Once Upon Another Time, page 8
Apparently she couldn’t tell from her angle that the cat’s paws weren’t touching the floor.
“Not a fairy,” the horrible cat said, its eyes locked on Jin. “Not sure what it is.”
“Okay, but don’t eat it, whatever it is,” Lena said, which Jin was thankful for.
Even so, he’d had enough of this. He turned himself intangible and twisted out from beneath the cat, who thumped down to the floor, then immediately smacked a paw right through his body, then again. “I lost it,” Rufus said, looking back sadly at Lena.
“You’re such a good boy,” she told him, giving him a loving look, which made Jin want to vomit.
Humans were so odd around animals with big eyes and fluffy fur. No one would ever catch a genie calling some ridiculously furry beast a good anything. Or cute, either.
Because you’re saving that for this girl.
Oh, be quiet.
“Anyway, I think I hear what you’re saying,” Lena said to the old woman. “But I don’t know that I can wait. I’ll be careful, though, and I’ll let you know if it… if it works.”
Mrs. Hubbard nodded, wringing her hands. “If it does, I have a feeling I’ll know. You’ll be pretty visible, even from the city.”
The girl smiled back. “That’s true,” she said, leaving Jin with zero idea what they were talking about. She reached out to hug the old woman. “And I promise I’ll avoid the Faceless if I can!”
Just as she finished saying it, a shout came from outside the boot.
“They’re coming!” someone shrieked, so high-pitched it hurt Jin’s ears. “The Faceless, they’re coming!”
CHAPTER 15
Mrs. Hubbard quickly opened the Boot-ique back up, and Lena ran out to see what was happening. Rufus, though, stayed just inside the boot, peeking out to carefully assess the situation first.
Outside, a large chicken was running around, screaming at the top of her lungs. “The Faceless are everywhere! I barely made it back into the city. We’re doomed. They’re going to find the city and destroy it! Evacuate! EVACUATE!!!”
Others gathered, including the Frog Prince, who put his webbed hands up to calm the chicken down. “Lil!” he said. “Please keep calm. What is going on?”
“I was just talking to Humpty!” Lil clucked, her face contorted with terror. “He said he heard there were a bunch of Faceless outside, coming for the city. Some even tried to capture a stranger he talked to! We’re all doomed!”
The crowd began to murmur in fear, and Lena thought she heard someone next to her swear, though when she looked, there was no one there. The Frog Prince, though, turned to address the gathering crowd. “Everyone! There’s nothing to worry about. The sky isn’t exactly falling. I’ll go question Humpty myself and see what the situation is. For now, go back to your homes, just for safety’s sake—”
“You’re telling us to hide?” a donkey with bags of cabbage on his back brayed. “Does that mean there’s something in the city already?”
“Lil is right: we’re all going to die!” shouted someone else.
The crowd began to scream and run in different directions, while the Frog Prince tried to keep them calm, only to have to hop out of the way of the mob as they rushed off to their homes. “You!” he shouted at Lil as the citizens dispersed. “You can’t just go panicking everyone like that!”
“I’m saving them!” Lil clucked indignantly. “Remember the boy who cried wolf all those years ago, and no one believed him, but then the Wolf King attacked with the Wicked Queen’s armies? I’m not going to let the same thing happen here!”
The Frog Prince sighed as Lil ran off shrieking her warning, then noticed Lena standing there, with Rufus at her side. “You should probably go back to… wherever it is you live, Lena,” he told her, smiling slightly, which just looked odd on his frog face. “We are not in any danger, but just in case.”
Lena winced, not sure how to say she couldn’t go back, not until she found the Last Knight and Mrs. Hubbard’s cauldron. She just couldn’t face her parents, not after what had happened. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, trying to distract herself. “Maybe I’ve got some magical items that would be useful.” She pulled out the compass arrow and held it up. “If you want to find these Faceless people, I might be able to use this to locate them!”
Show me the biggest danger to the city, she thought, and again the arrow yanked her arm around, turning to point at… nothing. She heard a small scuffle of feet, and the arrow pulled to the right, matching the sound. She frowned, wondering what it was pointing at. Was the magic defective somehow?
She banged on the arrow twice, then used it again. This time, it moved her to the left, pointing at… another empty spot.
“I’m sorry, I thought that would work!” Lena told the Frog Prince apologetically, blushing a bit.
“You’re a dear to want to help,” the Frog Prince told her, “but we’ll handle this. I’ve got the best guards in the city on the case. Why don’t you take the back gate out, and come back in a day or two. We should have everything sorted by then.”
He waved, then hopped off in the direction Lil had run, while Lena just watched him go, feeling even worse than when she’d arrived. The Cursed City was the one place she thought she could go and be herself, but now even they were saying she couldn’t stay. Yes, it was for unrelated reasons, but at the moment, that didn’t feel any better.
Still, she’d intended to go anyway, and the back gate was the closest to the Last Knight’s typical hideout, so at least she could follow the Frog Prince’s orders and not get in worse trouble.
Then maybe, once she grew to a real giant’s size, she could come back and stomp these Faceless for the city. That might go a long way toward making the humans less afraid of giants.
