Once Upon the End (Half Upon a Time) (8 page)

CHAPTER 14

M
ay took a seat next to Jack as he absently pulled petal after petal out of a flower. A gentle, warm breeze flowed over both of them. May pulled her knees up, wrapped her arms around them, and just looked at the grass, at the field, at the tree, and at Jack.

Neither of them spoke for the longest time.

“I hate that you’re here,” Jack said finally, still pulling petals off one by one. “I thought I stopped this.”

“By leaving?” May said, laying her head on her knees.

“I thought I had some sort of control here,” he said, shaking his head. “It took months, but I thought I finally had stopped dreaming about you.”

“You’ve . . . dreamt about me?”

“You’d know, wouldn’t you?” he said, not looking at her.

May just looked at him. “Why did you leave?”

He finally looked at her and shook his head. “You’re a dream. That means you’re me, and already know why I had to go.”

May bit her lip, then just went for it. “Yup, I’m a dream. So you can tell me anything, and it’s basically just telling yourself. So why did you leave?”

“How could I stay?!” Jack shouted. “Where is the Charmed One, anyway? I don’t have time for this; I’m supposed to be stealing from a giant. Turning into my father. Becoming everything I hate.” He stared at May. “You’re definitely a dream. The real May would be insulting me a lot more.”

“Sometimes she does that,” May said softly. “But sometimes she . . . just doesn’t know what to say.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure you’ll have plenty to say to your prince,” Jack said, turning his back to her. “Could you please leave? Like I said, I’ve got a busy day.”

“Prince? You mean Phillip, or . . .” She stopped. He didn’t mean Phillip. He meant Cinderella’s prince.

Unless her nightmares weren’t true, and those two princes were one and the same.

“Don’t say Phillip’s name—he might appear too,” Jack said. “Charmed One? Seriously, I could use some vague advice or something! Anything but more of this!”

May stood up too, then reached out and took Jack’s hand to turn him toward her. He pulled away and glared at her. “Just . . . go,” he said.

“Why did you leave?”

Jack laughed. “Are you serious? You’ve never stayed this long before. I went because I made a mistake, May. I made a lot of mistakes. And I couldn’t just stay, not like things were.”

“Mistakes?”

“Your grandmother?” Jack said, gritting his teeth. “The woman you wouldn’t talk about for the past six months? The woman who
I
told you was Snow White? The woman who
I
let out? The woman who’s currently about to start a second Great War? Her. For one. And she’s just one of
many
mistakes.”

May flinched, looking down at the ground. “That wasn’t . . . your fault. You don’t need to run away.”

His eyes widened, and he pointed out toward the field of grass. “GO.”

May groaned in frustration. “You can’t join her, Jack. You can’t! I don’t know what you think you’re doing—”

“I’m doing what needs to be done!” he shouted. “I’m not
Phillip, I’m not you. I wasn’t born into a royal family, May. I was born with a mind, and that’s about it, and that’s what I’m going to use now. Whatever I need to do, I’ll do!”

“You need my help,” May said, her voice softening again. “You have to know that, Jack. Whatever’s going on, you can’t do it alone. You need your friends. You
have
to know that!”

“You’ve got the wrong guy,” Jack said, bitterness swimming behind his eyes. “I thought the same way once, but I was wrong. I know what I’m meant to do now. One of them will betray you, and one will die, right? I know what I have to do.”

May’s entire body went cold. “What do you mean, you know what you have to do? What are you planning?” She grabbed his arm, but he tore it away.

“LEAVE,” he said, his eyes closed tight, and May could feel a tug on herself, like a river current pulling her away.

“NO!” she screamed. “You can’t do this, whatever you’re planning! She’s not worth it! NONE of this is worth it!”

“LEAVE,” he said again, and this time the current almost swept her away.

“Jack, I’m not a
dream
!” she screamed. “The Charmed One can tell you! I’m here in the dream world! I’m stuck here, but I’ll find a way
out
. Don’t do anything . . . don’t do anything crazy!” She was practically begging him now. “PLEASE.
Wait
for me. I’ll come find you, I promise. Just don’t do anything! WAIT FOR ME!”

Jack started to say something, then stopped, just staring at her. Finally, he sighed. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, and it was like a whirlpool appeared directly beneath May. The force of it yanked her off her feet and into nothingness, but as she was pulled back into the waking world, expelled from the dream world by Jack, she could hear the Charmed One’s voice.

