[Half/Time 01] Half Upon a Time

by James Riley

  May seemed to calm down a bit at that. “Well, good,” she said. “I’m telling you, I’m not sure I can handle much more creepiness.”

  “The forest is not cursed so much as haunted,” the prince finished.

  May just looked at Phillip with disappointment, then sighed heavily and turned to Jack, throwing him a truly evil look. “You knew this?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  “Well, kinda,” Jack said, backing a bit away from her just to be safe. “No one really knows what’s in the Black Forest. I knew it wasn’t going to be fun, exactly, but that was it.”

  “And why doesn’t anyone know what’s in there?” the princess asked, her voice still dangerously low.

  Jack inched even farther away. “Because no one’s ever made it out alive …?” he squeaked.

  May stared at him for a good minute, then turned to Phillip. “So. You two were going to let me just walk in there?”

  Phillip put his hands up to calm her down. “I believe this is the first I have heard of the plan to actually go into the forest. And I did bring up my concerns immediately upon hearing of our destination.”

  “Okay, that’s true,” she said to the prince. “You are off the hook.”

  Slowly, both of them turned to look at Jack.

  “What?” he asked, but May just glared at him.

  “You really should have mentioned this to the princess,” Phillip told him, shaking his head.

  “Thanks,” Jack said sarcastically. “You’re a big help.” He turned back to May. “It’s not like we had anything else to go on, so we didn’t exactly have a choice. Besides, who knows what’s in the woods? All we know is that no one’s made it out. Maybe that means there’s some kind of paradise in there, something no one wants to leave!”

  “Or something doesn’t let them leave,” the prince said quietly.

  “Hear that?” May asked, nodding at the prince. “We’re all gonna die in there, and when we do, guess who I’m going to blame.”

  Jack’s mouth dropped open. “Listen, May, none of this was my idea! It was your grandmother who said—”

  “Don’t you dare blame this on her!” May exploded. “You’re supposed to be my guide here!”

  “Is that what I’m doing?” Jack shouted back. “I thought I was just here to get eaten every ten minutes!”

  “If I may,” Phillip said, but both Jack and May ignored him.

  “If I’m so little help, maybe you two should just go in alone!” Jack yelled.

  “Maybe we should!”

  “Fine!”

  “Fine!”

  Jack stood up and May turned her back to him. Neither said a word.

  Phillip finally broke the silence. “I, uh—”

  “So go already!” May shouted at Jack, interrupting the prince.

  Jack growled, then grabbed his bag from the ground and stomped over to the edge of the clearing. “Enjoy your little royal expedition here, Your Majestic Highnesses,” Jack said bitterly. “I’m so glad you found a prince to help you, Princess!”

  “Now, Jack,” Phillip started, but again, May shouted right over him.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about!” she yelled, jumping to her feet and following Jack to the edge of the clearing. “And your kiss was pathetic!”

  “Kiss?” Phillip asked, as Jack abruptly froze in place.

  “Trust me, Princess,” Jack said without turning around, “the feeling’s completely mutual.”

  Behind him, May growled in frustration. “I can’t believe I ever wanted your help!” she screamed.

  Jack didn’t answer. He just started walking, so mad he couldn’t even think of a reply.

  “Oh, good one!” she shouted after a pause, and Jack’s anger doubled, as did his pace. As soon as he was out of sight, though, Jack stopped and threw his grandfather’s bag to the ground, mumbling and shaking his head about the stupidity of the princess.

  How moronic was she?! How was he supposed to know exactly what was going on in the Black Forest when no one else did? Sure, he’d heard stories, just like everyone else, but who knew which of those were true? Just because the war with the animals had ended there didn’t mean the whole forest was cursed, after all.

  Still, he might have said something.

  But why? It’s not like he hadn’t taken care of her up until this point. They’d done just fine on their own so far, and how could things get any worse than a man-eating giant—or a man-eating witch, for that matter?

