Chapter Six

The three witches were still debating how to contact Raindrop when Moth reappeared with Raindrop beside her. “I told Raindrop what you needed to know, so she insisted we go to the castle before coming here,” Moth told them.

Raindrop nodded, her pale blue hair swirling around her delicate, pointy-chinned face. “Some people think I hear what the rain says only when it’s falling, but I can hear it anytime, even after it’s collected in a puddle!” She crinkled her nose and squinted when she glanced at Moth, as if to say that her friend was just such a person. “I wanted to listen to the raindrops where they collected in the puddles at the castle,” she said, turning back to Millie. “I didn’t know which window you meant, but I listened to each puddle till one mentioned a bright light. It told me that a person wearing a cloak came out through the high turret’s window when the storm was at its worst. The figure was carrying a bundle, which could have been a baby, and flew off on a broom. I suppose the person was a witch. She went northeast, if you’re interested.”

“We’re very interested,” said Audun. “We have to find Felix and bring him back.”

“I can go with you, if you want me to,” Raindrop added. “The puddles will tell me where he went, but only for a little while. Once the rain dries up or gets soaked into the ground, it can no longer talk to me.”

Millie felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her. She’d been so frightened that they’d never find her brother, but if the fairy could help find him …

“We’re going, too,” said Dyspepsia. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything. We haven’t had this much excitement around here since a boy griffin thought Oculura was a girl griffin and tried to carry her off.”

“I was in the garden,” said Oculura. “I don’t know what he saw, but he sure liked it.”

Dyspepsia chortled. “Maybe it was your feathered underwear.”

“I didn’t have any choice,” said Oculura. “It was laundry day.”

“We’ll fly on our brooms, of course. I suppose you and Audun will travel by your usual method?” Dyspepsia asked.

Millie shrugged. “We have to. We didn’t bring my magic carpet.”

“What method is that?” asked Raindrop, quirking a pale blue eyebrow.

Audun and Millie smiled at each other as they stepped across the threshold and into the sunshine. “As dragons,” Millie said as the air around them began to shimmer. She blinked as her eyes turned into those of a dragon. Colors looked different, and she could see the fairies even more clearly than before. Raindrop’s blue hair had streaks of ultraviolet, a color Millie hadn’t been able to see as a human.

Once everyone was outside, Moth decided that she wanted to go with them. “It looks like a party,” she said, turning into her smaller self. “I can’t resist a good party.”

“It may take a while before I find more rain that can tell us anything,” said Raindrop.

Moth zigzagged around her. “Then you’d best get started.”

Millie, Audun, and the witches flew above the forest, circling while Raindrop looked for puddles. It took some time before she found one that could tell her about the cloaked figure. The tiny puddle was located in the crook of a tree and was nearly invisible to anyone in the air except a dragon or a fairy. The witches joined the two dragons to watch Raindrop scoop out a handful of water and bend down to listen as it dribbled back into the puddle. She looked satisfied when she glanced up to say, “The figure flew over this tree still headed northeast.”

They moved more quickly after that, finding puddles in depressions in boulders, on top of witches’ cottages, and in muddy dips in dirt roads. Moth finally grew tired of waiting for her friend and flew off, claiming that she was bored. The others followed Raindrop, anxiously awaiting her announcements each time she found the next puddle.

“Rain talks to all of us,” she told them. “You just have to know how to listen.”

They had left the forest behind when Azuria angled her broom so that she was flying next to Millie. “That’s Soggy Molvinia,” she said, pointing at the ground. “Most of the kingdom looks just like that.”

Millie maintained the steady beat of her wings as she glanced down. Marshland stretched out in front of them for as far as she could see, making a crazy quilt of water and soggy patches of land. The bright colors of marsh flowers accented the mix of blues, browns, and greens like dabs of paint on an artist’s palette.

Once again Raindrop flew down to listen to a shrinking puddle. She stayed on the ground for only a minute before darting back up to talk to Millie. “This is as far as I can go,” she said. “The witch landed her broom on that hummock just as the rain stopped. She may have stayed here, or she may have gone on. Either way, I can’t tell you what happened next. Falling rain notices everything, but puddles aren’t very observant.”

“Thank you so much,” said Millie. “You’ve been such a big help.”

“Just remember that,” said Raindrop, “in case I need a favor someday.” Bringing her hand to her lips, the fairy blew a kiss at Millie before darting back the way they had come.

“Now what?” asked Audun as the three witches gathered around them. “We can fly down there and look around, but that’s an awful lot of ground to cover.”

“I don’t think we have much choice,” Millie replied.

“I’m going to start by that hummock,” said Azuria.

“We should all start there and work our way out,” Audun said. “Millie and I will look from the air while you three ladies search the ground. If there’s anything to find, we should be able to spot it with five of us looking.”

“Oh dear,” said Oculura. “I should have worn my blue eyes. These are fairly nearsighted, I’m afraid. I don’t know how much help I’m going to be.”

“And my back is hurting me,” Dyspepsia whined. “I just can’t ride a broom for long distances like I used to.”

Azuria sighed. “Do what you can, girls. A child’s life is at stake here.”

“Yes, of course … ,” said Oculura.

“I didn’t mean … ,” Dyspepsia protested even as Millie began to spiral closer to the ground.

While the three witches descended to the hummock, Millie and Audun began to search from the air. They didn’t see much at first, but after a time Millie noticed a brown hummock much like the one where they’d left the witches. There was something odd about it, however, so she called to Audun and pointed at the little hill. “What does that look like to you?” she asked when Audun flew close enough to hear her.

