Jack (13 page)

The dog was upon me now. I could feel his warm breath on my face. The smell of slobber and fur. This was it. The great and terrible end of Jack. I pulled my axe out from the back of my pants, ready to swipe at the monster.

The dog leaned down…

…and he licked me with his giant pink tongue. In a wave of slobber, he pushed me right through the crack under the door to freedom.

I must say, I've always preferred dogs to cats.

F
ree of the cobbler—or more accurately, the cobbler's elves—I began searching for a ride back to the castle. I was ready to hop onto a wheel when I caught sight of the beanstalk across the street, just peeking above the boulder that covered the hole.

The tip of it shimmied a little, like something was crawling around in the leaves. There were probably all sorts of creatures devouring the beans and leaves now, seeing as it was one of the few green things in this land. A smile grew on my face as I imagined a giant slug or beetle
crawling down through the hole and dropping into our world. Wouldn't Mama and Annabella be surprised!

But slugs could also be a danger. What if they nibbled away at the stalk until it shriveled up and died? Jaber had said it wouldn't last forever. I had to be sure Papa and I had a way home. I crossed the street for a closer inspection.

It was still green, mostly, minus a few holes and brown spots. A giant ladybug crawled up one of the leaves in search of aphids. A snail with a shell big enough for me to wear as a helmet was sliming along a bean pod. The stalk shimmied a little more, as though something was shaking it. Maybe a mouse or a bird—or a pixie. Remembering what Tom had said, I scooped up a handful of dirt. I walked around the stalk very slowly, checking under each leaf.

Something wiggled and squeaked beneath the upper leaves of the stalk.

“Ha!” I shouted, thrusting aside the leaf that covered the hole and throwing the dirt down at the creature.

The creature screamed and raised her arms for protection. I dropped the rest of the dirt, and my jaw dropped with it.

The creature was not a pixie or a mouse. It was my little sister.

O
nce, when I was nine and Annabella was five, I wanted to go on a quest in the forest. I made
careful preparations. I had my stick sword and my sling and pockets full of rocks and acorns. I filled a cloth with bread and cheese and boiled eggs, and I announced that I was off to find the giants.

Then Annabella decided she was coming, too.

“You're too small,” I told her.

“I am not!” she cried, wailing and stomping her feet so much that Mama finally said I couldn't go anywhere unless I took Annabella with me. I was so mad at her, I hid in the trees every now and then and snarled and growled when she came near. It frightened her, but she didn't turn back. She stayed with me the whole day, searching all the best caves and trees before I could get to them, and asking endless questions about the giants. “Could that be one of their footprints? Do you think they ripped up that tree? How come we haven't seen one yet? Maybe they're like bats and only come out at night.”

The whole quest was ruined, so I decided to get back at her. That night I released a nest of newly hatched spiders in her bed. I told her they must have nested in her hair while we searched for giants and now they were hatching. Maybe it was nasty of me, but Annabella never interrupted one of my quests again.

Until now.

“What are you doing here?” I spoke sharply, as though the words might cut her down to size.

Annabella flinched. “I came here to help you find Papa.” She smiled hesitantly.

“Does Mama know you're here?”

Her smile disappeared. “Well, she does now, I
suppose. She told me to go see if I could harvest some more beans, but we'd harvested the ones closest to the bottom, and then I wanted to see how high I could go, so I just kept climbing and climbing, and then I made it here!”

I folded my arms. “You have to go home, Annabella. Mama must be worried sick.”

Now it was Annabella's turn to fold her arms. “Mama's already worried sick—over
you.
”

“She is?”

Annabella twisted her apron in her hands, the way Mama always did when she was in distress. “Oh, Jack! My naughty boy! I shall never see him again! Oh!” She placed her hand on her heart.

Annabella did quite a fine impersonation of Mama. I laughed in spite of myself, but I stifled it quickly. “So what do you think Mama will do when she sees
you
gone? What were you thinking?”

Annabella turned pink in the face. I thought it was because she felt shame, but I was wrong. “What were
you
thinking?! You came up here and you didn't even tell us where you were going or what you were doing! For a whole day she was so upset she wouldn't eat unless I spooned the food into her mouth.”

I didn't know Mama cared enough about me to not eat. I was always a burden. Jack, her naughty boy, the great pest. It made me feel sort of happy that Mama was sad when I left, but if she was that sad over me, she'd be all the more distressed over Annabella, her one good child.

