Green by Laura Peyton Roberts Page A

first test. I didn't want to take any test.
    I just wanted to go home.
    No one cared what I wanted, though. The leprechauns marched me off the platform and back through the town, me protesting the entire way that I was tired, that it was dark, that my stomach ached, all to no avail. Skirting the keeper's cottage, we entered the wide field behind it, only a few torches lighting our way to the rocky hill on its other side. A dark slit appeared between boulders. We were headed into another cave.
    "Not a chance!" I said, digging in with Gigi's flats. "There's no way I'm going in there!"
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    "But you have to, Lil," Lexie said. "That's the test."
    "Crawling through a dirty cave?" I was about to tell her I'd already been there, done that, when I noticed the odd expression in Lexie's eyes. She was looking up at me as if ... as if she looked up to me. As if I were one of the cool kids. "What kind of stupid test is that?" I stalled.
    "The standard first test," Bronwyn replied. "Nothing to trouble the mind o' any true granddaughter o' Maureen's. Now, Lil, in you go."
    Lexie was still gazing at me in that hero-worshipping way. One of my shoes inched toward the entrance as if it had a mind of its own. The next thing I knew, I'd stepped inside a completely dark cave.
    "You guys!" I complained, turning back toward the entrance. "Bring in some of those torches!"
    In almost the same instant, a grinding, crashing thud jolted the earth as something huge fell across the cave entrance, blocking out all but a chink of dark gray sky.
    "Help! Cave-in!" I cried, throwing myself up against the darkness. My hands clawed cold, damp stone.
    "It's not a cave-in, Lil," Balthazar chirped cheerfully from the other side. "Bit o' a heavy door, that's all."
    They had sealed me in on purpose? I wanted to scream with rage, but I was too petrified. Instead, I huddled against the stone, unable to believe how stupid I was.
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    Balthazar clucked reassuringly through the tiny airhole. "Now then, Lil, nothing to worry about."
    And then a second, smaller stone plugged the opening completely.
    I sank to my haunches. The darkness was so intense it seemed to have a life of its own. I imagined it breathing against my skin--until I realized something else could be in the cave with me, something that actually breathed.
    What if I'm dragon food? In a meadow crawling with leprechauns, anything seemed possible. Squelching a whimper, I pressed my back against the cold stone and strained to hear any sound: a rustle, a slither, the smacking of lips.
    Nothing reached my ears but my own strangled breathing. Even the crowd outside had gone completely silent. Eventually, I realized they'd left.
    They probably don't want to hear my screams as the flesh is torn off my bones .
    Frightened tears slipped down my cheeks, gradually drying into clammy tracks. Nothing crawled out of the darkness. If I wasn't a midnight snack, why was I there? Was I just supposed to stay put all night, freezing my butt off in the dark? Or was something more expected of me?
    Wiping my nose on Gigi's sleeve, I stroked the key around my neck. It felt warm beneath my fingers, full of comforting memories. I ran my fingertips up and down it,
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    thinking of Gigi and happier times. The gold grew even warmer. Then slowly, very dimly, the key began to glow.
    I blinked a couple of times, not believing my eyes. But the light got even stronger, cranking up until it blazed. I stared at the key in amazement, and then I realized something else: the rock walls of my prison were visible at last.
    The space I was trapped in was no bigger than a classroom. I breathed a sigh of relief as my key light reached its far corners; I might be by myself, but at least I was alone.
    I ventured farther into the cave, holding the key like a flashlight. The cave's back wall was a sheer stone face ten feet tall. I shuffled toward it, drawn in a way I couldn't explain. My eyes scanned each rocky bump and divot, and that was when I saw it: