Meylyne swallowed. What could possibly need a door that big?
She was suddenly aware of the sound of tiny bells, tinkling around her, and then the door flew open.
All three jumped back. At first nothing but a cavernous gloom reached out from the castle. Then a shape parted the shadows and a voice roared,
“FEE! FI! FO! FUM!”
9
Grimorex
WITH A FLICK OF HIS WRIST, BLUE’S DAGGER BECAME A sword. He moved in front of Meylyne and Hope, and the three of them backed away from the door. Ten seconds passed, and then twenty. When nothing happened, Meylyne squeaked out,
“I’m so sorry for trespassing. We . . . we didn’t know where we were last night. I guess we’ll just be off now!”
There was a roar of laughter and then a voice bellowed from inside—
“Oh that was good! You should see the looks on your faces. I’ve always wanted to do that ‘fee fi’ business.”
Meylyne clutched Hope’s mane as something that looked like an enormous stick insect stepped out into the light. It took her a second to realize it was actually some sort of man. As tall as a flagpole and just as thin, he looked like he’d been stretched by a machine to five times his normal length. The top of her head barely came up to his knees.
Her eyes traveled up his body. He wore pale blue, thigh-high boots, a yellow paisley waistcoat and a feathered cap. Bright blue eyes. Long brown hair. Pleasant face. A roguish twinkle entered into his eyes.
“It’s from one of my favorite stories. Are you familiar with it?”
“Yes!” Blue blurted out. “I am familiar with it!” He elbowed Meylyne. “That’s something else I remember!”
Meylyne ignored him. A memory had also stirred in her mind.
“Sir, are you . . . an ogre?”
The man threw back his head and guffawed again. “Of course I am! What—the height didn’t give it away? You thought all ogres were beefy and toothless?”
Crossing his eyes, he hunched his back and let his tongue loll out of his mouth. “There—is that a bit more ogre-ish for you?”
Meylyne had no idea how to respond to this.
“Oh come now, cat got your tongues?” The ogre fished out a bon-bon from his waistcoat pocket. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Grimorex. I trust you slept well—everyone always does on my land. It is full of enchantment.”
All three cringed at the emphasis he put on the word my.
“Well, let’s start with something easy. What are your names?” he asked, popping the bon-bon in his mouth.
Meylyne’s stomach growled at the sight of his bulging cheek.
“I’m Meylyne. He’s Hope. And he’s Blue.”
“Hmmm.” Grimorex’s gaze lingered on all three of them while he got a good look. “You all look ravenous. Let us break our fast together. Hope—I have a hot spring in the back, if you are so inclined. My fairies will bring whatever food you desire there.”
Again there was the sound of bells tinkling. Looking down, Meylyne gasped to see hundreds of fairies, no bigger than her thumbnail, emerge from the moss upon which they had laid all night.
“Fairies?” she breathed. “How beautiful! I’ve never seen so many—most Glendochian fairies left a long time ago.”
“Of course they did. They lost all their rights when the New Order came in,” Grimorex replied. Turning on his heel, he vanished back inside the gloom of his castle. “Come along!”
Blue made as if to follow him but Meylyne grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going? Let’s make a run for it!”
“No point,” Hope interjected. “We never escape his enchanted land.”
“Says who? We could try!”
“Why? We about to get fed.”
“Yes, and then he’ll feed on us!”
Hope’s face darkened.
“That stupid myth. Cause near extinction of ogres in Glendoch —”
“Can we stay on track here,” Blue interrupted. “We have a hasty decision to make. Frankly, I’m with Hope. That dude is so thin, I doubt he eats anything, let alone humans. And I’m starved!”
Meylyne chewed her cheek while she weighed her own hunger against all the stories she’d heard about ogres. Meanwhile, Hope started to inch away.
“Wait —where are you going?” she hissed at him.
“Hot spring! We stallyinxes love hot spring.”
“What? No! You can’t split up from us!”
“Meylyne come on,” Blue urged impatiently.
She turned around to find him waiting for her by Grimorex’s massive front door.
