21. Chapter 21

Anne stared at the figures walking down the pathway in her direction. They clearly had no idea she and her family were there, so she had ample opportunity to hide. But something in her just didn’t let her move. She’d only ever seen three of her species before with one being herself and to suddenly see a small group of them was both amazing and terrifying.

“Wh- what the?” She whispered to herself, taking in what she was seeing. The four of them appeared to have varying skin tones with mostly dark hair across the group, but that wasn’t what caught the girl off guard. Instead it was the fact that all of them walked with an intimidating stance while they appeared to be casually chatting. She couldn’t tell what they were saying because they were just out of earshot, but there was one other factor that caught her eyes.

The fact that they were wearing clothes either meant that they were actually intelligent all along or they had consistent contact with an intelligent species of some sort. If the latter were true, then what species could they be with? Hopefully it was more amphibians! But if it wasn’t, then… what was it? Could it be a potential amphibivore?

Hesitantly, she took a single step out of the bushes and into the pathway to get a closer look, with her family staying behind. They were still within view, but hidden from the others like her. Although once she did, she regretted it because all of them noticed that she was there right away. They stared for a few moments before one of them called out to her.

“Hey kid, what’re you wearing ?!” Hearing that they could talk, she began to panic a little bit. Just how intelligent were they really? Would they hurt her family if they saw them? They started approaching her and she took a step back. She didn’t know their intentions or where she even was! She’d gotten used to Sasha’s and Marcy’s monster faces, but seeing new ones put her on edge.

“Woah kid, what’s wrong?” One of them asked as they approached her with an arm outstretched. They were clearly showing concern, but after what happened with Sasha, she knew that her kind could lie about whether they really cared or not. And if these ones were indeed lying just like The Monster of the Tower had, then she’d be in huge trouble if they got too close. Sure, they could be genuine, but better safe than sorry!

Anne turned towards her family and sprinted in their direction, picking them up in the process. She was easily able to hide them underneath her cloak, so the chance of the others of her kind seeing the frogs was slim to none!

“Hey, come back!” She heard one of them yell after her, but she ignored them. It didn’t take long to lose them, seeing as they appeared to be reluctant to leave the pathway they were on. After a while, she couldn’t even see said pathway anymore, so she assumed that they were at least somewhat safe. Taking a quick look around just to make sure, she finally put her family down and sat on the ground in order to be closer to eye-level with them.

“Anne, why’d you run away?!” Sprig asked her with Hop Pop following up immediately afterwards.

“Yeah, they coulda helped us! We heard ‘em talk, so they’re probably able to listen at least a little bit.”

“I-I don’t know! I just… after Sasha a-and M-Mar-” She broke right there, unable to finish her sentence because a lump caught itself in her throat. She made sure to remain quiet enough that nothing would be able to track them down, but she still cried. The memory of what had just happened to Marcy flashing into her mind and drowning everything else out. She didn’t know exactly what happened next, but when she looked up again, there were three cold, slimy sets of arms all around her.

“Breathe, kiddo. It’ll be alright. All we have to focus on for now is survival, okay?” Hop Pop tried to reassure Anne. Even though he had said that, though, nothing about any of this felt even remotely okay! She and her family as a whole were all trapped in a completely alien world that had who knew how many terrifying predators and whatever crazy wildlife existed here. HOW would they even survive?!

“Yeah and if this is where your species is from, then you’re perfect for stealth! You can blend in no problem!” Polly added, obviously having no idea how much Anne was internally freaking out. And while she had to admit that what Polly said was true, something still bothered her about that.

“B-but when those… others saw me, they immediately knew something was wrong! How do I blend in when they can see something like that right away?”

“Hmm… you’re right. But they pointed out what ya were wearin’, so maybe gettin’ some clothes that match them would help?” Hop Pop suggested. This one actually made Anne stop to think for a bit. She felt like there was somehow a bit more to it than that, but he was right about what they’d said.

“Okay, so what were they wearing? And how do I go about getting some more ‘normal’ clothes?” She asked her grandpa. Regardless of anything, he was still the one adult in this whole situation. He put his hand on his chin and began to think. However it was Sprig who came up with an idea first.

“Oh! How about we camp out here and wait until nightfall? Your species has awful night vision, so I’m willing to bet none of the others will be out at night. Then we can explore without any of them getting in our way!”

“That’s a good start, Sprig. But what happens when I can’t see?” Anne presented the flaw in his logic, but he seemed to have a solution at the ready!

“Well either you take a bottle of medicine just for this night or-”

“Yeah, not gonna happen. The only way I could defend you guys from my own kind is if I’m in my true form. What’s your other idea?”

“Okay, so remember how, back in the sewers of Toad Tower, I helped you navigate that darkness?”

“... I see where you’re going with this and… I guess that’ll work. But what kinds of clothes do we even look for? And where?!” Meanwhile Polly had been hopping around with her new legs and trying to cling to the occasional tree. She’d seemed like she wasn’t really listening, but proved that assumption wrong when she hopped over to her siblings and offered her own piece of mind.

“None of them were wearing cloaks or armor and all of them were wearing shoes. Plus they were all in pants with no skirts. So maybe leave your cloak and skirt with us once we find you some pants and shoes? As for where, all we’ve gotta do is look around and explore until we find something.” As much as Anne didn’t like the idea of confining her feet to shoes, it wasn’t like she had any cling pads in her true form that she was losing out on the use of. And of course the transition from skirt to pants wouldn’t be an issue at all. It was the ‘exploring’ part that worried her!

None of them had any idea where to go or what to look for! What if this world was nothing but forest with a simple pathway across it? What if they were on some sort of island that isolated them from anything they could use? What if… what if they could never get home again and they were stranded in this weird alien world forever?! And worst of all, what if she slipped into a more beast-like state along the way and somehow hurt her family?

Anne hadn't realized that she'd been hyperventilating until she felt Hop Pop's hand on her back. She looked over to her grandpa and saw his look of concern. No words were exchanged until after Anne pulled him into a comforting hug. Sprig and Polly joined in as well, knowing full well how much their big sister needed it. When they were finished, Hop Pop pulled away and handed something soft to Anne.

“It’s the blanket we first found ya in. I figured that if we were gonna figure out yer origins, then ya might want it fer sentimental reasons or somethin’. But… somethin’ tells me ya might need it right now.” Her fingers traced over the embroidery of her name as she began to think about where the blanket might’ve come from. Yes, it had something to do with her origin, but did Andrias grab it at the same time that he grabbed her? Or did the person who took her away from him make it for her? She didn't know if she'd ever be able to solve this mystery, but she decided to put those thoughts to the back of her mind when she buried her face in it for a moment.

