Touch-Me-Not

Casey fired the inboard V8 motor to life, and when nothing exploded, everyone let out a breath they hadn’t realized they were holding. 
A few minutes into the ride, Georgia, who was seated in the back with Trip, turned in her seat and looked back from where they had come. “Look at that.” 
The giant oak, which sat in the middle of the open yard and towered over everything around it, was in full blaze. It sent flames and millions of dancing sparks high into the night sky. The image was even twice as spectacular due to the perfect reflection on the cool water of Mirror Lake. The reflected sparks raced across the lake’s surface like speeding, swirling water bugs on fire. 
Trip, steadying himself as best he could against the movement of the boat, noticed something out of the corner of his eye. “Hey, guys, I think we have some company.” 
He pointed just a little down the shoreline from the fire. A tiny streak of light across the flat water, the reflection of the fire in a boat’s wake, was making a course directly behind them. 
Casey nodded and slapped the wheel of the boat. “That’s why they left the boathouse alone; they want us to lead them to the lake house.” 
Caroline burst into action, pulling off her socks and shoes and then standing to pull off her shirt and pants. She moved toward the back of the boat, but as she passed through the narrow gap between the captain’s chairs, Casey roped her in with his strong grasp. 
“And just where do you think you’re going?” 
Caroline’s fury burst from her. “They’re on the water. They’re in my world now! I’m going to pull them out of that boat, drag them to the bottom of this lake, and stuff them so far into the dirt the crabs won’t even be able to find them!” 
Casey’s grasp on her wasn’t coming loose, and she fought against it. He turned to Georgia. “Grab the wheel.” 
Georgia hesitated for a split second and then jumped into the captain’s chair, gripping the wheel with white knuckles and scouring the water ahead of them for anything she might run into. 
“Let go of me, Casey. I mean it.” 
Georgia had seen what she was capable of and wasn’t sure what was about to go down, so she grabbed the wheel tightly and focused on the water as Caroline tugged harder. 
“Let go of me! What’s wrong with you? They can’t find our only home, our one safe place. We’ve worked too hard and too long to let them burn it down. I won’t let it happen. Now let go of me!” 
She fought with all her might but couldn’t even budge against Casey’s arms, which were now wrapped around her in a bear hug. 
“You can’t, Caroline. You can’t get all of them.” 
Her fighting lessened slightly. “What do you mean, ‘all of them’? I don’t care how many are in that boat. You know goblins, once they’re in the water, they’re helpless. Now let me—” 
“Look.” 
Casey pointed over her shoulder, and she looked up. After a second or two of stunned silence she relented, the fight in her draining away like melting ice. 
Along the shoreline now were dozens of streaming wakes trailing behind dozens of boats. They had left from all along the edge of the lake and were heading toward them. 
Everyone was struck by the sheer number of boats coming after them and knew their odds of fighting them off at the lake house would be slim. 
Georgia looked at Casey. “What do we do?” 
“Goblins are dumb, by nature. They think we can’t see them in the darkness. We’ll have to lead them away from our home, but I don’t think we have a choice but to get on dry land and get to safety. We’ll need help.” 
He turned Caroline around and looked at her. “We also need to make sure they haven’t already found it. At least knowing we still have our home and our belongings will help. Go and check it out, but don’t hang around.” 
Caroline walked to the back of the boat and hopped over Trip onto the rear deck. “I’ll meet you at Putter’s Dock and we’ll head up the mountain from there. We’ve got to stay ahead of them, and that may be tough on Trip.” 
Casey took the wheel from Georgia and said, “I’ll take care of Trip; you just get there as fast as you can.” 
Georgia walked back and sat by Trip, and they both looked up at Caroline standing above them. Her dark wavy hair whipped heavily in the wind, and her tanned muscles gleamed in the moonlight. Where the lake’s water sprayed against her legs and stomach, very briefly, her multicolored mermaid’s skin came and went with the beading water droplets, the sparkling sequins flashing in the moonlight. 
She was preparing to jump in when Georgia stopped her. “Where are we going, Caroline? Who’s going to help us?” 
Caroline’s face was still taught with anger, but at answering the question, she seemed to let go of it a little. She even let a brief smile escape. “We’re going to see Graham and Ivy.” 
With the boat cruising at full speed, she silently sprang into the air, a breathtakingly long and graceful arch over the water, and then disappeared, slipping into the glass surface with no more than a ripple. The only clue as to her presence was her clothes lying in a small pile in the front of the boat, which Georgia retrieved and held in a close ball on her lap as she, Trip, and Casey sped across Mirror Lake in the middle of the night, attempting to put as much room between them and their pursuers as possible. 
Casey led the chasing boats through a maze of turns, losing sight of their pursuers at times. Then, inevitably, they would catch one still on their tail. After an hour of twists and turns, Casey finally headed toward the dock, the last boat behind them lost in the dark.