Free [Half/Time 01] Half Upon a Time by James Riley Page B

slapping them both up against the back of the giant’s mouth. They hit with a wet smack, stuck for a moment, then fell backward again, jiggling to a stop over what Jack figured was the throat.
    Unfortunately, being soft and wet, the column of skin hanging in the giant’s throat wasn’t exactly easy to hang on to. Jack loosened his grip a bit to shift his body, and his arms slipped on the slick surface. He began to slide down the column toward the giant’s throat.
    “No!” he shouted to the giant, hugging the skin flap tighter despite the fact that everything about this was making him ill. “You’re not going to eat me! Do you hear me?!”
    “I hear you,” said a soft voice from directly behind him.
    Jack almost lost his grip again from surprise. “Who’s there?!” he shouted. “Who are you?!”
    “Is that
really
the most important question right now?” the voice asked calmly. “Let’s prioritize, shall we? To start, you seem to be in a spot of trouble.”
    “Trouble?” Jack said, trying to climb back up the skin flapbut only succeeding in slipping farther down it. “Nah, I’m fine over here. Everything’s good. How are you?”
    “A bit worried, to be perfectly honest,” the voice said. “I’m not entirely sure you will survive this. And unfortunately, I can’t help you.” The voice sounded sad.
    Jack almost laughed at the sheer insanity of that statement. “Well, thanks. That’s not really surprising, considering the day I’ve had. Anyway, I hate to point this out, but aren’t you in the same trouble I am? You’re trapped here in the giant’s mouth too. Maybe
I
won’t help
you
! See how
you
like it!”
    The voice laughed softly. “No, I’m in no danger. But you won’t last very long where you are. You would most likely fare better over here.”
    Jack flung his head around to see, but it didn’t really do much good—the dark in front of him looked exactly the same as the dark behind him. “Um, over where?”
    “On the giant’s tongue,” said the voice. “It’s more stable, if only a bit.”
    “Sounds like a plan,” Jack said. “I’ll just jump over there in the dark, miss, then fall down the throat. Watch out, I might give this guy a little indigestion, and let’s be honest, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes if he burps.”
    “You may fall,” the voice conceded, “or you may reach safety.” The voice paused. “Perhaps it is safer to stay there. At the very least, slipping into the giant’s throat gradually will let you live longer than if you jump over here and miss.”
    “True,” Jack admitted. “But if I jump and make it, I might live longer than
that
, by like decades, even.”
    “Those
are
the two possibilities,” the voice said, now sounding amused.
    Jack growled again. “Stop being annoying and just tell me how far to jump!”
    “No farther than is necessary,” the voice said.
    “Oh, I get it!” Jack shouted. “You’re here to torture me!” Before the voice could respond, Jack angrily took a deep breath, pulled his feet up underneath him, then launched himself backward, kicking off the slippery column as hard as he could.
    He sailed through the dark for what felt like hours, absolutely positive he’d missed the tongue completely and was now tumbling down into the giant’s stomach….
    And then Jack splashed into something warm and wet, spit raining down all over him. He never would have thought he’d be so happy to have landed on a giant’s stinking, soggy tongue.
    “It looks like you made it,” the voice said dryly from behind him.
    “Well, after all your help, how could I not?” Jack said, trying to wipe the giant’s saliva off himself and failing miserably.
    “What made you jump?” the voice asked.
    Jack gradually made it to his feet after a few slippery attempts. “I decided that it was better to take the chance and die than live a few more minutes listening to you,” he said.
    The voice laughed.
    “Who
are
you?” Jack said,