Sure, her sense of smell was worse in her true form, but she’d slept with that blanket over her frog form often enough that it smelled like her room back home. She actually shed a tear because of how far away she was from there at this point, but in looking around at her little froggy family, she knew that no matter what, she had to try her best for them! She wiped away her tears and tried her best to continue the conversation from before.

“Thanks, Hop Pop. Alright, I guess that plan Sprig and Polly came up with is what we're gonna do, then. Soooo… now we just wait for nightfall, right?” The girl asked. Hop Pop confirmed the plan right away, even praising the kids for figuring out what to do without his help. All they had to do at that point was wait, so the family simply sat down on the ground and started talking about everything that just happened, making sure to share all of their concerns. As it turned out, they were all thinking relatively the same things, so there wasn't too much to discuss.

Eventually Sprig broke away from the conversation and climbed as far up as the branches allowed it on one of the trees. He noticed through the leaves that the sun was relatively high in the sky, even though it had just set over in Amphibia.

“Sooo… this world experiences daytime when we’re experiencing nighttime? That’s not…” Anne yawned in the middle of her sentence “... very convenient.” She was getting tired, but she still tried her best to stay awake. Thankfully Hop Pop pointed out something that she hadn’t considered before.

“Actually, this means we can just sleep through the day and then we’ll have enough energy ta do what we need ta do tonight! So why don’t everyone just find a nice little place ta settle down fer a bit? I'll stay up and keep watch!” As much as Anne didn’t want to suddenly try sleeping in a world that she was unfamiliar with, she was almost getting too tired to care. She remembered going feral and how much energy that took out of her, then coupled that with the fact that she hadn’t really rested since then.

In the end, Anne wrapped her cloak around herself completely and laid down on her side in a spot that had a bunch of soft, fallen leaves around it. This position allowed her to pull her feet up so that they weren’t exposed and drape her hood over her head in order to block out the excess light. Polly and Sprig laid down next to her, not wanting to be far from their big sister after a day like what they’d had.

Then, as childish as it was to want a small blanket for comfort, she took the thing and pulled it up near her face, just under her chin so that she could feel its softness and let the smell it carried lull her into a dreamless sleep.

When she awoke, Hop Pop was sleeping next to her and her two little siblings were keeping watch instead! She looked up to see that the sky was a bright orange, indicating that the sun was close to setting. If daytime lasted the same length in this world as it did in Amphibia, then that meant that she slept for far longer than she usually did, regardless of form! Sprig was sitting there, watching his little sister while she was pacing around, clearly trying to use her new legs as much as possible. At least she was still staying close by and not causing a racket so that she didn’t wake the two older members of the family!

Anne was very grateful for her little sister’s consideration, knowing how excited she was at finally getting her legs. Heck, she still remembered getting her own set! She sat up, rustling a few of the leaves around her and attracting the attention of her siblings. They hopped over to her the second they realized that she was awake and put their hands on her.

“Hey, Anne. How’d you sleep?” Sprig whispered, making sure to not wake Hop Pop. She kept her own volume low in turn.

“Ugh, I feel sore from just laying on the ground like that, but I think I’m rested enough.”

“Well you’d better be ‘cause you were out for waaaaay longer than usual” Polly added. Anne could only wonder exactly how long, but eventually decided it wasn’t worth it.

“How long has Hop Pop been asleep?”

“Well, I think I woke up just a little past high noon, so he’s had a few hours.” Sprig answered her question as casually as possible, knowing that if he made a big deal out of anything at this point, then his big sister might start panicking again. Before Hop Pop went to sleep, he’d told Sprig that he didn’t know whether Anne freaking out so much was caused by tiredness or not. And with how long she’d slept, the boy wasn’t really about to figure it out either.

Regardless, the three kids decided to just wait around for either Hop Pop to wake up or night to fall, whichever came first. It was a small miracle that they happened around the same time! It didn’t take long for the family to get ready to go from there, only heading out once Anne couldn’t see properly anymore.

It was a good thing they remembered the way back to the pathway from earlier and after a quick look around, they confirmed that none of Anne’s species were around. It was enough to give the family the confidence they needed to actually walk along the path in front of them and try to find something along the way. While they were walking, Sprig was sitting on Anne’s shoulders in order to make sure she could navigate despite not being able to see. But this meant that the girl was in prime position to hear her little brother’s stomach growl.

“... I’m assuming you didn’t find any food while I was sleeping?”

“Uhh… there was the occasional fly that buzzed by, but they were pretty tiny, so it wasn’t much.” Sprig answered his sister’s question sheepishly. He didn’t want her really worrying about them like that, but she had to be feeling hungry as well, right? Thankfully Hop Pop had a suggestion.

“Well then I say we keep an eye out for anythin’ edible we ca-” He cut himself off when he noticed something in the distance. A light, almost like a lantern being suspended. Wartwood had seen its fair share of suspended lanterns on strings, so they didn’t duck back into the bushes right away. Instead they stood there for a bit in order to see whether it actually moved or not. When it didn’t, they slowly approached only to find that it was indeed an oddly shaped lantern of sorts that was on the end of a metal pole which curved near the top.

When they approached it, they all saw that there were more of them to the left and right, lighting up the whole area and making Sprig’s navigation assistance completely unnecessary. He hopped down onto the ground and looked around with his family. They were on some sort of new pathway and just a little ways ahead, there was a proper road of sorts only a half-step down. On the other side of that, there were some massive buildings that stretched up into the sky, higher than any non-royal buildings they'd ever seen before.

Right across from where the little family was standing, though, appeared to be an alleyway in between the buildings. Another place that likely had safe cover, but was potentially closer to finding something that they were looking for. The massive lanterns above them illuminated enough that Anne was able to look for any wagons or carriages coming along the road. Upon not seeing any, though, she grabbed Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly and ran with them to the other side!

She set her family down upon getting there and started to look around a little more. In the alleyway, there was relatively illegible writing on the walls, trash everywhere, and two dumpsters that looked a lot like the one behind Stumpy’s. Anne approached one and reached up, having to actually stretch in her true form for once. The smell was awful, unlike anything she'd smelled before, but the chance that something edible was inside was too high for her to completely ignore it. Hop Pop, though, figured out what she was thinking and had some reservations.

