CHAPTER 13

Under Attack

There’s no time to waste. I call out orders from atop Maximus. “Kayla, Jocelyn, and Ollie, make sure Kayla’s mom is secure,” I direct them as they jump onto other Pegasi and join us in flight while Maxine takes off on Blue. “Maxine and AG, you release the fairy pets. Jax and I will grab Peaches and Wilson. Then, we’ll get Tessa and Raza out. We will meet back out here at this wall, or what’s left of it, when we’re done. Got it?”

“Got it!” everyone agrees.

I look at AG. I’ve added her to our crew without even asking. Knowing how she handles stress, is this a good idea? “We can get you back to your parents if you want.” I say.

AG stares at the sky filled with cannon smoke, wand flares, and Pegasi. “No,” she says firmly. “I want to help.”

I look at her.

“I can handle this.”

I nod.

“Any clue where Jack went?” Ollie asks me.

I stare at the beanstalk again and wonder whether Jack has left me behind to try to rescue his family. I hear a piercing scream and look down. One of the giants has just crushed what remained of the welcome tea tent. I can’t think about that right now.

“No clue! Everyone, let’s go!” I watch until they make it past the giants, then turn my focus back to Maximus.

“Hey, boy.” I know he can understand me. “Dorms, then the dungeon. In that order.”

Maximus’s wings flap fast to get us above the giants, the school, and the destruction. You can see everything from up here. Magic carpets whiz over and under giants’ noses and through their legs as kids riding Pegasi throw anything they can find to slow the giants down. We’re high enough now that I can see my teachers, as tiny as ants, still trying to blast the beanstalk, which continues to shimmer and glow and grow.

I urge Maximus to go faster, leading him straight toward the roof of the girls’ dormitories. We set down on the smoky roof, and Jax and I dismount. A fire is blazing in the woods in the distance. “I’m going to send Peaches and Wilson up to you,” I tell Maximus. “Fly them to Kayla’s mom’s fairy hut, then come back for us here. We’re going to get the others out of the dungeon. Then we’ll return to the roof.” I hesitate. “But take off again if it gets dangerous.”

I will wait for you, Maximus somehow tells me.

THUMP. THUMP. The giants’ movements seem to be getting closer.

“We don’t have much time,” Jax says as we descend the stairs from the roof toward my dorm room. “The giants could slam a fist through one of these walls at any moment.”

Rushing down the winding steps, we make it to my dorm room quickly. Peaches and Wilson start honking and squeaking the minute they see me.

“Guys, we need to get you out of here,” I tell them. “Jax will carry you up to Maximus, and he’ll get you to safety.”

For the first time ever, Peaches doesn’t try to nip me. Wilson nuzzles my fingers, then hops onto Peaches’s back. Jax holds open a sack and places the pair inside so that Maximus can hold the bag in his teeth. As Jax carries the pair up to the roof, I feel a slight wave of relief.

I run back to my room and grab my bow and arrow. Now I’m ready for action.

Finding our way into the dungeon is the harder part of the mission. With the warning sirens going off and all the explosions outside school, the hallways are going haywire. The destruction sounds far away inside the cool, darkened castle, but the trembles continue. Hallways glitch open and shut at lightning speed, making it tricky to get through them. Suddenly, I hear yelling.

“Girls in pink sashes being held against their will! Help!”

Awesome sauce! We’ve found the dungeons! A rumbling crash from somewhere inside the castle makes us move faster. My hand is on my bow and arrow as I run down the steps and find Tessa and Raza crying and clinging to the bars. I can’t believe they’re really behind bars!

“Madame Cleo let Blackbeard take over detention, and this is where he placed us,” Tessa sobs. “Now rescue me.” She sees Jax and stops crying. “On second thought, let Prince Jaxon.” I roll my eyes.

Jax grabs the keys from the wall and starts unlocking the cell doors while I keep watch. The ground rumbles, and tiny pieces of cement rain down on our heads. Tessa and Raza run out of the cell and collapse tearfully into Jax’s arms.

