Chapter Six

Ari walked into the dining hall, his mind in a fog. He was confused, different sensations pulling him in different directions. Part of his mind was aware that he'd left his conversation with Violet very unfinished. He was even aware—very faintly—of the tingling excitement he'd felt at her words. She'd been so near.

And yet, he couldn't properly recapture either what she'd said or how he'd felt. His mind was caught by another priority, one he simply couldn't deny. It was like a compulsion, drawing him back into the room. He followed it almost blindly, struggling to comprehend his own movements. He didn't know why he was re-entering the building, just that he needed to do it.

The rest of the family had finished eating, and most had risen from the table. Servants moved about the space, some clearing food while others accompanied the younger princesses toward the door, ready to assist them in their nightly preparations. Hardly aware of where he was going, Ari found himself leaving the room as well. No one took particular notice of him in the general bustle, and he was surprised to find himself heading not toward his suite, but toward the castle's eastern exit, the one that led to the cliffs and the hills beyond.

He wasn't conscious of specifically following someone, but a couple of times, when turning a corner, Ari thought he caught a glimpse of a figure ahead. As he traversed the corridors, his mind fought against itself, half of it wanting to return to Violet, the other half determined to go on. He was unsettled, his stride choppy and his hands fidgeting as he tried to reclaim control of himself.

It wasn't until he'd actually left the courtyard and found himself on the windswept hilltop that he managed to bring himself fully to a stop.

"What am I doing?" he muttered, squinting in the rain that was still falling. "Why am I following this compulsion?"

Saying the words aloud helped him to recognize it for what it was. It was a compulsion, and an unnatural one. He'd never experienced anything like it before, but it must be magical in nature. Nothing else made sense. Even knowing that, he was still desperate to continue, and it took all his willpower not to obey.

His hand shifted in his pocket, and suddenly he became aware that his hand was in his pocket. But the pocket wasn't empty. There was something in there, something that he'd been fidgeting with since he was on the patio, when he was working up the nerve to tell Violet how he felt. He'd been utterly unaware of the object, but his fingers were wrapped around—

Ari drew the golden ball from its hiding place, staring at it in alarm. He'd known from the start that something was off about the item. Formal his parents might be, but they weren't ridiculous enough to think that royal children needed solid gold toys. Who had sent this item, and with what purpose? Knowing there was magic in it made it a hundred times more sinister.

Ari realized all at once that his feet were moving again. He forced himself to a stop, slipping the ball back into his pocket and yanking his hand free as his eyes searched the darkness. He'd thought he saw a figure ahead of him in the castle earlier. Who was it? Had they somehow used the ball to compel him?

He glanced behind him, hesitating. Wren needed to be warned about the artifact, but the warning would be much more useful if he could identify who was behind it. Perhaps he should go on, see if he could catch a glimpse of the culprit while he had the chance. His gaze latched on to a shape moving in the darkness ahead, and he crept forward slowly, hoping to avoid detection.

Mercifully, the rain was beginning to slacken, and the gathering darkness was on his side as he edged around the city wall, his eyes fixed on the person ahead. It was a slight form, from what he could see. He could probably best them in a fight if it came to that. But he'd still do well to proceed with caution, especially if magic was involved.

As he approached, he heard voices that caused him to slow his steps still further. It appeared the figure had joined a larger group. The speakers weren't murmuring stealthily, as he would expect. Their voices were loud, almost raucous.

"There you are!" one called, as the person Ari was following merged with the group. From what he could make out in the gloom, they were all very young. "Took you long enough."

The newcomer grunted. "Why should I be in a hurry to waste my time?"

A tutting sound greeted the words. "Don't let Master Enchanter Hughes hear you calling his coursework a waste of time!"

"I'm telling you," the new arrival said, in a stubborn tone that suggested he'd told them the same many times already, "this isn't a real assignment. Turn one creature into another? That's absurd. Not one of us has the power or the finesse to do that. I don't know if any enchanter in Solstice could do it. You certainly can't."

