simply fallen off. I yelped in delight and astonishment. I had broken the curse!
“I didn’t realise that you hated your outfit that much,” Master Revels said, from behind me. I yelped again and brought up my hands to cover my private parts. He looked away politely and flicked his cane, sending my clothes flying through the air towards me. I picked them up and slowly put them on. “I wondered what had happened to you.”
I started to shake, now that it was over. “She turned me into a frog,” I said, between gasps. I had never panicked before, yet now I was on the verge of breaking down. “I was a frog!”
Master Revels gave me a vague look. “I see,” he said, calmly. I got the feeling that very little would ever bother him. I later learned that he had faced down a thousand devils and demons and after that mundane human problems could hardly bother him. “Who transformed you into a frog?”
“She said she was called Circe,” I said, and blurted out the rest of the explanation. Master Revels listened politely, showing few signs of interest. I was starting to wonder if such transformations were more common than they seemed. How many people went missing every year, dropping out of the mundane world and vanishing completely? “Who is she?”
“She claims to be the goddess herself,” Master Revels said, dispassionately. “If you believe her story, long ago she was confined on an island and allowed to prey on any settlers who landed on her territory. The Gods themselves had confined her because she was too dangerous for them to tolerate. Every time someone landed on the island, they would be wined and dined by her, before she turned them into an animal and added them to her flock of pets. Eventually, she was able to escape the island and start wandering through the magical world.”
I remembered watching a TV show about her now. “She turned...I can’t remember his name, but he was played by Homer Simpson...she turned his men into pigs and he ate them all before she could stop him.”
Master Revels snorted. “The original version of the story has her turning a sailor’s crew into pigs, but their leader – Odysseus - was aided by one of the Greek Gods, who gave him advice that allowed him to beat her and convince Circe to join his side,” he said. “I don’t think he ate his crewmen, seeing as they were able to leave the island safely once her power was broken.”
“Oh,” I said. I wasn’t about to admit that I’d had very little time to read about the Greek Gods. “And now she walks the world turning people into frogs.”
“Amongst other things,” Master Revels said. He picked up his hat and turned to the door. “We’d better start heading home. Fiona will be worried.”
“Wait,” I said. “Tell me...is there nothing that can be done about her?”
Master Revels looked back at me. “What do you mean?”
“The next person she targets might not be able to break the spell,” I insisted, as I stood up. It felt colder now, somehow, although that might have been just because my clothes had fallen off. I didn’t appear to have suffered any permanent damage, but I resolved to wait and see if I felt an impulse to start grabbing at flies with my tongue. “Can’t we stop her?”
“Think about it,” Master Revels said. “She may or may not be a goddess, but she is extremely powerful. Who would want to get on her bad side by trying to curb her activities?”
I closed my eyes. “Besides,” he added, “normally she goes after people who thoroughly deserve it. She gains some of her power that way. You were just the exception that proves the rule.”
He opened the door and swept out, inviting me to follow. I hesitated, still shaking inwardly, before I somehow managed to start walking through the door and out into the streets. Darkness had fallen, but the city was still illuminated by both magical and mundane lighting, casting an eerie sheen over the buildings. I looked up towards the