Free The Thief and the Beanstalk (Further Tales Adventures) by P. W. Catanese Page B

the seeds were sewn, moving and pausing to the beat, sloshing as it stopped and started. It was water being pumped to the seeds.
    In those incredible moments, Nick registered every detail of what was happening around him. A root paused at the top of the well, then slithered inside. Another root nearby, sensing some silent signal, followed it down. The rock walls of the well tumbled apart as the roots doubled in size, then doubled again, guzzling and pumping great gulps of water. Under Nick’s feet, there was a tumbling, grumbling sensation as the roots probed deeper and deeper, pushing dirt and boulders aside and splitting bedrock.
    Suddenly the mound gave a giant heave upward. The grass dome burst like a pimple on the earth’s cheek, dirt and pebbles rained everywhere, and there was the beanstalk. No, not one stalk—
three
, rising and twiningtogether. They shot thirty feet high in an instant, curving at the top like a trio of vipers ready to strike. Then with an unearthly roar, they pointed straight up and grew into the sky, intertwining as they rose. A living rope, thick as the greatest trees, was weaving itself before Nick’s eyes, impossibly fast, impossibly long, impossibly high.
    Up. Up. And up it went, gaining speed. A giant root intercepted the stream that ran nearby, dividing at its tip again and again until thousands of tiny squirming wormy fingers drank every drop. Downstream, fish suddenly flopped in the muck.
    Up. Up. And up. The high grass along the garden wall, green and lush one minute, dried and frizzled into hay the next.
    Up. Up. And up. A row of trees toppled as one.
    Up. Up. Up so high, Nick lost his balance and fell as he strained to follow the beanstalk’s path with his eyes.
    He lay flat on his back, the easier to watch it go skyward. His body quivered as the earth rumbled underneath it. Nothing could tear his gaze away from the beanstalk.
    Until he saw the cloud.
    The cloud came from the west, from somewhere over the ocean. It appeared at almost the same instant that the sun emerged over the opposite horizon. The first rays struck the edge of the cloud, gilding it. Beyond that,all was black and gray. The cloud was gigantic, of unimaginable size and mass, like the greatest storm ever known. As it swept over the land, rapidly approaching the growing beanstalk, it eclipsed the heavens and brought the dark of night back to the world beneath it.
    There was a bond between the beanstalk and the cloud. One belonged to the other, of that Nick was sure.
    At the foot of the beanstalk, the plant rustled and hissed as hundreds of branches and leaves and tendrils sprouted everywhere, filling the trunk with lush green growth. The quaking of the earth had subsided and the noise had dimmed, but he could still hear the slosh of water being pumped up to sustain the growth at the top.
    High above him the beanstalk narrowed to a thread in the sky, then vanished altogether, too far away to see.
    The cloud was drawing closer. It had a lazy spin as it approached. But that spinning motion came to a halt and even reversed itself a bit as one part of the cloud—a narrow peninsula that jutted out much farther than the rest—aligned itself with the beanstalk like the point of a compass.
    Then the beanstalk lurched skyward, straining at the roots that must have been anchored a hundred feet below ground. It seemed to be trying to stretch itself just a few feet higher, reaching for something to latch onto at the top. At the same time, the cloud itself descended to meet the rising plant.
    Nick felt like a fish watching a giant ship moor itself to its anchor line above him. A rumbling noise came down as the prow of the cloud and the plant touched. A shudder ran down the length of the beanstalk, top to bottom, resonating in the earth.
    And a matching shiver ran down Nick’s spine.

Chapter 9
    As Nick stood gawking at the beanstalk, a violent gust of wind swept over the crest of the ridge, down the slope, and across the valley,