"We'll see about that," said another young man, the grin clear in his voice even though Ari couldn't make out his face.

Ari frowned to himself, hovering back against the city wall. By his best guess, the group was made up of young enchanters and enchantresses, most likely students of Entolia's Enchanters' Guild. They might have the resources to create an artifact like the golden ball. But what could be their motive? And it wasn't as though they were trying to hide. Perhaps their presence here had nothing to do with it. He glanced around, frustrated. If that was so, he'd well and truly lost his real lead by now.

"It is real," another insisted in response to the newcomer's words. "I heard Master Enchanter Hughes give him the assignment myself."

"So did I," said the skeptic impatiently. "But that doesn't mean it was real. You heard how cocky this fool was being, boasting about his natural strength."

"It's not boasting if it's true," said the grinning one.

Ari could almost hear the other student roll his eyes. "Master Enchanter Hughes intentionally set you an impossible task to teach you a lesson. I don't know why we all have to be here to watch you fail. I have better things to do."

"You're not here just to watch," said the other one reassuringly. "You have a central role. You're my subject."

The other student snorted. "You honestly think you have enough power to turn a human into some other type of creature? You're delusional. Do you know how much power that would take? Much more than you have."

Ari grimaced, caught up in the drama in spite of himself. He knew from experience that it could be done, but he was inclined to think the student was right. There was no way one untrained young enchanter could do it.

"Ah, but I have more resources than just my innate magic, as strong as it naturally is," said the cocky one maddeningly. "I have my friends."

A chuckle went around the group, and the skeptical one sighed.

"What does that mean?"

"We're going to combine our power," another student explained excitedly. "We think it might be possible with all of our magic working together."

"But we haven't been trained in combining power," protested the first one. "That's supposed to be really complex."

"How hard can it be?" said the cocky student dismissively. Ari strained his eyes in the darkness, trying to catch a glimpse of his face. He seemed to be rolling up his sleeves. "I've given it some thought, and I think it would take a lot of power to try to control the form you'd take. A general enchantment will be more feasible. So we'll turn you into the last animal you've seen."

"This is nonsense," said the target student, sounding unimpressed.

"We need to decide on a counterforce," interjected another one. "If we don't work in a specific way of breaking the enchantment, we'll leave it open to an unintended natural counterforce, which will be much harder to identify and therefore access."

"Yes, thank you for the basic lesson in magic theory," said another student sarcastically.

"He's right, though," the ringleader said fairly. "We do need a counterforce. Any suggestions?"

"How about the enchantment is broken if I punch you in the face?" the subject student deadpanned.

The cocky one chuckled. "Nice try, but most animals can't punch." Ari could hear the grin enter his voice. "How about you have to get a girl to kiss you? That should be next to impossible for you."

"Very funny," said the student, clearly irate.

"I know," piped up a feminine voice, giggling. "He has to be kissed by a princess to break the enchantment. That's traditional, right? And it shouldn't be too hard. This kingdom has twelve princesses."

"Now you're just being ridiculous," said the odd one out, sounding angrier by the second. "Enough of this nonsense."

"Yes, he's quite right," agreed the ringleader sagely. "Enough joking around. That's an excellent counterforce, I'll work it in. As we discussed, everyone. NOW!"

A chorus of voices rose in a sudden swell, startling Ari.

The target of the enchantment was clearly startled as well. Evidently he hadn't expected them to be ready to act so decisively and with such coordination. With a cry, he jumped aside, dropping to his belly on the grass. Not being an enchanter himself, Ari couldn't sense magic, but he could have sworn he heard the whoosh of the attempted enchantment swooping over the downed student.

Too late he realized his position against the wall put the target of the enchantment directly between him and the group of students. And although the darkness might hide Ari from their eyes, it was no barrier to magic.

With a sudden, overwhelming barrage of sensations, the combined magic slammed straight into Ari.

