Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2) (40 page)

As the boys soared earthward, rejoining the world of mortals, a golden sunrise was just breaking over Norway.

A new day waited.

CHAPTER FIFTY

The Travelers’ Tale

T
he boys zoomed and swirled through the gold and pink and baby blue morning sky, enjoying themselves far too much to rush their landing.

Jake supposed t
his was a longer and more exciting descent than Archie had ever hoped to experience. But the ground was coming up quickly, so he urged Red closer to the Pigeon.

“
I can’t let Red be seen!” he hollered to his cousin. “Might as well part ways now, if you’re going to be all right?”

Archie gave him another thumbs up, his hair flying wildly. “
My speech isn’t till nine, but no harm in giving the gents a little demonstration, what-hey?”

Jake laughed. He supposed the boy genius deserved to show off a bit for once.

“Could you send the girls on with my notes?” Archie called.

Jake nodded.
They’ll love that.
“Are you sure you know how to land that thing?”

“No worries!” h
e yelled back cheerfully.

“Good luck!”

Archie bade him farewell with a wave. His whoop of joy trailed out behind him as he zoomed down toward the college. “Woooo
hoooo!”

Jake stayed
up high, obscured behind the puffy pastel clouds so no one on the ground would see the Gryphon. But he watched with a grin from ear to ear as his cousin finally came to a perfect landing on the green in the center of the University buildings.

The boy genius
knew how to make an entrance, he thought with a wry laugh as the scientists on the ground came running. Archie hadn’t even climbed out of the Pigeon yet as his adult colleagues crowded around his invention, applauding.

Just then,
against the white clouds ahead, Jake spotted a trail of golden sparkles heading his way. “Gladwin!” he cried in surprise as his favorite royal messenger fairy came zooming out of the clouds. He immediately wondered if the message she had been en route to deliver when he had seen her in Odin’s reflecting pool might have been for him.

“Oh, t
hank goodness you’re alive!” she cried in her tiny, tinkling voice as she reached him. “I was that worried!”

“No need. Archie and I are both safe.”

“Good!” She landed on Jake’s shoulder as lightly as a dragonfly and crouched down against his neck, shielding herself from the wind by tucking back behind his coat collar.

He furrowed his brow as she held on tightly to his earlobe to keep from being blown away. “Derek Stone sent me. He got one of
his warning feelings about you. That you were in danger. The Guardian instinct, you know. But he couldn’t come himself on account of his bodyguard assignment, so he sent me to check on you.”

“Did he
happen to send a message with you?”

She nodded. “I have it back at the room.”

“As soon as I’m on the ground, I’ll send a telegram to let him know I’m all right. Are Dani and Isabelle safe?”

“Oh, yes.
They’re in the dormitory, still waiting for Henry and Helena.”

“No
sign of them yet?” he asked with a frown.

Gladwin
shook her head sadly. “No.”

Jake pondered
this news in concern.

He still had only a
small amount of experience in magical dealings, but he would’ve thought that when Thor had defeated Loki, the spell the Lord of the Shapeshifters had cast over the twins would’ve been broken. That was how it usually seemed to work.

“Would you mind looking after Red for me while I go
and see the girls?” Jake asked the fairy as they coasted down into the clearing in the woods above the fjord, where Archie had first tested the Pigeon on the day they had arrived. “He’s been through an awful lot over the past few hours. We could’ve died.”

“I knew you weren’t safe!” Gladwin scolded, pinching his e
ar.

“Ow!”

“Humph, that’s what you get for fibbing to me. No worries, my foot!”

“
All right, so maybe I deserved that. But don’t take it out on Red. It wasn’t his fault; he was only doing what I asked. He needs some food and water, and some sleep. He inhaled a lot of dangerous gases over the volcano.”

“Volcano?
” Gladwin cried.

“
I think a few of his feathers might’ve got singed.”

“I want to hear
all
about this later.”

