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SATISFIED WITH THE result of her magic, Medea tossed her burgundy hair over her shoulder and headed toward the fortress. Charmaine attempted to follow her for a few leaps or so, but he couldn’t keep up. He was unfamiliar with his new form, so his jumps were a bit wonky.
“Wait!” he called after her. His voice was, to say the least, a bit froggy. “Waaaaait!”
Charmaine’s whining must have had some affect on Medea, because she turned to impart some information. “A kiss,” she said. “A kiss is the only thing that will break that spell.”
“Ohh, is that it? Well, that’s not too hard.”
“Good luck.” Medea spun on her heel and headed toward the fortress once again.
“Waaait!” Charmaine hollered, taking a tremendous leap in Medea’s direction. “Kiss me, Medea! Don’t go!”
“Do you really think I’m going to do that, when I’m the one who cast the spell?” As she pulled open the fortress door, she cackled at his predicament.
The iron doors slammed shut, and Charmaine sat in the grass, staring at his webbed feet. Even the blades of grass were taller than he was. “Medea? Medea? Medeaaaa?”
She didn’t come back.
“A talking frog. How novel.”
Charmaine’s warted backside shuddered when he heard someone speak. Very slowly, he rotated his awkward body until he was facing the speaker who was, at best, vaguely familiar.
“Who are you to ridicule me, you enormous buffoon?! You, Sir, can go to the devil!”
Lyric knew it was rude to laugh at someone else’s dilemma, but he couldn’t help himself. Charmaine had it coming to him. Besides, it was impossible not to laugh when he was being insulted by a frog. “Oh, I’m not ridiculing you. I’m just... amused.”
Aurora stepped out from behind Lyric, and Charmaine blinked his goggle eyes.
“No way...” the frog whispered. “Aurorrrrribbit?” He clamped his mouth shut. He had only been a frog for two minutes, but he was already susceptible to their habits.
Aurora picked him up and held him in the palm of her hand. “Yeah, it’s me. You’re a bit... slimier than I remember.” She snorted. “On second thought, you’ve always been a bit slimy, haven’t you?”
“Oh, I’m saved!” Charmaine exclaimed, conveniently ignoring the resentment in her voice. “You can break the curse! Kiss me, my adorable fiancé! I know I’m not particularly kissable at present, but if you can get it over with, we can be together as God intended!”
“Charmaine, you’re such an idiot.” Aurora turned toward Greta, who had crept up beside her. “Greta, do you mind if we use your pocket?”
Greta shook her head.
“Good.” Without another word, Aurora dropped Charmaine into the pocket of Greta’s apron.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait!” Charmaine let out an enormous yowl as he descended into the depths of the pocket.
Having temporarily disposed of her fiancé, Aurora wiped her hands on the front of her dress. “Now that that’s settled, what should we do now?”
It was Noxor who replied. “I suggest we remain hidden from view until we can come up with an appropriate plan.”
“But what about Princess Rachelle?” Lyric stood directly under her window and stared up at it, longingly. “Where did she go? Rachelle? RACHELLE!”
Aurora swatted the back of Lyric’s head. “What are you doing?! Didn’t you listen to Noxor? We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves!”
Lyric might have whined about Aurora’s clobbering, if not for the fact that Rachelle emerged from the window before he had a chance. “Lyric, is that you?!”
“Ah... Rachelle! I’m so glad we’ve finally found you! Are you alright?”
“Oh!!! It really IS you! Oh, thank goodness!” Rachelle was so relieved to see him, she had to grab onto the window frame to keep from swooning.
“Let me out of here! This is rrrrribbitdiculous!” bellowed a voice from Greta’s pocket.
“Are you alright?” Lyric repeated his question. “Medea hasn’t hurt you, has she?”
“Um... no. She hasn’t. No, not really.”
Lyric frowned when he heard the hesitation in Rachelle’s voice. “Not really? What’s that mean? She has hurt you?”
“No... no, she hasn’t,” Rachelle insisted. “But the mental anguish is way beyond anything I’ve ever had to endure! You have no idea what I’ve been through!” She punctuated her sentence with a dry sob.
“Don’t worry, we will—”
“I’ve had to eat peas... PEAS! And not even good peas. They were mush! I hate peas, and I hate mush! I hate it so much I could cry! And don’t even get me started on the cheap wine.”
