[Half/Time 02] Twice Upon a Time Read online

  DON’T MISS THE START

  OF JACK AND MAY’S ADVENTURES!

  2011 NCTE Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts

  “HALF UPON A TIME has it all—voice, charming fairy tale characters with a twist, hilarity, and an adventure-filled plot.“—Bookanistas blog

  HALFUPONATIME.COM

  LITTLE MERMAIDS AND NORMAL-SIZE PIRATES ALWAYS CREATE THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS, DON’T THEY?

  Jack, May, and Phillip could use the help of a fairy godmother or two on their search for May’s true identity. Only, there might be a snag—the Fairy Homelands have been put to sleep by an evil curse. To wake the fairy godmothers, all Jack and his friends need to do is escape from the Land of Never, brave a merman-infested ocean to find a Sea Witch, and fight alongside the pirate Bluebeard against an army of land-invading sharks with legs. And, of course, they need to do all of this while outwitting one of the Wicked Queen’s Eyes, who seems to know their every move. But what fun would an easy fairy tale be?

  Twice Upon a Time delivers all the “snappy dialogue, fast-paced action [and] unexpected twists” (SLJ) as the first book in the hilarious and adventure-filled Half Upon a Time series.

  JAMES RILEY is the author of the Half Upon a Time series as well as many books too unwritten to count. He’s met thousands of imaginary people, most of whom are more polite than you’d think, but less interesting than you’d hope. He doesn’t believe fairy tales actually happened, mostly because he’s never had tiny elves do his work for him at night, despite their promising several times. James currently lives in Los Angeles, but it’s not like he’s special that way… so do a lot of other people.

  JACKET DESIGNED BY JESSICA HANDELMAN

  JACKET ILLUSTRATION COPYRIGHT © 2012 BY ERWIN MADRID

  AUTHOR PHOTO BY MAARTEN DE BOER

  ALADDIN

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Meet the author,

  watch videos, and get extras at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  First Aladdin hardcover edition April 2012

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 2012 by James Riley

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Designed by Jessica Handelman

  The text of this book was set in Goudy Old Style.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Riley, James, 1977–

  Twice upon a time / by James Riley. — 1st Aladdin hardcover ed.

  p. cm.

  Sequel to: Half upon a time.

  Summary: Jack, of the village of Giant’s Hand, is now accompanied by a prince as he continues trying to help a reluctant princess find her family, while also attempting to save a city full of fairies from a nameless curse.

  ISBN 978-1-4169-9596-8 (alk. paper)

  [1. Fairy tales. 2. Characters in literature—Fiction. 3. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ8.R433Tw 2012

  [Fic]—dc23

  2011012355

  ISBN 978-1-4169-9598-2 (eBook)

  This book is dedicated to YOU.

  Every other reader will think I’m talking

  about them, but you know better.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  CHAPTER 1

  Once upon a time, Jack knew better than to do certain things. You didn’t waste time trying to find the perfect temperature of porridge in a bear’s house. You didn’t point out to your suddenly extremely furry grandmother how big her fangs were. And you definitely didn’t walk through a creepy fog while music from magical pipes drifted in eerily. These weren’t even questions, you just didn’t do them—not if you wanted to stay uneaten by three bears, disguised wolves, or scary old musicians.

  Except here he was—fog, magical pipe music and all, and he just wanted to find the stupid Piper and get on with things.

  Unfortunately, not everyone was so goal oriented.

  “Does anyone else want to follow him?” May asked, shivering in her oversize blue cloak as her head bobbed to the music. She shifted a backpack full of food—a gift from Phillip’s mother—higher on her shoulder as she moved with the melody.

  “I hope you are joking, Princess,” Phillip said, shooting her a worried glance. “Remember, we are not to go into his cave. That is where the children from the village went, and they never returned.”

  As if to reinforce the creepiness, a blackbird crowed loudly, then took to the air from some tree hidden in the fog. Jack shivered, thinking the bird almost sounded like it was calling his name.

  “I know, I know, no cave,” May said, rolling her eyes before swaying to the music again.

  Jack sighed and stopped her. “Maybe you should wait a little distance away…. You don’t seem to be handling this all that well.”

  “The rhythm isn’t going to get me,” May said absently. “Besides, what’s the worst it could do? Tell me my grandmother is a horrible tyrant who tried to take over half the world? ’Cause, too late.”

  Jack and Phillip glanced at each other, and Jack could see his own concern reflected in the prince’s eyes. May caught their look, and shoved them apart. “What did I say about doing that!” she shouted a bit too loudly for Jack’s taste. “I’m fine! It’s been three months. I’m over it!” She glared at Jack. “Either that or I’m quietly going crazy and I’ll hand you both over to the next giant we come across. Care to bet on which way it’s gonna go if you keep giving Phillip those stupid emo worry looks?!”

