“Be sure the Ice Queen doesn’t see us before the ball,” he says, a shiver twisting along my spine at the words. That doesn't sound good. “We want her arrival to be a surprise for the new queen.”
Part 3: Worlds Collide
Chapter 14 Zarev
“So,” Odette pants, landing heavily onto the cloud beside me, “flying up here sucks.”
I give her a thin smile, surveying the space around us. After speaking with Dahlia, it was decided we couldn’t wait to go and see what’s hiding in the sky any longer. It could be nothing, but once a club dropped from the sky not long ago, it couldn’t be put off anymore.
“One day of looking,” Odette goes on, hands pressed over her middle. This is the most time we’ve spent together, and so far, she’s spent most of it talking since shifting out of her swan form. I’m surprised how verymuchtalking she’s done so far while she’s struggling with the air up here. “And we’ll go back. Tom can hang on that long, don’t you think?”
“Do you really think so?” I ask in return. Odette thins her lips, eyes darting away. “Exactly. He’s in agony. I don’t think, even if his body continues to prevail, that his mind can handle much more.”
We should not be up here. As much as I like to explore, bringing Odette over Rapunzel feels wrong. I would much rather bring my princess and play in the clouds. Maybe we could even kill a monster or two. Ever since Tressa, when Rapunzel killed her parents, she hasn’t done a lot of fighting. When the tavern burned almost two weeks ago, she mostly tried to provide aid.
I give Odette a once-over as she bounces on the clouds. I’m not sure she’s much of a fighter either, but she desperately wanted to come up here and explore.
And truth be told, if she stayed with Ray and Rapunzel, she would just worry about how to be useful. Her parents provided workers and aid, and Dahlia’s been able to rebuild in record time. Her kingdom’s already done a lot for the tavern, but Odette seems to worry about anything she can’t personally help with. They have started bringing in simple furnishings for the bedrooms and bar area, refilling food and ale as part of the process. Without Odette and Lucius, the rebuild would be a long time coming.
Ray said she likes research. Maybe she’ll find something practical about this place.
Eyeing the top of the beanstalk, I try to figure out how it makes sense. Dahlia had Odette and Rapunzel help plant these lost seeds when the tavern burned, ultimately trapping Ysanna within the gigantic stems when the vines rose from the ground. The billowy clouds weren’t here during that time; it was all smoke because of the tavern and forest burning.
Are these special billows? Magical, maybe?
Odette is peering at the top of the beanstalk. It looks like a wide, green growth that spreads out similar to a shelf at the top of the stalk. “Come on then,” she says, motioning to me. “That club didn’t drop from the sky for no reason.”
No, I suppose it didn’t. We don’t really know what dropped it, or why, but the club was longer than I am and three times as thick. The word lingers on my tongue but I don’t want to voice it.
“It could be a giant,” Odette adds, giving voice to my fear. I follow her as she takes the lead, surprised that the clouds don’t give way under our weight. Even if one of us falls through, Odette’s shapeshifting abilities and my magic should save usbefore we tumble to our deaths. “I’ve seen a few giants when they’ve traveled over from Ravens Wood, near the castle in Swan Lake, but I mean, they are usually the size of the club.”
She has a point. I’ve seen giants in Sherwood too, and they’re usually under ten feet. Large, but not earth-shattering. The club that fell could belong to something massive and that makes me wary of its owner.
The last time I saw a giant that big was the day Ray’s father died. Between Thomas’s ailing health and the memory of that, he’s not in a good place right now. Hence why I’m up here with Odette instead.
“Possibly,” I offer, and she just shakes her head at me. As we move forward, Odette has no issue skipping ahead so she can keep bouncing on the clouds.
It’s going to be a long day.
“You should have some fun, Zarev,” she calls to me, keeping her eyes peeled as we move. There’s nothing up here to hide us as we walk, the wispy landscape stretching out as far as the eye can see. I’m not sure if it’s more billows or an illusion, but it blurs the farther you look, like staring through a veil. “When are you ever going to get the chance to bounce on a cloud again?”
“Hopefully, not anytime soon,” I grumble, shooting her a look. Odette is trying to bring a bit of lightness to our situation, but really, we should be back at the tavern. Ray and his family could use our support. If nothing amounts from climbing the beanstalk, this will be a waste of time.
“Dahlia said they were magic beans,” Odette muses, walking ahead of me. There’s a small backpack across her shoulders, packed with supplies, and she refuses to let me store it in the shadows with mine. She seems worried we might get separated, and she will need it, but right now, I’m not sure there’s anything up here at all. The longer we walk, the lesslabored her breathing sounds, so it’s either getting easier or she’s adapting. “Magic beans, magic stalk. Maybe it leads to something good.”
“Maybe there’s no point to this at all,” I counter.
She shakes her head, shooting a look over her shoulder as we walk. “Would it kill you to put some positivity into your words?”
“I’mpositivethere’s nothing up here.” I have the nerve to throw her a sarcastic grin, and she groans, taking a second to glare at me. “You know, I’ve somehow gotten to spend a little time with three of you Reapers now, and somehow, you’re the grumpiest.”
I scoff. “Grumpier than Ban?”
“Oh, he was just moody from Dima torturing him. He had an excuse.” She jabs a finger at me before moving on again. “You’re just grumpy.”
“You sure have a lot of opinions, Odette.”
She shrugs, and I match her pace. Scaling the beanstalk took a remarkably long amount of time. It was this way two weeks ago when we first climbed the beanstalk with Ray to see if there was something waiting for us up here. It takes a lot of magical energy to shoot into the sky, and I know Odette gets tired flying so high as the swan. We need to be careful with our magic for a little bit as we explore, just in case there’s a fight awaiting up here.
