Page 67 of The Broken Mirror
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOURGIRL, INTERRUPTED
“This is, like, the fluffiest bed I’ve ever seen,” Alistair says, jumping butt-first onto Hortense’s princess bed.
“I’m so glad to see you guys,” Hortense says, throwing her arms around Gretel for the fourth time since she and Alistair walked in the castle doors a few minutes ago.
Hortense’s room at the Eastphalian castle is mega-cool. After the carriage ride with opera singer Lillet and now, being at Eastphalia’s castle—whose architecture is highly influenced by the glamorous singer as well—Gretel’s starting to get a taste for fashion and decor.
“We are pleased to be at your service, soon-to-be Queen Hortense,” Gretel says, doing a little jokey curtsy.
Hortense laughs and swipes at Gretel. “Stop that! You’re in no service to me. Though I suppose we do have quite a bit of work to do.”
“Yes, thank you both for coming to my rescue,” Charlie, in his froggy form, says from his place on Hortense’s shoulder.
Alistair just about jumps out of his skin. “Talking frog! Talking frog!” he yells.
“Ali, you know Charlie was turned into a frog,” Gretel says. “What are you freaking out for?”
“I know he was turned into a frog,” Alistair whispers to Gretel, using one hand blocking his mouth from Charlie’s view. “I just didn’t think he’d be able totalk. It’s a bit unnerving, no?”
“Alistair, I can hear as well as speak!” Charlie says. “Just because I’m a frog, it doesn’t mean I can’t communicate. I’m still my normal self on the inside.”
At that moment, Charlie’s frog tongue stretches across the room to catch a fly, which he then swallows.
Alistair stares in shock and disgust. “Sure, your ‘normal self,’ totally,” he says.
Gretel turns to Hortense. “So does anyone suspect what’s going on? That Charlie’s a frog prince?”
“Nope,” Hortense responds. “They just think I’ve become a bit of an eccentric, carrying a frog on my shoulder all the time. The townspeople just believe I’m a little kooky, I guess.”
“Quirky girls are very popular in the mortal world rightnow,” Gretel says. “If it’s any consolation. We can totally say it’s a trend you picked up from the manic pixie dream girls of the mortal realm.”
“There are pixie dream girls in the mortal world?” Alistair is very intrigued. “What are they like?”
“No, no, not actual pixies,” Gretel tries to clarify. “Never mind. We’ll just say it’s a trend.”
“Well, hopefully we’ll figure out how to turn this frog prince back into a real prince, and then we won’t have to make me a manic pixie whatever at all.” Hortense laughs.
Gretel is feeling pretty confident in her curse-breaking abilities after the whole Rosie’s-swan-brothers thing, plus the Jack-and-Filomena-kissing thing. Wait—hold on a minute! Jack and Filomena are alone on their quest right now! She hadn’t even thought of that! Gretel wishes Never After had cell phones so she could get updates from Fil.
Back to more pressing matters.
“Luckily for you, Alistair and I are fresh off a curse-breaking streak. So let’s see. How can we break this spell?” Gretel starts pacing the room, circling Hortense and Charlie. “Charlie, do you remember the specific words Olga used when she put the curse on you?”
Charlie scratches his head with an amphibian toe. “It’s all a blur, really. I don’t remember the words of the spell.”
“Okay, so that’s not so helpful.”
Gretel remembers what Colette told them about being cursed by Queen Christina.
“Hortense, Charlie, both the curses we saw broken were cast by Queen Christina. One of the fairies, Colette—or Snow White—told us that Queen Christina has the sort of magic that can only mimic transformation, or make things appear differently than they are. That is why her curses can always be reversed.”
Alistair nods along. “Kind of like the way Charlie’s still his ‘normal self on the inside’ even though he eats flies now.”
Gretel ignores this. “So that’s good news for us, because I’m willing to bet that ogre queen Olga has the same type of magic, the kind used for evil. That kind of magic is only a thin veil pulled over the truth.”
“Okay.” Hortense agrees. “I’m following. So what do we do about it?”
“We just have to figure out the right code and crack it. That will reverse the spell!” Gretel says gleefully.
