The Fairytale Curse (Magic's Return Book 1) by Marina Finlayson Read Free Book Online

her own vomit in the night, but the snores proved she was still in the land of the living.
    Of course she might wish she wasn’t when she woke up—bet she’d have a cracker of a headache. She was sprawled face down under the sheet, with the pillow over her head, so I closed the door and left her to it.
    Downstairs I grabbed a bowl of cereal and flopped on the couch in front of the TV to eat it, thoughts of Zac—and what might have happened if it wasn’t for my drunk sister—floating through my mind. This morning I didn’t feel so bad about the way the almost-kiss had ended, and I couldn’t wait to see him again. If only I had his number. But phone numbers had been the last thing on my mind once the vomit started flying.
    I found an old black and white movie that had just started, and settled down to watch. I dozed off a couple of times, so I lost the thread of it, but the guy got the girl in the end, so I didn’t care. I loved me a bit of Happily Ever After.
    The movie had finished and I was starting to think about lunch when CJ finally made an appearance. Just as I’d expected, she looked like hell, with dark circles under her eyes and an unhealthy pallor to her skin. The urge to say I told you so was almost overwhelming, but I bravely resisted, limiting myself to an inner smirk at her expense.
    She hobbled down the stairs, the limp still quite noticeable.
    “How’s your ankle?”
    As I spoke, I felt the weirdest tingle in my throat, and two little green drops fell from my lips. What the hell? I didn’t normally spit when I talked. One of them landed on my leg, and I looked down to see the green droplet expand like a soufflé rising in the oven.
    Only this soufflé was frog-flavoured.
    Oh. My. God. A little green frog, no bigger than my fingertip, was sitting on my leg. Its bright green back was speckled with raised yellow dots. Adrenalin jolted through me as my heart started to pound. Its tiny orange feet were almost translucent, as if they were made of jelly. They felt real enough pressed against my skin, but they couldn’t be, could they? I stared down at the frog, panic rising in my throat. It stared back out of bulging eyes whose irises were an even brighter orange than its feet, not the least fazed to find itself there.
    My heart pounded. Where the hell had it come from? What was happening?
    Frozen in shock, I couldn’t move. Its long, delicate toes tickled my leg as it shifted, then it pushed off with powerful back legs and hopped down to join its friend, who’d sprung into existence on the couch where the other droplet had landed. There was a flash of purple when it jumped, as it exposed the undersides of its skinny legs.
    “Shit!”
    Horrified, I felt the tingle again, and another droplet burst out with the word. This one was brown, and grew bigger and uglier than the cute little frogs. I scrambled back against the arm of the couch, released from my paralysis, as a hideous toad, all warty and nasty, hopped across the carpet towards CJ. This was insane.
    She shrieked. “Oh my God! What the hell is that? Did that just come out of your mouth ?”
    Then she clapped a hand to her own mouth, but it was too late, the drops had fallen, and now something lay scattered at her feet. Not frogs, though—something that winked with reflected light.
    Toad forgotten, she knelt to gather them with a shaking hand, then held them out to me.
    “Are they diamonds?” I breathed, forgetting until—too late—the terrible tingle reminded me. Two more little green frogs hopped off to join their brothers, flashing the purple undersides of their legs.
    “Violet! Will you shut up .” She squeaked and flinched away as one of the frogs got too close, but three more diamonds fell from her lips. “Oh my God, there are frogs everywhere. What is going on ? Where are these things coming from?”
    I opened my mouth.
    “Don’t answer that!”
    I got up and fled to the bathroom, where I leaned on the sink, trembling with shock.