Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2)

by E. G. Foley

  “Excellent! I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow, then. As soon as you have the full number of geniuses, I will make the smart potion. And then you’ll be as intelligent as all of these brains combined,” the bird reminded him with a jaunty wink.

  Not that he needed reminding. Indeed, it was all he had been thinking of. Why, when he was an intellectual giant, then Gorm wouldn’t have any reason to make fun of him anymore.

  More importantly, Kaia was sure to find the new-and-improved Snorri the most suave, sophisty-cated, fascinating fellow she had ever met. She would almost positively fall in love with him.

  She just had to.

  “Remember,” the crow interrupted his little daydream. “Bow tie, crazy hair, spectacles.”

  “Right, right, right.”

  “And don’t let anybody see you, except the ones you catch.”

  “I know. Or they’ll dissect me.”

  “Yes,” the crow said sympathetically. “I’m glad you understand the risks. Well, until tomorrow, then! Good luck, Snorri, you giant of destiny!” The bird flew off again, circling higher into the sky.

  As it disappeared into a cloud bank, Snorri suddenly realized that the three smarty-pantses in the cages had fallen absolutely silent. Not a single rude word came from the direction of the cave.

  Snorri glanced slowly, cautiously, over his shoulder and saw them gripping the bars of their cage and staring at him in shock.

  “You understand us?” the mathematician blurted out, staring at him.

  “Th-th-that bird,” the bone-digger stammered. “It, it talked?!”

  Snorri gave them a sarcastic “primitive” growl in answer. Why enlighten them with facts?

  They obviously thought he was dumb as a rock and more of a thing than a person.

  Besides, he had no desire to make conversation with people whose brains he was going to drink in a powdery potion, if he understood the bird’s plans correctly.

  He turned away and broke another huge branch over his knee, ignoring the bewildered questions of the scientists. Then he took out his knife and cut a length of twine. Firmly tying two branches together, he got to work on building another cage for the five remaining geniuses that he had yet to catch.

  It kept his mind off feeling homesick and a peculiar twinge of guilt already taking shape in his big, dumb heart. For as he worked, sitting beside his fire, a dark question passed like a shadow over the landscape of his mind…

  For the smart brew to be made, these annoying little scientists were going to have to die. That crow doesn’t expect me to kill them, does he?

  He paused, mulling it over. A very disturbing question.

  Falling into Midgarth was bad enough—against Odin’s rules—though he had done it by accident. Drinking people’s brains in powdered form or otherwise was considerably worse, and sure to be frowned upon—even though Odin, who made the rules, was rather bloodthirsty himself, being the god of war and all.

  Moreover, though Snorri might be the village idiot of Jugenheim, he was not at all sure he was even capable of carrying out eight cold-blooded murders.

  That sort of thing was Gorm’s expertise.

  Snorri shuddered despite the warmth from his fire. But his mind was made up. He didn’t mind catching them, but when it came time to kill those annoying little geniuses, the crow was just going to have do it himself. Peck them to death or something.

  For his part, he was not that kind of giant.

  And come to think of it, maybe that was why he had never quite fit in back home.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Once A Thief

  When the boys returned to the dormitory later that night, Dani and Isabelle knew at once by their grim expressions that something bad had happened.

  For their part, the girls had nothing to report yet—no sign of Henry or Helena.

  “Did you find Professor Langesund?” Dani asked as they all gathered in the missing governess’s room.

  “No,” Jake said, “we only found his pipe.”

  Then Archie explained how they had stayed with Miss Langesund until the authorities had arrived. “But she sent us away as soon as the police wagon rolled up. She didn’t want us getting dragged into this mess.”

  “Criminy,” Dani breathed. “What do you think happened to the professor?”

  Jake shook his head, at a loss. “I have no idea. But something obviously did.”

  Teddy let out a low whine and laid his head down on his paws.

