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Frog Creek had never looked so beautiful…and drab.

Annie sighed. She was starting to understand her brother's disappointment. It wasn't fair. She looked over at Jack, expecting him to grumble about finally being home.

He smiled and handed her the book they'd just traveled through. "You can always check it out."

Annie bit her lip and grinned against the tears. "Yeah, and I've got the perfect bookmark!"

Slipping the paper crane between the pages, she got up and climbed down the tree house's rope ladder. "Come on, Jack! Or we'll be late for school."

Jack took a minute more to stare at the books. Like always, no time had passed during their adventures. He wouldn't be that late if he stayed just a little longer. It was, after all, only the start of another school year, another year closer to graduating and going to middle school soon. He knew this was the last of their magical travels, but only the first of many frontiers. Then he thought of the crane in Annie's book.

Maybe some friends along the way won't make it so hard.

"Jack! Slowpoke!"

"Coming!" he shouted back.

Oh well, better go. It's not going to happen anymore anyway.

His thoughts cleared, he climbed out. But when he reached the ground, Jack caught himself wondering where Kagome's well was and if it was anything like the magic tree house.

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A/N: I was surprised to find that many of the people reviewing this fanfic were not familiar with The Magic Tree House series. I hope the characters came across neatly and that the plot flowed at an even pace. Thank you all for reading this odd little chapter story curdled from a childhood memory.