Episode V

Toad’s Girls, Part 2

It’s amazing what you can learn to live with when you have no choice.

Amaris’ life became a reflection of this adage. She knew, in her core, that she couldn’t survive another show. That it would break her. But the show came, the agony tore her body and her dignity apart, and… she was still there. It didn’t even hurt as much as the first time. A few minutes afterward, she was able to stand on her own and hold a shaky conversation—still filled with tears and shame, but it was a conversation nonetheless. Sarah said she was adjusting remarkably quickly.

The pain was constant, however. She spent virtually every moment between shows resting her exhausted muscles with little energy to spare for much else. Her constant state of exhaustion turned those days into a blur. Only bits and pieces of her conversations with the other girls cropped to the forefront of her memory, the rest becoming like dreams.

This was fortunate, in a way—the days she dreaded, the shows themselves, became little more than shadows in her memory. She could remember moments of extreme discomfort, but not the order in which they came, the ordeals blending into one another like mud. The first show would always remain the strongest in her mind. All others paled in comparison to it.

She didn’t realize it at first, but with every show, Amaris slowly grew stronger. Her flexibility increased at an alarming rate, as did her tolerance for pain. What was once the fat and limited muscle of a young girl soon became toned and taut, though they weren’t easy to notice under the sparkling exterior of the suit. Every time her new strength was tested, she endured, and she developed even more.

As she became able to handle the rigor of the shows, her exhaustion began to abate, and her waking moments became clearer. The first day she’d been able to walk herself back to Toad’s hoard after a show had been a proud moment for her—utterly ruined by Toad’s subsequent comment. “You’ve finally grown into your beauty.”

She imagined skewering his skull with one of the Predateor’s legs, and then briefly wondered where she’d gotten such a violent fantasy. She even felt slightly guilty about it.

Not that it changed her feelings on the matter, though.

With her exhausted delirium behind her, she was able to actively socialize with the other girls again. She and Sarah developed a habit of playing video games with each other, forming a fierce competitive spirit. It was quite fun to figure out who could get the biggest score, the fastest time, or simply who could snipe the other in the head from across a canyon the fastest. The older girl also went out of her way to show Amaris tips and tricks on how to keep herself in shape and prepare for the next show.

“Remember, if you can forget about everything and retreat into your mind, the shows become trivial,” Sarah told her. “The best way to do that is through prior meditation.”

Amaris pursed her lips. “Isn’t that kind of… giving in?”

“I don’t think so,” Sarah said. “Suuk would disagree, but… well, Suuk is Suuk. Here, just sit, cross your legs, and focus on your breathing…”

Petra and Kiri, despite their differences, developed similar relationships to Amaris—they both wanted to hear her stories. Neither had seen much of the outside world, and one had not seen much of the inside world either. Petra knew braille, but even with her curious technical know-how, converting text to braille was a slow process. It was much better to get stories out of Amaris’ mouth. When Amaris ran out of real stories, she told them of the many fairy tales and legends she’d grown up with. One of the fortunate side-effects of being from somewhere so far away was that her stories were brand new.

“And then… the neko struck!” Amaris held up a hand to her throat as if choking herself. “The poor princess was inches away from death—the hissing beast needed only to bite down, and she was finished! But… our hero, brilliant man that he was, knew there was one thing that the feline couldn’t resist. He grabbed a fish out of the market stall and threw it with all his might!” She mimicked throwing the fish. “The neko sensed something was up and turned to look, only to get a fish slap to the face!”

Kiri burst into laughter while Petra cracked a smile.

“And that wasn’t all. The neko recovered quickly but forgot entirely about the princess! There was a delicious fish in his mouth—he had to stop and eat, for his stomach was bottomless!”

Kiri’s laughter only increased in volume. However, before Amaris could finish the story, Suuk interrupted by loudly closing the covers of her book. “And what happened to the neko after that, hmm?”

Amaris obliged hesitantly, continuing, “His head gets cut off and put on a pole, and… the end.”

“What a story to tell children.”

“It’s just a silly story,” Amaris huffed.

“Mmmm…” Suuk lazily returned to her book.

Amaris didn’t like Suuk. The neko couldn’t be understood. One moment she did exactly what Amaris expected—be defiant, sneaky, and violent. But the next she was sitting quietly, observing, peeking over the covers of her book with sad eyes. Then there were the topics she read about… never had Amaris seen her with a book of fiction. Always the pages made up textbooks, scientific literature, and other complex topics. Petra may have been a tech genius, but Amaris suspected Suuk could actually explain why the devices worked if anyone bothered to ask her.

The entire situation was unnatural to Amaris.

Of course, the shows continued. Amaris eventually mastered Sarah’s pre-show meditation, effectively blocking everything that occurred in the disgusting dance, reducing the only consequence of the shows to the soreness in her body. Even that was becoming more and more bearable week by week.

Naturally, Amaris looked for ways to escape. But Toad’s suits made that impossible, as she had been warned from the start. She couldn’t take it off, even with her increased pain tolerance—the shocks it produced were scaled to her perception of the pain, not the actual voltage. No matter how strong or disciplined she became, the suit would scale to shock her.

She never managed what Suuk did, to get it off entirely. She passed out after getting just one arm free.

Since the suit couldn’t be removed, that meant any escape would have to be performed with it on. The only issue with this was that the suit would shock her if she ever left the designated areas of Toad’s compound, and whatever devices were responsible for maintaining the commands on the suits were outside those boundaries.

“What if we tried to work together? Get someone out of their suit, and then the rest of us find some way to…”

Petra, Suuk, and Sarah all looked away from Amaris with shame.

“…What?”

“Jane,” Sarah said, forcing herself to look Amaris in the eye. “Petra was new, and Suuk had finally constructed her master plan. Jane and I… we agreed to try it with her. We got Jane all the way out of her suit, and tried to throw her across the boundary, get her outside… then all our suits gave us a paralyzing shock.”

“The suits send updates to wherever the central computer is,” Petra said. “I’m certain they’re not being watched 24/7, but if a suit is removed… there’s an alarm. The response to immobilize the others may even be an automatic response in certain situations, I don’t know.” She shook her head. “We haven’t investigated it much. Fully removing a suit is… debilitating.”

Amaris swallowed. “How… so?”

Sarah answered this time. “It shocks you until you go down. Jane was out for multiple days. She was forced to perform a show unconscious. She was never quite the same after that.”

Amaris could only stare blankly ahead, dumbfounded. There had to be a way out of this, there had to. Life couldn’t go on like this, not forever.

But go on it did. Show after show. They became inconsequential. Just another part of the week. She hated them with every fiber of her being, but they were what they were.

One day, Amaris noticed that she was doing splits just because she was bored. Pursing her lips, she pushed the couch out of the way, clearing space for movement in the living room. She tried to perform every choreographed motion from the shows she could remember in that space. There were a few there simply wasn’t enough space for, but she adjusted on the fly, doing smaller but no less demanding motions.

With every jump, twirl, twist, and cartwheel, the darker her expression became. Muscle memory took over, performing every action flawlessly, not missing a single beat. She twirled, danced, and scraped the ceiling in the midst of a triple backflip, and landed in a sudden split that would have sent her into tears before all of this had happened.

Slowly, she stood up, hands shaking.

She didn’t even need the suit to control her anymore. If she wanted, she could perform the entire show. It wouldn’t even hurt that much, not anymore.

Looking up, she saw Sarah standing there, hands covering her face.

“I…” Amaris stammered. “I’ve become… his little puppet…” She burst into tears and collapsed—but not from exhaustion.

