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No matter how long the five friends wandered through the woods, Evie still couldn’t believe that they were alive. That the pack of leopards hadn’t ripped them to pieces. That the fates had seen fit to intervene. She cast a secret look at Asher, walking tall beside her. Their fingers were laced together shyly. A little smile was playing about his face. No, she couldn’t believe it.
The whole thing felt like a dream.
She gave him a squeeze to make sure, blushing when he glanced down.
“You okay?” he asked softly, slowing his stride so they fell behind the others.
She nodded quickly, dropping her gaze to the ground. “My head is still spinning,” she admitted. “I mean, we were given a prophecy. You learn to take some things on faith. But...that? One second, we’re about to die? The next, we wake up here?”
The vampire stared at her a moment, then nodded.
As sunlight filtered through the trees, violent images kept flashing back through his mind. The moment when they realized they were cornered. The look on the princess’ face when she stared up into his eyes. His last-second impulse to spin her around and sacrifice himself instead.
Knowing that it wouldn’t actually matter. Knowing that they were both about to die.
And yet...he couldn’t stop smiling?
“Well...maybe we didn’t. Wake up, I mean. Maybe we did die.” He gave her fingers a playful tug. “Would this be such a bad way to spend the afterlife?”
The two stared at each other for a long moment.
Then a loud voice chimed in from further up the trail.
“You are the most ghoulish people I’ve ever seen.”
They pulled away, laughing, catching up with the others as Freya kicked pinecones petulantly down the trail. She alone didn’t seem thrilled with their inexplicable rescue, mostly because she believed such a thing should never have been necessary in the first place.
“Ghoulish?” Asher echoed with a grin. “You think it’s ghoulish to talk of such things? Even now—when we’ve been snatched from the jaws of death?”
“I could have gotten away on my own,” she said stiffly. “If I hadn’t gorged myself on elk meat right before they attacked, I would have been faster than all of you. And seeing as it was the vampire who brought us the elk...I think we all know who to blame.”
Cosette and Evie burst out laughing, but Ellanden only smiled.
“No blame today. We’ve been blessed with a second chance. We should be endlessly grateful.” He placed one foot lightly in front of the other. “No blame.”
Perhaps it was that quiet gratitude, or perhaps their energy stores had simply been depleted, but the friends were moving slowly, taking their time. They’d shed the heavy winter clothes that had survived the fall from the cliff and were soaking in the sunshine, tilting their faces up to the sky.
They also didn’t have a clear destination.
When they’d first awakened, Ellanden had vowed to find a landmark to get his bearings then plot the quickest course to the Dunes. Unfortunately, that landmark didn’t seem to exist, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t seem to decide upon a course.
That alone was strange.
As a people, the Fae were masters at reading the world around them. It wasn’t often they’d find themselves off-balance in the middle of the woods. Ellanden didn’t seem particularly troubled but, at the same time, he didn’t understand. Several times, he’d glanced back at his cousin. The two of them would stare at the same thing for a moment, then she’d slowly shake her head.
“Maybe it used to be a village,” she finally suggested.
The two had been having one of these silent assessments, staring at the edge of the lake. It was impossible to know what had puzzled them, but the answer didn’t seem to clear things up.
“Maybe...” Ellanden murmured, but he looked unsure.
The cousins had grown up in all sorts of scenery. And while the forest around them was beautiful, it seemed to be cultivated with a bit too much care. There were intentional clusters of things. Plants that didn’t usually grow together. An unnatural border to the water’s edge. Lovely, to be sure. But all the loveliness in the world couldn’t cover up the fact that it didn’t quite make sense.
“Are you guys going to keep standing there?” Freya called sweetly. “Or can we get back to walking in circles.” She held up her hands when they shot her a look. “Hey—I’m enjoying it.”
“Just choose,” Cosette said quietly, tuning out her friend and turning to Ellanden. “I can’t see any better path than you. Just pick a direction and we can adjust on the way.”