"Anne, are ya seriously thinkin' a diggin' through garbage ta get somethin' ta eat?!"

"Well it's either this or we take something that someone would actually miss and potentially get in trouble with someone. Trouble is the LAST thing we want right now. Here, I don't want this getting too dirty." She took off her cloak and roughly rolled it up before handing it to Hop Pop "You guys can also use it for cover. I mean, Polly even said that those others of my kind weren't wearing any cloaks, so giving it to you guys for now would probably make me a little less suspicious to them anyways!" The frogs looked between themselves for a few moments before the oldest responded.

“Well… if ya think this is best, then… I don’t think I can stop ya.” Anne flashed him a sympathetic half-smile before turning back to the horrid smelling dumpster and climbing in. There were many bags of trash and when she tore them open, she mostly found inedible stuff. But hidden here and there, she managed to find the occasional food scrap (that she made sure to taste test in order to figure out whether it was salt-free or not) to give to her family. She even kept her eyes open for any discarded clothing, although she wasn’t so lucky with that search.

Meanwhile the frogs within the family found that there were more trash bags they could sift through on the ground, just outside the dumpster. Hop Pop respected Anne’s wishes to keep her cloak at least somewhat clean, so he mostly tried to keep lookout. There was the occasional time where he had to look back at his grandkids for a bit in order to make sure they hadn’t hurt themselves and even help get one of them unstuck from something.

It was during one of those times, where he was helping out Polly, that a set of bright lights suddenly shone down the alleyway and a loud, booming voice echoed around them all.

“FREEZE!! Put your hands in the air!” Judging by the fact that the voice had come from the light’s source and the frogs were on the other side of the dumpster, Hop Pop simply grabbed Anne’s cloak and hid himself, Sprig, and Polly underneath it in the hope that they hadn’t been seen. The girl who was actually inside of the dumpster hadn’t been as lucky as the rest of her family.

It was extremely difficult to see who was there, given the lights, but Anne was able to make out the silhouettes of at least three of her kind, each with a light source of their own. The voice had been authoritative and almost threatening sounding, so she did exactly as they told her to and waited for further orders.

“Get out of that dumpster and keep your hands where I can see them!” He ordered, lowering his volume a little bit, but keeping the same overall tone. Anne carefully obeyed and when she stood in front of them, the lights shifted position. As it turned out, the other two were actually holding one stick each that the light was coming from while the one that had been commanding her was holding something else.

Anne couldn’t quite identify what he was holding, but it almost looked like a small weapon. One of his hands was wrapped around the lower part of it while the other supported it from the bottom. The top part of it had some sort of hole in the middle that Anne didn’t know what it was for, but if he was pointing it at her, then it had to be something significant, right? Even then, his own grip loosened on his weapon before he lowered it entirely and seemed to take a closer look at the girl. He eventually turned to one of his partners and asked her a question.

“Hey, we were originally called here ‘cause someone saw a runaway earlier, right? Based on the description they gave, I think we found her.” Anne began to wonder what that might mean. Did the others of her kind that she saw earlier call these guys here or was it a coincidence? The commanding one put his weapon away and slowly approached her, finally speaking to her like a civilized person would.

“Uhh… kid? It’s okay, sorry for scaring you. I’m gonna need you to come with us so that we can ask you a few questions, okay?” Anne almost glanced over to where her family was, but managed to refrain. She didn’t know how to handle this situation, but until she saw some amphibians in this new world, she wasn’t going to let any of the rest of her kind know about her family! What if they really were… natural amphibivores? She knew she’d never eat an amphibian, but she didn’t trust these others.

Anne put her hands together in front of her chest while the one who was speaking to her put a hand out in the middle of their approach. She instinctively took a couple of steps back, putting her in her family’s line of sight. From there, she couldn't help herself from looking over at them. Three pairs of froggy eyes stared back at her with the utmost concern. She looked back and forth between the other one of her kind and the frogs before she shook her head in the direction of her family.

Seeing as Anne was still a kid and her species seemed to be at least somewhat intelligent, the likelihood of them hurting her was minimal. At the same time, she had absolutely no trust in them to not hurt a frog. Sprig and Polly seemed to understand, as they proceeded to hide themselves a little better. Hop Pop, on the other hand, looked almost betrayed for a moment before seeming to consider something. He looked up at his eldest grandchild and then gave a solemn nod. It was permission for her to do whatever it was she needed to do.

She looked back at the approaching one and finally saw a bit more of their outfit. It was mostly black with what appeared to be some sort of thick, black armour on his chest. His belt had a bunch of things that Anne couldn't identify, but one thing about the outfit stood out like a sore thumb. Right there on his chest was a white patch with black letters that read 'police'. She remembered the cops back in Wartwood and how they were mostly incompetent, but sometimes did their jobs correctly. She didn't know how competent these ones were, but she did know that they at least wouldn't hurt her… probably. The cop in front spoke up.

"It's okay, kid. I'm just gonna ask that you come with us and we'll sort everything out, alright?" Anne wanted to try trusting them, but she knew that this would mean she'd get separated from her family. She dared not look back at them for fear of indicating that they were there again. Heck, that nod from earlier could have already messed that up! She didn't know what to do about all of this, so she actually froze. Next thing she knew, the cop had grabbed her wrist and something in her told her to struggle!

"Hey kid!" The cop's voice suddenly turned impatient "Stop it right now or else you'll regret it!" He yelled as he pulled out a stick with a couple of metal bits on the end. He pressed a button on it and a tiny lightning bolt passed in between the metal bits, almost like a zapapede's pinchers! Knowing how devastating one of those bugs could be, she immediately stopped struggling. The cop paused for a moment before putting the stick away and leaning his head into a little box on his left shoulder.

"I've got the kid. Taking her back to the station now." Anne didn't know what was going on, but if there was one thing she did know, it was that she'd just been captured and she didn't see any safe way to escape. They led her to some sort of big metal construct on wheels and had her take a seat in the back half. There was a big black thing in between her and the front half, separating them, but she could still tell when the cops climbed into said front half. Once the construct roared to life, a small part of her panicked because she realized that it was some sort of ‘robot’ carriage!

