The Frog Princess Returns Page 4

  I had already dragged my magic carpet out of the storage room and unrolled it on the floor, so it was ready when we climbed the tower stairs. The rug had been Grassina’s, left behind when the curse took hold and she moved down to the dungeon. It was an older rug and had a few quirks, but the colors were still bright and I knew how to handle it. I’d also made a few modifications of my own.

  I sat on one side and Eadric sat on the other. Adara, who had followed us upstairs, appeared baffled as she stood beside the rug. “What are you doing?” she asked. “I thought we were going to the enchanted forest this morning.”

  “We are,” I said. “We’ll see you when we get back.”

  “Why are you sitting on that ugly rug?” she asked.

  I whispered a command and the carpet began to rise.

  Adara gasped. “Is that a magic carpet? I’ve heard of them in stories, but I’ve never actually seen one before. Wait for me! I’m going, too!”

  We were two feet off the ground when Adara tried to climb on between Eadric and me. There wasn’t room for three people to ride side by side, so when I didn’t move over, she jostled me and I fell off, tumbling to the floor.

  “Why did you do that?” Eadric asked Adara. “That was really rude!” He got off to help me up, then laid a protective arm around my shoulders and glared at the princess.

  The carpet kept rising because I hadn’t done anything to stop it.

  “Eadric?” asked Adara. “What are you doing? Don’t you want to sit with me?”

  “I want to sit with Emma,” he replied, giving me an extra squeeze.

  I glanced at the carpet. With only one person on it, the carpet was rising faster now. It was already at head height and would reach the high ceiling soon.

  Adara squawked and peered over the edge. “What’s happening?” she asked. “Is it supposed to do this?”

  “Only if I’m not controlling it,” I told her. “That’s a safety feature so no one can steal it.”

  Adara looked up, then back down at me. “Isn’t it going to stop?”

  “Not unless I tell it to,” I said. “It will go all the way to the ceiling and squash anyone who’s on it.”

  The princess reached up to the ceiling that was getting closer by the second. Placing both hands against it, she tried to keep the rug from going higher. “Make it stop!” she shouted. “What are you waiting for?”

  “I’m waiting for you to promise that you won’t do that kind of thing again. You took my seat last night and again today. There’s a reason I sit where I do. I’m the Green Witch. This is my home and my rug. You are a guest, so I’ve made allowances for you, but you cannot take my place. Ask me nicely and you can go with us, but you’ll have to do what I say and be more respectful.”

  The carpet was already only a little over a foot from the ceiling. Adara had lain down on her stomach and was peering over the edge at me again. “I promise!” she shouted “Now get me down from here!”

  “Say please,” I told her.

  “Please!” she cried as her back touched the ceiling.

  I gestured and the carpet stopped moving.

  “Would it really have squashed her?” Eadric whispered in my ear.

  “No,” I whispered back. “But it would have held her against the ceiling until I let her down.”

  I gestured again and the carpet began to descend. In a few seconds, it was hovering beside me at waist height. While Adara scooted farther back on the carpet, Eadric and I climbed on. “Eadric, why don’t you sit back here with me?” she asked him.

  “Because he’s sitting up here with me like he always does,” I said through gritted teeth. “No talking now, please. I have to concentrate while I’m doing this.”

  Eadric snorted. He knew that I could make the carpet fly while I was half-asleep. Because he didn’t say anything, I was sure he didn’t want to listen to Adara’s chatter any more than I did.

  I made the carpet rise another foot, then race toward the window. The opening was much narrower than the carpet, so it looked as if we’d never fit, but at the last second the window widened like a big smile, letting us pass through unscathed. When I glanced back, Adara was gripping the sides of the carpet, her face white and her lips pressed into a thin line. “Oh, I forgot,” I said. A few muttered words and the ropes that held the passengers in place whipped around our waists, tightening themselves so we couldn’t fall off.