He nodded silently, glanced up at the sun, then began leading them straight west. They might not know exactly where they’d ended up, but at least they had a general direction of where they were supposed to go. And after so much uncertainty and wandering, decisive action was a welcome relief.
The friends continued with a renewed spring in their step. Confident that they’d soon come across a road or a village. Confident that the troubles that chased them were in the past.
Then they came to a sudden stop.
“What...the hell is that?”
Of all the little oddities they’d come across since waking in the forest, this one was truly impossible to ignore. A row of towering redwoods planted closely together, with their branches torn off at the sides. The friends stopped in their tracks, staring up in wonder.
“What could have done that?” Cosette murmured, taking a step closer. “Look at the roots.”
Evie followed her gaze, but didn’t understand what she was seeing. The trunks of the trees were normal enough, but it looked as though the bottoms had been shorn off. They were resting lightly upon the ground instead of growing up from within it.
She spun around as she tried to see what was holding them up, what was holding them all together. Then there was a sudden crash and the five of them froze.
No one dared to speak. No one dared to move. They’d been through enough trauma in the last few days not to draw attention to themselves now.
But those crashes were getting louder...heading straight for them.
We should have run.
By the time the thought occurred to them, it was already too late. The row of trees swung open and the baffling figure of a man swept inside. He was dragging the carcass of one of the leopards behind him, tossing it in the middle of the grass. The princess suddenly understood why the creatures stayed mainly on the ice plain, why large chunks had been torn out of their skin.
Then the trees swung shut behind him.
She blinked, in a kind of daze.
Swung open. Swung shut.
Her heart froze in her chest.
It’s a gate...
The friends lifted their heads slowly.
...and that’s a giant.
Pure. Absolute. Panic.
“Run!”
She wasn’t sure who’d whispered, but they all started moving at the same time—staying close together, keeping to the underbrush as much as possible. It was clear they’d been brought for a reason, it was clear what had ‘saved’ them in the woods. Not some kindly fate after all, but a savage creature capable of delivering an even more terrifying death.
There was no way to fight such a thing, and there was no way to run. The only thing they had going for them was that giants were notoriously distractible, and at the moment dismembering the leopard seemed more important than wondering where he’d placed his little trophies.
Their only chance was to get away before he found out.
In a sudden burst of speed, the five friends bolted across the open grass to the gate. But just seconds before they got there, it swung open again of its own accord. That could have ended things right there. As the redwoods went flying towards them, they dove backwards before they could get crushed by the impact. The second they landed the five of them scrambled into the underbrush, holding on to each other as the ground trembled and a whole troop of other giants arrived on the scene. The gate swung shut behind them, knocking the teenagers right off their feet.
Seven hells...there’s a whole clan!
There wasn’t much known about the history of giants. Mostly because if someone was unfortunate enough to encounter one, they usually didn’t survive to tell the tale. There were a few outliers, a few that had shunned the bloodthirsty reputation and retreated to live on their own. But for the most part, the consensus was the same. In terms of supernatural creatures, giants were about as savage as you could get. They delighted in violence, reveled in destruction, and could rip apart just about anything you could think of with those massive, brutish hands.
In a lot of ways, they were like vampires. Only much, much bigger.
And the clan in question was certainly living up to their name.
“Where is it?!”
The friends shrank back into the grass as the tallest of the bunch stomped forward, shaking the ground with every step of its enormous feet. He had a shock of grizzled black hair and the same dark beady eyes as the rest of them. Eyes that locked on the dead leopard with instant greed.
“My kill! My cat!”
They stared at him in astonishment, then glanced quickly at the carcass. It was still lying in pieces behind the one who’d dragged it inside, leaking brackish blood all over the ground.
Evie’s stomach twisted in preemptive knots at the prospect of him eating such a thing, but no sooner had he stepped forward than he was shoved all the way back to the gate.
“MY kill! MY cat!”
Their heads spun around to the first giant, the one who’d almost squashed them when he’d first arrived. He might not have been quite as tall as the other, but he was bigger—so big that he was bursting straight out of the worn leather sleeves stretched around his arms.
