Part 9 (2/2)
”Certainly,” he replied. He stuck out his giant, bony, sallow-skinned hand to Jill. She shook it. ”I hated those brutes,” he said. ”They got exactly what they deserved.” Then Meas shook Jack's hand, patted the frog on his little head and, wading through great lake of giant blood and vomit, showed them to the narrow staircase out of the cave.
”Wait,” said Jill. ”Do you have the Seeing Gla.s.s?”
Meas's dim eyes seemed to glow brighter for a moment. ”Ah,” he said. ”Is that why you came here?”
”It was,” said Jill. ”Until Jack forgot.”
”I didn't forget,” Jack mumbled, turning red.
”It isn't here.” Meas's voice replied. ”But it is indeed a treasure worth seeking. The greatest power, it is said, resides in that Gla.s.s. A piece of true magic, as strong and pure as any in the world.”
”Do you know where it is?” Jill asked.
”We are as high up as this earth goes, save Heaven. The Gla.s.s, last I heard, was in the deepest pit of the earth, save h.e.l.l. You might try there.”
”How do we get there?” Jack asked.
Meas shrugged. ”Ask the goblins.”
”Goblins?”
Meas nodded his great gray head. ”But be careful. Giants are brutal. Goblins are cunning. Do not trust them too far.”
”How do we find them?”
”I don't know. I have never left this cave.”
The children gazed up at his long, sad face. ”But there's no more band, right?” Jill asked. ”Can't you leave now?”
Meas sighed. ”There will always be a band. As long as there are giants, there will be fools who will follow them.”
Jack was about to ask what he meant, but Meas turned around and muttered, ”Now where did I put that bucket?”
Jack walked quietly, sullenly, across the linen-white clouds under the towering chalky cliffs. Jill followed with the frog.
Jill and the frog talked on and on about what they had just seen and done.
”And did you see how Bucky just grabbed the knife and jammed it into his stomach?”
”And Aitheantas's face when he realized what was happening?”
”Meas was actually pretty nice!”
”I've never seen anything so disgusting in my life!”
”You were pretty great, Jill,” the frog said.
”Yeah,” Jack cut in, his first word since leaving the cave. ”Great.” He didn't sound happy at all.
Jill looked over at him. ”What's with you?” the frog demanded.
”I could have done that,” little Jack insisted. ”I could have saved us.”
Neither Jill nor the frog said anything.
”And it was so obvious what you did. I can't believe they were so dumb to fall for it!” Jack looked very angry. His dark eyebrows made a sharp downward arrow, and his cheeks were flushed.
The wind blew in off the wide blue sky. The sun was setting behind the cliffs, throwing long shadows over the beach. Somewhere far below them, they could hear the call of gulls.
”You went in there,” said the frog to Jack. ”It's your fault. And Jill saved us.”
”You're an ugly girl and a stupid three-legged frog!” Jack shouted at them, and without warning he sprinted ahead.
”Jack! Jack!” the frog called after him.
”Let him alone,” Jill said sadly.
Jack ran, and the wind blew across his face.
Why? he thought. Why does this keep happening? The boys in the village, the giants, Aitheantas, Bucky, Marie . . . it's all the same. It will always be the same. Hot tears of humiliation streaked down Jack's cheeks and blurred his vision. He ran, and ran, and the wind was strong, and growing stronger, and then suddenly it was very strong indeed.
Jill and the frog suddenly could not see Jack anymore. ”Jack!” Jill cried. She started running after him. Suddenly, she felt the clouds under her feet fail.
Then she saw Jack. He was doing just what she was doing.
He was plummeting toward the earth.
Jill tumbled and tumbled and tumbled through the air. The frog was screaming, but Jill felt oddly calm. Then, beneath Jack, Jill saw a smooth, green hill rising to greet them. Beside the hill was a little town, and beside that, the sea. As Jill tumbled, the hill and the town grew and grew and grew, and she thought, That will be a nice place to land.
Then she did land there, on top of that green hill, and it hurt very much. But she was not done tumbling. She tumbled all the way down that big green hill, until she landed in a heap at the bottom, next to Jack.
Jill sat up, laughing. The frog had gone from screaming to whooping for joy. ”We're alive!” he shouted. ”Thank G.o.d! We're alive!” Then he stopped. He saw Jack.
Jack was not laughing. His face was white and still, and there was blood pooling in the green gra.s.s under his head.
Jill got up, saw they were on the outskirts of the town, and ran screaming for the nearest house.
CHAPTER FIVE.
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