The World Above (5 page)

“I think you mean
giant
magic beanstalk,” I said. “Which means we should call as little attention to it as possible.”

“You can’t be serious,” Jack protested.

“I’m absolutely serious,” I said. “You have to wait for nightfall.”

Jack tossed the first bean over his shoulder just as the moon began to rise. After additional discussion, it had been decided that the cornfield was the perfect place to grow a magic beanstalk.

The field was tucked between two of the many hills surrounding our farm. This would make the beanstalk difficult to see from a distance, and if someone did notice that one stalk in the cornfield seemed a bit taller than the rest, well, what of it? With the breeze moving through the field, causing the cornstalks to sway and dance, anything different could be dismissed as nothing more than a trick of the light.

It is difficult to get people in the World Below to see what they don’t expect to see. Mama has remarked on this more than once. Even I have to admit it’s true. Now we would make this fact work for our cause.

And so, just as the pale face of the moon peered up over the horizon, Jack and I walked to the cornfield while Mama stayed in the house. I think both Jack and I were surprised that Mama didn’t come along. But she’d instructed us to go together. So that’s what we did, traversing the distance between the house and the cornfield in absolute silence. At the edge of the field, Jack paused, then turned his back to the rows of corn.

“Count for me, will you?” he asked. He gave a sudden, sheepish grin. “I know it’s only to three, but I’m terrified I’m going to get it wrong, somehow.”

For once I didn’t tease him. Probably because I knew exactly how he felt.

“On three, then,” I said.

Jack nodded.

“One. Two.
Three
.”

With one quick, smooth motion, Jack tossed the bean over his left shoulder.

I swore I saw it flying through the air, a tiny white speck tumbling end over end against the darkened sky. But in the interests of truth, I must admit that I might have made this up. It could have been a trick of the light combined with my own desire. As Jack let the bean fly, the wind came up, causing the cornstalks to rustle and sway, almost as if they were conversing with one another.

Jack stood for a moment, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. I saw his chest heave and realized he was breathing hard, as if he’d run a race and put on a final burst of speed to reach the finish line.

“Don’t do it, Jack,” I said suddenly. “Don’t turn around.”

For Mama had said that it was important to let magic run its own course. Trying to influence it could spell disaster. For this reason, Jack must not look back. He must not watch to see where the bean had fallen. I could do so, Mama said, as I was not the one who would be climbing the beanstalk.

“I know,” Jack said. “I know.”

I moved to his side and took him by the arm. He was quivering, his whole body vibrating like one of the plucked strings on my harp.

“Let’s go in,” I said softly. “We’ll come back at first light.”

Jack reached out to grasp me by both elbows. “It’s happening, Gen. It’s really happening. I’m going to go to the World Above.”

“You’re going to go to the World Above,” I said. “Always assuming some crow didn’t get to that bean as soon as it hit the ground.”

Jack gave a sudden laugh. I felt the tension leave his body.

“Good old Gen,” he said. “Always trying to make sure I don’t get too far ahead of myself.”

“Self-defense,” I said. “Slowing you down’s the only way I can keep up.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jack said. He pulled me forward into a fierce hug. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said as I hugged him back. We stepped apart and I put my hands on Jack’s shoulders, the better to peer up into his face.

“Jack, you will be careful, won’t you?”

“Of course I’ll be careful,” he said. Then he made a face. “At least I’ll try. But you heard Mama, Gen. Ultimately, we are going back to reclaim what Guy de Trabant stole from us. Sooner or later, there are bound to be some risks involved.”

He broke free of my hold to take a few steps away. Jack literally thinks best on his feet, preferably when he’s using them to go somewhere.

“I just wish I could figure out a way to prove who I am—who we are,” he went on. “I don’t want people to think I’m just another usurper.”

I hesitated a moment. “I’ve been thinking about that too,” I acknowledged.

Jack spun back around. Before I realized what he intended, he caught me up in his arms, twirling me around.

“You’ve got a plan, don’t you?” he cried. “I knew it. I knew I could count on you. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

“No, I don’t have a plan.” I gasped, clinging to his shoulders as air filled my skirts like a bell. “Not a full-fledged one, anyhow. It’s just an idea, Jack. Now put me down.”

“Full-fledged?”
Jack echoed with a laugh. But at least he set me down. “Who in the World Below says stuff like that?”

“Clearly,” I said as I did my best to smooth my hair and skirts, “only someone who comes from the World Above. And it was never my intention to let you down. I don’t know why you have to say a thing like that.”

Jack sobered. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

“You’re Mama’s favorite,” I told him, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. “We both know it’s true, so don’t bother to deny it. It’s because of the way I feel about the World Below. But I’m just as much a part of this family as you are, Jack. I’d never let you down.”

I began to stomp my way back to the house.

“Gen, wait,” Jack said. I heard the quick sound of his feet. “I didn’t mean it like that. You’re making too much of it. How come we’ve spent the whole day fighting? I don’t want us to.”

