Born to Be Free (rewrite)

Chapter 15

The two trolls walked up to the massive door of the aquarium, looking up at it. "How are we gonna get in?" Poppy asked. Branch looked around, suddenly spotting an air vent. "There," he said, pointing.

     They walked over to the air vent, Branch trying to pull it off, but it wouldn't budge. He stopped pulling, thinking, and then got an idea. He reached into his hair, pulling out a screw driver.

     "Do you carry that around with you everywhere?" Poppy asked.
"Dugh. You know me. Crazy prepared."

     He used the screw driver to untwist the screws holding the vent shut, and then pulled off the hatch. Then he climbed in, helping Poppy in afterwards.

     Slowly, they made their way through the vents.

     "What exactly are we looking for?" Poppy asked, quietly.
"The Lyker, who's in danger, so we can set it free," Branch whispered back. Poppy stopped, looking at Branch.

     "Wait... so you want to steal a Lyker?" Branch stopped too, turning to look at Poppy.
"No!" he said. "Set him free. Those Snatures are the ones who stole him."
"But, Branch... isn't this... I don't know.... illegal?"
"It's only illegal if we get caught," he replied, turning to continue walking. Poppy sighed, following him.

     As they walked, Branch suddenly stepped on a grate, causing it to fall open.

     "AHHHHH!" he screamed, falling out of the vents.
"Branch!" Poppy yelled, running over to the open grate, and looking through it. Branch was laying on his back, his eyes closed.

     "Branch!" Poppy yelled down to him.
"Ow," he responded, slowly sitting up, as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Are you ok, Branch?" Poppy whispered down to him.
"Yeah," he said, standing up. "I'm fine."

He turned, his eyes widening at what he saw. "Oh my..." he said in shock.
"Branch! Branch, what's wrong!?"
"You... ugh... might wanna see this..."

Poppy used her hair like a staircase to climb out of the vents, landing gently on the floor bellow. She looked at what Branch was staring at, her eyes opening wide as well.

The wall in front of them, was covered in pictures of Spirit.

"Is that..." Poppy said, quietly.
"Spirit..."

Slowly, Branch walked towards the wall, looking at all the pictures of Spirit. At the top of the wall was 'ESCAPED', writing in big red letters.

"This is where Spirit's been all these years..." Branch said softly. His heart broke, thinking about what she must of been through. Then he looked over at the other wall, seeing a map with x's all over it.

"They're looking for her," Branch said, looking at the map.

Suddenly, a light flicked on in the hallway, both of the trolls flinching.

"Someone's coming," Branch whispered. "Hide!"

They ran behind a trash can in the corner of the room, peeking out from behind it to see what was going on.

The door opened, and a group of Snatures walked in. They looked at the wall, one of them getting very angry.

"We need to find that Lyker!" he yelled. (It was the owner of the aquarium, not that Branch and Poppy knew that.) "Don't worry, boss. We've searched everywhere, but one place. The lagoon in troll village." Poppy and Branch gasped, hearing what they were saying. "That's gotta be where she is."
"When's the soonest we can get there?" the owner asked.
"The boat comes back in five days. We can sail it to the lagoon then."
"Good. Get everything ready. We leave as soon as the boat gets here."