Episode IV

Toad's Girls, Part 1

Amaris pulled the string back and took a sharp breath, focusing on the tip of her arrow. Carefully, she lifted it a smidge higher than her brain told her too, taking a moment to solidify the angle in her mind. Her lungs remained still, waiting to be given the order to release. Then, in unison, hands and lungs relaxed. The string pushed the arrow forward, sailing true, striking the pumpkin sitting atop a large red mushroom.

“Go Amaris!” Coleus shouted, waving her hands in the air.

Amaris couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah, I’m hitting it almost every time now, huh?”

“Maybe with a bit more practice you’ll actually be able to hit the bullseye reliably!”

Amaris rubbed the back of her head. “Well, uh… pumpkins are awkward shapes and the bullseye is painted in different spots every time, and I haven’t been doing this for that long…”

Coleus let out a gasp. “Amaris! Are you… de-fleck-ing?”

Amaris couldn’t help but snort. “That was terrible. There aren’t any flecks here.”

“Psh,” Coleus waved a dismissive hand. “I haven’t speck-en a pun in a few hours, it was a-bit time.”

“Oooh, a pun theme, you’re using a little more effort today.”

“To-dot.”

“You missed my emphasis.”

“You didn’t make a pun.”

Amaris stared at her for a few moments before bursting into laughter. “We both suck at this.”

Coleus winked at her. “Speck at this!”

Amaris picked up a chunk of discarded pumpkin from an earlier attempt and threw it at her. “You’ll kill me with all that pun damage!”

“Not if I keep reviving you! The punishment will never end!”

Amaris let out an exasperated gasp. “No! A fate worse than death! Please, spare me…”

The dryad put a green finger to her chin, tapping as though in thought. “Hmm… I’ll take it under advisement. Until then, we’re working on your speck-tacular archery skills!”

“Oh, hey, a proper pun.” Amaris stretched her arms. “So, I’m a little sore, why don’t you try?”

Coleus instinctually raised her hands to ease the soreness in Amaris’ arms, but she managed to pick up on the subtext this time. “Oh, right.” Instead of using her restorative magic, she pulled her own bow out and generated another pumpkin. With a single swift motion, not unlike plucking an instrument, she fired an arrow directly into the pumpkin’s bullseye.

Amaris stood back and took a bow. “I still have much to learn, master.”

“Be-leaf me, I’m not a master.”

“Stop it.”

Coleus stuck out a playful tongue. “Make me!” She bit her lip, but she managed not to immediately apologize to Amaris.

Amaris shot her a finger-gun gesture. “You’re doing great. You know, when I first came here, I found you kind of annoying.”

“You’ve mentioned this,” Coleus deadpanned.

“Yeah, yeah…” Amaris rubbed the back of her head. “But you know what, you’re all right.”

“Then why did you shoot me?”

Amaris blinked. “Huh?”

Coleus made the finger-guns gesture at herself and suddenly clutched where her heart would have been if she had such an organ. She fell backwards without really looking where she was going, slamming her head on a rock.

“…You okay?” Amaris asked.

“Give me… a moment…” Coleus grumbled, pressing her hand to her head to ease the pain. “Ow…”

“You only have yourself to blame.”

“You shot me!”

Amaris rolled her eyes. “Suuuure…”

“You did! Bona-fide finger guns! They shoot nails, you know. Nails!” She jumped up and waved her arms around wildly.

Amaris opened her mouth to respond, but frowned. Which nails did she mean there…?

“Are you quite done, children?”

Amaris and Coleus froze immediately, turning to the left to see one of the elder dryads. He still appeared as a rooted tree, but he had stretched his arms out from the trunk and dragged his wooden face some distance away from the lake.

“Oh, were we bothering you, Tecoma?” Coleus smiled awkwardly. “W-we could go to the edge of the Glen if you want…”

“What she said,” Amaris said. She didn’t like the elder dryads at all. Whenever they spoke to her it was always with disdain or disinterest.

Tecoma folded his wooden hands together, slowly, over the course of about a minute. Amaris had learned early on not to hurry the elders along. They spent significant effort to move like that, getting told it wasn’t fast enough just made them grumpy. “Children, your game is of little consequence. I refer to the entire ordeal. The human has been here for weeks.”

“Weeks!?” Coleus and Amaris shouted at the same time with the same level of shock.

“Oh no I lost track of time…” Coleus pressed her hands to her head. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t paying attention to time, Amaris! You…”

“I… I wasn’t even counting the days…” Amaris started wringing her hands together. “I… kind of… forgot to.”

“It is a good sign,” Tecoma said, leaning back with a slight creak. “Coleus has, historically, found it difficult to let time bleed by. You seem to have assisted her with that, human.”

“…Thank you…?” Amaris tilted her head to the side.

“However, it will not do to have a permanent resident with us. Is there any reason you cannot go now?”

Amaris glanced to Coleus. “You already figured out where you’re dropping me off, right?”

Coleus nodded. “None of the others know about any of the names you gave, but… well, there’s one Glen really close to a big city, you might be able to learn more there. It’s not the most pleasant looking. But, then again, you humans apparently like removing all the trees from an area and covering it with that conch-rete.”

Amaris legitimately wasn’t sure if Coleus was just having trouble pronouncing concrete or it was just another pun.

“Good,” Tecoma said, getting closer and closer to his resting position by the lake. “Then, if she has business back among her own, why wait?”

Coleus awkwardly glanced at Amaris. “I… uh… well, I’ve kept you longer than I should, and… uh… sorry, sorry—“

Amaris shoved her playfully in the shoulder. “Shut up.”

“Wh—“

Amaris pulled the plant girl into a hug and squeezed her tight. She couldn’t help but let out a tear. “…Thank you.”

Amaris could feel the smile grow on Coleus’ face. “Y-you’re welcome.”

The two girls released and stared at each other, awkwardly, for a moment.

“I should get my things,” Amaris said, pointing at the open backpack with all its items strewn around.

“Oh, I’ll make you food for the road! Stuff that won’t spoil, so you’ll never get hungry again!” She started growing plants around her immediately.

“You would be really useful if you came along,” Amaris said.

Coleus sputtered at this. “Uh… Amaris…”

“I know, I know, this is your home and your people. Still.” Amaris hefted up her backpack, revealing Pitch’s sleeping place. “It’d be nice if you could.”

“And… I’d like it if you could stay.” Coleus tapped her fingers together, nervously. “But we know that’s not possible…”

“Hey, if I ever find another Glen, I’ll be sure to visit.”

Coleus nodded. “Just mention my name to any of the dryads there. They don’t have to help you because of the, y’know, rules, but they should be able to get me a message.”

“Right… actually, I’m curious. How do you travel between Glens?”

“Oh, you just ask the Glen to move you. Or, well, we do.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Seems… too easy.”

Coleus shrugged. “Not everything wants to kill you.”

“It sure feels like the old trees over there do, sometimes.”

