Anne was back in school after a few days. Anne had kinda hoped a little more time would pass before she had to go back to school, but her mom insisted that she go. Anne wasn't sure how people would react to seeing her back...especially without Sasha or Marcy...
She arrived at her first class and took her usual seat near the back of the room. She looked at the two empty seats by her. She then looked towards the teacher. She was far too anxious to focus on anything the teacher was saying though.
"Oh, and class, I would like to welcome back Anne Boonchuy."
The kids started murmuring to themselves. Anne looked over at Maggie, who looked pale, as if she saw a ghost. It makes sense...they all probably thought I was dead...
Throughout most of the day, Anne would overhear people talking about how Sasha and Marcy were still missing. All sorts of rumors were going around, and Anne wished she could set the record straight, but to do that she would have to show the whole school proof that Amphibia exists, and she didn't want to bring too much attention to the Plantars. She already had one agent at her door, and she didn't need more.
During lunch, Anne sat by herself, in the spot where she used to hang out with Sasha and Marcy. Things didn't feel right without them. She was expecting them to come through the cafeteria door at any moment and take a seat by her and start their usual conversations. All that ended up happening though was Anne realizing she just stared at a door for a whole minute. She looked away and went back to eating her lunch.
Then, Maggie came over and took a seat by Anne.
"Hey, Anne...do you mind?"
"Oh, I...I guess not..." Anne wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand, Maggie was her bully...but on the other hand, Anne did go missing, so maybe that made Maggie change her tune a little bit.
"Listen...I...I didn't think I'd get this chance, but...I wanted to say I'm sorry...for everything..."
"Oh, uh...it's okay..."
"Do you...by any chance...know what happened to Sasha and Marcy?"
"Oh, uh..."
"It's okay if you don't, but you did go missing at the same time they did, so..."
Anne leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "Listen...the circumstances are...difficult to believe..."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that...maybe it's best for you to come over to my house later. There's something I need to show you before I can say anything else..."
"Oh...okay..."
Maggie seemed weirded out by how vague Anne was being, but she agreed to meet up with Anne later and walk to her house. Maggie had to let her dad know that she'd be at Anne's house for a bit. She could tell over the phone he was already drunk, so she was starting to think that maybe staying over at Anne's tonight would be a good idea.
As Anne and Maggie arrived at Anne's house, Anne pulled Maggie aside.
"Now, I gotta warn you, you are gonna see some...strange things..."
"Right, got it...strange things..." Why are you being so vague, Boonchuy?
Anne opened the door. "Hey, Sprig! Polly! Hop Pop! Come down here and meet a friend of mine!"
"Are we...friends now?"
"I mean...I guess...I don't want them to know our...history, I guess you could say..."
"Understandable..."
Sprig came down the stairs. "Give Hop Pop a minute. He's trying to give Polly a bath."
Maggie looked frozen, staring at the young, brightly colored frog that just spoke right in front of her.
"Uh...Anne..."
"Yes, I know...they came back with me from another world called Amphibia...that's where I've been for the past few months..."
"Hold up...this is too much...I need to sit down..."
"The couch is comfy," Sprig said.
"Give her a minute, Sprig," Anne said.
After a few minutes, Anne sat by Maggie and told her more about how her, Sasha and Marcy got to Amphibia...about how the Plantars took her in...about the Calamity Box...and about how she ended up meeting back up with Sasha and Marcy.
"So...is Sasha and Marcy still in this other world?"
"That's...what I wanted to talk to you about...Sasha is still stuck over there..."
"And Marcy?"
Anne lowered her head. "Marcy...didn't make it..."
Maggie gasped. "No...what happened to her?"
"The king of Amphibia...Andrias...he betrayed us...we thought he was going to help us get back home...but it turns out he needed the Calamity Box to invade our world...Marcy got us to safety, but...Andrias..."
Anne was choking up, finding it hard to get the words out. Maggie hugged Anne.
"I'm so sorry, Anne..."
Anne wiped the tears from her eyes. "I know...I really miss her, Maggie...and I need to find a way to get Sasha back, but...I don't know how...without them, I just feel..."
"Lost?"
Anne sighed. "Yea...lost..."
Anne and Maggie broke their hug.
"So...is there gonna be an invasion?"
"Yes...at some point, King Andrias will try to invade our world. We need to be ready."
"Wow, this is all so hard to believe...I'm still trying to figure out if this is some sort of dream or not..."
"It's not...I thought I was dreaming too, but..."
Maggie suddenly had a thought come to her head. "Wait, what did you say that box was called?"
"The Calamity Box. Why?"
"Do you have a picture of it?"
"Oh, uh...sure..." Anne scrolled through her phone until she found the picture of the Calamity Box.
"That's my grandma's old box! She had it for years, and then one day it disappeared. Where'd you find it?"
"Oh, it was at a thrift shop...wait, your grandma had it?"
"Yea. It's so weird that something like that had powers this whole time and I never knew about it..."
"But...maybe your grandma knows..."
"Do you think...?"
"There's one way to find out...where does your grandma live?"