Marcy, clad in her pajamas, watered her plants which were sitting on the windowsill. "Watering the plants, watering the plants." A Venus flytrap snapped at her, making her jump. "Branson! No, bad boy," she scolded. The sound of the door knocking made her put down the can and run to open it. "Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. They're here!"

Olivia stepped in. "Good evening, Master Marcy. Anne Boonchuy, JoJo, and the Plantars have arrived for your..."

"SLEEPOVER!" Everyone except Johan cheered. Instead, he looked confused as to why he was being dragged in here. And, like everyone else, he was clad in pajamas.

"Sleepover, sleepover!" cheered Sprig and Anne as they jumped on the bed.

"SLEEEEEEEEEPOOOOOOOOOVEEEEEERRRRRRRR!" roared Polly as she tore a pillow in half.

"Ugh. Sleepover," Olivia finished her sentence, annoyed. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the kitchen drinking... juice."

"You don't have to be so formal," called out Johan as she left. "We all know it's wine!"

Anne and Marcy hugged each other. "This is gonna be..." said Anne.

"AWESOME!" Marcy sang.

"It's the perfect way to spend the night before we hear from the king," said Sprig.

"I wonder what he learned about the music box," said Anne.

"I don't wanna give anything away, but it's gonna be pretty cool," said Marcy.

"You know what's also cool? Marcy, there's something I gotta tell you," said Anne. "I've been holding back on it for a while, but I gotta tell you, I have-"

Johan coughed, loud enough to get everyone's attention. "Not to be rude, but why exactly am I here?"

"Duh," said Marcy. "This is also to celebrate you coming out of the hospital! Plus, it's the first time you've been invited to a sleepover!"

"First time?" asked Sprig.

"Oh, yeah," said Anne. "The last time he was at one of our sleepovers," she said, gesturing to herself and Marcy. "He knocked on the window and Sasha let him in."

"He wasn't exactly invited," said Marcy. "It was supposed to be an all girls' sleepover," she added to herself.

"It's also how I introduced them to Berserk," said Johan. "Sasha got hooked right away."

"Yeah, and gave the two of us nightmares," said Anne.

"I prefer my fantasy worlds to be in the PG variety," said Marcy. "So, Anne, what was it you wanted to show me?"

Anne was about to respond, but stopped short when she realized, "Oh, darn, I forgot what I was going to say!"

Johan breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't tell anyone, but he had a feeling that Andrias knew more than he was letting on, especially with what Diego told him while he was in the hospital. As much as he wanted Anne to tell Marcy about her and Sasha's powers, he didn't want Marcy telling Andrias about it.

Suddenly, Hop Pop came in and said, "Okay, kids, I'll be back in the morning for our meeting with the king. You enjoy yourselves. I'm off to spend a little much needed me time. And by me time, I mean a full body..."

Sprig and Polly kicked him out and slammed the door in his face.

"Okay, bye, H.P."

"Later, Hop Pop."

"Whoo-hoo! Me and Sprig's first sleepover," cheered Polly.

"Better make it a good one. These will be formative memories." Sprig said dramatically.

"Whoa, I just realized, we've never done a sleepover without Sasha," said Anne.

"Oh, you're right," said Marcy as she scratched the back of her head. "You think we can pull it off? Sasha's the sleepover queen, not us."

Anne made a dismissive wave. "Pfft. Who says there has to be just one queen?"

"Everyone. That's sort of how the whole system works, Anne. There can only be one king and one queen."

"Oh, what do you know, JoJo? Marcy, you and I have done tons of sleepovers. We know everything about them."

Marcy and Anne said in unison, "Pajamas, junk food and gossip galore. Pillow fights, movies and tearing up the dance floor. And listen up 'cause this I won't repeat, never ever go to sleep." They both finished with a laugh.

"Sensing some missing context here," said Sprig.

"Oh, sorry," said Marcy. "Sasha always said falling asleep early means total failure. A true sleepover goes till sunrise."

Johan said, "I thought the point of having a sleepover was to eventually...you know...SLEEP! It's in the name, for crying out loud!"

"The title is a lie!" shouted Marcy. "Sasha always did say that the name should be changed to wakeover."

"Still doing what Sasha tells you, huh?" Marcy made a hurt look when he said that.

Anne said, "It's not like that! It's just fun! No stealing, no ordering around, no feeling guilty over your actions..." She stopped when she noticed people looking at her. She cleared her throat and said, "Enough setup. Let's get our sleepover on, baby!"

