Chapter 3:

A Nasty Surprise

Silver opened the door to his home and led in three pink hedgehogs. He watched them look over the living room and sit on the couch as he closed the door and called for Freda. Freda informed him that Sonic was not in the house and he sighed, rubbing his face tiredly.

"This house is so small," whined one of his new daughters. "How can we be expected to live like this? I have so much stuff it can't possibly fit in my new room."

"Just hush, Annabel," said his new wife. "We'll work it out in time."

"Sonic!" bellowed Silver, opening the door and using his loudest, most carrying voice.

Thirty seconds later, a blur shot past Silver and he closed the door. Facing his daughter, he placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into her glittering eyes. He didn't want to have to tell her this, but the hedgehogs were right there in the room. Her emerald eyes peered back in worry. When Silver remained silent for longer than she was comfortable with, Sonic shifted on her feet and looked around uneasily. Finally Silver got up the courage to speak.

"What did you need dad?" she asked into the silence.

"Sonic," said Silver, "These are your new step sisters and step mother. I thought you might like to meet them. This is Lisa, your new step mother, Annabel and Amelia—"

"It's Amy!" shouted one of the pink hedgehogs. "Amy Rose."

"Calm down, Amy," Lisa said in a biting tone. "They will learn."

"Lisa is your… Your new wife?" asked Sonic in disbelief. "You just went out and replaced Mother?"

"You needed a mother figure in your life," said Silver. "I'm almost never home, and I can't teach you all the things you need to know. I'm not good at that and I've been even busier than before."

"Well maybe if you got a job closer to home, you could be there more!" Sonic exclaimed, upset and angry. "I wouldn't have to worry about whether you had been robbed! I wouldn't have to lie there and wonder how your day went, how much you sold or if you'd ever come back! As for a woman in the house, there's Freda. She's enough for me. She teaches me all I need to know."

"Well…" Silver said. "Freda's getting rather old, my daughter. She's almost ready to retire."

"Besides," said Lisa smoothly. "I'm sure you will be of much help to us."

"What does that mean?" Sonic asked, nibbling her lip worriedly. "Where would Freda go?"

"Well, said her new stepmother in a condescending voice, "A woman is expected to take care of the household is she not? That will be your duty someday. I am here to enlighten you."

"Well it's your duty now obviously," Sonic growled. "Why don't we just hire a new cook and housekeeper? We have a house big enough for them, and with more family members…" She spat those last words angrily, "We'd need someone there who can cook for more than two or three people."

"Because," said Silver sheepishly, "I don't have the money right now. Our new family has rather expensive tastes."

"Then why not marry for love?" Sonic asked, fidgeting and aching to get away from all of this. "You married Mother for love, didn't you?"

"Yeees…" said Silver slowly. "Well, I grew to love her anyway. It took a little while."

"You didn't marry for love?" asked Sonic incredulously. "What did you marry for then?"

"She wove the best silks in the kingdom," said Silver matter-of-factly. She had a big house, and I needed to… Well anyway I'll be off in a few days, so you'd better learn to get along with these three."

"Oh she'll get along just fine," said Amy. "I've been hoping for someone who's good at braiding hair. I must have all the latest and best styles!"

"And I need someone to praise my gymnastics," said Annabel. "I must be the best contortionist and gymnast in the kingdom!"

"You married for money," said Sonic tearfully. "Now you married… You married so you didn't have to deal with your rebel daughter anymore? Is that it? Well as you said, you don't have money for anything. I'm sure the money will vanish faster than you can bring it in at this point. That, father, is all your fault!"

"Not with you to make our dresses," said Lisa snidely. "I hear you're almost as good a weaver as your mother. I also heard you're a good seamstress. What's better than our own seamstress for getting the greatest outfits dirt cheap?"

"Don't you love me anymore?" Sonic asked her father. "Don't you care?"

"Of course I care," said Silver, who was looking much more worn out than Sonic had ever seen before. "Of course I love you. Never doubt that I love you. I just… I don't know what to do anymore Sonic. I'm doing what's best for you. I promise it will work out in the end."

Sonic stormed up the stairs and into her room. She lay on her bed and cried for a while, then wiped her face and blew her nose. Standing, she walked over to her little loom and began to thread it. Blue thread soon filled the loom and she picked up a shuttle to begin weaving the weft into the warp threads she had prepared. She didn't know what else to do. Under her hands, the blue threads disappeared into cloth, the shuttle slipping between the warp threads again and again.

She wove until past dinner time, not caring that she was hungry, not caring that she missed it. No one called her, not even Freda. Eventually she rose and left her room. No one was around and the tears had dried into a salty crust on her face. She ran to the door and opened it. About to run into the forest, she spied her basket of strawberries and smiled tentatively. She picked it up and turned to go inside. As she did so, she thought she caught a flash of red out of the corner of one eye.