Free Bad Apple (The Warner Grimoire) by Clay Held Page A

frustration rushed Simon. “Then why’d you tell him?” He glared at Nathan, betrayed.
    “Because,” Nathan said, “we don’t really have much choice.” He turned to the frog. “Now, we’ve upheld our commitment, Mr. Frog . Would you do us the same honor?”
    “Simon Theodore Warner,” the frog said, tasting the words. “ Yes ... Yes ! You hide nothing. You carry no lies this night. Yes, yes of course, of course!” He hopped up and down happily. “We can make a deal.” The air around them began to tingle, and the hairs on Simon’s neck stood at sudden attention. “We can deal. Nathan Alan Tamerlane. Simon Theodore Warner. Yes! Yes! My name. My name!” The frog joyfully threw his floppy straw hat into the water and hopped high in the air, landing right in front of them. When he spoke, his voice was sunshine on the delta. “My name is Lungwort, boy, that you already heard. Captain Lungwort Girardeau Broussard . Born on the lovely waters, raised between the banks ! Tonight we will take to the water with my love and my life--and by dawn, I swear to you, we shall render you to the Gate!”
    The air continued to pulse with a strange flow of energy. The cicadas all stopped. True silence pressed around them again, and the moon glowed brighter than before. Simon glanced around him. “How?”
    “How?” The frog was shouting now. “How? Boy, they do not call me Captain for nothing!” He hopped onto Simon’s shoulder and let out a loud, echoing croak.
    The water exploded in front of them, a huge shower of water rupturing into the air. Simon jerked and threw his hands to his face in reflex, and when he had rubbed the water out of eyes, before him was a grand riverboat, large and completely aglow in orange lights. It was exactly like the ones he had read about in school. Twin smokestacks rose into the air with a quiet, towering majesty all their own, and magnificent windows flooded every last plank and nail of the antique vessel in light. At the rear a huge red waterwheel spun lazily, and two large boarding ramps at the front were folded up towards the sky. A true bear of a man appeared on the uppermost level of the boat. He had fierce, fiery eyes and a snow-white beard, cleanly trimmed. “Orders, Captain?” he bellowed down to them. Lungwort gave a nod, and then the bearish man was leaning over the railing and shouting to a swell of men who had all appeared suddenly from every door and window, spilling out onto the decks of the ship. More men appeared and began lowering the boarding ramps straight down into the water. The very edge of the ramps came down exactly on a log floating just offshore. Lungwort hopped excitedly, skipping over the plank entirely, landing squarely on the deck railing. “Ready the boilers!” He shouted. “Make the way for a quick departure!” The roof captain on the upper level nodded and disappeared. Lungwort spun around and faced Nathan and Simon, his face beaming with warmth and joy. “Greetings my friends, great and wonderful greetings! Come aboard!” More crew hustled along the deck, attending to their duties while the roof captain continued to bark orders. “I am pleased to grant you board and passage on my fine and lovely ship,” Lungwort said, his little eyes gleaming in the moonlight. “My beauty, my love, The Idlewild . She be the Belle of the River, and she and my crew shall take you safely on your way. Welcome, welcome now! Welcome and hurry!” Lungwort hopped away onto the deck, vanishing in a flurry of crew, leaving Simon momentarily mystified on the shore next to Nathan.
    Nathan wasted no time hurrying out onto a log and hopping onto the boarding ramp. Simon stumbled on the log, raising alarmed cries from the men not to touch the water. Lungwort continued to hop about the strange crew, croaking more orders as others scurried to ready the ship. As they boarded Simon noticed all their clothing was from all different times and places--here a man in colonial clothing,