“Come on, Rufus,” she said, turning back to the Boot-ique where her cat was hiding, with just his tilted head poking out from the side of the boot. “It’s safe—you don’t have to be afraid!”
Rufus came pawing out carefully, trying to look everywhere at once. “I am not afraid,” he told her, purring confidentially. “I was being brave, lying in wait to attack bad things and protect Lena.”
“That’s what I meant,” Lena assured him, petting his furry head. “But we need to go.”
She waved a quick goodbye to Mrs. Hubbard, then leapt onto Rufus’s back and set him out in the direction of the back gate. They could have used the Seven League Boots to jump to the cave where the Last Knight usually went, but Lena didn’t want to scare anyone in town by just disappearing, especially now while they were nervous about being attacked.
“Come back soon, Lena,” said Mr. Ralph, the guard made of gingerbread, as he opened the gate for her. It didn’t matter what gate she left by, he always seemed to be there to let her out. Either the cookie could teleport, or he was a lot faster than he looked!
“I will, Mr. Ralph, and please stay safe for me!” Lena told him as the gate slammed shut, leaving her outside.
You are no giant, the king had said, right before his castle gates had slammed on her as well. The reminder made Lena feel sick.
“We go back up the mountain?” Rufus asked, padding in that direction. “Go home again? I use the Seven Lee Boos?”
“No, we’re not… not right now, okay?” Lena said, not wanting to explain things to her cat, though she couldn’t help but be charmed for the thousandth time by how he pronounced Seven League Boots. “We’re going somewhere you’ve only been once or twice. Come on, I’ll lead you there. It’ll be easier than using the boots and landing in the wrong spot.”
Rufus set off at a walk, with Lena pointing in the direction she wanted him to go as she tried not to think about home, up in the clouds above her. The farther they went, the more she began to worry about the cauldron as well, and what it might show her about her true self.
What if she drank from it and shrank? Or turned into some kind of animal, like many of the Cursed City’s residents? She’d never be able to go home to her village, but worse, she’d know she was no giant at that point, that the king was right.
The beautiful forest all around helped distract her a bit, though oddly, she soon noticed she wasn’t hearing or seeing any animals or birds. Maybe they were still too close to town?
A cold shiver told her they were passing through the misdirection spell, something Lena hadn’t felt since she’d first discovered the city below the clouds so many years earlier, since usually they Seven League Booted right through it. Feeling it now almost seemed like a goodbye, the last thing she needed at the moment. She sighed, then realized Rufus had stopped in place, sniffing at the air.
“What is it?” she whispered to him as his whiskers twitched.
“Someones,” he said quietly. “Lots of someones.”
Lena slowly dismounted, letting Rufus run behind some trees in order to “protect” her, and pulled out the giant compass arrow, just in case she needed a weapon. The sides of the arrow weren’t especially sharp, but the end was pointy, and at least she could use it to block a sword if she had to.
A weird skittering noise sounded in the silent forest behind her, like insects scurrying over metal, and she whirled around to find… no one.
“Hello?” she called out, turning in all directions.
Something clanked, and she turned again, this time finding a knight in black armor, then another, and another, and another. Soon she was surrounded by the knights, none of whom had spoken.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Slowly the knights all raised the visors on their helmets, revealing… nothing behind them. “We are the Faceless,” the knights said in unison, their voices echoing like a chorus in their suits of armor. “And we seek the Last Knight. If you help us, you shall be rewarded. Hinder us, or keep his location from us, and we will destroy you.”
CHAPTER 16
After listening to the chicken run around screaming for just a few seconds, Jin considered teleporting her to the moon, if only for some quiet. But that would probably reveal that he was there and make fulfilling the Golden King’s wish even harder.
At least the Invisible Cloud of Hate was on his side. He’d heard her imitating the chicken in a mocking voice after everything the creature had said.
Sometimes it just felt good to know you weren’t alone in your opinion of people.
Anyway, he was so close to finding the Last Knight at this point! All he had to do was follow the girl and her cat, and that’d be it. So instead of throwing it all away, he did the heroic thing and let the horrible chicken go, then followed Lena out of town, still invisible.
They left through a back gate, where the man made of cookie was also waiting. He really did get around! Apparently Lena knew him too, as they said goodbye, and that was it—they were outside.
As they passed through the spell protecting the city, Jin wondered if he’d be able to teleport back into it, now that he’d been in the city once. Experimenting, he quickly traveled back to the twin giant boots within the city, then returned to the girl and her cat. That was something at least. No more having to hunt down Humphrey again just to make it inside.
Or maybe the spell wasn’t affecting him now because the Last Knight was no longer in the city? After all, Jin really didn’t care about any of the other villagers, just the knight, so he didn’t bear anyone in the city ill will at the moment.
I’d call that feeling you just had toward the chicken ill will, actually, said the cosmic knowledge.
Oh, be quiet.
Hopefully it wouldn’t be an issue either way, because Jin didn’t plan on ever coming back. Not to this city, to this land, none of it. And he’d never see any of these people again either, which was such a relief. No more eggs, no more chickens, no more of this girl…
A weird pain in his chest erupted at that thought, and he frowned, pushing on the ribs there. Had he broken something? Was there a problem with this body?