“I don’t know,” Audun replied, squinting. “It almost looks like fabric, doesn’t it? Let’s get a better look.”

The lower they went, the more puzzled Millie grew. It wasn’t until the two dragons were about to touch the ground that she saw the brown mound for what it really was—a hunched figure wearing a cloak with the hood pulled up.

“It’s the witch!” she breathed, but Audun had seen it as well, and he looked as if he was about to attack it. “No,” said Millie. “You might hurt Felix.”

Audun paused, his tail raised for a blow. He set it down reluctantly and, prepared to pounce, approached the seated figure.

“What took you so long?” asked the figure as he pushed back his hood. “I’ve been expecting you for hours.”

Millie hissed as her breath escaped in a rush. It wasn’t a witch at all. It was Olebald, the nasty old wizard. “Where’s my brother? Do you have him with you?”

The old wizard shook his head and sneered. “I’ve put him where you’ll never find him.”

With a roar, Audun launched himself at Olebald and knocked him flat on his back. “What have you done with the baby?” the dragon growled.

When Olebald laughed, Audun pressed his talons against the old man’s chest. Sweat broke out on the wizard’s forehead and he gasped. “If you hurt me, that boy will spend the rest of his life in this marsh!”

“Where is he?” demanded Millie.

“Make Scaly Face get off me and I’ll tell you.”

The witches had noticed the commotion and flown closer to watch. Millie glanced up at them and saw Dyspepsia’s mouth open in surprise. “Olebald, what are you doing here?” cried the old witch. “We were engaged to be married once,” she told Millie.

“For about fifteen minutes!” said Olebald.

“Then he ditched me for a tree nymph!”

“And she tried to stuff me in a sack and throw me in the river!”

“It’s too bad I didn’t. Letting you talk me out of it was one of the dumbest mistakes I’ve ever made.”

“That’s saying a lot, considering how many dumb mistakes she’s made,” said her sister, Oculura.

Olebald’s face was turning red when he shouted at Audun, “Let me go or I won’t tell you a thing!”

Millie turned to Audun and nodded. Growling softly, the ice dragon sat back, freeing Olebald. The old man scrambled to his feet and straightened his cloak, revealing the broom he’d hidden under it. Snatching the knobbed wooden stick off the ground, he snickered and said, “You’ll never find that baby. I turned him into a frog, and even I couldn’t find him now. Do you know how many frogs there are in this marsh? Poor little princess,” Olebald added, pretending to look sad. “Your brother is gone and so are your parents. You’ll never see any of them again!”

Millie flinched as if she’d been struck. This time she didn’t want to hold Audun back when he lunged for the wizard, but the old man was faster than anyone could have expected. Laughing triumphantly, Olebald smacked his broom against the ground … and vanished.

Dyspepsia squawked and nearly fell off her broom.

“Did you see that?” cried Oculura.

Azuria landed beside the two dragons, who were still staring at where Olebald had stood just a moment before. “He had it all planned, didn’t he?” she said, using her toe to poke at a bristle that had fallen out of Olebald’s broom. “He must have, to disappear like that. Olebald isn’t a strong enough wizard to just vanish. He must have had a spell in place before we ever got here. All he had to do was tap the ground to put it into effect.” She bent down to pick up a clump of dirt and crumbled it between her fingers. “If I’d had any inkling he was going to do it, I could have grabbed hold and followed him to wherever he went, but it’s too late now. It was a one-shot spell. Ah well, live and learn. So, what did he tell you exactly?”

“He turned Felix into a frog,” Audun said. “He set him loose in the marsh with all the other frogs.”

“Oh dear,” said Oculura.

“That’s horrible,” Dyspepsia declared.

“He said I’ll never see Felix or my parents again,” Millie said, sounding nearly as numb as she felt.

“You’ll be able to find him, won’t you?” Audun asked Azuria.

The Blue Witch shook her head. “It would take me weeks to find him among all the frogs here, and that’s if he doesn’t swim farther away or get eaten. There are a lot of creatures in a marsh who consider frogs a delicacy.”

Millie’s face drained of color and she made a strangled sound. Her eyes looked stricken when she turned to Audun and said, “We have to find him soon!”

“Then we’ll need your mother,” said Azuria. “She’s the most powerful witch I know.”

“But I don’t know how to get in touch with her,” said Millie.

“You’ll have to go get her. Do you know where she is?”

“She’s on that tropical island where all the old witches were taken, but I don’t know where the island is located.”

“That’s easy,” said Azuria. “I’ve never been there myself, but I’ve heard that it’s just past a string of islands that shoot melted rock into the sky.”

Dyspepsia shook her head. “No it’s not. It’s all by itself halfway around the world, thousands of miles from anything.”

“I was told that it was just off the coast of Grance,” said Oculura. “They say the island is shaped like a rabbit with three ears and—”

“Never mind,” said Millie. “I’m sure I’ll find the way.”

“You should go now, dear,” said Oculura. “We’ll stay here and look for Felix. Perhaps we’ll be lucky and he’ll come if we call him.”

“Dragons know their names when they’re babies, but do humans?” Audun asked.

Dyspepsia snorted. “I doubt it. But don’t worry, we’ll make sure nothing eats any of these frogs. Hey you, what do you think you’re looking at? Shoo!” she shouted at a passing crow.

Millie thanked the witches, and a moment later she and Audun were airborne.

“It’s good of them to help,” said Audun. “Don’t worry,” he added when he saw Millie’s expression. “Your mother will find him as soon as she gets back.”

“That’s another problem,” said Millie, the creases in her brow deepening. “I still have no idea how to find the island.”