“It was terrible! We’ve been locked in there for an hour, and no one came to get us out!” Raza cries.

“That’s because the school is under attack by giants, and a huge beanstalk just sprouted on the grounds,” I tell them. I glance around the dungeon. This place always spooks me—too many things have gone wrong down here. It doesn’t help that Alva’s statue is down here now too.

“Giants? A beanstalk?” Tessa gasps. “I thought it was a thunderstorm!”

“We need to get out of here,” Raza adds, clinging to Jax’s arm tightly. “I can’t have my last moments be in a dungeon!”

I’m about to lead the way back to the roof when the hallway disappears. Before I can find a new way out, the room begins to shake and debris begins flying in our direction. Both girls scream. Jax grabs them and pulls them into a doorway. I join them just as the wall to the next chamber comes crumbling down as if it’s been blasted to smithereens. The gaping hole gives me a clear view of Alva’s statue, as a meaty arm pounds its way through what remains of the ceiling, narrowly missing her.

“A giant!” Raza shouts.

I smack my hand over her mouth, but my arm is visibly shaking as I try to keep her quiet. The giant may come after us if it knows we’re here, but my fear is short lived. Seconds later, I watch in horror as Princess Rose’s former captor is lifted off her stone podium, clenched in the grip of the giant’s hand.

I know immediately who sent these giants. There’s only one person who needs Alva to complete his spell. She may still be stone, but I can’t let her fall into Rumpelstiltskin’s hands. I have an arrow out of my quiver before I even realize it. I take aim at the giant’s fingers and fire again and again. I see the giant’s grip on the statue loosen slightly, then tighten again as it lifts Alva through the crater of a ceiling.

“No!” I run from the doorway as the ceiling continues to give way.

“Gilly!” Jax shouts, but I keep running till I reach the giant’s hand and Alva’s statue. I jump for the statue’s pointy shoes, my fingers grazing the soles as the giant lifts the statue completely out of reach and it is carried into the darkened sky.

I scream out in frustration.

Maximus must hear me because seconds later he’s landing in the remains of the dungeon.

I calmly turn to my best friend. “Jax, you have to listen to me. Stiltskin is up in Cloud City. I saw Anna there in Jack’s mirror, and he saw his mum there too. I know you don’t trust him, but this isn’t just about trying to get to Anna anymore. I would bet my bow and arrow that Stiltskin sent that giant to retrieve Alva for him, and Grimm only knows how long it will take him to bring her back to life again. Then it’s game over for Enchantasia.”

Jax balls his hands into fists. “Gilly, Stiltskin is expecting you to follow him! He knows how worried you must be about Anna and how badly you want her to come home. I told you before: he could be leading you into a trap.”

I don’t have time to come up with a fancy argument. Instead, I go with the truth. “She’s my sister, and it’s my fault she’s with Rump. I have to try to get to her. I know she’s still good! I just know it! Even if she’s not, if there’s the slightest chance that she’s in danger, I have to try to help her. If I don’t, I’ll never forgive myself.”

Jax groans in frustration as Maximus paws at the rubble. “Fine. But we’re going with you.”

“You are?” I say with a mixture of relief and hope.

I stare at Jax’s face covered with ash and his dress uniform torn and tattered. He seems to struggle to find the words. “I may not trust Jack, but I trust you. We have to try to stop Stiltskin from getting Alva. If Anna wants to come home, I’ll do my best to help make that happen too.”

I grab Jax tight and don’t let go. He holds me just as tight.

Tessa’s voice cuts through the darkness. “Are we getting out of this dungeon or what?”

Jax and I quickly pull apart, helping Tessa and Raza on Maximus before we take off in flight. Maximus flies quickly through the smoky sky to what’s left of the wall we left just a short time ago. In the distance, I can see the giants already climbing back up the beanstalk with their Alva statue. The FTRS grounds are a mess of flattened rubble. When Maximus lands, Tessa and Raza run off to find more RLWs. But Jocelyn, Maxine, Ollie, Kayla, and AG are waiting by the wall, safe and sound, and Blue is hovering nearby. Maxine pulls us in for a group hug.