There was something territorial about the way he was standing, not just with the leopard but with everything past the gate. The princess wondered suddenly if this patch of earth was the place he’d decided to call home. It would explain the gate, the intentional design of the flora. It wasn’t a forest at all—the friends had been wandering around the giant’s garden.
There was a strange rumbling sound and her eyes flashed back to the imposter. He was still looking at the dead cat jealously, his fingers curling into meaty fists. It took her a second to realize the deafening rumbling was actually coming from his stomach. Her knees curled back to her chest.
“...share?”
The friends’ eyebrows shot up at the same time, astonished that such a word was in a giant’s vocabulary. There was a charged moment where nothing happened, then the first giant yanked off one of the leopard’s legs and tossed it through the air. It flipped twice, spraying the garden with blood, before the second giant caught it with a surprisingly agile hand. His eyes gleamed with anticipation before he tore off the mottled fur and ripped into it with his teeth.
It was quite possibly the most horrific thing the princess had ever seen. The girls covered their eyes. The Prince of the Fae flinched. Even the vampire, bred with his own kind of savagery, took a single look before twisting his head away, looking as though he might be sick.
The leopard had been huge—the size of a small house. But the giants made quick work of it, inhaling the meat until there was nothing left but splintered bones which they tossed back and forth at each other, roaring with laughter as each struck with enough force to shatter stone.
And when they finish with those? What comes next?
Evie glanced at the others—pale and frozen—watching the spectacle with such terrified attention they were unable to tear their eyes away. Two times she had to pull on Ellanden’s sleeve before he finally broke his gaze, looking down at her in silent panic.
“We need to leave.”
It was so obvious, yet it hadn’t occurred to any of them. After that initial burst of flight their bodies had instinctually locked down, overwhelmed with the paralyzing instinct to hide.
Ellanden glanced once more at the giants, then forced himself to nod.
As quietly as possible they grabbed the others, dragging them to cover behind the nearest tree. From there, they could hear the monsters but not see them. It made it easier to breathe.
“All right,” the fae whispered, “simple plan. Just stay down, and stay quiet. The gate’s less than twenty paces away and they’re distracted. With any luck, they’ll never remember we were—”
The tree was ripped out of the ground.
“—here.”
There was a split second where nothing happened. The giants stared at the gang, and the gang stared at the giants. Then one of them spat out a piece of bone, and all hell broke loose.
With a wild shout, the friends scattered in opposite directions. The fae sprinted straight into the trees, the witch shrouded herself in fog and slipped towards the gate. The vampire grabbed the princess in his arms, ghosting through the woods like smoke.
Except...none of that mattered.
A filthy hand reached down from the sky, knocking Asher off his feet and wrapping around the princess’ waist. She let out an involuntary scream as she was yanked into the air. Then the hand tightened and she sucked in a gasping breath, staring in stunned silence at the creature holding her.
The others had no better luck.
Before Asher could get to his feet the giant who’d demanded the carcass stepped on his cloak, tripping him once more before grabbing him by the back of the neck. Another disappeared into the underbrush, emerging a moment later with Ellanden and Cosette in each hand. The one who’d caught Freya was absolutely delighted when she fired back with a spray of neon sparks. He let out a roar of laughter, demanding that she do it again, shaking her upside-down so quickly he didn’t seem to realize she’d already blacked out. When Ellanden tried a similar maneuver, burying a sword in his captor’s hand, the giant holding him glanced down in surprise, then flicked it away like it was nothing more than a splinter, inadvertently slashing the prince at the same time.
It was in that moment Evie realized a terrifying truth: they could be killed just as easily by accident as by some intentional design. Tempers were rising, adrenaline was flowing, and the more her friends struggled the more likely it was. Under no circumstances could she allow that to happen.
“STOP!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Eight pairs of eyes shot towards her—some giants, some friends. It was hard to say who looked more surprised. To be honest, it was hard to tell how much the giants could register at all.
“What is it—” She braced herself against the suffocating grip around her ribcage, trying to shift herself higher to find the air to breathe. “What is it you want from us?”