Sarah caught her in her arms, pulling her into a tight, gripping hug. Slowly, she stroked Amaris’ hair, saying only two words. “I know… I know…” She buried her own head in Amaris’ shoulder. “I know…”

~~~

“Girls, I’ve got something special for you today,” Toad announced.

Your head on a platter? Amaris thought. Hmm… the size of the platter might be an issue. I’ll just take your head in the interests of not straining your finances. She glared angrily at the gold the amphibian sat on. Wouldn’t want any of this to go, would we?

“Are none of you the least bit curious?” Toad looked down at Kiri. “Not even the little one?”

Kiri glanced at Amaris sadly. She refused to look at Toad.

“Suck it, warty,” Suuk said. “Not even the innocent naive one could be swayed to you. I bet you thought—“

“What I think and what you think are irrelevant,” Toad interrupted. “What matters is that the situation is going to change soon.”

Sarah visibly tensed. Amaris looked to her nervously—she’d been really twitchy the last few days. The gari composed herself quickly, however. “What kind of change?”

“Mister Richard Eddington has requested your presence at a party he is throwing in the Ivory Tower to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the founding of Genk by his ancestor. I normally refuse such requests, however—“

“He’s the only one with enough gold to get you to reconsider,” Suuk deadpanned.

Toad let out a noncommittal croak. “He insisted on it, even after I informed him of your… rebellious streaks. So, for the first time, you will all be performing outside your normal venue. You are to leave tomorrow morning, Friday, and remain until Sunday—to encompass all the festivities.”

Amaris was already considering potential ways this could be twisted to their advantage. The location restriction would have to be turned off, and maybe she could run to Coleus before anybody got any wiser…

“Do not get any ideas,” Toad said, narrowing his eyes. “Your uniforms will restrict you to the ground of the Ivory Tower’s upper floors. Mister Eddington will have the same admin controls over you as I do, and have multiple backups. I have instructed him not to damage you, but otherwise, you are to listen to him as you would listen to me. Understood?”

“Yes, Toad,” Sarah answered for them.

“Good. Get your things ready for tomorrow.”

As the five of them shuffled out of the room, Amaris slid up to Sarah. “This could be an opportunity.”

Sarah frowned, face straining. “I…”

“This will never happen again.” Amaris grabbed Sarah by the neck of her suit. “You and I both know if we don’t try something, we’ll regret it the rest of our lives.”

“She’s right,” Suuk said.

Petra and Kiri didn’t say anything one way or the other, but they looked to Sarah expectantly.

“…All right. We can try.” Sarah frowned. “But we’ll need a plan.”

~~~

For the first time since Amaris had arrived, she was allowed outside the compound. She followed Sarah through the doors they’d been instructed to go through, stepping into the sunlight. Even though the sky was ridden with smog, masking the sun, Amaris was infinitely grateful just to feel it on her skin once more.

She was not grateful for the view of Genk’s ugly, block-dominated skyline. Even after being locked up for what felt like an eternity, it was still ugly, plain and simple. However, after seeing the city once more, she noted that the compound itself wasn’t a block: it was rounded, like a dome, unlike any of the other buildings in Genk. The one place allowed to look artistic in the city of efficiency.

There was a limousine waiting for them at the edge of the compound. The door had slid open, and a fat masked butler in a black suit was gesturing for the five of them to enter.

Back in the planning meeting, there had been talk of trying to break free and run at this point, before they got in the car—but Toad would catch on way too quickly if it was done here. They needed to wait.

So, instead, they’d all made sure to pack and dress like they were planning on staying a while. For the first time in ages, Amaris had her backpack on her shoulders. She’d even put her shirt on again—though it was a little small, now that she had grown and gained so much muscle. Suuk wore a long leather jacket over her suit, Sarah wore a large fur coat that covered as much of her body as possible, Petra had a ton of belts and buckles with gadgets attached to her, and Kiri wore nothing aside from a leafy necklace and her suit. She, in the end, was the only one really comfortable wearing it.

Amaris had never noticed before, but Sarah was clearly the least comfortable, even more so than Amaris. That fur coat was excessive, covering everything except the tips of Sarah’s feet and her eyes. How hard it must have been for her at the start.

They shuffled into the limo, making sure to stick close together—though Amaris made certain she was on the opposite side of the group from Suuk. The seats were comfortable, and refreshments were provided in the form of a cylinder filled with ice and soda. Suuk had no qualms partaking of what was offered, while the others refrained, instead focusing their attention on their new “boss.” He was an elderly gari man with the same blue coloration as Sarah. Like all the other inhabitants of Genk, his outfit was made entirely out of monochrome items, though they were clearly of a very fine make, and the ornate “I” symbol on his coat marked him as a man of the Ivory Tower—a man of high stature.

“It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you all,” he said, extending a hand. “You have no clue the hoops I’ve had to go through to get you all here. That Toad really doesn’t want to let you go—he even threatened to kill me if anything were to happen to you girls! What a strange creature he is…” Although he was smiling, Amaris clearly heard venom in those words. This man hated Toad’s very being. A good sign.

“Anyway, where are my manners?” He extended his hand. “I am Chairman Richard Eddington. For better or for worse, I run this city.”

Petra shook his hand first. “…Hello, Mister Eddington.”

“Ah, Petra. You are truly amazing to watch up there. I only wish you could see for yourself.”

Petra kept her face level, making no further response. None of the others extended their hands to meet his.

“Well, I suppose I was warned about this…” He rubbed the back of his head, awkwardly. “Ah well, such attitudes are only to be expected.”

Kiri looked up at him with big, wide eyes—producing a tear at just the right moment to catch his attention. Exactly as planned.

The Chairman sighed. “My dear…”

“Are you going to be nice to us?” She sniffed. “Are you… are you going to make us go b—“

The Chairman whipped out a rectangular controller colored with the same pink glitter as their suits and pressed a button. Kiri was frozen in place, unable to move or speak.

“I misjudged you…” he said, smile vanishing. “I have no sympathy for ungrateful brats. You are the most powerful and influential faces in the entire city and you live lives of luxury. You provide a vital service that keeps the very gears of this metropolis turning. And you dare complain? Dare think of escape?” He pressed his hands together aggressively. “I don’t understand how Toad doesn’t whip you all into shape. You don’t deserve the position you have.”

Amaris couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What kind of backwards thinking is this?

“Of course, you should have known this already.” He turned to Sarah. “Isn’t that right, Sarah?”

Sarah looked away from him, shutting her eyes tightly.

“Don’t you look away from me, young lady.”

Sarah shook her head back and forth, refusing to open her eyes.

“I guess I’ll have to tell your parents how much of a disappointment you are…”

Sarah’s pained eyes went from despondent to livid in a fraction of a second. She jumped out of her seat, hands aiming for the Chairman’s throat. He pressed a button on the controller, freezing her fur-covered body in place.

“You were chosen for the highest honor in the city,” the Chairman spat in her face. “No one else got the privilege you had. And you trample on it like it’s nothing. I’m ashamed you are my granddaughter. You were better than this.”

Amaris, Petra, and Kiri stared at the frozen Sarah in shock. This hadn’t come up at all during the meeting—and it really should have.

The Chairman pressed a button on the remote, releasing the hold on Sarah. She didn’t attack him—but the fury in her eyes didn’t die down.

“Have anything to say?” he asked her.

“You didn’t choose me for a high honor. You sold me into slavery.”

“You ungrateful little…” He leaned his head back. “Take off that ridiculous coat of yours, let’s see you.”

“You will have to make me.”

Without hesitation, he did. With a graceful burst of motion, she tore the fur coat off and stood there, suit sparkling in the dim light of the limo.

“Look at you!” the Chairman declared. “An absolutely perfect specimen of gari physiology, of beauty, squandered by a sour soul.” He released her from the control. She immediately sat down, Amaris and Petra wrapping her in the fur coat shreds.

“You’ve contaminated them.” The Chairman shook his head. “You were raised better than this.”

Sarah said nothing. Amaris couldn’t be sure, but she thought she was crying under the fur wrappings.

“And as for the rest of you…” The Chairman leaned in. “You clearly planned for Kiri to try to work me over. No doubt you have other plans. For instance, whatever that device is that Petra is tapping with her fingers—a device that will no doubt activate if I ever freeze her with this remote.”

Petra managed to keep her face level at this remark. Kiri did not, staring at the Chairman with wide eyes like he was some kind of psychic.

“As I said, Toad warned me. Your device is already neutralized, EM interference is being played through this car.”

Petra stopped tapping the buttons. Nothing happened—no minor explosion, like had been planned. Amaris ground her teeth. This wasn’t going at all well.

“And let’s see, what else do you have…” The Chairman pointed at Suuk. “You have knives that you’ve, at great cost to yourself, managed to place under your uniform, ready for use. You’ll find that trying to use them will result in an immediate debilitating shock. And...” he turned to Amaris. “You. That snake of yours is really clever.” He quickly grabbed Pitch off of the cushion next to him—lifting him into the air next to the controller. “I wonder, was he even capable of grabbing the controller?”

“Cameras,” Petra said. “Toad had to have been watching us, or…”

“Oh, no.” The Chairman leaned in, grinning. “He just knows you all so well he guessed what your plan would be. So, let me make this clear.” He tossed Pitch back to Amaris and then pressed the freeze button when he was in her hands, making it so the snake couldn’t go anywhere. Then he froze the rest of the girls as well. “Since Toad won’t get you in the right, I’ll make an attempt to do so myself.”