Coleus gasped, stifling a giggle. “You can’t say things like that!”

“Oops,” Amaris deadpanned.

Coleus threw a pumpkin at her, and thus erupted another one of their infamous fruit fights.

~~~

One moment Amaris and Coleus were in a verdant Glen in the midst of a chilly evergreen forest, the next they were in another Glen that had just as much life but was significantly darker because it was in the middle of a cave. The six stone pillars rose all the way to the ceiling of blackened stone, protecting the encircled area. While there were plants here given life by the dryads, most of the growing things were glowing blue mushrooms.

There was no motion. The elder dryads themselves stood around a lake of water formed by moisture dripping from a stalactite.

Amaris blinked, looking around. “Not even any flashy lights?”

“Nope,” Coleus said. “Think of Glen travel as granting a wish!”

“So… the city’s outside the cave?”

“Yes, I’ll show you the way.” Coleus unceremoniously walked out of the barrier formed by the pillars.

Amaris held up a hand. “Woah woah woah, you can just walk out?” Pitch seemed to nod in agreement—this was unusual.

“I’m not a prisoner.” Coleus put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I just can’t go far. I only never left in the forest because the Predateor is… well, you know.”

Amaris nodded. The less we talk about that the better.

Coleus gestured for Amaris to hurry up, and she followed. It wasn’t a long trek out of the cave, just a winding one that eventually came out on a barren hill, overlooking… a city of dull, oppressive colors, almost as dark as the obsidian-rich landscape surrounding it. The skyscrapers that dotted the skyline were rectangular and largely muted, with no color to speak of—an image only worsened by the constant smoke churning out of industrial factories dotted around the city. As far as Amaris could tell, there were no trees or greenery whatsoever in the city; the only thing that broke up the dull monotony was the tallest, central skyscraper. Standing apart from the others, it was a pristine white that glinted in the sunlight despite the ever-present smog.

“I can’t see what your people like about big buildings,” Coleus said, shriveling her nose in disgust.

“To be fair, this is a particularly disgusting-looking city.” Amaris shook her head. “The one I lived in had trees living amongst the buildings, like some kind of… truce between nature and industry.”

“That… actually sounds nice.” Coleus frowned, unable to take her eyes off the smog-ridden landscape. “Anyway… this is as far as I go.”

Amaris pulled her into one last hug, one she held for almost a minute—the final embrace between friends who, deep down, would rather it didn’t have to be this way. But, eventually, Amaris felt it was lasting a bit too long and pulled back. “Goodbye, then.”

“Yep!” Coleus forced a smile. “Goodbye! Hope you find your family!”

Amaris waved back as she descended the hill. “Hope you have good luck with… turning into a tree, or whatever.”

Coleus gave her a thumbs up and continued waving—at least until Amaris was out of sight.

Pitch poked his head out and slithered up on Amaris’ shoulder, licking her neck.

“Just me and you again, buddy…” Amaris said, scratching his chin. “Here we go again.”

She leisurely made her way down the mountain, finding the journey annoyingly difficult. Since the ground was made largely out of obsidian, it was extremely uneven and rough. Despite being a type of glass, most of the edges had been worn away by the elements—still, Amaris had to be careful to avoid the few particularly sharp areas there were.

This would be the perfect place for some black glass creature to come out of nowhere and shank me in the back. Amaris quickly glanced over her shoulder, finding nothing but inert rocks. This did little to alleviate her fears. For all I know, it’s invisible.

She caught herself reaching back to touch the bow tied to her backpack. It was something, at least. A defense. She wasn’t powerless.

I won’t come back next time.

Clenching her jaw, she continued downhill. She eventually came to a black, paved road with green lane markers on either side. Continuing her trek in the breakdown lane, she carefully set one foot in front of the other. Just because she was on flat ground did not mean there wasn’t danger here.

On her slow march to the city, only one car came along the road—traveling away from the city. It didn’t even slow when it approached her, a fact she was glad of. She didn’t want to try to explain anything to anyone right now. This time, she was going to investigate on her own terms. No police station, no orphanage, and no running into the forest sure settlement couldn’t be far away.

That… was really stupid of me. Really, really stupid. In embarrassment at the memory, she smacked her head with her hand. From now on, no more stupid.

Some part of her knew that little promise to herself was one just begging to be broken.

Eventually, she came to a street sign. Welcome to Genk. Though the words Welcome to were crossed out by haphazard white spray paint marks. The edges of the sign were rusted, and one of the corners had three holes blown into it.

Amaris made the solemn vow to spend as little time in Genk as possible.

There were no walls around the city, but there were no farms either. It was a harsh transition from endless obsidian wasteland to overdeveloped industrial city blocks. The road stopped winding and became gridlocked with Genk’s many square buildings. For all the smog in the air, the city itself wasn’t that dirty—the people walking around were well-dressed and clean, and there was no litter tumbling in the gutters like Amaris was expecting. Yet, despite being clean, it was ugly—every structure existed only to function, standing as a bland block set next to another bland block with another bland block stacked on top of both of them. It was clean, orderly, and efficient.

It was also soul-crushing. The people, while clearly well-fed and largely showing no signs of poverty, moved around in drudgery with their heads looking at the ground, not looking up if they could help it. Frowns and blank looks dominated when faces could be seen. A fair number of people kept their faces hidden under wide-brimmed hats or masks; though the masks themselves never smiled either. All their other clothing was just as dull as the city itself. However, occasionally there was a spark of color—bright, neon hair on a handful of citizens.

This was not surprising to Amaris, hair colors were known to vary extensively. However, what did shock her was the evidence that a large number of these bright-colored people weren’t human at all. There were creatures with pale white skin and colored growths on their limbs, a few small unicorns with brilliantly hued coats, a reptilian woman—Amaris assumed it was a woman, given the pale dress—walked with a mask resting on top of her flat head like a hat of its own, and most shocking of all was a floating jellyfish creature with an eyeball the size of Amaris’ head within the bulb. However, even this creature wore a drab hat.

A city filled with such fantastical people had no business being this dreary. The dissonance wasn’t quite as unnerving as the conditioned children back at the orphanage, but it still had Amaris even more on edge than she’d been when she first entered the city.

Get in, get info, get out.

She walked up to a large sign with a city map on it, with various points of interest marked out. She traced her finger around it until she found the word Library.

Bingo.

It was a simple matter to find the Library—Genk was laid out with a numerical grid pattern Amaris was able to easily figure out and memorize. As she made her journey, however, she noticed that the roads were largely bare. Only the occasional car drove by—but the sidewalks were utterly crowded with the people walking around seemingly without purpose.

Amaris realized she stood out more than a little bit. It wasn’t that there were no children or that no one else had backpacks. It was the simple fact that her jacket was blue.