“
I’ll tell everyone the whole tale on the boat ride back to England,” Jake promised as he slid off the Gryphon’s back. “You’ll stay with us till then, won’t you, Gladwin?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks. It’s been a little unnerving without Henry and Helena.”

“I know, lad. You go on now.” The fairy
fluttered down onto Red’s head. He looked up at her with a curious roll of his golden eyes. “I’ll see to him,” she promised with a nod.

Jake thanked
her again, then gave his trusty Gryphon a pat on the neck. “See you again soon, Red.”

With
what was left of his strength, he jogged back down the same mountain trail where he had originally heard the
BOOM
that he had thought was an earthquake.

Well, now he
certainly knew the truth! Giants were real. And as he loped wearily down the path, it occurred to him that he never did get to ask the Norse about the trolls that they claimed lived in these woods, too.

After everything that had happened, he had no desire to meet one at the moment. He just wanted rather desperately to get back to normal life.

Fortunately, he made it back to the dormitory without encountering any more magical creatures.

Dani and Isabelle jumped up from where they were sitting in the
ir room and ran to him the moment he arrived, both hugging him at the same time.

“Jake!”

“You’re alive!”

“Blech
, you smell like sulfur and smoke!” Dani said, stepping back from him with a grimace.

“Ha, wait till I tell you why,” h
e answered with a grin.

“Where’s Archie?” Isabelle asked, clutching his arm in worry.

“He’s fine. I think he might end up giving his speech early today. Also, he needs his notes. He wondered if one of you could bring them to him.”

Dani snorted. “Figures!”

Isabelle shook her head. “Thanks for bringing my brother back in one piece.”

“Any news of
Henry and Helena?” he asked in concern.

The girls exchanged a guarded glance.

“What is it?” Jake prompted, worried anew when he saw their pained looks. “What’s happened? Are they still in animal form?”

“Oh, yes,” Isabelle said with caution.

“What, then? Has something happened?” he cried. “Did a hunter shoot them?”

“No, no
, nothing like that,” Isabelle assured him. “It’s just…well, they are enjoying their freedom in the forest so much as wild animals that they…well, Jake…I’m afraid they don’t want to come back.”

“What?”
Jake stared at her in shock. “Don’t
want
to come back? What do you mean?”

“The last we saw them, they had started reverting to the wild. They were afraid if they came around us again, they’d attack us, like real wild animals. They didn’t want to hurt us. Please, it’s not their fault…”
Isabelle kept trying to explain, but Jake was hardly listening, outraged to think the twins would abandon them.

Angrily, he strode over to the
window and scanned the edge of the woods beyond the pleasant campus grounds. “This can’t be right,” he murmured to himself. “When Thor hit Loki with his hammer, I’d have thought…” His words trailed off as he continued studying the landscape.

“Thought what?” Dani prompted, stepping closer in concern.

“Ha!” Jake suddenly shouted. “I knew it! There! Look!” He pointed toward the trees, then ran off without explanation.

“What the—
? Jake?”

“Where are you going?” the girls exclaimed,
hurrying after him.

He went into Henry’s room.
“They’ve changed back—whether they like it or not. They’re outside! I knew it,” he said as he grabbed an armful of clothes for their tutor and dodged back out of Henry’s room.

“They are
? Wait! Jake!”

“
Where did you see them? Where are you going?”

The girls followed again as h
e ran back to the window in the girls’ room and beckoned them over impatiently. “There! Look.” He pointed at their tutor in his human form, concealing himself as best he could behind a leafy mountain laurel bush.

“On second thought, mayb
e you shouldn’t look,” Jake added with a roguish glance.

The girls shrieked and averted their eyes, not that you could see anything, really.

Poor Henry! With a mortified expression, their bookish tutor was staring toward the dormitory, waving discreetly, and obviously hoping in desperation that one of them would see him and bring him some clothes.

