Meanwhile Matilda had stopped a few doors down. And what happened next was even more amazing than what had happened so far. Matilda kissed the toad. The cane toad kissed Matilda.

Beak and warts met. That was followed by a rumble of low thunder. The air acquired a sour taste. Then a mist, darker than night, enveloped the two. The darkness was a black hole that must have sucked them in. Yet, in the click of a camera, it disappeared. In their place stood a golden woman and an indigo man. Naked, they embraced. Hand in hand, they walked in regal nudity towards the others. Gwen blinked a few times then nipped inside to return with two sarongs.

Tinkerbell twittered tempestuously. Matilda, former duck, held out her hand and the little faerie settled into her palm. Matilda chirruped and Tinkerbell’s mouth formed an ‘O’ in surprise.

Squeaking mildly, she flew into a tree and encamped within a leaf. “Faeries?” Matilda shook her head in wonder. “They still believe in magic.”

“But you changed shape!” Walt’s eyes bulged. “Isn’t that magic?”

“Merely the will of the mind that shapes the unconsciousness. A powerful mind impressed itself onto me so that I seemed to be a duck. I couldn’t counter that but I could impress my name on Save-A-Door so that he called me by my real name, Matilda.”

Walt turned to his friend. “But what’s Save-A-Door got to do with it?”

Ignoring him, the golden skinned woman took the hand of the indigo man. “And this is my fiancé, Iago.”

Save-A-Door looked from the ex-duck to the ex-toad. “Oh, oh,” he muttered, “I have a feeling. I said before this felt familiar.”

“Of course,” Matilda agreed.” Iago, please.”

She went to Save-A-Door’s right side, he went to the left. Slowly, they both leant forward to make a triangle of lips. Softly, they made a three-way kiss. The rumble of thunder was repeated as was the darker-than-night mist. Again, it seemed they would be drawn into a black hole. Yet a moment later and everything was the same, everything was different. Save-A-Door had changed.

He had turned into… Save-A-Door. But he was different. Before, he gave the impression of a thin and perpetual student. Now he had the lean grandeur of a Hamlet. His clever eyes now also shone with wisdom. Walt had to resist the temptation to go down on one knee.

“Bugger!” Save-A-Door swore.

“Save-A-Door, language!” Walt was shocked.

“Oh, sorry, it’s a family affair. The usual business, yada, yada.

Matilda is my daughter. She wanted to marry Iago. I refused.

They eloped. I turned them into duck and toad. I immediately felt sorry but, being of the male persuasion, instead of saying sorry, I made myself forget. So we three have wandered through the human world, spiraling closer and closer until, finally, we met. Ta-da!”

“How romantic!” Gwen enthused.

“Romance!” Save-A-Door snorted.

“You have to let them marry,” Gwen insisted.

“Yeah,” Walt added. Cautiously, he moved behind Gwen.

“Let them marry?” Save-A-Door growled.

“Croak!” Iago said.

“Quack!” Matilda agreed.

“Tradition,” Walt said. “That’s how such stories usually ends.”

“Ah, tradition.” Save-A-Door echoed. Looking more like his student self, he began to sing. “Tradition! Who turns his daughter into a tiny duck/Acts like a bigot, turns a man into a toad?/And who turns himself into someone with no good luck/To get lost on the long and winding road?/ The magician. Tradition! Tradition!”

He paused. He contemplated. He brooded. He was magnificent in brooding. “Oh well,” he finally said, “You can’t fight a good story.”

Then linking arms, the faerie folk faded slowly.

“Well, except for the singing,” Gwen observed, “that was a happy ending.”

“Not quite an ending,” Walt muttered. “Save-A-Door has mandated me a mission.”

“What’s that?”

“Sex ed,” Walt said gloomily.

“Oh, Wart,” Gwen cried naughtily. “Make my duck!”