What if color is illegal here!?

She didn’t really have any options to remedy that. Her jacket was blue, her shirt was periwinkle, and there weren’t really other options unless she wanted to walk around in a sheet or, worse, nothing at all. No one seemed to be paying her any mind, so at the very least it wasn’t immediately jarring to the citizens.

Get in, get info, get out.

The steps of the library were carved out of pure obsidian but had no decoration to them whatsoever. They served a practical purpose to lift visitors to the door and nothing else. With a deep breath, Amaris marched up the stairs and opened the door.

There was only one person in the building, an old librarian with massive round glasses. All she did was glance up at Amaris when she entered before returning to her book: How to Take Advantage of the Scientific Literature Market.

Amaris’ curiosity threatened to ask a question about that book, but she shoved it into the back of her mind as she moved deeper into the library. She wasn’t all that surprised to find that there was no fiction section whatsoever, but that wasn’t what she was looking for to begin with. The numbering system was efficient and got her to her goal right away: Atlas of the Known World.

Amaris opened the atlas up and frowned. Looking at the entire known world, she saw nothing familiar. And this map was extensive—it had seventeen continents and numerous oceans, including one landlocked between a ring of five continents. The edges of the map all faded into nebulous nothing labeled with “not enough survey data.”

She’d known the world was larger than any cartographer had ever reached, but since she saw nothing familiar… the sheer scope of it boggled her mind.

Quickly, she searched through the atlas to figure out where she was now. It took some time, but she eventually located Genk: the westernmost large city, near the very edge of the world map’s definition. Beyond it, there were just “Obsidian Wastes.”

“Great…” she muttered. “I’m not even close…” She flipped to a map that showed the local area Genk occupied, flipping back and forth between several pages. To the south, there was an ocean that flipped around a peninsula shaped like a triangle attached to the mainland by only a single point.

Wait… She tore out her notebook and tried to draw what she remembered of world maps from school. Near the southwestern edge… a vaguely defined lump that might, might have been half of the triangle peninsula. Then again, it could have just been another section of land jutting out into an ocean…

It was a goal. A reason to leave the city.

She took out her notebook and copied some of the maps to it, planning a trek south, away from the Obsidian Wastes and to the ocean itself. It was an undefined, largely unmapped area, but it was her only shot. She was forced to admit she wasn’t going to go that way if there were truly no roads, but help for crossing wilderness wasn’t going to come from this city.

Before she left, she made sure to read up on the local culture within the atlas. It didn’t have much about any place that wasn’t Genk—and checking with other atlases on the same shelf revealed nothing new. She read a bit about Genk itself: a frontier town turned industrial powerhouse by a ruler addressed only by his title of Chairman. The city imported virtually everything it needed and exported manufactured goods in vast quantities. It was praised as a land of efficient industry.

In other words, a place Amaris had heard enough about and was ready to leave.

She placed the books back on the shelf and put her notebook away, taking a moment to pat Pitch on the head as she stood back up. Without a word to the librarian, she left, marching back onto Genk’s streets. She retraced her steps with ease. Almost there, just a bit further.

She was almost out of the city when a large bell rang out from somewhere in the city—at first, she thought it came from the central skyscraper, but after hearing it ring a few times, she realized it had to be coming from somewhere else, but none of the other tall buildings were in quite the right direction.

The bell must have meant something because the moment it rang the previously empty streets became utterly full of cars. Unlike traffic back home, which was a mess of stopping, starting, honking, and crashes, the cars zipped past each other like butter. Multiple cars would enter an intersection at the same time on a sure collision course, but would somehow weave in and out in such a way as to flawlessly reach the other side unscathed.

Fortunately, there were still lots of pedestrians, and they quickly showed Amaris how to use the crosswalks. By pressing a button on a pole, the dark traffic lights would suddenly shine bright white signals onto the road, stopping the cars long enough for the pedestrian to cross.

Amaris was forced to press these buttons frantically—there was no way to cross the roads otherwise as there were just too many cars zipping around with insane precision and bullet-like speeds.

By the time she made it to the last crosswalk before the edge of Genk, there were suddenly no more cars and the streets were abandoned again.

“Huh…” Amaris said, taking a moment to steady her breathing. “Weird…”

Pitch hissed in agreement.

“Well, time to leave.” Gripping her backpack’s straps tightly, she ran for the edge of the city. She stopped only when her shoes were firmly planted in undeveloped obsidian, free of the oppressive metropolis. She took a deep breath—deciding immediately that this was a mistake since the smog was not limited to the city limits.

“Hey, kid!”

No. Amaris whirled around, loading her bow and pointing it at the person who had just spoken—a woman with reddish hair and a smiling mask on her face. That had to be a bad sign. She wasn’t alone, either; she was accompanied by a maskless nonhuman creature with chalk-white skin and neon green hair that glistened as though it were made of plastic. As far as Amaris knew, it was plastic.

Amaris quickly switched her bow’s target to the nonhuman.

“Woah, woah, woah,” he said, lifting up his hands—revealing that they were the same green color as his hair, and they had the same plastic sheen to them as well. “Chill, kid. It’s like you’ve never seen a gari before.”

“Not really, no,” she said. Had I seen some of them before coming here? I… don’t think so?

“Just take it easy,” the woman said, raising up her hands in a calming motion. “We’re just here to make sure everything’s okay with you.”

“Everything’s fine,” Amaris said, taking a few steps back. “I was just leaving.”

“A kid like you, out on the road in the Obsidian Wastes all alone?” the gari said, shrugging. “We can’t, in good conscience, just let you go unprepared.”

“I’m prepared enough.” Pitch poked his head out and hissed in agreement. “See? What do you think this backpack is for?”

“You’re just a kid, we can’t ju—“

“You totally can!” Amaris interrupted with a sarcastic smile. “If I starve it’s my fault, not yours! A—“

“This is going nowhere,” the gari said, dropping his smile instantly. He jumped forward. With a scream of panic, Amaris let the arrow fly. The point hit him right in the forearm. However, it didn’t sink into flesh—it cut through his sleeves and bounced right off the green, plastic-like covering that went all the way from the tips of his fingers to his elbows, ending in a point.

Amaris scrambled to load another arrow, but he was already in her face, using the plastic “gauntlet” to tear the bow out of her hands with a quick swipe. With a growl, she tried to kick him, but he sidestepped her easily.

Something sharp punctured her in the side of the neck. Straining her eyes, she could barely make out the feathers of a dart—and the form of the woman pointing a dart gun at her.

“Oh…” Amaris managed, shakily stumbling toward the woman. “That… that’s not fair…”

She slumped forward, vaguely aware of the gari catching her before she lost consciousness entirely.

