What in the world had convinced me to draw it in the first place?
I grumbled to myself and accepted the ogre’s offer. Jozlyn took her wand and curtsied again. The wand didn’t look like it had been damaged by the fire. It glowed as brightly as ever.
But I did wonder about it and decided to try something later.
“We go now,” Mougi rumbled. “Yous climb on and we leave. We munch yummy mushrooms while Mougi walks.”
Jozlyn looked to me and I shrugged, so we scrambled onto the ogre’s back. His legs and arms were like tree trunks, making the climb easy. Mougi then scaled the ladder as if he had wings instead of two children on his back.
I decided that it was a good idea to remember how strong ogres were in case I ever met a mean one with teeth.
Beyond the cave, we found ourselves on the top of a steep hill. Mushrooms of every color blanketed the ground as far as we could see—red, blue, silver, brown, pink, and lots of other colors. They looked like a meadow of brilliant flowers.
As the ogre made his thumping way down the hill and through the forest, mushrooms everywhere erupted in colorful dust clouds. But none floated up any higher than the ogre’s waist.
That’s why Mougi was unaffected by the mushroom patch. He was tall enough to be safe. Sitting on his shoulders, so were we.
“Mougi, how do you eat the mushrooms?” Jozlyn asked as she bounced on the ogre’s shoulder.
The ogre chuckled. “Mougi pops ’em in ’is mouth an’ swallows. No needing for to chew.”
We laughed at that. The toothless, vegetarian ogre had to be one of the strangest inhabitants of the forest.
With snakes, goblins, spiders, and maybe even a troll or two lurking about, who would have thought that we would meet such an unusual ogre?
“But Mougi,” Jozlyn went on, “the mushrooms are poisonous. Don’t you get sick eating them?”
The ogre stopped and held his belly in a great laugh. “Mougi no eats the bad dust,” he said as if it were the easiest thing to figure out. “Here, yous watch.”
Mougi studied the ground a moment then picked a big, dusty red mushroom. Careful not to raise it too high, he slapped the mushroom gently against his thigh. Dark red dust wafted into the air and slowly settled back to the ground with the familiar popping of new mushrooms.
“Eats it,” Mougi encouraged, handing the mushroom to Jozlyn.
The mushroom was as big as her hand, and she took a timid bite. Her reaction to it reminded me of the night we’d eaten at Wizard Ast’s castle.
“Josh, try some!” she exclaimed without offering me any of her mushroom. She took another bite and juice dribbled down her chin.
I was about to grumble when Mougi handed me a speckled golden mushroom.
Not bothering to experiment with only a nibble, I took a huge bite. If mushrooms were good enough for Jozlyn, they were good enough for me.
I wasn’t disappointed.
“Warm honeybread with cinnamon!” I exclaimed, letting them know what I’d tasted.
“Gooey raspberry dumpling,” Jozlyn cheered.
“Mmm, goblin liver stew,” Mougi burped on a black-striped green mushroom. Jozlyn and I scrunched up our faces in disgust. We wouldn’t be eating any of those.
Then another thought occurred to me. Some mushrooms were poisonous and would kill me if I ate them. It wouldn’t be smart to eat any mushroom without an ogre around, or a parent.
For the next hour or so, Mougi continued to carry us deeper into the forest. The whole way, we feasted on mushrooms.
White-dotted blue ones tasted like chilled blueberries sprinkled with sugar. Light tan with brown swirls tasted like griddle cakes covered with maple syrup.
The tastes and varieties were amazing. We even washed down our meal with silver-white mushrooms that tasted just like snapsoda fizz.
When Mougi stopped, it took me a while to realize that we’d left the mushroom patch behind. Before us, moss-covered trees with tangled vines and black blossoms grew in twisted shapes like stooped skeletons. Patches of fog swirled through their twisted branches and over the damp ground.
“Croneswart Swamp,” Mougi said clearly and quietly.
As if to confirm Mougi’s announcement and welcome us, a big black snake slithered over a log and disappeared into the fog.
29: GRIZNT
“MOUGI stops here,” the ogre told us sadly. He must have been concentrating because his usual slobbering was at a minimum. “Mougi no leaves mushrooms for long. Utters come an’ fall to sleeping or worse.”
I understood. Mougi had to protect those who wandered into his mushroom patch. It was his home and he felt responsible for its wondrous but dangerous magic.