Lyric quirked a brow. “They give you wine?”
“And the bed isn’t soft in the least! It’s like sleeping on a pile of rags! I haven’t been able to take a bath or wash my hair or brush my teeth! I must look terrible! Oh please don’t show me a mirror, because I don’t think my poor heart can take it!”
“Okay, but before we think about that, why don’t we—”
“And it gets so hot at night...and there are bugs... and I had to listen to them torture that poor old woman, and...” In the middle of her tirade, her eyes were drawn to Aurora. “Oh! Your cousin is here!”
“Yeah. Hi.” When Rachelle waved to her from the window, Aurora shook her head in disbelief. It wasn’t exactly a happy reunion, but Rachelle was treating it as such. And they weren’t exactly safe, so it wasn’t the time to exchange friendly greetings.
“Well, hello there, Aurora! It’s nice to see you again. Please forgive my dishevelment.”
“Okaaay, sooo...” Lyric interrupted. “How are we going to get you down from there?”
Aurora had another question for her. “That old woman you were talking about, the one who got tortured...you don’t happen to know her name by any chance?”
Rachelle nodded. “Yes! Yes, I do! Her name was Mary, and she was so very sweet! If we ever get out of this horrid situation, I’ll have to invite her to the castle for tea!”
“So she’s still alive?” Aurora asked.
“I’m not sure. Medea took her away a few days ago. I have no idea where they might have gone and... oh!” Rachelle clapped her hands over her heart-shaped mouth. “I think I hear someone coming! You better hide! Quickly!”
Aurora and Lyric scattered, and Rachelle turned around just as the door to her bedchamber flew open. Medea stepped into the room, her red heels clacking against the wooden floor.
“Good evening, Princess,” Medea greeted her. “I’ve brought your dinner.”
“Oh. Thank you.” Rachelle sneered at the plate of dry roast and gooey mashed potatoes. “I’ll, uh, I’ll, uhh... I’ll eat it later, if that’s alright with you. I’m not really that hungry.”
“It’s fine.” When Medea walked to the window, Rachelle held her breath for several seconds. She didn’t want Medea to catch sight of her potential rescuers. To her relief, Medea turned around and started pacing across the room. “I am... troubled.”
“Oh? What’s bothering you today?” Rachelle sat on the end of her bed, folded her hands on her lap, and feigned a friendly smile. When it came to Medea, it seemed best to kill her with kindness. So far, Rachelle hadn’t ended up on the witch’s bad side. In fact—and strangely enough—Medea seemed to appreciate having an shoulder to cry on.
“Well, I was stabbed...”
“Oh, how horrible!”
“...by a man who used to work for me...”
“How very sad!”
“It’s as if I can’t trust anyone. I’ve been betrayed so many times in my life, I don’t know who to trust.”
“I know exactly how you feel.”
Medea pursed her ruby-colored lips and sneered. “No. No you don’t. No one knows how I feel. No one knows what it’s like to be reviled... to be an outcast.”
Rachelle clasped a hand over her heart. She could be a very good actress when she wanted to be. “I can only imagine what that must be like! But, perhaps...” After a long pause, Rachelle shook her head, and her messy blonde ringlets tossed and twirled. “Oh, never mind.”
Medea’s curiosity was piqued. “What? What is it?”
“Oh, nothing...”
“Oh, please! Tell me what you were going to say!”
“Well, the fact that you’re reviled might have something to do with the fact that... that, you know... you kidnap people and torture people and try to kill your niece.” When she saw the worry wrinkle between Medea’s eyes, she quickly added, “But that’s just a guess.”
Medea sighed. “You have to take matters into your own hands if you want to get anywhere in this world. If you want peace of mind, sometimes you have to take drastic measures.”
Rachelle knew when to back off. She didn’t want to do anything to incite Medea’s rage, which she had yet to witness, but she didn’t want to test her luck. She could only imagine how unpleasant Medea might be if she got on her bad side. “Oh, I definitely understand. Yeah, that makes sense.”
“I think you’re the only one who ever understood me, Rachelle. If I could have met you sooner, my life might have been different.”
Rachelle nodded as Medea spoke. “I’m glad to hear you say that.”
“You’re so easy to talk to.”
“Well, you know me! I’m always happy to lend an ear!” Rachelle chuckled nervously. It wasn’t easy to pretend to enjoy the company of a woman she hated.
