CHAPTER 14

Cloud City

We are so high up.

I look down and immediately wish I hadn’t. Next, I look up, and I’m not sure what’s worse. My friends are climbing above me, Kayla and Ollie so far ahead that their bodies are covered by the clouds. Blue sky surrounds me as far as the eye can see. Once in a while, a cloud floats by, veiling the stalk from sight. It’s scary when that happens, but Jack says we can’t stop moving. Stiltskin could cut the stalk down at any moment, and if he doesn’t, our professors could do the same from below. Ouch! One of the thorns on the vine pricks my wrist, and it starts to bleed.

Jack made climbing a beanstalk seem so easy.

“Just a few more feet!” he calls from above.

With the last of my strength, I stake the dagger into the next piece of vine and pull myself up. I step gingerly onto a cloud, holding my breath to see if I fall right through. I don’t. It feels squishy and has a bit of a bounce to it, but it holds my weight. I’m not sure what I’m expecting to see at the top of the beanstalk, but it’s certainly not more clouds, birds, and blue sky. I don’t see any sign of a city.

“There’s nothing here, bean brain!” Jocelyn snaps at Jack. “You’ve brought us on a wild-goose chase up the wrong beanstalk. This one must have been a decoy!”

“What are we going to do?” Maxine asks.

AG covers her face with her nicked hands. Everyone but Jack has gotten cut on the climb up. “I’m too tired to climb down again, and I don’t want to face my father.” She looks like she might start sobbing, which will bring out her hairy side.

I shake her. “Deep breaths. In. Out.” AG practices her breathing. “Better?” She nods.

“Everyone done freaking out?” Jack asks. “Because the city is right in front of you.”

I squint harder. “I don’t see anything.”

“Me neither,” says Jax.

Jack sighs. “Giants may be dumb and mean, but they aren’t clueless. You think they want people using magic beans to climb up here and steal their fortunes? No way! After I came up the first time, they put some protection charms up. Look harder.”

He slices his hand through a cloud in front of us. For a split second, I see a shimmering city in the distance. The buildings are as tan as sand and look exactly like the ones I saw in the mirror. That must be where Anna is.

“Let’s go,” I say, anxious to get there.

Jack stops us. “If you want to survive, I’m in charge up here.” He looks at Jax. “Don’t listen, and you’ll be a giant’s lunch in seconds.”

Eaten by a giant? Not the way I want to go. “What do we need to do?” I ask.

“And how do we know you won’t lead us into a giant’s rotten mouth?” Jax asks.

“Giants can smell you before they can see you,” Jack says, looking around. “They’ll know we’re coming, and so will Stiltskin. If he’s here—and I think he is—he’ll be in the city center. We have to mask our scent.” Jack steps into the cloud again, then back out with a bright-orange flower. “This will do it. They’re dragon fire flowers. They grow frequently near the edge of town.” He passes them around. “Giants hate the smell of them.” He begins rubbing a petal on his arms. “Slather some of this on, and no one will even notice you. Not that you still can’t get stepped on by accident,” he adds. “And this stuff will only last so long. Of course, even if we succeed, we have to find a way down the stalk without them shaking us off. If the stalk is even still there.”

“So if they see us, we get eaten. If they smell us, we get eaten. And if we avoid both, we can still get trapped here?” Ollie asks, placing a flower in the pocket of his dirty shirt. “Great odds.”

Jax rubs a petal on his forehead. “Let’s get in there and find Anna, your family, the squad kids who want to go home, and the harp.”

“About the harp…” Jack steps into the cloud and disappears. “It can’t be lifted out of here. It’s why I couldn’t take it with me last time I climbed up. The harp only moves when it’s being played, and it can only be played by someone with pure love for another.”

“You never mentioned that before,” I say as I rub the petal on my neck.

Jack sticks his head back out of the cloud. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Come on! And be quiet!”

I’m the last one through the cloud. When I come out the other side, I am in awe. If I thought the beanstalk was high, Cloud City’s buildings are even higher! They’re modeled after the ones we have in Enchantasia, but everything is giant in size, and the whole city is tan. Every building looks like it’s floating in midair. There aren’t many flowers or decorations though. The city is pretty plain, which is surprising since everything I’ve ever learned about giants taught me their world was full of riches they had stolen from our kingdoms. We walk quickly past a doorway higher than the roof at FTRS. A cloud floats by, obscuring the home in front of us from view.

We walk in silence for a while, each of us staring up at the buildings in awe. They’re so large it could take five minutes to walk by just one of them, and at this rate, it’s going to take forever to get to the city center even if the streets are deserted. Where is everyone?

Suddenly, everyone who is in front of me stops. AG is pointing frantically at a wall. I use a cloud to bounce over to her and see the red, childlike lettering on the side of a building.

WARNING! Rump zone! Resisting is futile! Escape we must!

It looks like someone has tried to wash the message off but couldn’t. Some of the red paint has dripped down the side of the wall. I look down at the ground and spot a human-sized scrap of scroll blowing in the wind. There’s part of a message written on it in scratchy script.

…by the Trickster! Run! Hide! Or you will be imprisoned like the others!

Running? Hiding? Was this written by a giant? Or a squad member who wants to leave and can’t?