  “Meanwhile, we four are on our own.” He glanced around at them. “We’re going to have to be extra careful and look out for each other. There’s something very weird going on around here.”

  “Well, let’s hope for the best,” Isabelle said in a comforting tone. “It’ll sort itself out. I’m sure everything will be fine. Maybe Professor Langesund simply wandered off for a moonlight stroll in the forest. Maybe he dropped his pipe and didn’t even realize it.

  “As for Henry and Helena,” she continued, “you needn’t worry about them. Even as animals, they’re clever enough to stay out of sight until they’re able to come back to us. We just have to wait for them. With any luck, they’ll be back by tomorrow morning.”

  The others exchanged a dubious look, though they appreciated her attempt to make them feel better.

  Then Jake suggested they all take turns waiting up throughout the night, in case Henry and Helena showed up needing help.

  Of course, if the twins returned, still stuck in their animal forms, Jake wasn’t sure how they were going to sneak two wild animals into the college dorm, unseen. They would just have to cross that bridge when they came to it. He’d think of something.

  Archie volunteered for the first watch, from eleven P.M. to two o’clock in the morning, but Dani told him to go to bed—she would do it. Since it was already quite late, they would only need three shifts.

  The others agreed that Archie should be the one to get a full night’s sleep, since he had to participate in a science panel discussion in the morning with a Chinese physicist and a Scottish engineer.

  He would need a good night’s sleep to be sharp enough to answer the audience’s questions.

  “You’ve got your genius reputation to keep up, after all,” Dani told him. “Just go to bed. Teddy will sit up with me.”

  Jake said he’d take the hardest shift, from two till five A.M., and then Isabelle would watch from five in the morning until full daylight.

  Dani and Jake said goodnight to his cousins.

  Archie went into the boys’ room, while Isabelle withdrew into the room for the girls across the hallway.

  “I’ll sit up with Teddy in Miss Helena’s room,” Dani said, nodding toward the next door beside the girls’ room.

  Henry’s chamber was next door to the boys’ quarters. Jake nodded and stepped into the governess’s room with her.

  “Aren’t you going to bed?” Dani asked.

  “Just want to make sure you’re all settled,” he mumbled.

  She eyed him with a frown. “You’re more worried about all this than you’re letting on.”

  “Well, we are up against a Norse god, you carrot-head,” he whispered with a scowl. “I can’t help feeling that Loki is behind all this somehow. Not just with Henry and Helena, but Professor Langesund, too. But why?” He shrugged, having no answers and no clear idea of what was really going on.

  All he had was a simple plan to get a hold of those Lie Detector Goggles. He had a feeling they were going to need them.

  Dani studied him suspiciously. “I know that look. You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

  “There’s a device in the Exhibit Hall that’ll help us identify Loki no matter what shape he takes. I’m going to go steal it,” he whispered.

  Her green eyes flew open wide. “Jake, you said there are policemen all over the campus now looking for the professor!”

  “Aye, they’re distracted with their search,” he countered in a reasonable tone. “With him gone, nobody’s go
ing to be paying attention to the inventions right now. I can get in and out of the Exhibit Hall before anyone even notices me.”

  “But you swore off stealing, remember?”

  “This is different. Our safety’s on the line! What choice do we have?”

  “Ugh.” Dani dropped her face into her hands for a moment. “If you get caught, I don’t know you.”

  “I’m not goin’ to get caught. I haven’t lost my touch.”

  She lifted her head and stared at him in disapproval.

  “I’ll put the goggles back when we’re done using them, all right?”

  “All right,” she grumbled, scooping up her dog. She carried Teddy with her to the armchair beside the window, then sat down to keep watch. “Jake,” Dani said as he headed for the door.

  He glanced over his shoulder in question.

  “Be careful,” she offered. “And good luck.”

  He sent her a cocky smile. “Who needs luck when you’re as talented as me?”

  She rolled her eyes, but Jake flashed a grin.

