"What's wrong?"

She looked up from her hands, tears staining her dress. A small creature stood near her, a saddened look in his eyes. He gently tapped a hand to her knee.

"Is everything alright?"

She sniffled and wiped her nose. "My parents don't like me..." She mumbled, forcing back her tears.

"Oh...That's sad."

"And I try my best to be good, but they always keep fighting and tell me to go to my room..."

"...Give me a moment."

And with that, he up and left. Just after he did, another creature that looked just like the last appeared.

"Your parents don't like you? That sounds toxic."

She nodded a bit.

"I can take you away from that, if you want."

She nodded again, feeling a bit better.

He touched her hand. "So let's go! I don't want you getting hurt. We can love you like they didn't. And we'll get you everything you've always wanted."

"R-really?"

He nodded as the first one returned. "Rex? What are you-"

Rex, the one holding her finger, faced the first one. "She wants to get out of there. And I gave her that offer."

"But if her parents are getting divorced, that's basically kidnapping."

"So? We take things all the time! What's the difference, taking a poor, helpless child away from her suffering?" He hurried over to the other and dropped his voice so she could no longer hear it.

They whispered to each other a bit, the first one finally letting out a sigh. He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he walked to her.

"Alright. We'll take care of you. Do you have a name or something?"

She nodded.

"Well?" Rex said impatiently. "What is it?"

"Grape."

Author Note: The Stone-Cold Heart, book 2, is finally here! I had to think about how some new character would fit into the Trolls universe, and how they would impact the story and such.

We get to dive deeper into the relationship between Velvet, Veneer, and Cobblestone, and I've actually super excited I'm finally writing this. (Not to mention, there are also two villains in this story, and maybe even a third story coming...*hint hint*)

But anyway, I hope you enjoy! I'll try to put more songs (better ones too) into the story. Also, you get to see Poppy, Branch, and his bros. in this one if being a sequel wasn't enough to convince you.

ONE LAST THING! Major spoilers for all three movies, and the TV shows because I WILL be mentioning a character from there who had an impact on the story.

Stay Fresh and stay warm!~CaramelPhoenix