"I'm afraid I can't let you kids do that," Mr. Delgado said, his voice echoing through the fountain cave. Rebecca didn't see him at first, not until he stepped away from a wall of the cave. He must have been there all along, hearing every word they said.
"Why did you do that to Miss Brigham? What did she find out?"
"I didn't want to do anything to her. I tried to cut her in, but she wouldn't play ball."
"Play ball?"
"I was going to make her a partner, but she didn't want to go along with it. Her precious duty to that reverend guy." Mr. Delgado sneered, giving his face a sinister look.
"What is it you want from us?"
"Just this," he said. He held up a pitcher, the interior of it glowing like the fountain itself.
"The water? What would you do with it?"
"You kids really are sheltered. You're sitting on a gold mine and you don't even realize it."
"You want to sell the water? To who?"
"The highest bidder."
"We can't let you do that," Prudence said. "We can't let you have the water."
"That's what she said. Right before I did this."
Rebecca knew what he was going to do a second before he brought the pitcher back. She had just enough time to snatch Molly away and then drop to the ground. She turned over to make sure the water wouldn't hit the baby.
Instead, the water hit her back. Rebecca didn't feel anything for a moment, but then the cave began to grow larger around her. Her arms retracted into the sleeves of her dress. Molly, who had looked so tiny before, began to look much bigger, almost like an equal.
Rebecca looked up in time to see what remained in the pitcher hit Prudence. As had happened to Rebecca, Prudence began to shrink. The dress Samantha had fetched for her became even looser, the hem pooling at her feet. Her hair slipped out of its bun to tumble down to almost her waist. Prudence's stomach shrank as well, but she remained chubby.
"Oh no," Prudence said, holding up a hand. "I'm little again."
"You're going to get even littler before much longer," Mr. Delgado said.
"You should pick on someone your own size," David said from the entrance of the cave.
"You want to join them, tough guy? Be my guest."
Rebecca rolled over. Prudence helped her up to her feet. To her dismay, Rebecca saw she only came up to the middle of Prudence's chest. As well, holding Molly felt like trying to hold one of the newborn calves. She and Annie were probably the same age again, or perhaps Rebecca was even younger now. "David, no," she squeaked.