Jennifer Murdley's Toad (Magic Shop Books) by Bruce Coville Page B

Skippy.
    What was Skippy worth, when you came right down to it? Not much, she decided. But that wasn't the issue. What was her word worth? Of course, in a sense it was her fault that he was in his current predicament. She was the one who had brought Bufo into the house.
    But to become a toad? When the one thing she really wanted to be was beautiful?
    "You don't have to do it, Jennifer," said Bufo.
    "Yes, she does!" snapped Skippy.
    "No, she doesn't!" yelled Ellen.
    "Yes, I do," whispered Jennifer. Bending over the bed, she pursed her lips and leaned toward Skippy.
    Leaping up, her toad of a brother planted a kiss on her lips.
    Thunder shook the room. The change began so quickly that Jennifer barely knew what was happening. A moment of intense heat, a squashing sensation, and the next thing she knew she was looking up at the corner of her bed--which towered over her like some oddly soft, six-story-high building.
    "Whew," said Skippy, stretching his arms and examining his fingers, "what a relief that is!"
    "Oh, shut up," said Ellen loyally. "In your heart you'll always be a toad."
    "Hey!" Bufo cried. "I resent that."
    "Shut up, yourself," snapped Skippy. "I'm not the one who brought that maniac toad into the house. He's Jennifer's problem. Wow, I feel like I've got pins and needles everywhere!"
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    "Don't worry," said Sharra. "It'll go away in a little while."
    Ellen bent and scooped Jennifer into her hands. "Are you all right?" she asked gently, once she had raised her friend to face level.
    "All right?" asked Jennifer weakly. "I'm a toad!" She tried not to let the sorrow that filled her sound in her voice. She was a toad--the very symbol of ugliness! Putting her tiny, webbed fingers against her face, she felt the warts that dotted the surface like a scattering of fleshy pebbles.
    A toad!
    "Hey, it doesn't have to be permanent," said Skippy. "All you have to do is find someone to kiss."
    "Shouldn't be hard," said Bufo cheerfully. "She's an exceptionally good-looking toad."
    Jennifer let out a wail.
    "What did I say?" cried Bufo. "What did I say?" The argument was interrupted by a sound from Jennifer's bedside table.
    Brandon's toy phone was ringing again. For a moment no one said a word Ring!
    "What's going on here?" said Skippy, his eyes wide with terror.
    "Who knows what things lurk at the edge of reality?" asked Bufo, using a deep, hollow-sounding voice. "Yet this may be the ring of truth. Do you dare answer?"
    Then he laughed a low, echoing laugh.
    Ring!
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    "Not me," said Skippy, backing away from the phone.
    "Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!" chortled Bufo in that same low voice.
    "For heaven's sake, stop it, Bufo," said Jennifer. "We've got enough problems as it is. Now, is someone going to answer that or not?"
    No one moved.
    Ring!
    "Oh, take the phone off the hook and I'll answer it," said Jennifer. "I'm sure it's Mr. Elives. Maybe he can help."
    Looking at the phone as if it might bite her, Ellen lifted the receiver. She placed it on the bedside stand, then set Jennifer beside it.
    "Hello?" Jennifer said. "Mr. Elives?" Then she hopped up to the other end of the phone to listen.
    To her shock, the voice that came through the speaker did not belong to Mr. Elives. It belonged to the woman they had met in the beauty parlor. In tones that made Jennifer think of steel wrapped in silk, the woman spoke four words: " I want the toad."
    The jolt of fear that shook Jennifer was so strong she reacted without thinking. Putting her front legs against the phone, she pushed with her powerful hind legs. The phone skittered across the polished wood and clattered to the floor.
    Everyone stared at the toy phone; no one moved.
    I want the toad! repeated the voice at the other end.
    Then there was a click, a buzzing, and silence.
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    EIGHT
    The Immortal Vermin
    The glowing green numerals of Jennifer's clock radio said 3:14. Except for a bit of stray silver from the nearly vanished moon, the time offered the only light in the