"You mean wakeover," teased Johan.

"Exactly!"

"Whoo-hoo! Let's do it!" everyone cheered.

Their first game was mattress sledding down a flight of stairs. They ended up crashing into a suit of armor, much to Olivia's displeasure.

Next, they raided Andrias' closet, with Marcy, Sprig and Johan putting on his cape, crown, and boots respectively. Anne found one of his socks and hopped around in it like she was in a sack race.

"Excuse me, sire," Olivia said to what she thought was King Andrias, only to be shocked and outraged when she realized it was Polly in the king's armor.

"Yes, peon?" she asked in a deep voice.

Olivia was starting to lose her patience.

Later, Olivia was in her study, about to read, when suddenly, the kids sprayed her with silly string, laughing. "Oh, for frog's sake." To everyone's shock, she performed a series of mixed martial arts moves on them, knocking them flat on their backs. Johan growled with rage and swing his fist at her, but she caught it, wrapped her tail around his legs, yanked him off his feet and slammed him into the ground. "Are you going to try that again?" He shook his head. She took the silly string bugs and put them in a box.

"While I'm glad you kids are having fun..." Everyone groaned in pain as she talked. "...let me remind you that some castle rooms are off-limits, namely the basement, which is..." Anne took out a hidden silly string bug and sprayed her in the face. "AAH!"

"Montage is back on, baby!"

The kids got into a pillow fight, one which Sprig lost terribly. Johan ended up taking things too far and started pummeling everyone with his pillow. "MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA!"

"My face! My face! Also my leg. But mostly my face!"

Then they raided the kitchen and made off with a giant cake. Polly lagged behind and ate a baker's dozen worth of cupcakes.

"Uh, are you sure no one's gonna be upset that you just vandalized priceless works of art?" Johan asked he watched his friends doodle mustaches on paintings.

"Not really," said Marcy. "These replicas can be easily replaced."

Finally, all six kids were back in Marcy's room, relaxing on sleeping bags. "That was awesome," said Polly.

"Best sleepover ever," agreed Sprig.

"See, told ya we could pull off an awesome sleepover without Sasha," said Anne. "What time is it anyway? 5:00 a.m.? 6:00 a.m.?"

Marcy checked her phone's watch and her eyes widened in shock. "Only 9:00 p.m.?!"

"WHAT?!"

"Well, yeah," said Johan. "It's only been fifteen minutes."

Sprig said drowsily, "That early?"

"But I'm so tired," whined Polly.

Anne quickly shook them awake. "No, stay awake!"

"Anne, I think it's time," said Marcy.

"Really? Are you sure they're ready?" Anne asked as she dropped the Plantar kids.

"Is anyone ever really ready, Anne?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth, JoJo," said Sprig.

"The Scare-Dare challenge! Ooh," both human girls said dramatically.

"The rules. One of us comes up with a scary dare, and we all have to do it," said Marcy.

"But whoever bails first gets their name added to..." Anne paused dramatically as Marcy held up a small journal.

"The Book of Losers!"

Sprig and Polly gasped when Marcy said that. Johan raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and once your name is in the Book of Losers, it'll be there forever," said Anne.

"FOREVER!"

"Well, I'm sold," said Polly cheerfully.

"Let's do this," shouted Sprig.

"Okay, all we need is a scary dare," said Marcy.

Everyone hummed in thought...then Sprig said, "Yeah, I got nada."

"Huh. I don't remember it being this difficult," said Anne.

"That's because Sasha always came up with the best scare dares," said Marcy.

"Ooh! I know a dare we can do," said Johan. "You all have to endure the full brunt of DARE's Superhuman Laser for a whole minute."

"Whoa, whoa there, JoJo," said Anne. "We're trying to scare each other, not drive each other permanently insane."

Johan coughed, but Anne was definitely sure she heard the word "Killjoy". "All right, what have we got to work with here?" She looked around the room, until her eyes fell upon a map of the castle hanging on the wall. "Oh, what about the basement?" She pointed to the map and let out a hiss of pain. "Ow, paper cut."

Johan gave the map a strange look. "Why are the lower levels of the castle missing?"

"That map is old. It got damaged over the years. But that's not the point! Anne, that place is probably off-limits for a reason," said Marcy. "This may not be a smart idea."

