Page 58 of A Castle of Broken Memories

She placed her hand on the table, and the frog padded onto her raised palm as she breathed, “Danny.”

The pair stared solemnly into each other’s eyes, and when the silence stretched to an awkward length, I quietly asked, “Harp? Would you like a minute alone with your brother?” I glanced out the window—the sun was almost down, and I could just make out Mariana while she packed up her satchel and doused the fire.

“No,” Harp said. “Stay.” A wrinkle appeared between her brows, and she added, “And it’s not Harp, actually. My name is… is…” The wrinkle deepened, but then her face broke out in a bright smile. “Annabelle—Annabelle Elizabeth Greene.”

“You used to be human.” I glanced down at the frog curled up on her palm. “Did the giants turn you into an instrument? Or did that happen before you came here?”

Harp—that is, Annabelle—frowned. “I’m not sure. It’s all still a little fuzzy, but I’m fairly certain I came here as a human. They were having some sort of festival, and I was here as a performer.” She glanced over her shoulder when the door swung open, and Mariana came inside, her hands full of the newly made potion and torn satchel.

She set them both on the table beside the frog’s crude drawing, her brow arching at the word “brufer” scrawled beside the littlest stick figure. “I, uh, finished the potion…”

I clapped my hands together. “Excellent. Oh, and have you met Danny? Apparently I’ve been calling him by the wrong name all these years. Turns out he and Annabelle-not-Harp used to be humans way back when. And siblings.”

Mariana nodded slowly, as if this news made total sense and wasn’t the least bit bananas. She reached inside the satchel. “Well, seeing as we already know Annabelle here was turned into a harp a few years before the curse set in, then that begs the question, little Danny the Frog”—she pulled out the golden egg and slapped it onto the table—“was it the curse you unleashed on the castle that turned you into an amphibian, or was it something else entirely?”

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Ihad no idea a frog’s face could turn so red. Or look so guilty. I took that as my answer. “So you’re the reason we’re all stuck here?”

I must have looked more menacing than I felt, because Annabelle-Harp curled her hand over the little green rascal and pulled him close to her chest in a protective stance. “He was a little boy,” she countered. “I’m sure he didn’t know what he was doing.”

The frog huffed, and I couldn’t help but crack a tiny smile at his indignation. He looked just how Lyall used to get when I told him he was too small for something. “Regardless of his intentions, at least we know where the curse came from. Which means, we have a decent chance of reversing it.”

“That’s wonderful news,” Annabelle-Harp exclaimed. She gave Jack a glowing look. “You’ll finally get to go home!”

“We’ll all go home,” Jack replied. “Breaking the curse should turn Danny back into a boy, and I’m sure we can find a way to undo your enchantment, as well. What do you think, Mari?”

I grimaced. “If the giants return and we can convince them to revert you back to your original form, then yes. Absolutely. If not…”

“Then we’ll find another way,” Jack stated firmly. “I’m not leaving her to be used as entertainment.”

He wouldn’t, either. No matter what happened after we broke this curse, he’d stand by his friends until his dying breath. Same as me and the boys. For better or worse, we were all in this together. I hoped like hell it was the former. “Our best bet, then, might be to head straight for Mondue rather than take our chances arguing with giants who’ve been under a curse for the past sixty years. Once we’re safely down the beanstalk, we can work on undoing your enchantment ourselves.”

“Thank you, Mariana,” Annabelle-Harp breathed, snuggling the little frog against her cheek. “So, when do we start?”

I cracked the door open, peeking out to where a cluster of winged figures was slowly gathering in the night sky. Their screeches pierced the air as they flew toward the shelter, and I quickly pulled it closed. “We’ll wait for first light, in case things go sideways. For now, let’s all try to get some rest.”

Who knew what tomorrow would bring.

“Potion?”

“Check.”

“Brushes?”

“Laid out in order of size, smallest on the left, biggest on the right.”

“Binding dust?”

“Glittering away next to the brushes.”

“Golden egg?”

“Opened and waiting.”

“Disgusting skin I tore from Gregar’s ankle?”

“Placed in the egg.”