Okay, so this one is super long. I just couldn't find a good place to stop. Anyway, here it is.
The plan was to start reading through the books as soon as lessons were over. Even when Gabby said that they would only have an hour, Will did not suspect that there might be something else prodding Gabby into action besides the goodness of her heart.
After lunch, they returned to their rooms. Acantha was dismissed, looking sour and not nearly as relieved as one would expect, considering her dramatic reaction to the moldering pile of pages the evening before. Isabella also left, looking sad but resolute, but she squeezed Gabby’s hand and said a chipper farewell to Will on her way out.
Finally, they were alone, nestled in front of books. At first, they thought they could cover more ground by looking through separate books. However, they soon discovered that Will’s stubby arms were a handicap and he was unable to turn pages or even to write down ideas on their list of things to try.
“Oh well,” said Gabby, searching for a reason that would make him feel better. “We might as well be reading the same stories at the same time so we can discuss things.”
“Discuss what? They’re pretty straight forward.”
“They’re straight forward to you, but I’ve never heard these. Look at this one, for instance. This is the strangest story I’ve ever heard and it’s just the first.” She pointed a derisive finger at the title, “The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear,” she read aloud. “What kind of a person doesn’t know how to be afraid?”
Shaking his head, Will said, “That’s not the point of the story anyway.”
“And the point is what?”
“Um,” Will thought fast, “that being dumb pays off?”
Gabby laughed, releasing some of her tension. It ended quickly, though, when she remembered. I’m really going to miss Will.
“I’ll have to remember that one.” Gabby said, trying not to follow her thought. She didn’t know whether Will was more than a friend to her, but it did not matter in the end so there was no point in pursuing the question. She looked down at the story, skimming it for any magical transformations. “It doesn’t look like this one will help anyway. Let’s move on to the next one.”
“Right. The one about the magic pot of porridge.”
“Maybe we should skip that one, too. We don’t need more porridge.”
“Well, where did the magic pot come from?”
Gabby skimmed through the first few paragraphs, “Um, some little old lady in the woods.”
“Well, write it down,” he said, tapping his webbed fingers on the blank sheet of paper in front of them. “Look for a little old lady in the woods.”
Dubiously, she scratched out the note with her quill, but it seemed to satisfy Will.
“Not bad. We’ve only been at it for a few minutes and we’ve already got an idea. This is going great.”
“Yeah. Really great,” she said. “I have a question, though. If you could change back from a frog by finding a little old lady in the woods, why do you need me?”
Will shrugged, “Maybe she’ll need one of your hairs or something.”
“My hair?”
“Or maybe a royal favor or something. I’m sure she’ll be flexible.”
YOU ARE READING
Frog Meets Girl
Teen FictionPrincess Gabriella Persephone Almondine Jane has been angry for as long as she can remember, but one day an icky green tag-along starts to rock her world. How will she respond when her world is slowly turned upside down?