  We were halfway to the enchanted forest when I took out my farseeing ball. “Show me the route to Farmer Johnson’s crops beside the enchanted forest,” I said. I began scanning the ground as we drew closer, thinking that the blight-stricken plants might be hard to see, but I needn’t have bothered. Even from a distance, the afflicted plants stood out. Farmer Johnson was right: the blight had affected plants in a very specific pattern, but it wasn’t just one circle; it was three concentric circles with the shape of a flower in the middle. The withered plants were brown, compared to the vivid green plants around them, making quite a contrast.

  “I think it’s kind of pretty,” I said, pointing it out to Eadric.

  “Huh,” he said. “Why would anyone do that?”

  “Do you see anything that might have caused it?” I asked as we went lower.

  “Not from here. Why don’t you set the carpet down so we can look around?”

  “Can you put us on the ground really fast?” asked Adara. “I think I’m about to be sick.”

  “Right away!” I replied, worried about my carpet.

  The moment we landed, Adara hurried off by herself while Eadric and I looked around. We didn’t see anything, including footprints, and were soon climbing back onto the carpet. We had to wait a few minutes for Adara to return. When she did, she looked slightly green. Once we were all settled, I took out my farseeing ball again. “Where is Water Lily’s pond?” I asked it.

  The enchanted forest was so large that it covered much of northern Greater Greensward. It varied from stands of ancient trees deep with shadows and secrets to sun-filled glades where unicorns cropped sweetgrass and fairies played among wildflowers. With creatures both nasty and benign dwelling in the forest, it was an uncertain place to venture.

  Following the route the farseeing ball showed me, we entered the forest, flying just above the ground. We hadn’t gone far when we heard the sound of large wings beating the air and snapping twigs behind us. When I looked back, a half-grown griffin was following us through the trees. While the adult griffins that lived in the enchanted forest knew enough to leave me alone, the younger ones had yet to learn just how dangerous I could be.

  I made the carpet go faster, hoping to outrun the griffin. Its eagle eyes lit up and its eagle wings beat that much harder. The griffin seemed to think it was a game, following us turn for turn. Finally, we were in danger of passing the very spot I wanted to inspect, so I turned around and flicked my fingers at it. Sparks shot from my fingertips, streaming past Adara, who screamed and would have fallen off if not for the rope wrapped around her waist.

  Although the griffin tried to avoid the sparks, they followed it, exploding in sparkling puffs inches from its eagle beak. The beast let out a high-pitched scream as it turned and fled, its lion tail between its legs.

  “That was fun!” Eadric declared, grinning.

  “It was, wasn’t it?” I said, grinning back at him.

  “That was terrifying!” exclaimed Adara. “What is wrong with you people?”

  “You should have stayed back at the castle,” Eadric said over his shoulder. “Any trip into the enchanted forest is dangerous.”

  When we landed beside Water Lily’s pond, I saw what the fairy had meant. The water was much lower than it should have been, with the level only halfway to the high-water mark. Usually the water lilies’ stems were submerged, but now they lay across the surface of the water, twining around one another to form a triangle with a cluster of small leaves in the middle.

  “Look, another pattern,” I told Eadric. “Who do you suppose is making th
em?”

  Eadric scratched his head. “This must mean something to somebody.”

  “Let’s go see Maple’s trees,” I said.

  We climbed back on the carpet and were soon in the air again. Adara sat with her lips pursed, not talking to either of us. She perked up when we passed a herd of unicorns running through an open field. I glanced at the farseeing ball and saw the route we needed to take to reach Maple’s trees. We’d have to go through one of the older, darker parts of the forest. It was the very same place where we had first met the baby dragon Ralf when Eadric freed him from a giant web.

  Eadric recognized the area after we’d gone only a little way. “Watch out for webs, Emma,” he said, taking Ferdy from the sheath.

  I slowed the carpet, trying to see through the gloom. “I can’t see a thing,” I finally told Eadric. “For all I know there might be hundreds of webs around us. Maybe we should go higher so we’re above the trees.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Adara. “Are you afraid of a little spider?”

