Free Of Giants and Ice (Ever Afters, The) by Shelby Bach Page A

all.”
    Chase and the triplets laughed, and Adelaide smiled wider.
    I made a mental note to search online for “The Town Musicians of Bremen” and figure out what was so funny. “What’s wrong with The White Snake?”
    “There’s nothing wrong with it,” Lena said slowly, “but—”
    “Have you heard of it?” Chase asked me.
    “No,” I said defensively, sure that he was going to make fun of me.
    “Then it can’t be the most impressive Tale in the world, can it?” Chase said.
    “Somebody eats a little bit of a white snake when he’s not supposed to,” Lena explained, “and then he can understand animals. He helps some of them out, and in return, they help him with some impossible tasks. Then he wins the princess or riches, depending.”
    “Oh,” I said, wondering what a seventh grader would do with a princess. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
    “It’s boring . It’s too easy. He’s going to let some ants do all the work,” Chase said. “When my Tale starts, you’ll know it. It’s going to be the best one in decades.”
    “Me too.” Adelaide shook her long blond hair back. “Snow White hasn’t happened for a while, and we haven’t had a new Sleeping Beauty in over a century.”
    “How do you know?” I asked. “Sarah Thumb said that we don’t find out what our Tale is until it starts.”
    “Don’t let them confuse you, Rory,” Lena said. “They’re just guessing. Wishful thinking.”
    “Chase and I have a better chance of getting a good Tale than you do, Lena,” Adelaide said scowling. “What do you have in your family tree? You’re descended from Madame Benne. Big whoop.”
    “Madame Benne was a great sorceress, an inventor—” Lena started, insulted. She pronounced “Benne” with a long “e.”
    “And who’s ever heard of her? How about you, Rory?”
    I hadn’t heard of her, but I glared at Adelaide rather than say so.
    “That’s not fair, Adelaide. Everyone used to know about her. When she was alive,” said the shortest triplet, the one with darker hair. “She died a long time ago, that’s all.”
    “Besides, Lena’s brother had his Tale just yesterday,” Kelly said loyally.
    “Yeah, but let’s be honest,” said Chase. “‘George and the Dragon’ is about a saint. It’s not even a real fairy tale.”
    Lena jutted out her chin stubbornly, but she didn’t say anything, which meant that she probably couldn’t think of a comeback. So, I told Chase, “Yeah, but you still wish you got to slay the dragon.”
    “I don’t need to slay any dragons,” Chase said, and I knew I’d struck a nerve. “I already told you. I’m going to have the best Tale this place has seen for centuries. Maybe even two awesome Tales. I could be one of the Brave Little Tailors or the Boy Who Went Out to Learn What Fear Was—”
    “You definitely aren’t the second one,” I said. “It looked like you had fear all figured out when the dragon cornered us.”
    From the way Chase’s face turned red, I was one more insult away from turning the playground into a battlefield again, or whatever. I hoped none of the other sixth graders knew any reporters.
    But Lena, who had looked like she was about to cry a fewseconds before, tried not to giggle. I guessed it was worth it.
    “Well, Chase may be climbing beanstalks and killing giants like his father soon,” Adelaide said. “We haven’t had a new Jack in years.”
    “That’s right,” Chase said, calming down a little. “Do you even know anything about the Tales in your family?”
    I had no idea, and I was beginning to worry that I was supposed to figure that out by myself. The phone calls would be so awkward: Hey, Aunt Lucy. Was Uncle Billy a frog before you kissed him?
    Adelaide stared down her nose at me, which took skill, because I was a couple inches taller than she was. “Are your parents even Characters?”
    I glanced at the other sixth graders, bracing myself for those faraway glazed expression that people get when