“Another dream about the girl?”

“The last one I’ll have, I promise.”

The Charmed One’s head appeared, staring down the whirlpool at May. “Yes, I would imagine so,” the knight said. “But don’t worry. Just a dream.”

“She almost seemed . . . real.”

“Dreams always do.”

And with that, May slammed into the floor of Malevolent’s castle, almost crushing the glass eyeball clutched tightly in her hand. She gritted her teeth at the pain, then looked to her right to find a dragon tail sticking out of a heap of rubble, and Penelope helping Phillip climb down the stones.

“You
are
here!” the prince shouted. He and Penelope rushed to her side. “But how? Did you return when we killed Malevolent?”

May stared at him, wondering how much to say. “Not exactly.” She reached out a hand, and Phillip gently helped her to her feet. The prince noticed the glass ball in her hand, and she shook her head. “Long story.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to tell him in the Queen’s dungeons,” growled someone from the throne room door.

All three looked up to find an enormous man wearing a bulky black fur cloak, with more goblins than May could count lined up behind him.

“Any more cursed wood pieces?” Phillip said to Penelope.

“Not enough,” she said.

A man no bigger than May’s hand appeared out of nowhere on Penelope’s shoulder, then dropped off, striding away with several splinters of a spindle. “They’re safe to take, Wolf,” the little man said, and after getting over the oddness of him, she noticed the white eye on his chest.

Another one. Apparently, they came in all sizes.

As the Eye and the goblins led the other two away, May pushed the Fairest glass ball down deep into her pocket, then held out her arms for a goblin to chain together and lead her away with the others, prisoners of the Wicked Queen.

CHAPTER 15

I
s she gone?” Jack asked, his back to the Charmed One.

“She is,” the knight said. “I did not realize you were still having this problem.”

“I didn’t think I was.” Jack turned around, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding when he found the Charmed One alone. “I’m sorry about that. I’d thought I’d figured out how not to dream about her anymore.”

“There are always setbacks in such things,” the knight told him. “I often dream of Snow, though I welcome the sight of her.”

“Yeah, we’re different people,” Jack told him. “But that’s not why I’m here. I finished my training, and the Queen has one last test for me. I’m supposed to steal something from the same giant that my father robbed.”

The knight raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

Jack waited, then shook his head. “Forget it, there’s no time to go into all that. But I’m afraid this is going to push things back.”

“You didn’t mention anything about what you plan to Jill—”

“Nope. Not her or my father. I couldn’t be sure who was listening.”

“You
can
be sure who was.”

“Anyway, Gwentell is back,” Jack said. “I haven’t asked her about the raven yet, but unless I’m wrong about everything, the plan goes forward. Though I’d still argue that it’s a bird, and there have to be more reliable sources of information than something that runs into windows by accident.”

“If only,” the Charmed One said, turning to look away from Jack. “But you’re not wrong. I have seen the object you’re looking for. I was shown it by someone with much the same goals as you have. If Gwentell confirms everything, you should move forward as quickly as possible.”

“I will,” Jack told him. “By the way, that suggestion to use Gwentell was smart. Thank you.”

“The sword of an Eye grants you knowledge beyond that of the natural world,” the knight said. “Communicating with magical creatures is something few Eyes realize they can do and even fewer know how to take advantage of.”

“I would have been okay taking less advantage of that, actually. She’s not so thrilled with me usually.”

“You don’t know her as well as you might think you do,” the Charmed One said. “She has watched over for you since the beginning and so far has managed to keep you alive.”

“Keep
me
alive?!” Jack said, giving the knight his most incredulous look. It wasn’t enough, but he tried. “By insulting me every time she opens her mouth? Was I dying of not being called stupid enough times a day?”

“Humility can be a virtue,” the knight said, the corners of his mouth rising just a little. Jack noticed—and noted—it. He’d get the Charmed One back for that, even if the man didn’t necessarily exist anymore. “But yes. Under my request, she has watched over you and served you where she could.”

“Big help she was in the Fairy Homelands,” Jack said. “She slept through the whole thing!”

“And gave you warning of the curse, if you remember.”