A grin formed on Anne's face. "Come on, Marce. It's what Sasha would do."

"Well, that is true. I hereby accept this Scare-Dare challenge."

"We also accept this Scare-Dare challenge!" Sprig and Polly shouted in unison.

Then all eyes fell upon Johan. "What? I'm accepting it, only so I can look out for you guys."

"It is done. This Scare-Dare challenge is now..."

"...official."

Johan inched away a little. "How are you guys doing those deep voices?"

The group snuck past a sleeping Lady Olivia...but not before Polly took the time to doodle on her face. Then they made their way down to the wine cellar where Anne opened a hatch, releasing some dust in the process and revealing a staircase that led down into the darkness. "So, who wants to go first?" Marcy asked.

"I vote JoJo," said Polly, pointing to Johan.

"WHAT?! Why me? It was Anne's idea to do this!"

"Hey, you're the one who said you'd look out for us, right?"

Johan groaned. "You're right. Alright, everyone hold hands." They did so and descended the staircase, using their cell phones' flashlights to show the way. It didn't take long for trouble to start as Marcy suddenly tripped and they all came tumbling down the stairs. They all fell in a heap, groaning in pain.

"Hold hands, you said."

"Shut up, Polly," said Johan as he helped everyone up. Then he saw where they were: a long hallway with mirrors lining the walls. "What is this?"

"Whoa, that's a lot of mirrors," said Sprig.

Anne asked nervously, "So, anyone wanna turn back and go into the Book of Losers?"

There was a brief pause before everyone said, "You kidding me? Not me. As if."

"You know, some cultures believe mirrors can ward off malevolent spirits, or summon them," said Marcy with a scary laugh, making Sprig and Polly shiver.

They reached the end of the hall and faced a boarded up door with red writing on one of the panels. "Uh, Marcy, what does this say?" asked Anne.

"My command of Newtopian linguistics is limited, but what it says should be fairly obvious."

"Keep out," everyone said.

The door creaked, making everyone jump. "Okay, somebody's gotta wanna go back by now," said Anne.

"I ain't going in no Book of Losers," said Sprig with a shiver.

"Me n-neither," shuddered Polly.

"Guess we'll go a bit further then," said Marcy, starting to become afraid.

"Uh-huh. Living my best life right now," said Anne, her voice cracking a little. "JoJo, would you do the honors?"

"Mmm," whined Johan fearfully. He grabbed onto the boards and yanked them all off. He then opened the door and what they saw inside was something out of a horror movie. A room that was full of coffins that were wrapped in chains and floating in ankle high water. The only source of light in the room were glowing red corals.

"It's some kind of creepy crypt," said Anne.

Polly immediately lost her fear. "Whoa-ho. You mean like with dead bodies? Cool." She hopped in with Sprig following her.

"Anne, JoJo, we shouldn't be here," said Marcy, not even pretending to be brave anymore. "This feels all sorts of wrong."

"Guys, I, uh, think Marcy's right," said Anne. "We should head back upstairs."

"I don't want to be in this room if something horrible comes out of those coffins," said Johan.

Sprig made a sly grin and said, "Oh, I see. So I guess you two are okay with going in..."

"...the Book of Losers," he and Polly said in unison.

Johan said, "Are you kidding me?! There's things a lot more important than not ending up in some stupid book!"

Anne and Marcy turned to look at him and the former said, "Not if your reputation is on the line! If you don't go through with this, we will mark you as a coward for the rest of your life!"

"I don't care! There's a limit to how much I can take!"

Then Marcy said, "Well you said you'd look out for us! And we're not going anywhere!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I have a Stand that says..." He stopped talking and his face went paler than normal as his eyes widened with horror.

"JoJo?" asked Sprig. "What are you looking at?" He turned to see what he was looking at, but Johan stopped him and said, "You know what? You're right, girls. I'd rather face my fears than end up on the Wall of Shame."

"That's Book of Losers," said Anne. "And what's with the sudden change in attitude?"

"Yeah, you look like you've seen a ghost," said Polly. "Ooh! Is there one here now?"

"No, no! Uh, let's all just go over there and take a selfie with that coffin in the far corner."

He pointed to a coffin covered in crawling insects. Marcy and Anne shuddered. "Would Sasha do this?" asked the former.

"Oh, yeah," said the latter.

"I have to admit..." said Sprig as the two girls walked over to it.

"It is pretty creepy," Polly finished him.

