Half Upon a Time

by James Riley

  “They all jumped on me,” May said with a shiver. “I kicked as hard as I could, and I know I hit a few, but there were too many of them. They picked me up and carried me into the hallway.”

  The new picture showed May held in the hands of the monsters, being presented to the man in green like some kind of gift. Her grandmother’s hands, feet, and neck had all been chained together with huge iron bands, and the older woman looked both furious and worried.

  “He asked me who I was,” May said, pointing at the man in green.

  “Who might you be, girlie?” said the man in green, according to the book.

  “And I called him some names,” May said.

  The book printed something garbled.

  “They weren’t the nicest names,” May admitted. “Anyway, he told those monsters to take me back to the palace, then to look for something.”

  “Find that crown; we need it to use the Mirror!” the man in green yelled in the book.

  “My grandmother struggled,” May said, her eyes locked on the illustration, “but he just picked her up and carried her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing. And then he said something I didn’t understand, and another blue fire showed up.”

  The next picture showed a circle of blue flame burning on the wall in front of the man in green, who was carrying May’s grandmother into the circle. Inside the circle, Jack could make out some kind of tunnel of the same fire, ending in a second circle. And in that second circle of blue flame stood a figure he couldn’t make out, a figure that looked almost like a woman. Jack shuddered, the room feeling colder all of a sudden.

  “Grandma yelled something about how he should leave me behind, that I wasn’t important,” May said, “but he just laughed and said if she cared that much, I’d definitely be coming along. So they carried me in right behind her. Only …” She trailed off briefly, then shrugged. “Only I struggled while we were in that tunnel. I guess the fire wasn’t that stable, ’cause it didn’t take much for me to knock one of the monsters off balance, and they dropped me. Not knowing what else to do, I jumped.”

  She pointed at the picture now painting itself onto the page, of May diving headfirst into the tunnel’s wall, childlike hands reaching out to grab her fleeing form.

  “And that’s all I remember,” she said.

  In the book, three dots appeared, as if the story wasn’t quite finished.

  “That’s when we found you,” Jack said, and a final illustration appeared, showing Jack bent over the unconscious princess, the circle of blue fire still burning in midair, his grandfather looking on with a big smile on his face.

  “Right,” May said. “So if you start talking from here, I should find out why you started making out with me?”

  Jack blushed. “We can probably skip that part.”

  May glared at him for a second, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Emergency numbers,” she reminded him. “Probably pointless, but who knows.”

  May unfolded the paper, then gasped as a silver necklace slipped out. She caught it as it fell and held it up to get a closer look.

  At the end of the chain was a golden crown. “This is my grandmother’s,” she said quietly. “She never takes it off.”

  Jack frowned. “What does the paper say?”

  May slipped the chain over her head and unfolded the rest of the note. “‘May,’” she read. “‘Keep this hidden. It’s the key to everything.’” She paused, holding up the necklace to examine it.

  “I think I understand,” Jack said. “Keep reading.”

  “‘If I am taken,’” May continued, “‘you’ll find help in the Black Forest. Remember I—’” May stopped reading suddenly, swallowing hard before continuing. “‘Remember I love you always, my beautiful month of May.’” She put the note down and turned to Jack, her eyes wet. “I guess I shouldn’t have shown you the necklace, huh?”

  Jack sighed. “Thanks for the trust. But it all makes sense, Princess. I just can’t believe you didn’t mention the most important part of your story before!”

  “Which part?” May asked, wiping her eyes. “The guy in green?”

  “Not the Huntsman, no,” Jack said. “Though he was my first clue.”

  “The Huntsman?” May repeated. “You know who that guy is?!”

  “Only from stories,” Jack said. “But that’s what I’m talking about. That’s how I know who your grandmother is!”

  May stared back at him. “Who she is?” May asked. “But how would you know that? You’ve never met her. She’s not from … wherever here is.”

  “Oh, yes she is,” Jack said. “But she’s been gone for years. This is huge, May!”

