“You sure you don’t wanna come hang out with me in town for a little while?” said Cole.
“Can’t,” said Fable. “My mama says it’s too dangerous.”
“Sure.” Cole might have laughed if he was not still out of breath from racing through the forest with the sounds of crunching leaves and snapping branches behind him. “Yeah. Indoor plumbing and bakeries are scary stuff. Not like that peaceful forest full of homicidal monsters.”
“Plumbing does sound exciting,” said Fable. “You should show me some if my mama ever lets me visit again.”
Cole bid her goodbye, and Fable waved before hopping back over the fallen tree. “Hey, Fable,” Cole called after her. “I had a fun time with you. I think you’d be a great Witch of the Wood.”
“Run away with me again sometime?”
“Definitely.”
Cole found himself smiling as he kicked his way down the dusty road. The sun was already high in the sky. It still felt strange, having had a whole day—and a whole adventure—without Tinn. In a few hours, they would make their way back through the forest to pick him up again, and Cole would listen as Tinn told him all the exciting things he had done, but this time Cole would have something just as exciting to share in return.
A harried shout echoed down the road, and Cole stopped. He turned around. The road behind him led north, toward nothing but old farmlands and the abandoned mill. People almost never came out this way.
“Help!” the voice called.
Cole’s eyes widened. He followed the sound of the cries cautiously up the empty street until he rounded a bend and found two men shuffling toward him, their clothes covered head to toe in dust, one of them leaning heavily on the other’s shoulders.
“You! Boy, lend a hand!” yelled the first man. It took a moment for Cole to place him under the layers of dirt.
“Mr. Hill?” said Cole. “What happened?”
“We were attacked!” said Jacob Hill. “Take his other arm.”
The other man looked up and Cole realized with a start that it was Evie’s father. His eyes were wild and his hair was tousled and trickled grit and dust with every motion.
“Mr. Warner? Oh, jeez. It’s gonna be all right. It’s me, Cole. I’m a friend of your daughter’s, remember? Here, you can lean on me.”
“G-g-giant,” stammered Oliver Warner.
“A giant?” said Cole. “What are you talking about?”
Warner’s face was pale, and he was limping heavily. He grimaced and swayed for a moment as he shifted some of his weight to Cole’s shoulder. “Giant,” he breathed again.
“You must have seen it looming over the treetops!” Hill cut in. “It was three stories tall if it was an inch!”
“An actual giant?” said Cole. “Where?” He craned his neck to look backward, and Warner groaned.
“Vanished,” said Hill. “Back into the forest somewhere. Barely got out with our lives. Warner here was working on the drill frame when it appeared. I glanced down at my schematics, and when I looked up it was right there, big as anything. The thing came out of nowhere. Four stories tall. Maybe five. Lambert and Stokes ran for the hills. Can’t blame them. I expect they’re halfway to Glanville by now. Warner only just jumped free from the scaffolds before the brute could crush him, and then it thundered off into the woods.”
“Whoa,” said Cole.
“And here I thought Warner’s uncle was just a superstitious old man,” Hill mused. “That forest really is trying to kill us.”
Cole glanced back into the woods again. Somewhere in there, a massive monster lurked. He wished that Fable had decided to come with him after all. Sure, she had been able to take on a miniature twig-man with a swat of her paw—but up against a creature five stories tall, it was Fable who would look like a twig.
Tinn made his way alone up Endsborough’s main street. The sun felt warm on his cheeks, and he could smell meat and onions frying in the kitchen of the Lucky Pig. It must be nearly lunchtime already. He wondered if his mother would let him and Cole have a little something from the shop. He waved hello to Old Mrs. Stewart in the rocking chair on her porch. Behind her stood stout barrels of freshly husked hazelnuts, waiting to be carted off to the big city. He smiled at Mr. Washington delivering the mail, then he passed the empty schoolhouse as he cut across the town square to the general store. The bell chimed as he opened the door.
“Tinn?” His mother looked down at him over a counter full of hair treatments and shaving accessories. She was the only person who never hesitated to tell the two of them apart. “What on earth—?”
“Hi, Mom!” said Tinn. “There was a whole thing at the cliff. It’s okay, though. I’m fine. Kull brought me home. Where’s Cole?” Tinn fiddled with a swiveling mirror next to the tins of shaving powder. His face popped into view magnified, his nose several sizes too big.
“Stop touching things. Cole’s back at the house.”
“No, he’s not.”
Annie pursed her lips. Of course he isn’t. “He’s back in trouble, then. Best you’re not in it with him, for once. I’m glad you’re safe and sound. Mr. Zervos is sending me for my lunch break in about twenty minutes. Do you think you can wait out front until then?”
Tinn nodded. He eyed the beef jerky on the counter hopefully.
Annie shook her head. “You have perfectly good food waiting for you at home,” she said.
“What’s this?” Mr. Zervos called behind Annie. He emerged from the ice cellar and closed the door behind him with a click. Mr. Zervos was a friendly man with a big peppery mustache and a bushy beard. According to Mrs. Stewart, who was older than almost anybody
