Cloak, Torn: Book 2 [ON HOLD]

Chapter 16

 "Jack, leave it and run!" I shrieked. I dashed for the door, but in three strides the giant was in front of me and nudged the door closed. I scrambled backwards as a large hand made a grab for me.

"Darn goose!" Jack shouted as it pecked his hands and flapped its wings in his face.

"We've got bigger problems you idiot! Literally!" I shrieked, dodging another grab by the giant. I dropped the harp and wrenched out my dagger as the giant advanced on me. I ran backward, looking for a way out, but the giant didn't try to stop me. He just shook his head as I bolted for the couch, thinking to hide underneath it. But before I could take another step, something lashed around my foot, yanking me to a halt. I tripped and my weapon flew from my hand and I smacked the ground hard. I lay there for a moment, stunned, but when I had recovered enough to try to get up I couldn't even crawl. I looked down at my feet and screamed.

The vines from the ceiling had dropped and were curling around my legs like thick, leafy snakes. I shrieked as threadlike vines lashed around my limbs, thickening and binding me as they grew like living cords. I thrashed against them but the vines only tightened, choking my movements like boa constrictor coils. Vines squirmed past my lips and filled my mouth, wrapping themselves around my tongue as I attempted to scream. The little green snakes laced themselves into a cutting net across my face and dug into my cheeks. I frantically struggled for air, but it came only in the barest of gasps through my nose. Slithering vines crawled all over my body and I squeezed my eyes shut as they pressed against my eyelids.

I felt myself being lifted into the air and dangling upside down, helpless. There was crushing pressure on my skull and the blood rushed to my brain. My ribs were screaming at the ache of being slowly crushed and there was no longer any air to fill my lungs. Everything was a was a world of black, screaming, aching, bruised, crushed and concentrated pain. Then it began to dull and finally dissolved entirely as unconsciousness swept over me.

* * *

Everything came in blurry at first. The headache was only a dull throb, but as I regained consciousness it grew to a crippling buzz. I groaned at the sensation of metal stripes digging into my back and the mouth watering scent of baking bread. I shook my head and tried to push myself up, but my hands fell through the floor. Startled, I was instantly alert. The hazy image of bars bent around me like a bird cage came into focus. When I felt the treacherous floor beneath me, I found that it too was made of crisscrossing metal slats. I found a safer hand hold and pushed myself up despite the protest from my ribs and skull. My skin had turned blotchy and purple from where the vines had bruised me. The leafy ropes were still cinched tight around my ankles and my wrists were bound behind my back, chafing them raw.

The scent of bread washed over me again and my stomach moaned. A few glances around told me of oversized countertops and monstrous, ripe vegetables. Bunches of herbs and strips of dried meat dangled from the ceiling next to me like colorful, scented chandeliers. An open sack of flour rested on the floor and a large, open faced oven that radiated incandescent heat blurred the blackened brick that it was made of. I was up in the rafters with the herbs in a giant cage that was by no means crudely made, but neither was it a work of art. It didn't have to be. It served its purpose without decorum.

I peered through the bars and for the first time saw the giant himself down below, unblurred by fear. His hair was a sandy colored haystack, and a flour stained apron was wrapped about his waist. He was humming in a deep bass, occasionally mumbling a word or two of some old folk song about a magic maiden and a castle in the clouds.

I watched in interest as he removed a loaf of fresh bread from the oven, flaming coals reflecting in his rich chestnut eyes. The barest of smiles cracked his lips and he muttered something to himself.