Chapter 21: The Castle of Gold
Charlotte had never seen so much green before in her life.
The sleigh soared over the rolling, lively hills of Carrauntoohil, Ireland. Charlotte gazed out from her seat, grinning widely. It was a beautiful, crisp day, the sun shining and bursting out across the teal sky like hands. In the distance, a huge, majestic mountainside loomed. Everything the light touched—the grass, the rocks, their skin—seemed to simmer just a little bit more with life and vivacious energy.
"Ve are here!" North proclaimed, taking off his hat in salute. "Carrauntoohil!"
It appeared that the effect Carrauntoohil had on Charlotte was evident in everyone—North's smile was more brilliant than the star on top of a Christmas tree. Tooth's wings glittered like jewels and flapped excitedly. Jack leapt to the backside of the sleigh, looking out at the fields with an adventurous glow to his smirk. Sandy made a telescope out of dream sand and looked out to the blue and green horizon. Even Bunnymund appeared eager; the endless stretches of grass seemed to please him.
"Now, where is zee Castle of Gold?" North asked.
"Wait. You don't even know where it is?" Jack said, hopping back into his seat.
"Castle of Gold es veeery secret," North replied, finger to his lips. "Lady Luck likes to keep hidden from mortals, and even some immortals! I never seen it before…but there are legends."
"Liiiiiike?" Charlotte questioned, taking off her coat.
"There are those who say zee Castle of Gold is actually in zee sky!" North began. "Leprechauns ride rainbows up to zee Castle, and it is invisible and unable to be felt due to a barrier gold creates!"
"This is starting to sound like a bad bedtime story," Charlotte said. "Have you ever actually seen a Leprechaun before, North?"
"Oh yes!" North nodded. "They are everywhere when I visit for Christmas. They like to spy on humans and steal shoes and gold from them."
"That's…random."
"Not at all! You see, the gold they take is used as the core for the gold they make! And shoes have magical properties for Leprechauns—they help with their disguise!"
"You lost me," Charlotte sighed.
"THEN LET ME CLARIFY!"
WHAM! Like an angry bull, something slammed into the side of the sleigh, rocking it like a boat. Everyone gasped and grabbed on, looking around in confusion.
"Who said that?" Jack yelled.
A second crash met the side of the sleigh. Charlotte glanced over the side and scanned the area, but all she saw was green. Until a buzzing figure became apparent from the horizon, coming at them at roaring speed.
"Weirdo attacker at three o'clock!" she cried, pointing.
"I got this!" Jack leapt nimbly from his seat and flew in front of the sleigh, aiming his staff.
There was a tremendous flash of white, and then the figure was free falling into the sea of grass. Jack swooped down and caught it, flying back up to the sleigh.
"Um…so this is new," he said, showing them.
What Jack had in his hands was a tiny man, encased in ice. He had a curly auburn beard and eyes as green as Ireland itself. He wore strange, intricate gold armor, with an emblem on his chest that resembled three crisscrossing four leaf clovers. Strapped to his back was what Charlotte could only assume was a jetpack.
"Um," Charlotte said. "What exactly am I looking at here?"
"It's a Leprechaun," North breathed. "Fascinating! Their armor has advanced!"
A tiny crack peeped in the ice, and then in a flash, the Leprechaun broke free with a roar. "Who d' ya think ye are?" he demanded, jetpack powering up so that he floated before them.
"Why were ya attackin' us, mate?" Bunnymund added.
"You've gone an' crossed inta aur territoreh!" the Leprechaun growled.
"Our apologies!" North claimed. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Nicholas—"
"Oh, aye know who ya are," the Leprechaun said. "Th' Guardians a Childhood. And…" He peered at Charlotte. "Aye dunt know who ya are, missy."
"I would be surprised if you did," Charlotte said simply.
North insisted, "Ve have situation and need to speak with Lady Luck! Can you help us, Mr.…?"
The Leprechaun rolled his eyes. "Aye'm Lorcan. Head o' Castle Protection. As fur th' Lady…" His face darkened. "She's unavailable righ' now."
"This is kind of important," Tooth cut in. "This girl is Second-Sighted and we're having a conflict with Mother Nature."
"Motha wha?" Lorcan gazed at them. "Wha have ya all gone n' gotten yurselves inta, Guardians?"
"Sometheeng veeeery important," North warned. "Please, can ve see Lady Luck?"
Lorcan stared at every single one of them, lastly looking at Charlotte and sighing like he'd just heaved something very heavy onto his back. "I s'pose if you wur lyin', lassy here wouldn't b' able ta see me. Alrigh'. Follow meh down."
=!=!=!=!=!=!
Charlotte thought Lorcan was going insane as he led them down to the ground and took out a compass. The grass was a thick carpet under her feet, and Bunnymund couldn't help but vocalize his admiration for it.
