Cedric's Giant Curse

Chapter 10: Big Lies

Chapter 10: Big Lies

It seemed as though morning would never come to Enchancia, as if the kingdom was fated to be shrouded in darkness for eternity. But as sleep slowly fell upon the giant sorcerer, despite his less than ideal sleeping arrangements, morning light soon did cover the kingdom in a blanket of warmth, awaking all that its light fell upon. But even though the morning had chased away the inky blackness of the night, that darkness still resided in Cedric's troubled heart and mind. Had the events of the other night been all but a bad dream, had the events of the previous day been nothing but a cruel fantasy his mind conjured up, then everything would have been fine as soon as he opened his eyes.

But it wasn't.

With a blanket too short to cover his body, a pillow too small to support his head, and a floor too hard for him to lay comfortably on, it was a wonder that he had even slept at all, especially with the despair he felt in his heart after realizing how much he had grown in just one day. All of his efforts to fix himself had only set him farther back, and to make matters worse, his father would soon discover that he had stolen the Amulet of Avalor. And yet even as the bright sunlight streamed in through the tall windows of the ballroom, Cedric still remained fast asleep, and slightly snoring to the annoyance of all of those who could hear him out in the hall. He wouldn't remain asleep for much longer though.

"Mr. Cedric?"

A small voice pierced through the invisible curtain of sleep blanketing him, and if that wasn't enough he could feel a very tiny hand patting his cheek in an effort to wake him up. Grumbling incoherently under his breath, Cedric yawned and rolled onto his back, but showed no signs that he was ready to fully emerge from slumber quite yet.

"Mr. Cedric! Please wake up! This is very important!"

What could be more important than trying to get some sleep for once in his life? The small pleas finally broke through to him completely, and Cedric slowly began to emerge from his slumber. Yawning loudly, his eyes fluttered open and he slowly sat up into a sitting position. As soon as he moved he noticed the stabbing pain in his shoulders and the aches in his back. How he wished that he could have slept in his own bed, but instead he had to make due with a blanket and a pillow on a marble floor while his father got to enjoy the pleasantries of his own room. It was quite vexatious to think about.

Wincing in slight pain and discomfort, Cedric stretched his tight muscles before finally looking down at the tiny voice calling to him. He involuntarily did a double take though when he saw how small Princess Sofia appeared to him, much smaller than he recalled from the day before. But as he recalled the events of the previous night, and took note of how small the blanket covering his torso was, he suddenly understood why that was so.

"A good morning to you as well," he mumbled under his breath, looking less than pleased with the little girl. "Princess Sofia, what could be so important that you had to wake me up like that?"

Seeing how upset Cedric was that she had given him such a rude wake up call, Sofia felt a little guilty about disturbing him, but she felt that he ought to know something that she had discovered. "Sorry, Mr. Cedric. I would have let you sleep, but when I came in to check on you this morning, I noticed something that I thought you would like to know about."

The giant raised an eyebrow in confusion, not quite understanding what the princess could have meant by that statement. "What do you mean?"

"I don't want to alarm you, but it looks like you grew again!"

Of course this wasn't new news to Cedric. He already knew plenty well how much he had grown due to his own stupidity and arrogance when he decided to sneak out of the ballroom in an attempt to reverse this bothersome curse himself. But just as he was about to tell the little girl as much he suddenly stopped himself and froze. What was he doing?! If he told Sofia that he already knew about his new growth spurt, then he would have to explain to her what had happened. Or worse he would have to lie and risk growing even bigger! Quickly, and hoping that Princess Sofia hadn't noticed, he tried to act surprised as if he hadn't noticed at all until she told him.