It could be that you’re feeling sad about not seeing the girl again, after you find the Last Knight, the cosmic awareness said.
Jin snorted silently. It’s just the spell she used on me. There’s no other explanation. Besides, feeling sad wouldn’t cause pain.
You’re not used to having a human body. You have no idea what kind of power your emotions can have.
Well, that sounded ominous. But regardless, it wasn’t like the knowledge of the entire universe knew everything, right? It had to be exaggerating. And if it didn’t know everything, it probably had no idea about why Jin would be feeling a weird pain in his chest, like an emptiness that wouldn’t go away at the thought of not seeing… this town again.
And anyway, why would he even care about… the town? He’d just met it. And in spite of what the cosmic knowledge said, you couldn’t feel a connection to a town you just met, no matter how it felt when you locked eyes with the town, almost like you were drowning.
That probably happened with most people when they went to new, strange towns. Some weird human thing.
Oh, you’re in so much trouble, Jin, the cosmic knowledge said, laughing again, and Jin smacked the side of his head in annoyance.
Ugh, why had she had to cast her magic on him? It was making this whole thing a lot more difficult than it needed to be!
Lost in thought, Jin almost walked right into the backside of the cat, who’d stopped abruptly, his whiskers twitching wildly.
“What is it?” Lena whispered to him.
“Someones,” the cat replied. “Lots of someones.”
Jin’s eyes widened as he realized the cat was right. Even before he heard their insect scratching, he knew the Faceless had found them. They must be stopping anyone they found to question them, whether they knew where the Last Knight was or not.
And if the girl tells them first, the Faceless might get to him before you do. And then you won’t get credit for granting your wish.
Jin gritted his teeth. Fantastic. The cosmic knowledge was right, probably for the first time ever. If the Faceless got to the Last Knight first, and brought him back to the Golden King, then Jin would still owe two wishes. And that meant he’d have to go through all of this again, not to mention that the king hoarded everything of value, including wishes, so it could be years before he made another one.
No, there was no way he could let the Faceless hurt Lena. Or, uh, question her. Right. That was the important thing, that they not question her. So she could lead him and him alone to the Last Knight. Exactly. That was all he cared about.
You’re just in so much trouble.
“Who are you?” Lena asked as the Faceless emerged from the woods, surrounding them.
Slowly the knights all raised the visors on their helmets, revealing the same creepy nothingness, which now was more of an annoyance to Jin than anything. What was of a lot more interest were the black swords on their belts. Whatever shadow magic was, it hurt, and he wanted nothing to do with it.
“We are the Faceless,” the knights said in unison, their voices echoing in their armor. “And we seek the Last Knight. If you help us, you shall be rewarded. Hinder us, or keep his location from us, and we will destroy you.”
Well, that confirmed it. He’d just have to save Lena and her annoying pet from the Faceless; there was nothing else for it. The girl and the cat would probably run, if they were smart, which would let Jin take down the Faceless without being noticed by her. That was something: if she knew someone was following her, the girl might never go to the Last Knight’s hideout.
Jin took a deep breath, preparing himself to fight. He hated this kind of physical violence, as he was a genie and therefore should be using his magic to wipe these creatures from existence. But considering his lack of power, punching and kicking seemed like his only options, so he made his body more dense than normal and turned his skin as hard as steel.
If one of those swords touches you, it could do permanent damage, even to a genie, the cosmic knowledge told him.
Jin snorted. Then I guess I’ll just have to not let one touch me.
And with that, he moved around to the side of the giant cat, ready to face the Faceless.
Only, Lena dismounted just as he did, forcing him to jump out of the way. The cat ran and hid in the trees, which made Jin even more annoyed—the animal had hunted Jin the whole time, yet ran from the Faceless?—but Lena didn’t seem that bothered. What was she thinking, facing the creatures by herself? She might get hurt!
“What do you want with the Last Knight?” she asked, sounding fairly calm. “He’s a good friend, and I won’t let you hurt him.”
Jin’s mouth dropped open. She was admitting she knew the knight? She couldn’t have even tried to lie?
“That is not your concern,” the Faceless said in unison, that creepy echoing voice making it sound like there was more than one voice in each set of armor. Someday Jin was going to need to find out exactly what the Faceless were. “Tell us where he is or suffer the consequences.”
Lena sighed, looking sad now, of all things. “You know, this hasn’t been the best day,” she told the knights as they stepped forward, drawing their shadow-magic swords. “And you’ve been scaring my friends in the city, which puts me in an even worse mood. So.” She punched one hand into the other, and the sound was like a crack of thunder, making Jin’s eyes widen. “Gia—I mean, I fight to show you my might. Let’s do this.”
And with that, she smiled and launched herself at the nearest Faceless.
“Tell us where—whoof!” one knight started to say, only to be interrupted by Lena’s fist slamming into his stomach, sending him flying into—and then through—the nearest tree. The tree splintered in half, and the top crashed to the ground, holding the Faceless in place.
