Page 12

Chapter Twelve

T he wagon slides toward the troll’s massive hand, but one of the wheels catches on a broken plank. The jolt ripples and dislodges me from Garrett’s hold. Luckily, I’m still clinging to him and my grip tightens when my legs slip from the wagon so I’m hanging in the air.

“Don’t you dare let go!” I shout at him.

His right hand holds to the side of the wagon, keeping both of us on. “I’m trying not to,” he says through gritted teeth. He shifts his grip onto my forearm, holding as tightly as possible. The muscles in his arms are taut with effort.

My ribs explode in agony as I’m pulled with my arms over my head.

Garrett’s blue eyes snap to the troll. “My name is Captain Garrett Bath of the king’s guard! I command you to release us immediately as you are impeding the mission we have been given from King Willard the Seventh, which requires us to cross this bridge!”

“King’s guard?” The troll leans closer. The ropes groan in protest and I know if he puts any more pressure on them, they’ll snap. His rancid breath floats over us.

I hold my breath as tears sting my eyes. My grip is slipping.

“I never eaten one of them. You look like your hide is tough. But juicy.” A ball of drool plops down on the bridge to my left.

Pancho is scrambling to stay on the bridge. “Help! Elowyn! Help! Falling!” His hooves clatter loudly.

Things inside the wagon are dislodging and falling against the canopy, and I hope Acorn and Kai have found a place to stay safe.

“Please don’t eat us!” I beg. “Let us cross! We can find something else for you to eat!”

“You’ve got a nice donkey there. I like donkey.” The troll lifts his hand off the bridge, which snaps it back into place and makes it sway.

My legs land hard against the edge of the bench, but I scramble back on and wrap my arms around Garrett for a better grip in case the troll tips the bridge again. Garrett wraps his arm around my shoulders and grabs a fistful of the side of my skirt and bodice top in a more secure hold.

Pancho screams as the troll picks him up and breaks the arms of the wagon away.

“No!” I yell. “Don’t eat him! Please! We need him!”

I wish I knew more magic, more that would be useful in a situation like this. I can’t cast a fireball or lightning storm like the sorcerers can, and I can’t make a windstorm out of nowhere.

But I know potions.

“Let go.” I push against Garrett.

He hesitates before listening, and I scramble into the back of the wagon.

It’s an absolute disaster. Potions and vials are mixed with broken fruit preserves. I rummage through the jars, looking for the vial of glittering orange liquid I know I brought with me. I can’t immediately see Kai or Acorn, but I have no time to search for them either. Finally, I spot the vial wedged under the bench and snatch it up. But another vial catches my eye. A blue one. If I time this right, I could save us.

I scramble back over the bench.

Garrett grabs my legs to steady me. “Careful!”

The troll tilts his head back and dangles Pancho over his mouth. He seems to be enjoying the terror in Pancho’s body as he yells to me for help.

With all the strength I have, I throw the orange vial, and cry out as soon as I do so. I fall to my knee on the bench, gasping and clutching my side. Garrett pulls me against him.

The vial strikes the troll right in the eye and explodes. A puff of orange mist floats around his head and he sucks in a big breath. And then another. He drops his hand down on the opposite cliff wall, unintentionally releasing Pancho, and lets out a loud sneeze that makes the world around us tremble.

“What was that? Please say it’s something to kill him.”

“I don’t...kill people,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Then what was it?”

I watch the troll. “It’s a joke potion. Sneezing. I sell them to the kids. I hoped to distract him. I need...him closer.” I squeeze my eyes shut in pain.

I don’t have the strength to push Garrett away. It hurts to breathe. I barely even care that Garrett has lifted me into his arms and slipped off the wagon’s bench. I would prefer he were Kai, but he’s not, and I don’t know what to do about this new realization.

The troll wrinkles his nose, a glob of snot hanging from his right nostril. “What was that?” He sneezes again. “Because of you, I’ve lost my lunch!”

“If you do not stop, I will have no choice but to act in defense of the throne,” Garrett says with authority dripping from his tone. It would probably look better if he were holding his sword instead of me, but he’s taking deliberate steps toward the opposite side of the ravine.

“Aye? What are you gonna do? Poke me with your little stick?” He leans his face close. “I’ll give you the first strike for free.”

Garrett stops. He glances at me, at the other side of the ravine, and back at the troll, clearly contemplating his options.

“Put me down.” I show him the blue vial.

His eyes narrow in a way that asks if I’m positive he should do that.

I nod.

“Okay.” Garrett slowly rests me on my feet.

I turn to the troll and use my thumb to pop the cork from the mouth of the bottle as I approach him. “You are intelligent. You must let some people pass. What do you ask in return?”

