I jump as Marinette pokes me in the side. "Cat!" she giggles, "We're not going to find a map if you take a nap." We sit side by side, and then I hear a different giggle. Two girls are staring at us, or more at me. "Hello? May I help you?" "We've never seen you around the library. You must be new around here. Libra and I help out at the library. We were on our way to get some coffee, would you like a cup?" I turn to Marinette. "Would you like one?" "I'd love one." "Great, I need to look up something anyway." "Oh, we can help with that!" the girls chime, and they loop a arm through both of my elbows. Marinette's mouth drops open and I hide a smile when I see her turn slightly green with envy.

"So, what do you girls do here around the library?" "Shelve books and help our mother, Atlas. She's the head of the library. Was that your girlfriend back there?" "No, she's not my girlfriend," Yet, I add in my head, "But she's a terrific girl and a great friend of mine."

The air begins to smell like coffee and the girls lead me up to a small cart with a striped awninig. "Two hazelnut lattes, Webster," Libra calls. She turns to me. "Webster's our brother. Now, didn't you say you had a book to look up?" "Yes, do you have a book people from the area with names and dates?" "Oh, yes! I'll take the coffee to your friend and be right back."

When Libra comes back, they take me to older section and I sneeze as her sister takes one of the books off the shelf. "Thank you," I call as they scurry away. I open to the A's, heart beating quickly as I flip through the pages. I want to find my parents pictures, even though I know their no longer alive. I stare at the picture of Father and Mother separately then together, and a single tear drops from my eye. Even in this grainy black and white tome, Father still looks as solemn and serious as the day I was born. I could never please Father, no matter how hard I tried, so I grew close to Mother, and it caused a riff between Father and I.

"Cat? What are you looking at?" I hear a soft voice, and find Marinette standing there with a concerned look on her face. "Come sit with me, Princess. You need to see this." She sits down beside me, and I point to my parents photos. "These are my parents, Gabriel and Emile Agreste." "In this picture, they look so in love," Marinette smiles. More tears run down my cheeks. "They didn't love me after I was born, why did they have to die?" "Cat, of course they loved you." "I just feel so...alone, Marinette." "I won't leave you, Kitty. After all, your my best friend." I sniff, looking at her with surprise and give her a small smile. "I am." "Your the one who makes my day just a bit brighter, and I love that we can talk about anything. I think if your parents knew what a fine son they had raised, they would be very proud." "Your so sweet, Princess. Thank you." And before I know I'm doing it, I kiss her on the lips. Her lips are soft and sweet and taste faintly of strawberries. When we break apart, she sighs happily. "That was my very first kiss," she whispers. "I'm glad I got it from you." "Did you find a map?" "Oh! Yes!" She straightens up and shows me the paper. "There's a dot here, but I couldn't figure out what it was." I peer closely at where she points. "Looks a cave, Princess." "We should get moving then."

We make a copy of the map, and I feel better outside. I also like when Marinette takes my hand. We don't talk much as we walk for the climb at the moment is all uphill. Sweat trickles down our necks and faces, but even if there was a stream here to wash off and play in, we've taken up enough of the day.

"Cat, look up there ahead! Is that a lake shimmering in the distance!" Sure enough, when I shade my eyes, there is a blue twinkle on the horizon. "Good spot, but let's look on the bright side, we may just get to eat fish tonight."

Finally, the hills even out and the path becomes easier to travel on, however we begin to hear strange sounds as we approach the lake. "How do we get across?" Marinette groans. "The water is to deep and fast to wade across." "Maybe we can make a boat or a raft." "A raft would be easier. But where do we get a ax?" "Marinette," Nikki, her Kwami, comes flying out and Marinette turns her attention to our little flying friend. "Use your ladybug powers, and use your lucky charm." "Okay. Spots On!"

We grin at each other as an ax falls into Marinette's hands along with a bundle of rope to tie the logs together. Working as a team, we soon assemble a small raft and we push it out onto the water. "I'll get on first," Ladybug says, stepping aboard our homemade craft cautiously. I follow after, handing her a pole that we use as an oar. At first, we go in a circle, but eventually we find a rhythm and push off from shore.

The sun is starting to set, but its heat is still strong, so we splash ourselves with water often. We're reaching the other side of the riverbank and around sunset, and Ladybug detransforms wrinkling her nose. "What is that stench?" she waves a hand in front of her face. "Not me," I say, but she claps a hand over my mouth and makes a shushing sound. "Do you hear that?" I shake my head, but then I do. A sound like a tuba or a trumpet, only much deeper.

Suddenly, big brown toads materialize out of the forest and one of the toads is bigger then the rest. He wears a crown of gold on his warty head and stares at us before speaking. "To pass through my land, you must pay a toll!" He rabbits and sticks out his long sticky pink tongue. "Toll?" Marinette asks. "You mean money?" "No, rabbit, rabbit. I mean, flies." "Please, King Toad sir," Marinette spreads her hands wide to show him we have nothing to hide. "We're just harmless travelers trying to reach the cave." "You have no toll, so you won't reach the cave. Your coming with us." Marinette shrieks as one of the toads tries to grab her, and my temper flares and I use my powers. "Cataclysm!" A black swirling ball of destruction sits in my hand, and the toads freeze. "Let us go, we mean you no harm! Harm the girl, and you'll wish you've never met us!" King Toad hops towards me, looming and large. "I don't take orders from a puny pussy cat, I only take orders from the moth! Give them the lick, boys!"

Before we can move, I feel a slimy warm tongue sliding across my face and then darkness…..

King Toad ribbited triumphantly as they dragged their catch in their marsh nets. The Butterfly Man who had passed through here had given them a special kind of fly, one that knocked travelers out, but the toads were immune to, and they took it to their own personal advantage.

The toads hopped back to their bog, towing the captive with them, knowing they would have them hunt for flies when they woke up.

I wake, groggy and disoriented and find that the toads somehow must of used my cataclysm and I wonder if they are immune to our powers? "Marinette, wake up." "She wiggles and slowly opens her eyes. "Cat, they've captured us and we're tied up. What do we do now?" "We'll figure out a solution, love, but for now lets stay silent and observe."

I start to cough as the air reeks of unwashed toads and bog water, and I sit down the rope cutting into my stomach. Marinette wiggles closer to me, and touches my fingers.

We find out that the toads don't just eat flies, for they have a fire pit that they cook in, and a smell of oats fills the air. They offer us bowls of steaming mush, loosening our restraints but they warn us not to make any sudden moves. Marinette dips her spoon in and takes a bite. "How is it?" "I think its boiled oats and water, mashed down into mush."

I sample the mush from my own bowl, and its not bad. We rack our brains for an escape route, but its looking impossible, and then I have a horrible thought. Do these toads mean to starve us and then the flies will come? I shudder at the thought.

Dusk and night set in, with strange sounds and howls coming from every corner of the bog. Marinette cuddles close to me, and I'm glad I can give her some comfort among so much evil. I mean to stay awake, but at last I fall asleep.

I wake, finding it still dark, but dawn is not far away for there's a pink blush in the sky. Marinette stirs, and she whispers from the corner of her mouth. "The toads are all asleep, right?" I nod. When they are awake they trumpet and bellow, but expect for the occasional ribbit, all is quiet. "Time for Ladybug to save the day. After all, toads like insects, right?" I kiss her after she transforms. "Be careful." She wiggles free, and ties me back up. "Don't worry, I won't leave you behind." I smile at her. "Don't worry, I trust you."

One of the toads opens his eyes and seeing that Ladybug is free, sounds the alarm.