Jack coughed, covering his blush. She
had
given him about two seconds of warning before Jack had hit the curse himself. Whoops. “Yeah, well, good for her. Anyway, back to this giant thing.” He sighed.

“The Queen does this to you on purpose,” the knight said. “She knows how you feel about your father and his actions. She wishes to see how far you’ll go for what you want, if you’ll become the man you have always hated.”

“She could have just asked.”

“This way, she gets something out of it.” The Charmed One paused. “She must be preparing for something. What was it that she needs?”

“Some singing harp . . . I know.”

The Charmed One gasped, which didn’t help Jack’s feelings on anything. “The harp?! We have even less time than I thought. She will put her plans into motion the moment she has that, Jack. There’s no more time. You must be ready the moment you return.”

“Good, it wouldn’t be right if there weren’t some world-ending pressure.” Jack shrugged. “Aren’t I just making things worse, though, if I give her this thing?”

“She won’t go through with your request to leave this world if you don’t,” the knight told him. “You have no choice. But be wary. She will use the harp for horrible purposes.”

Jack sighed again. “I really hope I’m not wrong about all this.”

“The Story Book is your proof,” the knight reminded him.

“Right,” Jack said. “A magic book that may or may not be reliable anyway. How could it go wrong?”

The Charmed One chuckled. “You have to have faith at some point, Jack.” He started to reach out a hand, then dropped it quickly. “Now, before you leave, what is your plan for the giant?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Jack said. “I got advice from an expert.” And with that, he pushed himself out of the dream just as he had pushed out the fake dream-May. He really didn’t want her showing up out of nowhere again . . . it was humiliating for her to just appear when the Charmed One was walking him through a training exercise.

His eyes opened to two beady little golden eyes staring at him.

“Finally,” Gwentell said. “Could you be any lazier, stupid man-child?”

Jack blew out as hard as she could, sending the fairy flying off his face. Then he spit and spit again. “Were you stepping in my
mouth
?!”

“You should see what I stepped in
before
that,” the fairy said, sticking out her tongue.

“You are
evil
!”

“You are
stupid
!”

Jack frantically scraped at his tongue, trying desperately to get the taste of something horrible out of his mouth. “Did you find the bird?” he asked, or tried to, around his fingers.

“Didn’t I say I would?” the fairy asked. “Yes, I found it. How could I not, when you gave such explicit instructions? ‘Find me a black bird. How many can there be?’”

“I was a bit more detailed than that,” Jack said a bit defensively.

“You failed to mention that it’s the same bird that has been following us since we first met,” the fairy said, shaking her head.

“Wait, what?”

“How did you not see it?!” the fairy said, stamping her foot angrily. “I kept pointing it out when I first decided to protect you!”

“When you first decided—I couldn’t understand you then!”

“Your stupidity is always your excuse, isn’t it, man-child?”

“You
knew
the Wicked Queen was watching us, even back then, and you didn’t say anything?!”

“I believe I just told you that I said
many
things—”

“Forget it!” Jack shouted. “So, what did the bird have to say?”

The fairy gave him a look. “Birds do not speak, man-child. I feel as if you should have known that.”

“What did it caw, then?”

The fairy paused, then handed him a tiny folded-up piece of paper. “It confirmed your . . . idea. Congratulations. Now what does that mean?”

Jack took the paper and gave her a sweet smile. “Sorry, can’t tell you. You’re far too talkative, and we can’t risk anyone hearing. Did you make sure the bird’s tied up or something? Can’t have it getting back to the Queen.”

The fairy nodded, giving him a dark look, then said something low and hostile that Jack couldn’t hear.

“Right back at you,” he told her. “Now, I have to go become everything I hate by stealing something from a giant, potentially dooming the world and everyone I know. Do you want to come or not?”

“The possibility of a giant squishing you?” the fairy said. “I would not miss it!”

A knock at the door forced Jack to throw open the window and toss her out, causing some horrible shrieking and shouting of words that Jack would rather not have understood. He opened the door, only to find no one there.

At least, no one at eye level.

“Final test, eh?” Captain Thomas said, striding into the room. “And a fine adventure it is. You won’t make it back, but that can happen.”

“Well,” Jack said, “I really have enjoyed our time together, even if it’s getting cut short.”

And then he quickly excused himself, the tiny man’s glare burning into him, probably somewhere around his ankles.