She forced it down, though. She didn't want them to hurt her for freaking out, like what had almost happened in the alleyway. Instead, she focused on looking outside and trying her best to memorize the pathway taken so that she could get back to her family once she escaped or was released. She'd try to go for the latter, figuring that they'd probably have some sort of way to track her down if she went for the former. As they went, Anne saw a myriad of buildings and so many more of her own kind that she was genuinely amazed that they hadn't encountered any after they left the foliage. After a while, she realized that there was no mistaking it. They were in a massive city!

The trip to the station was mercifully short. Enough so that the girl was sure she'd be able to find her way back on her own! But she didn't have time to think about that because once the construct she was inside of stopped and quieted down, the cops in the front came around to the back and urged her to come out. She listened and obeyed, figuring that it was best to not get on their bad sides. They led her into a brightly lit building while one of the cops she was with went up to a counter to talk to the person there. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it didn't last long.

Next thing she knew, they were dragging her off down a hallway and into another room that had nothing but a table with a chair at either end. They instructed her to sit in the chair farthest from the door and wait there, so that's exactly what she did. She wanted to ask them where she was, but figured that that would be common knowledge to these creatures. She couldn't be asking questions like that if she was going to keep her family's existence a secret! And when they inevitably asked her some questions in turn, she'd need to be VERY careful about her answers.

On the other side of the door, Officer Miller was being briefed on this new case. It was his first time interviewing someone and it just so happened to be a runaway kid. She didn't seem violent, but she did have quite a bit of muscle on her. A little on the thin side, but clearly not malnourished. She was horrendously filthy, though! Apparently she'd been caught dumpster diving, but was even dirtier than that would suggest. The worst part was the lack of shoes, though!

The fact that this kid was completely barefoot brought to mind the image of crazy, homeless drug addicts. In fact, she would have been mistaken for one if she weren't so young! Perhaps a drug test would be a good idea. But the highest priority would be finding out why she ran away and potentially getting her back home. Once the briefing finished, he steeled himself and opened the door.

In front of him was one of the sorriest sights he'd ever seen. It was a young girl, couldn't be older than fifteen, who was exactly what the report described. What it failed to mention, though, was the way she was hunched over. It was almost like she was expecting to be attacked! Given how most police officers treat people of colour though, he completely understood her fear. He put on a smile and walked over to the seat closest to the door so that she could start the interview process.

"Hey kid, the name's Officer Miller. What's yours?"

"... Anne."

"Anne? Okay, mind telling me what you were doing digging through the trash?"

"... looking for something to eat?"

"Aww, that's no place to be looking for something like that. Though I understand. People throw away a LOT of perfectly edible food. But you do know that that's still private property and therefore illegal, right?" The kid's eyes widened like that was actually news to her. She started to panic, which was the opposite of what he wanted.

"I-I'm sorry! I-"

"Woah, it's okay. Calm down, you're gonna be fine. We'll let you off with a warning this time, but I have some more questions first." She visibly calmed down at hearing that. Most people would, so then it was on to the harder questions.

"Okay so first, why were you outside with no shoes on?"

"I-is that illegal too?"

"No, but it is concerning. Where'd your shoes go?" He tried to make it sound casual in order to lure her into a sense of security.

"... I don't have any." This time, it was the officer's turn for his eyes to go wide! If she didn't have any, then that must mean that either she ditched them on her own, or her parents were so neglectful that they never got her any. The latter case was far more likely, given the simple fact that she was a runaway.

"No? Well that's not good. What if you step on something dangerous? Who let you walk around with no shoes?!"

"... No one in my family wears shoes." She eventually responded, shrinking in on herself. She was clearly fearing some sort of retaliation, so despite how confused he was, he knew he needed to change the subject before she shut down completely. He'd circle back around to it.

"W-well that's odd, but let's talk about something else. Where are you from?" Anne flinched at this, which wasn't a good sign. She stayed quiet for a while before finally giving an answer.

"I'm… not from around here. I… got lost."

"So you didn't run away?"

"No! Why would I run away?! I… I just got separated from my family by accident and then got lost." Ah, so they were all mistaken. She wasn't a runaway, she was a missing child! If anyone asked him, he'd say that was actually better. All they needed to do was reunite the girl with her family and then everything would be fine!

"Oh! Well that certainly makes my job easier! I'll help you get back home! All I need now is some information about your family and I'll be able to sift through our 'missing children' list to see if I can reunite you with them." She perked up a little at this, but then started to look nervous.

"That's great! But… umm… to tell the truth…" She stalled, clearly thinking about how to word whatever she was going to say next. Her initial reaction showed that she clearly wanted to be reunited with her family, but something was standing in her way. He'd have to be patient and let her talk, so he stayed quiet until she found her words again.

"... This might sound kinda crazy, but I'm adopted. I've never met my biological parents, but I know that I was kidnapped from them when I was a baby. Now bear in mind that my adopted family didn't do the kidnapping! They just found me after someone else saved be from the kidnapper and then that person abandoned me and left me for dead in the middle of a forest." There was silence for a while before Officer Miller put a hand up to his face.

That was quite a lot! Maybe he'd have get her that drug test after all. If she was telling the truth, though, then… Did she know who the kidnapper was? And…

"W-... why didn't the ones who found you call the police?"

"I don't know." She said with a subdued shrug while avoiding eye contact. If THAT was the lie, then…

"I'd very much like to speak to the ones that found you." There was a pretty good chance that they were the actual kidnappers and simply lied to her about her origin. She slumped a bit, like the thought saddened her.

"I would too, but it's kinda hard to talk to someone who's dead." She mumbled "That's why it took me so long to… ya’know."  She trailed off with a defeated sigh. The officer sighed as well, realizing that there was no real way to confirm or deny his suspicion unless Anne admitted something that she didn’t already tell him about before. The silence hung for a bit before she spoke up again with a somber tone.

“I grew up calling her ‘mom’. She was the kindest and most caring woman I could’ve ever had the privilege of calling that. I mean, I’m sure my biological parents are fine, but I have no real way of knowing that. All I really have is this little blanket that they found me wrapped in.” She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a small cyan blanket with her name embroidered on it. It was just as filthy as she was, but it was some form of evidence!

“Hmm… mind if I see that?” He held out his hand. She was hesitant, but eventually handed it to him so that he could take a look. When he held it, he found that it was covered in some sort of crusty film. A small part of him wanted to gag, wondering exactly what that film might be made of, but he kept himself together.

“Okay, we’re going to need to keep this as evidence. Don’t worry, we’ll give it back eventually! We just need to hold onto it for now.” The girl looked worried when she heard this. No doubt the baby blanket had been a comfort for her, but he couldn’t just let this piece of evidence slip out of their hands. No matter how disgusting it was! He stood up with the blanket in his hand while excusing himself.