~~~

Amaris woke up in a lavish, albeit small, bedroom. The bedding was made of finely embroidered silk and the walls were lit by electric lamps flickering to emulate the feel of natural fire. The walls were a deep, dark oak, bare of any decoration aside from the chocolaty grain that weaved in and out of the planks. Aside from the bed, there was a nightstand, a large wardrobe, a standing mirror, a desk with a padded rolling chair, and a single door leading out. There were no windows.

Amaris jumped out of the bed. Her plan was to enter a fighting stance, but her feet caught on her backpack and she fell face-first to the ground.

“Ow…” she groaned, slowly getting up and shaking her head. “Need to get better at that…”

Pitch hissed in affirmation from the backpack. Or was it annoyance at having his home get knocked over? Amaris wasn’t sure, and all things considered, Pitch’s level of annoyance was rather low on her list of considerations at the moment. First and foremost, she needed to figure out where she was. A room with, so far as she could tell, no immediate danger. It was just slightly cramped.

Her second concern was herself, and that was significantly more alarming. Of her previous outfit, only her shoes remained—all other articles of clothing had been removed and replaced with a smooth, rubbery suit that went from her ankles to her wrists and neck, fitting almost exactly to her form the entire length of her body. The outfit was bright pink and glittered in the light, as though it were made of sequins, though as she ran her hand across her arms she found the material far too smooth for that. Despite being form-fitting and a bit too tight, when she bent her arms or legs, no wrinkles formed in the suit; it was somehow adjusting to her shape in real-time.

The closest thing she had ever seen to it had been a gymnastic outfit, designed for maximum range of motion and clear visibility of all limbs while also being flashy for the sake of spectacle.

Amaris didn’t like it at all. Starting at her waist, she tried to pry it off. The moment she attempted to do so, it gave her a mild shock, as though she had just stuck a battery to her tongue. With a frown, she tried to peel the outfit off of her slowly, but the more strain she put on it, the stronger the current became—until she was forced to let out a cry of pain and stop trying to remove it.

“Why?” she asked, examining the suit closely, finding no indication of a zipper or anything that could remove it. “Who would do this? And why so tight? Gah!” She threw her hands up in the air and started taking stock of the room. Throwing open the wardrobe she found her old clothes neatly ironed and hung up, as well as her bow and arrows—untouched, so far as she could tell. Checking her backpack, it had clearly been rummaged through, but nothing had been taken. Even the magic mirror remained, along with all her food stores from Coleus.

It quickly became apparent that she’d soon have to check the door.

Not like this. She returned to the wardrobe, taking out her clothes. The jacket and pants weren’t going to be very comfortable over the suit, so she slipped her shirt on over the pink glitter, stuffing the other articles of clothing into the sheet bundle hanging from the backpack. She twirled around, slinging all of her belongings onto her back, afterward readying the bow.

I’m as prepared as I’m going to be for this...

Carefully, she placed her hand on the doorknob. It wasn’t locked. She turned it… and then kicked the door open, bowstring drawn.

The room on the other side appeared to be a living room, complete with a large curved couch, a fireplace, widescreen TV, a table, and several gadgets. It was lit in much the same way as the bedroom, with those fake-fire lights. In the corner, there was a large pot with several plants growing out of it.

There was, however, only one person in the room. An older girl, one wearing the exact same pink-glittering outfit as Amaris. However, that was where the similarities ended—for this girl wasn’t human at all, but a gari, like the one that had attacked Amaris.

Amaris narrowed her eyes, aiming the bow right at her.

The gari held up her hands. “Wait, no, I’m just like you! Taken and forced into this! Don’t shoot!”

Amaris held the bow steady for a few moments but decided to lower it. “What… what’s going on?”

The gari stood up, revealing herself to be quite a bit taller than Amaris—easily the size of some adults, but clearly not one herself. Like the other gari Amaris had seen, the girl had chalk-white skin and plastic-like hair, though hers had a soft blue coloration to it. Without folds of clothing or hats to get in the way, Amaris was able to make out a few more distinct features of the race: the complete lack of a nose, ears with two points on the tips, and, most striking of all, the plastic-like growths on her forearms and lower legs that matched the color of her hair. These pieces of natural armor ended in spikes around her elbows and knees.

Sensing Amaris’ trepidation, the gari stopped moving closer. “Hey, hey… it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” She extended her hand. “I’m Sarah.”

All the fear vanished from Amaris in an instant. “…What? Sarah?”

“Um…” Sarah glanced to the left and right awkwardly. “Yes? That’s… my name?”

“But that’s… such a normal-sounding name!”

Sarah’s face twisted into one of bafflement. “Um, yes. It is common. It’s why I have it.”

“But… but that’s a human name and you’re no—“

“Oh!” Sarah put on a dumb smile and thrust her hands onto her hips, their plastic coating making a remarkably loud snap sound on contact. “You think names belong to humans, do you?”

Amaris didn’t like where this was going. “W-well, I was only, uh…”

“What’s your name then, huh?”

“Amaris.”

Sarah stared at her. “…I have never heard a name even remotely like that in my entire life.” She snapped her fingers—again, making a remarkably loud noise with the motion that made Amaris step back. “Ah, I know! We should switch names! I’ll be Amaris, you can be Sarah! It’ll only fit, you know, since I’m the strange nonhum—“

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Amaris said, flushing. “I didn’t mean… any of that.”

“You probably did and just don’t realize it,” Sarah said, leaning on the back of the couch. “But… ugh, I shouldn’t have snapped at you, your life is going to be hard enough without me giving you a hard time.”

Amaris’ stomach sank. “…Joy. What is it this time? Wraiths? Zombies? A robot that thinks it needs to exterminate all life?”

“Um… no. It’s just Toad.”

“Who?”

“How do you not know who Toad is?”

Amaris waved her hands in exasperation. “I only arrived in Genk today! …Or yesterday, if I was out for a while.”

Sarah stared at her in disbelief before casually pointing at her and letting out a low whistle. “You have terrible luck.”

“Tell me about it,” Amaris grumbled. “So what kinds of torture does Toad put us through?”

“We have to wear garish outfits that are way too tight and perform complex acrobatic dances for the masses every couple of days.”

Amaris tried to process this. “Excuse me, what?”

Sarah sighed. “You have been ‘selected’ for the ‘grand opportunity’ to be a part of Toad’s Girls! A wondrous display of ‘art’ and the ‘prowess of youth’ to ‘invigorate the masses’ that totally isn’t creepy, emotionally bankrupt, slimy, ethically dubious, and probably a breach of several child labor laws in international treaty. A perfectly legitimate business that doesn’t kidnap girls off the street.”

Amaris glanced to Pitch. “I think she likes being sarcastic.”

Sarah’s hold on the couch faltered, making her scramble to regain her footing. “You… that’s what you choose to comment on?”

Amaris leaned back and shrugged, saying nothing.

Sarah held up an accusatory finger, appearing as though she were about to launch into a rant. Instead, she dropped the finger and burst into laughter.

Now it was Amaris’ turn to be shocked. “You okay?”

“I’m literally dying over here!” She flopped over the couch still giggling. “Quick, resuscitate me! Kiss of life! Clear!” Sarah flipped herself off the couch, landing on top of the table with just the tip of her toe, twirling around in a pirouette before landing gracefully inches in front of Amaris.

