Despite the seeming failure of Hat Kid's adventure, it did help get her mind off her Borrower Family. She was more focused on seeing how long she could give Conductor the silent treatment.
She made herself busy with her crafts and friends. Realizing that she had not made little finger puppet creations for Cookie and Grooves, she got to work.
She made Cookie a little orange cat puppet, and she made Grooves a penguin. She made sure that the cat had Cookie's chef outfit and the penguin had Grooves' afro. They had to match, after all!
Hiding them away, she crawled to the window and looked outside. It was raining today, drizzling softly, the sun was clouded out of view. She glanced at her leg. It had healed nicely, and it barely hurt anymore.
Maybe she should give the front garden a try.
"Snaaaatcher!" she called out, glancing behind her.
"Kid I'm literally right here." he replied from his cot. "What's up?"
"I wanna play in the garden!" she smiled, standing up and brushing off her dress.
Snatcher laughed nervously. "Kid, did you hit your head or somethin? Last time you went outside, you almost died."
"Well, I was hoping that I'd be in the front garden today...and, maybe you'd watch me?"
He frowned, tilting his head slightly. "Well, I'm not doing much right now...it's raining though. Won't you get wet?"
"I'm OK with the rain! I can hide in the weeds!" she explained. "C'mooooon, please?"
Snatcher sighed, closing his laptop. "Let's go."
Hat Kid sang an imaginary song as she splished and splashed in large puddles. Her feet and legs were soaked, but it was a noble sacrifice in the name of fun. Small puddles were giant to her, after all.
Taking a break in the shelter of a dandelion, she glanced up at Snatcher. Sitting on the front step, umbrella in one hand and (what she later learned was called a) phone in the other. Noticing her, he smiled and waved.
Happy with his response, she smiled back and ran to splash in more puddles. They weren't gonna splash themselves!
"Don't get sick, kiddo." he mumbled. "I'm bad enough at taking care of you now, I shudder to think about how we'd take care of you if you had the flu."
"I'm tough! I'll be fine!" she exclaimed as she launched herself into a puddle. "Borrowers don't get sick!"
"Hmm." he stood up. "I need to take this call. Can you do me a favor, and not die for ten minutes?"
"Yoooou got it!" she replied, hopping up and down in the puddles. She could hear him start to enter the house, talking to someone on the phone.
It was just ten minutes. How bad could it be?
Hat Kid found herself drifting farther from the house in her search for puddles. She hadn't even noticed until she reached the bushes that were on the border of the garden and the vast amount of trees.
She was about to turn around to go back to the house, but something stopped her. A soft rustling sound, and the steps of little feet. Looking back, Hat Kid swore she saw a flash of a green coat and a blue bow, and purple eyes looking at her through the leaves.
Her eyes went wide. "Bow?"
Bow gasped quietly, starting to step out of the bush and reach a hand out for Hat Kid.
But before either of the two Borrower children could react, a hand swooped in from out of nowhere and snatched Hat Kid up. "OH. MY. GOSH!" came a young voice. Hat Kid squeaked as the grip around them tightened. Her signature hat fluttered to the ground. "You're teeny! You're a teeny little poppet!"
It was the child bean in a red hood. She had long blonde hair tied with blue beads, and...a yellow mustache? Her gold eyes sparkled at the sight of her, as she reached into a pocket. She pulled out an item feared by all Borrowers. A glass jar.
The Child Bean dropped Hat Kid inside, peering inside excitedly. "Don't worry! I rescued you!"
Hat Kid wanted to scream. She wasn't in danger! She didn't need to be saved! This was the exact kind of Human Bean that everyone had warned her about. The type of Bean to snatch up a Borrower, only for the Borrower to never be seen again.
In the face of all of this, Hat Kid could only squeak.
The Mustached Girl smiled, holding the jar close to her chest and running back to her house across the street.
The Borrower's fate was sealed.
In contrast to the nice, warm house that her Beans lived in, this new house was cold and dark. The walls were stained and had questionable scratches. Hat Kid whimpered, pressing herself against one of the walls. Thank God there were holes in the lid.
The Mustached Girl tiptoed inside. Before she could run upstairs, there was a booming voice from the kitchen. "HEY! BRAT! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO STAY INSIDE!" Masculine. Gruff. Hint of a strange accent. Scary.
"WHATEVER!" she shouted back, running upstairs before the owner of the voice could investigate. "Stupid Uncle." she grumbled to herself as she made a beeline to her room, the door covered with 'do not enter signs'.