“When we saw the giants with the statue, we thought the worst!” Maxine sniffs, practically suffocating me with her right arm. “Are Peaches and Wilson okay? Kayla’s mom is fine. Blackbeard’s ship caught fire from a training wand misfire, and the professors are helping put it out. We should go help them and then figure out how to get that statue back.”

I pull out of the hug. “I already have a plan.” The others look at me. “We’re going up the beanstalk after Alva’s statue. Hopefully we can bring Anna and any other squad members who have changed their minds about working with Stiltskin home too. But first we have to get up the beanstalk and find our way to Cloud City. I think that’s where Stiltskin’s hiding.” I quickly explain what Kayla and I saw in Jack’s mirror and what Jack told me before. The others don’t fight me.

“If we’re going up there, Jack should lead us,” Jocelyn says. “He’s been there before. I’m sure there is more than one giant city in the clouds. We need to make sure we find the right one. Has anyone seen him?”

“Not since before the battle,” Ollie points out.

AG points to the shimmering beanstalk and its tangle of vines. “Is that him over there?” It’s hard to see through all the smoke, but I can make out a boy who looks like Jack and is about to climb a beanstalk.

“I think so,” I say.

Jax whistles for Blue. “Let’s go!” Ollie and AG climb on with him, while Jocelyn and I take Maximus with Maxine. Kayla flies alongside us at warp speed. Maximus and Blue land before the tangle of vines, right next to where Jack is surveying the beanstalk.

Jack turns toward us. “Gilly! Where have you been? I looked everywhere for you.”

“You did?” Jax is skeptical. “Funny, you seemed to disappear when things got hairy.”

“I had to go get these.” Jack holds up a small, shiny knife. “Coal miner daggers. The only dagger tough enough to stick to a beanstalk vine and help you climb it. I brought one for you. Are you coming? We have to get up there before Stiltskin cuts down the stalk so no one can follow.”

I didn’t even think of that problem. He hands me a dagger, and I stake it easily into the vine, making my first foothold. Jax puts out a hand to stop Jack from doing the same.

“We’re coming with you too,” Jax tells him.

“No way,” Jack says. “This is a dangerous mission! Do you want to become giant stew? I can help one person hide out in Cloud City from those nasty giants. Not a whole crew.”

“You’re going to have to,” Kayla says. “Gilly helped me get my family back, and now I’m going to help her get hers. And, you know, save Enchantasia too.”

“We’re a team,” Ollie adds, “and teams stick together.”

The others agree.

“Do you know where the harp is?” Maxine asks.

“Where Stiltskin’s camping out?” Jocelyn wonders.

“Are you sure you can even find your way back to the city?” Jax adds.

“Relax,” Jack tells us. “I’ve found the harp before. I can find it again.”

“Gilly, are you sure this is a good idea?” Maxine whispers to me. “How do you know we can trust Jack? We barely know him. What if he leaves us up there?”

“We’ll be okay if we’re together,” I promise Maxine.

“What about me? Am I part of the team too?” AG asks. “Because I really want to come. I have my own reasons for wanting to find Stiltskin.”

“Of course you are,” I say and look at Jack. “I hope you have more daggers. If you want my help getting your mum and cow back, these guys are coming too.”

“The fire’s out on the ship.” Jocelyn notices. “The professors will notice us soon. We should move.”

Jack bangs his head against the stalk vine in frustration. “Fine! There are more daggers in my pack. I always have extras in case I lose one.” He begrudgingly offers us each a silver blade.

“Funny how you brought them to Fairy Tale Reform School not knowing a beanstalk would ever sprout,” Jax says as he looks at the blade in his hand.

“Think what you want, Prince.” Jack gives me a look. “I am always prepared. You should thank me.”

I stake the dagger in the vine again and pull myself up higher. “He’ll thank you once we reach the top. Right now, it’s time to climb.”