  Leaving her and Teddy to their sentry duty, he stepped out into the corridor and pulled the door shut quietly behind him. He glanced both ways, making sure none of the other conference-goers were wandering the halls. Fortunately, he found himself alone.

  The dormitory full of student bedrooms was quiet; all the doors down the long hallway remained closed.

  Right, he thought, with a small nod of determination. Then he moved off stealthily to carry out his mission. He just hoped his thieving skills weren’t getting rusty.

  It had been a while.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The Not-So-Lucky Bowtie

  By breakfast the next morning, Jake was groggy from the night’s adventure, and a bit nervous about the risk of getting caught with the stolen Lie Detector Goggles.

  This, of course, did not dull his appetite.

  Dani and Archie sat across from him at their table once more in the banquet hall, staring at him like he was more of a wolf than Henry.

  He paused in the middle of shoveling a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth. “What?”

  “How can you gorge your face at a time like this?” Dani asked, meaning of course that Henry and Helena still had not returned.

  He just shrugged and went on eating.

  “Maybe he’s right,” Archie said with a sigh. “If today’s anything like yesterday, we’ll need to keep up our strength.”

  Dani pushed her fruit salad around her plate unhappily. “I can’t believe they’re not back yet. I was sure I’d wake up and find them here and everything back to normal.”

  “Don’t worry,” Jake ordered, having swallowed his last bite. “We’ll get it all sorted soon. First order of business is Archie’s panel. Finish eating, Arch, then I’ll walk you to your classroom. Dani can stay with Isabelle. I don’t want any of you wandering around alone.”

  Archie took off his spectacles and rubbed his eyes. “Blimey, I’ve got a headache coming on.”

  Jake and Dani exchanged an amused look to hear him use their Cockney street slang.

  But the boy genius forced himself to brighten up. “Guess I’ve got to act normal in front of the crowd, though, what?”

  “Are you nervous to speak in front of all those geniuses?” Dani asked.

  “Nah, I’ve got my lucky bowtie on for the occasion!”

  They laughed even though he was serious.

  “I’m going to go fix a plate of food for Isabelle,” Dani announced, rising from her chair.

  Archie leaned closer across the table after she had gone. “Do you see Loki anywhere in here?” he whispered.

  “No, but that doesn’t mean he’s not here in some other form.”

  “Too bad you can’t pull out the you-know-whats.”

  “Right,” Jake wearily agreed. As much as he wanted to look around the busy cafeteria to see if Loki was present in some new disguise, he did not want to be seen using the Lie Detector Goggles—which he had stolen last night without too much difficulty.

  On an impulse, he had also swiped Sir Francis Galton’s dog whistle. If it worked on ordinary dogs and cats, he hoped that maybe they could use it to summon the wolf and leopard back to campus.

  After sneaking away from the Exhibit Hall last night with his contraband, he had run to the edge of the woods and blown the whistle several times. It made no sound that he could hear, but maybe it got the twins’ attention, wherever they were, out in the forest.

  When Dani returned with Isabelle’s breakfast, the boys accompanied her back to their rooms. When they arrived, Isabelle shook her head sadly: still no sign of Henry and Helena. Then Archie collected his notes and papers for his discussion panel, and the boys left.

  Jake walked Archie across the campus into one of the big university buildings full of lecture halls and classrooms. When they found the classroom where the panel was to take place, there were already dozens of scientists sitting in the rows of desks, waiting for the talk to begin.

  With one thumb hooked in his vest pocket, Archie nodded cordially to his fellow panelist, the large, redheaded Scottish engineer.

  Dr. Wu, the Chinese physicist, their third panel member, had not yet arrived.

  Archie turned to Jake. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to stay for this.”

  He nodded in relief. It was not like he would understand a word of it, anyway. Besides, he had to check on Miss Langesund this morning and see if the local police had made any progress on finding her father. “Good luck,” he told Archie, giving him a firm clap on the shoulder. “I’ll come and meet you in the hallway after.”