“Why am I the only one with any sense around here? Just don’t blame me when we’re roasting on a spit.”
Hurrying after Blue, Meylyne continued to grumble until they were both inside the castle. When their eyes adjusted to the gloom, they found themselves in a circular lobby. The walls were covered with gilded mirrors and tapestries that reminded Meylyne of the Between-World. A flight of stairs led off to the left, and to the right were three doors. One was ajar, light streaming through the crack.
“In here,” Grimorex boomed. “I left the door open!”
The door was so heavy that Meylyne and Blue had to push together to open it. A blaze of sunlight assaulted their eyes. Squinting into it, they saw that this room had six sides, with windows so high they seemed to stretch past the sun.
“Sit!”
Grimorex motioned to a long oak table, lined with chairs on either side. The chairs loomed far above their heads.
“Um, how exactly?” asked Meylyne.
“Let me help you!”
Grimorex grasped her by the back of her cloak and swung her up onto a chair, stacked high with pillows. Blue was deposited onto the chair next to hers.
“I could’ve got up by myself,” he grumbled.
Meylyne didn’t answer him. She was too busy ogling the magnificent breakfast spread before them. There were baskets filled to the brim with orange cakes, cinnamon pastries, and crusty rolls; bowls brimming with large succulent grapes; platters of sausages and eggs; and large mugs of steaming hot chocolate. Despite her unease, her mouth began to water.
“Eat up!” Grimorex said, tying a napkin around his neck. “And please don’t trouble your heads with all that nonsense about ogres eating humans. With all due respect, my palate is far more discerning than that. I suspect you both taste positively foul.”
Meylyne eyed her pitchfork-sized fork.
“Do you mind if we use our fingers?”
“Yes I do.”
Grimorex clapped his hands and two fairies flew over to Meylyne and Blue, carrying normal sized knives and forks.
“Apologies for not having those ready for you. Now please, dig in!”
For a moment there was silence while Meylyne and Blue heaped food onto their plates. Grimorex gulped down a pitcher of orange juice in one swallow.
“You’re probably wondering why I live here so far from my own kind,” he offered chattily.
“Yeah, ‘at’s what ‘e were wondering,” Blue mumbled, his cheeks bulging with cake.
Grimorex ignored Blue’s sarcasm. “I did not grow up with the ogres, you see, I lived in a palace of tusked lions. Talking ones, that is.”
Meylyne almost choked on her sausage. Tipping a barrel-sized cup toward her, she slurped down some hot chocolate.
“Tusked lions?” She wheezed. “So you set that lion on us!”
“What are you talking about?”
“The lion that tried to kill us!”
Grimorex peeled a grape. “First of all, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. Second of all, you’re imagining things. No Talking Animal would violate its treaty with Glendoch. Even when the Glendochian in question is not entirely normal.” He scrutinized Meylyne. “What are you—one of those new Between-Worldian hybrids?”
Meylyne blinked. Her indignation at being told she was imagining things and not normal battled with her surprise that he knew what she was.
<
br /> “Yes,” she replied stiffly. “A garloch. I’m one of those. How did you know?”
Grimorex clapped his hands.
“I knew it! You’re the first one I’ve met. I can always tell where a person is from. Apart from you—”
Now he squinted at Blue. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were not of this world at all.”
Blue put down the roll he was gnawing.
“Where am I from then?”
Grimorex was silent for a moment. Then he shook his head. “It’s not possible. The tunnels between our worlds disappeared a long time ago.”
“What world?”
“No matter, I am mistaken. Now,” he turned his attention back to Meylyne. “Do tell me of the gossip in Glendoch Proper. Anything interesting going on in the courts?”
“Wait a minute,” Blue protested. “Tell me where you think I’m from!”
Grimorex held up his hand in front of Blue’s face.
“I assure you, I’m mistaken.” He bent in closer to Meylyne. “Is Meph still up to his shenanigans?”
Meylyne froze. The food in her mouth suddenly tasted like sawdust.
“You’ve heard of Meph all the way out here?” she asked.
Grimorex dabbed his upper lip with a napkin. A shifty look entered into his eyes.
