CHAPTER V: FAMILY DINNER
Marcy tried to speak. She wanted so bad for the monster in front of her to be wrong… but the sad truth was… that The Night was right. Because of her fear she had taken both Anne and Sasha away from their homes, their parents… away from their lives. During their time in Amphibia they could have all died multiple times… she had never thought about the consequences of her actions. She wanted that damned box to take them away from their homes… to gift them a new one where they could be together, forever. But Marcy had never thought about what Anne and Sasha wanted. She was…
"Selfish? Egoistical? Not worthy of Anne's love?"
The Night's voice broke her train of thought. Marcy hugged her knees and hid her face between them.
"Please… stop…" She whispered with a broken voice.
"It is fine, little girl. If you weren't those things… then you would have never accepted my offer…"
The girl lifted her head, and her eyes met The Night's.
"What do you want?" Marcy asked, her voice breaking as tears started to stream down her cheeks.
"To accept a gift…" The Night replied.
Only now the girl managed to notice that the creature was holding something in one of its clawed hands, and as The Night brought it closer to Marcy, the young ranger began to notice a faint, green glow coming from it. Marcy's eyes went wide as the monster finally opened its hand.
"It's…" The girl murmured.
"One of the Calamity Stones… the Stone of Wit, to be precise…"
"Why are you showing me this?"
"You see Marcy, the Calamity Stones contain an incredible amount of power. In the eons that I've lived I never managed to find something more powerful. Their strength is… unprecedented. Unfortunately, I've never managed to use their power, if not to activate the music box. But simply travelling to new worlds isn't enough. They could all be mine, infinite world added to my collection, and maybe, just maybe, one of them will grant me the power to take back my own home from…" The Night suddenly grew silent, his orange, glowing eyes growing distant as a faint roar could be heard in the distance. "But to do that… I'll need the full power of the stones, and someone capable to wield it…"
"Y-you want me to…" Marcy stuttered in fear as the creature's hand grew closer.
"Take it… accept its power, be my instrument, and when my conquest will end… I'll grant your wish. You'll be free…, free to be with her."
"She won't want me." The girl whispered, shaking her head as a small, sad smile growing on her lips.
"She will, because I'll make so that in my worlds, you'll only have each other… and no one else."
Marcy's eyes grew wide. She couldn't accept… she would have never helped this… this monster.
"Or I can leave you here to die… the choice is yours."
The Night began to crawl backwards, and suddenly, the warmth that had surrounded her, vanished. The unimaginably deep cold came back, and Marcy cried in pain as it began sink into her bones. As she shook violently, she thought of Anne, of all the years they've been friends, of all the laughs, all the fun she had with her. She thought of the only night she got to spend with her as her girlfriend. Probably not even a blink of an eye to The Night… but to her? It meant more than any kind of power. That's why Marcy used all of her remaining strength to stand up and began to limp towards the creature. When she reached it, she collapsed to the snowy ground and reached out for its hand.
"A wise choice, my child."
The Night extended its hand towards the girl, letting her take the shiny, green stone, and when her hand closed around it, Marcy knew… she had just struck a deal with the devil.
…
…
…
"Is it done… my lord?" Andrias asked.
The massive newt king stood near the entrance of The Night's chamber, watching in amazement as the young girl that served him as his chief ranger, began to stir. After her wound had been healed, his master decided that it was time to meet one of the humans that had succeeded in doing the impossible… becoming bound to one of the Calamity Stones. Marcy had been strapped to a chair, and Andrias' most brilliant scientists had followed the king's instructions to create a strange machine, a black helmet, that had been placed on the girl's head. In front of the chair stood a small pillar, and upon it… the newt king had placed the Stone of Wit. It shone brightly and Marcy was being bathed in its green light.
"It is done…" The Night replied.
The light suddenly vanished, and the black-haired girl grew still…
Then…
Thirteen, orange eyes appeared on the black helmet's surface, and a malicious grin spread upon Marcy's lips.
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"Aaaaand that's basically it." Anne concluded her presentation.
Her parents sat on the living room's couch completely still. Their eyes were as wide as dinner plates and their mouths were hanging open. Anne's mom looked at her side, taking a quick glance at the three… she couldn't still believe her eyes… talking frogs that were sitting beside her and scooted away a little as Sprig waved at her.
"Let me get this straight… there's a whole other world who knows where, populated by… talking… frogs, toads and newts… and a magic music box took you, Marcy and Sasha to this world on the day of your birthday… and you've been there for the last six months?" Anne's father tried to recap everything her daughter had just explained.
"In summary… yes!"
A long moment of silence passed as Anne looked at her parents expectantly.
"Any questions?"
"A lot…" Kiet murmured, his gaze set on the floor.
"What happened to Marcy? To Sasha? Where are they?" Malai asked, standing up from the couch, reaching Anne and putting her hands on the girl's shoulders.
Anne's world came to a stop when she heard her mother pronounce Marcy's name. She wanted to tell her that both her and Sasha were okay, that they must have surely been on their way home… but despite her best efforts, her smile crumbled for a moment, and her mother noticed it.
"W-when the music box began to work again… we opened it but… I woke up on a highway with the Plantars and no one else. B-but I'm sure they're alright! Maybe they just got transported to a different place, just like it happened to all three of us six months ago! Maybe they're on their way home right now!" Anne tried to sound excited, tried to put up her best, hopeful smile.