  Archie nodded, then Jake went on his way, privately in awe of his younger cousin. The boy genius took it all in stride, but if it were him having to give a speech to a bunch of world-class geniuses—well, that was worse than facing Loki.

  As he walked across the campus toward the Viking ship museum, he hoped Miss Langesund did not ask too many questions about how Henry and Helena were feeling this morning, if they had recovered yet from last night’s sudden illness.

  Jake was wondering the same thing himself. For all he knew, Henry might have turned back into a person out there in the woods somewhere, and might be making his way back to the campus right now. Helena, too. Blimey, I hope no one sees them before they can get to their clothes.

  Awkward! But apparently this sort of mishap was a regular occurrence in the lives of shapeshifters.

  Jake did not envy them as a species.

  Reaching the Viking ship museum, he pushed open the heavy wooden door once again and went in trying to look innocent—the place was bustling with policemen. And there sat Miss Langesund at her desk, red-eyed and disheveled, still in her golden dinner gown, but with her spectacles on once more.

  Poor woman, she looked like she hadn’t slept a wink. A horrible thought stopped Jake in his tracks halfway to her. I hope they haven’t found him dead. His heart started pounding at the prospect of receiving much more terrible news than he had expected.

  Only one way to find out. He swallowed hard and forced himself to keep walking forward.

  “Oh, hullo, Jacob,” the lady-archeologist said, perking up slightly when she saw him. “Is Henry better today? Will he be coming? And Helena, too, of course?”

  “No, I’m afraid they’re even sicker today. Maybe by tomorrow. Any news?”

  “Some.” She closed her eyes with a dire look then blew her nose in her handkerchief. “I’m afraid the situation is even worse than we thought yesterday.”

  “Have they found him?” he asked in a low tone, bending down on one knee beside her desk in concern.

  She shook her head. “Not a trace. But at least he’s not the only one.”

  “What?” he exclaimed.

  “In a way, I’m relieved about it. If they’ve been taken for their knowledge, they must still be alive.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The police have been interviewing people all morning.” Miss Langesund gl
anced around with a sniffle, as though not sure how much she was allowed to tell him. Then she lowered her voice and confided, “My father’s not the only scientist who’s gone missing. There are five more scientists unaccounted for this morning.”

  “You mean—?” he whispered in shock.

  She nodded. “Somebody’s kidnapping geniuses.”

  Hands in pockets, Archie frowned as the last of his panel attendees left the classroom, as disappointed as he was. Dash it all, they’d had to postpone their presentation because Dr. Wu had never showed up.

  Physicists! There was no living with them. Had the dolt forgotten to ask his assistant to wake him up on time?

  In any case, everyone had left early. The panel had been rescheduled for four o’clock this afternoon.

  Archie told himself that was for the best. That way, he’d get another shot to dazzle his colleagues with his latest thoughts on aerodynamics and still be back to the rooms by tea-time. Hopefully, by then, Henry and Helena would have returned, and everything would be fine.

  As much as it sometimes bothered him to have to go through life chaperoned all the time, never roaming free like Jake, he was gnawed with continuous worry about the twins. They were like family members after all these years.

  Their running off like this was unheard-of. He was trying his best to act brave in front of Jake, but in truth, he was really scared.

  Cold fear was giving him a stomachache. Realizing he needed a distraction to take his mind off it all, naturally, his first thought was of the Pigeon. Working on his inventions always made him feel better, calmer, more like his usual self.

  So, he headed for the warehouse where she was safely stored, tossed his trusty bag of tools into the cockpit, then rolled her back down the graveled path and out to the water’s edge, the same spot where he had steered her ashore yesterday after his test flight.

  It was a beautiful view, and it cheered him.

  The day was bright, the surrounding forest swaying back and forth in the cool, lively wind.

  The breeze drove the white-capped waves across the fjord and ran riot through Archie’s dark hair, rumpling it every which way. The peaceful setting made him smile.