I had been in human form for less than a day and I was already a duck again. Drosselmeyer had escaped while Mytho and I were incapacitated. He had laughed and told us he was happy the story was progressing. I waddled in frustration, Mytho was still too shocked to turn me back and I could do nothing in this form.
"You waddling is not going to help us."I looked up, but Mytho's mouth was still frozen with shock, and no one else but....Adelberto?
"You can talk?!" I quacked at him still amazed. He looked at me with irritation shining through his beady eyes.
"I can't talk to humans, but I can to other birds. I tried to send birds to alert my parents but..." He looked traumatized, "They were detained." Drosselmeyer had killed them? I guess he really didn't care about minor characters.
"I'm sorry." He looked from his perch on Mytho's shoulder at me. "He is willing to do anything to let the story progress."
"What did he do to you?" He looked curious and hopped down from Mytho's shoulder.
"He took everything." I could feel myself lose focus and looked back at Adelberto and waddled closer. He opened his beak and I could see he wanted to ask but I stopped him.
"Never mind that. We'll have time for that story later. We need to know where to go to find your body."
He nodded and looked into the distance and I saw a mountain with an opening that glimmered. "He left my soul in my grandfather's cave. He said the story had to end there, like it was meant to."
Of course it did.