Chapter 1
Anne and the Plantars were walking through the woods and enjoying the weather. After Hiber Day a couple days ago, it was a nice change of pace, especially for Anne.
"How's the arm?" Sprig asked, looking at the arm that got broken during Anne's scuffle with the weasel.
"Eh, still hurts." Anne said, "But I'll be fine."
Hop Pop then stopped them.
"Okay, Kids, make sure to be extra careful, the area we need to get to is just past this section." Hop Pop said.
"What makes us have to be so careful?" Anne asked.
"There are spiders in this area." He explained, "Ultimately, they only cause a few days of nausea and fever, but still, it's an unpleasant feeling."
"Nausea, huh? Spiders on my world usually do much worse. They're small but they are VERY poisonous." Anne said.
"I guess that's one thing your world beats ours in. Dangerous bugs." Polly comments.
"…Agree to disagree." Anne said as she recalls all of the giant and dangerous bugs she's come across.
"Alright, enough dilly dallying." Hop Pop said.
The family kept walking down the, slightly overgrown, path.
"So, where exactly are we going to?" Anne asked.
"You see Anne, once every hundred years, a special berry blooms, even more special and rare than the Blue Moon Berry." Hop Pop said, "So rare, that some frogs pay top coin just to see them."
"Must be pretty special." Anne said.
Unknown to her, as her hand touched some overgrown grass, a spider crawled onto her hand and up her arm. It went into her hair, unnoticed because of its size.
"We're getting close kids." Hop Pop said, "There it is!"
Anne looked at the berry... it was blueish purple... round... it was...
'Grapes... all this... for grapes.' Anne thought, 'Well... I guess that is kinda rare from what I've seen.'
Deciding to try one, Anne picked the grape off the vine and ate it.
'Wow... normal food.' Anne thought in delight, enjoying the familiar and normal taste.
"Yep... that's exactly what I thought." Anne said.
"Okay, Kids, load up." Hop Pop said, handing out baskets, "We have to get as many of these as possible."
"You really want these, huh?" Anne asked.
"These will make us lots of coppers, Anne." Hop Pop said, "Which means you can afford the big bag of beettle jerky."
"You heard the man!" Anne said, "Let's load these suckers up!"
'Oh god, I've gone native but I don't care! I love that jerky!' Anne thought as she began picking as many grapes as she could.
Sprig and Polly soon followed. The family kept picking for close to an hour until the baskets were full.
"Oh this is going to be a good week at the stand." Hop Pop said, "Now let's get these bad boys back to the farm and store them."
"Lead the way, Hop Pop." Sprig said before eating one of the grapes. "Hmmm! These are great! People will love them!"
"Don't eat that, boy! That's profits!" Hop Pop scolded him.
The walk back was silent for the most part. They focused more on not dropping the harvest.
"Hey, HP, how do you store these things anyway?" Anne asked, "I know we don't have a fridge."
"We have a cold room." Hop Pop said.
"A what?" Anne asked.
"A cold room. Where do you think we keep all the stuff that spoils fast?" Hop Pop asked, "I found it in the tunnels under the house."
"Oh cool." Anne said before hooking her arm in the bucket handle. "Hang on, I have an itch."
Anne scratched her head a bit, completely unaware of the spider in her hair.
(Line Break)
After they arrived back home and put the grapes away, Anne went to her room and went to bed. By the time it got dark out, the spider began to move. It went to her neck and bit down. Anne swatted it with her arm and groaned in her sleep. Anne slept, unaware of what was about to happen to her.