He keeled over, clutching at his chest in silent terror, but he didn't fall to the ground. Somehow, bizarrely, he was already on the ground. He couldn't make sense of his body's position—it was the least of his concerns. His mind was utterly caught in a maelstrom of feelings which could only be described as pure chaos. It was horribly reminiscent of when he'd been turned into a swan, but more haphazard, somehow. It wasn't exactly pain so much as…directionless pandemonium.

When the sensations settled, Ari realized that his hands were pressed against the grass, his face not far above them. But the feel of it was all wrong. Everything was all wrong. He tried to crawl—crawl? stumble? he couldn't tell—forward, but the movement was so jerky, he stopped at once, his head spinning dizzily. He had to fight the urge to be sick. What had happened? What had that uncontrolled jumble of juvenile magic done to him?

Fearfully, Ari lifted his hand in front of his eyes to see the damage. He froze in absolute horror at the sight of a small, green appendage, with three gelatinous prongs in place of fingers. Ari brought his head whipping around to look at his feet. Sure enough, they had transformed into the same slimy, green surface, this time with webs connecting them. His tongue unlocked, he released an involuntary scream which came out as a low, painful croak.

He'd been turned into a frog.

He'd been turned into a FROG! No! It couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening. He was having a horrible dream, the type he'd had sometimes in the early days of his return to human form. True, those visions had never involved being cursed into an amphibian form. But it was the only explanation he could accept. He couldn't possibly have survived six years as a swan only to be turned into a pond frog by an accident of a group of untrained students. No one person could be that unlucky.

Even as his mind tried to deny it, every surface on Ari's body confirmed the horrifying truth. What had the cocky student said? We'll turn you into the last animal you've seen. Ari's terrified, paralyzed mind flew back to the afternoon, when he'd fished little Azure's ball out of the pond in the castle garden. He distinctly remembered the morose-looking frog he'd seen squatting beside it. It was, in fact, exactly the type of frog Ari now resembled.

"Oi! What are you lot doing?" The sharp voice brought Ari's attention to a new arrival to the scene, this one considerably beyond youth. The man strode purposefully through the gloom, a lantern held aloft in one hand. "I was informed you'd all headed up here, and I don't doubt you're up to no good, skulking on the hillside in the darkness. What's the meaning of this?"

"Master Enchanter Hughes!" gasped the student who'd dived out of the way, sounding relieved in spite of his earlier insistence that the feat was impossible. "They tried to curse me! They tried combining their power to turn me into an animal!"

"WHAT?" the enchanter roared.

"But Master Enchanter, those were your instructions!" protested the ringleader. "You said I was to—"

"I know what I said," the enchanter cut him off, sounding furious. "And I think you're perfectly aware I never intended it as a real assignment—it was an impossible task, designed solely to reduce the size of your head. You, young man, need a lesson in humility!"

"I told you so," muttered the intended target of the enchantment.

"Even if you misunderstood my intention," the older man went on, "I certainly never instructed you to try the magic on another human! Or to combine your magic with that of multiple other students, when none of you have received any training in combined power." He clucked his tongue. "It's a very good thing you failed to perform the intended enchantment. Who knows what would have happened if you'd actually hit someone with such a hodgepodge mess of power!"

Ari let out a frantic croak, but no one in the group seemed to even hear him.

"Now back inside the city, all of you. Your parents will certainly be hearing of this." He jabbed a finger at the ringleader. "And no more practical assignments for you. You'll be working on theory alone until I deem you responsible enough to be trusted with power!"

He shepherded the students back toward the city gate, deaf to the protests of the bigheaded one. Knowing he was rapidly losing his window for communicating to the group what had happened, Ari tried to race after them. But he was clumsy in his new body, his progress slow and uneven as he moved in lopsided hops. He kept falling over himself, and the humans quickly moved out of his sight. He tried to call after them, but of course all that emerged was a desperate, throaty croak. He was nowhere near catching up to them when they passed through the gate, and it closed behind them with a horribly final bang.

