Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1
Lena held her breath as she slipped beneath a door that was easily one hundred feet tall and caught sight of the giant, snoring loudly in the kitchen as a fire flickered in the dim light. The wooden chair he lounged in looked like it could barely hold his weight, and it creaked with every tiny movement.

Hopefully, that creaking would cover any sounds she made, since she knew that if the giant woke up before she could find her treasure, this was all over. Fortunately, even at five and a half feet tall, taller than the average human twelve-year-old, she still measured barely a tenth of the giant's height, so her footsteps were basically silent.

Unfortunately, the item she was after was currently sitting in the giant's tunic pocket. And that was going to present some problems.

Something large and fuzzy pushed into her from behind, and she absently reached back to scratch her cat, Rufus, beneath his floppy feathered hat. Rufus himself was about the size of a horse, a few inches taller than Lena when sitting on his haunches, but he moved more quietly than she did even with his boots on, assuming he wanted to.

To Lena's disappointment, he didn't seem to want to.

"We are in the food room, but do not eat?" the long-haired tabby cat asked, too loudly for Lena's comfort. "This makes no sense to Rufus."

"Shh, little man," she said, wondering if she should remove his magical hat for now, since that was what gave him the ability to speak in her language. But if she did, he wouldn't understand her, either, and that could get them in trouble. "I'll get you a treat later, okay? Right now, we need to get up there." She pointed at the giant's chest, slowly rising and falling with every snore.

Rufus's whiskers twitched. "Two treats?"

She smiled in spite of the tension. "Sure, two treats. But now we are going to be quiet, okay? No waking him up."

Rufus blinked and crept forward at her side, seeming to get the message. She had toyed with the idea of leaving him behind, but in the event she needed to make a quick escape, the Seven League Boots on her cat's feet would make all the difference. Not that she knew exactly how far a league was, but the boots let their wearer leap great distances in seconds, and that was good enough for her.

Plus, alongside his floppy translating hat, they just made Rufus look so fancy.

The wooden floor of the giant's house had enough cracks in it to make Lena have to carefully pick her way over to the kitchen chair, and she didn't have any time to waste. Even if the giant didn't wake up, his wife might be home soon, and then Lena would be caught instantly. And slowly making her way across the kitchen floor was taking far too long.

"Can you carry me up to the kitchen table, little man?" she whispered to Rufus, and climbed up on his back.

He twitched his whiskers in response, then took off at a silent run, even with his boots. But instead of going toward the table as requested, he ran for a broom leaning against the nearby wall.

"No, over here!" Lena whispered in his ear, leaning forward as she pointed back toward the table. But Rufus didn't seem to hear and made a great leap straight at the broom. He hit it hard and kicked off, sending them flying in the direction of the table, though still too low to reach it....

Instead, they landed hard on one of the kitchen chairs, only long enough for Rufus to catch his balance and take off again, leaping back and forth between the backs of two chairs to take them higher and higher.

Finally, they reached the top of the kitchen table, and Rufus skidded to a stop, almost throwing Lena straight over his head. She managed to hold on, then slowly dismounted, scratching her good boy behind his ears for doing so well. Okay, sure, Rufus wasn't the most graceful cat ever--she'd seen him fall off perfectly level fences twice as wide as he was--but he always tried his best, and that was all she could ever ask.

He purred as he looked over at her, clearly proud of himself. "Three treats?" he said, and Lena quickly looked up at the giant to see if he'd heard, but another snore told her they were still safe. She shushed her cat again but nodded, smiling a bit. He'd earned them, after all.

He purred again as he followed her over toward the giant's arm that rested on the table. Rufus had landed them relatively close to it, which was good, because she didn't know how much longer they had before the giant's wife returned. Lena tried to move as quickly as possible while still staying silent and finally reached his elbow.

The giant's tunic was loose enough for her to climb, so she grabbed a handful of fabric and easily pulled herself up to stand on top of his forearm. Rufus prepared himself for a leap to reach the same level, but she quickly shook her head, worrying that that much weight landing on the giant would awaken him. She put up her hands for Rufus to stop, and he did, looking up at her in confusion.

Confusion was basically Rufus's primary trait, with curiosity a close second, with the latter being the reason he was so much larger than other cats. If he hadn't leapt into the cauldron the Last Knight had meant for Lena...

The giant snorted loudly, disturbing his sleep for a moment, and turned his body enough to carry his arm out away from the table. Lena grabbed ahold of the tunic and held on tightly as the table beneath her disappeared, leaving her several dozen feet off the floor. If the giant woke up now, that would be it.

But his snoring returned to normal, and Lena let out a sigh of relief... at least until she heard footsteps outside.

The giant's wife. It had to be.

And that meant Lena was out of time.

She took a deep breath, then ran straight up the giant's arm, passing the elbow, then leaping toward his chest. He'd moved his arm closer to his body, so the jump wasn't difficult, but she still landed harder than she'd have liked, and the giant mumbled something in his sleep.

It was too late to worry about that now, though, so she forced herself to climb up toward his pocket, hand over hand, moving as quickly as she could. The footsteps outside drew closer, and she wondered if she'd make it to the treasure before the giant's wife reached the kitchen door. If she could just grab the item, she'd be home free, but that was still a big "if."

"Roral?" said a voice from outside. "Don't tell me you're sleeping again."

The giant below Lena immediately sat up, almost tossing her off his tunic. "Of course not!" he shouted back. "I was just... cleaning the kitchen!"

Clinging to the giant's shirt, Lena knew she had at most mere seconds before he noticed her. With one last burst of strength, Lena threw herself toward the pocket, snagging it with one hand, then falling neatly inside right as the front door opened and the giant's wife appeared.

"That was the best you could do, 'cleaning the kitchen'?" she asked. "You have to make your lies more believable."

The giant laughed, shaking Lena around in his pocket, but she didn't let it stop her, not with her prize so close. Because right next to her inside the pocket was the treasure she'd come for.

She slowly reached for the enormous folded paper and pulled it open just enough to read from it.

"And where is...," the giant's wife started to ask, only to stop as a loud "aha!" sounded from the giant's pocket. She looked at her husband. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Two enormous fingers pinched the outside of the pocket and pulled it open just enough for the creature's giant eyes to peer down inside. "Oh come on," the giant said, shaking his head. "Are you kidding me with this?"

Lena held up the paper triumphantly in her hands, waving it at the giant. "Nice try, Dad!" she shouted. "But I found the invitation, and my name's on it. I knew I was invited to the Ritual of the Spark this year!"

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Excerpted from Once upon Another Time by James Riley
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.