“I’m going to need to put this somewhere safe for now. I’ll be right back, okay? Don’t go anywhere.” He then turned and walked out of the room, leaving the girl alone. After putting the evidence away properly, he walked over to his superior’s office. It was a good thing she didn’t have anyone else seeing her at that moment because he needed to know what to do about Anne.

“Hey Officer Alpin, so I’ve got this weird case that just came in.” She put down the papers she was working on and gave him a tired look. She wasn’t frustrated or anything with him, she was just experienced enough to believe that nothing could be weird to her anymore.

“That runaway girl you were sent to interview? What about her?”

“Well that’s just the thing! She’s not a runaway…” He then proceeded to explain everything to his superior, who held a perfect poker face the entire time. At the end of it all, she finally made a suggestion.

“Well if there’s no one to claim her, then we’ll just hand her over to CPS and let them find her a foster home.” Hearing this, Officer Miller realized that he should have expected a response like that. He was still relatively new to the force, but he understood how disillusioned some (most) of his coworkers were! It was honestly a little bit depressing, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him!

“Well CPS is going to want that drug test, right? So why don’t we run a DNA test at the same time? I mean, that only takes about two days to come in, so why not?” He got a sigh for that.

“Why bother? It’s not like we’re actually gonna find anything from that!” Officer Miller wasn’t done yet, though. He wasn’t about to let his first real case just be dropped like this! He played his final card.

“... Did I forget to mention that Anne just so happens to look a lot like her?”

“Her?”

“Oh, ya’know. Her ! Daughter went missing as a baby about thirteen years ago, constantly advocates for missing children and she’ll never let us forget that we never found hers?” Officer Alpin’s eyes started to go wide when she realized who he was talking about. The fact that he was able to single out a specific lead would have to make it worth pursuing, especially if Anne was really her kid!

It didn’t take long for them to bring up her file and an old photo of the baby that went missing. The resemblance was uncanny and that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that the baby’s name was actually ‘Anne’!

“Do… do you think it’s actually her?” Officer Alpin asked in disbelief.

“Honestly, it could be!”

“Does this mean we’ll finally be rid of her?” She looked at him with a level of hope that he’d never seen before from his superior. From that alone he knew that he’d pretty much already gotten permission to pursue her case. He just needed to actually say something about it.

“Well, her DNA is in our database, right? Like I said earlier, why don’t we run a DNA test? If we’re wrong, then she might turn it into another chance to soapbox about us needing to be more thorough and do a better job actually finding missing kids! Might even stalk the case personally so we'll have to find this girl's family.”

“Right. Good idea, I’ll handle getting that set up right away. In the meantime, find a private holding cell for her and get her some food. If this really is Anne Boonchuy, then we’ll finally be free!” Officer Alpin almost started getting giddy at the thought while Officer Miller smiled, knowing how good of a job he’s done so far. He got up to do exactly as his superior instructed and he went back to the room that Anne was in.

When he entered, he found her standing and looking up at the ceiling. She turned her head towards him and flinched.

"Sorry! I-" He put a hand up

"You were just stretching your legs, no biggie! So thanks to that little baby blanket, I think I might have a lead on who your biological parents are." He lied, knowing that if he didn't, then she'd probably be uncooperative until she got the blanket back. Her jaw dropped for a moment before she shook her head rapidly.

"Wh-what?"

"Yeah, we've just gotta run a DNA test. They're still setting things up, but I was only able to get them to do that under the condition that we also run a drug test. So you'll do both at the same time." She looked confused and asked him what those tests even were. Was she really this out of touch? He had to explain what those were while he took her to a holding cell that he knew was empty. She freaked out a little at being put inside, but he reassured her that everything would be fine and he'd come to get her when it was time to do those tests.

He felt a little bad about locking up a child, but he knew that it was a necessary step. Thankfully it didn't take long for the forensics specialist to be ready for her. She cooperated with both the urine sample for the drug test and the cheek swab for the DNA test. It was almost like she'd actually been tested before, despite not knowing what the tests were really for, which raised several more questions. Any attempt to ask her about that though, was met with silence. Knowing that once a kid completely shut down, they wouldn't talk again, he was forced to drop it.

One thing that surprised him was that she was still awake somehow despite it being nearly four in the morning! When he asked her about that, she admitted that she slept through the day, so she was wide awake. Were the people who raised her graveyard shift workers like Officer Miller? At one point during their conversation, he did find out that she'd been homeschooled, so it was entirely possible. At one point during the night, she sheepishly asked if he had any food. From there, he brought out his phone and tried to see if he could order some take-out for her in order to make her feel more comfortable. The only places that were open at that hour were convenience stores, but it was better than nothing!

She looked at the device in his hands like she’d never seen a phone before and upon asking, he found that she apparently hadn’t! This led into a conversation where she was clearly dancing around something, but the general gist that he got was that she’d never seen an electronic device in her life. When he asked her more, she got quiet for a bit. She seemed to be avoiding talking about something important, but maybe he’d be able to get it out of her if he was actually nice to her!

In the end, he ordered her a hot dog and some potato wedges. She may have been in a holding cell, but she certainly wasn't a prisoner and therefore shouldn't be treated like one! Shortly after he got the food to her and she started eating, he was called away to deal with something else. By the time he came back, she'd finished eating and was laying down on the bench that was in the cell. He collected the wrappings and excused himself to go do some paperwork.

It took him the rest of his shift and when the morning crew came in, they promised to keep an eye on Anne. He couldn't stop worrying about the poor girl, but he needed some sleep and his shift was done for the night. He went home and when he came back in the evening, he had several members of the afternoon shift immediately directing him to the girl. Apparently, she refused to talk to any of them, meaning he was the only one who could get through to her! Joy…

"Hey Anne. How are you holding up?" He asked as he walked up to her holding cell. He noticed that someone thought to give her a pillow and blanket, but some pretty low quality ones. Maybe she'd asked for her old baby blanket back because of the sentimental value and someone misinterpreted her request? Either way, she looked straight at him with betrayal before turning away and mumbling something to herself. He tried asking her to repeat what she said and she snapped back at him.

"You said you had a lead on my biological parents! And you said you'd give back that blanket, but you did neither before you just went home for the day! I'm not blaming you for going home 'cause I know that this is just your job, but you couldn't even let me know the results of those tests?! Bugger off, I just want to go home, myself!" She almost looked like she was starting to cry, so Officer Miller knew he had to diffuse the situation.

