The Guardian of Threshold (36 page)

As we were leaving for lunch I stayed behind pretending to arrange my things into my new desk while I looked for the slightest hint of green. Clearly, that wasn’t my lucky day because everyone was wearing green, including myself. I couldn’t believe my bad luck.
A leprechaun has to be behind all of this,
I thought.

Come to think of it, I remember my mother saying something about that day being a religious holiday of some sort, Saint… What was his name again…? Saint Patriots? No, I think it was… Saint Patrick’s Day. Yep, that’s what it was.

Well, there goes that plan.
I told myself.

It didn’t matter, sooner or later I would find the sleaze-ball, and then… well, better not spoil the surprise.

At lunch, I sat alone in the corner of the room. Ember kept looking at me and even gestured for me to sit with her and her friends, but I wasn’t about to sit in the middle of a bunch of girls. Besides, I had other plans.

I would use the diary that Mrs. Buttkins gave me to write in detail my master plan. Hopefully, it would be useful to another goblin one day. After all, my family couldn’t be the only one that was affected by the curse.

Too many people were staring at me during lunch for me to use the reflectionator properly. I did manage to take a peak or two.

I can tell you that the brunette twins (Margie and Marta) are in fact trolls. No. Not that kind of troll. They’re the school bullies. They seemed to terrorize everyone that stood in their way.

But, if it’s trolls that you want, trolls you shall have. Taters, the poor clumsy kid no one seemed to care about, was a real troll. Six foot tall and about 300 pounds to everyone with a reflectionator. But, to everyone else, he looked like a regular kid.

Should I let him know that I know?
I wondered. How would that conversation play out?
Hey, I’m Clash your friendly goblin. By the way, I know you’re a troll. Do you want to be my friend?
I didn’t think that would be wise. Besides, I didn’t even know the history between goblins and trolls. We could be mortal enemies for all I knew.

Nah, I wasn’t there to make friends or to play nice. I was there for a single reason… to get the Prudential back for my family.

How was I going to accomplish that, you asked? Well, you will see in due time, but know this, once I find the slime-ball, he’ll regret having a leprechaun for a father.

“What’s that?” Taters asked as he walked toward me.

“What?” I replied.

“That thing you’re trying to hide.”

“Oh… It is personal,” I said closing my backpack.

“It’s a toy isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not, I assure you.”

“Fine, don’t show me. I don’t care anyway I have lots of other friends to play with,” said Taters.

I must not be a very good Goblin because my heart ached seeing Taters’ disappointed look.

“Wait!” I said, already regretting it. “You want to see what it is?” I said carefully opening my backpack. “Here I’ll show you.”

“Wow, that is cool. What does it do?” Taters asked.

“It’s a reflectionator. What I’m about to tell you must stay between us… nobody else must know the truth.”

“What is it?”

“I know what you are,” I started and Taters turned all shades of purple.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Oh, look at the time. I must go.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry I won’t tell anyone,” I assured him.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” Taters said nervously.

“You’re a troll,” I said a bit louder than I should have.

“What…?” said Taters looking around. “Snaps, I guess there’s no point in denying it. You can’t tell anyone ever. Promise?”

“I promise.”

“How did you know?”

“I’ll show you. Here, look through it.”

“No way! Is that a trog?”

“It sure seems like one.”

“How many of us are there?” asked Taters.

“From what I have seen, the humans outnumber us by five to one.”

“I wish I was one of those five.”

“Not me, I can’t stand looking human. The ears are too small, and don’t even get me started on the nose. Why do you want to be human anyway?”

“I think people can sense that I’m a troll, that’s probably the reason I don’t have any friends.”

The human in me flourished and spoke before I could think things through.

“I’ll be your friend.” I almost felt like punching myself.
What was I thinking?
I wondered. I don’t need friends. All I needed was to get back what was rightfully mine. I needed the Prudential.

Taters’ face lit up as he said, “Great, we’ll be best friends.”

“Oh, look at the time. Class is about to start,” I said, glad to have an excuse to leave before things got too… awkward.