He tapped a button, making the windows roll down so they could see Genk whizzing by outside. “This is Genk. City of industry, of power, and of efficiency. My grandfather founded Genk with his own hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. But the Obsidian Wastes are a hard place to live, no matter how rich in minerals the ground is. Plants do not grow except with excessive effort, and the atmosphere is simply oppressive to the spirit. Everyone worked their very hardest, but it wasn’t enough to survive. It was going to die.

“Then the first of Toad’s Girls were chosen. Beautiful, young vixens, handpicked from the streets to be exactly what the populace needed. They danced, filling the hole in desire itself. No more did the people yearn for rest, for leisure, for a break. They only yearned to see the Girls one more time, and the Girls always delivered, leaving them full. That is what you do when you dance on that stage. You fill their desires completely. And they need nothing else until the next show.

“Now that Genk is established, you are what gives us our glory. You give them the energy to work harder than any people anywhere in the world! We are the most productive city in existence! And you—you—have the privilege to make that happen! Don’t you see that you are this city?” He looked at them as though expecting a response. Then he remembered he’d frozen them; he quickly let them all move as they wished.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Amaris said. “How can a dance drive people to do… anything?”

The Chairman fixed her with a smile. “That’s Toad’s dirty little secret. Those uniforms do more than give you the ability to perform the dance. They project it.” He clasped his hands together. “Desire is a powerful thing, and you are used to fill every aspect of it. They want nothing but to see you again. I want nothing but to see you again.”

“Sounds like Toad has this entire city addicted,” Suuk said with a nasty grin. “He doesn’t just have us trapped, does he? He has all of you as well. This is rich. You’re not in control at al—” Immobilized mid-speech, she could only watch as the rest were frozen in quick succession.

The Chairman said nothing the rest of the car ride.

~~~

The girls were not left alone to discuss anything the rest of the day. They arrived at the Ivory tower, were handed off to a squad of five butlers—two of which were given controller duplicates—and then herded into an elevator. The butlers had no desire to talk to them or discuss anything aside from business. The instructions were relatively simple: when not performing they were to be parading around the banquet hall with refreshments for all the partygoers. All things considered, the refreshments were rather boring: nothing alcoholic; mostly fruity soft drinks with minimal coloration. While the inhabitants of the Ivory Tower were permitted leisure unlike the rest of the city, that didn’t mean they weren’t still part of the same gray, bleak city. This was not going to be a very festive party.

That is, except for the girls themselves.

Since the suits were programmed with complex gymnastic motions and not much else, the butlers spent the day training the five of them in the proper way to hold trays filled with dozens of drinks or little edibles, and specifically how to do it without spilling everything. The five of them learned exceptionally quickly, the dexterity required already inherent in their bodies. Suuk even felt the need to show off a bit, able to carry a tray stacked twice as tall as it should be while performing twists in the air. Despite herself, Amaris got in on the action as well, prompting a complex and spontaneous juggling routine between her, Suuk, and Kiri.

This ended when Sarah refused to take part in it. Her gaze had been vacant ever since they arrived. Amaris couldn’t blame her—but she did want to talk to her. No opportunity had presented itself, since the butlers were always there, watching and instructing.

The banquet hall had a stage, yes, but it was significantly smaller than the one they usually performed on and there was no mysterious barrier keeping their audience separated from them. In fact, it would be rather easy to see the patrons dining at their various tables when the celebration began.

“Ten minutes until the banquet,” the head butler informed the girls. “You may want to get ready.”

“Right, right…” Suuk grumbled, taking off her jacket and setting it down. Amaris followed suit, setting her backpack down and removing her shirt.

Sarah was the last one to remove the fur surrounding her. Having gotten somewhat used to seeing her completely covered, the sudden sparkle of her suit made them all stare.

Amaris quickly looked down. “Sorry, it’s just…”

“I’m getting too old,” Sarah said, vacantly. “Let’s just… get through this.” She jumped onto the stage.

“If I can, I’ll try to cover drinks for you,” Petra said. “Keep you on the stage, rather than… down here.”

“Thanks.”

Amaris walked to their leader. “Sarah…”

Sarah glanced warily at the butlers rummaging around the banquet hall—now was not the time. Amaris forced the words back down her throat and turned away.

Shortly thereafter, the guests started to arrive. Every last one of them wore the same gray, drab outfits as everyone else in Genk, only the quality of the garments indicating their status as the wealthy elite. There were a mixture of humans and gari, but no other species made an appearance. The Chairman sat down at the seat furthest from the stage, but directly facing it. He was flanked by a younger gari couple; the woman had blue hair while the man was pink. His hair was ridiculous too, shaped into three spikes that protruded behind his head.

“How does he get his hair to do that…?” Amaris asked.

“Oooh!” Kiri ran to Amaris. “Gari hair is moldable! I once saw Sarah change her hairstyle by taking a blowtorch to her head! It was amazing.”

Amaris didn’t have a response for this other than “huh.”

The Chairman stood up and gave a boring speech about “stock dividends” and “manufacturing density” and “exceeded expectations” and many other things that Amaris didn’t care enough about to pay attention to—that is, until the end.

“And here, today, the glittering jewels of Genk itself… the Girls!” He gestured at the stage, where all of them but Petra were standing—she was moving about the tables, holding out the platters for the guests. They didn’t appear to register the fact that she was blind. “Our success is of such a degree that we can ask for them. I tell you, who else in the city has that kind of profit? I’ll tell you… none but ourselves! This is our city, and we shall reap the spoils!” He pulled the controller out and activated the four of them on the stage.

Amaris made sure not to check out—she wanted to look for every opportunity she could. This wasn’t difficult in the slightest, her body had fully adjusted to the routines at this point and the agony of the first show was effectively a distant memory.

However, a new horror revealed itself in this setting. Before, it had been impossible to see the audience’s response to their performance beyond the cheers and applause. Here, she could study their faces. The majority entered a sort of dreamlike trance, a smile of utter contentment on their faces—checking out of reality so effectively that they no longer touched their food. The rest, though… men drooled, stared transfixed, and some grinned as though they wanted to jump on stage and rip the flesh right off the Girls’ bones. The women’s expressions became smug, proud, and studious.

The Chairman was the worst. He had his hands folded beneath his chin, providing a throne for his malevolent grin. He didn’t look at the girls like a show, nor did he get whatever it was the rest of the room was getting. When he looked at them, he saw property. He saw money.

Everything about the situation was disgusting, and Amaris wanted to see it burn to the ground. This city was broken and evil to the core. The five of them were being used to perpetuate it through vile, reprehensible means.

It has to stop.

The suit stopped controlling Amaris, and she realized she was trading with Petra for serving the patrons. For a moment, she hesitated—considered trying to throw the room into chaos, maybe choke a few people.

But what good would that do? Nothing. And if she did something like that with no purpose, she would become the monster.

Amaris wouldn’t let herself be the monster. She took the tray from Petra and started moving around, handing out drinks. The majority of guests were still in the stupor and didn’t bother her, but those that weren’t ogled her with wild eyes. One man in particular with an eye patch and a wiry beard grabbed her wrist hard as she walked by.

“George!” The Chairman shouted. “Toad will kill you.”

“Just… observing…” The man cackled, releasing her to continue her rounds. Amaris had to take a minute to regain the bravery to get back to work, but she did—if for no other reason than to get as much information as she could.

“The Chairman’s really outdone himself…”

“This had to cost much more than the budget allowed.”

“He’s never led us astray before.”

“True. Honestly, I wish he didn’t have to work around Toad all the time. That fat lard-leg claims to be all about efficiency, and yet he limits the shows, keeps them from interacting with us behind those walls! So much more could be given if we did this more often…”

“Think of the efficiency increase!”

We really are nothing more than tools to them, Amaris thought, shaking her head. They either talk like I’m not even here… or like I am theirs to do with as they please. She shuddered. There’s clearly a reason Toad keeps us separate…

She eventually came to the Chairman’s table, where she overheard an interesting sentence come from the gari woman at his side.

“I’d like to dance with her, if you don’t mind.”

The Chairman scratched his chin. “I don’t know…”

Amaris came in between them and set down a glass. “The suits aren’t programmed for dances not involving another one of us, and they’re all specifically keyed to our body types.”

The Chairman looked at her like she was an insult to his very being. “I’m sure Sarah can improvise, she’s been at this long enough.” He whipped out the controller and stopped the dance Sarah was in the middle of—causing Suuk to fall to the ground with a comical “oof.” Most of the guests who weren’t lethargic let out delighted hoots of laughter.

Sarah tentatively looked around until she locked eyes with the Chairman, and the woman standing up next to him. She understood without any words being spoken and, with a strange determination to her steps, she jumped off the stage and performed a twirling front flip over the banquet table, landing right next to the woman with an extended hand. The woman took it, and the two of them twirled around the room. Sarah led—twisting and twirling the much taller woman around like she was nothing, and yet doing it with such grace and precision that the woman was never even strained. She was along for the ride.

Eventually, Sarah led her to the stage, at which point the other girls all got off and congregated over to the side. They all watched in silence as Sarah carefully threw the woman into the air, caught her by the hips, and then twirled her over her head like a crown before setting her down gently. The two separated for a moment, holding motionless for a beat, before rushing into a complex swirling motion that ended with both of them in a tight embrace, where they stopped.

Applause erupted. Amaris couldn’t help but clap herself.

“…I think that’s her mother,” Suuk said.

Amaris stopped clapping, snapping out of it. “Wh… what?”

“Her position, the family resemblance, Sarah just going along with it… it has to be.”

Kiri frowned. “At least she got something good…”

Amaris looked up at the stage, where the woman was now stepping down. Sarah was still up there, her back turned to the woman, unmoving.

“I don’t think it was good,” Amaris said with a sigh. “Come on, someone get up there and distract her with a dance or something. Kiri?”

Kiri saluted Amaris and jumped onto the stage, landing in Sarah’s arms with a delighted squeal. The controller activated again and the two of them started another choreographed series.

It went on like this for hours. Since the girls swapped in and out on delivering drinks and walking among the guests, they got regular breaks, and no one came even close to being exhausted. Still, it was unlike any show they had ever done. It kept going, they didn’t have many moments to talk to one another, and the interaction of the audience was a constant pain.

But still, even this had to end, as all things do. The guests needed to go to sleep, to prepare for another round of festivities tomorrow. And so, at long last, they started to file out of the banquet hall. One of the last guests to leave was the wiry-bearded man who had grabbed Amaris. “Good party, Richard, but if these girls are only going to do the same ol’ stuff we see at Toad’s little tent…”

“You are impossible to please,” the Chairman grunted, saying nothing further on the matter.

Soon afterward, he was the only one in the room with the girls, all of whom were busy eating the leftover food.

“You are restricted to this building,” the Chairman said, folding his arms. “The suits will lock up if you try to leave or tamper with any of the windows. Your rooms are down the hall, third door on the left. You are free to wander, socialize, or do whatever you wish until the next round of festivities tomorrow evening. Toad insisted that ‘leisure’ be on your repertoire, so you will have access to our facilities.” He glared at Sarah. “…I am not ready to say you deserve it, but you made a good showing today.”

And with that, he was gone.

“Finally!” Petra shouted.

“I thought we’d never be left alone!” Amaris groaned, smacking her face into the table. She got cake all over her face for the effort, but she didn’t care.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss the old stage…” Petra shivered.

“Did you overhear anything we might be able to use, Petra?”

“No…” Petra shook her head. “But, some of them might be convinced to assist us. T—“

“None of them will,” Sarah said, staring off in the distance, forlorn.

“How do you know?” Suuk asked, crossing her arms. “You’re the one stuck in the middle of family drama. Th—“

“If anyone was going to help us, it would have been Mother,” Sarah said, voice cracking on the last syllable.

Amaris felt like her heart had been stabbed—no mother should refuse her child. “Maybe she’s like the Chairman, thinks it’s a great honor and…”

“I turned fifteen today,” Sarah said. “If we were at the compound, I would be gone now.” She turned to Amaris with wet, bloodshot eyes. “I told her as much. She said it was where I was supposed to go.”

There was silence among the five of them.

“Okay…” Amaris pressed her hands together. “Then… we need a new plan. We—“

“I need rest,” Sarah interrupted. “I… I can’t do this right now.” Shakily, she stumbled out the door, heading directly for their rooms.

Amaris sighed. She took a moment to lift Pitch onto her shoulder and stare into his eyes. “I would say this is a messed up situation, but those words don’t feel like they carry meaning anymore.”

Petra laughed bitterly. “…I don’t think we’re getting any planning done tonight.”

Amaris closed her eyes and tilted her head back, letting out a tense breath of air. “I hate to say it, but I think you’re right.”

Kiri let out a big yawn. “I am a little tired…”

“Fine. Sleep, if you want.” Suuk threw up her hands. “Throw away our only shot to save Sarah. Fine by me!”

“You can shut up,” Amaris growled.

“Make me.”

Amaris ground her teeth. “We have enough drama as it is. We don’t need you screwing things up even more, halfbreed.”

Suuk stared at her with an unreadable expression. Slowly, she stood up and walked away.

“Come on girls…” Amaris told the other two, getting up herself. “Let’s go to bed…”