He snorts, sending the snot raining down.

Garrett quickly steps between me and the troll so he is shielding me, and the snot hits him on the back. “Eww.” His shoulders rise to his ears.

“You want to barter?” The troll laughs.

Garrett frowns. “I have to fight him. It’s the only way,” he whispers. “You don’t need to watch this. Go back and find Prince Kaison and Acorn.”

“Garrett, give me a chance.” I grab his arm. I know he’s a soldier. I know he knows how to fight. But has he ever taken on a troll by himself? I doubt it.

He pushes me away and draws his sword.

The troll grins and leans his head over the bridge so he’s feet from us. “One strike, human.”

With all the strength I have left, I throw the blue vial into the troll’s face. Kai taught me how to throw stones, a talent I used to scare off wolves a couple of winters ago. My aim is right on, and it lands in the troll’s mouth.

He coughs and splutters, his brows knitting in confusion. His eyes momentarily widen. He scratches at his throat. And then his hands begin to shrink. His arms are next. Then his head, legs, and finally torso.

I lean over the side of the bridge.

The troll, once several men tall, is now barely the size of Garrett.

Garrett appears by my side.

“What just happened?” Garrett mutters.

“Shrinking potion. It’s a rather useful enchantment too.” I smile in relief. “We need to go, though. I don’t know how long he’ll stay small—it isn’t an exact science. Yet.” I turn away. “Kai! Acorn!”

“We’re safe!” a muffled voice shouts back. It’s Acorn’s.

“I can carry you,” Garrett offers.

“I’ll be fine,” I object. “I’m just slower.”

We make it to the wagon, but the tongue has been snapped off and Pancho is nowhere to be seen. My heart aches at the thought. He was a good donkey and hasn’t been out in the wild like this. I hope he can find his way home.

“I don’t think either of us can move this,” Garrett says, studying the wagon. “Let’s unload as much of the provisions as we can salvage. I’ve got enough room in my pack I can carry your bedding. I don’t suppose you can make an enchantment for a pack to be bottomless?” He says it in a teasing tone, hoisting his bag out of the mess and resting it on the dislodged side of the wagon.

“I’ve done it before,” I say. “It will hold more than usual, but it won’t be bottomless. If we enchant your bag, we have a better chance of it being deeper than mine.” I step over to him and grab the strap of the bag. “ Et unding atan .”

The orb in my pouch grows warm and the bag sparks.

Garrett jumps back, nearly dropping the bag.

A burned smell fills the air and I can’t help but grimace, fearing I spoke the incantation incorrectly.

Garrett hesitantly reaches his arm in and his eyes widen when he’s able to dip in until the entirety of his arm is inside. “That’s incredible. You look shocked,” he comments.

“I’ve never enchanted something to be that deep.” I blink.

Garrett shrugs and begins by packing medicines followed by food, which all somehow fits.

My fingers brush the orb in my pouch. Did the ball do something to my spell?

“How far do you think you can walk?” Garrett shoulders his pack, now bulging with everything we may need.

“I think we should go until I physically can’t.” I settle Acorn in his pouch and hold Kai in my hand.

“If you lean on me as we walk, you may be able to go farther,” Garrett offers.

“We’ll see.” I’m silently hoping the Mirror Falls hold up to their namesake, because I can’t live with this pain while trying to negotiate with fairies over Kai’s fate. “When we find the fairy ring, are we planning on stepping in and hoping they’ll help us? Because if fairies were banished and locked away, wouldn’t there be some animosity?”

“They would only have themselves to blame. They betrayed the king and broke a deal. The consequence was them being banished.”

“It’s a little of both,” Kai says.

I part my hands so I can see him.

He croaks. “My mother couldn’t have children. Father got every sorcerer and sorceress and witch and— croak —whomever else he could find with magic to help. Croak. But nothing they did could grant her children. Until— croak— a fairy sorceress showed up and— croak— granted her the ability to have children.”

My chest tightens. Kai has croaked before, but...not while talking. I glance at Garrett to see if he’s noticed, and Garrett meets my eyes in a way that tells me he has.

Kai continues as if nothing strange is happening. “The fairies— croak— tried to steal me as a baby. Croak . So Father locked them away.”

I’m not so concerned about what happened with the fairies any longer. “I have the ball. I can offer to return it in exchange for them fixing him,” I suggest to Garrett. “It must be valuable. Kai!”

He leaps out of my hands and extends his tongue to catch a small moth and lands on the ground effortlessly. He gulps down the moth, the powder of its wings flecking onto his face.

