"The roaders are bad luck," Aunt Delly said.

They came by the little town of Upper Dorne sometimes, in their colorful wagons. Spent a few evenings in the woods outside town. They were strange folk. Foreign folk. They didn't belong. Aunt Delly said they made milk go sour and turned well water to mud.

And they took away naughty children. Children who didn't behave. The roaders snatched them right up and stuck them in potato sacks. Aunt Delly said it was the smell. The roaders could smell naughty from ten miles away.

Whenever the roaders came to town, Noelle scrubbed herself in the wash basin until her skin was red. She sniffed under both armpits to make sure. Still, Aunt Delly said Noelle was the naughtiest girl she'd ever seen.

That night, Aunt Delly was pressing her bonnets and Uncle Jou was drinking his wine. Noelle was kneeling on walnut shells in the corner. Aunt Delly had punished her for talking back. The walnut shells cut into the skin of Noelle's knees. She hated when Aunt Delly made her sit in the corner like that, but Aunt Delly said it would teach her to be good.

Noelle was wondering how prickly shells and scraped knees were supposed to teach that when she heard the telltale noises outside. Horses brayed and wagon wheels click-clacked. Voices called out to each other in the distance.

She peeked out the window. Just outside the edge of town, wagons were pulling off the road into the shadow of the woods.

"Not again!" Aunt Delly left her blue bonnet unpressed. She went to the window. "I told the Mayor to set the dogs on them last time. They wouldn't have come back so soon if the dogs were out. Lazy good-for-nothings."

Uncle Jou mumbled something and took another swig of wine.

Noelle sniffed her shirt one last time, just to make sure. She couldn't smell any naughty.

"Go lock up the chicken coop," Aunt Delly told her. "With the good lock! And bring in the clothes off the line."

The roaders stole chickens, if they could get them. And shirts and pants drying on the clotheslines. The Mayor's wife said they stole the church collection money, once. Money for the poor! And they made the pond run dry and the chickens stop laying eggs.

"Jou, go get some extra buckets of water." Aunt Delly wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I don't want to use the well after those people. Jou, did you hear me? Oh, you're useless!"

Uncle Jou leaned back in his chair and grinned. "Delly, beautiful... beautiful girl." And he poured himself more wine.

Aunt Delly snapped her fingers at Noelle. "You go get the water."

Noelle was already putting on her shoes. She stopped, one hand on the left shoe. "I don't want to go to the well!"

"Don't talk back to me, naughty girl! Do you want me to tell the roaders to take you? Is that what you want? I'll toss you right out on the streets for them to take!"

Noelle didn't want that. She grabbed the water bucket from beside the door and ran to do Aunt Delly's bidding.

"Take two buckets!" Aunt Delly yelled behind her. But Noelle couldn't carry two buckets full of water. She pretended not to hear. She locked the chicken coop all in a hurry, then dashed out the front gate. She headed for the well.

Noelle's left shoe flew off while she ran. It never stayed on anymore. The ankle strap was old and frayed. But Aunt Delly said new shoes were only for good children.

The market bells tolled sunset. Noelle hurried on, shoe in her hand. She didn't want to be out at night!

Aunt Delly and Uncle Jou lived near the edge of town. Their neighbors were Old Pete the fisherman and Pierre who fixed shoes and Ramon who made glue. The Mayor and all of Aunt Delly's friends from church lived uptown. Aunt Delly always said it was Uncle Jou's fault that she didn't live uptown, too. But Noelle didn't mind living close to the woods.

Except for when the roaders were there.

She could see the orange light of their campfires in the woods. Old Pete said that roaders didn't stay put in their towns, like good folk should. They wandered. They cooked and ate and slept outside, and they carried everything they owned in their wagons. They carried away naughty children in their wagons, too.

Noelle reached the well at last. She hurried to drop the bucket down. The sooner she was done, the better!

The bucket slushed around the bottom of the well for a minute. Noelle decided it was full enough and began to crank it back up. It went fine about half of the way. Then, the chain snagged.

Froglegs!

Noelle tugged once, twice, but nothing happened. Of all the times for it to snag! Aunt Delly would peel her ears off her head if she came back without water.

She squinted to look where the rusted chain wrapped around the crank. It was all brown and dirty. No one ever oiled it. If only she could just find a way to unsnag it.

She put one knee on the edge of the well and climbed up to reach the chain. It was stuck somewhere in the middle, over the well shaft. She could see where a misshapen link had slipped under another. If she could just slip it back out...

Her hand grazed the chain link. She stretched the tips of her fingers as much as she could. The stuck bit moved.... a little. Then it moved a little more. And then...

Yes! Noelle grinned. Success!

She hopped back down from the edge of the well. She went back to the crank to get the bucket out.

Suddenly, arms grabbed her from behind.

Something dark and stuffy came down over her head and shoulders. A potato sack!

She barely had time to think about it before the sack swallowed her up completely. Noelle found herself hoisted up on foreign arms and carried away.

"Let go! Let go-o-o!"

Noelle kicked her legs. But the potato sack was sturdy. It didn't rip.

Her kidnappers carried her into the woods. The air smelled like wet earth and grass.

"Help! Somebody help!" she called. No one answered. "The mayor will send the dogs after you! The constable will... oomph!" The sack cloth got in her face. "He'll stick you in jail! Forever!"

There were giggles on the other side of the potato sack. Then someone made a hushing sound.

Noelle kicked her legs out again. There was an indignant, "Hey! Watch it!" Then another shhh, but too late. Noelle recognized the voice.

Little Pete! The fisherman's boy! She'd dunked him in the river just last week. He'd tried to rub stinging nettles on her face.

"You rotten little frogleg, Pete! Let me go right now! I'll tell on you!" Noelle thrashed. "And Nate, the butcher's boy! And Vlad! I know it's you! Put me down!"

An elbow dug painfully into her ribs. "Shut up, foundling" Vlad said. He was the mayor's son. He'd hated Noelle from the second she'd come to town. "We're taking you back where you belong."

"I'm not a foundling! Put me down!" Noelle yelled.

"If you're not a foundling, where's your parents, huh? Oh wait, they don't exist!" More laughter followed.

Noelle punched the air inside the potato sack.

"Momma says Delly found you on the road, like a stray cat. Cats don't live in houses, huh?"

"That's not true!" Noelle growled. "I'm gonna tell everyone on you! Let me go! He-e-e-elp!"

The nasty little boys laughed on. "You're a little foundling, and we're taking you back to your folk. Didn't you see? They came back for you! You can go live in a wagon like them, and sleep in a pile of horse dung."

The boys laughed more. But suddenly a new voice, an angry voice, rang out above Noelle's head. "What are you three doing? Get out of here! Put that down, now!"

The boys stumbled, frightened. They dropped Noelle. She screeched as she hit the ground. The new voice made an angry noise. The boys ran.

Served them right! Those nasty little frogs!

Noelle shoved the potato sack off her head. "I'll get you for this!" she screamed after the three boys. "I'll tell everyone you were gonna take me to the roaders! You're toast! You—"

She turned to thank her savior, and she froze. The man in front of her was short and skinny, with humped shoulders and a bald, pointy head. He looked surprised to see her, too.

"Devils take me!" he said. "I thought it was a dog in that sack!"

There was another man behind him. Tall like a bear, with a thick, black beard and bushy eyebrows. He scowled at Noelle like he wanted to eat her.

It was the roaders!

Vlad and his gang had brought her to the roaders!