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for this next bit, Lil," Balthazar said. "That is, if you don't want to bump your bean."
    Lying flat in the wilted grass, I watched dark, slimy rock pass inches above my face. I had never been claustrophobic before, but suddenly I could barely breathe. A horrible whimpering reached my ears before I realized I was making it. I was one second from a total meltdown when the ceiling finally rose back up.
    But the walls squeezed in even closer.
    "Here's where things get tight," Fizz said, sliding off his mount. "We're going to need you out of the wagon, Lil, so we can tilt her up and through."
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    Caspar, Balthazar, and Maxwell helped unhitch the team. Reluctantly, I lowered my bare feet to the ground and stood up.
    The stone felt cold and slick on my soles as I ventured a few paces forward. The torches were so far behind me now that the passage was almost pitch-dark. Glancing back, I saw the upended cart plugging the tunnel like a cork in a bottle, everyone but my abductors still stuck behind it. Fizz tended to the dogs while Balthazar, Caspar, and Maxwell worked with the leprechauns behind them to tilt the wagon through on its side.
    No one was paying attention to me. This was my chance.
    My feet slid quickly through the mucky darkness, my heart skipping with fear. They'd have that cart through in a few minutes, and then they'd be looking for me. I moved as fast as I dared, slipping blindly, cringing at each drop of water that fell on my head. I groped desperately for a place to hide, for any sort of escape....
    A hint of light seeped toward me from the tunnel's far end. I hesitated, thinking I must be approaching another torch-filled cavern. Then I caught a whiff of pine and almost lost my mind.
    That was sunlight! I was headed outside!
    "Yes!" I yelped, breaking into a sprint. My feet slid and slithered on the cave floor as I flung myself toward the light, only one thought on my mind: escape.
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    "Lil!" Balthazar shouted. "Lil, you wait for us!"
    I could already taste fresh air, full of sunshine and pollen and grass. I dashed on like a maniac.
    "Lil!" Balthazar hollered.
    Birds sang up ahead. In one final, breakneck sprint, I burst out through the cave's jagged exit....
    And stood blinking in a fairy-tale forest.
    Beams of light slanted through the trees and sparkled on a blanket of dewy green clover, each leaf facing into the rising sun. Tiny white flowers rose on slender stalks, dripping diamonds of dew. Not a footstep disturbed that silver blanket. No planes flew overhead. There wasn't the least sign of a building, or sidewalk, or road.
    "Uh-oh," I said, completely lost. "I don't think we're in Providence anymore."
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    Chapter 4
    "What did I tell you?" Balthazar boasted. "The Meadows is the grandest place in all creation! Wave to the folk, Lil. Smile!"
    I was riding in the dog cart again, being pulled down the center of the strangest, most beautiful valley I could have imagined. Pink wisps of clouds drifted across the yellow sun in a perfect aqua sky. A mile to either side of the wagon, dense trees covered steep hillsides. And down the rolling center of the valley was one long meadow of green grass and billowing clover punctuated by a few giant oaks. Their spreading branches shaded colonies of leprechaun-sized,
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    slightly crooked three-story dwellings with green lace curtains and eager hands waving from every window. Once I'd emerged from the cave and realized I had nowhere to run, I'd reluctantly climbed back into the cart, letting Balthazar and the huge crowd trailing on foot believe I'd been so thrilled to see the Meadows that I'd dashed ahead out of excitement. I hadn't given up, though. As soon as I saw a landmark belonging to the real world, I intended to bolt again.
    "How long have I been gone now?" I asked, glancing pointlessly at my wrist. I did own a watch, but of course I hadn't been smart enough to ask for it--or my phone--when the leprechauns snatched me. I could only guess I'd been missing for twenty-four