The Road to Newtopia (The Calamity Girls Book 2)

Wax Museum

Here it is, the chapter you've all been waiting for. Probably. -Mal.

We arrived in a new town. Hop Pop didn't like how me and Anne were drawing attention to ourselves, so he gave each of us a cloak. "This place is so cool!" Sprig exclaimed. "What should we do first?" Take off this ridiculously warm cloak. I thought. "Let's see." Hop Pop said as he opened his wallet, which was empty. "Nothing, all we can afford is window shopping, kids." "Man, it's hot." Anne said as she and I removed our hoods, shocking the local frogs. "Great, sometimes both of us forget about being a freak in this world." I added as a baby began to cry. "Whoa, don't cry, we're not monsters, we're just weird." I began to twitch my ears and nose, which amazed them. "Mommy, give the freak money." The baby said. "It was a lovely performance." The mother complimented as she gave us money and the other frogs begged for more. "Do it again, do it again!" The baby chanted. "Milk it!" Polly exclaimed as she gave us her bucket to put our money in. Anne did the one magic trick where it looks like you detach your thumb and they loved it and gave us a lot of money. "This is so much better than that creepy oddities museum." One frog said. "Oddities museum, what the heck is an oddity in Amphibia, am I right?" Anne joked as an awkward silence broke out. "Stick to physical comedy, got it?" I asked.

A few hours later, we made lots of money, but most of the shops were closed. "Wow, guys, you made a bucket of money, literally!" Sprig exclaimed. "Now how are we going to spend all this cash?" I asked. Anne looked around to see any place that was still open. "Ooh, that oddity place is still open, how about it?" Anne suggested. "Well, you and Rowena made the money." Hop Pop said. "But only if you keep your hoods up, I don't like you two drawing too much attention to yourselves." "Deal." Anne replied. "Deal." I groaned as we both put our hoods on and walked into the museum. The museum looked oddly familiar, like, oh my frog, it's The Mystery Shack!

In the museum, I pulled out my phone and decided to record a video for the twins. "Hey guys, it's Rowena, it's been a while since we talked, I've been in trapped in a world of frogs for a few months, but you guys've got to check this out, but first, this is Anne, Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly." I recorded. "Now, the moment you've been waiting for, The Curiosity Hut, the frog version of The Mystery Shack!" I recorded some footage of some wax figures. "Um, I think this place is closed, so let's leave and never come back." Polly said. "Are you kidding, c'mon!" Anne exclaimed as the Plantars slowly creeped inside. "Guys, it's all fake, they're trying to scare you, whoa, look at this hot mess." Anne pointed out a frog that looked like Stan Pines, the owner of The Mystery Shack back in Gravity Falls. Don't fall for it. I thought. "It's actually pretty lifelike." Anne said. "Yeah, it even smells real." Polly added. "Hands off the merchandise!" Frog Stan snapped, scaring everyone but me. "It's your uncle." I whispered as I turned off my recording. "Ha, ha, the old mistaken for a grotesque lifeless being, works every time!" Frog Stan exclaimed. "I wasn't even scared." I said. "Welcome to my museum of oddities, I go by many names, but you can call me, The Curator." Frog Stan explains. "Little on the nose, but okay." Polly comments. "And if you chuck some of that there cash into this here sack, I'll give you a tour of the greatest museum these parts have to offer." He explains. I put some of our cash in the sack. "What's the matter, you two, you're faces too ugly for the public?" "Wouldn't you like to know." Anne replied. "Ohhh, a mystery." Frog Stan said sarcastically. "I love it, but enough chitchat, walk with me, I've traveled all over Amphibia collecting it's most frightening creatures, like the two headed love dove, oh, and over here, the bugball playing preying mantis, Air Bug, there's nothing in the rule book that says a mantis can't play bugball, I've got the weirdest stuff right here, feel free to look around, but keep in mind, breathing in the dust will be extra." He tossed a smoke bomb and ran off. Polly looked at one of the wax figures and screamed. "It's eyes, they're watching me!" Polly shouts. "Well, I've had enough." Hop Pop said. "Me too." Sprig added. "Girls, this place is freaking us out, we're gonna wait outside." Hop Pop explains as he left with his grandkids. "Okay, cool." Anne said. "See you guys, later?" I added as a certain object caught my eye, a skip man, an old fashioned portable CD player, from back home! "Anne, come look at this!" Anne came over next to me to get a closer look. "Oh my gosh, is that an old skip man, my parents had one of these, how'd it get here?" Anne asked. "Hey, Curator, how much is the..." Frog Stan snuck up behind Anne and scared her. "Ah, the skip man, it can be yours, for a million coppers!" He exaggerated. Typical Stan. "Aw, c'mon, man, we can't afford that." I complained. "Okay, how about we trade for it then, got anything rare or vomit inducing I can display in exchange?" Frog Stan asked. "As a matter of fact, we both do." Anne replied, removing both of our hoods. "SWEET TADPOLE MARY!" He exclaimed. "That's right, we're the ultimate oddities, baby." I explained. "We'll make you a deal, both of us will be your special attraction for one day only." Anne explains. "Say no more, kids, one day of you two in exchange for the skip thing and everything I know about it, you got a deal!" Frog Stan exclaimed. "Seriously, this is huge, you won't be disappointed, dude." "I've already got some pretty elaborate plans for your exhibit, come back tonight after closing time and we can discuss." He explained. "Elaborate, huh?" I asked. "I like the sound of that, see you later."