“Indeed I have.”
Meylyne swallowed her mouthful with difficulty. It seemed there was no escaping her father’s notoriety.
Grimorex popped a plum in his mouth, adding,
“It is odd, is it not, that in recent years he would choose only one half of your citizens to wreak havoc upon? At least with the Cabbage-Wind he targeted all Glendochians.”
Meylyne put down her knife and fork. “If you don’t mind my asking, how do you know all this? Our news-scrolls don’t leave our borders.”
“What’s the Cabbage-Wind?” Blue piped up.
Licking his lips, Grimorex did not reply to either question. He had the look of someone with a delicious secret that he was dying to share. One of his fairies flew to him and hovered by his ear, tinkling something. As the fairy flew off, she giggled, adding, “And you might want to offer them a bath, when you’re finished!”
Meylyne flushed.
“I heard that,” she shouted at the fairy. “It’s not like I’ve had the opportunity to bathe these last few days!”
“You understood my fairy?” Grimorex stared at her. “But that means you’re a Hearer. Are all Garloch’s Hearers?”
“I don’t know. I’m the only one I know,” Meylyne replied.
Grimorex tapped his nose.
“Of course, it could be from your Garlysle blood that you inherited your Hearing powers. Not that there are many Garlysles that can still Hear. Other than Meph, I know of none.”
Meylyne’s face got even redder.
“Yeah well, that’s her dad,” Blue interjected. “Ow! What did you do that for?”
Meylyne had kicked him under the table. Grimorex looked from her, to Blue, and back to Meylyne. His eyes bulged out of his head.
“You’re Meph’s daughter?”
“Now look what you’ve done,” Meylyne hissed at Blue.
Grimorex leaned back in his chair.
“My, my. Meph’s daughter, at my table.”
Meylyne scowled at him. “It’s not like I can help who my father is.”
Grimorex got a weird look on his face, like he was remembering something happy and sad at the same time.
“What exactly are you doing here?” he asked her. “You must have good reason for breaking one of Glendoch’s First rules.”
“Actually she’s breaking a bunch of them,” Blue chortled. “Ow! Enough with the kicking already!”
“We’re here by accident,” Meylyne said, glaring at Blue. “We were trying to get to the Valley of Half-Light, but we went the wrong way and we ended up here instead.”
“You were going to the Valley of Half-Light? On purpose?” said Grimorex.
“That’s what I said! She’s got this half-baked notion that she’ll find a cure for some prince there,” Blue said.
“A cure for Prince Piam’s aging disease?” Grimorex snorted. “Well now that is half-baked! It doesn’t exist. Many have tried and failed in that regard. Including your mother!”
Meylyne folded her arms.
“How do you know all this?”
Grimorex waved his hand. “I’ll tell you that later. First tell me your story. Why have you embarked on this exercise in futility?”
Meylyne pressed her lips together and did not reply.
“Look, you won’t get to the Valley of Half-Light without my help, trust me. The road leading to it is covered with sucking mud, scorpions, and poison-spitting pustules. It’s almost as bad as the valley itself!”
“Covered with what?” Meylyne screeched. “No, don’t say it again,” she snapped as Grimorex began to repeat himself. Tears pricked her eyes. She would never get to the Valley of Half-Light at this rate.
Leaning over, Grimorex covered her hand with his.
“I promise, I can help you. But you have to tell me more.”
“Why should I? You know far too much about Glendoch—you’re obviously keeping secrets from us!”
“That doesn’t mean I’m not on your side.”
Meylyne gave Grimorex a hard look. Deep down, she wanted to trust him.
“Fine,” she muttered. “Here’s the deal—I trespassed in the Above-World, and got caught, so Queen Emery told my mother she’d have to cure Prince Piam to earn my pardon—”
“You forgot the bit where you squashed him,” Blue interjected, scooting out of reach of her foot.
“—but the Wise Well told me I had to cure him and that I’d find the cure in the Valley of Half-Light.” She sat back. “End of story.”