~~~

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Amaris couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned this way and that but the clutches of the night never came. Deciding it was futile, she got out of the bed and looked out the window.

Their rooms were near the very top of the Ivory Tower, looking out over all of Genk. For a city, it was remarkably dark at night—there were still lights and signs of work down there, but only the areas that needed light were active, turning on and off as required. Not that the lower light levels made the stars any easier to see, given the eternal smog.

The window looked rather weak. Amaris figured if she hit it with her entire body she could shatter it, and her momentum would carry her forward no matter what the suit did…

I need to get away from this window.

Doing a full one-eighty, she left her room. She didn’t know where she was going, but it was somewhere else. She left everything behind—backpack, shirt, bow, Pitch—everything, and just started walking randomly through the Ivory Tower. It was remarkably abandoned at this time of night, with everyone either sleeping or in their personal apartments dotted across the entire skyscraper.

Amaris eventually found herself in the recreation room, which almost took up an entire floor. She played some pool with herself, but soon grew tired of this and continued her walk, passing by the bowling alley without giving it another thought.

After a few more flights of stairs, an elevator ride where she pushed a random button, and several ornate doors, she was officially lost. Which, she supposed, was essentially what she’d set out to do, so… yay?

As she was walking down a hallway with a particularly expensive feeling carpet—it was gray, of course—she noticed that a large set of double doors had light coming out from under the cracks in it. She heard voices inside. With a noncommittal shrug, she decided she had nothing better to do than to listen in. Pressing her ear to the door, she heard the voice of the Chairman and the man who had grabbed her—George.

“You sure it’s going to work?” George asked.

“Toad may have a plethora of Green at his disposal, but that can only get him so far.” The Chairman let out a soft chuckle. “He won’t be able to do anything as we burn that den of his to ashes. He’ll be sitting there, waiting for them to return…”

“You’re a madman, you know that?” It sounded like George took a drink of something. “But exactly what we need.”

“Naturally.”

“And you’ll change the rules of what the girls can do, right?”

“Oh, of course. Only the best for Genk, my friend. And Toad… does not have the best in mind for Genk at all.”

“Reptile thought he could control us…”

“Amphibian, George.”

“Huh?”

“Toads are amphibians.”

“I don’t care a bit!” George stammered. “He’s a dumb… stupid… arrogant… reptile!”

“Sure, George. Sure. …We should get you back to your room.”

Amaris’s eyes widened. They were going to leave and she would be right there. She needed to go, now. She took off as fast as she could manage without making noise—since she was barefoot and wearing nothing but the suit, this was a decently high speed. But the hallway was long, and all the doors on either side were locked.

She heard the doors behind her start to creak. She wasn’t going to make it, they were going to see her a—

A pair of hands with sharp nails descended from the ceiling, one grabbing Amaris by the suit’s neck, the other clamping over her mouth to keep her quiet. In one swift motion, Amaris was dragged into the ventilation system.

Eyes wide, she turned to glance at Suuk. Is she going to kill me?

Suuk was too shrouded in darkness for Amaris to see anything aside from her brilliantly reflective eyes. The two sat there in utter silence, a slight breeze wafting through the ventilation shaft. The Chairman and George soon passed underneath them, the latter letting out a continual stream of nonsensical blabbering while the other all but carried him down the hall. There was no chance the Chairman was going to sense two silent girls in the ceiling with that distraction.

Still, the girls waited several long, agonizing minutes before daring to move.

They dropped down to the hallway below in unison. Amaris glanced to Suuk in fear. “What are y—“

“Shut up,” Suuk interrupted. “What did you hear?”

“…They’re going to take out Toad.”

Suuk let out a sharp word Amaris didn’t recognize. “This is either really good or really bad.”

“Suuk, I—“

“I said shut up,” Suuk interrupted again. “You and me? We’re not going to have any more drama. Okay?”

“O… kay.” Amaris did not know what to make of this.

