Of Giants and Ice by Shelby Bach

Author:Shelby Bach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

thought I did pretty well—for the first part of the climb anyway.

After a few minutes, I found a rhythm: I reached up for a leaf above me, stepped on the next stem, and stood up straight before I reached up again.

It was manageable, as long as I only let my mind focus on certain things—like where the next leaf was, for example, or how helpful all the tiny spikes on the stems were. They made getting a good grip much easier despite my sweaty palms.

Then, just over halfway up, my foot slipped. Both hands grabbed the next leaf, and I caught myself easily. So, that part wasn’t so bad.

But then I automatically looked down to reposition my foot and saw how far we had come.

The Tree of Hope was just a small green circle, barely bigger than my thumbnail. The square EAS building looked a lot like a grass-colored napkin with a gray border. Speckles of color moved across the lawn. People, I realized with a start.

I had seen this view before. I had dreamed this. Three times. I really would slip. My stomach turned over inside me, weightless suddenly, as if I were already falling.

I didn’t exactly freeze.

I leaped at the beanstalk’s stem and wrapped both arms and both legs around it.

Fear is inevitable. I hadn’t known Rapunzel meant my thing with heights.

It wasn’t like that time in the weapons closet. I couldn’t make myself move, but instead of going blank, my mind buzzed.

I tried to tell myself that there were plenty of things that scared me more than falling. Looking like an idiot in front of everybody in EAS, for instance. Or giving Chase the opportunity to make fun of me later. Or letting Lena down, because I was too afraid to climb a measly Beanstalk.

Unfortunately, none of this made me start climbing again.

I shouldn’t have listened to Rapunzel. I should have sent George up the beanstalk in my place.

For a while, the only thing I heard was the blood pounding in my ears. I refused to fall. I wasn’t going to die here, not on Lena’s first Tale, not before we had even gotten to the giant’s house.

I clutched the stem so tightly that my fingernails dug through the surface, and I tried not to remember what it felt like, falling in my dream, with the wind ripping my breath away and my scream trapped in my throat and my hands groping at empty—

“You’re not going to fall, Rory.”

It was Chase. His voice was only a few feet away. I breathed again. I hadn’t noticed until right that second that I had been holding my breath.

“Look at me,” Chase said. Slowly, I raised my head. He squatted on the leaf a little above and beside me, his limbs sprawled out carelessly. He leaned closer, just one hand holding the stem above him. “You’re not going to fall, but we have to keep moving. Lena’s got someplace to be.”

I nodded stubbornly. I knew that.

“Come on, then.” Chase started to climb again, and in two seconds, he was out of sight.

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