  “What are you talking about?” May shouted at him.

  Before Jack could answer her, someone banged on the front door. Jack jumped up to open it, wondering why his grandfather didn’t just come in.

  Except it wasn’t his grandfather. Instead, it looked to be about twenty, maybe thirty, of the village boys. And standing at the front of the boys was Robert, the oldest, meanest, and strongest of all the boys in their village—not as much a bully as some kind of horrible tornado of evil.

  “Hey there, Jack,” Robert said with a smile. “Your grandfather’s been telling the whole town that you found yourself a princess.” He looked over Jack’s shoulder to where May stood with a confused look on her face. “Congratulations, Princess. Me and the boys here have come to rescue you!”

  May glanced from Robert to Jack and back again. She started to say something, then looked down at her shirt.

  “Okay, that’s the last time I wear this stupid thing,” she said. “Seriously.”

  Chapter 5

  “Don’t you worry, Jack,” Robert said, stepping forward. “We’ll take things from here.”

  “Give us the princess!” shouted a high-pitched voice from the back of the mob.

  Jack stood on his toes to see who’d spoken. “Wait, was that Justin?” he asked. “Justin? You’re like eight years old!”

  “Ten!” Justin shouted back.

  “Shut up!” said Robert, glaring at the other boys, who all quickly quieted down. “The princess needs a husband, right? Well, I’m just the man for the job.”

  A few of the boys raised objections to that, but a second look from Robert shut them up again.

  “She’s not looking for someone to marry,” Jack said, moving to stand between Robert and the princess. A thought occurred to him. “You’re not engaged already, are you?” he asked May.

  “I’m fourteen!” she said.

  “And?” Jack said.

  “So no, I’m not!” May shouted.

  “Get her!” someone yelled, building up the mob’s courage.

  “She’s mine!” someone else yelled.

  “I love you, Princess!” yelled Justin.

  “Give us a minute, okay?” Jack said, then pushed Robert backward and slammed the door shut.

  “What is going on?!” May asked, her voice getting higher pitched by the minute.

  “We’ve got a problem,” Jack said, shoving his back against the door. A second later, his whole body shook as Robert pounded on the door.

  “Let us in, Jack!” Robert yelled from outside. “There’s nowhere for you to go!”

  Jack considered that for a moment. Robert had a point—the boys would see them if they tried to sneak out one of the cottage’s small windows.

  “Open the door!” Robert yelled, and the other boys began to join in.

  Jack sighed, then turned around and yanked the door open. “Listen!” he yelled. “I said, give me a minute! I’ll bring her back out then, and you can all fight over her!” With that, he slammed the door shut again, then whirled around, only to yell out in surprise when he found the princess standing an inch away from him, staring at him angrily.

  “What is their deal!” May yelled at him.

  “They want to marry you,” Jack said, pushing past her. “If one of them marries you, then he be
comes a prince and gets his own kingdom.”

  “Marry me?!” May said, following closely behind Jack as he made his way through the cottage to the fireplace. “I’m fourteen!”

  “You said that already,” Jack said as he moved the wood in the fireplace aside. He levered up the grate beneath it with one hand, then reached in with the other and pulled out a bag covered with soot. “Hold this for a second,” he said to the princess, handing her the sack. He lowered the grate and stood up.

  May just glared at him, now completely covered with ash. “Thanks for that,” she said.

  He smiled, grabbing the bag back. “They’re just cinders, Your Highness. You can pretty yourself up later. For now, let’s deal with the boys, okay?”

  Jack walked to the door, but May didn’t move. He glanced back with a questioning look.

  “You’re not helping me just so you can marry me, right?” she said suspiciously.

  Jack laughed. “Nah,” he said, and she relaxed a bit. “I’m keeping my options open in case something better comes along.” As he turned away from her, he could almost feel the heat of her hateful gaze burrowing into the back of his head.