“I’m sure
Miss Helena won’t be far away,” Jake added.

Isabelle gasped. “I see her! Over t
here!” She pointed to another section of the woods, more to the east, where their governess, like Eve in the garden, was trying to shield herself from view with her long black hair and several leafy branches.

“Blimey,
she’s starkers,” Dani uttered.

“Derek will be so upset he missed this,” Jake drawled.

Dani smacked him on the arm. “Be good for once.”

Jake laughed, but
Isabelle had turned red on behalf of their governess.

“We
’ve got to bring her a dress or something! Hurry!”

With that, the three of them
scrambled to help, running off to their separate tasks. Jake raced out to bring Henry his clothes; Isabelle ran to the rescue of the mortified Miss Helena; and Dani dashed off at top speed to bring Archie his notes for his big speech.

Jake couldn’t help laughing to himself as he ran. The magical life might have its per
ils, to be sure.

But
it was never dull.

EPILOGUE

Return to Albion

Several days later, the Invention Convention ended for another year, and the geniuses of the world headed home to their far-flung points of origin from all around the globe.

Which was why Jake was sitting
, presently, in the dark, noisy cargo hold of the steamship next to a large wooden crate marked:
‘Danger! Live Animal! Keep hands and feet away.’

From inside the crate came
the unpleasant and peculiar sounds of a Gryphon feeling seasick: occasional feline groans, pitiful tweets. Yacking coughs now and then, like a cat thinking about coughing up a hairball sometime soon.

“Becaw.”

“Oh, stop being a baby. You’ll be fine,” Jake assured his feathered pet. He reached through the open end of the crate to drape a handkerchief wetted with vinegar over Red’s large, leathery beak.

Miss Helena swore this was the best traditional remedy for the
queasy mal-de-mers.

“How’s he doing?” Gladwin came buzzing through the darkness, her fairy trail sprinkling the
surrounding piles of luggage as she approached.

“This is definitely not Red’s
favorite mode of travel,” Jake replied.

Since the Gryphon was half lion, he couldn’t swim, and sensibly,
he did not dare fly for long distances over the ocean. He had no choice but to go by boat, but this steamship really did not appear to agree with him.

Jake was a bit puzzled because Red had had no such trouble on the Viking longboat when they had traveled to Valhalla. But maybe it was because there had been ice floes all around them, like little bits of land where he knew he could stand on solid ground (or rather ice) any time he chose.

Or maybe it was being confined in the crate to avoid being seen that made him queasy. Whatever the cause, the noble Gryphon was a pitiful sight at the moment.

“Poor boy.”
Gladwin landed atop Red’s crate. “I’ll stay with him. Go on, you’re wanted topside.”

“What for?”

“The others want to see you.”

“All right. Thanks. I’ll be back soon, Red. Hang in there
, boy.”

“Becaw,” Red said miserably.

Jake paused, frowning to leave his loyal pet in this condition. “Gladwin, do you suppose gryphons like ginger tea? I could bring some back for him from the ship’s galley if it would help to settle his stomach. It always helps me when I get one of my horrid telekinesis headaches.”

“
Couldn’t hurt to try it,” she said with a shrug. “Mind you, I’ll stay and watch him, but just to be clear, I
don’t
clean up gryphon puke.”

“
Royal
garden fairy. I should think not. But all right, duly noted,” Jake said with a smile. Then he strode through the cargo hold, passing Archie’s flying machine, safely stowed nearby.

The Pigeon had caused a sensation when the boy genius had presented it at last to his scien
tific colleagues.

For his part
, Jake would never forget how happy Archie had been flying down from Jugenheim. If Archie hadn’t decided to come along on the adventure, he would’ve missed out on the flight of a lifetime.

Quickly climbing the ladder up
from the cargo hold, Jake stepped out into a plain, gray, metal corridor in the lower deck. This level housed much of the steamship’s machinery as well as its sprawling galleys, or kitchens.