“I’m a little upset that you found the secret by wandering aimlessly while I’ve been scouring this place everywhere I shouldn’t be… but that’s also pointlessly unimportant. We need to tell the others.”

Amaris held up a hand. “Later. They need sleep. They won’t be able to sleep after…”

“Fine. But when they first wake up. Be there.” She jumped back into the ventilation shaft.

“Suuk!” Amaris whisper-shouted up at her.

“What?”

“First of all, uh… thanks for saving me.”

Suuk let out an exasperated groan and turned to leave.

“Second! I don’t know how to get ba—“

Suuk grabbed Amaris by the suit collar and dragged her through the ventilation shaft. “Right this way, passenger…” Amaris heard Suuk chuckle at herself. Chuckle like there wasn’t anything wrong between them.

…Was everything really fine between them? Even after…

Amaris decided not to question it. Suuk had saved her life, so she shut up the rest of the way. She owed her that much.

~~~

“…and then Suuk dragged me back and we waited for you all to wake up,” Amaris finished.

The five of them were gathered in Sarah’s room, seated on the floor while Sarah herself sat cross-legged on the bed, her eyes closed, a deeply unpleasant frown on her face. Kiri kept crossing her legs over each other like she couldn’t decide which one should be on top. Petra sat in deep contemplation—even so, she was the one who spoke first.

“This is good, right?” Petra asked. “Toad’s going to be gone, we won’t have to deal with him anymore.”

“He had a lot in place to protect us, is the problem,” Amaris said. “You saw how the Chairman and the others look at us. What do you think they’ll do to us if Toad’s not around to threaten them?”

“He’s not all bad…” Kiri whispered.

Amaris wanted to shout at her, but she forced her words to come out at a reasonable volume. “I did not say that. He just… might be better than our alternative here. Gah, that’s absolutely utterly terrible, I can’t believe I’m in a situation where that might even possibly make sense!” This isn’t right. Nothing’s been right for a while, but this is on a whole other level.

“What about Sarah?” Petra asked. “If we go back to Toad…” She shook her head. “If we let this happen, she’ll be fine.”

“But suffering,” Kiri grumbled.

“We’re already suffering,” Petra pointed out.

Sarah held up a hand, speaking for the first time. “We have a choice to make, girls. We can try to warn Toad—won’t be that hard to get access to send a message to him. Or we can let this happen, and work for the Chairman in a new way. There are pros and cons to both sides, an—“

“Screw that,” Suuk said, standing up and slamming her foot into the ground. “We don’t want either of them. We shouldn’t have to choose between slavery and slavery! We’ve lived under the thumb of this city for long enough—it’s time to tear the entire thing down.” She punched the palm of her opposite hand and grinned mischievously. “I’m going to take the third option. The one where we have our cake and eat it too. No more Toad, no more feeding the desires of Genk. We can end it here.”

“How?” Sarah asked.

“I don’t know,” Suuk admitted with a nonchalant shrug. “What I do know is that I am not going to let us make a compromising choice. We either get out of this mess, or we die trying. We don’t sit and take it.”

Kiri blinked a few times. “But… we can’t be free.”

“Yes we can!” Suuk shouted. “All we need… is a plan.” She turned to Sarah. “And between the five of us, I’m sure we can come up with something. I’ve basically memorized the layout of this entire building, you have connections to the people here, Kiri is amazingly small and spunky, Petra can make devices, and Amaris…” Suuk flashed Amaris a smirk. “Amaris is the only one of you washouts who has enough soul left in her to pull this off.”

Amaris stood up, grinning. “I like where this is going!” How did things change so quickly?

Suuk met Amaris’ hand with her own. “Let’s do this.”

“Oh yeah!”

Sarah coughed. “Ahem.”

Suuk and Amaris turned to stare blankly at her.

“I don’t know exactly when you two stopped secretly hating each other, and I don’t want to know. But a decision has not been made.”

“You seriously gonna tell us we can’t?” Suuk asked, crossing her arms.

“Yes. Absolutely. I’m going to make you all sit here and take punishment like a tyrant.” She stared deadpan at Suuk.

“Ooh, sarcasm, good sign,” Amaris said, winking.

“It appears that my mental health is being measured by my level of sarcasm,” Sarah observed. “I’m sure that’s healthy.”

“You hear that, girls?” Amaris asked. “That’s the sound of hope.”

Sarah rolled her eyes, stepping off the bed and dramatically brushing her hair back. “Hope or not, we’re going to need a plan—and it has to be a good one. No half-baked, predictable nonsense…”

Amaris let out a soft little gasp. “I… I think I might have something.”

“What?”

Amaris turned to Petra. “What do you think you can do if we got you one of those controllers?”

Petra thought about this for a while. The more she thought, the bigger her smile got. “Without Toad… oh, the things I could do…”

“Then that’s where we start.” Amaris clapped her hands together. “If the conversation is anything to go by, the Chairman will act Sunday morning, around when we’re supposed to be shipped back. We have until then to execute our plan. No pressure!”

Sarah held up a hand. “First thing’s first…” She kneeled down to Kiri’s level. “Kiri… I know you’ve known nothing but Toad your whole life.”

Kiri nodded. “I… I know what he does. I… I’ll miss him. But you can count me in.”

Sarah tousled her hair. “Good. Now, I have a suggestion for how we’re going to obtain one of those controllers without triggering a billion alarms.”

~~~

“Grandfather?” Sarah asked, walking up to him just before the party started, wearing nothing but her suit.

“Hmm? Yes, what is it?”

“I couldn’t help but overhear that the patrons were complaining that we only did the same tricks we’ve always done. If you wish, we can try some new material that we made ourselves—we spent most of the day rehearsing the new choreography.”

The Chairman looked at her with steely eyes for a moment before breaking out into a grin. “Ah, finally growing into it, I see. Of course, of course, dazzle the crowd with your new material. Glad to see you take the initiative, Sarah.”

“Of course,” Sarah said with a slight bow, backing away from the Chairman quickly so her face wouldn’t betray her excitement. She walked back to the stage, giving Amaris a thumbs up; the signal for everything being ready.

Amaris took a deep breath. “Okay. Here goes… ready Pitch?”

From his position on her shoulder, the reptile let out a hiss.

“So, try not to mess this up, I’d like my first actual show to be a good one, okay?”

Pitch licked her nose, prompting Amaris to nuzzle him back with a soft giggle.

“Gag me with a spoon,” Suuk grunted as she set the refreshments up on the platter.

“You never complained about me and Pitch before,” Amaris observed.

“Been biting my tongue,” Suuk retorted, throwing the platter into the air and catching it flawlessly on her other hand. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” Amaris said. “Good luck.”

“You’re the one who relies on luck. I rely on pure skill.”

“Suuuuure.”

The night’s festivities began again soon after. The Chairman gave another speech Amaris couldn’t pay attention to, ending with. “And now, a treat. I turn it over to Toad’s Girls.”

“Thank you, grandfather,” Sarah said, taking the microphone out of his hand and strolling around the room. “Now, I know all of you aren’t used to hearing us talk or even thinking we can talk. But we heard a few of you wondering why we didn’t have any new material and, well, we took that to heart.” She jumped on top of an empty chair, looming over the guests with a cheery smile. “We have a unique opportunity here to try out something that’s never been done before. A show that’s a bit more… interactive.”

This had the attention of everyone in the room in an instant.

With a sharp jab of her arm, Sarah gestured at the stage, which currently held Amaris, Petra, and Kiri. Amaris held her hand up high, putting Pitch on display.

“This legendary snake is our pet,” Sarah explained. “His name is Pitch and, since he has no uniform that sparkles, he has been left out of our many shows—a tragedy we have been unable to rectify because of Toad’s regulations. But now… Amaris, if you will?”

Amaris winked at Pitch. She threw him into the air while performing a backflip. Behind her, Petra threw Kiri upward, and she caught Pitch with the tip of her fingers. While this occurred, Petra entered a split on the ground, catching Amaris’ hands in her own mid backflip. Kiri landed gracefully on Amaris’ feet, creating a tower of three people. Pitch rapidly slid down Kiri, then Amaris, then Petra before coming to a rest on the stage. He let out a hiss.

Petra twisted around, throwing Amaris into the air—both she and Kiri landed flat on their feet and bowed.

Already half the audience was in their lulled, mindless state—but the rest didn’t look as impressed.

“Oh, you think that was it?” Sarah asked, twirling the microphone in her hand as she let out a series of “tut tut” noises. “That was just a demonstration to show that we can incorporate others into our routines. Now… we use you.” She gestured sharply to one of the butlers running around. “You!”

