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  1

  The gang had never gone on a real picnic before. Not in a meadow with a proper basket of food and a blanket to lie on in the sun. It was Cindy Makey who suggested it would be fun to do it at least once before school started. And since no one else could think of anything better to do that day, a picnic it was.

  Their town, Spooksville, was surrounded by mountains and hills on three sides and the ocean on the fourth. It was in these wooded hills that they decided to have their picnic. There were many beautiful ­meadows in these woods. Meadows isolated enough that a person could pretend he or she was in the middle of nowhere. Places where evil could happen, and no one would be the wiser.

  Until it was too late.

  “I hope you didn’t put mayonnaise on my sandwich,” Watch said as Cindy began to empty the picnic basket on the yellow blanket they had brought. The meadow was filled with bright yellow daisies with black centers. Nearby a stream gurgled and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The surrounding trees were tall, heavy branched. Although they now sat in the sun, they had found the hike from the road through the woods rather chilly. The shadows were deep in these woods, and old.

  “Since when did you care what’s between two slices of bread?” Sally Wilcox asked Watch. “You used to be the most unpicky eater I know. Hey, Cindy, Adam—I remember the time Watch ate half a dozen uncooked eggs.”

  Cindy made a face and hooked her long blond hair behind her ears. “Is that true?” she asked Watch.

  “It was at Easter, an egg-eating contest,” Watch explained. “The eggs were painted different colors.”

  Sally smiled and pushed back her brown bangs. “So were the egg yolks. Only one had a normal yellow center. In fact, if I remember correctly, the one egg you didn’t eat eventually hatched and out popped a small reptilian creature that burrowed in the ground and eventually ate most of the local gophers.” Sally added, “I think the witch had something to do with those eggs.”

  “At least I won first prize in the contest,” Watch said, fiddling with his pocket calculator. He was working out calculations for a new telescope he was building. Watch, in addition to wearing four watches, usually carried a calculator, just as Sally usually carried a Bic lighter.

  “What was the prize?” Adam Freeman, who was the new kid in town, asked.

  “A twenty-dollar gift certificate to the drugstore,” Sally said. “For the next year Watch got to buy all the antacids he needed.”

  “The eggs did kind of make me sick,” Watch agreed. He checked out the turkey sandwich Cindy had handed him through his thick glasses. “After that I kind of lost my taste for chicken as well as for eggs.”

  “Is the sandwich OK?” Cindy asked Watch, concerned.

  Watch chewed noisily. “Yeah. I’m not as picky as Sally says. As long as nothing in it bites back, I don’t really care what I eat.”

  Adam gestured to the picnic basket. “What kind of sandwich did you make me?”

  Cindy beamed. “It’s a surprise. You’ll love it.”

  Sally was amused. “You’ll both be surprised.”

  Cindy was annoyed. “You didn’t change our sandwiches, did you?”

  “Are you asking me or telling me?” Sally, who already had her plain cheese sandwich in hand, wanted to know.

  “I don’t believe this,” Cindy said as she checked the remaining two sandwiches.

  “What is it?” Adam asked, already losing his appetite.

  “We both have Spam sandwiches,” Cindy said, laying open the slices of bread for dark-haired Adam to see. “Spam and sprouts.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Watch asked. “I like Spam.”

  “I like sprouts,” Sally said, laughing.

  “Yeah,” Cindy said sarcastically. “They really go perfectly together. Thanks a lot, Sally. After I went to all that trouble to make us all really nice sandwiches.”

  Sally spoke to Adam. “Don’t believe a word of it. I saw your original sandwich. It looked like something for building strong bones and teeth rather than something you’d want to eat.”

  “If the Spam doesn’t have mayonnaise on it,” Watch said, “I’ll eat it.”

  Cindy tossed the sandwiches aside. “They have catsup all over them.”

  “And little green things from an old jar at the back of the refrigerator,” Sally added. “You didn’t look under the Spam, Cindy dear.”

