Princess Between Worlds

by E. D. Baker

  Annie glanced at the trees again. “It looks calm now. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

  They continued walking, rounding the curve in the beach. When they reached the far side of the curve, they discovered an outcropping of rocks that led out into the water. Liam was delighted to find smaller rocks at the base of the boulders and searched until he found just the right one. Perched on one of the larger rocks, he stretched the chain between his ankles across the hard surface, and pounded it with the smaller rock. A few minutes of pounding broke the chains. When he gestured to Annie, she sat down and stuck her fingers in her ears while he tried to break the chain between her ankles.

  Liam was still focused on Annie’s chains when a shadow fell across the rocks and a sweet voice boomed, “Watcha doing?”

  Even with Annie’s fingers in her ears, the voice was painfully loud. Annie looked up and saw a young girl, no more than six years old, towering above her. She was very pretty, with dark brown curls and sky-blue eyes, but she was at least three times taller than Liam when he was standing. The girl must be a giant! Annie thought. She had never seen a giant before, and had never believed they were real, but confronted with such a big little girl, she couldn’t imagine what else the child might be.

  A drop of water landed on Annie’s head and ran down her cheek. The girl was clutching a bouquet of odd-looking flowers that dripped water from their petals.

  Annie scooted backward, trying to get away from the dripping flowers. When she glanced at Liam, his eyes were as big as saucers and his mouth was hanging open. Apparently, it was going to be up to her to talk to the girl. “We’re trying to break these chains,” said Annie, answering her question.

  “Why?” asked the girl.

  “Because we don’t want them on anymore,” said Annie.

  “Why?”

  “Because they make it hard to walk.”

  “Why?”

  Annie decided that it was time to take charge of the conversation. “You have some interesting flowers,” she told the girl.

  “They aren’t mine,” the girl replied. “They’re Blooger’s. He lets me play with them.”

  “I probably shouldn’t ask this, but who is Blooger?”

  “He’s my friend,” the girl said, holding the bouquet toward Annie and turning around. “See? That’s him right there.”

  A large, sand-colored mass drooped down the girl’s back and spread out just below the surface of the water behind her. Annie thought it wasn’t alive until she saw it undulating against the wash of waves as it worked to stay where it was and not get swept away. It blended into the sand below it, with only the garden of waving “flowers” attached to its back standing out. Suddenly Annie realized that the flowers clutched in the girl’s hands weren’t flowers at all, but growths that were part of a sea monster.

  Startled, Annie cried out. The sound seemed to bring Liam out of his stupor. Shouting, “I’ll save you!” he jumped off the rock and lunged toward the monster, holding the rock in one hand. He tried to hit the monster, but the creature was so squishy that the rock didn’t do any damage. It did seem to frighten the monster, however, because it made a soft mewling sound, pulled all its “flowers” out of the girl’s grasp, and fled into deeper water.

  The girl wailed and started to cry in great heaving sobs that made Annie clap her hands over her ears again. There was a loud roar and another monster swimming in the deeper water roared and came racing toward them even as the first one turned and started back. Water frothed behind the new monster and Annie could just make out its long, whiplike tail that propelled it through the waves at great speed.

  “Annie, quick! Get out of the water!” Liam shouted. Wading toward her, he put his hands on her waist and lifted her onto the rocks before turning to face the advancing monsters.

  “What’s going on here?” shouted a voice so loud that Annie’s ears rang with the sound of it. Turning toward the forest, she saw more giants emerge from among the trees. The tallest, who would have looked like an ordinary man if he hadn’t been more than forty feet tall, was so similar to the little girl that he had to be her father. Annie assumed that the giant woman running beside him was the child’s mother. They had just reached the edge of the water when two boys came racing down the beach. With every step that the giants took, the earth shook beneath their feet, making it lurch and bounce beneath Annie and Liam.

  “It’s a family of giants!” Annie said out loud, but her ears were still ringing and she couldn’t hear her own voice.

