by Amy Boyles
That did it. As soon as this whole mess was solved, I’d get back to running every day. Or at least every couple of days.
But I have to say my grandmother handled the hill like a pro, not huffing and puffing at all. Rufus was next in terms of stamina. He barely broke a sweat in his leather pants and cape. The guy looked like an extra from The Hobbit as he moved lithely up the gradient.
The spider scuttled along, reminding me of a land crab. It moved effortlessly as well.
And then there was me. I did my best to act like it was easy peasy, but after about half an hour I raised my hand.
“Can we stop for a minute?”
Betty paused. “What’s the matter?”
“I need to rest.”
Rufus held out his hand. A canteen of water lay in his palm.
I stared at it. “That isn’t poisonous, is it?”
He opened it and took a drink, then passed it to me. I chugged like half of it down in one gulp. I wiped a line of liquid from my upper lip. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“I won’t.” I handed him the canteen.
“Aren’t you using your magic to make the walk easier?” Betty said.
It hadn’t occurred to me to do that. “No.” I sighed. “Is that what the two of y’all are doing? Using your magic?”
“Of course,” Betty said.
“Only makes sense,” Rufus added.
I slapped my forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you haven’t been working magic long enough.” Betty zapped me with a line of power.
The cramps in my legs vanished. My breathing came easier. It was like my body was bionic.
I wish.
I rose and stretched. “Wow. I feel like I could run a marathon.” I brushed dirt from my pants. “Let’s get going.”
The ground rumbled. A figure stepped from the darkness and cut off the path. He was tall, maybe fifteen feet, with dark eyes, a choppy haircut and buck teeth.
He wore overalls and nothing else. Not even a shirt. I suddenly wondered if I’d dropped into an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.
I’ll say it again—overalls, y’all.
The giant stared at us with dark, twinkling eyes. He cupped a hand to his mouth and spoke over his shoulder. “Ma! Pa! Lookie here. Looks like I just rounded us up some dinner.”
Great. Cannibal giants. I knew it. How was Betty going to get us out of this one?
EIGHTEEN
Ma Giant stepped out the shadows. She looked like Junior, with the same bowl haircut except she wore an apron over a plain smock dress. Threads hung loose at the bottom, and a thick layer of grime smudged the fabric.
Ma placed one hammed fist on her hip and swung her head back. “Well lookie, you were right, Junior. We sure do got us some good eatin’ tonight.”
See? His name really was Junior. I was so smart. But this was not the time to pat myself on the back.
Rufus stepped up. “Wait. Wait. I don’t think you understand.” He used this really weird velvet voice that was full of confidence. Very different than his normal one. Not that I could actually explain the nuances, but the one he was using now was friendlier, with a let’s-have-a-chat-and-be-best-friends ring to it.
Ma took one look at Rufus and turned her head. “Pa, this little one out here is speakin’ some gibberish. Says we cain’t eat ’im.”
Now it was Pa Giant’s turn to rumble out from the shadows. He was a bigger version of Junior—still no shirt under his overalls, but his face was lined with age.
Pa scratched his head. “Whatcha sayin’, little man?”
Rufus laughed as if this whole thing was one huge misunderstanding. Which was pretty funny—the misunderstanding part, because my heart was beating a thousand times a minute. I could feel the hillbilly giant family sizing me up as a sausage, and I didn’t like it.
“You see,” Rufus said, striding forward. “We have been spent on a special envoy to see your king.”
“Special what?” Pa said.
“Envoy,” Rufus repeated.
“What’s one of them envies?” Ma said.
Pa turned to her. “I don’t know. Not sure that’s a word.”
Rufus’s wide smile tightened. “Let me try again. Friends, we’re very special people and have been sent to talk to your king, King Billy Bob. We need to speak to him.”
Betty butted up to Rufus. “We need to see him lickety-split.”
Junior smacked his lips. “I think she wants us to lick her. What do you think, Ma?”
“Seems to me that they shore do a lot of talkin’,” Ma said.
Pa frowned. “They’re saying somethin’ about the king, though. Maybe they is special after all.”
“Yes,” Rufus said with relief. “Yes. We need to see King Billy Bob. He’s expecting us. Can you take us there? Or at least let us pass so that we can go to him?”
Pa paused a moment and then nodded. “Yes. We can take you to see him.”
Rufus shot me a wide smile. “See? What’d I say? I have a way with giants. They get me, you see. They get me and I get them. Ah!”
Pa snatched Rufus from the ground and dangled him in the air.
“Put me down,” Rufus said. “Right this moment.”
Pa scratched the scruff of his beard. “Shore thing. I’ll put you down.” He glanced at his wife. “Ma. Grab the rope and tie ’em up.”
Crap on a stick.
“At least they didn’t eat us,” Rufus said.
I glared at him. “There’s no guarantee that won’t happen.”
“I’ll snort out a smoke screen if it comes to that,” Betty said.
We were tied together and slowly making our way up the mountain. Pa held the line. Ma ambled beside him. Junior brought up the rear, and I swore every few seconds I heard him licking his lips. I had a feeling that giant baby couldn’t be trusted.
