Princess between Worlds by E. D. Baker Page A

hand. He tried to hit the monster, but the creature was so squishy that the rock didn’t do any damage. It did seem to frighten the monster, however, because it made a soft mewling sound, pulled all its “flowers” out of the girl’s grasp, and fled into deeper water.
    The girl wailed and started to cry in great heaving sobs that made Annie clap her hands over her ears again. There was a loud roar and another monster swimming in the deeper water roared and came racing toward them even as the first one turned and started back. Waterfrothed behind the new monster and Annie could just make out its long, whiplike tail that propelled it through the waves at great speed.
    â€œAnnie, quick! Get out of the water!” Liam shouted. Wading toward her, he put his hands on her waist and lifted her onto the rocks before turning to face the advancing monsters.
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” shouted a voice so loud that Annie’s ears rang with the sound of it. Turning toward the forest, she saw more giants emerge from among the trees. The tallest, who would have looked like an ordinary man if he hadn’t been more than forty feet tall, was so similar to the little girl that he had to be her father. Annie assumed that the giant woman running beside him was the child’s mother. They had just reached the edge of the water when two boys came racing down the beach. With every step that the giants took, the earth shook beneath their feet, making it lurch and bounce beneath Annie and Liam.
    â€œIt’s a family of giants!” Annie said out loud, but her ears were still ringing and she couldn’t hear her own voice.
    She turned to Liam to see if he knew, but he was facing the two sea monsters with nothing more than a rock in his hand. Without a sword, he was virtually defenseless.
    â€œPenelope!” the giant woman cried, lumbering into the water and scooping up the girl. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œBlooger went away and took my flowers!” the giant girl sobbed.
    â€œWe’ve talked about this before,” her mother told Penelope while drying the child’s tears. “Those are Blooger’s flowers. It’s very nice of him to let you play with them, but you have to give them back when he leaves.”
    â€œMona, I believe that Penelope has made some new friends,” the girl’s father said, lowering his voice. Annie turned away from the crying child and found the giant looking from her to Liam. “It seems some wee ones have arrived on our little paradise. Young man, you don’t need to defend Penelope from the sea monsters anymore. They are actually her babysitters and are here to protect her. Blooger, Squidge, thank you for watching over Penelope today. Her mother and I can take over now.”
    Liam didn’t back away until both monsters turned and swam off. Annie sighed with relief. Liam was the bravest man she knew, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get hurt.
    â€œMore wee ones?” said Mona. “So many visitors in such a short time.”
    â€œPapa, what’s going on?” one of the boys asked, eyeing Liam, who was still holding the rock.
    â€œJust a misunderstanding,” said his father. “We seem to have some new arrivals. What’s this? Why are you wearing chains? Are you escaped criminals?”
    â€œNothing like that!” Liam replied. “A false friend shackled us and left us for a monster to eat. We escaped through magic and came here. I was trying to remove the shackles when your daughter found us.”
    â€œAh!” said the father. “Perhaps one of my sons can help you. Their hands are smaller than mine and can handle delicate things like your shackles. Clifton, why don’t you see what you can do?”
    â€œI’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Liam said as the two boys approached. They were both over thirty feet tall, although they looked like they were in their early