Jack takes the paper from my hands and reads it himself. “I don’t understand,” he whispers. “These weren’t here the last time. They look like giants’ handwriting, but who would those lugheads be afraid of? They can eat people in one bite.”

The cloud we’re on starts to shake, and we hold on to the building to steady ourselves. I can’t see anything through the mist and cloud cover. Jack is motioning wildly, but I don’t know what he’s saying. Suddenly a large, dirty hand comes into view.

AG freezes in fear, but I pull her along as we press ourselves against the nearest wall. Jack tries to push the door open so we can hide, but it’s too heavy to move. We’re trapped.

The giant walks out of the nearest cloud right in front of us. Great. We’ve already given ourselves away. Any second the rest of the giants will come running. My mouth feels dry, and my hands are clammy. I place my hand in front of AG to protect her, but then I notice something different about this giant. It’s much shorter, and its face looks so young.

Is it a baby giant?

Jack pulls his dagger back out of his pack and prepares to aim it at the giant’s arm.

“Wait!” I shout. “I think it’s a toddler!”

The giant opens its mouth and smiles, revealing a single tooth. Then its left hand comes through the cloud, and I see it’s holding a bottle! The giant sees Maxine, who is the largest of our group, and giggles. The sound is so loud that we have to hold our ears, but I’m relieved. It’s just a baby!

But then a larger arm comes into view, swooping the baby high into the air. The toddler drops his bottle, which crushes the corner of a fence just feet from where we’re standing. AG screams. If no one knew we were here before, they definitely know we’re here now. AG’s hands start to grow fur at an alarming rate, and I know it’s any second before she howls and gives our location away. The momma giant looks at AG and roars. I clutch my bow and arrow, ready to fight her off before she can snatch us and make us a toddler snack.

“Run!” Jack shouts. “Run!”

Before any of us can move, the giant takes off with her baby, running in the opposite direction. She glances back at us as she runs, and I could swear she actually looks frightened. What the fairy is going on?

“Guys, I think that giant was afraid of us,” Jax says.

“Don’t be a fool, Prince.” Jack rolls his eyes. “Giants eat people and crush villages. They’re not scared of humans. They hate us. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

“Maybe they were just mad at you because you stole from them,” Maxine guesses. We all look at Jack, who opens his mouth to speak and says nothing.

“Or maybe they think humans hate them.” Jocelyn motions to the piece of scroll in her hand. “Both this flyer and that sign on the wall make me think they’re trying to escape our kind.”

“Or if not our kind, then Rumpelstiltskin,” Ollie says.

I’ve never seen Jack look so doubtful. He pulls the scroll from Jocelyn’s hands. “But…you saw the giants at FTRS. They were attacking us.”

“Did anyone else think they looked kind of confused?” Kayla asks.

“Yeah, they kept stumbling around as if they didn’t know where to go, until they headed for Alva’s statue. Once they got it, they left,” Jax adds.

“How did Stiltskin know where the statue was hidden anyway?” Maxine asks.

In the distance, we hear a roar. My hand goes to my bow and arrow again. The others touch the coal miner daggers strapped to their waists.

“Either way, we should probably stay on high alert,” says Ollie. “You know, just in case.”

AG looks positively green.

ROAR!

There it is again. We look around, but the streets are still deserted. Jack runs ahead of us. When he reaches the next block—which takes him a while since we’re so small compared to giant dwellings—he stops short and stares at something we can’t see. With the threat obviously low, we all follow, bouncing on the clouds to get there faster.

ROAR!

When we reach Jack, I see why he’s stopped. It’s another giant, but this scene is different from the one before. My stomach clenches. This giant is being pushed around by a bunch of kids. Kids wearing familiar gold crests on their gold shirts. It’s the Stiltskin Squad.

I immediately step forward to look for Anna, but Jax holds me back. We huddle behind a giant garbage can, which smells like dead fish. I watch the kids bark orders.

“I said move! You didn’t do your job, and now you’re punished!” one kid yells at the giant.

“Don’t you get what we’re saying, you big oaf?” another girl barks, and I wince.

I recognize that voice. It’s Gretel! My eyes narrow sharply as I hone in on the evil candy thief who corrupted my baby sister.

Hansel walks up behind her. “You were supposed to be forcing other giants to go down the beanstalk, and instead you let them escape!” He steals the giant’s food, and it roars so loudly that Kayla falls over. We pick her up and pull her behind the garbage can again. “We could have flattened that stupid school, but now thanks to you, we’re down more giant slaves. Where are they hiding?” The giant just blinks. “Tell us!”

Maxine starts to tear up. It’s awful to watch them bullying this poor giant. I look at Jack. His face is pale. I don’t think he had any clue the giants were being abused.

“Now we have to worry about that moronic hero and her friends coming up here to stop us!” Hansel yells at the giant. “No food for you today!” The giant’s face looks so sad. “You get back to that beanstalk and climb down it to keep those kids from climbing up, or your friends won’t eat either. You hear? And bring some others with you or you’ll be punished for that too.”

“Stop hurting him!”

A girl runs over to the giant and touches his arm tenderly. My heart catches in my throat.

It’s Anna.