by E. D. Baker
"Well, Eadric," said Grassina, obviously becoming impatient, "regardless of what happened to Mudine, she did a good job when she transformed you. You are a very handsome frog."
Eadric beamed and ran his hand over his smooth green scalp as if brushing back nonexistent hair. I had never realized that a frog could look so vain.
"And what is that vial you're wearing on your back?" asked Grassina. "It looks like aged dragon's breath, if I'm not mistaken."
Reaching behind him, Eadric patted the vial and nodded. "It's a little something I picked up in Vannabe's cottage. Didn't want to leave it there for her to misuse."
"Very good thinking, Eadric. Leaving it for someone who doesn't know what she's doing would have been a terrible idea."
Eadric's smile was so smug it was sickening.
Grassina turned and looked me in the eye. "And as for you, you seem to know quite a bit about Emma's grandmother. You really want me to believe that you're my niece, Emma, don't you?"
"But I am Emma!"
"All right then, tell me why I should believe you. Let me hear your story so I can make up my mind." Grassina gently picked us up and carried us to a small table. Wings folded, the glass butterflies rested on the crystalline blossoms. I made myself comfortable beneath the nodding bloom of a large amethyst-colored rose. Eadric sat beside me, eyes wide as he realized that the flowers and butterflies were alive.
Sitting back in her chair, my aunt waited for me to begin.
"Where should I start?" I asked.
"Start with the day you became a frog."
"It's a long story," I warned.
"I'm in no hurry."
"Well," I began, "it was the day Prince Jorge came to visit...."
I have always been a thorough storyteller. I left out no details, including many that Grassina could have done without. Eadric fell asleep halfway through the story. Grassina, however, seemed to be captivated. She scowled when I told her about Vannabe's treatment of the animals, and she laughed when I told her about the way the fireflies lit up Eadric's throat. She interrupted me only once, when she got up to get herself a cup of tea and a saucer of water for me. My throat was sore by the time I finally finished talking.
"Wonderful story!" said Grassina. "Very entertaining! But anyone with a little imagination could have made it up. Tell me why I should believe that you are my niece. I need some sort of proof, something that you can't have overheard and is specific to Emma."
There was a rustling at the window and a black shape darted into the room. It flew behind Grassina's chair and cowered under the seat. "Tickle her!" said a voice. "Or tell her a really funny joke."
"What was that?" Grassina said, jumping to her feet.
"That's Li'l. I told you about her."
"Ah, yes, the witch's bat." Grassina crouched beside her chair and peered at the bat clinging to the underside of the seat. "So, Li'l, you think you might be interested in living here?"
"That depends. Are you a real witch or a pretender like Vannabe?"
"Oh, I'm a real witch all right. Just ask Emma's mother."
"Do you practice magic much?"
"I not only practice it, I do it! So, did I pass the test?"
"I guess, but there's still a problem. You don't have any rafters. Where's a bat to hang out without rafters?"
"Hmmm, rafters. I hadn't thought of that." Grassina tilted her head to look up at the ceiling. The witches' lights bobbed in the gentle breeze blowing through the window. "And I have all those lights, too. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll think of something. But what did you mean when you suggested that we tickle the frog?"
"Tickle her and you'll see."
Eadric had woken shortly before the end of the story. "I will!" he said, reaching for me.
"I don't know about this," I said, backing away from Eadric. "I don't like being tickled."
"It's for a good cause," he said, grabbing my arm with one hand and tickling me with the other. He tickled my neck. He tickled my sides. He tried to tickle under my arms, but I squirmed away, bumping into the vase. A pale pink rose quivered, dropping loose petals, which landed on the table with a chink chink chink.
Eadric grabbed my foot and sat down to tickle it.
"No!" I shouted. "Not that!" And that's when I began to laugh. I laughed until my sides hurt. I laughed until tears ran down my cheeks. I laughed until I was weak and gasping for breath. And my laughter didn't sound like the tinkling of bells. It was full-blown guffaws, belly laughs that started deep inside of me and erupted out of my mouth.
"Emma!" said the Green Witch, and she began to laugh, too. "Only my Emma laughs like that! It has to be true!"
"Stop! Stop!" I gasped, too weak to push Eadric away. Grinning, he let go of my foot and collapsed on the table.
"Tell me," he said, craning his neck to look at my aunt, "wouldn't there have been an easier way? Don't you have any magic powder or a spell to help you see who she really is?"
"Yes, I do, and I believe I'll use it now. There's something I want Emma to see Emma, you stand over here," she said, picking me up and setting me on the floor. "Eadric, you'd better step back. You don't want to be caught in the backwash."
Li'l peeked out from under the seat, her interest in magic greater than her fear of strangers. "Are you going to do magic now?"
"Yes, I am. Would you like to help me?"
"Oh, would I!" Li'l scurried across the floor to Grassina's side, gazing up at her with awe. "Mudine never let me do anything—except catch bugs, that is!"
