Frog Meets Girl

Chapter 21--The Great Grilled Cheese Disappointment

Hi all! enjoy the chapter, it'll be the last for a while. :( I know. I have a project I really need to get done, so although I've already started on the next chapter and we're drawing near the close of the book, I'm taking however much time off of this book so I can work on this other project. I'm kinda sorry. Kinda not. I like being on top of things, so I'll be glad to check this one off my list. 

So, anyway, enjoy the chapter!

            “So, Gabby,” said Will as nonchalantly as he could, “We’re ahead of schedule. Want to stop somewhere?”

            Liberazione was plodding through the undergrowth again in what Gabby hoped was the way back to the trail they’d left earlier. “Um, what would we stop for?” She wasn’t really listening. She was looking for evidence that they’d passed this way before. It looked as though her horse was forging a new trail to…somewhere.

            “Well, uh, we could eat a snack.”

            That caught Gabby’s attention. “Again? Didn’t you just eat a little while ago?” Looking down at Will, she couldn’t tell where all this food went. His arms and legs were just as twiggy as they’d always been.

            “Look, my stomach is really small and it can’t hold a lot, so I need to eat all the time, okay?” He grumbled a little more under his breath about how it wouldn’t be a problem if he were man-sized and had pockets of his own.

            She looked around. There seemed to still be plenty of daylight left, even in the thick of the forest and she had no other obligations waiting at the palace. One item of business was all she had on her mind and, after all, it could wait.

            “Okay. Once we get back to the path, we’ll stop.”

            Will rubbed his webbed hands together. “Excellent.”

            Surprisingly enough, only a few more minutes passed before they were once again on the path. Liberazione immediately turned back toward the city and began walking. “Wow,” Gabby said as she rubbed Liberazione’s neck. “You’re amazing, boy.”

            As she leaned forward to stroke Liberazione, Gabby bent low over Will. The smell of her perfume was intoxicating—a mixture of lilac and roses—and a wisp of hair pulled loose by their jaunt in the wilderness, tickled the top of his head. It sent a jolt to his sternum and he almost lost his balance as his thoughts became fuzzy.

            The vision of running with her through a golden meadow of wildflowers was interrupted by the sound of her voice.

            “Will?”

            The dream faded, but he could still hear the ringing tones of the angelic choir.

            “Hello?”

            Wait a second. That wasn’t an angelic choir. Those were drinking songs.

            He snapped to attention, looking quickly around. Where there were drinking songs, there were men gathered; where there were gathered men, there would be fire.

            “Will, did you hear my question?”

            “Uh, no. What was it?” Where was the smoke? His eyes kept searching the trees.

            “I was asking if here was a good place to stop.”

            Aha. There was the smoke.