Before the butler knew what was happening, Kiri had picked him up and placed him on the stage, where Amaris and Petra caught him with their feet, holding him in the air like a large beachball. He let out a few cries of alarm—but none of pain, not even as they lightly tossed him back and forth. Each of their motions were calculated, precise, and as elegant as ever.

Toad really did train us effectively, Amaris noted. She was straining herself to pull this off without harming the butler in any way, but the motions themselves were completely effortless. No matter how unpredictably the butler squirmed, they kept him in the routine—until they ended by sliding off the stage and depositing him in a chair provided at the perfect time by Kiri.

This time when the girls bowed, they got applause—shouts, cheers, and more than a few disgusting looks.

Enjoy it while you can! Amaris winked at the guests, even going so far as to blow them a kiss. This’ll be the last time…

The Chairman got up from his seat and went to the butler who had been part of the act. Amaris switched into a rigid, angular dance with Petra so they could watch what transpired without worrying about audience participation. The butler took out his controller and showed it to the Chairman. He used it to send a simple command to Kiri, making her jump onto the stage.

The Chairman’s face gained a pleasant smile. They’d gained his trust.

Too bad that butler had never been the target.

Suuk jumped onto the stage, trading off with Kiri for serving drinks. The only indication she gave that her mission was a success was a quick wink.

The plan had been simple. Use the butler in the show as bait, make everyone look, make the Chairman concerned they might be trying something. However, he would keep his controller, despite how easy it would have been to take it. While all this was happening, Suuk was prowling around. Her tail did all the work, taking the controller of a different butler and replacing it with their handy-dandy fake.

The only way anyone would notice it was fake was if they busted it open, or tried to issue a command with it. Petra sure was a miracle worker.

And the girls had no intention of getting issued commands tonight. They would give the audience the party of their life, filled with material never before seen that changed on the spot. There were close, energetic dances. Complex interlocking movements that were more angular and shocking than the gracefulness Toad’s shows had. They even went so far as to start throwing glasses around in a sort of war between the five of them, with the audience being in the line of fire—but never hit.

Amaris took out her bow at one point. Suuk kicked a roasted chicken into the air, and Amaris sniped it while it flew, skewering it into a wall.

“Yes!” Amaris cheered. “You know everyone, before Toad got me I wasn’t really that good at archery. Now I could snipe any of your heads off before you could even blink!” She let out a hearty laugh—and the guests laughed with her.

They have no idea... The thought only made Amaris laugh harder.

She couldn’t believe it; she was actually having fun with this show. She still hated what it stood for—hated the suits, hated the slavery, hated what it allowed the city of Genk to do. But despite all this, now that she was on this stage with the hope of being free not that long from now… she could enjoy herself.

So went the night. Dances and laughter. Sarah even seemed to be enjoying her part as announcer—a voice to be heard by all and listened to. Respected. Amaris noticed that slowly, over the course of the night, Sarah stopped being just an object in the minds of everyone there. She was the leader of Toad’s Girls, and that was to be respected. She was responsible for all this.

And yet they refuse to help her. Amaris shook her head in disgust. They brought this on themselves. Still… I hope they can learn, afterward. For reasons she wasn’t fully capable of understanding, these thoughts made her think of Suuk.

The party went much further into the night than the previous one—but all good things had to come to an end, and the Chairman recognized it. He told everyone it was tomorrow already and they really all should head home. “Here’s to another century of productivity!”

“Hear, hear!” the guests cheered—and Sarah, too. After the Chairman stepped down, she stepped up.

“Before you go, I just want to thank you all for such an… interesting night. Maybe in the future, it can happen again. Whatever happens, I want you to remember this, remember me, remember us. Maybe we’ll be able to do more things like this. But, even if not, I’m sure this night will go down in history as something to be remembered.” She fixed the audience with a smug grin. “I look forward to the future.”

“Hear, hear!”

Sarah bowed, and then led her girls out of the banquet hall to their rooms. The five of them stumbled into Sarah’s room, laughing.

“Oh, they have no idea!” Amaris slapped her thigh. “They’re not going to believe what’s about to go down.”

“They’ll remember,” Sarah said. “I may have overdone it—the Chairman gave me a look when I was done talking. But he thinks I’m trying to ‘make things right’ with the family before Toad takes care of me.” She struck a pose. “I’m sure he won’t be cursing himself for trusting us tomorrow.”

“It is tomorrow,” Petra said, catching the controller that Suuk had just slid to her.

“We should still get some sleep,” Amaris said. “Though we will need to keep watch, make sure no one catches sight of the controller.”

“I’ll be the one working on it,” Petra said. “I’ll be ‘watching.’ ”

“It’ll work, right?” Kiri asked.

Petra nodded. “It’ll be a simple matter to rig up a button pusher attached to a transceiver. It’ll detect whenever a command is issued and then immediately hit the ‘release all’ button. I won’t be testing it out, of course, since that could raise alarms.”

“A little risky…” Sarah noted. “But we know you can do it Petra.”

“I could do this in my sleep,” Petra said as she started rummaging through her belongings. “…Not that I’ll be sleeping, mind you. The rest of you should, though.”

“Before you do…” Sarah turned to Suuk. “Find me a metal pipe somewhere in the building. I have some… frustration I’ll need to get out tomorrow.”

“Can-do, boss.” Suuk jumped into the ventilation system, disappearing.

“It’s really happening…” Kiri said, staring off into space. “We’re gonna do it…”

“You bet it is!” Amaris rubbed her hands together.

“Kiri, remember,” Sarah said, leaning down. “You’re plan B. If something goes wrong, you’re going to run to the dryad Glen and ask for Coleus and the protection of the dryads. Got it?”

Kiri nodded. “Got it!”

“Remember how to get there?”

“Left, right, straight, right, then straight until I get out of the city, then up the obsidian hill and in the cave.”

Amaris danced around the room, doing a few nervous cartwheels. “There is no way I’m going to be able to sleep tonight.”

“Try anyway,” Sarah said, crawling into her bed. “…Amaris?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for… being you. And having that crazy hope of yours.”

Amaris couldn’t help but flush. “R-right… you’re welcome.”

“Now get some sleep. The world will end if you don’t.”

Amaris rolled her eyes. “If the world is so fragile it depends upon me sleeping tonight to exist, it doesn’t deserve to continue.”

“Amaris. Stop bantering. Go to bed.”

