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Grace fastened the buckle on her satchel with a snap. Inside were three well-worn dresses, an intricately carved comb that had belonged to her mother, and a few other keepsakes.
She looked around the wooden house she had called home all her life. The ceilings were so low that she could touch them with her fingers if she stood on tiptoe, but the house was immaculate. In winter, the smell of the fireplace greeted her when she came home. In spring and summer, the kitchen smelled of seasonal flowers, and in fall, apples.

Her father had carved the chairs of dark oak, like the tables, and forest green cushions rested on them. A large oval window let the afternoon sunlight in, illuminating Grace’s friends and Owen, who stood apart, gazing outside.

Grace’s best friend Jane watched her, teary eyed. With a quick movement, Jane unclasped her own necklace and fastened it around Grace’s neck. “So you won’t forget me. Or us,” she added, nodding to Maria and Diane.

Grace caressed the locket with trembling fingers. “You know I won’t forget you.”
Maria furrowed her brow. “He didn’t say you had to go forever, right? Maybe he’ll let you come back.”
“That’s true,” said Diane. “He’s angry now, but killing Randy probably made him feel better. I know it would have made me feel better, anyway.”
Owen turned around. “That’s not funny, Diane.” He shuddered, remembering how close he had come to sharing Randy’s fate.
“Anyway, my point is, maybe he’s not so bad. And he’s very handsome!”
Jane elbowed Diane.
“Well, he is.”
“I wish I could have seen him,” said Maria. “But Rachel’s baby had to choose last night to make his appearance.”
“Maybe Diane has a point,” said Jane. “Not about his looks.” She glared at Diane. “But if you keep him happy, maybe he will let you come home.”
“I think he intends me to stay with him forever.”
“Maybe he does now, but he might change his mind.”
Maria twisted a lock of hair around her finger. “But what makes giants happy?”
“Eating humans.”
Jane elbowed Diane again.
“That’s just what my cousin told me,” Diane protested. “I’m sure it’s not true. When he was a kid, that’s what my aunt told him, to keep him from wandering into the forest.”
Jane rested her chin on her hands. “What do we know about giants, anyway?”
“Based on what this one can do, it seems that they can shift sizes, and even appear like humans if they wanted to,” said Grace. “I didn’t know they could do that.”
“And then they can grow back to giant size.” Diane grinned. “But his clothes grew with him, unfor—”
“What else do we know?” asked Jane.
“They have a strong sense of smell,” said Diane.
“That’s true.” Jane nodded. “He could smell his son on Randy.”
“I wonder what they do eat,” mused Maria. “Do they have big crops, or do they just eat a lot of normal food?”
Grace chewed her lip. “They must have their own food. One of our cows would barely make one meal for a giant.”
“Do you think it’s true that they like their victims tied to trees?” asked Owen.
“Grace is not a victim.” Jane tossed her hair and turned her back to Owen.
“Well, you know what I mean. It might be a great way to , uh, present Grace to him.”
Maria and Diane glared at Owen, and he sighted as he retreated to his bedroom. Grace watched him leave and whispered, “Be nice to him. He did something stupid, but he had no idea what would happen. It was my decision to go. Don’t blame him.”
The girls looked at her in silence. “Forgive him for my sake,” she added. Jane sighed and nodded, and the other two followed.
“But is it true? About tying humans to trees?” Maria asked. “It might be a good idea.”
Diane stretched. “I think it’s just another tall tale. Pun intended.”
“But it’s in all the stories,” said Jane.
Grace folded her legs under her. “It’s worth a try. It doesn’t make any difference to me how I go…”
Jane burst into tears and Maria wrapped her arms around her. “I can’t believe you really have to go! Maybe we can hide you. Or Emery can reason with him.”
“No.” Grace’s voice shook. “It’s too late. We just have to make the best of it now.”
______________________________