  She turned to Liam to see if he knew, but he was facing the two sea monsters with nothing more than a rock in his hand. Without a sword, he was virtually defenseless.

  “Penelope!” the giant woman cried, lumbering into the water and scooping up the girl. “What’s wrong?”

  “Blooger went away and took my flowers!” the giant girl sobbed.

  “We’ve talked about this before,” her mother told Penelope while drying the child’s tears. “Those are Blooger’s flowers. It’s very nice of him to let you play with them, but you have to give them back when he leaves.”

  “Mona, I believe that Penelope has made some new friends,” the girl’s father said, lowering his voice. Annie turned away from the crying child and found the giant looking from her to Liam. “It seems some wee ones have arrived on our little paradise. Young man, you don’t need to defend Penelope from the sea monsters anymore. They are actually her babysitters and are here to protect her. Blooger, Squidge, thank you for watching over Penelope today. Her mother and I can take over now.”

  Liam didn’t back away until both monsters turned and swam off. Annie sighed with relief. Liam was the bravest man she knew, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get hurt.

  “More wee ones?” said Mona. “So many visitors in such a short time.”

  “Papa, what’s going on?” one of the boys asked, eyeing Liam, who was still holding the rock.

  “Just a misunderstanding,” said his father. “We seem to have some new arrivals. What’s this? Why are you wearing chains? Are you escaped criminals?”

  “Nothing like that!” Liam replied. “A false friend shackled us and left us for a monster to eat. We escaped through magic and came here. I was trying to remove the shackles when your daughter found us.”

  “Ah!” said the father. “Perhaps one of my sons can help you. Their hands are smaller than mine and can handle delicate things like your shackles. Clifton, why don’t you see what you can do?”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Liam said as the two boys approached. They were both over thirty feet tall, although they looked like they were in their early teens.

  “I’ve got this,” said the bigger boy.

  When he squatted down and reached for the shackles, Annie could tell that Liam was fighting the urge to pull away. The boy was surprisingly gentle, however. Jamming his fingernail into the gap in the shackles, he pried them apart one at a time. When he had removed Liam’s shackles, he turned to Annie’s. His hands were enormous, but he was so careful that she barely felt any extra pressure as the shackles came off.

  Liam turned to Mona, the mother giant. “You said ‘more wee ones.’ Have others been here recently?”

  “Only one,” said Mona. “It was an old man in long robes with a shiny head. He saw us and ran away laughing. He must have left the island then, because we never saw him again.”

  “Rotan!” Annie exclaimed. “He’s a nasty wizard who does nothing but cause trouble. Liam and I just got married and are on our grand tour. Somehow Rotan knows where we’re going and has gone ahead to turn people against us.”

  “Then I’m glad he didn’t stay,” said the father giant. “You, however, are welcome to stay as long as you like. My name is Hugo and this island belongs to my family and me.”

  “We’d love to stay for a little while,” Annie said, casting a glance at Liam. “I think we could both use a good rest.”

  CHAPTER 10

  After Annie and Liam agreed to
stay, the family of giants returned home, taking Penelope with them. Annie and Liam were left alone on the beach, which Annie thought was perfect.

  “The shackles are off, the monsters are gone, and nothing dire is making us leave. Can we go for a swim now?” Annie asked Liam.

  “I don’t know why not,” Liam said as he pulled his shirt off over his head.

  When Annie took off her gown, she was careful to retrieve the blue stone that Nasheen had dropped down her back. Tucking it in her pocket with the rest of the gifts from the yetis, she folded the gown and set it above the tide’s reach.

  Annie and Liam went swimming in their undergarments, laughing as they splashed each other, then swimming together in lazy circles. Suddenly Liam disappeared. A moment later, Annie felt a hand on her ankle and something jerked her under the water. She was relieved to see that it was Liam, and moved into his arms without protest. They kissed for as long as they could both hold their breath, then shot to the surface, laughing.