Grassina nodded in understanding. "I see," she said. "But things will be different here." She turned and looked about, her eyes finally settling on an old candle stub resting in a congealed puddle of melted wax atop her worktable. With a whispered word and a flick of her finger, Grassina lit the candle. "Now, when I tell you, blow out that flame. But don't do it until I tell you to, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," said Li'l. "I understand perfectly! Blow out that flame when you tell me to and not before! Yes, ma'am." Her eyes glittering with excitement, Li'l fluttered to the table, landing between a rolled parchment and the candle. Keeping her eyes on Grassina's face, Li'l puffed out her cheeks and held her breath.
"I do like enthusiasm," Grassina leaned down to whisper to me. "But we'd better hurry and get started before she passes out." Raising her arm, she pointed her finger at me and said, "Li'l, now!"
It took the little bat three puffs to blow out the candle, but when she finally did, the whole room suddenly went dark, darker than it had been before the candle was lit, since even the witches' lights had gone out. "How was that?" Li'l said, sounding pleased with herself.
Grassina spoke and her voice was sweet and clear.
Beyond the charm,
Beyond the spell,
Show us the truth
You know so well.
Discard the false
And let us see
Your real form
As it should be.
A shower of sparkles swept through the room, swirling around me like powdery snow caught in a sudden draft. They tickled my nose and I sneezed, squeezing my eyes shut. When I opened them, I could see myself standing above me, or at least that's the way it seemed. Where it had been dark only a moment before, the air now glowed with a diffuse light, showing my normal young-girl body standing with feet squarely planted where I still squatted on the floor. It was a bit disconcerting at first, until I realized that I could see through the image. Although no more solid than fine mist, my body looked natural except for the sparkles. At first I thought they were part of Grassina's spell, but they lingered, twinkling like a thousand fireflies around my image.
"What are those sparkles?" I asked.
Grassina turned to Li'l, who was hopping about on the table, her wings quivering with excitement. "I think Li'l can answer that, can't you, Li'l?"
Li'l bobbed up and down, too agitated to hold still. "She's got the touch, doesn't she? She's got the special flair that Mudine always talked about!"
"She means that you have a talent for magic," said Grassina. "It's a special gift and you have to be born with it. From what you've told me, Vannabe doesn't have it, but whether you want it or not, you do."
"I knew she did!" chimed in Li'l. "It took more than just being able to read to make those spells work so fast! You should have seen it. One minute those cages were locked tighter than a fat dog's collar, then she read that spell and wham! We were out of there! Mudine's spells never worked half that fast!"
Even after I'd worked the spells from Mudine's old books, I'd thought they had succeeded only because they were foolproof. I stood dumbly staring at my image with my mouth gaping like a dying fish. Maybe I really was meant to be a witch. Maybe, if I worked hard enough at it, I could come up with a spell that would rid me of my clumsiness. And maybe I could help other people as well! Grassina herself was always doing just that.
Grassina gestured broadly and the witches' lights glowed again, brightening the room and dissolving my already-thinning image. Her glance fell on me and her lips softened once more. "It's so good to have you back, Emma. I'd hug you, but I'm afraid I'd squash you flat."
"I'll wait," I said, relieved at her restraint.
"How do you like being a frog?"
"It has its moments. But that's what we want to talk to you about. We need you to turn us back into humans. Can you do it tonight or do you have to get ready first?"
"It's not that easy, I'm afraid. We have to determine why you became a frog. You say you kissed Eadric?"
I nodded. "It wasn't a very big kiss, either."
"Hmm," my aunt said, thinking hard. "Was there anyone else present when it happened?"
"No, we were alone."
"What were you wearing that day?"
"I had on my blue gown and my third-best shoes and my hair was—"
"No, I mean what jewelry did you have on? Do you remember?"
"Nothing, really, just the bracelet you gave me."
"Do you mean the charm reversal bracelet I gave you when you were five?"
"Charm reversal bracelet? So it wasn't just a pretty bracelet that glowed in the dark!"
"That bracelet had a special magic of its own. I gave it to you when you were just a little girl to protect you. Any witch who tried to cast a spell on you would find that same spell bouncing back onto her. But if you had that on when you kissed Eadric ..."
"I did," I said, nodding.
"Then that may be the answer. You see, the spell wasn't being cast on you."
"So when Eadric and I kissed ..."
"The bracelet reversed the charm. Kissing Eadric was supposed to turn him back into a human, but instead the reverse happened and you turned into a frog. That should be easy to fix. All you need to do is put on the bracelet and kiss Eadric again. If you do that, you'll both revert to your human forms."
I should have been happy that we knew what had caused my transformation, but I was disappointed that the solution wasn't going to be easier. When I noticed that my aunt was watching me, I frowned and began to fidget.
"You do know where the bracelet is, don't you, Emma?" asked Grassina.
"Sort of," I said reluctantly. "We saw an otter swim away with it. I guess we have to find him ... unless you can do something about it. Can't you undo the spell with one of your own?"
"Certainly, if I had cast the spell in the first place. But I didn't, so you are the only one who can reverse it. However, I might be able to help you find the otter Eadric, you look troubled. Is something wrong?"
"Not really," he said. "It's just that every time I think I'm going to become a prince again, something happens. Maybe I'm supposed to live out the rest of my life as a frog."