Owen stopped at the lip of the gorge and kicked a stone over the edge. It rolled and bounced until it hit the bottom, 30 feet down. “Are you sure this is the place?”
“Emery said this is where the giant would look for her,” said Will.
Grace turned and gazed through the trees at Rainy Grove. The lush oaks blocked the view, but smoke from the baker’s and blacksmith’s chimneys floated above them. The calls of children playing echoed through the forest. Grace closed her eyes and etched the memory into her brain.
Owen took a coil of rope from his bag and wrapped it around an enormous oak tree that stood apart from the others.
Will frowned. “Is this really necessary?”
“All the stories say giants like their…tributes tied to trees.”
“Those are tales for children. What if they aren’t like that?”
“But how do we know?” asked Grace. “We don’t really know much about giants anymore. There might be some truth to those stories. And if that is what he likes, trying to please him can’t hurt.”
Will shook his head. “This is stupid,” he muttered. But he helped Owen position the rope.
Grace stepped in front of the tree and Will wrapped his arms around her. “I never had children,” he said, his voice gruff. “But I’ve loved you and Owen like you were my own. You know that, right?”
Grace nodded, tears running down her face. “You were our father when we needed one so badly. How could I ever thank you enough?”
“Having you with me was all the gratitude I needed.”
Grace lowered her voice. “Owen will need you even more now. Please—”
“I know. And I have plans for him. Since he’s clearly not cut out to be a hunter, thank goodness, I’ll train him to run the tavern. He has the personality for it.”
“Thank you.” Grace squeezed Will tightly and released him. Will kissed her forehead and stepped back into the trees.
Grace threw herself into Owen’s arms and they sobbed together.
“I’m so sorry,” whispered Owen.
Grace held his shoulders and forced him to look at her. “Don’t blame yourself. I don’t blame you. This was Randy’s fault, and he is dead. You have to keep living. I can be happy working for the giant if I know that you are getting on with your life. Promise you’ll do this for me.”
Owen gulped and nodded. “I’ll try.”
“Good. Listen to Will and you’ll be fine.”
Long, late-afternoon shadows stretched across the gorge. Grace pulled Owen back into her arms. “Now tie me up and get out of here. You can’t be around when he comes.”
Owen’s fingers trembled as he pulled the knot tight. “I’ll imagine you coming back someday, and that will keep me going.”
“Me too. And I’ll imagine you happy and working hard at the tavern.”
Owen’s face crumpled, and he hugged Grace once more. Grace kissed his cheek. “Go,” she whispered.
He gazed at his sister for several seconds before whispering a final goodbye and joining Will as they walked back to the village. The sounds of their hurried footsteps faded away and Grace was left in silence, broken only by the song of a blackbird.
The ground trembled under Grace’s feet and the blackbird fell silent. The steady thuds of the giant’s footsteps grew louder. His golden head came into view over the forest. Though he walked in the gorge, he still towered over the trees.
He spotted Grace, and she struggled to read his facial expression. His lips stretched in a straight line and his eyes reflected the setting sun like steel.
“So they sent you.” His voice was flat. “I’m not surprised. Disappointed in their cowardice, but not surprised.”
“It was my choice to come.”
“Right. It was your choice to submit yourself to a giant.”
“And why not? I’m no better than anyone else.”
The giant raised his eyebrows. “Your standards are dubious. Well, come on then.”
Grace did not move. The giant examined her more closely.
“Oh, bloody hell. They actually tied you to a tree?”
Grace opened her mouth to respond and closed it again.
“Foolish humans,” the giant muttered as he crouched to her level. “And their little bedtime stories with stereotypes about giants. So ignorant.”
Grace waited for him to untie her, but instead his face moved closer until his mouth hovered inches from her body, his breath fluttering her hair. She shrank back against the tree with a sharp cry.
“Really?” asked the giant with a smirk. “But of course, we eat humans and use their bones as toothpicks.”
His front teeth found the knot and ripped it open. He lowered his hand to the ground next to Grace. “Climb on.”
Grace looked up at the giant.
“Well, you can’t walk all the way to my cabin, can you?”
She stepped onto the enormous palm, and the giant lifted her high and deposited her into his bag. The contents of the giant’s satchel were firm enough to support Grace as she looked out over the opening. Rainy Grove and the gorge disappeared behind them as the giant strode northwest.
As the darkening trees rolled past under her, Grace wondered if this was how it felt to be a bird. The giant’s enormous feet found a path through the trees, narrow for him but free from obstructions. Grace looked up. She could not see his face. “How far is it?” she called.
He did not respond. Did he hear me? “How far is it?” she shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth.
“Ten more minutes,” the giant said gruffly. He did not look at her.
Grace watched him. One powerful arm held the bag firmly to his side so that she did not swing. The fabric of his rough, brown tunic creased and straightened as he moved. Grace wondered how much cotton it took to make it.
She squinted into the distance. A huge, dark shape loomed ahead of them. The giant’s steps brought it quickly into focus. The wooden cabin stood 50 feet high and at least four times as wide. How many trees went into that thing?