“…Woah,” Amaris breathed.

“You’ll be doing crazier stuff soon enough in the shows.”

“I’m not that flexible!”

Sarah’s big grin vanished as her entire body sagged with a sigh. “The suit will make you, one way or another…”

Amaris swallowed hard. “That’s… a problem.”

Sarah looked Amaris right in the eyes. “You know what I was laughing at earlier? You. You were making me upset… by taking all of this in stride. Everyone else I’ve seen walks out of their door crying, angry, ready to murder, or hopelessly depressed. You did the unexpected. And I almost blew up at you for it.” She rested her hand on Amaris’ shoulder—the plastic hand was cold to the touch and felt more than a little strange, but Amaris didn’t refuse the gesture. “Glad to have you here, Amaris. ...I mean, as glad as I can be that another one has been taken into slavery.”

“I’ll find a way out,” Amaris smirked, hefting her backpack higher on her shoulders. “Watch me.”

“…We’ve all tried. And those who came before us.” Sarah shook her head. “It’s… I’ll explain why it’s not a good idea later, when we have time. We don’t have much right now. Toad will want to see you soon, and he won’t like it if you come to him looking like that.”

Amaris looked down at her shirt. “Why not?”

“He wants his ‘merchandise’ to be ‘pure and symbolic.’ Yes, it’s stupid, but if you wear anything but the suit in front of him he’s likely to rip it off of you at some point.”

Amaris shivered at the thought. Part of her wanted to be defiant—but she rather liked this shirt and her backpack, so in the interests of keeping them around she removed them, standing in just the suit and her shoes. It didn’t feel like enough.

Pitch slithered out of the backpack and coiled around Amaris’ leg, slithering up. She leaned down and set him on her shoulder. “Pitch stays.”

“…Woah. You brought a pet with you. I don’t… think anyone’s done that before.” Sarah tapped Pitch lightly on the nose, breaking into a grin. “The other girls are going to love him.”

“Where are the other girls, anyway?”

“I told them to wait by Toad’s door while I spoke to you alone. Historically… it’s best if all of us don’t overwhelm newcomers at once.” Sarah frowned. “When I first came here, I got overwhelmed. I was a lot older than you and the others all wanted to play with me…” She shook her head. “But that’s behind us! We just need to prepare for Toad’s ca—“

There was a soft whistling noise that came from through one of the room’s many doors.

Sarah blanked. “Well, looks like we don’t have time!” She grabbed Amaris’ wrist. “Let’s go. Just… try not to scream or look distressed. He doesn’t like that.”

“I can do a malevolent grin,” Amaris said, a sneer crawling up her face as they ran through the door into a long hallway that led to a massive set of double doors lined with gold. There were three other figures in front of them, but Amaris didn’t get a good look at them because they opened the doors and were engulfed by the brilliant light coming from the room on the other side.

There was so much gold. Piles upon piles of gold, creating a massive hill that rose to the center of the expansive, stage-like room. Large chunks of green crystal sat interspersed among the gold, as well as a handful of ornate carvings, precious jewelry, and even a solid gold grandfather clock. It was, quite simply, a horde.

Sitting atop the horde was Toad. He was a green-yellow toad the size of a large car, with eyes easily dwarfing Amaris’ head in size. He sat, almost motionless, but he was of such a girth and size that every breath shifted the gold he sat on. Amaris was under no illusion that this monster was immobile, however—for his hind legs were not only massive but also muscular, evidently being used regularly. His front legs were much spindlier and had digits with more range of motion, easily able to pick up and sort through gold as though he had proper hands.

As the girls approached his throat sac expanded and a great ribbit filled the whole room, shaking the horde enough to cause mini-avalanches of gold to cascade down to the edge of the pile. When he spoke, his massive mouth flapped with such a large range of motion that spit went flying—and yet, somehow, none of it landed on Amaris or any of the others.

“Good morning, my dears!” His voice was disgusting and rippled with a deep tone, as though he had something in the back of his throat. Which was to say, exactly how Amaris would have expected a several-ton frog to sound. “You have a new member with you today—say hello to Amaris Kelvin!”

Suddenly, a spotlight came on from the ceiling, shining down directly on Amaris. She held up a hand to shield Pitch’s eyes.

“She comes to us from a very far away land even I haven’t heard of! I’m sure she has many stories to tell…”

Not to you, wannabe dragon.

“But that will be for another time.” He let out a deep croak, though this one was mild enough not to send a cascading rumble through his hoard. “Right now, I want to welcome you, Amaris, to your new home among my Girls! I’m sure Sarah filled you in somewhat, but she has such a… colorful way of describing things. You are to become the face of hope for the people of Genk! Their very lives will be invigorated by the show you star in! You have become an instant celebrity. Do not worry, you don’t have to do anything—your uniform will do it all for you, just go with the flow and it will be an amazing experience.” His eyes swiveled down to glare intently at her.

Amaris simply kept the sneer on her face, saying nothing.

“Naturally, if you want anything, just ask. Though I will naturally refuse any request that involves you leaving the compound, involves you interacting with anyone outside the compound, or removing your uniform. But you can have any food, item, or luxury brought to you, limited only by shipping time. You will be treated like a princess, both in and out of show.”

Amaris got the feeling he really wanted her to respond. So she didn’t. She just kept giving him her smug sneer.

“Hmmm…” Toad narrowed his eyes at her. Pitch hissed at him. He ignored the snake.

With a gurgling cough, Toad continued on. “Anyway, you already know Sarah, brave leader of you Girls; a face of maturity, wit, and far too much sarcasm for what is healthy.”

“There’s no such thing,” Sarah whispered into Amaris’ ear. She had no idea if the gari was being sarcastic or not, and she suspected that might have been the point.

“Up next, Petra!” The spotlight shifted to a girl about Amaris’ age; human, with dark skin and extremely dark green hair. She had an innocent smile about her, but her eyes were pale and hollow. “She may lack the gift of sight, but that only makes her technical expertise and reflexes all the more impressive.”

“Sorry you have to suffer with us,” Petra said, smiling sadly.

“Petra, dear…” Toad cooed, a sound that made Amaris shiver involuntarily. “Get more into the spirit of things. This is hardly suffering, now is it?”

Petra held up a hand and tilted it back and forth.

Toad decided to move on. “Our youngest member, Kiri, is right over here!” The spotlight swiveled to a girl much younger than Amaris with pigtails and a big, honest smile. “This girl has a strange innocent spunk to her, and a love for that which is rare in Genk—greenery!”

“Do you have plants I can borrow?” Kiri asked Amaris. “Oh, wait, right, I’ll ask later. Sorry!” She did a polite little half-bow.

“You could stand to be more like her, Petra,” Toad commented. He didn’t wait for a response, instead, he shone the light on the last girl. “And here we have our problem child, Suuk.” At first glance, Suuk appeared as a human slightly younger than Amaris with white hair and a foul expression. However, Amaris quickly picked up the cat ears poking out of her head and the tail jutting out the rear of the pink suit.

