Free Giants and Ogres by Madeline Smoot

it’s hard for me to tend anything except the orchards. The government sends us our necessities, and we save to buy other things we want.”
    Jack gestured at my necklace. “How did you manage to get that?”
    I fingered the gold links. “Oh, Jared can change metals into each other.”
    His eyes went wide, and just for an instant there was something in them I couldn’t catch. “That sounds like a fairy tale.” He grinned, and the look was gone. “And you’re the princess, trapped in your tower.”
    And how will you free me, my Prince, when I can’t even kiss you?
    I smiled. “Close enough.”
    The tech people stayed in the background, murmuring to each other. I amused myself by identifying the languages they spoke, trying not to eavesdrop. Just because Jack accepted us didn’t mean that the others did.Still, the worst I heard was one of them referring to us as “the poor bastards,” and another saying something about a cage, which the Cloud was in a very real sense.
    The show went off without a hitch, Jack singing an introduction as usual. Then he taped segments with us and did a live shot of all of us waving and smiling. Ella recorded it, and I imagined all of us watching it, over and over again. It would be bittersweet, but I wouldn’t trade the memories for the comfort of before.
    It was late that night when Jack knocked cautiously on the wall beside the curtain that marked my bedroom. He slipped in at my call and stood a moment looking up at me.
    â€œVivian, we need to talk.”
    I had considered the possibility that he would want to. They were going away tomorrow. Still, what was there to say?
    I held out my hand anyway, let him climb on and lifted him up to my bed.
    â€œI want you to know … I would be your prince if I could. I would rescue you from this tower, but there’s no place for you down below. Every step you took would be hemmed in, people would be afraid of you, and I think you’d be miserable.”
    All things I already knew, but I nodded, appreciating his effort.
    â€œAnd I … I can’t stay with you, Vivian. This isn’t my place.”
    â€œI know,” I whispered, sorry to see his distress. “It’s okay, really.”
    He shook his head. “It’s not okay. Because the others … they can leave, Vivian. They can have a place down below. I can help people to see them as they are, not as monsters. But they won’t leave, because they love you.”
    I fell back against the headboard, barely registering that the movement of the mattress made Jack fall to his knees. The thought of my friends, sacrificing for me? Oh, beautiful, but not acceptable.
    â€œYou have to take them,” I agreed. “They can’t give up that for me. It isn’t right.”
    â€œYou are so beautiful, inside and out,” Jack said fiercely. “If things were different ….”
    Blessedly, he left that unfinished.
    â€œShould I say goodbye?” I asked.
    He shook his head. “Pretend you’re asleep. We’ll leave now to get it over with.”
    I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I set himgently back down on the floor, and laid back against the pillows. I turned the light off and stared up at the darkness of the ceiling. I could have undressed, but there was no point. Tomorrow I’d only be alone.
    There were soft sounds a bit later, then Jack spoke softly in Cantonese. “Get the shipment in first.”
    Two of the tech crew were arguing in Swahili, and a third suddenly hissed in Russian. “The sedative is wearing off!”
    Sedative?
    In Swahili, “The cage!” and then in Standard a more familiar voice. “Viv?” Cyn called. “Viv, I’m scared.”
    â€œNow, now, don’t wake her, you know she’s too heart-broken for a goodbye,” Jack said soothingly in Standard, although there was an edge to his voice.
    The Swahili told