"I mean, lookit!" he said, lying on his back. "Feel it! So much life and prosperity. It's practically beaming atcha and giggling!"
"You make it sound like a baby," Jack noted dully.
Bunnymund harrumphed. "Figures tha Winter Spirit doesn't get nature at its best."
"I thought nature was the thing we were running from here."
"That's different. She's makin' a mockery a nature with alla this nonsense wit lil' Charlotte here."
Charlotte pointed a glare his way. "Back up. 'Lil' Charlotte?"
"Well, yeah." Bunnymund grinned down at her as he stood up. "You're tiny, Sheila!"
"I'm not tiny!" she countered. "You're just enormous."
"Eh, I dunno, firecracker. Kangaroo might be onto something here." Jack leaned his elbow on top of her head and smirked. "You're pretty pintsized. Everyone at your high school was taller than you."
"I'm still growing," Charlotte growled.
"My, that glare is hotter than a sun," Tooth said with a sly smile. "I'd watch myself if I were you two."
"Hmm," Jack said sneakily. "Would you say she has a short-fuse temper?"
"Now, now, Jack," Bunnymund snickered. "Ya wouldn't wanna think little a her!"
"HOLD ME BACK, TOOTH—" Charlotte began to roar, drawing her sword.
"Ssshh!" Lorcan hissed. "Whaddya tryin' ta do, wake th' dead?"
"Speaking of dead," Charlotte snarled.
"At least they're not arguing with each other," Tooth sighed to Sandy, who just shook his head and chuckled.
"Alrigh', here we go." Lorcan gestured them closer as his compass began to spin wildly.
ZAP! A vibrant rainbow half the size of a highway came pouring from the sky in a perfect curve. Charlotte jumped back and squinted at it. "I didn't know we were actually after Lucky Charms this whole time."
"Fer yur infurmation, missy, tha rainbow is a sacred aspect t' th' way o' th' Leprechauns." Lorcan rolled his eyes. "Though aye wouldn't expect a mortal t' know that. To yur people, Leprechauns are just silly little gremlins tha' run around an' play tricks."
"My bad," Charlotte said. "I'm not entirely an expert on magical beings I found out existed ten minutes ago."
"Yet you've been hanging w' these loonies," Lorcan countered.
"It's been a weird couple of weeks." Charlotte ran her finger over the mark Nixie had left in her hand. "Mother Nature is trying to kill me. There might be this huge fantastical war. Typical Saturday."
"In summation, we reeaallly need to see Lady Luck," Tooth said.
Lorcan shrugged. "Whatevar you say, Guardians. Just step through th' rainbow."
"Wait. Through it?" Jack peered at it with confused blue eyes. "What is this, Platform 9 ¾?"
Charlotte raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yes, I know Harry Potter," Jack responded, as if it were obvious. "Three hundred years of solitude can be boring. They got so popular I couldn't be in a town for five minutes without hearing something about it."
"I didn't take you for a reader," she said.
Jack's nostrils flared. "A Gryffindor would say that."
"Gryffindor? Please," Charlotte scoffed. "I'm a Ravenclaw."
"I beg to differ—"
"IF YOU'RE DONE BLABBIN'," Lorcan cut in. "Step on through."
North took a hesitant step forward and reached his hand through the rainbow. To everyone's surprise, it didn't appear on the other side.
"A portal!" North chuckled. "You kno, I'm portal man myself—"
"I can feel th' grass growin'," the Leprechaun growled darkly.
"Going, going." Cracking his knuckles, North took two long strides into the rainbow and vanished a swirl of all six colors.
One by one, everyone entered the rainbow, Charlotte being last. She had an uncertain twist on her lips. "Are you sure about this?"
"As sure as th' great hills 'er green," he replied with a nod.
"That is pretty sure." With a deep breath, Charlotte walked through.
It was like walking out into a hurricane with an umbrella. Everything was cold and bright and plummeting—Charlotte's stomach did three backflips before she finally opened her eyes again, woozy and flushed. Now it was darker, the walls stormy grey with sheets of white. Before Charlotte impended a great stone castle, wide with square towers and triangular stained glass windows. It was taller than any building Charlotte had ever seen before—surely it was bigger than the North Pole.
"Dude . . ." she breathed.
"Aye," Lorcan said, pride obvious in his voice. "There here. She's da great Castle o' Gold."
"It's fantastic," North gushed, stars in his eyes.
"Follow me," Lorcan said. "An' watch yur step!"
His words made Charlotte's heart almost explode. They were on a bridge that was overhead to a deep, inky abyss.
"Wait. Are we . . . underground?" she asked.
"Aye, lass," Lorcan answered as they walked toward the Castle of Gold. "We leprechauns reside underground t' stay hidden. With this part o' Ireland jus' hills, we hide undur here in th' guise o' a mountain. We use th' rainbows to get in an' out."
