He raced to the wrought iron gate under the Wondernever sign, found it unlocked, and slipped inside. Once on the strange checkered path among the flowers, trees, and sparkling mist, he did not hesitate to begin his exploration.
After a while strolling down the path, gazing wide eyed this way and that, Jack found himself at a fork in the road. So he came to a stop. Peering down the left fork, he could see a village of sorts in the distance. Of course, it was unlike any sort of village he'd ever seen before, except perhaps, in the pages of a storybook.
Then he studied the path to the right and found it simply wound on, deeper into the forest, and disappearing into the mist. A shiver coursed through him. For the first time, it occurred to him since he was in some thoroughly unknown land, it might not be wise to assume that he was welcome. He took off down the forest path.
It seemed as though Jack wandered half the night away roaming deeper and deeper into the woods. His foot falls gradually slowed as he grew more wary. Listening to the eerie sounds of the forest, he began to regret his eagerness in following the beanstalk. But an adventurous spirit compelled him forward.
Finally he came to a clearing where a giant stone mansion materialized in the mist. His mouth fell open as he stared up at the place that was practically a castle. He'd never seen anything like it. Not only was the structure itself gigantic; each individual door and window was huge as well, as if made for a giant person.
Jack crept to the front door, mesmerized by the awesomeness of the place. Placing a trembling hand on the knob, he found it turned and the door swung open. Normally Jack would never presume to enter someone's home uninvited. However, he simply wasn't in a normal state of mind.
Inside a grand foyer, Jack found himself surrounded by artworks and furnishings that were all twice the normal size. He began to creep about, studying wondrously, all the opulent finery. When he came to a massive winding stairway, he made his way up.
Jack explored hallways and rooms, delighted and amazed by the wonders he found. But it wasn't until he entered a certain room, which he found, hidden beneath a stairwell, that he became truly thrilled.
The room had stone walls and a ceiling that towered twenty feet up. And it was brimming with treasures beyond Jack's wildest imaginings. He could barely take it all in. There were stacks of gold taller than Jack. Soft celestial music played and he found it came from a golden harp that played by itself. He startled when he heard a honk and his attention was drawn to a white goose who laid an egg which appeared to be solid gold.
"What is this place?" Jack murmured to himself.
"Who are you?"
Jack jumped and spun around to face a woman with a pale, alarmed face. His heart sped up. "I… Uh… I'm…"
"You must leave! Now!" the woman demanded in a hurried whisper.
"But, I… What is this place?" Jack asked. "Where am I?"
The lady's face softened slightly. "Listen, sir! Please! You. Must. Go. Now! Take some gold if you must, and then leave. Please!"
He knew he should do just as she asked, but he was under the spell of the magical place. "Miss, why would you let me take your gold? And what are you so afraid of? Are you in danger? Do you need help?"
"It isn't me who's in danger, sir! It's you if you don't get out now!"
"But why? Please tell me what's going on," Jack pleaded.
"It's my husband, Wiley. He's been cursed by an evil witch and turned into a giant!"
Jack couldn't help a laugh. "A curse?" He gestured around the sparkling room of treasures. "Doesn't seem like much of a curse to me."
"Well," the woman said, becoming conversational. "You see, it rather affects his temperament and causes an ache in his bones. Wiley would do away with the gold if he could do away with the pain, I believe."
"Really?" Jack replied, not believing a word of the woman's tale. "What would it take to break the curse, do you think?"
A small smile played on her lips. "Killing you would do the trick," she said softly.
Jack's face fell as the woman took one step toward him. The same woman who'd seemed gentle and lovely took on a dark menacing quality.
"WILEY!" she shrieked.
Footfalls so heavy they shook the house, sounded outside the door. "WILDA! WHAT'S THAT I SMELL?" a deep voice thundered.
Jack sprang into action, brushing straight past Wilda and bolting out the door.
Unfortunately, he ran straight into a man who stood fifteen feet tall, at least. His craggy face and rock hard body seemed made of stone. He snatched Jack up by his neck, lifting him into the air.
