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The elves got to work quickly, ripping off the glass orbs and strings of popcorn on the tree and placing everything into a bunch of cardboard boxes Cassie had dragged out from the kitchen. Emily helped Lola load the presents into a wheelbarrow Lola’s kitchen friend had placed just outside the door for them, every once in a while examining the labels peeking out beneath the ribbons. She found a box for the Hastings family. There was another one for the Kahns and James Freed’s parents. A fourth tag caught her eye, and she nearly gasped. THE DILAURENTIS FAMILY, the label said. Emily had heard rumors about Ali’s family moving back here; they’d even been in the audience at Ian’s arraignment. Had they already arrived?
Soon enough, Emily and Lola were wheeling a full load to the tennis courts up the hill. “Isn’t this awesome, Santa?” Lola giggled.
“Definitely,” Emily said, but it felt like a bomb was about to go off in her chest. The darkness was playing tricks on her. A bush seemed to scuttle to the left. The wind sounded like a high-pitched giggle.
They dumped the presents onto the ground next to the net and clumsily guided the wheelbarrow back to the clubhouse. Emily worked furiously with Cassie and Heather to pull the ornaments off the Christmas tree. They grabbed glass orb after glass orb, along with a mix of silver and gold stars. Emily tried to wrap them carefully in napkins, but the other girls threw them hastily into the wheelbarrow. Then the girls pulled down all the wreaths, garlands, and strings of mistletoe around the room, stuffing them into the wheelbarrow, too. Just before the last load went out, Cassie directed the girls to stand together in front of the stripped Christmas tree for a photo. “Say Bah Humbug!” Cassie squealed, setting the auto-timer feature on her digital camera and jumping into the picture, too. She took pictures with all the girls’ phones, including Emily’s.
Then they stood back and stared at their handiwork. “It’s awesome,” Cassie breathed.
Emily wasn’t sure the effect was awesome, but it was definitely striking. The tree looked scrawny without any adornments. A bunch of needles had scattered all over the floor, and there were dusty spots from where the presents had been. Without the festive wreaths, candles, and tinsel garland decorations, the dining room seemed a bit shabby and sad, just like what the houses in Whoville looked like after the Grinch had stolen all of their decorations. What would the country club proprietors do when they found the place like this at brunch tomorrow morning? Sing peacefully around the tree, like the Whos did? Right. This was the Rosewood Country Club.
They hefted the door open once more and pushed the wheelbarrow out into the cold. The cart was especially full this time, and it took all five of them to push the thing up the hill. Every creak of the wheels, every elf giggle, made Emily tense. They were so close now. She didn’t want someone hearing them.
They made it to the tennis courts, dumped the rest of the gifts, and ditched the wheelbarrow without incident. The elves started over the hilly golf course to the car. And that was when Emily realized: They had done it. They were running to freedom.
Emily’s heart lifted as she ran after them. Never before had she felt so exhilarated in her life. She grabbed Cassie’s hand and let out an excited whoop, and Cassie whooped back.
“Long live the Merry Elves!” Heather hollered.
When the floodlights snapped on, Emily thought it was just an automatic timer and kept running. But then a bullhorn sounded through the crisp winter night. “Down on the ground! We see you girls! The police are here! They’ve already surrounded your car! There’s nowhere to go!”
Emily froze. All of a sudden, blue and red lights flashed over the bluffs. Her heart dropped to her feet. “No,” she whispered.
“I said, down on the ground!” a second voice said.
Both voices were familiar. Emily turned toward them. Two figures in heavy winter coats stood by the tennis courts, staring squarely at Emily, Cassie, and the others. One of the figures was tall with graying hair. The other wore a felt jacket with a varsity letter R on the front. Even though Emily hadn’t seen the back, she knew intuitively it would say ROSEWOOD SWIMMING in big blue letters. It had been Jake’s old jacket when he swam varsity for Rosewood; now it served as the all-purpose coat for anyone in the Fields family when they were doing dirty work outside—shoveling snow, digging in mud, or climbing up and down the hills of a golf course, tracking down vandals.
Emily’s mouth fell open. The first figure was Mrs. Meriwether. The second figure was her mom.
Chapter 13
A Mole Among Us
“Down on the ground!” Mrs. Fields bellowed again through the bullhorn.
Slowly, the elves dropped to their knees and put their hands up. Emily did the same. Mrs. Meriwether and Emily’s mother barreled up the ledge like FBI agents on a drug raid and surrounded them.
Mrs. Fields grabbed Cassie’s arm and pulled her to her feet again. “You think you’re so clever,” she hissed in a gruff voice Emily had never heard from her before. “Your pranking days are over.”
“We’ve got the whole thing recorded.” Mrs. Meriwether held up a digital camera. “A good half hour of footage of you ravaging that Christmas tree and taking away all of the presents. Don’t you know some of those gifts go to children? You should be ashamed of yourselves!”
“We didn’t get rid of the presents,” Cassie spat, squirming. “They’re on the tennis courts! Don’t you see? The country club owners can just put everything back tomorrow!”
“It’s vandalism of private property.” Mrs. Fields held fast on to Cassie’s arm. “It’s a very sad thing that you girls don’t understand how wrong that is.”
