“Wow, I had no idea my sister could be so mean,” Jax marvels.
“Rapunzel is your sister?” Jack does a double take.
We’re interrupted by the sound of trumpets and violins, which begin to play as Beauty and Prince Sebastian arrive at the party. Beauty and AG are wearing gorgeous blue gowns, and the prince is in a navy dress jacket with gold buttons. Headmistress Flora follows them.
Jack pulls me aside. “Have you seen my mirror anywhere? The last time I saw it, that duck had it.”
I pull it out of a handy pocket I sewed into the crinoline under my uniform. “Peaches had it again. You didn’t tell me it was magical.”
Jack’s eyes widen. “You got it to work for you?”
“Yes, and it showed me Anna. You were right,” I whisper. A Tom Thumb Catering cart wheels by us. “She looks so sad. I think she wants to leave, and he won’t let her.”
I notice Jax watching us and stop talking. I don’t want to fight with him again.
Jack nods. “Like Mum. We have to save them.” He takes my hand. “Listen, I think I have an idea of where they might be.” He hesitates. “I saw something in the mirror the other day—my mum being made to work in Cloud City.”
Angelina had mentioned the harp was in Cloud City. “What makes you think they’re there?”
Jack looks at me strangely. “It’s where I went when I climbed the beanstalk last time. Remember?”
“Oh right.” I hear a rumble in the distance. Maybe thunder? Strange, the sky is a clear blue.
He scratches his chin. “We just have to find a way up there.”
Another rumble of thunder makes the actual ground shake. A few Pegasi bust out of their barn and take flight. A flock of birds zooms by overhead.
“Wow, that’s some storm brewing!” Maxine says.
Ollie sniffs the air, licks his finger, and puts it up into the wind. “Funny, but I don’t smell a weather change.”
“If it’s not thunder, then what is that sound, pirate?” Jocelyn asks.
“Gilly!” AG comes running out of the tent toward me, her face flushed with excitement. “Are you coming in? Mother said I could invite my friends to sit at our table. There’s room for all of you,” she tells the others. “It sounds like it’s going to rain. Good thing we have the tent.”
Another rumble sends Jax, Maxine, and I colliding into one another. It’s quickly followed by a wave of earth-shaking sounds, each one making the ground move more than the time before. Something is definitely not right here.
The ground begins to crack, a line zigzagging from the lake to the castle.
“Earthquake!” AG cries as she and Jack reach for each other to keep from falling.
Kids are screaming as we run to get out of the way. Royals and commoners alike are streaming out of the tent as ogres trip over chairs to get away. We dive for cover behind a stone wall near the school, and I watch in horror as a large green weed begins to grow out of the crack at an alarming speed. It’s not an earthquake. It’s a beanstalk!
I’ve never seen an actual beanstalk before. Sure, I’ve read about them in Happily Ever After Scrolls and heard tall tales from kids who swear they’ve seen one, but nothing could have prepared me for the monstrous plant growing before my eyes. Dozens of electric-green roots burst through the ground near the party tent and quickly wind together into something that looks like a giant tree trunk, stretching and weaving as they grow taller and taller. Smaller branches and leaves burst from the stalks, pushing their branches sideways and breaking whatever is in their path.
“The giants are coming! The giants are coming!” a girl shouts as she runs by us frantically.
I look up, but with the low pink clouds, I can’t see the top of the stalk. Maybe it’s just a beanstalk. Not every stalk leads to giants, do they?
The Dwarf Police Squad is already directing people away from the stalk as the branches begin to twist and grow around the tent. Rapunzel and Snow are guiding students to safety while Wolfington, Harlow, and Flora start to shoot commands at the stalk to keep it from growing. Their spells don’t seem to be working. Snap! A thorn on one branch punctures a tent wall, causing the left side to come crashing down.
“We have to do something,” says Maxine.
“Look! My parents! They’re okay!” AG points to Beauty and Prince Sebastian hurrying a group of fairies out of the way of a falling branch. I can hear Prince Sebastian calling AG’s name. She stands up to run to them, but Jack holds out a hand to block us all from leaving.
“Wait!” says Jack.
“Why would we wait?” Jax demands. “People need help, and AG’s parents are looking for her.”
“Wait!” Jack watches the stalk closely. “You’ll get trampled.”
“Trampled?” I ask worriedly.
ROARRRRRRRRR!
I know that roar. I’ve heard it before.
ROARRRRRRRRR!
“It’s a giant!” Maxine cries as two giants start descending the beanstalk, which now reaches all the way into the sky.
Jack grabs my hand. “We have to go! This is our chance—the beanstalk will lead us straight to Cloud City!”
His voice is washed away by the sound of a giant stepping onto the ground, making things shake further. Seconds later, the school’s extra-loud new warning siren goes off. It whirs as Miri’s mirrors on the great lawn flash a deep ruby red. “Fairy Tale Reform School is under attack!” Miri announces. “I repeat, Fairy Tale Reform School is under attack! Defend your school!”
A second giant is right behind the first one. The two stumble around the grounds aimlessly, looking sort of stressed by all the little people taking aim at them. I’m slightly in awe of the sight of them. As tall as a castle turret, with feet as large as Blackbeard’s ship, these giants look different from the ones I encountered in the Hollow Woods. Their teeth aren’t all yellow, and if I’m not mistaken, one is wearing a rather civilized dress shirt and vest. I see something fly through the air toward us.
“Duck!” I cry as a trident narrowly misses taking off AG’s head. I watch her face twist angrily as a hair sprouts from her chin. She quickly calms her breathing, and the hair disappears.
I can see now that mermaids are aiming their tridents and spears at the giants with little success. Their weapons keep bouncing off them and onto the ground. Madame Cleo, posed on a rock with fiery-red hair, uses her magic mirror to conjure a whirlpool that whips at such a frantic speed I worry the rest of the mermaids will be washed away. Instead, the first giant gets caught up in the tidal wave and starts to fall. Everyone cheers, but the victory is short lived. The giant stumbles backward and falls into the Pegasus barn.
My throat constricts. Where is Maximus? Is he okay? I look up and breathe a sigh of relief. He’s already in midflight. The sky is full of Pegasi and flying carpets, which hopefully means none were still in the now-crushed barn.
“Those clumsy giants could destroy the school with one wrong move,” Jocelyn shouts as the second giant trips and squashes the vegetable garden with one footstep. “Is anyone still inside the school?”
“Peaches, Wilson, and the fairy pets are,” Maxine realizes at the same time I do.
“And Tessa and Raza are in the dungeon. Right, Jack?” Jax says. “Jack?” We turn to look for him, but he’s gone.
ROARRRRRRRR! The giants are now pointing at the castle.
My eyes move from where Jack was just standing to the beanstalk and back to the school.
Anna.
Wilson. Peaches.
Anna.
The RLWs I can’t stand.
Anna.
I feel pulled in two completely different directions. I look at my home-away-from-home one more time. We can’t hope the giants are stopped before they get to the castle walls. We have to get everyone out in case they do.
Jax is watching me, waiting for
me to say the right thing. This time I do.
“We have to go inside and get everyone out.” I whistle for Maximus, and like magic, the Pegasus lands at my feet. Jax climbs on behind me. “But first we need to make a stop at my dorm room. I think I’m going to need my bow and arrow.”
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?”