"Oh, I thought that the specialist who did those tests would have told you that the DNA test takes at least two days for the results to come in. We should be getting our answer tomorrow. But I can check and see if the drug test results came in. I only just got here and wanted to make sure you were okay before officially starting my shift. As for the blanket, I can't give it back until the DNA test comes back, so tomorrow!" She looked at him, clearly angry about the whole thing, but all he really got was a huff and a mumble.

When he asked her to repeat herself again, she remained silent. She was clearly worried about something, but she wouldn’t say what. He almost wanted to give her something to keep her entertained, but given how she looked at any electronic device like the concept was foreign to her… yeah, no. There wasn’t much he could do about that. In the end, he just excused himself and left her there in order to really start his shift. He wasn’t able to see her again for the whole night because his attention was needed elsewhere, but he went back to the kid on his way out.

“Hey Anne, sorry I couldn’t drop by while I was working. A bunch of stuff happened that… I’m not allowed to talk about ‘cause doing so would violate the privacy of the people involved.” He saw that she was laying on the bench in her cell with the blanket overtop of her, but she was clearly awake because her eyes were wide open. She mumbled just loud enough that the officer was actually able to hear it this time.

“I get it. ‘S okay.” There was a bit of awkward silence before he decided to tell her the results of one of their tests.

"So the results of the drug test came back and they were negative for everything!" He told her. In response, she gave him a look and spoke to him in a deadpan tone.

"I coulda told ya that."

"Yeah, but so many people lie about that kind of stuff that we have to do those tests anyways. But with that, you just proved that you're trustworthy!" Upon hearing that, she turned away from him and mumbled something else. She refused to speak up so that he could know what she said, though. All she did was give him an exhausted look and let silence hang in the air.

It stayed like that for a while longer before Officer Miller excused himself to go finish up his paperwork for the night. Once again, he did so, went home, and then came back the following evening. He checked on Anne as soon as he walked in, but she was completely unreceptive to his friendliness. She just glared at him with a look that reminded him so much of her, that it was almost uncanny! There was a fire in there that burned just as fiercely and it actually gave him pause for a minute.

Still, he had a lot to do that night, but at about three in the morning the forensics specialist burst into his office. They slapped a folder down on his desk and just walked away without saying anything! The officer grabbed said folder and started reading through it to find that it was the results of Anne's DNA test! As he read through it, his suspicions were confirmed. Anne's DNA matched to Oum Boonchuy! They finally found her missing kid!

Officer Miller immediately took the results to Officer Alpin and presented them. They both agreed to call her first thing in the morning, at six. Only three hours away! All that came after that was telling Anne. Officer Miller took the time to walk up to the girl's cell and he found her lying awake on the bench.

"Hey Anne, guess what!"

"Hmm?" She was apathetic, only sparing him the slightest bit of attention.

"I just got the results for the DNA test and my suspicions were correct! We've found your biological parents!" She whipped around to stare at him with some of the widest eyes he'd ever seen. So much for the apathy! Knowing that he had her full, undivided attention, he continued to explain how they were going to call them over to the station first thing in the morning. She stopped and seemed to lose herself in thought, so he once again excused himself for the sake of paperwork.

Only three hours later, a very tired Oum and Bee Boonchuy were awoken by a phone call. Who the heck would call at six in the morning?! They’d both pulled late shifts at the restaurant and weren’t too happy about being woken up with only four hours of sleep! Still, once Oum saw the number on the call display, she knew it was the police station. Had they finally found the most recent missing child? It’d be a first, but there was always a first for everything.

“Hello?”

“Hello, am I speaking with Oum Boonchuy?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Great! I’m Officer Miller and I’m calling to ask you about a missing children’s case. Could you please come down to the station?”

“Wow, you guys are so incompetant at finding kids that you’re now trying to rely on me?”

“Hmm… not exactly. Actually we found a kid who’s been missing for a while and we’re fairly certain that you’ve got the right connections to get her home.”

“Oh? What’s her name?”

“Well we had to do a DNA test in order to make sure, but now we have perfectly concrete evidence that the young teenage girl we’ve found is none other than ‘Anne Boonchuy’.” Oum could almost hear the smile that the officer was wearing. Was he pranking her?! There was no way that after all these years they’d finally found her. And yet, she wasn’t too familiar with Officer Miller, which meant he was one of the newer ones. New cops usually wanted actually to help before they got disillusioned by the system, so what if he was telling the truth?

“I-is this a joke?”

“No Ma’am, we’ve already run the tests and this is definitely your daughter who went missing thirteen years ago. The results came in about three hours ago, but I spent that time finalizing some paperwork. At this point, all you have to do is come to the station, sign a couple of papers to confirm that the case is closed, and then you can take her home! Sorry it took so long to find her, but at least we finally did it!” Oum was silent for a few moments before she stammered out a response.

“I-I’m on my way.” She barely heard him say ‘goodbye’ as she burst out of bed. The moment that she told her husband, he was up and ready to go too! They actually found her?! She’d get to see her baby after all this time?! What did she look like nowadays? Had she been well fed? What kinds of people raised her? Why didn’t they bring her to the police earlier? What kind of person had she become?!

All of these questions and more swam around the woman’s mind as she got ready for the day. It was a good thing she and her husband were able to take the day off and leave the restaurant to the rest of their employees for once! They were a little bit disheveled when they left, but that hardly mattered when they considered what was actually going on. Once Oum got behind the wheel, it only took her about twenty minutes to reach the station!

With a rather shaken up husband from how many traffic laws she just broke, the two of them headed inside. A bunch of the cops who saw her gave their typical eye rolls, but there was one who was speaking to the receptionist that smiled when he saw them. Sure enough, it was Officer Miller, ready to take them to their daughter. Apparently they’d had her in a private holding cell, but had moved her to the interview room for the reunion. Along the way to the room, though, the officer had a few concerns.

“Alright Mrs. Boonchuy, I know this is a VERY big moment for you, but I’ve gotta warn you. First of all, she doesn’t seem to know much of what anything is. It’s almost like she was raised out in the wilderness! Particularly, she doesn’t know what soap is, so she’s pretty filthy and doesn’t smell all that great. But on top of that, she’s pretty secretive.