“Elowyn...I think we need to move a little more quickly,” Garrett says in a gentle tone.

I feel on edge as my own hands begin to tremble with worry. “I agree.” I quicken my pace, wishing more than ever I had a stronger medicine for broken ribs. That is going to be on my list as soon as I get home.

Kai turns his frog body to face me. “Why are you so frantic? I was hungry.”

I force a smile. “I’m not frantic. I need to eat too, and we need to get moving.”

Kai ribbits and rubs his frog hand across his face to wipe away the powder. He scrambles up my arm and rests on my shoulder.

Garrett steps up to my side and slides his hand over mine. “We’re almost there.”

“What if they can’t save him?” My voice is tight. “Or what if they refuse? I’ve lost everyone else. I thought I lost him when he got married, but this is...” I swallow hard and look up at the soldier. “This is permanent. I can’t even see him again if he’s a frog. I can’t look into...” I catch myself and clear my throat.

Garrett smiles softly and drops his hand. “You must care for him a lot.”

I sigh heavily. “Yes. And no. It’s complicated,” I admit.

“Hm. It doesn’t stop the hurt though.”

“No.” As a child, I insisted I would marry him. As we grew older and he started spending more time in the castle for lessons, he spent less time with me. He was always brilliant, but he is ages ahead of me in knowledge. He also spent more time with higher-class people, and I often watched from a distance. He interacted with proper ladies much differently than he did with me. A part of me realized some time ago that we would never really get married. But it still felt good to pretend.

Garrett expertly changes the subject. “You say you believe the princess is a fairy?”

I give an annoyed sigh.

“I was just thinking about what her motivation would be in marrying Prince Kaison,” Garrett explains.

I shake my head. “Not that so much as turning him into a frog. Marrying into the throne makes sense. When the king dies, his son takes...over...” I blink. “And turning the prince into a frog means she can take over the kingdom.”

“Huh.” Garrett’s brows knit together as he works through his own thought process. “It sort of makes sense.”

“It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

Unlike yesterday, the sun is high in the sky and has brought the touch of summer heat with it. I remove my sweater and tuck it so it hangs over the strap of my pouch. In the distance, I can finally hear the roar of the waterfall. We stop for a few minutes in the shade of a tree to take a drink.

“Your mustache is crooked and driving me crazy.” I reach out and twist the tip of the left side of his mustache, which has been hanging down all afternoon. Finally, I get it to stay. “You really need to cut this off if you can’t at least make it look the same.” When I look up into his eyes I feel a pull at my heart.

He reaches up and straightens my hat. “Then you should know how to make your hat straight.”

My heart skips. “I don’t have a mirror.”

“Neither do I.”

“I thought with how dashing you always look, you must keep one in your breast pocket.” I twitch my brows.

He chuckles and pats his chest. “No breast pocket.”

He’s close enough I can smell the little bit of scent lingering on his clothes—unless he packed his cologne with him, which I doubt. His eyes are a stunning sky blue with bursts of icy highlights. I could get lost in those eyes.

And then a frog lands on the side of his face.

“Ah!” Garrett grabs Kai and throws him down.

“Garrett!” I scold and scoop up Kai. “Are you all right? What were you thinking?”

“Do I really have to explain?” He might be glaring, but it’s hard to tell.

I roll my eyes, because why would he be jealous, and decide to change the subject. “How much longer do you think we have?” I ask Garrett as we start walking again.

“Just a couple of hours. How is your side?”

“It hurts,” I confess. “But I’ll make it.”

The hill the waterfall belongs to looks like a wart in an otherwise flat landscape. I don’t know what other roads meet up with this one, but people come into view along the way. Each of them has some sort of ailment—an arm in a sling, burn scars, limping on a cane, riding in a wagon, elderly and arthritic, or unseen illnesses. I should have packed an empty jar so I could collect water, but the best I have might be a small potion bottle.

The road bends around the trees and then suddenly opens, exposing the enormous cliff with the most stunning white waterfall I have ever seen in my life. As it hits the river below it leaves a lovely mist. Vibrant green moss covers the stone nearest the waterfall from top to bottom, and ferns with large leaves dangle between the cracks in the stone. It’s like a different part of the world has been ripped from somewhere and deposited here. The foliage looks like nothing I’ve ever seen.

“This way,” Garrett says, beginning the walk around the waterfall.

But there’s a cluster of water lilies I must investigate. They aren’t new to me—we have water lilies in the ponds in the woods, but those are white. These are the most vibrant shade of purple I have ever seen. The yellow centers almost glow. Plump honey bees gather their pollen and distribute it to other flowers as they fly about, creating a magical atmosphere. It’s no wonder people believe this water is magical.