From there, he hurried up through various levels of
mid-decks, where the army of uniformed crew and staff bustled about their work; up past the red-carpeted hallways lined with elegant passenger staterooms, through the public areas—the dining hall and the ballroom, with its chandeliers and grand piano; until, at last, he arrived outside on the main deck, where he found his party standing at the windy rails.

They
were watching the craggy shores and green hills of Norway receding into the hazy blue distance.

The twins gazed wistfully at the forest, chastened by their return to civilization. Jake gave them a sympathetic smile as he approached.

Henry and Helena smiled back.

Nearly los
ing the twins had made the kids appreciate their dear shapeshifters even more.

Perhaps before
, they had taken Henry and Helena for granted, but now they understood how lucky they were to have a skilled governess and tutor who cared for them so much.

After all, Henry and Helena could have run off if they wished and done whatever they pleased, making use of their abilities as shapeshifters like Loki to enjoy a life of ease and pleasure without responsibility.

But instead, their two dedicated teachers had chosen to come back and remain with the kids and look after them. They had given up their freedom for the four of them, and the children loved and respected them all the more now that they understood their dedication and unselfishness.

Jake left the pair
to their thoughts, however, turning to Archie.

The boy genius wore a dreamy smile, still privately savoring his
scientific triumph. Mr. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell had personally come up to shake his hand after his speech.

Beside him, Isabelle was holding Teddy in her arms, the ribbons on her hat blowing in the breeze. She kept trying to i
gnore a boy about her own age who kept smiling at her from the far end of the deck. She really was quite shy.

Dani, on th
e other hand, dashed over to Jake when she saw him. “There you are! I’ve got something for you.” She reached into the pocket of her pinafore and handed him a little slip of paper. “Derek sent you back a telegram just as we were leaving! I kept it for you, since you were already down in the cargo hold with Red.”

Jake furrowed his brow. “What’s he say?”

The message Derek had sent earlier with Gladwin had been a simple inquiry asking if Jake and the others were all right. Jake had already telegraphed him to say they were.

Dani handed him the warrior’s reply. “
He’s done with his bodyguard assignment. But look, here’s the exciting part! He wants to know if he should start making the arrangements for our next trip!”

“W
here?” Jake asked eagerly.

“To Wales! S
o we can tour your goldmine!”

“Brilliant,” h
e murmured, glancing over the telegram, his eyes aglow at the thought of seeing all that gold.

His gold!

It was enough to warm the heart of any ex-thief.

“
That sounds grand,” Jake murmured. “Though…to be honest, I wouldn’t mind staying at home for a while, after all this.” He looked at her again. “You’ll be coming, too, right? All of you must come with me.”

“Ye b
etter believe it!” she said with a grin. “I might’ve missed out on the giants, but I can’t wait to meet the dwarves!”

“You already know
one,” he countered with a grin.

“Actually, she knows two,” Archie chimed in, throwing
his arm around her shoulders in chummy fashion as he joined them.

Dani looked skeptically from one boy to the other.
“What are you two talking about?”

“Didn’t we tell you? That’s wh
at the giants thought we were…”

While Archie started telling Dani some of the funnier details about their trip to Juge
nheim, Jake tucked the telegram from Derek into his vest pocket, intrigued by the prospect.

He had never been to Wales.

But as he glanced around at the others in affection—still recalling those terrifying moments when he feared he might never see them again, might not make it back from Giant Land alive—his glance caught on Henry.

He was a little concerned about their tutor. Henry was staring down at the waves, looking lonely and forlorn. Jake frowned, though he wasn’t sure what to say.

After seeing Snorri marry Princess Kaia, he had no doubt there was somebody out there for everyone. Miss Helena and Derek Stone seemed to like each other. But poor Henry could not be with Miss Langesund, whom he obviously fancied, because of his being a shapeshifter. That was some secret for a chap to have to keep.