“All right, all right…”

~~~

The Chairman gave the girls a glare—disapproving of the fact that they all showed up wrapped in their extra clothes. But he didn’t comment on it, though his eyes did linger longer on Sarah’s overdone fur coat than the others.

They had been called into his office on the highest floor of the building. It was a rather massive room that took up a fourth of the floor, with his chair and desk next to two walls of solid glass that overlooked the city of Genk.

“I suppose you all think I called you here to wish you well on your journey back to the compound.”

“No,” Suuk said. “You would have met us at the ground floor for that, clearly, this is something else.”

Amaris couldn’t stop grinning. Here it comes…

“Clever…” the Chairman nodded in Suuk’s direction. “Well, I’m here to inform you that there’s been a change of plans. You see, I’ve been in… negotiations with Toad. Negotiations that are in your best interests, I might add. You would be able to give shows like the one you gave last night… all the time.”

“I will staple more chickens to the wall with arrows,” Amaris said. “Just… putting that out there.”

The Chairman ignored her comment, turning to Sarah. “And, naturally, there will no longer be a need to keep the members below a certain age, a fact I’m sure you and your parents will be delighted to hear.”

As only Sarah’s eyes were visible, it was impossible to read her expression.

“All that remains is to close the deal. Come, watch with me.” He gestured for them to come to the window. Following his finger, they easily made out the round shape of Toad’s compound. “Say goodbye, girls.” He chuckled. “Goodbye, old frog.”

Immediately, there was an explosion that engulfed the entire complex. Amaris let out a little cheer as the building was reduced to ashes—there, it was over. Toad was no more. They were free…

The shockwave of the explosion continued out, shattering several dozen buildings around the complex, turning the entire area into a smoldering crater of rubble.

Amaris’ smile vanished. “All those people…”

“It was the only way to be sure,” the Chairman said, pressing his hands together. “It was deemed the necessary yield to overcome his power. It is, however, a small price to pay for liberation from his tyranny.”

“…I disagree,” Amaris growled.

He smirked. “Well, fortunately for me, I don’t need to listen to your opinions. I j—“

Sarah pulled a metal pipe out of her fur coat and smacked the Chairman upside the head with it, dropping him to the ground. Discarding the coat, she put her free hand on her hip and struck a defiant pose with the pipe slung over her shoulders. “How’s it feel to be on the receiving end?”

Without a word, the Chairman took out the controller and pressed the freeze button. For a moment, the suits tightened up… but then they released, counteracted by Petra’s controller.

“What…?”

Sarah smacked the Chairman with the pipe again, twisting him onto his back. “Amaris overheard you preparing to take out Toad. So we planned accordingly.” She lifted the pipe again.

Amaris held up a hand. “Sarah...”

Sarah twitched, looking at Amaris with rage.

“Don’t be him.”

Sarah’s features melted immediately. She lowered her arms, dropping the pipe to the ground. “Suuk, tie him up.”

Suuk pulled out some wiring she’d pilfered and tied the Chairman’s hands and feet up in it. “There we go!”

The Chairman growled. “What exactly is your plan here? Even without the controller, I own this city. You’ll never get out with your lives!”

“You are going to let us go,” Suuk whispered harshly into his ear. “We have an… escape route you won’t be able to follow us through. Or, alternatively, we can have Amaris shoot an arrow into your brain and we’ll deal with your daughter instead. And if she won’t cooperate… well…” She gestured at Sarah. “Sarah’d make a good Chairman, don’t you think?”

“Y—you can’t do this!” the Chairman stammered. “We’ve provided everything for you! And I—“

“Those people out there were going to do unspeakable things to us!” Sarah shouted, whirling on him with such fury that spittle flew all over his face. “I know you know what they want from us. ‘Their desire completely filled’—hogwash! I see those looks. I know what they mean.”

The Chairman made no response.

“So, are you going t—“

“Guys?” Kiri called from the window. “You might wanna…”

Amaris looked where Kiri was looking, and saw something flying outisde—no, it was jumping. It was a round, silhouetted shape, bouncing through Genk with enough power that it cleared entire skyscrapers in a single bound. Up, down, up, down—but always forward.

Coming right for them.

“No…” Suuk said, all color draining from her face.

Sarah whirled to the Chairman and picked him up by his collar. “I thought you killed all those other people just to be sure!?”

“We… did…”

“Then why is there a massive toad jumping at us right n—“

It was too late. Both windows shattered into a rain of glass shards. Without the corner support, a section of the ceiling collapsed, falling directly onto the back of Toad. The rubble and wiring, despite weighing several tons, slid off his back, falling to the city streets below. Bits of glass and rubble cut and scraped Toad’s skin, drawing out green ooze—but he cared little for this. His eyes burned with an unnatural blue fire, focusing with intense, seething hatred upon the man who just launched a tactical missile at him: Chairman Richard Eddington.

The fire vanished the instant Toad saw the Chairman bound and under the foot of Sarah, with the other girls standing around him. A light flickered on somewhere inside of Toad and he let out a deep, croaking laugh that shook the ground beneath them, all the while high-speed winds blew in from the now exposed exterior.

“Chairman…” Toad managed through his deep, reverberating chortles. “It appears you have been played by the very things you sought to acquire…”

“H-how!?” the Chairman stammered. “That was enough t—“

“I have my ways. In truth, I had hoped you’d do this one day.” Toad began to slowly move forward, tongue momentarily sticking out to clean his eyeball of the green ooze. “Now I have an excuse to take complete control… All those riches you’ve been hiding… they will be mine!”

The Chairman sneered. “I have s—“

Toad, finding his squabbling noises annoying, decided enough was enough. He shot out his tongue, grabbing hold of the Chairman by the chest. With a sickly gurgle, the tongue retracted, pulling a screaming Chairman into Toad’s maw, never to escape.

Kiri broke out into a run, gunning for the stairwell.

Toad let out a sigh. “You are still one of mine, Kiri…” He tilted his head sharply to the side, activating something.

Nothing happened. Kiri made it to the stairwell and jumped down the rectangular spiral, vanishing out of the sight of the others.

“…What have you done?” Toad asked, both of his eyes lazily drifting toward Petra.

Petra shrugged. “Something.”

“She won’t get far,” Toad said. “I had hope she would stay voluntarily… shame.” He slowly rotated himself to face the other four girls. “You may run as well. I suspect you have about two to three hours before I restore the mainframe and issue the command to return to me. One that cannot be refused.”

Sarah walked to the front of the group, staring defiantly at him. “Sure. You go do that.”

Toad narrowed his eyes. “...You have a backup plan I am not aware of.” This seemed more curious to him than anything. “I wonder what it is…”

“Who cares?” Suuk said, picking up a long and pointed shard of glass from the ground. “You’re going to have other problems in about two seconds.”

“How so?”

“You know how I took out your eye alllll those years ago?” Suuk threw the glass—missing Toad’s eye, but skewering him right in the cheek, prompting more goo to pour forth. “Huh. Looks like you can’t regenerate without that hoard of yours.”

Toad nonchalantly plucked the glass out of his skin and tossed it away. “Clever and observant, but pointless. I a—“

Amaris didn’t miss his eye. The arrow sailed true and perfect. Amaris only felt excited for a moment—it was quickly followed by disgust. Disgust quickly turned to fear.

“You seek my death!” Toad shot out his tongue, hitting all four of them with it and slamming them into the far wall. Amaris could only let out a haggard breath of disgust as the thick, sticky saliva coated her entire upper body.

Despite his tongue’s extended position, he still spoke clearly. “You will find no such thing! I am Toad, and there is nothing your little toys can do to save you! You are mine, and you will always be mine. I allow you to keep your delusions of hope and freedom as a courtesy. A privilege. I had hoped your experience with Richard would have changed you… but no, defiance reigns, a—“

Pitch bit Toad’s tongue. The tiny snake biting down on his extended, slimy limb made Toad pause—there was no major injury, but it was hard to ignore.

However, it gave Suuk an idea. She bared her feline teeth and bit down on the tongue as well. This was enough to make Toad reflexively retract his tongue—dragging all four of them with it.

“SUUK!” Amaris shouted at the top of her lungs.

Suuk was in no position to respond to her complaint because she was busy gagging on the taste of Toad’s saliva.

Toad’s mouth closed. Amaris’ first instinct was to grab tightly onto Pitch. She held onto the sensation, using it to get her through the horrors of being inside his mouth. The stench was nowhere near as bad as she expected—in fact, it was slightly minty—but the thick slime was now all over her, hindering her movement. There was air, but it was hot, humid, and depleted.

Something splashed. There was a burning sensation on her hands. She refused to let go of Pitch.

The next thing she knew she was lying on the ground in a puddle of spit next to Petra, Suuk, and Sarah. Pitch was still in her hands, though he wasn’t very active.

Amaris rose to her feet, finding that her bow was still on her person. She took it out and shakily aimed for Toad.

Toad, despite having just coughed up four girls, saw her do this and slapped the weapon away with one of his legs. “Perhaps I should invest in mind as well as bodily control… It was not feasible when I began, but this… this is not a worthwhile risk.”

“Shut up!” Suuk shouted, taking up another shard of glass in her hand. “Fight like you mean it!”

“My dear, if I fought like I meant it, you would all be dead.”

“How unfortunate for us,” Sarah said with a venomous, hateful tone. “Not getting a fair fight.”

Toad’s eye widened when he realized where her voice was coming from—upward. Somehow, in the midst of being regurgitated, she had grabbed onto the collapsing ceiling. Now, she released her hold and drove her elbow downward. Had she been human, this would have done nothing.

But she was gari. And the plastic ended in very sharp points at the elbows.

Toad was down both his eyes, and he wasn’t regenerating.

Amaris finally heard a change in Toad’s tone. Gone was the deep, confident, almost bored drawl. In its place was a shrill squeal coming from somewhere in the back of his throat. Fear.

“How’s it feel?” Petra asked. Toad kicked wildly, but Petra twisted herself over the limb with ease, landing near the broken windows. “It’s impossible, isn’t it? You couldn’t fight even if you wanted to.”

“No…” Toad growled. “You are mine.”

Petra tilted her head to the side. “Toad, surrender. Now.”

“I will not be robbed by my own possessions!” Toad jumped at Petra.

She ducked. He flew right over her and out the windows he had crashed open mere minutes ago. Without his eyes, he had no way to get his bearings—no way to land on his feet or know what he was falling onto. He let out a scream not of rage, but of terror. It was a scream that bellowed through the entire city.

He was made of such hardy stuff that an uncontrolled fall, even from that height, would not have ended him. But he had the extreme misfortune of hitting the corner of one of Genk’s many cuboid buildings.

The result wasn’t pretty. Even from her distant vantage point, Amaris felt like puking.

“Holy obsidian shingles…” Suuk said, in awe. “Petra… you did it.”

“Yeah,” Petra said, emotionless.

Suuk tilted her head to the side in bafflement. “Why the long face? We’re free! We should be celebrating!”

“I just killed someone,” Petra deadpanned. “That may not be new to you, but it’s new to me.”

Suuk immediately fell silent.

Amaris walked up to Petra and put an arm around her, gently leading her away from the edge of the building. As she did so, she looked to Sarah. “So… that…”

Sarah frowned. “…No more Toad, no more Chairman…” She crossed her arms and closed her eyes. “What’s left for us to run away from?”

At this, Sarah’s mother made it up the stairs and took in the carnage. The green goo, the saliva… “What… happened here?”

Sarah put on a stern face. She kicked the pipe off the ground and into her hands, pointing it aggressively at her mother. “Grandfather tried to take out Toad. Toad objected, ate him. We threw Toad off the building.” At these words Petra audibly winced, but Sarah didn’t falter.

Sarah’s mother put her hands to her mouth. “O-oh no… He… he assured me it…”

“He made a mistake. One of many.” Sarah narrowed her eyes. “You refused to help me before. You’re going to want to, now.”

“W-what can I do? I’m just…”

“You’re the new Chairman. You… you can use the savings and inheritance to turn this city around. It’s going to need everything you can give it since there will be no more shows.”

Her mother gasped. “Y-you can’t just… abandon us! The city will collapse! People will go hungry!”

“I… know.” Sarah smiled softly. “That’s why I’m not abandoning you.”

Suuk let out a spit take. “W-what!? Have you gone mental!?”

“There will be no more shows,” Sarah said. “But I am not leaving. I’m a face they recognize, and… I can help rebuild this city. Maybe Genk won’t be powerful or even have anything special about it when I’m done. And maybe I’ll fail completely. But I’m sure we can work something out, mother. Where nobody tries to recreate these suits.” She lowered the lead pipe. “Are you going to help me now?”

Ashamed, her mother hung her head—but nodded slowly.

“…Thank you, Mother,” Sarah breathed. “Now… first order of business, we need to make sure Kiri doesn’t summon the legions of nature on this city.”

“Oh.” Amaris blinked. “She was getting Coleus, wasn’t she?”

“Mother, we need a helicopter. Now.”