At this point, the question was a bit superfluous. They’d been caught by a pack of bloodthirsty savages—did it really matter as to the reason why? But simply saying the words out loud stopped the dangerous build of momentum. For a moment, everyone in the garden was still.
The giant holding her looked down curiously, tilting his head a bit to the side.
“Red hair...like fire.”
Not too much like fire. Please—oh, please—don’t get it into your head to set us on fire.
The princess tilted her entire body towards him, trying hard to meet his gaze. It was difficult, considering the vise-like grip of his fingers, but she didn’t see any menace in his face. There was nothing but honest curiosity, along with an inexplicable bit of pride.
Again—she asked the question.
“What do you want?”
This time, she was genuinely interested in the answer. All of them combined wouldn’t make a single meal for even one of the giants. They couldn’t have been brought only for that purpose. At any rate, they wouldn’t have been left unattended in the garden. The gate might have been tall, but it was slatted. There were places where the friends could slip through.
The giant continued to stare at her in open fascination before lifting his eyes with a smile.
“Mine.”
The entire garden fell silent.
Evie shook her head once, then went rigid—not quite understanding, but vaguely aware it was the worst thing he could have said. Before she could come up with a response, he spoke again.
“All four—mine.”
Four?
As if on cue, the shifty-looking giant who’d demanded a share of the cat made to slip Asher casually into his pocket. If the vampire hadn’t started screaming, he might have gotten away with it.
“Five!” Asher cried, waving his arms frantically. “There are five of us!”
The giant holding Evie looked over with a frown, then stormed towards them—striking the other across the face before holding out his open palm. “They are MINE!”
There was a terrifying pause, then the vampire was passed between them—handed off like he was some kind of toy. The princess watched with wide eyes, then suddenly she understood.
“A pet?” she asked in terror. “You...you want a pet?”
The giant reached out a stubby finger, stroking Asher’s dark hair, concussing him in the process. His eyes gleamed possessively, gesturing for the others to relinquish their trophies as well.
“Now I have four.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Five,” Freya couldn’t help but correct. The others looked at her incredulously and she grimaced with a shrug. “Sorry, it’s just...there are five.”
Evie stared up at the giant in horror. There was no way he was serious. It had to be a joke.
But there was no deception in those beady eyes. Giants didn’t do deception. When you had that much brute strength, word games were a bit superfluous.
The monster was lonely. And the others wouldn’t dare challenge him.
It was as simple as that.
“Go home,” he commanded, pointing at the gate. “Leave now.”
A rather abrupt dismissal, but social niceties didn’t seem to be high on a giant’s list of priorities. Instead he reached out greedily as the rest of his clan left, collecting the friends one by one. They tumbled free of the fingers that held them, spilling awkwardly onto his open palm.
The fae were too disoriented to stage any kind of escape, and Freya rolled out of her captor’s hand so violently she almost fell off the other side. The giant caught her at the last moment, holding them all smashed up together as if proud that he’d collected the entire set.
“Mine.”
The gate swung shut in the distance, adding a ringing finality to the words.
A heavy silence descended upon them.
Evie and Asher were staring in shocked silence. Cosette and Freya were being crushed so tight they couldn’t breathe. Ellanden was keeping his jaws clenched together, like if he didn’t there was a good chance he might scream. Then the giant smiled again and gestured over his shoulder.
“Home.”
Only then did they notice what had been previously kept out of sight. The entrance was mostly hidden behind a cluster of cedars, but held at such an elevation it was suddenly easy to see the basic framework of a cottage. Four simple walls, a chimney, and a massive air-tight door.
Without another word, the giant began carrying them inside.
That’s when the screaming began for real.
There was simply no stopping it. It was physically impossible to keep quiet when something ten times your size was dragging you away. The friends fought uselessly against his fingers. Cosette managed to catch hold of the door frame, her fingernails leaving long grooves in the wood.
A second later, the door shut behind them.
The screaming stopped. There was no point to it anymore.
There was no getting out.
