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she said, glancing from Eadric to me.
    Eadric scowled. "We were frogs, so Emma tried to use her magic to make us human again."
    "I said I wanted to be turned into my old me. I guess I shouldn't have said old."
    "No," said Grassina, "but at least this is one spell that's easily reversed." Taking a burnt piece of wood from the fire pit, Grassina scribbled something on a scrap of parchment she dug from her pouch, then handed it to me, saying, "Read this out loud, Emma."
    I had to squint to read it, as my vision wasn't very good, but she'd printed the letters large enough that it wasn't too hard.
    From old to young,
Return us to
Our rightful age,
To each be true.
    I sighed with relief when the aches and pains melted away. My scalp prickled when my hair turned from white to its normal auburn; my skin tingled as it grew firmer and the wrinkles disappeared. My eyesight improved as well, and everything that had been blurry came into focus. Although it didn't happen all at once, it was fast enough to be disorienting, and I had to grab Grassina's hand to keep my balance.
    "Oh, my!" I said, closing my eyes until the world stopped spinning. "I'm glad that's over."
    "Suddenly I feel sorry for the old witches," Eadric said. "Being old is terribly uncomfortable."
    "How did it happen, Emma?" asked Grassina.
    "Oh!" I said, glancing at the ground by my feet. "A mouse showed me a parchment. I picked it up and the dust made me sneeze. Here it is."
    Careful to hold my breath, I retrieved the parchment from the ash and shook it clean. It was beautiful. Done in the style of the best illuminated manuscripts, a small picture depicted a dark and gloomy swamp where trees stood on stilted roots above a winding river. Toothy reptiles propelled themselves through the water with their long, ridged tails, while slender, beady-eyed snakes twined around branches. The text was handwritten in black ink with gold accents and looked very fancy.
    Tired of retirement? Forget all your troubles and begin life anew in the Forgotten Swamp.
    Eadric examined the creatures in the picture. "Look at the size of those things! Do you suppose they're real?"
    "Maybe, but if they are, I wouldn't want to be a frog in that swamp!" I said.
    Grassina, however, seemed even more impressed when I repeated what the mouse had told me. "Wonderful!" she said. "Now we have a good chance of finding the old witches."

Five
    Grassina stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled three distinct notes. She had scarcely finished when the magic carpet appeared over the tops of the trees. I tried to be careful stepping onto the carpet, but the ash I stirred up made my eyes water. Squeezing them shut, I wiped my eyelids with my handkerchief and held my nose so I wouldn't sneeze. When I could see again, I noticed that Grassina had taken her black dragon's scale out of the pouch on her belt.
    "Is everyone ready?" she asked, settling her skirts around her.
    Eadric took my hand and I glanced at his face. He was pale and his lips were pressed in a tight line. Realizing that he might be nervous about flying, I smiled at him in what I hoped was a reassuring manner and gave his hand a squeeze. "You don't have to go. We can drop you off at your parents' castle."
    Eadric shook his head. "I'm going if you are. You need me to keep you safe."
    "I'll be fine—" I began, but from the set of his jaw, I knew he wasn't about to change his mind. "We're as ready as we'll ever be," I told Grassina.
    Clutching the small bag of sand and the parchment in one hand, Grassina held the scale in the other and said,
    Witches who around here sat
Suddenly decided that
They had someplace new to go,
As this picture seems to show.
    Use these things to help us find them.
Let no one in secret bind them.
Be it near or be it far,
Show us where these witches are.
    I peered over my aunt's shoulder to see the scale. A gift to Grassina from a dragon friend, the scale was an excellent direction finder, with sparks of light flashing red for hot