  Before Robert could pound on the door again, Jack pulled it open. “Everyone, back up!” he shouted, pushing Robert and a few other boys away from the doorway so he and May could get out. The village boys grudgingly backed up, silently waiting to hear him speak.

  Jack leapt onto the pile of firewood next to the door and addressed his audience.

  “Gentlemen!” he shouted. “You all know that the last thing in the world I should be doing is helping this princess. We can all agree that I have no idea what I’m doing. But you … you’re all obviously much smarter and stronger than me.” After a few boys voiced their agreement, Jack continued. “Still, only one of us can help the princess on her quest—”

  “Why?” asked Justin.

  “Because only one of us can marry her and become a prince,” replied Jack. “Will someone shut him up?”

  A resounding thump answered his question, and the top of Justin’s head disappeared from within the group of boys. “Thank you,” Jack said.

  “No problem,” said a deep voice from the back.

  “But still, we need a way to figure out who will get the honor,” Jack said, looking up thoughtfully. “The question is, how to choose which of us is the most worthy?”

  At this, various suggestions came flying from the crowd.

  “We fight for it!”

  “No, we should race!”

  “We all know about your stupid magic shoes, Wallace. We’re not racing!”

  “Gentlemen! Gentlemen!” Jack interrupted loudly. “There’s only one way to decide this!” He held up the bag so they could all see it. “It just so happens that my grandfather brought back the incredibly powerful Eye of Courage from one of his adventures. In fact, he plucked it right out of the head of the Cyclops of Cater Pual!”

  Jack paused for some impressed murmuring, then continued. “Exactly. Now, you may not have heard of it, but the Eye of Courage is perfect for our little problem. Basically, if you look at the Eye and aren’t completely fearless within your heart of hearts, it kills you dead.”

  The impressed murmurs immediately turned to stunned silence.

  “Nice, huh?” Jack said with a smile. “I think we’d all agree that only the bravest, most courageous of us should be the one to help the princess. So all we need to do is take turns looking at the Eye, and whoever’s still standing can take the princess.”

  “Are you kidding me with this?” May whispered to Jack.

  He ignored her. “Who’s first, then?” Jack asked the crowd.

  At first, no one moved. Then a few of the boys realized they had some urgent chore or errand they had to do right away, while others just silently slipped away. Within a minute, the mob was half the size.

  “Is no one brave enough to face the Eye?” Jack asked, faking surprise. “She’s a princess, guys! Isn’t she worth the chance that you’ll fall over dead right here?!”

  “I’ll take that chance,” Robert said, grinning arrogantly. He stepped forward, towering over Jack by at least a foot. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack noticed the fairy in May’s hair dig herself in deeper, hiding from the boy who’d been hunting her earlier that day.

  “Just between you and me,” Robert whispered in Jack’s ear, “I know you’re lying. Still, I’ll play along and back up your story. That way I get the princess, and no one argues.”

  “You’ve got a deal,” Jack whispered back, and opened the bag for Robert to take a look. Robert flashed the mob a smile, then turned and stuck his head into the bag….

  At which point Jack drove his knee right up into Robert’s face.

  The older boy went stiff, shook for a second, then collapsed to the ground, the bag still covering his head. A collective gasp went through the crowd as Jack carefully removed the bag from Robert’s head. None of the mob had seen what actually happened, as Robert’s body had blocked their view.

  “Guess he wasn’t brave enough,” Jack said sadly, then turned to the crowd. “Who’s next?”

  Chapter 6

  Most of the boys didn’t bother with excuses after that—they just ran. A few of the older boys seemed to suspect something was up, but they still left, murmuring their doubts. They could be a problem later, but at least there was some room to breathe now.

  “That … was the biggest display of stupidity I’ve ever seen,” May said.

  Before he could respond, the sound of hoofbeats made them both look up to find Jack’s grandfather walking down the path toward them, a tray full of food in one hand and the reins of a horse in the other.

  And then Jack took a good look at the animal and realized it wasn’t a horse at all: It was easily the most evil, horrible monster he’d ever faced.