Amaris took a step back. She recognized Suuk’s species. Neko. Halfbreed. Thieves, robbers, and kidnappers. Neither human nor cat, they were their own thing… one that had no place in either race’s home. They lived in their close-knit family tribes, plotting…

Suuk only glared at Amaris, saying nothing.

“As you can tell,” Toad continued. “Suuk is our resident edgy teenager. Which is surprising since she’s not even a teenager yet.”

Suuk flicked her tail aggressively at Toad. “You could stand to shut up.”

Toad sighed. “Suuk, we talked about this. Smile.”

Amaris hears a soft zapping sound come from Suuk’s suit, prompting the girl’s face to unnaturally contort into a “smile” that did nothing but make Amaris uneasy and afraid.

“Screw… you…” Suuk managed through the forced smile and gritted teeth.

Toad drummed his front toes against his hoard. “I sometimes wonder if you’re more trouble than you are worth… no matter. You should all get a chance to know one another. Next show is in two days, be ready. You are dismissed. But before you go, remember this—every last one of you is beautiful.” He swept his amphibious eyes over all five of them. “And that beauty inherent in your physical forms, that is what gives you power. That is what makes you special.”

Amaris couldn’t walk out of the presence of Toad fast enough.

~~~

“Sooooo…” Petra said, munching on the meat of a lobster tail like it was nothing more than a piece of fried chicken. “How’d you like the boss?”

The girls were back in the common room, sitting on the curved couch at a table eating dinner which, true to form, included anything the girls had asked for. Petra had gotten lobster, Kiri had gotten strawberry sorbet ice cream, Suuk had gotten an entire tuna, and Sarah had gotten… a simple BLT sandwich.

Amaris was currently ignoring her seafood bake chowder and staring right at Petra. “Do you even need to ask?”

“Not really, but I have to start conversation somehow, don’t I?”

Amaris sat back, frowning. “I considered ordering a fried platter of him for dinner.”

Suuk let out a malevolent snicker, flicking her tail uncomfortably close to Amaris’ nose. “She knows what’s up.”

“He’s not that bad…” Kiri mumbled, stabbing her spoon into the ice cream and eating it grumpily.

“You’ll have to forgive Kiri,” Sarah said, speaking up before Amaris could blurt out anything. “She was brought here at such a young age she doesn’t remember anything else.”

Kiri looked up at Sarah with pouting eyes. “Come on, Sarah! I can talk for myself! Hmph!”

“True.” Suuk kicked her feet up on the table and smirked. “But you’d make a mess of it.”

Kiri threw her spoon at Suuk, hitting the neko in the head. She either didn’t register the pain or ignored it through force of will.

“He’s clearly evil,” Amaris said, folding her arms. “So, why haven’t you all tried to break free yet?”

“We have,” Petra said with a sigh. “All of us, multiple times. Suuk most of all.”

Suuk grimaced, revealing her predatory fangs. “That lard-legged overgrown amphibian still thinks he can hold me…”

“You’ve been here longer than any of us,” Petra pointed out. “I’d say he’s succeeded in keeping you corralled.”

“Just you wait!” Suuk jumped up onto her chair, clapping her hands together. “I’ll think of something new any day now!”

Petra shook her head sadly. “Of course you will…”

Amaris tapped her fingers on the table. “What kinds of things have you tried?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sarah said. “The suits are keyed to this location. If we leave the compound, they lock up. If you try to take them off, they shock you and send an alert to the system.”

“And trust me,” Petra said, eyes narrowing. “Hacking the system isn’t an option.”

Sarah nodded. “Suuk actually did manage to get her suit off, once. But it’s designed to incur a paralyzing shock when the last part is removed.”

Suuk slammed her fist on the table. “I could have made it!”

“Suuk…” Sarah put a hand to the bridge of her nose and sighed. “You couldn’t move under your own power for a solid five minutes after you were brought back.”

Petra turned to Amaris. “Point is, we’ve tried it all before. We’re stuck.”

“So we should make the best of it and stop being so grumpy!” Kiri declared, grinning widely at Amaris.

“We understand it will take you a while to adjust,” Sarah said. “And… that you may never adjust. But I’d rather you didn’t experience any unnecessary pain.”

Amaris glanced between the four girls in disbelief. Three of them had completely lost hope, and the only one with any spark left was the neko. Unlike Toad himself, however, she knew they meant well. Kiri really was just trying to make the best of it…

“I’m not giving up yet,” Amaris said. “I don’t have any ideas on what to do… yet. But I’ll come up with something.”

“Yeah!” Suuk seemed excited. “We’ll be the breakout duo.”

“…Sure,” Amaris said, tentatively.

“Let’s worry about that later,” Sarah said, placing a calming hand on Suuk’s shoulder. “Today, let’s get settled in and get to know each other. Unless everyone wants to organize a breakout on Amaris’ first day and end up paralyzed and convulsing on the ground. I understand it’s a very difficult decision.”

“Har-de-har,” Suuk grumbled, crossing her arms. “…Fine. I’ll take it easy. Amaris?”

Amaris glanced down at the steaming chowder in front of her. She stuck her spoon in and took a bite. It did taste really good. Really really good.

“So… Amaris,” Sarah began, taking a moment to stretch. “Why don’t you tell us about Pitch?”

“Oh, this little guy?” Amaris lifted Pitch off her shoulder. “He’s my pet.”

Kiri gasped. “Oh my gosh! That’s a real snake!? Amazing!”

“She has a snake!?” Petra shouted, jumping bolt upright. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“It is kind of obvious,” Suuk said.

Petra waved a hand in front of her dead, colorless eyes. “Hello? Blind as a bat?”

“Yes, Petra, we totally expected you to see the snake,” Sarah deadpanned.

“Aren’t you full of yourself today.”

At this point, Kiri had climbed up onto the table and crawled over to Pitch, booping him on the nose. He licked her finger. “Aww, he’s so cute!”

Petra remembered she was sitting down at the same table as these freaks and vaulted herself over the back of the couch. “I’m not letting that reptile near me.”

“He’s harmless,” Amaris promised. “Not venomous!”

“I bet he still has teeth.”

“Oh yes,” Sarah said. “Big scary ones that could rip your eyeballs out.”

Petra backed away from the rest of them. “I don’t care what kind of game you’re playing, I’m going to go tinker with my gadgets.”

“Gadgets?” Amaris brightened up. “Hey, I’ve got a useless gadget in my backpack…”

“…Are you trying to bribe me to come back?”

Amaris reached into her pack and pulled out the dead GameBox—she and Coleus had played one too many games on it, emptying the battery. Amaris shook it like a dog treat.

“I can’t see whatever it is you’re holding, but I hear something…” Petra cartwheeled over the back of the couch and landed behind Amaris’ seat. “Lemme see.”

Amaris tossed it over her shoulders. Petra, while very used to her disability and very agile, was not able to catch a flying object. It hit her in the face before falling into her hands. “Ow.”

“S-sorry!” Amaris stammered. “I wasn’t thinking abou—“

“You are forgiven, this box is payment enough…” Already Petra was turning the handheld over and over in her hands. It was strange to see how she analyzed it without once turning her face to look at it—she stared into nothing, using only her fingers to work it. She removed and replaced the game cartridge several times, as well as running her fingertips across the seams to find the hidden screws holding the device together.. “…Hmmm…”

“Oooh, ooh, do you have any plants in there?” Kiri asked.

“I have… food,” Amaris said, shaking her head. “But I know someone who can make plants grow just by waving her hands.”

Kiri let out another gasp of delight. “No! …Really? That’s impossible… right?”

Something about the tiny child’s sense of wonder brought a smile to Amaris’ face. “I would have said the same thing a few weeks ago. But, well… a lot has happened, and it’s a long story.”

“Then why don’t you tell it, Amaris?” Sarah smiled warmly. “It’s been a while since we’ve had new stories told around this table.”

Amaris glanced, uncertain, at the brooding Suuk, but decided to push that aside. She told her tale. She spoke of the man with the six-eyed mask, the land of mirrors, the witch of the orphanage, and the Predateor, embellishing everything she could with dramatic gestures, silly anecdotes, and occasionally relying on Pitch to hiss dramatically at the right moment. It only worked about half the time, but it was definitely worth it. She even brought out the mirror as a prop and drew some of the other things she’d encountered in her notebook—the drawings weren’t the best, but they got the point across.

“And then… my curse led me here. To you and Toad.” Amaris’ grin turned into a grimace. “I’m honestly not surprised at this point.”

“Wow…” Kiri said, speechless.

“So, curious…” Petra poked her head over the back of the couch so the others could see her. “Do you like your new, interesting life?”

“I… huh?” Amaris cocked her head.

“The curse you mentioned, way back at the beginning. ‘May your life be interesting’ or something. Sounds like you got exactly what it said on the tin.”

“I…” Amaris frowned. She’d spent a lot of time fearing for her life and running from terrible creatures. But, then again, she’d spent weeks in an amazing grove with a friend she never would have considered making back home. And, she had to admit, there were moments in running from the Predator that were exhilarating… and it felt really good to blow up that witch’s cauldron. “I don’t know.” She sighed, pulling her knees to her chest. “I do know I want to get home. To Mom and Dad.”

An awkward silence fell over the five girls eating a lavish dinner in the midst of a prison.

“W-we all would,” Sarah said, eventually, struggling to keep her composure. “No matter how much we may try to take what comes… this place can never be home. Not even to Kiri.” She stood up, holding a hand to her head. “I… I’m tired, I need to rest. Petra, you’re in charge.” The gari half-stumbled to her room, closing the door behind her.

“It’s getting to her…” Petra said with a sigh.

“How can it not be?” Amaris asked. “This is prison!”

“It’s not that,” Suuk said, ears angling toward Sarah’s room, listening to something Amaris couldn’t make out. “Sarah’s getting too old.”

“Too… old?”

“Suuk…” Petra warned.

Suuk ignored her. “Fifteen. There has never been a member of Toad’s Girls older than that. They just… stop.”

“So what, they’re chopped up into mincemeat and fed to the populace?” Amaris asked.

Kiri stared at Amaris in disbelief. “Wh… what is wrong with you?”

It was at that moment Amaris admitted to herself that being mangled a half-dozen times by a brass monster might not have been good for her permanent mental health. “…Probably more than I realize.”

Suuk shrugged. “It’s as good of a guess as any what happens to them, really. They just vanish, never to be seen or heard from again. Probably dead, but how is anyone’s gue—“

“Hey, guess what!” Petra interrupted, throwing the GameBox at Amaris. “I got your box plugged into the outlet, charged and ready! Won’t that be fun?” She glared menacingly at Suuk—despite being blind, she had a clear grasp on how much others relied on sight to communicate.

Suuk threw her hands in the air. “All right, all right, guess I’ll turn in too.” She jumped up, using her tail to spring off the couch cushions and toward her door. “Just… word to the wise, Amaris.”

“Hmm?”

“I tried to kill him my first week. Drove a spike right into his eye and plucked it out.” She shook her head. “It regrew in an instant. So just… don’t try that one. He lets just about everything slide, but… not that.” With a visible shudder, she scratched her shoulders and entered her room.

Suddenly Amaris felt like the GameBox was a good idea. “Hey, Kiri! Want to think so hard your brain explodes?”

“Yes!” Apparently, the little girl was just as eager to distract herself as Amaris was.