Kicking open the door, then slamming it shut, the Child Bean placed the jar on her desk. Hat Kid fearfully pressed her back to the other side of the glass as the Mustached Girl stared at the inside. "...wow! I must be dreaming! You are real, right?"
The small girl slowly nodded. Being nice had worked in her favor before, it wouldn't hurt to try.
The young Bean began to pace, excitedly talking to herself. "This is amazing! No, incredible! Wait wait!" She rushed over, picking up the jar. "This is the most wonderful, stupendous thing ever!"
"D-Don't shake me around!" Hat Kid squeaked. She swore she felt her brain rattle around!
The child gasped, pressing her nose against the jar. "YOU CAN TALK! AND YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME!"
"P-Please don't yell lik-like that." she whispered. Due to their large size, Beans had very loud voices. Thankfully, her Beans had caught on quick, keeping their voices low when she was on their shoulders or the like. (Conductor was still a bit too loud for her tastes, though.)
"Sorry! Sorry sorry!" she excitedly whispered. "I'm Mu! I saved you! And I'll take good care of you-"
"You didn't! You kidnapped me!" Hat Kid squeaked, stomping in her glass prison.
Mu looked surprised, but then she looked angry. "Excuse me?! I SAVED you! Who knows what could have happened out there! If it weren't for me, some other person would've picked you up, or a cat could have eaten you! I'm a good person! I'm a good guy!"
"Then let me go!"
"No way!" Mu placed the jar on the desk, a little rougher than the Borrower liked. "If I let you back out there you'll die! I'm protecting you! Whether you want it, or NOT!"
Snatcher sighed in relief. That phone call was slightly longer than he wanted it to be. But it was done. "Alright kid, sorry about that-"
Where was his Borrower?
He put his phone in his pocket, and started to look around. Taking care to look where he stepped as to not accidentally squish the little thing. "Kid? Where'd you go?"
Looking over at the bushes, he saw something purple. Heart sinking into the pit of his stomach, Snatcher quickly made his way over to see a tiny, crumpled, soaking purple top hat. He gingerly picked it up between his fingernails, looking around and calling out, "Kid?! Where'd you go?!"
"That hat...isn't yours." came a quiet voice from the bushes.
He leaned over, trying to look inside. "Who are you? You don't sound like the kid?"
Silence.
He sat down, trying to seem as small as he could. Ignoring the wet grass and puddles, he got as comfortable as he could before replying to the bushes again. "Are you another Borrower? I won't hurt you. I know that Human Beans - yes, I know we're called Beans - I know that Human Beans could hurt you. But I promise I'm not! I just wanna know where the Kid is. Hat Kid? You seem to know her, is she a friend?"
"We were more than friends." Before he could continue talking, a small figure stepped out of the bushes. She had darker skin, bright purple eyes, a green jacket and a big blue bow in her black, curly hair. She looked at him, large, goopy tears streaming down her face. "We were sisters."
She wiped her eyes, and looked determined. "And I know where she is."
"Whether you want it, or NOT!"
The front doorbell rang, echoing throughout the house. Hat Kid saw Mu visibly stiffen, eyes darting to the door. "...stay here."
As quietly as she could, the Child Bean ran to the door and left the room.
Stay here, no way!
Hat Kid immediately began to look for a way out, trying to climb the glass walls around her. Too steep to scale up, especially since she didn't have her Borrowing Tools. She really used her tools nowadays to help her scale around in the crawl space in the house.
If she couldn't climb up, maybe she could knock the glass over! She slammed her shoulder into the side, rocking it slightly. That was it! Just keep at it.
But before she could do anything else, thunderous shouting erupted from downstairs. It was even louder than Conductor! A man with a thick accent yelling at Mu, it sounded like. Something about being a thief?
After a few moments, the yelling ceased. There was loud stomping, then Mu burst into the room. She looked absolutely furious, but she was...crying? Angry tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Are you OK?" Hat Kid asked, feeling sympathy in her chest. "Why are you crying."
"Y-Your friend came...saying you were a toy. Tall bloke." Mu sniffled. "A-And my uncle called me a bitch and a thief."
"That's awful! He shouldn't do that!" Hat Kid shouted.
"...whatever." Mu said quietly, wiping her cheeks. "At least he didn't hit me."
The Borrower felt anger. An anger she hadn't felt before. "He...he shouldn't do that! No parental figure should do that!" she pressed her face against the glass. "Come to my house with Snatcher. Please."
The girl slowly nodded. "Pretend to be a toy."