I glanced over my shoulder and caught Junior eyeing me like I was a steak. I shuddered.
“I know one thing,” I said under my breath. “You’d better actually have an in with this King Billy Bob or whatever his name is.”
“I do,” Rufus said coldly. “I can’t help it if his bumbling relatives found us first.”
I tipped my head toward Betty. “What about magic? If it comes down to it, can you use it against them?”
“It doesn’t work on giants,” she said.
I sighed. “Of course not. That would be too easy.”
We reached an opening in the mountain. It was a cave with its border carved in the shape of a mouth, fangs included.
I eyed the sharp points. “This does not sit well with me.”
“It’ll be fine,” Rufus said. “Just let me do the talking.”
“That makes me feel worse.”
He shot me a scathing look. You know, Rufus was almost beginning to seem like a real person and not simply some crazy dude intent on stealing my powers.
Almost.
Torches flickered inside the cavern, illuminating it to almost daylight. Giants lined the tunnel. They were dressed similar to Ma and Pa Beverly Hillbilly, in overalls and barefoot. I was waiting for one of them to pull out a banjo, another to pull out a jug to blow on and yet another to whip out a mason jar full of moonshine.
At least the moonshine would brighten my mood if it didn’t make me blind first.
At the very end of the line sat a giant with a small tin crown on his head. He wore a flannel shirt, ragged jeans with holes and yes, he was barefoot as well.
We were brought all the way to him by Pa, who stopped directly in front of the king and then stepped aside.
“We found these here interlopers in our mountains,” Pa said. “I think they be witches, but they ain’t said. Junior here wanted to eat ’em, but the first one, the one with that dark hair, he said he knew you and that he was some sort of special enemy.”
“Envoy,” Rufus snapped. “We’re a special envoy. Not an enemy.” Rufus cleared his throat and thre
w his shoulders back. “King Billy Bob. It’s so good to see you. I’m sure you remember me, Rufus Mayes.”
The giant’s voice rumbled in the cavern, shaking the walls. “I remember a small man who promised me a golden crown.” He pointed to his head. “It turned.”
Rufus laughed. “Yes, well, the man I bought it from said it was gold. He must’ve lied.”
King Billy Bob leaned down. He was so close I could see the clogged pores in his nose. He poked Rufus in the chest. “I think you lied, not the other man.”
Rufus shook his head and gave another small charming laugh. “Tell you what, as soon as we’re out of here, I’ll be glad to get you two gold crowns. Not one but two. What do you think of that?”
Billy Bob leaned back and rubbed his chin. “Perhaps. Now. What do you want?”
“I’m Betty Craple, leader of Magnolia Cove.”
Not exactly true, but since Betty believed she ran the town, it wasn’t too far off, I supposed.
Billy Bob studied her carefully. “One of your townspeople insulted my own.”
The three of us exchanged glances.
“I sincerely apologize for that,” Betty said. “That’s why we’ve come. We want to make things right.”
He grazed his knuckles down his jaw. “I’m afraid what they’ve done can’t be forgiven.”
“What was it?” Betty said. “Whatever one of my people did, I will make sure they’re punished for it.”
Billy Bob raised his voice. “Bring her in!”
A scraping sound came from a side tunnel. Two giants entered, ropes over their shoulders. They dragged something behind them. When the form finally hit the light, I gasped.
It was a giant woman. She was young, maybe midtwenties and wore the same sort of smock that Ma and the other women wore.
Thing is, the woman wasn’t moving. She’d been turned to stone.
“We found my sister yesterday,” Billy Bob said. “I’ve been sitting here all day, waiting for her to change. I decided that if she wasn’t herself by this morning, then we would leave the mountain. But the morning didn’t come. It’s been night for two days.”
“That is our fault,” Betty said. “But the woman, your sister—that’s not the work of my people.”
“Then who did it? Who turned my sister to stone?”
Betty’s voice deepened. “A gorgon.”
Everyone in the room gasped except for the three of us.
Billy Bob inhaled deeply. “A gorgon?”
Betty nodded. “There’s one loose in our town. This person is causing destruction and hurting our relationship with you, the giants of Hillbilly Hill. You would think that turning your sister to stone would be one of the worst things they could do, but it’s not. The gorgon did something even worse tonight.”
“What is that?” Billy Bob said.
Betty jutted her chin. “They released a werewolf from the Cobweb Forest.”
Silence greeted her revelation. Billy Bob’s gaze slashed to the right, toward a guard. I assumed it was a guard because both shoulders of his overalls were actually snapped at the top. Not that it meant much, but it appeared to be a clue to his higher status.
The guard disappeared and a moment later, rolled a cage into the room. A werewolf was inside, snapping and growling.
“Axel,” I said. Without thinking, I rushed over, dragging Betty and Rufus with me. I pressed my palms to the cross braces. He was chained to the floor of the cage. The beast snarled and spat, growled and snapped.
Rough hands grabbed me around the waist and planted me back in front of Billy Bob.
“We were going to eat him,” Billy Bob said. “Wolf can be very tasty if you know how to prepare it.”
“Please don’t,” I said. “He’s human in his normal form.”