  “Watch out, Grandpa, that thing’s a killer!” Jack shouted, his voice cracking in terror.

  “Oh, calm down,” his grandfather said. “Samson here probably won’t bite … assuming you don’t get him all riled up like you did the last time. George said we could borrow him if we needed him to help the princess.”

  “It didn’t just want to bite me,” Jack said quietly, stepping back. “It’s been waiting to kill me for years now, biding its time until we were alone.”

  If there was a meaner, nastier animal within one hundred miles, George’s horse would have run it down out of spite, eaten it, then maybe stuffed it as some kind of trophy. All that stood between Jack, May, and a death by trampling were the thin leather reins held in his grandfather’s naive hands.

  “Did I miss something here?” the old man asked, nodding at Robert’s unconscious body.

  “Not much,” May said. “Just a mob of boys fighting over who could marry me.”

  “In other words, nothing special,” Jack agreed, still eyeing the horse. The horse stared right back, following Jack’s every move with his dark, dead eyes. “By the way, I wanted to thank you for telling the entire town about the princess.”

  The old man coughed to cover his blush. “Yes, well, sometimes words slip out,” he said. “Sorry about that.”

  Jack rolled his eyes. “Slip out? Sounds like you’ve been shouting about her from the rooftops. Anyway, we should get out of here before Robert wakes up. If the other boys see he’s still alive, things are going to get ugly.”

  “Things already look ugly,” Jack’s grandfather said, tapping Robert with his foot. The boy moaned slightly at the touch. “Whoops,” the old man said quietly. “Get on the horse. Hurry, now.”

  “I’m not getting on the horse!” Jack whispered, his anger rising with his fear.

  “Quit being a baby,” May said to Jack, and walked up to the horse. “You’re not mean, are you, buddy?” she said to Samson.

  Samson turned his gaze on the princess, and May immediately took a step back, shivering in the cool evening air. “I think it wants to eat my face off,” she said quietly.

  “It’s
nothing personal,” Jack told her, pulling her away from the monster. “It wants to do that to everyone.”

  At that, Jack’s grandfather grabbed his bag from Jack’s hands. “You two are both pathetic. Still, I’ve got just the thing.” He reached deep within the bag, all the way to his shoulder, despite the fact that the bag was only large enough to fit his arm up to the elbow. May’s eyes widened at the magic while Jack just tapped his foot impatiently.

  Finally, his grandfather smiled in triumph and pulled out what looked to be a horse’s bridle. Only this bridle was made out of flowers—daisies, to be specific.

  “Years ago,” the old man said, handing Jack the flower bridle, “I was kidnapped by shoemaking elves. That was back when I was working as a cobbler—and making a good living at it too, I might add. In fact, my shoes were the reason the elves took me prisoner: They were jealous! Eventually I got to be friendly with one of my captors, a little elf woman named Mariella. She helped me escape by giving me one of the elves’ magic bridles, capable of taming even the wildest beast.” He smiled widely. “Had to use it on a frog the first time, actually. Did I mention they shrunk me to the size of an apple? Amazingly, the bridle grew with me when I turned back to normal, but that’s another story—”

  “I’ve heard it,” Jack said, eyeing the horse, then the bridle. At this point, he wasn’t sure which was worse. Magic was all well and good when it worked, but it had a tendency to go wrong just when you needed it the most. Say, for example, when you were trapped on the back of a devil horse.

  On the ground, Robert moaned again, and Jack realized they didn’t exactly have a choice. He sighed, took the bridle, and planted his feet, facing Samson. He took a deep breath and held the bridle out between his hands, then thrust it at the horse’s mouth.

  Samson immediately opened his jaws to bite one of Jack’s hands, but Jack quickly jerked them to the side, so Samson bit down on the flower bridle instead. Immediately the beast froze completely, although his cold, dead eyes still glared at Jack.

  “Huh,” Jack said, honestly impressed that the bridle actually worked. “I’ve seen that story a million times in the Story Book, but I still thought you were making it up.”