"So . . . whenever we see a rainbow, it's actually a leprechaun leaving or entering this kingdom?" Charlotte pondered.
"Exaclay."
"Why after rain?"
"Leprechauns don't like storms," Lorcan said with a shiver. "Watur gives us th' willies. So we wait until aftur rain to go o' return."
Charlotte's mind spun like a ballerina.
They arrived at the front of the Castle of Gold. Guards stood outside, although Charlotte had to stop herself from laughing: they were tiny Leprechauns with beefy arms and long red beards, thick eyebrows furrowed in concentration. They wore outfits similar to Lorcan's, the only exception being they wielded silver shields and spears.
"I'll give you five bucks to poke one," Jack whispered.
"That's extremely tempting," she mumbled back with a slick grin.
"I swear to MiM, if you two get us kicked out of the Leprechaun Kingdom, I'm gonna waste both of ya," Bunnymund growled.
"That's a loose threat," Charlotte combatted. "You'll only waste Jack. You actually like me."
"Whoa whoa whoa—let's not be crazy." But as he turned away, Charlotte could swear she saw a smirk on Bunnymund's face.
The group entered the Castle of Gold, and Charlotte couldn't help but gaze around in amazement. The main hall was bigger than half of her house. Tapestries hung from the wall, depicting world-changing battles and ancient rulers. A magnificent green and gold chandelier floated literally above them, and opposite to the door was a long staircase that spiraled up to who knew where. Charlotte could practically feel the buzz of centuries-old magic dwelling in the Castle of Gold—the promise of riches and scampering adventure and glorious royalty. It made her bones hum.
"Spotty place ya got here," Bunnymund complimented.
"Tanks." Lorcan gazed around with adoration. "Aye love this place. It's got so much—"
"NOOO!"
The howl split the mystical, nostalgic mood into pieces. Everyone turned in time to watch something being flung down the circling stairs, rolling down to the floor and leaving behind stains. It was a hunk of golden clay.
"—class," Lorcan sighed. "That'd be th' Lady. Come along now, Guardians."
=!=!=!=!=!=!
"Are . . . we . . . there . . . yet?"
"For a mortal who's tryin' ta take on one a the most powerful beings in the world," Bunnymund commented dryly as they ascended the great spiraling staircase, "you sure have bad cardio."
"Watch it, rabbit," Charlotte snarled out in a huff. "You and Snow Miser are on thin ice."
"How appropriate," Jack said with a smile. "She can't keep her mind off me."
"You're always with me," Charlotte grumbled. "Every second of my life has involved you being annoying."
"Love you too, sweetie." Jack blew her a kiss.
"I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GONNA—"
"We're here!" Lorcan hissed. They stopped in front of a pair of tall, jewel-encrusted doors. "Now, heed this warnin'," he said, face darkening. "Th' Lady is very . . . eccentric. But she's also very powerful. You'd d' best t' not insult her."
"Of course!" North boomed, making Lorcan wince. But he shook his head and opened the grand doors.
Charlotte's vision was assaulted with color: splatters of tangerine, dots of crimson, spirals of aquamarine. The entire room was a kaleidoscope, paint dripping off the walls and dried in splotches on the ceiling. In the corner was a fluffy purple bed that was made with perfection, like it hadn't been touched in a long time. Standing before an enormous easel was the tallest woman Charlotte had ever seen. She was lean and wispy, like a curl of smoke, and towered over the easel, stiff as stone. She wore faded green robes and a rubber smock, paintbrushes clutched in her dainty hands.
"M'lady?" Lorcan whispered. "Ya have guests."
Lady Luck turned around. Her face was blank and flawless, covered in white make-up with flaming red eyeshadow and pink circles on her cheeks. Her eyes were a shocking green, bright like crushed emeralds. "Guests, you say?" Her gaze shifted. "Guardians of Childhood."
"Lady Luck," Tooth said warmly, flittering forward. "It's been too long. How are you?"
"Toothiana," Lady Luck said. "I am alright. I'm out of yellow, though."
"We'll getcha some more yello," Lorcan said. "But th' Guardians are here on spechal business, Lady. Somethin' t' do with this here lass."
And then Lady Luck's eyes were zeroed in on her. Charlotte struggled not to cringe under the heavy weight that was Lady Luck's stare. It felt like she was being scrutinized by a China doll brought to life.
"A Second-Sighted mortal girl," Lady Luck deducted. "How very…new."
Charlotte started. "How did you—?"
"I can tell, darling," Lady Luck said, gliding forward. "It's encoded in your luck."
"My…my what?"
"There will be time to explain later." Lady Luck passed them and entered the hall. "Come. Breakfast was just completed."