Page 59 of Wicked Brutal

“But we need clouds.”

“Obviously.”

I lean against the doorway. “What are you two doing?”

Tobias whips around. “Ryan!”

Dad looks up. “We’re engineering.”

“You’re building a trap out of my mother’s laundry basket.”

“Temporary prototype.”

“Mom know?”

“Your mother supplied the basket.”

Of course she did.

Tobias scrambles to his feet and grabs my hand. “Come look. Walter had an idea, but it wasn’t very good at first.” Tobias drags me toward the table. “See, he thought we should put the gold here, but then the leprechaun could just reach under and take it.”

“Rookie mistake,” I say.

“That’s what I said.”

Dad looks at me. “I don’t remember asking either of you.”

Tobias points to another section. “So we’re moving the gold all the way back here, and then he has to go inside.”

My mother walks in carrying a plate. “Snacks.”

Tobias abandons engineering immediately. “What kind?”

“Apple slices, crackers, and cheese.”

“Do you have cookies?”

“I do.”

“Why aren’t those on the plate?”

Mom stops. Looks at him. Looks at the plate. “Because I made an error in judgment.”

Tobias nods gravely. “Yeah.”

Dad snorts. Mom points at him. “Don’t encourage him.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Your face did.”

Tobias climbs onto a chair. “Can I have two cookies?”

“You can have one now, and if you’re still hungry after you eat some actual food, you can have another.”

He considers that. “Can the first cookie count as actual food?”

“No.”