83. Hardly Good For Her Skin
Rosella passed through the door and a peculiar blend of awe and dread mingled to form goose bumps on her delicate
skin. The foot of a magnificent staircase stood before her, and like a great serpent, wrapped around the walls of the
tower, coiling upward. She had finally reached the path to the second level of the castle! Thanking her lucky stars that
she had made it this far without meeting an untimely end, Rosella dreaded what awaited her on the next floor. Every
step seemingly brought her closer to Lolotte. The very thought made the princess tremble, but fear would not deter her
quest. With heels still in hand, she took resolute steps toward the coiling stairwell to face the unknown evils ahead.
Putting one foot on the first step, Rosella tilted her head back to peer up the massive coiling staircase. The effect was
dizzying, but what she saw was even worse. At first, she wasn’t quite sure what it was. It almost looked like a cat, but the
more she squinted upwards, the more she realized she was wrong. No, it looked much more like a lizard. Yes, it was
definitely a lizard. Her big blue eyes stared at the lizard intently; she had never seen anything quite so exotic in her
homeland. Aware of her own youth and vibrant beauty, the princess was soon aglow with a smile from the showering
attention of this mystical beast. Her vanity was soon misplaced as she began to feel “funny.” Looking down at her body,
the smile aglow on her face was soon replaced with a rather dumb look of misunderstanding. A gray splotch had formed
on the belly of her beautiful vermilion gown and began to grow as a splash of water might spread through fabric. As the
consuming gray forced out more and more of the red in her gown, Rosella felt her own joints going stuff, even the lush
locks of her blonde hair seemed to freeze, only they were not cold. With great effort, Rosella put a hand to her mouth to
catch a scream welling in her slender neck while her blue eyes opened to saucers. The cancerous gray finished off her
gown but only moved to her perfect white skin, claiming every inch down to the tips of her blonde hair. Just as the last
thread of her silky stocking foot was claimed, the confused blue in her big eyes yielded to the dull gray. And with that,
the fair princess was rendered in stone.
Later on that evening, the hapless statue of Princess Rosella was discovered by the guards, and at Lolotte’s request,
she was transported to the witch’s bedroom. She insisted the pathetic look on the girl’s face helped her sleep at night!
-The End
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