  Jack picked up his bag and took a step back toward the clearing he’d just left, then turned and threw his bag down again, shaking his head in disbelief at himself. She didn’t need him anymore. She had her prince now, and obviously preferred him. After all, the prince could kill a giant just by standing still for a few days! All Jack had been able to do was make it yawn.

  Again, he picked up the bag, but something occurred to him, and he turned to walk back down the path toward the royal pains. As he did, he caught a glimpse of someone standing just behind the trees. As he glared the person took a step out, revealing herself.

  “I saw you there the whole time!” Jack lied.

  May took a step toward him, her look not quite as hostile as it had been. “I was just checking to see if you’d left yet,” she said, not looking directly at him.

  Jack narrowed his eyes. “Sorry, Princess, I haven’t gotten that far. I dropped my bag.”

  “I saw that,” she said, then paused. “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “Are you leaving?”

  Jack shook his head. “I was. I am. But I forgot about this thing,” he said, reaching into the bag to pull out the broomstick. He held the stick out to her. “It obviously likes you better, so … here.”

  May took a step forward, her mouth open slightly, like she wanted to say something, only nothing came out. Jack didn’t say anything either. He just stood in place and shook the broomstick. May sighed, then grabbed the front of the broom. For a second, they both held it, and Jack almost found himself apologizing. Instead, he dropped his end of the broomstick. “That’s it, then,” he said. “Good-bye, Princess. Good luck rescuing your grandmother.” With that, Jack turned around and started walking into the forest.

  “Jack …,” May said from behind him. “What do you want me to say? That I need your help? That I want you to stay?”

  “I don’t want you to say anything, Princess, other than ‘good-bye,’” he said, then stepped into the woods, leaving May and her quest behind him.

  Chapter 18

  The rising sun shone through Jack’s eyelids, irritating him just enough to wake him up. As he separated his nightmares from reality he realized with a groan that far too many of the bad parts were actually happening. The rocky ground he’d slept on didn’t really help things, but even sleeping on a bed of the softest linens wouldn’t have kept dreams of a knight in a blue cloak away.

  Jack stretched, then pushed himself to his feet, groaning again as he did. Everything was sore, but at least he wasn’t waking up in a witch’s house. He picked up his bag and started walking, suddenly regretting not taking any of Phillip’s food when he had the chance. After one night, his hunger had returned, and this time brought friends, some relatives, and even a few pets.

  As the sun rose higher in the sky the forest began to come alive around him. Birds, both natural and magical, sang out their songs, each competing with its neighbor. Jack smiled at this, watching the regular birds futilely attempt to overwhelm their supernatural cousins. A few everyday birds gathered on a branch, trying to outsing one particular bird with silver wings and a golden head, its body as big as a crow’s. The regular birds chirped away in a pretty, offbeat sort of rhythm, but they had nothing on the three-part harmony that emerged from the mouth of the silver-and-gold bird.

  As Jack walked he stayed to the trail, since he wasn’t exactly sure where he was going. Apparently this trail wasn’t very well-traveled, as the local animals and creatures didn’t seem too afraid
of humans. He thought he spotted a fox at one point, and another time, he definitely saw a magical snake, shimmering like an underwater candle as it spiraled through the air, just a few inches off the ground. Jack actually found himself enjoying the walk, despite his mood.

  Unfortunately, soon enough clouds blocked the sun, causing the day to grow more and more overcast as the morning moved on. Gradually, the graying light threw the path into shadow, and the pleasant magical creatures around him began to take on a more sinister appearance. Red eyes that previously had been cute in the middle of fuzzy faces now glowed menacingly from the darkness, and Jack swore he heard a voice, tiny but clear, reciting something in a strange language.

  Soon little droplets of rain fell, refreshing at first, but quickly turning into a drenching shower. The storm didn’t help the dirt path much, muddying it up within minutes as the rain came down harder.

  All in all, the woods were getting pretty creepy as he drew closer to the Black Forest.

