Once

Thirty Four

They all stopped the minute they surged through the front doors, crashing together in a jumbled clump in the middle of the huge black welcome mat. A musical bing bong from the doors sounded over their heads.

Russell, mouth hanging open, said:

"Oh. My. God."

It was a sentiment they could all agree with. All five of them were staring blankly in every direction, unsure what their eyes should be taking in first.

The whole place was a scene of wild destruction - shelves and racking overturned and products scattered everywhere, smashed fragments of plant pots and huge piles of compost thrown all over the floor. To their right, one half of the room was taken over entirely by the monstrous plant that continued to swell and grow even as they watched it. Out of the dense green-black mass long vines twisted outwards like snakes, pressing themselves outwards against the windows and roof. Tiny leaves sprouted and unfurled themselves, swelling in seconds to the size of dinner plates. It was like some hideous monster out of an old sci-fi movie.

But then, right in front of them, was a whole other monster - one that posed a much more real and immediate threat than even the hundred-foot plant that was filling half the room. It was turned away from them all toward the back wall, but all of them knew at once what it was, and they also knew with certainty that this was the thing that had been shaking the ground of Farway like a low-level earthquake for the past ten minutes.

Sellan whispered, sort of redundantly, "What is that?"

"It's a giant," Elle replied.

The giant wasn't quite what she'd have imagined: not some hundred-foot ogre as it was usually drawn in the books. It just looked like a man. But a man forty feet tall, tall enough to be half-crouched under the ceiling with the hanging strip lights dangling round his face, was a horrendous enough sight.

And the thing is, it wasn't even really scary because it was so big. A big docile thing that size would be daunting, but not threatening - not many people are terrified of a giraffe, after all. But it was immediately clear that the giant was anything but docile. It was both incredibly stupid and incredibly angry, which was about the most dangerous combination imaginable.

Elle also realised in that moment that the giant wasn't just facing away from them; it was facing toward something else. With colossal hands like dustbin lids he was scrabbling and pounding at a low metal table, a series of irate grunts echoing thunderously from the pit of its belly. And under that table, eyes clamped shut, knees up to her chest and hands over her ears, was Jax.

"Oh god, Jax!" Russell shrieked, seeing her at the same moment.

"Dad!" Maggie screeched suddenly.

Mr Cutteridge had suddenly come tearing round from some unseen space behind the beanstalk. He was hauling a heavy metal axe in his hands.

He had been heading for Jax, but when he saw the five of them standing in the doorway he froze.

"Maggie! What are you doing here?" He didn't wait for them to give an answer. "Get outside, now, all of you! You're going to get hurt!"

He turned and surged back the way he was going, toward Jax and the giant.

None of them took his advice. They all surged forward, too, fanning out in a loose semi-circle. After a second David and Sellan broke free from the pack, tearing wildly across the floor.

"Stop!" Elle screamed.

David and Sellan crashed hard into the giant's left side just as Mr Cutteridge shuddered to a halt at his right.