Once Upon Another Time

James Riley

• Publisher: Aladdin
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781534425880
• eBook ISBN: 9781534425897

Storybook characters collide in this first book in a new trilogy of twisted fairy tales from New York Times bestselling author James Riley, set in the world of his popular Half Upon a Time series—perfect for fans of Fablehaven and Chris Colfer's A Tale of Magic series! Five and a half feet might seem pretty tall for a twelve-year-old, but it's not when your parents are giants. Lena has kept the fact that she's a tiny giant secret, using magic to grow when out in the giant village. But hiding who she is has always felt wrong, even though she knows the other giants might not accept her. Fortunately, Lena has friends down in the Cursed City who understand that looking different doesn't make her less of a giant. Someone who knows not to judge by appearances is Jin, a young genie currently serving one thousand and thirty-eight years of genie training that requires him to fulfill the wish of whoever holds his magical ring. In Jin's case, it's the power-hungry Golden King. At least the king only has two wishes left, one of which is for Jin to go to the Cursed City and capture its protector, the Last Knight—one of Lena's closest friends. What Lena and Jin don't know is how close the Golden King's plans are to coming together, between his dark magic and his horrible Faceless knights. If Jin does find the Last Knight and bring him to the Golden King, why, that could doom the entire fairy-tale world.…This sounds like it'll end badly, doesn't it?

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!”

CHAPTER 2

Once upon a time, there was a great king,” said the man draped in golden robes, his arms out dramatically as he stood before a gleaming yellow throne. “No, no, not me, but that’s nice of you to say.”

No one had said, but the assembled nobles all laughed politely up and down the enormous throne room, golden statues lining it on both sides. A brown-haired, ordinary-looking boy stood in the shadows at the side of the room, rolling his eyes as he wondered how long this was going to take. Jin hated being here, and not just because of how tacky the room was, with everything in it made entirely of gold.

The nobles themselves provided the only contrast, forbidden as they were from wearing the king’s color, so most were wearing silken fabrics in silver tones or other rich colors, though none wore copper or bronze, as that might be too close and offend the king.

The Golden King smiled benevolently down on his subjects. “No, this king had three sons, each one more handsome and clever than the last, which of course means the youngest was the clear winner.”

He gestured at the three golden statues lined up behind the throne, and from a distance, Jin could tell that the statues didn’t look too thrilled. One was older, a middle-aged man, while the other two looked to be in their early twenties. But all had terrified expressions on their faces, and the two younger ones both had their arms up as if to defend themselves.

“Wanting to ensure that only the wisest of his children would lead, the king declared that whichever of his sons brought him an item of true power would be his rightful heir.” He paused. “Now, we all know from stories that the youngest son will outwit the others. That’s just how these things work.”

“So true, Your Majesty!” someone shouted out, and the king pointed at him, nodding.

“Indeed,” the Golden King said. “But stay with me here. So off these three princes went, searching the realm for items of true power, and years passed before they all returned. Finally, the three princes appeared before their aged father and presented their findings.”

Jin sighed audibly. The king liked to make up holidays and anniversaries to celebrate himself, and today’s Celebration of the Golden King’s Family Day was among the most boring yet. Jin opened his mouth to yawn widely, only to feel his lips close in mid-yawn. Annoyed, he threw a look at the Golden King, who had just closed the fingers on his right hand, silencing Jin.

Ugh. Jin muttered some choice responses to himself, then nodded almost imperceptibly, and the magic keeping his lips closed disappeared. The Golden King flashed him a tiny smile, then went back to his speech.

This was all so degrading. Was this honestly why he was here, to let humans humiliate him like this? Was that really what the elders wanted?

And why humans? Jin squinted at the Golden King, looking down through the surface level to the light that all of his kind could see, the light of magic. It shone from any enchanted object or cast spell, but living creatures had their own kind of magic as well, and it tended to reveal their true nature, if you looked closely enough.

With the Golden King, if there was any light, it was too faint to see, blocked as it was by shadows black as night. Moving his gaze around the hall, Jin found that the rest of the humans all had at least a spark of color inside them, all but the king.

Great. Why had the worst human alive been the one to gain control over him?

“The oldest son, he brought back a darkness from a distant land,” the king continued, smiling. “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘this shadow magic can create fear wherever it goes, and there’s nothing that rules better than fear.’ ”

Someone clapped in the crowd, but the king threw them a look, and they went silent.

“ ‘Perhaps,’ said his father, ‘but let us see what your brothers brought.’ And then it was the turn of the middle brother, who showed off a ring, one containing a stone finer than any in the land.”

Though the king didn’t show the ring, Jin knew it was on his right finger, covered by a nonmagical glove. Jin could feel its power; it was what gave the Golden King control over him, after all.

“ ‘This ring contains ultimate magical power,’ the middle brother said. ‘And that is true strength, the ability to force others to bow before you.’ ”

The assembled crowd cheered in response, and Jin clapped along loudly, wondering if the king would allow sarcastic applause. Apparently not, as Jin’s hands stuck together on the second clap.

He’d only been doing this whole serving-humans-to-learn-humility thing for just over a decade now, and it was already such a massive pain in his nonexistent behind. It would have been slightly better if Jin could have served just that middle brother, at least, the one who’d actually found Jin’s ring in some buried cave in a far-off land. But Jin had only granted one of that prince’s wishes before the ring was—

“And finally, the youngest and most clever brother presented what we all know is the greatest power of all,” the Golden King said, raising his golden glove and clenching it into a fist. “For he had found wealth, the one thing that will motivate every human being. With the gold this youngest son could make from his newfound magical glove, he could rule the entire world!”

The group of assembled nobles burst into applause, and for once, Jin wasn’t sure they were faking it for the king’s approval.

“Of course the youngest son was declared the winner!” the Golden King said, holding up both his hands now. “Gold is the only true power, so the king declared this prince the rightful heir, as is the way of these stories, and granted him both his brothers’ findings as a gift.”

Jin threw a look at the princes’ statues behind the throne again. The looks on their faces didn’t look like they’d handed over anything voluntarily.

“And that was how I was meant to become ruler of these kingdoms!” the king shouted excitedly, then paused for effect and sigh...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
• Chapter 20
• Chapter 21
• Chapter 22
• Chapter 23
• Chapter 24
• Chapter 25
• Chapter 26
• Chapter 27
• Chapter 28
• Chapter 29
• Chapter 30
• Chapter 31
• Chapter 32
• Chapter 33
• Chapter 34
• Chapter 35
• Chapter 36
• Chapter 37
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Copyright