CHAPTER 7: TROUBLE AT THE AMUSEMENT PARK

"Anne? Do you really think this is a good idea?" Sprig said as he fidgeted with his fingers.

"Whoa… Sprig? You? Trying to follow the rules and not get in trouble?" Anne said as she chuckled, although it was pretty clear that she wasn't completely at ease.

"Yeeeeah… but your mom looked really scary when she told us that we had to stay in the house." The young frog answered.

"Listen, I get it. We went to the backyard for like… five minutes… to make Polly stretch her legs, she didn't see us in the house and freaked out." Anne recapped what had happened a few days before.

"She had her reasons to." Hop Pop crossed his arms.

"No, she didn't! I get it, I disappeared and didn't come back for five months. I know that it must have been hard for them but locking us in the house for three days without letting us even open a freaking window is a little too much." The messy haired girl countered.

"Yeah! Plus, we'll be back before anyone will notice!" Polly exclaimed.

"I don't know kids, this doesn't sound like a good idea." Hop Pop frowned.

"Then why are you here?" Anne asked, raising a brow.

"To keep an eye on you! Obviously!" The old frog looked almost insulted.

"There's no need to! We'll pay a tiiiiny visit to the amusement park and then we'll go back, easy."

"So you think that they bought the whole 'we're really tired, we're gonna go to sleep at 8 p.m.' act?" Sprig asked, sounding far from convinced.

"Yeah, how could you not believe this angelic, cute, little face?" Anne coed as she put up her most innocent look.

"Your mom didn't really look convinced. And I don't know Anne, maybe this amusement park isn't worth-" Sprig began to talk, but immediately fell silent.

Stars appeared into the young frog's eyes as what Anne called the 'amusement park' came into view. A place of endless lights, games and prizes, that was what had been written on a sign near the entrance of the park, and both Polly and Sprig didn't really need to know anything more about the place to break into a sprint towards it.

"Anne, you sure this is a good idea?" Hop Pop asked as he looked around nervously.

"Hop Pop trust me, we'll stay here for just one hour, and then we'll go back home. Plus, with the disguises I made for you, no one will be able to tell the difference between you three and the other people here." Anne said confidently as she raised her thumb.

"Well, I must say these disguises look really convincing, you gave me my very own face bump, how could someone tell I'm not human?" Hop Pop chuckled, a little bit of his tension washed away as he booped his own fake nose.

"Trust me, everything will be just alright."

And everything did go all right, for almost the entire time. Sprig won a few prizes, especially when he played games that involved shooting. All those years spent using slingshots seemed to have paid off. Anne simply enjoyed all the rides she could, and of course, the cotton candy, which Polly seemed to have developed an addiction for. Hop Pop remained stuck to a claw game for almost half an hour until Anne explained that it was just a scam, and after that, the small group went to take one last ride before going back home… the ferris wheel.

"Wow… I wish we could just go on all the rides and play all the games." Sprig said as their wagon reached the wheel's highest point, giving them a perfect view of the whole park.

"Okay, first, you're too small for a few rides, second, we gotta go home before my parents find out that we're missing." Anne declared.

"Fine…" Both Sprig and Polly said, disappointment written all over their faces.

The cart began its descent, and it was right in that moment that something heavy hit its roof.

"What was that?" Anne asked, voice laced with fear.

"Probably just the wind." Sprig answered, trying to make the girl calm down.

Suddenly, something landed right next to the young frog and lifted him off the ground, but all Anne, Polly and Hop Pop could see was Sprig kicking in the air as something… invisible… held him.

"Sprig!" Hop Pop exclaimed before jumping towards the unknown enemy and throwing it a punch.

The old frog held his own hand tightly, gritting his teeth in pain, whatever he had hit must have been made of metal. But still, the punch had its desired effect, and Sprig was released from the unknown attacker's grasp. Whatever this thing was, whatever it wanted, it was nothing good, so when the descending cart was one meter over the ground, Anne and the Plantars simply jumped off, ignoring the angered yells of the ferris wheel's operator.

"What… just… happened?!" Sprig shouted in terror as he kept running towards the park's exit.

"I don't know! But it's behind us! Keep running!" Anne answered.

