The Frog Princess Novel Book 1 (Completed)

Chapter 16

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.