“I don’t want us to fight either,” I said. I stopped walking as the extent of the truth of this struck me.

“Then what
do
you want?”

“I want you to come home safe,” I said.

“I want that too,” Jack said. “But what if home turns out to be the World Above?”

“It doesn’t make a difference,” I said. “I just want you to be safe, that’s all. I don’t want you to end up sacrificed to Guy de Trabant’s ambition like our father was.”

Or your own ambition, for that matter
, I thought.

“I’ll be careful. I swear I will,” Jack vowed. “Just say you’ll do one thing for me.”

“What’s that?”

“Wish me luck.”

“Good luck, Jack,” I said. And I meant it with all my heart.

That was the moment I felt it. I can’t explain how. I felt the magic take root and the beanstalk begin to grow.

“You know,” Jack said as he slung an arm around my shoulders, “we make a pretty good team, whether you like to admit it or not. You provide the plan; I provide the quick thinking if anything goes wrong.”

I gave a snort. “Which it almost always does. Could that be because you change the plan the minute it’s made? Wait a minute. Yes, I do believe that could account for it.”

Jack gave my shoulders a quick, hard squeeze. “Cut it out.”

“If you’re trying to ask me whether or not I’ve been figuring out a way for you to prove who you really are, the answer is yes,” I said. “It has to do with our family’s coat of arms. . . .”

Jack and I talked well into the night, whispering with our heads together and our bodies stretched out in opposite directions on the soft braided rug. We’d often done this when we were small, on winter nights when the warmest place to sleep was in front of the fire. Just as the sun came up, Jack shook me awake.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” he said. “Come see what’s in the cornfield.”

Five minutes later Jack, Mama, and I stood gazing up into the leaves of an enormous beanstalk.

I’d known it would be there. Hadn’t I felt the moment it began to grow? Even so, it was hard to believe a vine could stretch up and up and up until it was lost to sight among the clouds. It swayed ever so slightly in the early morning breeze; its red and green speckled leaves made a strangely soothing sound. The stalk itself was as wide around as Jack was, as if it had been custom grown. Which, of course, it had.

“It’s beautiful,” breathed my mother.

“It is,” I acknowledged. I bit down on my tongue. It didn’t do any good. “It’s also impossible!” I burst out. “Jack can’t climb that. It will never hold him.”

“One just like it held me,” my mother reminded me.

“But Mama—”

“It’s all right, Gen,” Jack interrupted to silence me. “It may look impossible. But somehow I think that it’s supposed to. The World Above and the World Below aren’t supposed to be joined together. People aren’t supposed to travel back and forth. To do so takes courage. It takes—”

“A leap of faith,” I finished for him on a sigh. My mother made an approving sound. She moved to stand between us, linking arms, so that we formed a chain. Together, we all stood gazing at the beanstalk. It flicked its leaves at us, as if waving hello.

“You should go soon, Jack,” Mama said softly. “The sun is almost up.”

“I’m really going to do it,” Jack said, his voice reverent. “I’m going to climb a magic beanstalk.”

Twenty minutes later all was in readiness. Jack had wolfed down a breakfast of all his favorite foods, then settled the pack he and Mama had prepared onto his shoulders. The three of us returned to the cornfield and the beanstalk.

“What will we do if someone comes by?” I asked suddenly.

“Easy,” Mama declared stoutly. “We’ll simply pretend the beanstalk isn’t there.”

I gave a startled laugh. “Mama, that will never work. Not even our neighbors are that gullible.”

“Don’t be so sure,” my mother answered. “If there’s one thing people in the World Below hate, it’s for others to think they’re foolish. If we pretend the beanstalk isn’t there, it won’t be. You mark my words.

“People in the World Above, on the other hand,” she continued, turning to Jack, “expect to be surprised. That’s why your best course of action will be to be precisely what you seem, my son.”

Jack made a face. “A country bumpkin.”

“Better a live country bumpkin than a dead nobleman,” my mother said bluntly. She laid a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Do just as we discussed. Find out as much as you can about the current situation, then come right back. After that, we can put Gen to work on a plan.”

Jack raised a hand to cover Mama’s, giving it a squeeze. “I know what to do, Mama. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

“Then I wish you luck, my son.”

Jack turned and met my eyes. “I’ll be back soon,” he said.

“I’ll be waiting for you,” I replied.

Without another word, Jack strode to the beanstalk and laid a hand against its trunk. I saw the way he leaned against it, as if testing his weight against its strength. Then he tipped his head back, as if he could already see the World Above, floating somewhere high above him. His face filled with emotion. Never in all my life, neither before nor since, have I seen more joy than I did in Jack’s face the instant before he began to climb that beanstalk.

Good luck, Jack
, I thought.
I love you
.

Jack set a foot against the trunk, wrapped his arms around it, and boosted himself up. Then, just as if he was climbing a tree, he began to climb the beanstalk. Mama and I stood watching as he made his way into the sky, until the light of the sun made tears fill our eyes and we had no choice but to look down.