  “Seems like crazy’s taking the early lead,” Jack said, then quickly turned and continued on ahead, trying to ignore the glare she had just thrown at him.

  “If this is too much for you, we could find another way—,” Phillip began, but Ma
y shushed him.

  “It took us this long just to find the Piper,” she said. “I want to know who I am already! And besides, I for one am tired of rescuing you from various invisible gnomes.”

  Phillip smiled. “I thought you said that we would never speak of that again.”

  “Yet someone keeps bringing it up,” May said, her face expressionless.

  “Can we concentrate?” Jack said, dragging May forward and away from Phillip. “The sooner we pay the Piper, the sooner we get to the Fairy Homelands and find Merriweather, so that—”

  “So that we can find out for sure that I’m completely alone,” May said.

  Jack sighed. “I was going to say ‘so that we can find your family… and I can finally go home.’”

  Phillip grabbed Jack by the shoulders and shook him gently. “Go home? Why would you ever want that? Look at where you are! We stand in the middle of a dark, fog-drenched field. Off in the distance a figure waits, known only to us in tales told to frighten children. Enemy or ally, we will not know until it is too late, yet press on we must!” The prince shook with excitement at the idea, while Jack just sighed and waited for him to finish. “What is the point of life without adventures like this?!”

  “See, I like to think the point of life is to be happy,” Jack said with a shrug. “Also maybe not almost dying every two minutes. But I can see how we’ll have to agree to disagree here.”

  “Maybe we can agree to go talk to the man?” May said, and pushed on ahead of the two boys. As she approached the figure in the distance, the music began to slow, eventually coming to a halt just as they were finally able to make out a thin, stooped figure leaning against a gnarled, blackened tree stump. The man wore a tunic of dull red, belted by a green rope with several heavy-looking pouches hanging from it. And though the music had stopped, the pipes remained at the old man’s lips, his eyes closed as if he were still playing.

  “Good evening, sir,” Phillip said.

  The man didn’t move.

  “Um, we heard you could maybe help us,” May said.

  The man didn’t move.

  “See, typically this would be the moment most people respond,” Jack said. Nothing. “This is creepy,” he whispered to May and Phillip. “Maybe he wants his payment—”

  “Payment?” the old man said, lowering his pipes and opening his eyes.

  “I think he heard you,” May whispered to Jack.

  “I’m so glad you’re here to point these things out,” Jack whispered back.

  The old man sighed. “Ah. You three. It’s about time.”

  May cleared her throat. “You were… waiting for us?”

  The old man snorted. “For longer than I’d care to admit. You think I have nothing better to do than leave my cave in one place while I sit here, playing my pipes? The longer my cave and I stay here, the more likely it is that the Queen will find me.” He glared at May. “Thanks to you three, she probably will. And now you want my help.”

  Jack winced, trying not to make the mention of her grandmother a bigger deal by looking at May. Thankfully, Phillip stepped forward, taking a large bag from Jack’s hand. “We seek passage to the Fairy Homelands, sir,” the prince said.

  “Of course you do,” the Piper said, eyeing the bag. “And I see you’ve brought payment?”

  “Sounds like you’re not a man to let bills go unpaid,” Jack said quietly, his eyes on the pipes.

  The Piper smiled. “If I’m owed something, then I will collect. The Piper will be paid, children, one way or another.”

  “Yeah, we visited the last town who didn’t pay,” May said. “The youngest person there was like sixty.”

  “They promised payment if I removed their rats,” the Piper said, absently sticking his pinkie into one of the pipes as if he were cleaning it out. “I delivered, yet they did not. So I took… another form of payment.”

  “Their children,” Jack said, shivering from more than the fog’s chill.

  “None were harmed,” the Piper said, standing up to grab the bag almost indignantly from Phillip. He looked inside, and his face lit up, a smile harmonizing with the sparkle in his eyes. “Yes, yes, whispering reeds from the Swamp of All’s End! Which of you harvested…”

  “I did,” Jack said, glaring at the bag. “And I’ve still got the burns. No one ever told us they whisper fire.”

  “They will do nicely,” the Piper said, ignoring him. “Now you’ve paid, and royally so. Speak your wish, and I will do what I can.”

  May stepped forward, a bit nervously. “We, uh, wish to travel to the Fairy Homelands. Please. Thank you. Please.”

  The Piper looked at her for a moment, then, almost faster than Jack could see, he raised his pipes to his lips, blew one note, and lowered the pipes. Like magic (appropriately enough), May instantly relaxed at the sound, letting out a huge breath she’d apparently been holding in.

