The World Above by Cameron Dokey Read Free Book Online Page B

pen and paper, Mama?”
    “I put them on the sideboard.”
    Jack fetched the inkpot, quill, and paper I’d been using earlier, then returned to the table. He placed the paper on the table, turning the sheets over so that my handwriting was facedown. If he’d noticed the nature of the lists I’d been making, he gave no sign. He opened the inkpot and dipped the quill into the ink.
    “Now,” he said, “I am going to pretend I’m Gen. I’m going to make a list of all the things we think I need to find out before I attempt to win back the lyre. That will be one column. All the potential pitfalls will go in another. Then I’ll return to the World Above and get our questions answered. I’ll add more as they come up. I’ll do whatever it takes to create a plan we believe can be successful.
    “But you have to understand something.” He looked at me and then our mother. “If I’m going to do this, if I’m really going to win back Roland des Jardins’ crown, then sooner or later, I’m going to have to take a risk. There’s simply no way around it. Either you trust me to take the right chance at the right time, or you don’t. And if you don’t, I’ll do this completely on my own. My plan, my risk, my chance to win back what’s rightfully ours.”
    “
Ours
,” I replied. “That’s the key word, Jack. Of course I want to help you. What you’re doing is for all of us.” I slid the paper in front of me, then extended my hand, palm up, for the quill.
    “You should let me write the list,” I said. “Your handwriting is atrocious.”
    Jack laughed and surrendered the quill.
    “Question one,” I said as I dipped the quill into the inkpot and wrote the number. “How do you get from Duke Roland’s castle to Guy de Trabant’s fortress?”

 

E IGHT
     
    It took three days of making lists, of tossing ideas back and forth, but finally the morning arrived when Jack, Mama, and I stood beside another beanstalk. This one looked slightly different from the first. It was still green and tall. But where the first beanstalk had reminded me of a tree, the second seemed more like a vine. More sinuous and thinner than the first, it seemed to twist and turn into the sky on its way to the World Above. I wondered if the difference was significant. There were five magic beans left now.
    The change of seasons had begun in earnest, summer into autumn. Yesterday had been hot and fair, but overnight the temperature dropped. Fog had crept in, spreading its damp white fingers into every nook and cranny of our farm. Beside us, the beanstalk twisted upward, disappearing into the mist.
    “You remember what to do?” Jack asked me, as he shouldered his pack.
    “I remember,” I assured him.
    Jack was referring to the very last item we’d added to the list. A plan that called for me to go up the beanstalk.
    According to Jack, Sean had estimated it would take about a week on foot to reach Guy de Trabant’s fortress. Once Jack and Sean arrived, they would wait for the next court of assizes, which was held in the castle’s great hall. Since the sessions took place every other week, with luck, the two boys shouldn’t have to wait long.
    The irony of one of the magical emblems on our coat of arms being used by Duke Guy to govern his own people wisely while ours remained neglected was a sore point. It was just one of the injustices that could be remedied if Jack was able to steal back the harp.
    We’d decided to allow Jack four weeks to travel to de Trabant’s castle, see the harp for himself, assess the overall situation, then come back home. If he had not returned within that time, I’d toss a bean over my own shoulder and go up after him.
    Mama and I would chop down this beanstalk tomorrow, when we were sure Jack had had plenty of time to reach the World Above. After that, he would literally be cut off from the World Below. But he’d travel with a bean in his pocket, as I would, assuming I had to go. That left two beans to remain