  “Not a little one,” I said.

  I stopped the carpet right where it was and held out my hands. With a few muttered words, I created a witch’s light and sent it to hover over the ground a few yards in front of us. It was enough to let us see what lay before us as well as a few yards to each side. I started to look for a gap between the trees so we could fly above them, but they were growing too close to each other. Soft rustlings made me turn my head quickly. A short, staccato clicking made Eadric brandish Ferdy, which sang:

  Spiders fast and spiders slow,

  You’re no match for me.

  I’ll slice off your hairy legs and—

  “Shh!” I told the sword. “We don’t want to attract their attention if we can help it!”

  “Got it!” the sword replied, and began to hum softly.

  “You’ve got a singing sword, Eadric?” Adara asked in a normal voice.

  “Shh!” Eadric told her, giving her a sharp look.

  “There! I see one!” I cried, spotting the shine of the witch’s light reflecting off the silvery web. “And there’s another over there!”

  Eadric pointed Ferdy in the direction of the webs. A spider as big as a small horse skittered across the closest web, making that same staccato clicking that we had heard only moments before. There was a rustling among the leaves on the forest floor, and an even bigger spider lunged at the carpet. Eadric slashed at the spider, knocking it to the ground.

  When the spider started after us again, I said, “Oh, forget this!” and made the carpet zig and zag, rising until we were above the tops of the trees.

  “I was about to kill that spider!” Eadric exclaimed.

  “I know,” I said. “But that’s not why we’re here today. We can come back another day and take care of all of them.”

  “Eadric, you are so brave!” Adara cried. “I would have gladly watched you slay each and every spider, if only Emma wasn’t afraid of them.”

  “Oh, please!” I said as I turned the carpet around.

  It wasn’t as easy to follow directions given for ground travel when we were flying higher, but it didn’t take us much longer to find the maple trees. From the air, the trees with the dried, withered leaves stood out among their healthy neighbors, and it was easy to see that there was a pattern, just like there had been with the wheat and the water lilies. This pattern was diamond shaped, with the curve of a leaf in the middle.

  Landing the carpet, Eadric and I got off to look around. The fairy Maple wasn’t there, and neither was anyone else. It was unusually quiet except for the crunch of dead leaves beneath our feet. Other than brown leaves hanging from the trees when they should have been supple and green, we didn’t see anything unusual.

  “I don’t know what’s causing this, but one thing is obvious,” I told Eadric. “It isn’t natural. Someone has to be behind this. But I can’t imagine who it might be.”

  Six

  “Maybe the patterns mean something,” said Adara.

  “I’m sure they do, but I’ve never seen them before,” Eadric replied

  “I haven’t, either,” I told him. “I guess we should make copies of the patterns and show them around.”

  “I’ll do it!” said Eadric. “I’m good at drawing. Anyone have parchment, a quill, and a pot of ink handy?”

  Two bright lights fluttered down from the sky, landing at the edge of the trees. “I’m so mad, I could spit!” one of the fairies said as she became full-sized. It was Maple and she was talking to Aspen, a fairy I’d seen before. “Why would she do that to my trees? What have I ever done to her?”

  “She said she didn’t do it,” said Aspen. “I’ve never known her to lie.”

  “Of course she did it!” Maple exclaimed. “Who else would make that mark? You said yourself that it’s the symbol of her campaign!”

  “Excuse me,” I said, crunching dead leaves as I walked toward the fairies. “Did you find out who did this to your trees?”

  “You came!” said Maple. “Good! Maybe you can do something about her. It was Sumac, I’m sure of it. That’s the symbol of her campaign right there for all to see.” She pointed at the sad-looking trees and shivered when another leaf fell. “I didn’t see the whole thing until I looked at it from the air. Aspen pointed out that it was Sumac’s campaign symbol.”

  “What campaign?” I asked, confused.

  “For the new Fairy Queen,” Aspen explained. “Sumac is running against Chervil and Poppy.”