The afternoon was uneventful, I almost fell asleep a couple of times. I loved reading but depended on the subject, and the book of the day wasn’t very interesting.

If only I could walk downstairs and get myself a cup of coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. Our classroom was right above it and the fresh brewed coffee smell inundated the class.

In hopes that time would pass more quickly, I stalked the clock. Unfortunately the opposite happened. In a way it was good, because I had time to plan my next move.

If I planned everything just right, I would be able to avoid getting on the bus. That way I could walk to the Prudential, sneak in and do some investigating all before my parents got home from work.

I wished it didn’t have to be that way, but even though my father was the manager, I was still considered
‘persona non grata’
(an unwelcome person) as far as the security guards and Mr. Moneybags were concerned. It may have something to do with me grabbing Mr. Moneybag’s leg and not letting go, when I was much younger—last year.

The plan was to sneak in by the Prudential service entrance. I just had to be inside long enough to smell where the gold was hidden.

As we were leaving school for the day, I managed to sneak inside the 7-Eleven convenience store.

“Hey, Clash. Aren’t you taking the bus?” asked Taters.

“Shh. No, I have some things I need to do.”

“If you’re sneaking out, I want in,” said Taters.

I didn’t want to sound mean, especially since he was so happy, but I had to move forward with my plan and Taters wasn’t in it.

“Sorry, you can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because, I have to follow the plan and you’re not in it,” I replied.

“Where are you going anyway?”

“I’m sneaking into the Prudential building,” I replied.

“Well, that settles it. I’m going that way anyway. Besides, if you don’t let me come, I’ll tell the Safety Patrol that you’re trying to sneak out.”

“Fine, but I won’t be responsible for you,” I replied, as I paid for my bag of chips.

“I can take care of myself,” replied Taters.

By the time we left 7-Eleven, the bus was gone and so was the Safety Patrol kids.

“What are we doing there?” Taters asked as we walked at a brisk pace.

“I have to find something. Something that used to be in my family.”

I didn’t tell him that if I had my way, that day would come. I thought it was best to keep that from him for the time being.

“Can you imagine what people would say if they saw us walking in our true form?” Taters asked. “A troll and a goblin, what a combination.”

“I can’t even imagine,” I said. His question made me think about it. Would they run from us? Accept us? Perhaps they would hunt us.

Only time would tell. Deep down I knew that day would come, I just didn’t know when.

“If there was ever a war between the humans and us, what side would you choose?” I asked.

“I don’t think I could,” replied Taters. There was something strange about Taters. I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly, but the way he looked at everything as though he was longing for attention. I had the impression that Taters was a very lonely kid.

“Here, this way,” said Taters.

“No, we are going through the service entrance,” I replied.

“You’ll never make it past security that way.”

“I have a plan,” I said.

“Unless you can turn invisible, that won’t help you. Trust me, I know the way,” Taters insisted and started to walk toward the underground parking garage.

I followed close behind him. After a couple hundred feet or so I noticed the security cameras.

“This isn’t going to work, security will be all over us.”

“Don’t worry about it, just follow my lead,” said Taters. I was sure that any minute we would be caught I really wasn’t looking forward to be grounded yet again. But, it served me right. That’s what I get for not following the plan and for listening to my lower human tendencies.

“I’m telling you, we should’ve followed the plan.”

“What’s up with you and all this planning business?” asked Taters.

“My dad always tells me that I need to plan for the future, if I want things to work out.”

“I don’t think that includes planning to sneak into high security buildings,” said Taters, laughing.

He was probably right. In any case, it couldn’t hurt to be prepared.

“A car is coming. Hide,” said Taters as he ran behind an oversized SUV.

Uncertain of where to hide myself, I followed him.

“That was close,” I said. “Great, here comes security. How do you suppose we get past them?”

“See that door straight across?” Taters asked.

“That’s no use, we need a code to enter it,” I replied. My heart raced as security got closer.

The adventure continues on Chapter 2 to get the full book visit us at:
www.AAVolts.com/I-am-Goblin
.

“I Am Goblin,”
is the first book of my new middle-grade
“I Am Series,”
which it’s scheduled to be released in May of 2013
.