Her mother's look made her understand that she had failed.
"Anne…" She sighed.
"Look mom… I'm really tired, okay? Can me and the Plantars just go to my room?"
"The… frogs?! Anne, absolutely not! We have t-to warn the government! They'll know what to with them! They can't stay here!" Malai yelled, puzzled that her daughter would even think that such a thing could have been possible.
"What?! The government?! No! They'll just take them away and dissect them! I'm not going to let that happen!" Anne rebutted, raising her voice.
"Anne, listen to me…" Her mom's voice grew grave.
"No, you listen to me now." The brown-haired girl didn't back down, instead, she spoke up, her voice filled with a burning determination her parents had never seen in her.
Malai's eyes grew wide, her mouth hanging open as she heard Anne speak those words.
"I spent six months in Amphibia. I could have died there but the Plantars took me in, gave me a place to stay, to call home. They saved me, even more than once, they're part of my family and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to them…"
Anne's mom grew silent, and for a moment the brown-haired girl believed she might have gone too far… but then Malai's shocked expression changed, replaced by a small smile and suddenly… she looked at her as if she had never been prouder of her daughter.
"You seem… different…" She said.
"A good different?" Anne asked, her determined expression changing into a more calm, hopeful one.
"Yeah… a good different." Her mom sighed as she stroked her cheek.
"Malai? If it's true… if they've really saved our daughter… we can't let anyone know about them. Who knows what they'll do to them." Anne's dad stood up and put a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"I know…"
After a few moments, Anne's mom let out a long, heavy sigh and spoke again.
"Alright, they can stay, but none of you are allowed out of the house! People can't know about them and… and I don't want you to disapp-" Malai was suddenly interrupted by a pair of arms embracing her fiercely.
"Thank you… thank you…" Anne muttered happily as she hugged her mom.
Malai smiled sweetly and ran a hand through her daughter's massy hair.
"You're welcome… now… why don't you show your… friends… your room? I'll call you when dinner's ready."
"Okay… I love you mom, I love you dad!" Anne said as she left the living room.
Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly followed her and soon, the small group had disappeared into Anne's room. Malai waited a few moments before turning towards Kiet.
"Do you think we can… trust them?"
"They honestly don't seem dangerous… and Anne's never been a good liar. She meant it when she said she considers them part of her family, and that they saved her." Kiet replied.
"That's the point, she's never been a good liar, and I know that she had lied to us… about Marcy and Sasha." Malai crossed her arms, looking worried.
"I know… but we shouldn't force her to talk…"
"Their parents are worried sick! What should we do? Not tell them about the fact that we know where their daughters have been for the last six months?!"
"I never said that… just that… whatever had happened to them… Anne will tell us when she's ready. She… looked really freaked out when you said their names. She has just come back… give her some time…" Kiet said in a kind voice as he took Malai's hands into his own.
However, she didn't look convinced. Malai looked away, a frown growing on her face as she let go of his husband's hands.
"I… need to go and make dinner… I want to make all of Anne's favorites tonight…" Anne's mom muttered as she disappeared into the kitchen.
…
…
…
Anne had grown used to the bug bits that were basically in every kind of food Amphibia had to offer… but eating a home cooked meal her mom prepared? And not any kind of meal, but a dinner made of all her favorite dishes? When she put her fork down, the girl felt like she was in heaven. Her parents looked at her in mild bewilderment, as she had just eaten all the seven plates of different foods her mother had prepared in less than an hour. Anne's dad suddenly chuckled.
"Guess you liked dinner?"
"Oh man, mom you don't even realize how much I love you." Anne sighed contentedly.
"I'm glad you liked it…" Malai looked at Anne, a small smile growing on her lips. She still wanted Anne to tell her the truth, but she was happy that her daughter had enjoyed dinner… she was happy to have her back.
Anne yawned and unlocked her phone, looking at the time. It wasn't that late, but she didn't think she'd be able to stay up for much longer, too much had happened in a single day, and she just wanted to get under the covers and not think of anything… just sleep.
"Mom? Can I go to my room? I'm really sleepy…"
"Of course, honey…"
"Thanks Ms. Boonchuy! The dinner was really good!" Sprig exclaimed, flashing the woman a pair of thumbs up.
"Oh my frog, can you cook like this for us like… forever?" Polly massaged her belly.
Taken aback by the small frogs' compliments, Malai's eyes widened slightly.
"Not like this but… I promise you'll never have to go to bed on an empty stomach."
"Come on guys." Anne gestured to the Plantars to follow her.
"You go on kids, I'll help your parents with the dishes." Hop Pop said as he jumped down his stool.
"Y-you really don't have to, Mr. Plantar." Malai waved her hands, while Kiet simply looked surprised by the offer.
"Nonsense, these youngsters may be excused but I still want to do something to repay you for this wonderful and very frankly amazing dinner. At least let me help with the dishes."
"Okay…" Malai replied, not knowing what else to say.
An extra pair of hands would have certainly helped… the woman guessed. Perhaps these frogs could be trusted. Perhaps they were exactly like them… just… more froggish. As soon as Anne, Sprig and Polly left the kitchen, Hop Pop and the brown-haired girl's parents began clearing away the table.
I'm baaaack! Got tangled up with work buuut now I got some free time to write, hope you've enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you think of it in the comments and see you next time!