James sat, there not being much else he could do at the moment, and tried not to freak out about the extraordinary, terrifying position he had been placed in.
He tried desperately to reassure himself that the witch had pronised he could come to no harm - well, at least not be outright killed - in this story. If that happened he would supposedly return to the real world, though it wasn't a theory he was keen to test out and, even if that did happen, he had no way of knowing if he would return as a human or a toad. Even the normally malicious voice of the child narrators would have been a comfort to him at this stage. He hadn't heard from them in a while and began to fear he had just been forgotten and abandoned in this cruel reality.
He had been placed on a shelf in a modestly sized but well stocked kitchen in the cottage the inn's cook appeared to live alone in. He was surrounded by various food produce and opposite him hung some freshly cut meat. The cooking pot, which was apparently his intended destination, bubbled on a hot stove within his view. The room gave off an aroma that may actually have been quite appetising under different circumstances.
After a while the burley man entered the room and approached James.
"Hungry yet boy? It's time to put a bit of meat on you I'd say. Make you nice and tasty for later"
"Ribbit! Ribbit!" James responded. It was far from his first desperate attempt at convincing his captor of his humanity, but it made no more difference than any of the others.
The cook cackled gruffly and lifted the lid of the jar James' was trapped in just enough to insert the spout of some kind of self made funnel into. He then took another, smaller container from his pocket and began pouring it's contents into the jar.
Soon James temporary home was filled with numerous buzzing fruit flys, presumably intended as his own supper.
"There you go, tuck in!" The cook invited James witb a smile as he waited for a response "what are you waiting for?"
These creatures weren't exactly appetising, but James hadn't eaten since entering this story and he figured he may have to play along with his hosts wishes for now at least.
With one quick, almost instinctive motion James shot out his lengthy tongue and snared one of the bugs with laser like precision. As he gobbled it down he was ashamed to admit to himself it hadn't actually tasted that bad. He helped himself to another. And another.
The cook rubbed his hand togethee and smiled approvingly as he walked away "good lad, you'll be ready for my pot in no tine"
James could only hope he could figure a way out of this or that fate would intervene in his favor before then.