"FINALLY!" the giant bellowed.
In a flurry, Jack found himself shoved into a sort of huge sack, and slung over the giant's shoulder as though he was no more than a sack of laundry. Jack wept bitterly as he screamed and fought with all his might. But it was to no avail. He was being taken somewhere he could not see, but he could tell he was back outside by the sounds of the forest.
"WITCH!" hollered the giant. "OOOOH WITCH! I'M READY FOR YOU!"
All the while, Jack heard the woman called Wilda cackling somewhere nearby.
Part VII
Nose Grows
Chapter 24
"Are your parents home?"
Mattia Pinoak stared up at the official looking man. He wasn't wearing any uniform and he looked kind of old, but Mattia knew a cop when he saw one. He'd dealt with enough of them when he told tales on Vinicio and got him into trouble.
"I don't have parents," Mattia said with more than a little snottiness.
"Oh. Well, then, who takes care of you?"
Mattia gave an exaggerated shrug. "A guy named Vinicio. Says he's my grandfather, but he's not. He just adopted me."
The cop gave Mattia a skeptical look. "OK. Well, is Vinicio home then?"
"Nah. He's never home. He leaves me alone all the time."
The cop frowned deeply. "Aren't you a little young to be alone all the time?"
Mattia shrugged again. "Dunno. I'm thirteen."
"Mattia! Who's at the door?"
Vinicio hobbled into the room, leaning heavily on a cane and making his way to the door.
The cop frowned sternly down at Mattia. "Thought you said he wasn't home, kid."
Mattia grinned wickedly. "I lied," he happily admitted, turning around to skip from the room.
***
Mattia lingered in the kitchen of the tiny home he shared with Vinicio Pinoak so that he could eavesdrop on the conversation in the living room. He wondered if he was in trouble again.
"Hi, sir. My name is Chief Jiminy. I'm from a town called Faraway Washington; you've probably never heard of it. May I come in?"
"Certainly." Mattia heard his kindly benefactor invite the stranger inside.
"Your boy there said you weren't home! Said you leave him alone a lot," Jiminy remarked.
Vinicio sighed. The sadness of the sound was practically a palpable thing. "He did, did he? Yes, I'm afraid Mattia has a bad habit with the tall tales. I've been in some trouble before over it. But, I try to be patient with him, he had a difficult past. I adopted him when he was just a tiny tot. He was found wandering in the forest, so starved and cold, his poor body was stiff as wood. It was very sad."
"Ah, I see," Jiminy replied with feigned interest. "Well, let me tell you the reason for the visit."
The chief explained that he was visiting in an unofficial capacity to ask around Enchantica, investigating a tip he'd received. He described a tragic string of murders and disappearances in his home town months back. Mattia wondered what any of it might have to do with them.
Chief Jiminy went on to explain that in the midst of the current disappearances in Enchantica, he'd received a phone call. "The call was from a kid named Josh who once lived in Faraway. He's here in Enchantica right now with the traveling carnival," Jiminy said.
"I see. I guess I'm not following," Vinicio admitted.
"Well, thing is, Josh seems to think he's spotted one of our missing teens from Faraway.
Here. In Enchantica. And he believes she's being held against her will in the woods. Seeing as how you folks are now missing several teens as well, my hunch is there's some sort of link here. Enough to bring me out of retirement."
"Ah, yes, well, that's terrible then! But I don't see what this has to do with me."
"Like I said, sir, just asking around. With your Chief Darling's permission of course. You wouldn't know about anybody living out in those woods, would you?"
"Hmmm," Vinicio murmured.
Mattia began feeling anxious and angry. His kind old grandfather would always want to be helpful. But he had the potential of starting a disaster just then.
"This may sound crazy, Chief Jiminy. But there is a popular urban legend round these parts. 'Bout a community of devil worshipers living in the swamps. People've said for years that they like to steal kids for sacrifice to some evil spirit."
"That so?" Jiminy said. Mattia heard the creak of a chair, as though the old cop leaned forward with interest.