But h
ow could a lady scientist ever accept something she couldn’t even comprehend?

And yet, before they had left the University, Jake had had a private meeting of his own with Astrid
Langesund. And perhaps what he had told her had helped to expand her awareness of matters that lay beyond the realm of what could be scientifically proved.

He owed a debt of honor, after all, to a certain Viking warlord.

Jake had given Ragnor the Punisher his word that he would tell the “grave-robbers” about the real historical owner of the Viking ship the Langesunds had found.

Considering how the wild blond warrior had helped the boys
survive their visit to Valhalla, Jake didn’t care if Miss Langesund thought he was a loon—it was a promise he meant to keep.

It was scary, though, admitting to an outsider that he could see ghosts. Aside from Dani, he had never willingly told any non-magical person about his abilities. He
had not dared to tempt fate by proving it to the lady-archeologist with a demonstration of his telekinesis, either. It was up to her, whether she would take him at his word or not.

“I know you probably won’t believe me, and I
can understand that,” he had said when he had gone to see her in the little ship museum after all the excitement. “I only ask that you at least hear me out…”

S
he had looked at him in astonishment when he had told her he could see ghosts, that he had been born that way.

“And when you brought us in here that day, I saw the spirit of the king who owned this ship. He wa
s furious that you and your father had dug up his grave. That’s why everything kept falling down around you. It wasn’t clumsiness. He was haunting you, throwing things around…”

Miss
Langesund had sat down slowly, her pretty blue eyes wide behind her ugly black-rimmed spectacles.

Jake had shared more details.
“His name was King Ragnor the Punisher. He never told me exactly where in Norway his lands were, or in what century he lived, but he gave me great boasts to describe himself. He said he made the Gauls tremble, and he tattooed the face of Loki to help identify him when the trickster god changed shapes.”

“Oh, Jake,
but Loki’s just a legend,” she had protested with a confused and disbelieving smile.

“Rig
ht.” He had ignored the remark. “Ragnor also said he slew the terrible ice grendels. You don’t happen to know what those are, do you?”

“Ice grendels?” she had echoed. “
No, I’ve never heard of them. Grendel was a monster in the story of Beowulf…but that was just a story, too.”

“Right,” Jake said again
, more quietly, smiling in spite of himself at her unbelief. He had considered showing her Risker, his magical dagger from Odin. But he was afraid she would deem it an important historical artifact and refuse to let him take it out of Norway. But it was a personal gift. So he had left it safely in its sheath back in his room.

He had practiced with it a little, and like the king god said, it would return to him when he threw it, only he was too scared to try to grab it out of the air yet for fear of accidentally slicing off his own hand.

At length, having shared his information, he had stood up to leave the lady-archeologist to her studies. “Well, that’s all I wanted to tell you, Miss Langesund. Do with the information as you see fit. But trust me, Ragnor will be back if there’s no honor given to his memory here. The only reason he and his men agreed to stop haunting the museum was for the glory of being remembered for their great deeds.”

She
had thought it over, still smiling uncertainly like she thought this might just be a boyish prank. “Well, it couldn’t hurt to put up a plaque about him here, I suppose, if we say it’s just a legend. It might even help sell tickets to the museum. We can always use the funding.”

“Oh, he’ll like being described a legend, I’m sure. That
should suit his ego very well.”

Even now,
Jake still did not know what ice grendels were, but after all the mysterious things he had seen, it seemed all right to leave some mysteries unsolved.

At least for now.

It was only the one about his parents that still really haunted him. Perhaps someday he’d know the truth.

For the time being,
not wanting Miss Langesund to think him either a prankster or a loon—especially since he’d have to see her again at Archie’s next Invention Convention—Jake
did
give the lady-archeologist a small but interesting piece of proof.

He presented
her with one of the grainy, black-and-white photographs that Archie had developed after their return from Jugenheim.

A
picture of Princess Kaia’s royal Viking boat.