“No, I’d say that’s the beginning of the story.” Grimorex exhaled slowly. “I’m telling you, you won’t find the cure you seek in the Valley of Half-Light. But if the Wise Well told you to go there, then by Jove we must get you there!”
Meylyne jumped as he leapt to his feet and scooped her up in one hand.
“Whoa—where are we going?”
Grimorex ignored her. Grabbing Blue in the other hand, he bounded down a long, narrow hallway and out into the back garden. Drifts of forget-me-nots and daffodils and huge azaleas surrounded them and off to the right a crop of silver-birches swayed in the breeze. Grimorex wound his way between the trees, dodging thick strands of white moss hanging from their branches.
“There!” Grimorex said, depositing Meylyne and Blue on the ground. “What do you think of that?”
Steadying themselves, Meylyne and Blue found that they stood before an emerald-green lagoon, so clear they could see all the way to the bottom. Neither said a word. It was not, however, the lagoon that rendered them speechless.
It was that which lay inside.
10
The Fallen Guardian
A GIGANTIC CHARIOT BLAZED BEFORE THEM. GLITTERING in the morning sunlight, it appeared to be made entirely of crystal. A formidable creature, also crystal, was attached to its shaft. Half-woman, half-dragon, she stared into the distance; pride and ferocity mingling in her sparkling face. She almost looked alive.
“Wow,” Blue breathed, shielding his eyes. “What is that—some sort of glass wagon?”
“Oh no,” Grimorex replied softly. “That is a chariot—an enchanted, flying, diamond chariot, no less.”
“That huge thing is a diamond? I don’t believe you!”
Grimorex shot Blue a scornful look. “Trust me child. I know my diamonds. Admittedly this—” he returned his gaze to the chariot, “—is by the far the most magnificent I have ever seen. Of all my toys, she is the best! She knows everywhere there is. We have been to places you could not even dream existed!”
He snapped his fingers and the chariot rolled out of the lagoon toward them, water streaming off its wheels. Grimorex flicked a latch and the back swung open. “Please, climb aboard
!”
Blue could barely see over the chariot floor. With a flying leap, he hoisted himself inside.
“Blue wait!” Meylyne cried, peering inside. Multi-colored lights criss-crossed before her, blurring Blue’s shape as he disappeared toward the front of the chariot.
“Blue, will you please come back here!” Meylyne shouted.
“No, you come here!”
Meylyne chewed her lip. She felt drawn to the chariot and afraid of it at the same time.
“She can take you where you need to go, not necessarily where you want to go,” Grimorex explained, as if reading her mind. “Hop on now!”
Meylyne’s curiosity got the better of her. Stepping aboard, she was instantly immersed in a dazzling array of light and color. The chariot’s sides sloped up above her as she walked toward the front, trailing her hands along the sparkling alcoves that had been cut into them and lined with cushions, perfect for sitting on. The bottom was so smooth and clear it was almost invisible. Looking down, Meylyne saw clown-fish and pearl-eels peeping up at her. Something about the chariot seemed familiar to her, but she couldn’t figure out what. Feeling someone at her side, she turned and felt a rush of relief to see that it was Hope.
“Hi Hope! How’d you find us?”
But before Hope could reply, Grimorex shouted, “Brace yourselves!”
Meylyne grabbed Hope as the dragon-lady unfurled her wings in stiff, mechanical jerks. The chariot rose up out of the lake, water streaming from its sides and then whisked off, so fast that Meylyne and Hope flew backward, landing in the alcoves. Blue ended up a few rows behind them, plastered into an alcove of his own. Pulling himself along by the chariot’s knobby bits, he crawled over and plonked himself into the alcove behind Meylyne’s.
“This is great,” he said, beaming. “Hey Hope!”
Hope nodded at him. Judging by the expression on his face, he did not share Blue’s enthusiasm for flying-diamond-chariot travel. Clambering to her feet, a thrill of excitement surged through Meylyne as she stared into the wind rushing at them. It made her skin tingle and her eyes water. A few seconds later, Hope stood at her side with Blue on his back. His thick mane streamed behind them like liquid charcoal.
“This is awesome!” Blue cried. “We’re really flying!”
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