  “You know,” Annie said after a while. “So far, this is the only part of our trip that’s anything like the way I envisioned our grand tour. I thought we’d spend long, lazy days relaxing and enjoying each other’s company, but it’s all been so hectic, and sometimes quite frightening!”

  “I know it didn’t turn out at all as we’d planned,” said Liam. “I am sorry; I know it’s my fault.”

  “Don’t you dare feel bad,” Annie told him. “This is just another of our adventures! Only, I do wish we knew that there was a way for us to get home in the end.”

  “I swear to you, Annie,” Liam said, reaching for her hand. “I will find a way to get us home, even if it takes me years and years and—”

  “Oh, you!” she said, laughing as she splashed him, starting yet another water battle.

  They were floating on their backs, holding hands while watching the high white clouds drifting overhead, when Annie said, “The giants are so nice! The stories about them always make them out to be fierce and nasty, but they aren’t at all.”

  “Maybe some are, but this family is very nice,” said Liam.

  “Hugo seemed to accept everything you said without question. Why do you think that is?”

  “I don’t know,” Liam replied. “Maybe giants don’t lie and aren’t used to people who do. Or maybe we’re so small and insignificant to them that we’re not a threat no matter what.”

  “I suppose either could be true. Speaking of liars, why do you think Rotan ran away laughing when he saw the giants?”

  “Considering how he’s trying to turn people against us, maybe he saw the giants and thought he didn’t need to say anything. Maybe he thought they were so dangerous that we wouldn’t survive a visit here,” said Liam.

  “I bet you’re right,” Annie replied. “I know I said that I wanted to go places we’d never visited before, and we’ve definitely done that. We’ve seen so many interesting places and met so many fascinating people that I think my desire to travel has been satisfied. Speaking of new people, do you think the giants might be able to help us find our way home?”

  “We can ask, but I doubt it. I didn’t know giants were real, any more than I knew fire-breathing dragons were real. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re as far from home here as we were in East Aridia. Please don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find a way home sooner or later.”

  Annie glanced at him and nodded. Knowing that Rotan was working against them and that they didn’t have a postcard to take them home worried Annie more than she’d let on. Although she was the only one to bring it up, she had a feeling that Liam was just as concerned. Reminding him of it wasn’t going to help matters. The best thing she could do was keep her eyes open and remember that Liam was also looking for a way home.

  Seeing the troubled look in Liam’s eyes, Annie decided that it was time to talk about something else. “When we get home, what do you think we should do about your mother and Clarence? Have you come up with anything yet?”

  Liam groaned and let his feet drop so that he was standing. “I still don’t know. I’d hoped something would occur to me, but everything I come up with is too cruel or wouldn’t work, and they’d be back trying to take over the kingdom again. The only thing I know for sure is that I don’t want them anywhere near us when we do go home.”

  The ground started to shake as the two boy giants appeared at the edge of the trees and ran across the sand, tearing off their outer clothes. “Wahoo!” they thundered as they flung themselves into the water.

  A wall of water crashed into Annie and Liam, carrying them, with churning feet and flailing arms, down the shore and into deeper water. Annie tumbled over and over, losing track of Liam within the first few seconds. When she finally came up gasping, she saw him farther down the beach, searching the water for her.

  “Annie!” he shouted when he spotted her head bobbing above the waves.

  The stable boys at the castle had taught Annie how to swim and often jumped in the Crystal River with her on hot summer days. When the snow melted in the mountains, the river’s current could be dangerously strong, but Annie had found it exhilarating and enjoyed it even more. Now at the beach, she had found the gentle waves soothing, and a little boring. The giants’ wave had disoriented her at first, but it had also been a lot of fun!

  “That was great!” she said as she swam toward Liam. She glanced back at the two boys frolicking in deeper water; they seemed oblivious to what they had done.

  “Are you all right?” Liam asked Annie as he swam closer.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “I was just wondering if we could ask them to do it again.”

  “Really?” said Liam. “I was just wondering how long it’s going to take us to find our clothes. That wave washed everything off the stretch of beach where we left them.”

