Rexi peeked into the top. “Shouldn’t you say a rhyme like, Double bubble royals are trouble?”
Leaning back against the counter, Hydra calmly folded her arms. “No, but yas betta be standin’ back if yas wantta be keepin’ yas eyebrows.”
Rexi jumped back right before green and purple flames burst upward from the Crock-Pot. “You might have said that before I stuck my head in there.”
Hydra shrugged and found a jar. Dumping out the little worm in the bottom, she went to the Crock-Pot and ladled out a scoopful. It did not look appetizing. Her sniff and resulting look of disgust verified my opinion. She ran over to the side counter, where the tea set was, and dropped in a sugar cube, then handed the jar to me. “Ya can help him drink it.” She grabbed Rexi and moved to the other side of the cauldron. “We’s be ober here.”
Good to know she was confident in her work.
Putting a hand under Kato’s mouth, I readied the potion jar. “Last chance to change your mind.”
His eyes burned into mine, his features set. “Nope. I know what I want.”
“Then open wide and start praying.” I dumped the contents down his throat. He stuck out his tongue and screwed up his face. Apparently the sugar didn’t help the medicine go down. He started trembling. No, it was more like convulsions. His horns shrunk down to nubs. The process wasn’t going to be easy, and Kato roared in pain.
Rexi grabbed my arm and dragged me behind the cauldron. Feathers popped off Kato’s wings and started floating around the room. He roared again, standing on his hind legs, the top of his head bumping the ceiling. Then he collapsed on the floor, the cauldron blocking him from my view.
I started to run to him, but Hydra pulled me back. “How many times I be sayin’, wait for it?”
The space of a few heartbeats might have taken centuries for what it felt like. Then came an explosion of smoke and fur. A few more beats later and a tanned hand gripped the rim of the cauldron. Then another hand grabbed the rim—a very pale hand.
Rexi scrunched her face. “What the spell?”
My thoughts exactly. I prayed even harder that the boy about to stand up looked mostly like the prince I first met in my palace—including the appropriate number of appendages.
With a groan, Kato pulled himself up to standing. His fur was gone, replaced by a head of auburn hair and tanned skin. All except for his left arm, which, starting at the shoulder, was stark pearl white.
Oh, and he was completely naked.
I closed my eyes and used my hand to cover Rexi’s.
“What are you doing that for? The cauldron hides all the good parts anyway,” she complained.
“Well, they’re not yours to see,” I snapped. Rexi snickered. Then I realized what I just said and what that implied. Ah Grimm, can the earth just swallow me up now?
I felt a hand brush against my arm. It wasn’t a delicate hand like Rexi’s. And it wasn’t wrinkly like Hydra’s. It felt rough and callused. And it gave me goose bumps.
“You can look now. I’m decent.”
I opened my eyes and found myself looking into Kato’s very human face. “Hi,” I said dumbly.
“Hi, back.”
Rexi made gagging noises and pushed my hand away. “Nice skirt, Tarzan.” Kato had the tiger-print tablecloth wrapped around his waist.
He didn’t snark back or give any indication that he’d even heard her. Instead, he took my face into his hands and kissed the top of my head.
I didn’t know how it happened or how it even could happen, given how much we had hated each other at first sight, but all at once, I knew exactly what all those talks from Mom, Dad, and Bob had been about. I kept my eyes closed and waited for my very first real kiss.
His lips didn’t feel like I thought they would. They were cold and a little leathery. The kiss wasn’t very good, to be honest. I opened one eye to peek and saw that I was kissing the back of Hydra’s hand. I backed away and rubbed my lips against my arm, trying to get the old lady taste out of my mouth.
Rexi fell to the floor laughing.
“I wouldna be doing dat if I’s was ya.”
“And why is that?” Kato stopped clawing at his own mouth and noticed his hand issue. “And why is one arm a different color?”
“Jus be grateful it dinna stay a big white wing. An as fo da kissin’—da rules of fairy tale be broken man—”
Rexi sat up and waved her arms frantically. “Ooh, ooh, let me. The frog prince. If she kisses him, he’ll probably turn back into a chimera.” She fell back over again, laughing.
The temperature in the room lowered about ten degrees. Kato had gotten back his command of ice.
Hydra swatted Kato. “Stop dat, horny boy.”
He colored and tried to stammer some sort of rebuttal. Hydra pointed to the top of his head. I went over and ruffled Kato’s hair. Lo and behold, a pair of nubby horns.
Kato took a turn patting them and swore.