A Prince among Frogs by E. D. Baker

halfway.
    “Don’t let go!” he told her, pulling her into his arms.
    Millie took a deep breath and smiled. “I won’t!” she promised and kissed him, then turned and looked for Coral. She saw the mermaid disappearing over a rise in the ocean floor. “Look,” she said. “There she is.”
    This time Millie kept hold of Audun as they followed Coral. They were skimming over the rise when the mermaid stopped to look back. She shrieked and raced off to a castle visible in the distance.
    “Wait!” Millie shouted, but the mermaid swam faster.
    The two dragons followed her to the castle, reaching it while she was pounding on the door. Turning around, she brandished a long, pointed object that Millie thought looked like a unicorn’s horn. “Stay back!” cried Coral, jabbing the horn in their direction. A stream of sparkling bubbles shot out of the horn, nearly hitting Millie and Audun as they lurched out of the way. The bubbles struck the rise with a loud boom, sending up a cloud of silt and debris.
    “We just want to talk to you!” Millie screamed, but her voice sounded faint even to her own ears.
    Coral aimed the horn at them again; they were already backing away. When the door opened behind her, the mermaid darted through the opening and slammed the door.
    “That went well,” said Audun. “Now what do you suggest?”
    “I have to talk to her,” Millie said. “But she’s afraid of us when we’re dragons. We have to let her see us as something a little less threatening.”
    It was the first time Millie had changed while touching anyone, and she wasn’t sure she liked the feeling of someone else’s hand altering its skin and shape while hers was doing the same. The contact also seemed to amplify the normal feelings and left her whole body tingling, like a foot or hand does when cut-off circulation is restored. Fortunately, the change seemed to go faster than usual, and she and Audun soon stood in front of the door as humans.
    Millie was still feeling peculiar when Audun raised his fist. “Please let us in!” he shouted, pounding on the flat white surface. “Hurry, it’s urgent!”
    The door was a fragment of a giant seashell and had a single small bubble marring its perfect surface. Millie didn’t remember the bubble being there, although it had been years since she and her mother had last visited the mermaid, so she leaned in for a better look. An eye suddenly appeared in the bubble, startling her so that she jerked her head back. The eye examined her for a moment before shifting to the side to study Audun. A moment after the eye disappeared, the door opened and Octavius, Coral’s octopus butler, beckoned them in.
    “What are you two doing out there?” he asked, sliding aside as they stepped across the threshold. “This is a terrible time to come visiting. There are monsters around and who knows what else.”
    “It’s me, Octavius,” said Millie. “I’m Millie, Emma’s daughter.”
    The octopus looked at her as if he was affronted. “I know who you are, Princess. Didn’t I dandle you in the highest tower of this castle when you were just a hatchling? Wasn’t I the one who spent hours chasing you around the castle while your mother talked about magical things with Mistress Coral? And how many times did I have to undo the knots in your hair because that low-life crustacean Shelton hid there when we were playing hide-and-seek? I’d better warn you, Princess, he’s getting ready to molt and is in a nasty temper.”
    “Shelton’s here?” said Millie.
    “And where else would he be?” Octavius asked, gliding down the floor in front of them. He was moving at an angle, as if the floor wasn’t level, something Millie attributed to his age. “He’s been here ever since your mother gave him to Mistress Coral, a dark day for us all.”
    “Shelton is the crab I mentioned before. My mother introduced him to Coral,” Millie whispered to Audun. “They hit it off right away and Coral invited him