“So?” Billy Bob laughed. “And that’s supposed to stop us from roasting and basting him?”
“I would think,” I said.
Billy Bob threw his head back in laughter. “You have no bargaining chips. Nothing to offer that I want. I see three pathetic witches standing before me giving me nothing and asking in return that we spare their town. You’ve got a gorgon on the loose? The only thing that can kill a gorgon is another gorgon—unless you behead them. I don’t see a gorgon when I look at the three of you.”
He pointed to the sky. “And this endless darkness? That’s because of y’all too, isn’t it? What’s to stop my people from running through your town and tearing it apart? My sister is stone and then you sent a werewolf into our midst.”
“That wasn’t us,” I whimpered. “Please.”
Billy Bob frowned. It was an ugly, deep thing, filled with disgust and distaste for us—for our kind. “I will ask again—what do you have to offer that I would want?”
Betty puffed up her chest. “We’re working on changing the night. Fixing that.”
Billy Bob dragged his gaze to the wall. “Not good enough. You and I both know that whatever this hold is, we can go down there and rip and tear right through those protective shields of yours. Those shields will mean that the entire world will be able to see who you are. We can destroy those. You came here. To us. To me. Because you want something.” He leaned forward again. “But you have nothing I want. Nothing that will make me get off my chair and help you.”
He flicked a hand to his guard. “Throw them out. Get rid of them, and if they return, cook them and eat them.”
The guards yanked our ropes. We were being led back to the mouth of the cave. They still had Axel.
No. No! We couldn’t have come all this way for nothing. This couldn’t be the end of it. We couldn’t be standing at the base of the giant king’s feet and be told we weren’t wanted.
My mind raced. There had to be something we could offer. Something. Anything.
Then, like a moth bursting into flames in a fire, my mind lit up.
I twisted my head to look at the king. “I do have something you want. I can help you.”
Billy Bob nodded to the guard, who stopped tugging on us.
“What could you possibly have?”
“It’s not what I have,” I said, sounding braver than I felt. My heart was knocking against my ribs so hard I thought it would punch a hole through my chest. Ignoring it, I pressed on.
“Then what is it?” Billy Bob said.
I spoke loudly and clearly. “It’s something I can do.”
He smirked. “What, little witch,” he said in a voice so intimidating my knees nearly buckled, “can you do?”
I swallowed the knot in the back of my throat. “I can change your sister. I can bring her back to life.”
NINETEEN
Billy Bob stroked his chin. “How can you do that?”
I strode up to him, dragging Rufus and Betty with me. “I have the power. I’m a head witch and capable of doing anything you ask with my abilities.”
Okay, so it was stretching the truth, but I knew there was a way to turn his sister back into flesh and blood. All I needed was time. Specifically I needed time to be on my side.
Billy Bob nodded to his guard.
“Let me see her.”
The same guard who’d done all the grunt work so far hoisted me to the base of the throne.
The fifteen-foot-plus giant leaned down, his movements large, precise. I felt like a fly about to be swatted, and for the briefest of moments I understood why flies were able to jet before our swatters hit them. Because this king’s motions were so large they were an exaggeration. Yet that exaggeration made me feel tiny.
His fist could squash me like a bug. I wasn’t about to forget that.
Billy Bob’s gaze stopped at my face. The eye was the size of a football. His eyebrows were like blades of grass, only thicker, and his pores were as large as knife slots in a cutlery block.
“Change her,” he said. His breath was like peppermint. He must’ve chewed the leaves before we’d arrived.
Thank goodness, because if it had been rank, I probably would’ve fainted.
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“I—I can’t. Yet. There are things that I must do first, but I promise I will change her. Tomorrow morning I will make sure it’s done.”
He shook his head.
“Wait! Test me another way. Give me something else I can do.”
Billy Bob leaned his massive body back in the chair. “If you can do as you say. If you can change something from stone into flesh, then maybe you can do the opposite. Turn my throne to stone.”
He would ask me to do that, wouldn’t he? I’d turned a marble to stone, but I hadn’t used the power at my discretion.
“You can do it,” Rufus whispered in my ear.
If I’d done it once, certainly I could work the power again. I only had to open my mind. Open it as wide as I could.
I pushed my shoulders back. “And if I do this, you will let us go? Along with the werewolf? You won’t harm anyone?”
Billy Bob gave the faintest of nods. “I swear on my children’s lives that I will let you go.”
“And how do we know your children are alive?” Rufus spouted.
Billy Bob’s gaze shot into him. “Bring my child.”
A woman appeared. She was a giant, and though she wore a smock, hers was richly embroidered. She carried a baby. A giant baby, but a baby nonetheless.
“I swear on this here child that I will keep my promise.”
I nodded. “Untie me and I will change your throne.”
My bonds were cut. I cracked my knuckles, tipped my head from side to side to loosen my neck and rotated my shoulders.
When the blood was flowing good and strong through my body, I turned my attention to the throne chair.
It was constructed of wood and leather. Antlers grew like roots from the top. All I had to do was change it.
I closed my eyes and opened my mind, searching for the power. A small spark flittered in the back of my mind. It was like a butterfly flying from flower to flower. I could see it, but catching it was another story.