"You can if you want to, but then Emma will remain a frog as well. Your spells are linked now, so you either both remain frogs or you both turn back into humans."
"I vote for the human," I said, remembering how often my life had been in danger as a frog.
"Then I do, too," said Eadric. He sighed and scratched the back of his head with his toe. "I don't suppose you know anyone who is going toward the swamp tomorrow, do you?"
"I'll take you there myself. It isn't every day that I get to carry a prince and a princess in a basket!"
Sixteen
With dawn still hours away, we decided to get as much sleep as we could before heading for the swamp. Eadric was already snoring softly on a cushioned chair when Grassina bent down to say good night. "Sleep well, Emma. It may take longer than you expect to find the bracelet. I want you to have your wits about you so you'll come back in one piece. I don't know what I'm going to tell your parents about this."
"Don't tell them anything," I said. "I'll talk to them myself when we get back." I had no idea what I would tell them, but I knew that I had a lot to say. I was pleased when I realized that the thought of confronting my parents didn't make me nervous the way it would have before.
"Good!" Grassina said, sounding satisfied. "I knew that sooner or later you would handle these things yourself. But I must tell you that your mother misses you more than you might think. When she first realized you were gone, she had everyone in the castle out looking for you. She isn't a bad person, you know. In fact, when we were younger, she was rumored to be the nicer sister."
"That must have been hard on you."
Grassina chuckled. "But it was true! I was the one with the magic, you see, and I was always getting into trouble. We knew from our earliest childhood who had the gift and who didn't. It wasn't fair to your mother, of course. She was left out of so many things. But in the end it wasn't fair to me, either, for your grandmother favored me and rejected my only suitor for not being good enough, whereas Chartreuse was free to marry whomever she chose."
"You mean to say that she chose Father? I thought it was an arranged marriage."
"If it was arranged, she did it herself."
"Did my mother resent you?" I asked.
"Of course she did! I was the favorite child, after all. I think that's why she's been so hard on you. We're so much alike, you and I."
We took short naps and woke just before dawn. Grassina lined a wicker basket with soft cloths, placed a small fruit tart on the bottom, then set it on the floor. "I know fruit tart isn't normally part of a frog's diet, but I thought you might be hungry, and I'm out of insects."
Eadric promptly crawled into the basket and flicked his tongue toward the tart.
"This is wonderful!" he announced, settling down to devour the rest.
I followed him, too excited to eat. "Isn't this great, Eadric?" I said as Grassina lifted the basket. "We'll find the otter, get the bracelet, and I'll kiss you. We can be back in time for lunch, dinner at the latest."
"I'd be less worried if I were doing it as a human," grumbled Eadric.
Grassina carried the basket down the stairs and through the Great Hall. The dogs were awake, begging for scraps and getting under the servants' feet. Bowser took one look at my aunt and scurried under the table, but three other dogs came to investigate the basket, nudging it with their noses and whining to see inside. The wonderful smells of fruit tart and frog were more than they could resist. Grassina shooed them away, but they were persistent and followed her to the door. I crouched in the bottom of the basket with my eyes tightly shut, as if that would protect me from the dogs. Eadric was so engrossed in eating his fruit tart that he never noticed anything.
Once through the garden, I gave Grassina directions to the pond where I had met Eadric. While Eadric finished off the tart, I peered over the edge of the basket and watched the world go by. Little had changed since I last saw the pond. A wood duck had left its webbed footprints in the mud. A queen bee had started a new hive in the old hollow tree at the edge of the pond. Nothing looked as big and scary from up high. I began to feel as though I could handle anything.
"Now, where did this kiss take place?" Grassina asked. "We need to be fairly precise, so try to remember."
I pointed to a bare spot by the edge of the pond where nothing seemed to grow. "Right over there!"
"Are you sure?" said Eadric, leaning over the side of the basket for a better look.
"Of course I'm sure! It was my first kiss! I remember everything about it . . . at least until things went fuzzy."
"Fine!" said Grassina, catching Eadric as he started to tumble out of the basket, overbalanced by the vial he still wore. "Then you two sit right here and we'll see if we can find that otter."
After setting the basket on an old stump, Grassina took something shiny and black out of the pouch attached to her gown. Light glinted off its sharp angles and flat surfaces the same way it did off one of my father's highly polished swords.
"Where did you get that?" I asked. I had never seen it before and I thought I was familiar with most of the tools my aunt used for her magic.
"While I was on that trip last week, I did a small favor for a dragon. He gave me one of his scales to show his appreciation. Dragons are known for having an unerring sense of direction, so I thought this might come in handy. Now watch this "
Holding the scale at arm's length, Grassina stepped to the spot I'd shown her and said,
A golden bracelet rich with charms
Fell to this soggy ground.
An otter chanced upon it here
And took what he had found.
The rightful owner wants it back,
She seeks the otter so
She can retrieve that which is hers.
Please tell her where to go.
Although the scale remained black as coal, colored lights began to shoot through it, red and blue, blue, then red. "Here," said Grassina walking over to set the scale in the basket, propping it against the side so I could see my reflection in its shiny surface. "As the bracelet's rightful owner, place your hand on the scale and determine which direction we must go."