“Elowyn?” Garrett calls.

“Coming.” Or I was—until Kai leaps from my pocket and onto one of the lily pads. “Kai!” I lunge forward and snatch him with both hands.

And slip right into the water.

I surface and scramble onto the banks, now soaked. Even with the summer heat in the air, the water is freezing and a shiver bursts through me, causing pain to burn through my ribs. I clutch my side and gasp.

But the burning slowly fades.

Frog Kai rests near my hand, his throat moving as he stares at me.

“That wasn’t funny.” I pick up Kai.

“It was.” He croaks. “You’re all wet now.”

I grab my hat floating at the edge of the water, and in doing so, realize my ribs pull but don’t explode with the pain they had only moments ago.

“Are you all right, dear?” A woman with two men and a cluster of other women keeps a safe distance as she asks.

“Just wet. I’m fine.” I smile and stand.

“You were...talking to yourself. Maybe you need another bath in the waters?” She gestures back to the river.

“Oh. No. It’s...” I hold up the frog and realize that saying I can speak with animals isn’t going to stop her from thinking there is something off with me.

Garrett reappears and says nothing as he puts his hand on my back and guides me away from the staring crowd. “Did you pack any extra clothes in my bag?”

“I didn’t think I would need them.”

Acorn screeches as he clambers out of the dripping pouch. “I’m soaking wet!”

“What were you thinking?” Garrett catches the grumpy hedgehog.

“Kai jumped in.” I have my hands close to my body and move my fingers to look down at him.

“The water felt good,” Kai explains.

“He must have been dehydrated,” I explain. “But it helped my ribs.”

Garrett looks between us. “Elowyn, did he just speak?”

I nod slowly.

“I...only heard a croak.”

I stop dead in my tracks, my breath stolen. “You can’t understand him anymore?”

Garrett shakes his head.

“Kai.” My chest clenches. I look back at the frog.

Acorn gasps. “Hurry! Kiss him!”

I look at him. “How would that help?”

“True love’s kiss! Haven’t you heard fairytales?”

I don’t care how foolish I look. If it is supposed to work, it’s worth a try. I bring the frog to my lips and kiss Kai.

He croaks.

I hold my breath.

Garrett clears his throat. “We’re gaining an audience. Come on.” He reaches a hand down to help me to my feet.

My heart sinks like a stone.

Kai doesn’t change.

I’ve never felt so helpless. I walk as fast as I can with Garrett, away from the riverbanks and further into the woods. We don’t say anything because all I can think about is how I have no idea how to help Kai, he’s becoming more of a frog, and I’m about to lose him.

Lose him.

It was different “losing him” to a princess when he would still be alive and...human. But to lose him to becoming a frog for the rest of his life is far more tragic. I can’t walk fast in my soaking skirt, so I stop and pull it off, as well as the top, leaving me in only the beige under dress and the undergarments beneath.

“Elowyn, what are you doing?” Garrett looks around uncomfortably.

“We need to hurry and I’m weighed down by my dress.” I throw my hair back in a quick ponytail, set my dripping hat on my dress, and swallow hard. I have to leave it behind. This is for Kai. Material things mean nothing with Kai’s life at risk.

I begin up the path Garrett started up. It’s little more than a game trail and only visible through the long grass because we are on it.

Garrett follows directly behind me. “Do you want my cloak?” he offers.

“I’m fine.” I don’t even look back at him.

We have to scramble up rocks in one section in order to shimmy around to the side Samuel mentioned. I’m actually grateful Kai jumped into the water because my ribs feel immensely better, meaning the water from the falls does have healing properties after all.I’ll have to return and collect some.

“Watch that rock, it’s loose. No, that one.” Garrett grabs my leg and moves it so my foot is on a different rock. “There.”

I mutter a “Thank you” and hurry down the other side.

Samuel said there would be a meadow, and as soon as we walk between two trees, we see it. The spring meadow has short clusters of grass and little wildflowers that are white and more that are purple. Taller red and orange flowers dot up here and there, and an eerie calm hangs over the area.

My eyes land on the only irregularity in the meadow.

A ring of mushrooms.

“Are you ready for this?” Garrett asks.

“No,” I admit.

“Me neither.”

I hold Kai a little tighter. “What if we can’t get back?”

Garrett takes my hand. “I’m sure we can negotiate with that ball.”

I know he has no more idea than I do how this is going to turn out. But this is our only chance to help Kai. We have to find a fairy.

“Together?” Garrett asks.

My heart is racing and I step up to the edge of the ring. “For Prince Kaison.”

“Here we go.”

We step into the ring.