back to haunt them.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The entrance was wide, but they had hiked only a hundred yards inside when the walls and ceiling narrowed. A grown man would have had trouble walking upright. Ten-foot-tall Farble had to stoop to keep from bumping his head. But the troll didn’t appear to mind the awkward position. Ali was sure someone had dug out the cave. Its strange roughly-hewn-square shape continued. Nature just didn’t form such sharp angles.
But there were no bricks on the walls, no tiles on the floor. The interior was as black as empty space, silent as a closed coffin. They had to stay close together to walk, which was difficult with the narrow walls. Ali hoped Karl had put new batteries in the flashlight before they had left home. The glow of their only light seemed to die against the walls and floor—the material sucked the life out of it. Ali was not sure what the material was; not simple rock, no, it was too smooth, much too dark. It reminded her of hardened lava, which made sense in a way. Scientists said Pete’s Peak had been an active volcano as recently as two hundred years ago.