Four trees towered in front of the house, seven times larger than any tree Grace had ever seen. As they passed, Grace’s eyes filled with tears. At the foot of one tree lay a patch of mounded earth with no grass on it. Owen, why did you do this? She shook her head. Owen could not have stopped Randy. She and Owen had lost their parents. It must be so much worse to lose a child.
The giant’s hand moved toward her and took a huge key from another pocket. He stooped slightly to get through the door and set down the bag. Without a word, he held his palm in front of Grace and she stepped onto it. He set her down on a hard surface and moved away. Grace stood still in the darkness until the giant lit two candles and she realized she was on a table the size of the village stage and about fifteen feet high. The smell of fresh wood told Grace that the cabin was new. Midnight blue curtains covered the windows, and the matching couch was the size of her house. Grace stepped back and felt something hard and cold at her back. It was a fork, and it was nearly as big as she was. She shuddered.

The giant sat cross-legged on a floor cushion and faced her.
“This is where you will live now, so you had better get used to it.”
“It’s...huge.”
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and he raised one eyebrow. “What did you expect, a rabbit burrow? Or maybe a beanstalk?”
Grace blushed. Stupid. “Mr...I’m sorry, what should I call you?”
“My name is Alistair.”
“I’m Grace.”
“I know. I heard that animal say it. At the tavern.”
Grace nodded. Strike two.

“Listen.” Alistair stood, produced a huge loaf of bread, some cheese, and an apple, and arranged them on the table. The apple reached her waist. “I told you I wouldn’t harm you, but there are some rules you need to follow. You are my servant now.”
Grace gulped as Alistair picked up a knife and cut a slice of bread. He took a morsel from the soft middle part and set it down next to her with a piece of cheese before cutting the apple. He handed her a slice, the size of one of her dinner plates back home and cut the rest over his own plate.

“First, you are not to leave the cabin without me. Tomorrow, I will show you the garden. You may rest there when you are not working, but you must not go beyond it.”
He took a bite of his bread and cheese. “I will have work for you to do, so you had better eat.”
Grace bit into the cheese. It was hard and tangy, different from the cheese in the village, but it was good. Juice dripped from the apple as she took a bite. Its sweet fragrance filled her nose, and she finished the whole piece.
Alistair watched her eat. “If you do what I say, you can expect to eat well. But if I catch you trying to run away…” He waved the knife and Grace leaped back with a shriek. “Well, you know the rest.”

Grace thought she detected smugness in his eyes as she got to her feet and straightened her dress. Is he laughing at me?
He finished his dinner and stood. “Come.” Grace stepped onto Alistair’s hand and he took her into a smaller room, set her next to a basin of water and closed the door. “You have five minutes.”
Grace washed, and the giant opened the door. “Do you need anything?” he asked as she climbed onto his hand.
She shook her head.
“Good.”

He deposited her into a cage that hung from the ceiling. “Until I know that you won’t run away. Plus, it’s just your size.”
Alistair disappeared into another room, leaving her alone. A thimble of water sat beside some soft bedding next to the golden bars. Only when she lay down did she realize how tired she was. She gazed at the ceiling as her mind processed the events of the day. Caught in the bars above her was a yellow feather the length of her forearm. She was too tired to wonder what it had come from. The sounds of Alistair’s deep breathing echoed through the cabin as Grace slid into sleep.