Outside, we met with the Plantars again to tell them the good news. "Guys, you'll never guess what Rowena found in there, a skip man!" Anne shouted. The Plantars looked confused. "Trust us, it's big, and the Curator is gonna give it to us, all we have to do is be the museum's main attraction for the day, long story short, I actually was a museum attraction before, believe it or not." The Plantars gasped. "Girls, you cannot by any means do that!" Hop Pop snapped. "But this is the first time we've found something from our world, it could explain so much." Anne explains. "I understand that, Anne, but that Curator guy is, well, just look at him!" Hop Pop exclaimed as Frog Stan peeked through the window with a big grin on his face. "Tell ya what, let's sleep on it, come back in the morning, and see if we can get some answers." "Okay, we can wait." I said. The Plantars walked in the fwagon and left us alone. "Until you fall asleep." We whispered.

Later that night, Anne and I snuck out of the fwagon to get some answers. We walked into the shack and looked for Frog Stan. "Welcome, welcome, so glad my little stars are here, and every star needs a stage." He greeted us and revealed a stage. "Fancy, now, about that skip man?" Anne asked. "All in good time, kids, you'll get what's coming to ya." Frog Stan replied. "Liking the sound of that." I said. "Say, why don't you two stand up there, soak it all in." We both stood on a big red mark. "Since you two are my main attraction, I'm gonna let you in on this museum's biggest secret." Frog Stan explains. "You see, truth is, nothing's fake, everything here is real, real and frozen in wax, just like you!" He trapped us in a glass jar hooked up to a machine. "And there's the frog abuse." I grunted. "And it's crazy how easy that was, I honestly thought I was being way too obvious about it." Frog Stan said as Anne slapped her face. "I can't believe this, I'm so stupid!" We shouted in unison. "Hey, don't talk about yourselves like that." He reassured us. "I'm sure you're both pretty bright young ladies who are just having a bad day." "Thanks, that's actually a really nice thing to say." I thanked. "It's what I'm here for, so as you probably guessed, you're not just the main attraction tomorrow, you'll be here, FOREVER!" He laughed maniacally as wax started filling up the jar. Anne and I grabbed onto each other and screamed.

We were still being covered in wax and Frog Stan was talking. "How do you know this place again?" Anne asked. "Rosa and I went on vacation to Oregon about a year ago." I explained. "We met the original owner and his niece and nephew." I explained as Frog Stan was still yapping. "So boring!" Anne groaned. "And Newtopia's got a bunch of artifacts, that's where I got the skip man you wanted." Frog Stan explains. "Newtopia, of course!" I exclaimed. "You want some of this canned meat, it's edible?" He asked as the machine was turned off. "That's what I get for buying a cheap machine." But he fixed the problem shortly after, followed by Sprig about to save us. "Who are you, a cop?" Frog Stan asked. "I ain't going back to frog prison!" "Guys, get out of here, save yourselves!" We shouted before our whole bodies were covered in wax.

I woke up with the Plantars setting up a fire for us, and my arms were stuck around Anne and her arms stuck around me. "We'll never get that skip man now." Anne sighed. "You mean this skip man?" Sprig asked, pulling the skip man out. "Dude, you're amazing, oh, and the Curator said that he got this from Newtopia, which means we're on the right track!" I cheered. "You know what else is on the right track, you two keeping a low profile and not jumping into things without us!" Hop Pop snapped. "I'm tired of facing my fears, girls!" Polly added. "I know, we shouldn't have went off on our own, it was reckless, and besides, we work better as a team." Anne apologized. "Well, the important thing is that we're all okay, except for that Curator." Hop Pop sighed. "He's dead." "I wouldn't count on that." I said. "Onward family, to Newtopia!" Sprig exclaimed.

Later that night, the wax finally melted and I sat down on my bed, then I looked at the skip man and woke up Anne. "What's up?" Anne yawned. "Earlier today, I was looking through my bag, and I found this." I replied as I pulled out a CD labeled, 'The Anne and Rowena Mix' and gave it to her. "You found it?" Anne asked. "Does it still work?" "Try it out." I replied as she put on the headphones and inserted the CD into the skip man, falling asleep on my shoulder.