“The only things she actually admitted were that she was kidnapped by person A, kidnapped away from them by person B, and then found abandoned in a random forest by person C. It was person C and her husband who raised your daughter, but both of them are unfortunately deceased now, so we can’t exactly talk to them about it. She wouldn’t tell me why person C didn’t call us or anything, but I was hoping that maybe she might eventually tell you about that.

“The main reason why I have these concerns is because she had this on her.” He pulled out a disgusting looking blue baby blanket with Anne’s name embroidered on it in a large plastic bag “There’s some sort of residue on it that clearly used to be a liquid, but has turned all solid and… crusty. Now, I have several … pretty nasty concerns about what this substance might be, but I’ll only be able to convince my superiors to have the forensics specialist look into it under one condition. If Anne ever admits anything that points to a human trafficking ring of some sort, then I’ll be able to get them to look into it.

“Believe me, I want to look into it immediately, but that’s the ultimatum that all of my superiors gave me! I mean, I’d take her posture as evidence if I could, but they said that that’s ‘not enough’.”

“Her ‘posture’?” Mrs. Boonchuy had been listening to his whole spiel and she was fully willing to cooperate with his search for clues, but that one line had confused her a little.

“Oh yeah, she’s always got her shoulders down, back arched, and knees bent a little. Almost like she’s expecting to be attacked at any second. I saw her straighten her back when she laid down, so it’s not any sort of physical disability as far as I can tell. Therefore, it’s clear that she’s been abused in some sort of way and I really want to bring that abuser to justice! But we’re gonna need her to tell us who did it and she’s not willing to trust any of us here at the station.”

“And that’s where we come in, right?” Mrs. Boonchuy started to suspect this even before he was finished talking. It made sense, though. She’d want to bring everyone involved to justice if she could! Heck, she’d like to take a sledgehammer to the skull of ‘person A’ for kidnapping her daughter in the first place! But Officer Miller could only do so much, she knew that. He’d already done more than what most officers would do, so she knew that he was one of those rare good ones.

“That’s right, Mrs. Boonchuy. To her, all of us (you and me included) are strangers. But because you’re also her parents, she has the highest chance of learning to trust you and therefore I’d like to keep regular contact just in case she reveals something important. Here’s my number!” He handed her a folded up sticky note “And with that, we’re here!” He stopped right in front of the door to one of the main interview rooms and put his hand on the doorknob.

Oum and Bee both took a couple of deep breaths before nodding to indicate that they were ready. When Officer Miller opened the door and the Thai couple walked inside, they were met with the exact kind of person that he’d described. A filthy, young teenage girl who appeared to be terrified of everything around her. But looking past that, both adults saw themselves and each other in the girl. Oum’s face shape and hair along with Bee’s eyes. She certainly resembled her mother more, but there were enough clear traces of her father in there too.

“A-Anne?” Bee quietly asked, holding out a hand in her direction. He’d been in genuine disbelief ever since his wife told him that they’d finally found her. The girl in front of him stuck out her hand like he had and eventually took it. He could feel that she had a frim, strong grip that indicated good physical health. Still, she acted like she expected an attack. Oum held her hand out to the girl as well, who took it in her other hand and for the first time ever, they heard their daughter speak.

“Y-you’re… m-my… my birth p-parents?” Tears welled up in the adult’s eyes before Oum couldn’t help it anymore! She shot forewards and pulled the girl into a hug. It didn’t matter that she smelled like a rancid swamp because it was HER! It was their daughter! Their baby girl! Bee wrapped his arms around the both of them and started crying out of the sheer joy of finally having her back!

When Anne had gone missing from her crib in the middle of the night, she was only six months old! There were no signs of a break-in and they didn’t have any security cameras, so there was no real way of knowing exactly what had happened. The police couldn’t find anything at all and the case went cold almost immediately! The Boonchuys were simply left in the dark and made to ‘get over it’.

In her rage, Oum had made it her mission to make sure that no parent would ever have to go through what she did. She contacted news stations in order to call them out for being useless in the search for missing children. And from that point on, they couldn’t arrest her for verbally harassing the average officer and occasionally bringing the topic up in people’s various protests! There was even a part of the wall inside the restaurant that she dedicated to any ‘missing child’ fliers that she could find. She shot back with a fire and never let the police forget how they failed her.

Meanwhile Bee’s coping mechanism had been much more subtle. He knew that the two of them still needed something to spend some of their pent up parental energy on, but they just couldn’t risk the heartbreak of having another kid and then losing them! So the solution he came up with was to adopt a cat. It was no replacement for the kid they lost, but it was never really meant to be. The cat was just meant to bring them back to reality on occasion. Sure, he may have poured more into it than most people, but that was how he made it through the whole ordeal.

They felt Anne's grip on them tighten, which brought both of them back to the present. She was crying as well and burying her face into their shoulders! The reunited family stayed like that for a few minutes before they finally let go.

"Let's… go home." Bee finally said. All Anne could do was nod, clearly happy to be leaving the station after being kept there for a couple of days. Both Oum and Bee took one of each of the girl’s hands. While it looked kind of ridiculous for a teenager to be holding both of her parents’ hands like that, none of them wanted to let go. Both of the adults occasionally looked down towards their daughter, wondering if this was all some sort of dream. The occasional quick squeeze of her hand confirmed that it wasn’t because after the first few, she started to squeeze back.

They loaded Anne into the back of their van and fastened her in. She seemed to not know what a seat belt was for, but she wore it anyways once the two explained that it was illegal to ride without it. Once they started going, the girl seemed far more focused on whatever surroundings she could make out on the street rather than the two adults in the front. Heck, she was so focused that they weren’t even able to start a proper conversation with her because she just plain wasn’t paying attention to them.

At one point on Bee’s safer route, they passed by one of the few parks that actually still had a lot of trees left. It was honestly just a walking trail through a forested area, but it worked well enough for the people who liked nature! Anne perked up at seeing it and seemed to want to say something, but reconsidered. Oum asked her what was wrong, but she didn’t answer. All she did was look out at the trees like she was trying to spot something, but not seeing it. Maybe she wanted to visit the park? If so, then she could wait until they got her a little more cleaned up at home.

She kept watching her surroundings as they went. If she really was raised out in the wilderness, then of course the city would be a new and interesting place for her! And who knew how long she spent wandering around before the police found her? First things first, though. After only ten minutes of driving from the park, Bee pulled into the driveway and Oum went to unbuckle Anne from the back so she could lead her inside.