  The fact that he could have been well on his way home by now still bothered him, but when it came down to it, he just couldn’t leave the princess to die on her own … and Phillip hardly counted. No, this was all her fault, and Jack promised himself he’d tell her that over and over whenever he finally did catch up with them. He couldn’t be too far behind, not when he’d only walked an hour last night before stopping to make camp, turning back toward the Black Forest at daybreak.

  It was pouring as he turned a corner and discovered he’d reached his destination. As it turned out, the Black Forest was, in fact, just about a day’s travel from where the giant had fallen; Phillip was right, as much as it annoyed Jack to admit it. There wasn’t even any warning—one step, the path was just dark and depressing, but the next brought Jack to a sudden halt.

  The trees along the path behind him had all been alive, even green in places. The trees of the Black Forest, though, were gruesomely dead, each and every one of them. This was no gradual change, either: It was as if an arbitrary line had been picked, and from that point on, there were only shivers and chills.

  Not a hint of green showed through, just dark and twisted wood. Despite the lack of leaves, the blackened trunks and fingerlike branches filled in all gaps, making the forest a huge ruin of impenetrability. And if light couldn’t fight its way into the forest, it sure couldn’t make it out, either.

  As the rain poured over his face and spilled down his neck Jack decided that he should get moving, if only to escape the storm. After all, the floor of the Black Forest looked as dry as a bone.

  Instead, he just stared at the entrance, his eyes wide as he started having trouble breathing.

  After a few minutes of this, Jack blinked. This was ridiculous! It was only a bunch of dead trees! What was there to be afraid of, some rumors with no proof to them? Centering his entire will on his foot, he forced himself to take a step forward. Though his leg shook, he finally managed to do it. That was it, one step at a time! But still, why was this so hard?! They were just trees!

  Did one of them just move?!

  Jack’s blood ran cold as his foot paused in midstep, suspended in the air. Suddenly, he realized that he was sweating despite the chilly rain. The stories of this place could not be true. Common sense said that if no one made it out alive, then there couldn’t be any stories. Who would tell them? So the stories had to be just rumors. Sure, the forest was ugly and intimidating, but that was it. After all, an entire forest couldn’t be cursed.

  Despite his logic, Jack’s foot didn’t move, still hanging in midair.

  Though the day had been warm back along the trail, now Jack shivered all the way to his toes. The sun from earlier in the day seemed miles away now, like it had abandoned this part of the world, never to come back.

  Finally, Jack’s foot came down—in the wrong direction. He took a step backward, then another. Inwardly, he yelled in frustration. He had to beat this! Even if the forest was haunted, cursed, and everything else; even if the forest made it rain and blocked out any sunlight; even if the trees all moved and killed anything that was stupid enough to go in; even if all that, the princess and Phillip were in there. They must be, or Jack would have passed them on the trail.

  If May could go in, then Jack could, simple as that.

  And yet, he still couldn’t move.

  And then he heard something from deep within the forest. A voice. A girl screaming.

  May.

  Without a thought, Jack yanked his sword out of its scabbard and took off at a dead run right into the heart of the Black Forest, the sword’s glow lighting his way.

  Chapter 19

  Branches tore at his arms, legs, and head as Jack pushed through the forest, chopping what he could with the sword, plowing through the rest. After May’s scream, the Black Forest had gone dead, not a single sound escaping, not even the pattering of raindrops on the canopy of branches.

  “May!” Jack yelled, not knowing or caring who or what else might hear him. “May! Can you hear me?” Whether she did or not, there was no response. Jack barreled on anyway, following the barely visible path straight into the forest. Without any further sound to guide him, all he had was the path, but he comforted himself with the idea that Phillip and the princess would have had to follow the same route.

  Although, maybe whatever had made May scream had also pulled her off the path …

  “Mayyyyyyy!” Jack screamed at the top of his lungs. “Yell out if you can hear me!”