  “Oh, no! They could be anywhere!” Annie cried.

  “Then we’d better start looking,” said Liam.

  Annie found her gown snagged on the rocks. She was relieved to find that her possessions were still tucked inside the pocket. It didn’t take her long to find Liam’s shoes and one of her own, but after hours of looking, Liam’s shirt was still missing and so was her other shoe. Late that afternoon, they were standing on the shore, about to give up, when Liam spotted the sea monster named Squidge swimming toward them.

  “Did you lose something?” Squidge asked in a gurgling voice.

  “A couple of things, actually,” said Liam.

  “Then these might be yours,” the monster said, and used his long tail to toss the shirt and the shoe onto the beach.

  “Thank you!” Annie called after the retreating monster. “That was very nice of him,” she told Liam.

  “It might have been nicer if my shirt didn’t look like someone had gnawed a hole in it,” grumbled Liam.

  They were spreading his shirt on the sand to dry alongside the other wet clothes when Penelope’s father trudged onto the beach. Crouching down beside them, he whispered in a voice that was still loud to Annie and Liam. “My wife sent me to invite you to supper. I hope you like fish.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” said Annie. “Thank you for inviting us.”

  “We had to,” whispered the giant. “Penelope hasn’t stopped talking about you. Supper should be ready in an hour.”

  “We’ll be there,” said Liam.

  The giant was already walking away when Annie said, “We forgot to ask him where we should go.”

  “That’s easy,” said Liam. “We’ll follow the path.” He pointed at the ground where the giant had been standing. It was at least two feet lower than the ground under the trees. Finding the giants shouldn’t be difficult.

  The path that the giants had trod into the forest floor was as easy to follow as a king’s road. Annie and Liam would have reached the cottage in no time if there hadn’t been so many interesting things to see on the way. The giants had obviously been busy making the island their home. They had planted gardens on both sides of the path, growing melons as big
as cottages, squash longer than Liam was tall, carrots with feathery tops that grew as high as the trees, and green beans that would have made wonderful boats for humans.

  When Annie and Liam heard the sound of scraping ahead, they thought they would find a member of Hugo’s family, but instead they came across a high fence with a small flock of chickens as big as normal cows scratching at the ground and clucking softly to themselves. One of the chickens stopped to tilt its head to the side and eye them, which made Annie and Liam hurry past. They laughed when the chickens didn’t follow them and they saw the relief on each other’s faces.

  Liam was the first to stop and sniff the air. “I can smell fish cooking,” he said. “It smells wonderful!”

  “We haven’t eaten in a while,” said Annie. “It does smell good. I think they’re cooking onions and garlic, too.”

  “Do you think you could walk a little faster?” said Liam. “Suddenly, I’m really hungry!”

  A few minutes later the cottage came into sight. The building was only one floor high, but it had to be at least fifty feet tall. The windows were all open, letting a cool breeze wash through. A wide front door painted red stood open as well, and Annie could see someone moving around inside the cottage.

  “Should we knock or call out or what?” Annie asked as they approached the door.

  “I think we should shout as loud as we can,” said Liam. “And even then I doubt they’ll hear us.”

  Fortunately, they didn’t need to do either, because Penelope was there, watching for them. Liam had given Annie a hand to pull her onto the threshold when the child cried out, “They’re here, Mommy! They came for supper!”

  Annie let go of Liam and clapped her hands to her ears to block the child’s loud voice. Even so, her ears rang as she stepped into the cottage and looked around. They were in the kitchen and the aroma of cooking food was almost overwhelming. Annie couldn’t see much other than the underside of an enormous table and part of the fireplace that was as big as a normal-size cottage. Steam rose from food already on the table, while something boiled in a pot still hanging from a hook in the fireplace. Annie and Liam stepped back as Mona strode past them, moving something from one side of the table to the other, her long skirts swirling around her ankles, creating a breeze as she walked. Penelope sat in a chair pushed up to the table, watching as avidly as a cat might watch a mouse.