“You have to go home, Bells,” I said.

“Says who?”

“Says me. Mama needs you, and you're not big enough to stay here.”

“You're not big enough either.
You
go home to Mama. I'll find Papa by myself.” She stomped her foot on the ground as though she meant to plant herself here and spread roots.

I sighed. Jack the Giant Killer never ran around with a pesky little sister.
He
had knights and kings and noblemen. Although it would be funny to hear her scream the first time she saw a giant spider…. She'd be running home in no time. And if that didn't work, then there was always Rufus.

I'm sorry, Mama. Annabella was eaten by a cat. But don't feel too bad. You always thought she was so tenderhearted, I'm sure she made a nice meal. Aren't you proud?

“Fine, you can stay.”

Annabella beamed.

“But if you get eaten by a giant snake, it isn't my fault!”

“Giant snakes?” Her smile faltered.

“Why of course.” I grinned. “You didn't think it was just the humans that were giant, did you?”

“Well, I…I…no. Of course not. I knew there would be giant snakes here.”

“Oh yesss,” I hissed. “Giant snakes and bats and cats and rats. I even heard of a boy who was eaten by a cow.”

“A cow?”

“Yep, swallowed whole.” I left out the part where he survived and escaped.

Annabella's chin quivered a little. But she didn't cry. She lifted her chin and forced a shrug. “I've always been very good around animals.”

“Well, we'll see how you fare at the size of a mouse. Come on. We need to get to the castle before dark, when the owls and bats come out to hunt little girls….”

I left Annabella and started walking up the hill. I paused and turned around, expecting to see her hightailing it down the beanstalk, but to my surprise she walked right past me, trudging up the hill with her braids bouncing. I trotted after her and then pulled ahead, so she'd know who the leader was.

“Do you know where Papa is?” Annabella asked after we'd walked a few minutes in silence.

“He's at the giant castle.”

“How do you know? Is he being held captive like Grandpa Jack?”

“Maybe.”

“Is the giant going to eat him?”

“No. The giants don't really eat us.” I paused. “I don't think they do anyway. Not the ones I've met.”

“You've met giants? And they didn't eat you?”

“They don't take us for eating. They take our food and our animals, since there's a famine going on here.”

“Oh. That makes sense, I suppose.” Annabella looked all around at the brown and shriveled plants. “Then why did they take Papa?”

“They take people to do their work for them. They call us elves.”

“Elves…how strange. But I guess the giants don't think of themselves as giants, do they?”

It unnerved me how quickly she was catching on to everything, as though she found it all quite logical. “No. They think of themselves as people, just like we do.”

“But not very nice people, if they took away Papa.”

“Yeah, some of them.”

“We'll beat the giants, Jack,” said Annabella. “We'll get Papa back and beat the giants just like Grandpa Jack.”

I kept walking. Annabella didn't really know what it was like to face a giant. Even if they were kind giants, like Martha, they could still pick you up between their fingers and do whatever they pleased with you.

We trudged on through dust and dead grass. The castle looked so far away, it would take forever to get there on foot, but I had very little confidence that Annabella would be able to ride a cart or skirt or shoe. She'd fly off in an instant, so we stayed off the road and walked. Hours later we weren't even halfway up the hill.

Gribit!

“What was that?” Annabella grasped my arm.

Something large and green hopped into our path. It had bulging eyes and a mouth that stretched clear across its face.

It was a giant toad.

Brrrgibit!

The toad hopped toward us, and Annabella squeaked with fright and stumbled back.

“What's the matter?” I said. “I thought you liked animals.”

Annabella swallowed. “I do…. It's just—”

Rigibit!
croaked the toad.

“Hello,” said Annabella.

The toad flicked out its enormous tongue and hopped a little closer. Its bulging eyes were fixed on Annabella. She glanced uneasily at me.

“Go on,” I goaded. “Make friends with it.”

“My name is Annabella,” she said, desperately trying to keep her voice steady. “What's yours?”

Gribit!

“Oh!” Annabella smiled. “She says her name is Gusta.”

Gusta?
So it was a girl toad, apparently. I rolled my eyes. “Great, now give Gusta a kiss and say good-bye.”

“Oh, I don't think—”

Brrgibit!
The toad flicked out her tongue, wrapped it around Annabella's waist, and plucked her off the ground like a flower out of a garden.

“Jack!” cried Annabella. The toad started to hop away.