  Cindy scowled at Sally as she reached for the other basket. “Just for that you don’t get any dessert. And I know you didn’t fool with my chocolate cake because I didn’t take my eyes off it.”

  “After you baked it,” Sally said. “But what about before?”

  “What did you put in it?” Cindy demanded.

  Sally laughed. “Nothing.”

  “Except for a few of those little purple things from the back of the refrigerator,” Watch added.

  Adam swallowed. “I’m glad I had breakfast.”

  “Watch is kidding,” Sally said. “The cake is fine—as long as Cindy didn’t ruin it with all the sugar and love she poured into it. I know she was thinking of you, Adam, when she baked it.”

  “Better him than a complete stranger who wouldn’t care if Cindy choked to death on the cake or not,” Watch said wisely. “Are you sure you don’t want your Spam sandwich?” Watch asked hungrily.

  “Yeah, I’m sure.” Cindy tentatively opened the picnic basket with the cake. “Seriously, I hope you didn’t mess with this cake, Sally. I may be a lousy gourmet cook, but I do know how to bake.”

  “It doesn’t take much of a cook or a baker to make sandwiches,” Sally said.

  “Shut up,” Cindy said to Sally as she removed the cake from the basket. Adam—feeling a little hungry, his breakfast notwithstanding—leaned forward to get a better look. But he hardly had a chance to see what was left of his lunch, when a small green man, with a nose as long as a spoon and hands as quick as a fox, leapt out of the trees, grabbed the cake, and disappeared back into the woods.

  The four of them blinked. They sat in stunned silence.

  “Did you guys see what I just saw?” Sally finally asked.

  Sure. They had all seen the same thing.

  A leprechaun had stolen their chocolate cake.

  2

  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.

  “Pro
bably 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.

  3

  They looked like classic children’s-book dwarfs, which is to say they were short and stout, with thick beards and grim faces. Each carried a number of tools: heavy hammers, sharp chisels, and hacksaws. They stopped working as the gang stumbled into their space. The dwarfs’ eyes were dark and deep set, and they stared at them with both surprise and concern. Yet the little people didn’t appear to be hostile.

  Adam cleared his throat. “Hello,” he said. “We didn’t mean to interrupt
your work. We’re looking for a few leprechauns who stole our bikes and picnic baskets. They wouldn’t have happened to have gone by this way, would they?”

  The dwarfs glanced at one another, then back at Adam. Clearly the little guys didn’t understand English. Adam spoke in Watch’s ear.

  “What language do dwarfs speak?” he asked.

  Watch shrugged. “They probably have their own language.”

  “I think they’re cute,” Cindy gushed.

  “Wait till they cut off one of your legs with an ax,” Sally muttered.

  “If they’d wanted to hurt us, they would have done it by now,” Adam said. He turned his attention back to the dwarfs, who continued to stare at them with their tools in hand. Adam had on a green shirt, so he pointed to it, then made a scurrying motion with his hands, trying to describe how quickly the leprechauns moved. He wasn’t sure if he conveyed what he meant, but one of the older dwarfs pointed farther into the cave. Adam paused. “The leprechauns went that way?” he asked.

  The old dwarf nodded.

  “He doesn’t know what you’re saying,” Sally muttered.

  “He might,” Adam said hopefully. “We probably should keep going. It couldn’t hurt.”

  “That’s what we said about the Haunted Cave,” Sally warned.

  Since the dwarfs ignored them and went back to work, they did continue into the tunnel. But now it began to curve, and then forked in several places. Just as they were worried they were lost, the cave suddenly ended and they were back in the forest. But not at the same place they had entered the cave.

  The forest had changed.

  Now it was filled with more than trees.

  There was a palace dead ahead, but not a palace in the usual sense of the word. This palace was made of grass and sticks, of bark and leaves. Yet it was so huge, so elaborate, that it resembled a castle more than a hut. The whole structure stirred as the wind swept through the trees. The building didn’t look as if it had been there long, nor did it look as if it would last. There wasn’t a soul in sight.

  “Could the dwarfs have built this?” Cindy asked.