Vinicio chuckled. "But of course, it isn't true, sir. Just wives' tales people tell their kids to keep 'em out of the woods. There's nothing out there but trees and swamp."
"I see," Jiminy said speculatively. The tone of those two short words told Mattia the cop wasn't sure the stories were fake at all.
"No," Mattia whispered. Then he dashed out the back door.
***
"Karenza! KARENZA!"
Mattia crashed through the forest, flailing, and shouting wildly. Tears streamed down his face.
"KAREEEEENNNZZZZAAAA!"
"I'm here, Mattia!"
He burst into the clearing just as the tiny woman emerged from the boughs of the willow.
"What is it, dear one?" she said hurrying toward him.
He dropped to his knees and threw himself into her arms. Despite the fact that the dwarf woman was as small as a toddler, he found her embrace comforting like a mother, as he always had.
"People know! They know about us, about our home!"
Karenza stroked Mattia's back soothingly. "Well of course, they've always known. But they don't believe."
Mattia backed away and shook his head, peering into her elfin face. "Not this time! It's an outsider. A cop. He came from far away. Somehow, he knows about Alice!"
Karenza's smile died on her lips and her face darkened. "What?" she whispered.
"It's true! He came to our house! He's going around asking nosey questions. What will we do, Karenza?" Mattia wailed. "What will we do if this world finds our world? It would be a catastrophe!"
She patted his cheek and smiled once again. Only this time her smile looked less impish and more evil. "Don't fear, my darling. This is exactly why we planted you in this world. To be our eyes and ears. To protect our doorway. The time has come for you to serve your purpose.
Mattia nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! I will! Just tell me what I should do."
She placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Take care of that cop, Mattia."
***
"Hello, Chief Jiminy?"
Mattia sat at the kitchen table, holding the card the cop had left in his hand. His grandfather really was gone by the time evening set in; off to play bingo in town. Mattia knew he would have several hours of privacy.
"Yes?"
"It's me, Mattia. You were at my house earlier today? You talked to my grandfather, Vinicio?"
"Yes? What can I do for you?"
"Chief Jiminy, I need your help," Mattia said urgently in a frightened voice.
"Oh?"
"It's my grandfather. He… He beats me. He starves me. He leaves me alone for days at a time."
After a long silent pause, the chief answered. "Son, this is a conversation for your local chief. Chief Darling. I don't have jurisdiction here," the officer said gently.
"PLEASE!" Mattia cried, giving an award worthy performance. "Please, sir, no one here believes me! I just… I just need to talk to somebody, PLEASE!" He sobbed pitifully into the phone.
"Alright, alright, now son! Calm down," the old cop said kindly. "I'll be right over. We'll talk, and then we'll call local authorities together, OK? I won't let anything bad happen to you."
"Thank you, thank you! Please come right away!"
***
"Hello? Mattia?"
Chief Jiminy knocked first, and then let himself inside finding the front door slightly ajar. He stepped into a dark, empty living room.
"I'm out back!"
Chief Jiminy followed the sound of Mattia's shout through the adjoining kitchen, out the back door, and into a fairly large back yard that was lined by a thick neck of the forest.
The sound of an engine roaring to life froze him in his tracks. He stared into bright headlights as they flashed on.
Then, just like that, he was squashed like a bug beneath the huge wheels of an old Ford pickup.
***
It was a grueling job for a thirteen year old that took more than an hour. But with a lot of laborious tugging, yanking, dragging, and shoving, Mattia got the old cop's body down the old unused well on the rear of the property. Chief Jiminy fell with a whoosh and a sloppy splash, and then Mattia replaced the rusty cap on the well. There would be no smell. No trace. No nothing. He had no doubt he would get away with it and their brush with disaster had been diverted.
Just as the job was done, Karenza sidled out of the trees, somehow always knowing just when he needed her.
"You've done just wonderful, Mattia," she said lovingly, reaching up for a hug. He scooped the fairy like woman up into his arms.
"You're sure I'll be OK, Karenza?"