As she turned around briefly, she couldn't see anyone trying to chase them, but still, she could hear the sound of heavy stomps coming from behind them.

"You don't need to say it twice!" Polly yelled.

The small group kept running and running until they reached the park's exit and immediately turned around the corner. Anne brought a hand to her ear and listened carefully for any sound that could indicate the invisible foe's approaching… but didn't hear anything more than the laughter of children and honks of cars passing by. The sound of heavy stomps had stopped. Maybe whatever had attacked them had lost track of them? Then, almost by accident, the messy-haired girl saw something out of the corner of her eye… it looked like a semi-transparent silhouette… coming right down at them from above! The girl had just the time to step back and yank back Sprig before a set of razor-sharp claws came down from nowhere, slashing a fire hydrant in two. The water shot up, investing the invisible figure and suddenly… Anne and the Plantars could see it.

"It's a robot!" Sprig yelled, pointing at the machine.

"It's different from the others…" Anne said, noticing the robot's slenderer body and its long arms.

"Andrias must have sent it to kill us!" Hop Pop took a step back.

Anne and the Plantars raised their fists, ready for the machine to attack but… the robot merely looked around, seemingly more interested in the fact that a few people were looking at it curiously. And then, as if afraid to be seen, it jumped away, clawing its way up a wall and disappearing among the city's roofs. The small group could only stare in confusion and slight relief as the frog robot vanished.

"We have to go home, right now."

"Agreed."

…

…

…

"Okay… just be really quiet… my mom's a light sleeper." Anne warned the three frogs behind her.

"Right… but Anne, what about the-" Sprig began to talk but the messy-haired girl raised a hand to stop him.

"Sprig! I just told you to be quiet!" She hissed through gritted teeth.

"Okay but what about the light?"

That question made Anne's eyes become as wide as dinner plates. There was light coming from kitchen. And then, almost as soon as she noticed, a figure emerged from the lit room.

"Anne!"

Her mom's arms were around her instants after the shout. The hug only lasted for a moment before Malai pulled back, cradling her daughter's cheeks.

"W-where have you been?! Me and your dad told you not to leave the house!"

"You've basically put us under house arrest for three days mom! We just needed to stretch our legs and breathe some fresh air, that's all. Listen, we're really tired so you can scold me tomorrow, okay?" Anne said hastily before trying to walk past her mom.

However, Malai grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"No, it's not okay, I want you to tell me the truth."

"I just told you! We went out for-" Anne replied harshly but got interrupted.

"Not that, I want you to tell me the truth about Sasha and Marcy." Malai's tone of voice got demanding.

Anne paled as her mom pronounced her friends' names.

"You've been lying all this time, I know it. If you know what happened to them then you must-"

"I already told you! W-when we opened the music box-" Anne said, trying to pry away her wrist from her mother's grasp.

"Stop! I know you're lying! Just tell me the truth!"

"Mom, please let me go!" The brown-haired girl pleaded as her eyes started to sting.

"Anne, please… just-" Malai's tone of voice changed, becoming more pleading.

Anne reached the breaking point. She couldn't hold it in any longer. With a powerful motion, she ripped her wrist away from her mom's grasp, and as tears started to stream down her cheeks, she shouted with all the anger, the sadness, the desperation she tried so hard not to show.

"Just what, mom?! Should I just tell you that Sasha betrayed me and almost killed me twice?! Should I just tell you that she remained back in Amphibia and anything could have happened to her at this point?! S-Should I tell you that the day after I realized that I loved Marcy and got together with her she died in front of me?! Did you really want to hear all this?!"

It was out. Everything she didn't tell her mom, everything she had tried to keep hidden… she had said it all, and what she didn't say, she simply showed, as her eyes were now glowing of a bright, light blue color.

"A-Anne…" Her mother sounded horrified.

Malai raised a trembling hand and tried to reach for her daughter, but Anne stepped back. It was then that the messy-haired girl heard a sound coming from the kitchen… and realized her mistake. Her mom wasn't alone.

"Anne… what… what did you just say that happened to our daughter?"

Anne's eyes widened in horror as she saw not only Mr. and Mrs. Wu come out of the kitchen, but also Mrs. Waybright.