Ari kept hopping, his long back legs sending him flying in strange directions as he progressed painfully toward the city wall. By the time he reached it, there was no one in sight, and his anguished croaks produced no effect at all. Trying not to panic, Ari took stock of his situation.

He was a frog, yes. That was unfortunate. But he still had his right mind. Surely he could find a way to reverse this. Surely he could return to his own form.

His mind raced back over the childish confrontation he'd witnessed. They'd specifically discussed the counterforce, so he knew they'd built in a way to lift the enchantment. They'd said the student it was intended for would have to be kissed by a princess to return to normal.

A kiss from a princess…unbidden but inevitable, Ari's thoughts flew instantly to Violet. Violet was a princess. Violet would kiss him. She'd been ready to kiss him on that patio, he was almost sure of it. And instead of leaning in and closing the distance between them, he'd pulled away, giving in to the compulsion of the golden ball like a weak-minded fool. And this was what came of it!

He had to get inside the castle. He had to find Violet! Giving up on the gate, Ari hopped along the wall, gaining more control over his new form with every leap. Long as his day had been, he didn't feel tired. In fact, he felt more alert than he'd been in a long time. Clearly his body knew that his new form was supposed to be nocturnal, whatever his mind thought about it.

He also found that he had no difficulty seeing the wall before him. His eyes cut through the gloom of the night with precision, putting his human sight to shame. He could even make out the green of the grass under his webbed feet, and the gray of the stone wall around which he moved.

It felt like an eternity, but eventually Ari found himself at another entrance. This one was smaller, more of a door than a gate. Ari leaned back and gazed doubtfully up at it, his eyes bulging in the darkness. His legs felt strong and full of energy, ready to propel him. But he doubted he could jump that high.

Returning his head to its previous position a mere inch from the grass, he noted the gap under the door. It looked too small, but some instinct was prompting him to try it. Tentatively, he pushed his head into it, shuddering at the pressure of the enclosed space. It was a strange and rather horrible feeling, but he kept moving, his long back legs propelling him forward as his body squished itself into a gap that should have been too small for it. He could feel his skin stretching, allowing his body to change shape slightly. Fighting his human thoughts, which were screaming at him to retreat, Ari trusted his animal instincts and kept moving forward. His time as a swan had helped him learn the wisdom of leaning into instincts rather than human habits. He could only be profoundly grateful that he still had access to his human thoughts. With the lack of organization of the enchanters who'd done this to him, he was lucky he wasn't a mindless mess.

With a sucking pop, Ari emerged out the other side of the door. He'd traveled a fair way from the entrance he'd first tried, which would have taken him into the small eastern courtyard. Instead, he found himself in the garden where he'd sat with Wren just hours before.

Ari hopped forward, making for the building with purpose. When he was halfway across the garden, however, level with the very pond in which he'd seen the frog, he slowed. What was his plan? It would be foolish to race straight into the castle now. Everyone would be in bed, including Violet. And she wouldn't be inclined to see him even if she was awake, given how strangely he'd behaved toward her.

It took Ari a moment to realize the absurdity of this thought. Violet probably didn't want to see the real Ari, but she wouldn't react that way to a frog. She'd have no idea the frog was Ari, and she'd treat him like she would any common frog. Which was to say, she'd probably shoo him out at best or squish him on the spot at worst. As would any other human he tried to hassle in the middle of the night.

Reluctantly, Ari concluded that it made no sense to barge into the castle in his current situation. He would be wiser to take some time to come up with a plan, and to approach in daylight, when everyone was awake and thinking clearly.

Left with few options, he allowed his instincts to once again take over, following the prompting to head toward the pond. As he settled in for what was sure to be a miserable night, he struggled not to give in to despair.

How had he gotten into this mess? He'd thought his previous curse was bad enough. But being a frog was even worse than being a swan.