  A low groan answered him from just a few feet ahead. Jack skidded to a halt, almost tripping over a pair of legs covered in expensive gold fabric. Phillip groaned again, looking like someone had tossed him bodily against one of the dead trees. Jack straddled Phillip’s legs, reached down, and yanked the prince to his feet.

  “Phillip!” Jack said. “What happened?!”

  Phillip’s eyes fluttered open. “Jack?” the prince asked, his eyes slowly focusing on the face in front of him. “Jack? But I thought you left …”

  Jack gritted his teeth at the delay. “I changed my mind and followed you two here,” he said, barely holding himself back from shaking the prince for answers. “I knew I couldn’t leave her with you. I knew something like this would happen!”

  “Leave her … the princess?” Phillip said, then took a deep breath. “Where is the princess?”

  This time Jack didn’t hold himself back. He banged the prince hard into a tree trunk, then jerked him back to his feet. “Listen to me, Phillip,” Jack growled. “I don’t know what happened to her. That’s why I’m asking you. You were supposed to protect her. Now tell me where she is!”

  “Something attacked us from the side,” Phillip said, shaking his head in confusion. “I did not see it.”

  Jack wanted to scream in frustration, but contented himself with dropping the prince. “You’re beyond useless. I should have known.”

  Phillip shook his head again. “No. I just … need a moment. My head aches like nothing I have ever felt!”

  Jack bent down to look the prince right in the eye. “If you got the princess killed, a headache will be the least of your worries, believe me.”

  Phillip narrowed his eyes. “Threats are not necessary, Jack. I—” The prince stopped, frowning as he glanced at the glowing sword in Jack’s hand.

  Jack stood up quickly, torn between hiding the sword and just ignoring the prince’s look. “Get up, Phillip,” Jack said, going with the latter. “We need to go after her.”

  “Where did you get that sword?” Phillip asked, rising to his feet gracefully. Did the prince have to do everything well?

  “I told you before, I found it,” Jack said, the explanation sounding pathetic even to his own ears. “Can we focus on one thing at a time here? Right now, all I care is that the sword’s giving us light, which we’re going to need to find May.”

  Phillip nodded toward the woods. “There,” he said. “The branches are displaced. Whatever took her, it must have carried her through there.”

  Ja
ck swung the sword around to light up a small hole between the trees. Unfortunately, the sword’s glow didn’t illuminate much beyond the hole itself. “May!” Jack screamed into the trees. “May! Answer me if you can!”

  “I do not think she is able to,” Phillip said, then laid a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Now, please, silence may be the wiser choice. We do not wish to warn whatever took her that we are hunting it.”

  Jack shut his mouth, then threw himself through the small hole and into the dead trees without another word, leaving Phillip behind. Branches clawed him as he ran, scratching with every surge forward, while the roots under his feet seemed to be trying to trip him on purpose, succeeding far too often.

  After crashing to the ground for the third time, Jack shook off the pain and started to pick himself up, only for something to hit him in the back, shoving him face-first into the dirt. The air whooshed from his lungs with the force of the hit, and claws sharp as needles cut into the skin on his back.

  “Well, well,” growled a voice more animal than human from on top of him. “It takes a bit of thrill out of the hunt when the prey comes to you.”

  Jack gritted his teeth and tried to throw the creature off his back, but his struggling only pushed the thing’s claws deeper into his back. Jack shouted in pain, and the air around him began popping as he gasped for even the tiniest breath. Was this how he was going to die? Crushed by some creature in the Black Forest?

  Apparently he really did fail at princess rescues.

  And then out of nowhere, the pressure on his back lifted. Without stopping to wonder why, Jack breathed deeply, the air never having tasted quite so good. He managed to push himself a bit off the ground, though his vision still wavered alarmingly in front of him. Whatever it was that had held him down must have stepped off his back. Stepped off, or—

  Phillip extended a hand down to Jack, even while staring off into the dark woods. “Get up, Jack,” the prince hissed. “That creature has not gone far, and we will have to catch it if we are going to find May.”

  “Did you … hurt it?” Jack asked.