  “That’s better,” the Piper said. “You have nothing to fear, children. Not from me, not anymore.”

  “I would if I were afraid of cryptic statements,” Jack murmured. The Piper glared at him, and began to raise his pipes to his lips again, so Jack quickly added, “But of course I’m not, who would be, and we have nothing but the utmost respect for you. Sir. Your Highness.”

  “The Fairy Homelands,” the Piper said. “Not the easiest destination.”

  Jack snorted. “Not exactly, no. We’ve been searching for a way to them for the past three months. And from what we’ve found, there is no natural way to get there. We need magic. And a very specific kind of magic.”

  The Piper smiled, then held up his pipes. “Music,” he said. “It’s true. The fairies don’t think in words or pictures like you and I do. They think and talk in music… so that’s how they perform their magic as well. That’s why most humans can’t understand the little ones, though the fairy queens are able to speak our language easily enough.”

  Jack glanced over at the golden fairy in May’s hair, and the fairy winked at him. “He’s right, stupid human,” she said. “If your kind were smart enough to understand music, you might have fewer problems.”

  “We might have had fewer problems if you’d known where the Fairy Homelands were!” Jack whispered back at her.

  “NO fairy knows!” the golden fairy shouted. “We’re sent away at birth! But if we live by the code and spread more good than ill, we might eventually be allowed back in! YOU are the ones trying to take shortcuts!”

  “So that humming is her talking?” May said, then turned to Jack. “And would you stop yelling at her? It’s not like she can understand you.”

  “Yeah, stupid human. It’s not like I can understand you!” the golden fairy shouted, sticking out her tongue.

  “I hate you,” Jack said to her, turning away. “So, so, so much.”

  “Regardless,” the Piper said. “My music can take you to the Fairy Homelands.”

  “And bring us back, right?” Jack added quickly.

  The Piper’s eyes twinkled. “If you wish. For that you’ll need something more.” The Piper reached into a pocket and produced a wooden whistle, which he handed to Phillip.

  “Nice catch,” May whispered to Jack.

  “I’m sure the fairy queens are nice and all, but I’m not spending the rest of my life stuck in a whole city of these things,” Jack whispered back, glaring at the golden fairy, who made a face at him.

  “Blow into this whistle when you are finished,” the Piper continued, “and you’ll return right to this spot.”

  “Return to this spot?” Jack asked. “Are we leaving soon—”

  The Piper brought his pipes to his lips and blew a melody so quick and intricate that it sounded like three or four Pipers playing all at once. The mist began swirling around faster and faster as the music sped up, creating a whirlwind of fog that quickly obscured the Piper, the cave, and everything else from view. The music grew louder, filling Jack’s head, obliterating his thoughts, taking over his mind, not letting him even think—
r />   Only to stop abruptly, dropping them onto grass much brighter than it had any right to be, on ground that was both softer and harder than any Jack had ever felt. He groaned, then pushed himself up, noticing a glowing paved stone roadway beginning just a few feet away from the spot where he’d landed. Whereas behind him…

  Behind him was only mist.

  “I think we’re here,” May said, matching his groan a little just to Jack’s right.

  “There does seem to be something… different about this place,” Phillip said, then gasped.

  Jack quickly followed Phillip’s gaze, up the paved road to a gate that seemed to be made of silver latticework circles, then past that to…

  “Uh-oh,” Jack said.

  “No uh-ohs!” May said, glaring at him. “NO! Not after everything we’ve been through! No more uh-ohs!”

  “I do not think we have a choice, Princess,” Phillip said.

  May started to reply, then finally saw what the other two were staring at. “Uh-oh,” she said.

  On the other side of the gate, enormous tree-trunk-size vines blocked out all view of what lay beyond as the vines circled and intertwined with one another. Between that and the fist-size thorns growing out of them every foot or so, the overall effect was definitely “Uh-oh.”

  “Look,” Phillip said, his voice choking a bit as he pointed. Just past the gate something lay crumpled over one of the vines. Jack stepped closer, and realized with a start that it wasn’t something so much as someone.

  “NO!” the golden fairy yelled. “My queen!” She leapt into the air and quickly flew at the tangle of vines, reaching out desperately for what appeared to be the body of a fairy queen.

  Jack immediately launched himself out to grab her, knowing that it was too late but not being willing to just let the fairy fly headfirst into whatever curse had turned the Fairy Homelands into this overgrown… whatever it was.

  Unfortunately, Jack was right. He was too late.

  The golden fairy passed the silver gate and immediately dropped to the ground, landing hard on a vine, her body unmoving.

  And a second later, unable to stop, Jack’s momentum sent him tumbling past the gate as well, and into oblivion.