~~~

Kiri had already made it into the Glen by the time they caught up to her. The dryads had healed her right up—removing the suit was of no consequence to them, and Coleus even grew her a dress made out of grass, which was the best thing Kiri had ever received.

Coleus had apparently thrown a huge tantrum at the dryad elders who told her she couldn’t go and save Amaris, no matter what Kiri said. Amaris would have paid to see the dryad fight, but she only got secondhand information about it from Kiri—Coleus had refused to comment. Luckily, before Coleus had actually tried to go help anyway in defiance of the elder dryads, Amaris and the others met up with her.

In the dim lights of the cavern between the Glen and the outside world, Coleus pulled Amaris into a hug. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay! I… you feel disgusting.”

“Got eaten by a frog,” Amaris said. “…Toad. Wait, was he a toad, or was that just his name?”

Everyone shrugged noncommittally. Petra still had a hollow look on her face.

“Right…” Amaris turned to Kiri. “Wow. You’re… out.”

“How’s it feel?” Suuk asked.

“I’m wearing grass.” Kiri walked up to Suuk with big eyes. ”This is the best day of my life.”

Suuk awkwardly patted her on the head. “Okaaaay, plant girl…”

“I can remove yours too,” Coleus said, growing a massive thorn out of the ground. “It… it is going to hurt, but I can keep it from knocking you unconscious.”

Amaris took off her shirt and spread her arms to her sides. “Tear it off.”

“All right…” Coleus placed her free hand on Amaris’ neck, flooding her with healing energies… and then she plunged the thorn into the suit, tearing a line through the front of it.

It hurt. It definitely hurt. Electric surges coursed through Amaris’ body, making her twitch involuntarily.

The pain was nothing whatsoever compared to what she felt the night of the first show. It was almost… pathetic, really.

She remained standing when it was off, breathing—she could feel the air filling her lungs so much easier. She was free.

Sarah took off her fur coat and put it on Amaris.

“Oh.” Amaris suddenly flushed beet red. “Oh…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sarah said. “Coleus, is there a side passage she can use to put on her clothes?”

Coleus pointed, and Amaris scrambled in that direction. She tore her clothes out of her backpack—miraculously not covered in saliva—and put them on. Unfortunately, her shirt was soaking wet, so when she put it on she was reminded that the protective layer of the suit wasn’t all bad.

She came back out, handing the fur coat back to Sarah. While Coleus did the others, Amaris took stock of herself. She had grown considerably since the last time she wore this outfit. Her pants were a little tight—though not as tight as the suit was—and her entire body had gotten significantly broader and toned. In short, she had grown… and her parents hadn’t been there to see it.

How long had she been trapped in there? It was several months at least. Had she missed her birthday? Did she care if she had? …Her parents would. They had probably given up looking for her by now…

It all rushed on her at once. She dropped to her knees and pressed her hands together, heaving with great sobs.

“Amaris!” Coleus shouted. “Are y—“

“Mom… Dad… I just want to go home…” Amaris wailed. “I’m still here… I’m trying…”

Coleus wisely decided to stop talking and take a step back. Sarah was the one who stepped forward. Freshly out of her suit and wrapped up in soft, fuzzy fabric, she placed a hand on Amaris’ shoulder.

“I’ll give you everything I can to help you get home,” Sarah said. “I think I have a private jet now, if that’ll help. Supplies, money…”

Amaris grabbed Sarah’s hand tightly, not caring in the slightest that it felt like the hand of an action figure. “…But… the rest of you are staying, I know you are. You’re going to fix Genk… I…”

“Go,” Sarah said. “We are children of Genk, one way or another. You… you were stolen on your way to where you belong.” She helped Amaris up and looked her in the eyes. “You need to get home.”

Amaris sniffed—but nodded with resolution.

“Good.”

Coleus stepped in. “So… I’d offer to take you somewhere else, but I still have no idea where your home is, and I think the elders are really mad at me.”

“You think?” Sarah asked, corking a brow.

“You didn’t see anything!”

“I can guess.” Sarah sighed. “Tell your elders that we won’t be bothering them again, they can rest easy.”

“Unless there’s an emergency,” Suuk said.

Coleus grinned nervously. “They don’t like your definition of emergency…”

Sarah sighed. “I’ll… tell you what, once I’ve got things settled in Genk, I’ll meet with your elders and they can tell me how they want me to deal with this. I’ll respect their wishes, whatever it is.”

Coleus nodded. “I’ll let them know. …Don’t go telling people about us, okay? Dryads can do… bad things when not secluded.”

“Something tells me I don’t want to figure out what that means,” Suuk observed.

Coleus stared off into space, a dark look crossing over her. “You really don’t…”

“We should go,” Sarah said. “Make plans for the future and send Amaris on her way. A new future for Genk…” She couldn’t help but smile. “I’ve gone and done it.”

Kiri raised a hand. “Um… what have you done?”

“Took control of the city of Genk.”

Kiri blinked a few times. “Wow…”

“Yeah… wow,” Petra managed.

“Petra… you okay?”

Petra visibly grimaced and hung her head. “Kiri…” Without another word, she pulled the small chlid into her arms and started sobbing.

“P-petra, wh—”

Petra could only hold tighter onto Kiri.

Amaris felt her stomach tie in a knot. She wiped her eyes. Who am I to be bawling? Most of their lives have been this. I have no right. She forced herself to stand tall. She opened her mouth to speak—but croaked on the words. She couldn’t do it—she couldn’t be confident, not right now.

It was fortunate that Sarah could. She wordlessly nudged Coleus in Amaris’ direction, where the dryad embraced the crying, cursed girl.

Amaris had missed her leafy presence far more than she had realized.

“I’m… I’m free,” she managed.

“Yes, Amaris,” Coleus said. “You’re free.”

“We’re free,” Suuk said, extending a hand to both of them. “And we’ve got to use that freedom.”

“So… strong.” Amaris grabbed Suuk’s hand, allowing the neko to pull her up with coleus.

“I had an interesting life before this,” Suuk said. “I know a thing or two.”

Amaris looked down at the ground, ashamed. “You… knew the best.”

Suuk didn’t let out a witty comment or even exaggerate her own praise. All she did was nod in recognition and walk with Amaris and the others out of the cavern. Walking away.

Walking free.