“Is it really so bad, wanting to wipe my niece out of existence?”
“Uhhh...”
“She’s just one person in a world of millions. Does it really matter that much if she disappears?” Medea shook her fists in the air. “Is it really that bad if I want to choke the life out of her with my bare hands?!”
“Well, you know... to each his own.”
“Right!” Medea exclaimed, bolstered by Rachelle’s words. “You’re exactly right! One man make the rules and everyone else has to follow them? It’s ridiculous! Who has the right to decide that taking someone’s life is a bad thing to do!?”
As she listened, Rachelle tried to keep the frown from her face.
“You know what, Princess?” Medea went on. “You’ve made me feel a lot better. Why don’t I get you something nice to eat? A sweet treat, or something like that?”
“Uhh...”
“How about a bowl of ice cream? I’ll even put a cherry on top!”
“That sounds, uh... lovely, thanks.”
Medea flashed an uncommon smile and disappeared through the doorway. A few seconds later, Rachelle jumped up and ran to the window. “Lyric!” she hissed his name. “Lyric, are you still there? Oh, PLEASE tell me you’re still there!”
A few seconds later, Aurora, Lyric—and someone else—emerged from behind a large rock. Rachelle had to clap her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. When the shock subsided, she pointed to Noxor and gasped, “It’s-it’s one of those! Behind you! Look behind you!”
Aurora turned around to see what Rachelle was referring to, and immediately recognized the reason for her panic. “Oh. This is Noxor.”
“WHAT?!”
“This is Noxor,” Aurora repeated, moving closer to the fortress so they wouldn’t have to shout. “He’s our traveling companion.”
“Much to the chagrin of some,” Lyric added quietly.
“HE’S YOUR WHAT?!”
“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Aurora tried to hush her. “If you don’t quiet down, someone’s going to notice us! Just... trust me when I say that Noxor’s one of the good guys.”
“Eww...” Rachelle whimpered. “Are you serious? I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. How do you know Medea isn’t using him to spy on you or... or...”
“Rachelle!” Lyric interrupted, hoping to redirect the princess’ thoughts. “How are we supposed to get you down from there?”
“I don’t know!!” Rachelle shrieked. “How am I supposed to know? Just get me down!”
“There aren’t some bed sheets you could string together, or something along those lines?”
Rachelle rolled her eyes at Lyric’s suggestion. “If I could’ve done something like that, don’t you think I would have tried it already? I—”
Before she could finish speaking, Noxor soared into the air, straight up to Rachelle’s window. She had to cover her mouth to keep from screaming again.
“Here.” Noxor held out his arms. “Grab onto me. I’ll carry you down.”
“I.......” Rachelle scratched her head. Her hesitation was only natural, because she hadn’t exactly had good experiences with entities that looked like Noxor. As she stared at his outstretched arms, it was as if she was trying to decide between the lesser of two evils.
“Quickly! We should leave this place as soon as possible.”
“I......” Rachelle chewed on her bottom lip for several seconds as her inner debate continued. “I, uh...”
“NOW!” He reached through the window and grabbed her wrist. Forced into compliance, Rachelle wrapped her arms around Noxor’s neck and stepped through the window, allowing herself to be carried down to safety in his arms.
He lowered her to her feet as soon as they touched ground. Rachelle, without so much as thanking her rescuer, ran to Lyric and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, Lyric! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!”
Lyric tentatively returned her embrace. “Well, I didn’t actually do too much...”
“But you came to find me! You must have tried SO hard to find me! You’re my hero!”
Lyric winced. He didn’t think it would be a good idea to inform her they had actually stumbled across her by chance.
“I’m never leaving your side! Oh, please tell me that won’t happen again! Medea was the most horrid person I’d ever met!” As an afterthought, she added, “Well, she was going to bring me some ice cream, but that hardly makes her a good person, does it?”
“Uhhh...” Aurora groaned a bit.
“My hero!” With a squeal, Rachelle nuzzled her face against Lyric’s chest.
“Excuse me,” Aurora interrupted. She didn’t think she could stomach much more of Rachelle and Lyric’s cuddling. “I hate to break up the happy reunion, but shouldn’t we get out of here?”
“Yes, Stupids!” came a faint voice from Greta’s pocket. “You’re utterrribbitly ridiculous for standing around like this!”