The Frog Collector

Chapter Eight Part 2/3

"I will...", the princess started to say, but soon stopped when she saw that the witch was no longer paying attention to her.

Then Agatha entered the house looking for Emily. It was easy to find the girl hiding nearby listening the conversation. When they met, the princess said:

"Emily we need to go quickly. I'm going to get you out of here, and my prince too".

Emily, who was distressed, pointed at the desperate witch and put both hands on her head.

"Everything is fine! Hurry, I found your mother, I know the truth", said the princess, leading the girl to the back door.

Upon hearing this, Emily's eyes widened.

"I need you to show me where the frog is that you saw yesterday trying to pass inside. Do you remember?", asked the princess.

Emily ran into the garden and motioned for the princess to follow her. The young girl searched endlessly among the plants until she found the frog in the middle of the garden and very happily handed it to the princess who was behind her. Emily pointed to the frog and to the princess. The princess smiled and took it.

"Is that you my love? You look terrible", said she and added: "I'm sorry about that, I'll get you out of here".

Then she turned to Emily to tell her something, but she was gone. The princess looked around the garden and saw the girl looking for something in the dirt and managed to reach her more distressed than ever. Emily had pulled a root out of the ground and showed it to the princess, radiant with happiness. Without understanding either the root or the happiness, the princess took her by the arm and went with her to the opposite side from the witch to finally leave the place.

***

"Yes... finally after so long...", said Mirian touching the invisible wall and feeling her fingertips burning.

She put the cloth on the floor, examined it, and saw there were more than thirty flowers there, picked them up, ate thirty yellow centers, and dropped the black part of the flowers on the floor. Then she stepped back a little, looked at the wall and said in a commanding voice:

"Ohiah Wobh Gyon!"

She waited a while and, with his eyes closed, walked with his arm outstretched. However, the wall impeded her progress. She was surprised and ate more flowers and again said the command words to the invisible dome.

After that she took a deep breath and tried again to leave, but was barred again. The witch's face filled with fury.

"What is going on? I memorized it right!".

She looked nervously at the cloth, took all the remaining flowers and started to eat them without differentiating the black part from the yellow one. That's when she realized that the flowers were falling apart in her mouth.

"I don't believe it", she whispered.

She knelt down to pick up a black petal from the ones she had dropped. She put saliva on her fingertips and touched the petal, which completely crumbled. The witch lowered her head. For a moment her face showed a slight smile that was quickly changed into an intense rage. Then she stood up, looked toward the house, and headed for it.

To be continued...