We said our goodbyes quickly and then watched him lumber out of sight. When we couldn’t hear his thumping steps anymore, we turned back to face the swamp.
The scratch on my nose started to tingle again and I brushed at it in irritation.
“Jozlyn, I’ve been thinking about something,” I admitted hesitantly. I didn’t think she would like my idea.
“Oh no,” she started to criticize, but an odd blue and orange spider scuttled up a nearby tree and seeing it put her out of the lecturing mood.
“Well,” I started slowly. “It might be smart to test the wand. You know, to see if it still works after falling into Mougi’s fire.”
I didn’t want to mention that we would probably get only one chance to use the wand. If Jozlyn missed Cleogha or did something wrong, we would be doomed. She had to turn the witch into a frog on the first shot.
Jozlyn looked at me and then at the wand. She twisted a strand of hair with her finger. “You’re right,” she said. “What should we try it on?”
Amazed, my mind drew a blank. I hadn’t thought she’d agree. Testing the wand was too much like playing.
“How about a tree?” I finally offered. It seemed like a good suggestion. There were plenty around and she could hardly miss.
She considered this for a bit then shook her head. “A tree is alive. If we go around changing living things into frogs, how are we any better than Cleogha?”
I hadn’t thought of that.
“Here,” Jozlyn pointed with her foot, “this log. It’s a tree but already dead.”
I took a step back to give her room to work.
Jozlyn raised the wand and aimed down her arm at the log. She took a deep breath and then whispered, “Griznt.”
Nothing happened.
She shook the wand. “Griznt,” she repeated, this time more loudly. Still nothing happened.
She waved the wand back and forth. She rotated it in a circle. “Griznt, griznt, griznt.”
Nothing, nothing, and more nothing.
“Maybe you’re not—” I started to suggest, but Jozlyn cut me short.
“Do you think you can do any better?” she asked in frustration. “Here.” She pushed the wand at me and it poked me in the chest.
That’s when my whole world changed.
A thunderous boom exploded in my head, and a blinding purple spark flashed between the wand and me. Then I was flying backward through the air. I crashed into a tree and landed in a coiled heap.
The next thing I knew I was looking up from the ground at Jozlyn’s concerned face. Her blue eyes were wet and a tear streamed down her cheek. I wasn’t sure why but she looked so much taller than usual.
“Jozssslyn, ssss,” I hissed. “What happened, ssss?”
30: GRAMBLE TURTLECRAFT EXTRAORDINAIRE
“CHANGE me back, ssss!” I hissed again as my tongue flickered in and out of my mouth. “I don’t want to be a ssssnake.”
Tears streaked Jozlyn’s face. “I’m sorry! I’m trying,” she cried. “I don’t know how to change you back.” She gripped the wand so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
“Try ssssomething! Just do what you did again but backward.”
My nose tingled and I licked it with my tongue. Doing so made me think of the way Cleogha’s broom-snake had licked her. Yuck! ??
?Pleasssse hurry.”
Jozlyn collapsed into a sitting position and threw her arms up into the air. “Give me a second! If I’m not careful, I’ll turn you into the first thing I think of again.”
The first thing I think of.
That was the answer.
“Jozssslyn, what were you thinking about jusssst before you changed me?”
She snapped her fingers and smiled through her tears. “A snake! That’s it. I was thinking about that creepy snake we saw on the log.”
“Great, now we’re getting ssssomewhere.” I slithered closer and propped my head on her foot. Slipping across the wet ground on my belly felt nice, like having someone scratch my back. “Now think about Jossssh and change me back, ssss.”
Jozlyn jumped to her feet. She pointed the glowing wand at me and raised her other arm, but then a mischievous look twinkled in her eyes. A crooked smile tugged at her lips.
“Green-haired Josh with fangs?” she teased, staring at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Yessss, very funny, ssss,” I hissed. My tongue flicked anxiously.
“Or maybe two-year-old Josh in swaddling clothes?” she giggled. She was having too much fun at my expense.
“Jusssst get on with it or I’ll bite you!” I threatened.
Jozlyn closed her eyes in concentration. I waited nervously and twitched my tail back and forth.
“Griznt,” she said when she opened her eyes and bent over to touch the wand to my head.
I felt warm and cold all at once. Purple light flashed before my eyes, and I squeezed them shut against it. Even with them closed, I could still see and feel it as if I’d stared at a purple fire.
When it faded, I opened my eyes and realized that I was lying on my stomach in the dirt. I had my arms flattened along my