"Dear heart, don't I always protect you?" she admonished.
"Yes," he said sheepishly. "And what about Vinicio? You'll protect him too?"
Karenza giggled. "Feeling sentimental about the old codger, are you?"
"Yeah. I sort of… Feel bad about all the stuff I've pulled on him."
She smiled and poked his nose. "Yes then. Vinicio too. I'll watch over the both of you."
Part VIII
Never Never
Chapter 25
"Are your parents home?"
"Sure!" said Settie Darling sweetly. She gave the man a beaming smile. He was the quintessential tall, dark, and handsome. A patch over his right eye gave him a somewhat smarmy look, but she liked that. At age sixteen, Settie was already starting to go for the bad boy type, much to the chagrin of her police chief dad. "MOM! DAD!" She called for her parents without taking her eyes off the man, though she couldn't get him to look at her.
Truman and Floella Darling hurried into the foyer, the chief with his right hand already outstretched. The stranger at the door gave it a firm shake as Floella gestured to invite him in.
"Sergeant Hook?" Truman asked.
"Yes, good to meet you, Chief Darling, Mrs. Darling."
"And I'm Settie," Settie chimed in perkily.
Truman gave her a tight lipped smile. "Go on now, Settie."
She did as she was told and made herself scarce. But as the adults took to convene in the library, Settie found herself a hiding place to eavesdrop. After listening to the conversation that transpired for a number of intriguing moments, she excitedly launched herself upstairs to talk to her brothers.
***
Settie burst into the upstairs den, eager to discuss privileged information with Isaac and Jaxson, as they always did when any of the Darling siblings heard something juicy. But she stopped short and her smile dropped when she found them playing video games with Mattia Pinoak.
She could not stand that kid.
He was the same age as the twins, but that was the only similarity. Her brothers were nice boys. So nice, she sometimes wondered if they only let Mattia hang around because they felt sorry for him since he didn't have any other friends. Mattia was anything but nice. For one thing, he was a habitual liar. As a child, if she or the twins had told a lie, their mother warned them their nose would grow. Sometimes Settie though if that were true, Mattia's nose woul
d be a mile long.
Additionally, the kid seemed like he'd never grow up. Where other boys his age, her brothers included, had begun to mature, Mattia just seemed eternally… Lost. Like he lived in some sort of Neverland in his own head.
She groaned quietly and sneered. But she was dying to share what she heard, so she decided to dish even with Mattia there.
"Guys!" she exclaimed. "Guess what I just heard?"
"What?" asked Isaac.
"There's a cop downstairs. He's from someplace called Faraway, Washington. He said yesterday another cop from there was here in Enchantica. And now… He's turned up missing!"
***
Late in the night, Settie woke to a frightening sight.
She'd camped out in her brothers' room that night, sharing ghost stories and watching creepy movies. Going to sleep on their floor made her wake disoriented in a slightly unfamiliar environment. Which is why the sight of Mattia Pinoak and a tiny woman, levitating outside the window and tapping softly on a pane, nearly made her scream.
She sat bolt upright, her heart instantly pounding. But as reality crashed in, she remembered she was in Isaac and Jaxon's room, which had a balcony. That explained how the strange pair could be outside a second story window. But not why.
Settie wandered sleepily across the room and slid the window open. "What are you doing here, Mattia? And who is this?"
She tried not to stare at the little woman. She couldn't be much more than two feet tall and she wore a strange green costume made of some glittery material that looked like leaves. Settie had never seen anybody like her.
"This is my friend, Karenza," Mattia said in the nicest tone she'd ever known him to use. The pixie lady gave a nod and smile, but there was something about her expression that seemed snide.
The sound of their hushed voices roused the twins from sleep and they bound excitedly to the window.
"Do you guys want to come with me? I have something to show you!" Mattia said. He gave a smile so wide and bright, it seemed as though he had the best secret ever to be told.
"What do you mean? It’s the middle of the night!" Setty griped, becoming increasingly annoyed.
Wonder Never (The Fairytale Diaries #2) Page 11