~~~

And so two days passed. Amaris went through the motions. Unlike her time in the orphanage, which drained the very life from her just by existing, everything in Toad’s little compound was designed to keep her engaged and wanting for nothing. Food, games, television, and even the company of the other girls were never far away. Along with all these joys, however, there was subtle oppression. There were no windows, no exits. The only person she saw other than the girls was Toad himself, and she wanted to see him as little as possible.

Her opinions of the other girls shifted quite a bit over just a few days. Sarah was a good leader, but even Amaris could tell that she was scared. Very scared of what was coming for her—but she refused to talk about it, hiding her fear behind walls of sarcasm and evident concern for the girls she considered her responsibility. Amaris felt great pity for her and wanted nothing more than to find a way out before she was taken away. But nothing presented itself.

Petra, while blind, was somehow the most observant of all the girls. Beyond that, she was a technology tinkerer, able to do amazing things with wires, lights, and computer chips. It was amazing to see her work, running her fingers over a device and taking it apart bit by bit, only to put it back together again, sometimes working better than before. She was a bit more skittish than the others, but also more honest. Even though she was clearly in line to be Sarah’s replacement, she made no attempts to seem like she was in control of the situation—she was just as trapped as the others.

Kiri liked plants. Had liked plants for as long as she could remember. She grew them in pots with special lights. The other girls joked that she had the only garden in all of Genk in those pots of hers. As far as Amaris knew, they were right. Poor girl had never known anything but the walls of the compound. To her, it was life, and life was there to enjoy, no matter what it threw at her.

Amaris still didn’t trust Suuk. They rarely talked, but Amaris had heard enough from her to know she wasn’t just a brooding thief. The girl was clever and exceptionally observant, with a fire of survival that wouldn’t go out, despite everything. She was still clearly a neko, however, and that would never change.

However, it couldn’t stay like that forever. Toad’s Girls existed for a purpose, and that purpose was to put on a show—the only show in all of Genk. They were the only splash of color in the land of efficiency. They were the dancers.

The stage they performed on was huge and covered in tightropes, trapezes, and a stage set up like a dance floor. There was some kind of invisible barrier between the stage and the audience, likely to protect both parties from each other, and the spotlights made it impossible to see more than vague shapes beyond the stage. However, it was clear that the theater was packed.