  “Does one of them have a symbol that’s a triangle with little leaves in the middle?” asked Eadric.

  “Or three circles with a flower in the center?” I said.

  “Why, yes,” said Maple. “Poppy’s is the one with the flower, and Chervil’s is the triangle with the little leaves. Why do you ask?”

  “Because we’ve found those symbols written in other plants,” I told them. “Water Lily and a farmer came to see me after you did, Maple. Their plants were damaged, too.”

  “Why is anyone running for Fairy Queen? What happened to the one you have?” asked Eadric.

  “She’s gone,” said Aspen. “We think she faded away.”

  “You mean she died?” asked Adara.

  “Fairies don’t really die,” Maple told her. “I thought everyone knew that. When we’ve lived so long that nothing seems exciting or interesting anymore, we just fade away. It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen.”

  “We all miss Queen Willow,” said Aspen. “She was a lovely person, a good and just queen, and a very powerful fairy, but lately she’s kept to herself. No one has seen her in oh so long. The real problem is that she never chose anyone to succeed her.”

  “Willow was the queen? Isn’t she the fairy who gave the ring and title to the first Green Witch?” asked Eadric. “Remember, Emma? That old fairy was wearing willow leaves.”

  I nodded. Eadric and I had met her at the first Green Witch’s birthday party when we went back in time. “I remember her. My whole family is indebted to your queen for giving us such a wonderful gift. I’m so sorry to hear that she’s faded away.”

  “Me too,” said Maple. “Now the fairies are trying to decide who will be queen next.”

  “Or king,” said Aspen. “Although we haven’t had one of those in a very long time.”

  “Chervil, Poppy, and Sumac are the only ones who came forward,” said Maple. “Now we have to decide which one we want to rule us fairies. The problem is, I don’t like any of them. I never have and I never will.”

  “You’re just mad that someone hurt your trees,” said Aspen.

  “I’m not the only one who doesn’t like them,” Maple told her. “I heard that fairies were fighting over who would be the least awful candidate. Besides, the one who hurt my trees had to be Sumac. Who else would use her symbol?”

  “But I told you, she said she didn’t and I believe her,” replied Aspen.

  “This is where we came in on this conversation,” said Eadri
c.

  “Where can I find Sumac now?” I asked.

  “Last I heard, she was campaigning at the edge of the enchanted forest,” said Aspen. “You know, over by the swamp near your castle.”

  “Then that’s where we’ll head next,” I told Eadric. “Get back on the carpet, Adara. We’re going to go meet the possible future Fairy Queen.”

  I knew the swamp well, having spent much of my time there when I was younger. It was where I had gone to get away from my mother. It was also where Eadric and I had met and fallen in love. When I was young, the part of the swamp that bordered the enchanted forest had been my least favorite and I usually avoided going there. My aunt Grassina had warned me that bears, wolves, and the occasional dragon visited the pond at the very edge, so I knew just how unsafe it could be. I hadn’t been there in ages, so I was interested in seeing if it had changed.

  Taking the most direct route out of the forest, we followed the border until we reached the swamp. It looked much the same, with meandering streams crisscrossing the soggy ground and small hillocks offering the only real footing. I was showing them some pretty purple flowers when Adara said, “That’s odd!” and pointed at the ground. “Someone has been walking around in bare feet.”

  Eadric peered over the edge and shook his head. “An ordinary person didn’t make those tracks. Follow the footprints back a few yards and you’ll see that they started out as paw prints. That was a werewolf.”

  “A werewolf!” Adara cried with a shudder. “Are we safe here? Maybe we should go higher so it can’t jump onto the carpet and bite us!”

  “We’re safe,” Eadric said, patting his sword. “No werewolf can stand up to Ferdy. Say, is that a blackberry patch? Even from up here those berries look really good!”

  Eadric leaned so far toward the edge that he would have fallen off if not for the strap holding him on. His weight made the carpet sag on that side and we were in danger of tipping over. “Be careful,” I said, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back.