Once she got in there, she looked around with wide eyes. It was almost like she’d never seen the inside of a proper house before. Just what had this kid been through?! Once the cat approached, though, Anne startled a bit and backed away.

“Oh don’t worry, that’s just Domino. She’s super friendly! Stick your hand out to her and she’ll smell it. Then when she’s done, you can pet her. Don’t worry, she won’t bite!” Bee explained to her. Anne looked really nervous, almost like she was scared that the cat would try to eat her or something! Still, she looked back and forth between her father and the cat a couple of times and followed his instructions. Next thing he knew, Anne had picked up Domino and had her slung over the girl’s shoulder while the cat purred. Tears pricked at the edges of Anne’s eyes as she continued to look around and her parents began to wonder about what would cause her to react like that.

Either way, something in particular eventually caught Anne’s attention and when the parents followed her gaze, they saw that she was staring at their guiro rasp. Domino jumped off of her shoulder when she reached out to touch it, so she recoiled a little bit. Oum smiled at that and decided to explain. After all, even if they weren't exactly obscure either, few people outside of Thai culture (The likelihood of her being raised in Thailand was far too miniscule) knew about them.

"That's a guiro rasp. It's a musical instrument and popular children's toy from Thailand. Seeing as that's where your father and I were both born and raised, it's kind of important to us… but in reality, it's actually yours." Anne did a double take, so Oum continued "Your grandma, the one on your father's side, gave it to us when you were born. You were too young to use it, so we put it on this shelf as a decoration." She looked in between the toy and her Mother.

"M-may I?" She asked while pointing at it.

"Of course!" Oum gave permission for her to do whatever she saw fit with it. All she really did was pick it up and examine it with the gentlest grip imaginable. She smiled at seeing her daughter interact with it, but she wasn’t done explaining.

“The part that makes it a lot more toy-like is the fact that when you use this,” She picked the little wooden mallet it came with out from its mouth “to stroke its back, it sounds like a frog croaking.” She held out her hand to take it from her daughter so that she could show her. All she had to do was put it back on the shelf so that it was stable and showed and then give an example. Anne’s eyes went wide at the sound, almost like it was the most amazing thing in the world to her!

She immediately grabbed the little mallet and started stroking it over and over again, changing speed and pressure each time. Oum could only smile and start to cry a little again. She did her best to hold her tears back, though.

“You know, when you were a baby… every time you started crying, the sound of this thing would calm you down.” She reminisced and sighed “So… when you went missing, we’d occasionally stroke it in the hope that it would somehow reach you and that you’d be happy or at least calm wherever you were…” she didn’t even look at Anne while she said that, but she could feel her daughter’s eyes on her.

“I know it sounds kind of silly, but… it helped us to think that maybe you were okay?” Finally looking at the girl in question, she saw that her expression wasn’t one of judgment or pity. It was one of surprise! Anne looked back at the toy and asked them a rather simple question.

“So… what do you guys think about frogs? Just… in general.” Figuring that she was trying to make small talk based on the toy’s shape in order to lighten the mood, Bee smiled and gave a simple answer.

“They’re kinda cute to look at, but we rarely see them in the area, so I haven’t really interacted with any before. But that’s okay, I don’t think I want to touch something so slimy!” There was something else he wanted to mention, but considering it was something that wasn’t really as common in American culture, he hesitated. For all he knew, she might think it sounded gross. Considering what she said after taking his pause as the end of his statement, he was REALLY glad that he hadn’t said it!

“Ya’know, I’m glad you said positive things ‘cause in the area I was raised in, harming a frog was forbidden. If you did so, then you’d have an angry mob chasing after you in no time! Heh, it was actually considered a bit of a slow summer week if there were only three angry mobs for whatever reason.” And just like that, the two of them were genuinely scared for their daughter. She obviously wasn’t weak, so if she participated in any of those mobs, then she could have seriously hurt someone!

“I hope you weren’t actually a part of any of them.” Oum probed a little bit, which Anne responded to by looking at her for a second and then sheepishly looking away. Oh. Oh no. Oum made a questioning sound, which the girl answered in turn.

“I… uhh… the first time I joined an angry mob, I was… about four years old?” Oum and Bee both gaped while their daughter continued “I remember one time when I was about nine, I actually skewered a guy’s hand with a pitchfork!” She nervously giggled a little bit, clearly realizing that they didn’t think too highly of that sort of behaviour! Still, there was no erasing the past and if that was how she was raised, then they couldn’t condemn her too much for it.

The two parents glanced at each other for a moment and silently agreed to try to gently steer her out of that mentality. She then told them something that, oddly enough, made them feel a little better.

“The most recent mob I was a part of was actually about a little less than a month ago where we chased off this group of guys who tried to kidnap someone’s baby!” Hearing that, they nearly breathed a sigh of relief. At least she was raised in a community that seemingly stuck together and stood up for each other! In fact, Oum thought it was kind of amusing because of how much she wished that could have happened when Anne was kidnapped. Maybe the teenager specifically brought that one up because she knew they’d appreciate it? But something the two of them noticed was a little off was just how casually she’d said all of that!

Just what had this girl been through? Where was she kidnapped away to and what kinds of people were really there? Both of the Boonchuy parents racked their brains over possible answers while Anne continued to play with the little frog toy like nothing was wrong. There was a lot that they had to unpack with her, but now that she was finally home, they actually had the opportunity to do so! First things first, though! The father had a bit of a suggestion.

“Okay, so I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty hungry. I’ll start making breakfast while you go and wash up. In fact, why don’t you take a proper bath? Your mom will show you where the bathroom is.” The girl looked a little confused, but didn’t voice whatever question she had. Instead, she simply walked over to her mom and followed her. Maybe when she came back down, she wouldn’t smell so bad!

“Actually, why don’t you go ahead sweetie? If you go upstairs, it’s the first door on the left, right by the landing. If you look in the tall closet you’ll find towels there and you can pick out any you like.” The girl seemed a bit confused about the request, but followed it nonetheless, making her way up the stairs.

As soon as she was occupied by climbing the stairs, both adults gave each other a glance. Bee had a look on his face that struck a balance somewhere between discomfort and disbelief, while Oum bit her lower lip and sucked in a pained breath. She was the one who ended up voicing the thought going through both their heads, switching to Thai to make sure Anne wouldn’t hear.

"เราต้องไม่บอกให้เธอรู้ว่าเราเคยกินขากบมาก่อน"