“All right…” Sarah said from backstage. “In five minutes, our suits are going to take over and control our movements. All we do is smile, look around; maybe wink at the audience a few times if you want to do what Toad wants. If you don’t at least smile, the suit will use electrical signals to take over your face.”

Amaris nodded. “Got it.”

“You’re lucky—I was very unfit when I got here. You’ve been exercising and training for weeks, your body won’t be pushed as hard as mine was.” Sarah smiled sadly, placing a hand on Amaris’ shoulder. “But it’s still going to hurt.”

“I can take it.”

“And some of the tricks we do are going to be… creepy. Uncomfortable.”

“We are on display!” Suuk sang. “Behold, the perfect female form in action!” She laughed bitterly.

Amaris looked down at little Kiri performing a few stretches and dances, as though she were preparing for it. She felt like vomiting.

Sarah noticed her queasy expression. “And the suit will stop that too. Painfully.” Sarah shook her head. “Look, yes, it’s messed up on so many levels. It’ll last about an hour. Just… remember that it will be over, eventually.”

Amaris clenched her jaw and nodded. “I’ll be strong.”

“I know,” Sarah said, giving her a light kiss on the head. “…Showtime in one minute.”

Amaris set Pitch down backstage in a small, clear box that wasn’t his usual enclosure—she couldn’t have him trying to rush out and rescue her, at least not yet. “Now, be a good boy, Pitch. I’ll be back soon.”

He hissed forlornly at her.

She nodded back in understanding. Then, without another word, she turned to the stage. She walked onto it with all four of the others. She wasn’t sure exactly when the suit took over—but when she started, she was in control, and in the end, the suit was making every step for her.

All five of the girls bowed in perfect unison to the audience and received immense applause.

With no warning, the show began. Amaris found herself jumping back, landing on the palms of her hands, then her feet, then her hands again. Sure, it made her muscles sore, but it was nothing compared to her trek through the forest. Normally, she lacked the coordination to do something like this, but the suit made up all the difference.

She performed a series of pirouettes in the center of the other four, all of whom were dancing around her, drawing attention to her. Amaris was the newest member, after all, and this was her debut.

Then the suit had her do a split. She winced as her hamstrings were strained to the point of burning, but she maintained her smile. It’s just pain. It’ll stretch out.

However, the suit wasn’t even close to done. It forced her to jump to her tiptoes and lift her other leg as far into the air as possible, functionally doing another split with only one leg on the ground. And then, with just one foot, she rotated herself around like a doll on display.

The other four took up their roles, running their hands over her body, drawing attention to her legs, arms, abdomen—everything. She was little more than a rotating object to be admired, and the smooth motion of the hands all over her just made it worse.

And then the introduction was over. Amaris was allowed the relief of lowering her leg to the ground. In the middle of letting out her sigh of relief, her hands shot into the air and she grabbed a flying trapeze handhold. Sarah grabbed onto her feet, followed by all the others in a massive chain that swung so hard they approached the top of the building, at which point Suuk used her tail to latch them to the ceiling. Then all five of them released the living chain at once, cannonballing to the ground. Somehow, the suits pushed them into a rolling landing that didn’t break any of their bones. Amaris caught Kiri managing to wink at the audience at the end of her roll.

How can she just be… fine with all this? Amaris felt as though a rope tightened around her midsection and she was dragged, cartwheeling, over to a circular pedestal rising out of the ground. The five of them engaged in a complex choreographed dance that involved a lot of shaking, jumping, and a move remarkably like a jumping jack.

It was about this point where Amaris stopped trying to pay attention to the others, focusing only on herself, trying to grin through the pain. Every sharp arm pump, leg raise, or hip shake pushed her body to the limits of its flexibility, sending fire through her ligaments. There was nothing she could do about it, no matter how wrong it all felt.

It was more than just the pain. It was demeaning, vile, and simply disgusting. How could all those people out in the audience watch this and not think something was wrong? How could they let Toad do this?

Soon, though, questions faded into the background, and the strain in her muscles became the only thing in her mind. She wasn’t aware when she stopped trying to smile and the suit had to take over that, but she didn’t particularly care at that point. She just wanted it to be over.

Soon, she would tell herself. Soon, it will be done. This has to be it, we just wrapped up a section… and then the stage opened up and they had a swimming segment that made Amaris feel like she was going to drown.

Surely, soon… soon… soon…

When it did end, she didn’t even realize it. She felt like she was still dancing the dance of evil for eternity, fire under her feet and ice on her hands, dragging her down a path of torture. All she could do was cry, not even aware enough to register that’s what she was doing at first.

She was vaguely aware of being carried away by Sarah—it had to be Sarah, everything was so blue. At some point, Pitch was given to her and she held him tight; a point of stability. He was her anchor to reality, her memory of the life she was trying to get back to.

He couldn’t stop her tears, but he gave her enough. Enough to realize that, for sure, it was over.

“I’m… sorry…”

She heard words spoken to her, but she had no idea what they meant. She didn’t care—she wasn’t addressing any of the other girls.

Through the blur, she saw gold appear. She realized with panic where she was being taken. “N… no!” But she was in no shape to resist. She was gently set down at the foot of Toad’s hoard. She refused to look at him. It didn’t have the effect she wanted; she was still bawling. No bawling child can be ominously defiant.

“How did you enjoy your first show?”

The audacity of those deep, rippling words were enough to make Amaris shoot to her feet, ready to do… anything. Maybe climb the golden hill and punch him in the face. But one step later and her legs gave out, dropping her flat to the ground.

“Amazing. You’re acclimating faster than most. It usually takes a few days for new hires to get on their feet after a show…”

Amaris seethed. “You… you’re evil…”

Toad let out a deep ribbit. “That may or may not be true, I do not care. But I see that you were a good choice. You will learn to appreciate the opportunity to display your beauty… in time. Do not feel the need to rush. I am quite patient.”

Amaris couldn’t believe this. What kind of creature was this that could so brazenly—

“Go. Rest. Your next show is in a week.”

At the words “next show,” Amaris’ mind broke, losing cohesion once again. Her hope drained like bathwater, gurgling down the drain until there was nothing left. The other girls had to carry her back to her bed and lay her there.

She must have slept, for she woke up in the middle of the night with a pounding headache.

“No,” she said. She grabbed the neck of her suit and drove her fingernails into the rubbery material. With a strength she shouldn’t have had in her small, weakened body, she tore at it, freeing her neck and much of her chest from the offending garment.

She powered through the shock, freeing more and more of herself… but she didn’t even make it to her stomach before the electricity overloaded her nervous system. With an agonized screech she passed out onto the bed, unconscious, but eyes wide open—terrified.

The suit slowly repaired itself, undoing whatever damage she had done to it in the night.

It was not going to let her go.

He was not going to let her go.

To be continued…