A/N: Hey, how y'all doin? EMcat here, and I'm ready to go! Chapter 29! Yay! This chapter may not be the most exciting, mostly about how they get away from Rotwood, and what happens in the leprechaun village...but chapter 30 should be jammed packed with action! Yay me!

Choices

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I groaned as Rotwood came toward us, a wild, unreadable look in his eyes, his already funky hair blowing madly in the wind, and his lips curling into an elated smile. I had no idea how we were going to get out of this one.

"Jake?" said Gramps. I could tell that he was a little nervous. It seemed a bit weird to see him like that, because during a battle, he's really calm and (usually) cool. I guess it was the fact that the existence of magical creatures was about to be revealed...

"Jake?" said Gramps once more. "Is there someone you would like me to meet?"

"Uh...yeah!" I said, unable of anything else to say. "Uh...Gramps, this is my...er...wonderful teacher, Mr...um, I mean, Professor Rotwood!"

"Oh, how sweet!" mocked Rotwood. "But I can see through your flippy-floppedy schemes! You have a leprechaun here (I saw him!), and as soon as I catch him, I vill turn you all into zee authority figures, and my genius vill finally be recognized!"

"Um...what leprechaun?" said Rose. At first I thought that she was just stalling for time, but then, looking around me, I noticed that Victor was gone.

"Don't try to fool a trained Mythobioligist!" said Mr. Rotwood, but I could tell that he was becoming nervous.

"I am sorry, Sir, but if you will excuse us, we have somewhere we have to be." Go Gramps!

"No!" shrieked Rotwood, and I could tell that he was getting hysterical. "I am not leaving until you show me the leprechaun."

"Yo, Mr. Rotwood," began Trix, but then said, "I mean, Professor! Yeah, do you really think those things exist? 'Cuz if you do, and think we do, let alone have one with us, then you must be trippin'!"

"Yeah, and we're totally not going to a secret little lep-" began Spud, but was quickly shut up by Trix.

"We have business to attend to, Sir," Gramps said coolly. "Until next time." He turned away from Rotwood and said no more.

"Fine," muttered Rotwood angrily. "But I know vhat I saw! And zee truth vill come out! I'll be back!" But before turning away, Rotwood grabbed my arm and hissed in my ear, "I know that you are somehow mixed up in zis, Jake Long, and I vill find out exactly vhat you and your family are hiding. For now, good day!" And releasing me, he walked away, fuming!

"So...where did Victor go?" I asked as soon as we were sure Rotwood was out of earshot.

Just as I said that, the leprechaun slid down from the tree. "Had to hide somewhere."

It was decided that we would wait on the bench for Victor to retrieve the potion, because we could not risk being held up again...

A few minutes after he disappeared into the secret entrance, Victor returned with a small bottle of potion. "Use this to melt the scale," he stated simply. "I was never here." He then disappeared back through the secret entrance.

I pocketed the melting potion and the reviving potion. We decided that while the others distracted DD, I would sneak up from behind and melt a scale, putting it into the other potion. I would get my powers back, and then together we would defeat Dark Dragon. At least, that was what we hoped. But things didn't go exactly as planned.

Before we had walked even a few paces, the ground began to shake. The sky grew dark, and I looked around me, and gasped at what I saw. It was as if everyone had frozen-and I do believe that was exactly what had happened. Everything grew unnaturally still and quiet. I ran to Rose, and waved my hand across her unmoving face. Nothing.

I heard a low chuckle behind me. I turned. The Dark Dragon...and the Huntsclan.

"Dragon...now that time has stopped, you and I can face the ultimate battle...and no one shall disturb us! Of course, after you are dead, we will destroy all of your little friends here..."

"Nuh-uh!" I said, but without much confidence. "The Prophecy said that I'll beat you!"

"But it said nothing about facing the Huntsclan as well...you are very outnumbered...this is it. The final battle...no more games...now, you shall die!"

A/N: I know, I know, cliffie, right? will come in again later, but for now, he's history...so what do u think will happen? How was it? Please, please, R and R, and I'll update ASAP, probably tomorrow or Wednesday, although things might become a little hectic for me, 'cuz I've got this research report of Che Guevara to do for Spanish. Anyway, I've got to finish my microwavable lasagna (YUM!), but I'll update ASAP!

~Emachinescat ^..^