The two slowly made it downstairs, Mu stiff and fearful. Hat Kid managed a glance at the large man standing next to the doorway. Short and Stocky, with a big mustache and a permanent sneer. She wanted to punch him.
She saw Snatcher's hands gently encase the glass jar, pulling it close to his chest. "I apologize for the mix-up. I'll be on my way-"
"Wait!" Mu cried out. "I-I should come over! Do some housework as a-a-an apology to you!"
Snatcher glanced down at the little Borrower in the jar. She winked at him, and he looked back at Mu with a shrug. "Alright, kiddo. Your funeral. You don't mind, do ya?" he asked the Uncle.
The Uncle practically shoved his niece closer to the door. "You take brat. Make her back ache from work. Make her suffer for her crimes!"
Snatcher nodded, a little unsure how to respond. "...sure. C'mon, blondie."
Snatcher and Mu walked back home in silence, and once they were inside the apartments, he let out a big sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're safe, kiddo." he said, opening the top of the jar and letting Hat Kid crawl out into his hand.
He looked back at Mu, who had awkwardly stood in the doorway. "And you...you shouldn't kidnap tiny people. But...I have to admit I'm a little concerned." he gestured back to her house. "Does...he always talk to you like that?"
Mu nodded wordlessly. Snatcher sighed. "Have a seat, kiddo." She nodded, sitting down at the table. "So...your Uncle."
She threw her hands up in the air in a gesture of exasperation. "I know! I hate him! He smells, he and his friends drink all night and I have to pick up the broken glass, he calls me horrible names, and he hits way too hard!" she shouted, sinking into her chair. "What about him?"
Snatcher was quiet for a moment, then pulled out his phone. "...yes..911? I'd like to report a case of child abuse and endangerment."
Snatcher sat on the front porch, legs crossed as he watched a police man shove Mu's Uncle into a cop car. He wasn't normally a big fan of the Police, but he did have to pat them on the back today.
"WHA' DID YE DO NOW?!"
He turned, lazily almost, to see the other members of the house walking up to the front steps. "Not me this time, old man." he flashed a sly grin, but it quickly faded. He looked to an ambulance nearby. A lovely policewoman had taken Mu off to the side to ask her questions. "...the kid's guardian abused her. Hit her. Called her a bitch right in front of me. So I called the cops."
Grooves' was shocked into silence, stuttering quietly as Conductor flew into an angry rage, cursing the Uncle's name in vain. CC sat on the steps next to him. "Wow, Snatcher! How'd you find out?"
"...the girl over there. Blondie?" he said, gesturing to Mu. "...she took the kid. When I went to get her back, the Uncle called her a bitch. I questioned her further at the house and she spilled everything."
"Oh...poor thing! I wish I could just...scoop her up into a hug!" CC, unable to hold and comfort Mu, leaned against Snatcher and held his arm.
"Where is the lass?!" Conductor hissed, trying to whisper but being too angry to. "Is she safe?!"
"Relax, old man! This isn't my first rodeo!" he gestured behind him. "She's inside. I gave her some cake."
The four turned their attention to a nice looking woman walking up. "You are the one to call, yes? I work with CPS." she asked, gesturing at Snatcher. "A Mister Vin-"
"Name isn't important right now. How is she?"
"Well, she's doing much better." the CPS worker sighed. "Poor thing. We're gonna need to find her a new home-"
"I'll take her!" CC jumped up, a fire in her eyes. "I absolutely hate the fact that I was completely unaware of her suffering all this time! I want to make it up to her!"
The woman looked surprised. "Oh! Well, there's paperwork that must be done, you would need to take a parenting class, we'd need to check the house-"
"I'll do it! All of us will!"
"We are?" the other three asked, but a glare from Cookie made them fall silent.
The CPS agent pulled out several papers and a business card. "Here's my card. We can go over the info over the phone. Keep in touch."
CC grinned as she looked at the papers. "I'm gonna look at these right away!" she cheered, dashing inside.
"...did we just adopt a kid?" Grooves asked the two remaining.
"Sounds like we did. I'm gonna check on the kid." the young man replied, standing up and heading inside.
Hat Kid was eating a bit of pound cake on the counter, feeling very happy with herself. But once she saw Snatcher, she hastily swallowed her bite and asked, "HEY! How did you know where to find me?!"
"OH THAT'S RIGHT!" he cried out. "I was looking for you, and I found ANOTHER BORROWER! She told me Mu took you! She said you were sisters! I tried to lure her out, but she wouldn't."
The little girl gasped. "THAT'S BOW! She's still alive!"