The girls approached the coffin and Anne took out her phone. "All right, say desecration," said Anne.

"Desecration," both girls chanted as Anne snapped the photo.

"Ha! Nailed it," said Anne, taking a look at it. "Oh, wait. This photo's kinda jank."

"Who cares," said Johan as he quickly stuffed something into his shirt and ran over to join them. "Let's just get out of..." He stopped when some purple, glowing thing that resembled a small octopus flew its way out of Anne's phone. The two girls screamed and shooed it away. Then the floor glowed purple and more of those creatures appeared. They looked like ghostly versions of Earth's deep sea creatures.

"What the heck are these things?" exclaimed Anne.

"Hey, they're actually kinda cute," said Sprig, about to poke one of them.

"RAMETTO, DON'T TOUCH IT!" shouted Johan. "LOOK!" He pointed to one of the ghost fish. It had the old skeleton of a frog in its body which then began to dissolve into nothingness.

Everyone screamed. "They're gonna eat our bones," screamed Polly.

Johan immediately summoned DARE, who proceeded to punch each and everyone of them, making them scream. "Well, at least we know Stands can touch these guys!" Then more appeared and his face went pale. "Mamma mia, there's no end to them."

"Forget this," shouted Sprig as he grabbed Polly and took off. "We're losers. We lose."

The three humans ran off toward the door they came in. "I don't get it," said Anne. "Are they aliens? Ghosts?"

"I think a better question to ask is, why does Andrias have these things under the castle in the first place?" asked Johan.

"Who cares," said Marcy. "Let's get outta here, Scoob and Scrap!"

Johan got offended and asked, "Did you just call me Scrappy?"

Before she could reply, another one of the ghost fish blocked their way out, making them scream. "Guys, this way!" shouted Sprig.

"We found another exit!" shouted Polly.

The humans followed the two frog kids down another corridor, this one leading to another hall of mirrors. "Man, someone really loves mirrors," commented Anne.

They ran down the hall of mirrors, into another room that looked like a greenhouse full of strange plants. Marcy stopped and looked around. "What the... A garden? But how are these plants growing so well without sunlight?"

"NO TIME!" shouted Johan as he grabbed her by the wrist and ran off, unable to realize there was a chained Moss Man sitting in the corner.

The kids ran through another room, a storage room full of old paintings. Sprig stopped to see one that was torn to shreds. "Whoa, someone really hated this painting."

Polly grabbed him and hurried him along. "Aaah! Hurry up!"

They ran up the stairs and reached a hatch. They tried to open it, but it was stuck. "Come on, put your backs into it," shouted Anne. With a great heave, they forced the door open, only to find themselves in, much to their surprise...

"My room?!" exclaimed Marcy.

"Don't question it," shouted Sprig as he slammed the hatch shut. But that didn't do them any good as the spectral fish phased through the floor and rose up.

"Rametto, you idiot, they're ghosts! They can fly through walls and floors!"

"Name calling is not going to get us anywhere, JoJo!"

Anne grabbed a book and threw it at the biggest one. "Take this, you overgrown gummy worm." It went right through it.

Sprig and Polly grabbed some more books and threw them as well. "Quick! More books."

"Way ahead of you."

It did nothing. Johan summoned DARE who began to pummel them, but they got back up immediately. "I don't get it! How is it that my Stand can touch them but the books go right through them?" asked Johan.

"Maybe they prefer audiobooks," said Anne as she squirted them with silly string, but it went through them as well. Then Sprig held up a mirror in defense. Almost immediately, the biggest one lost its glow and fell to the ground. Everyone blinked in confusion, then Anne threw a book at it and to everyone's surprise, it actually hurt it.

"They're physical? How?" asked Marcy. She, Anne and Johan got the answer when they saw Sprig holding the mirror. "The mirrors!" they exclaimed.

"That explains the halls of mirrors," said Johan. "It's the only thing keeping these fish from leaving the crypt!"

"It looks like the refraction of their own light turns these creatures physical," said Marcy. "Which means..."

"Quick, everyone, grab a mirror!" Anne grabbed mirrors and tossed them to her friends. They shined them on the fish, making them lose their translucent glow. Then Anne looked at her reflection and asked, "Hey, was anyone gonna tell me I have leaves in my hair?"

"Wait, you seriously didn't know?" asked Johan.

"NOT NOW, GUYS!" shouted everyone else.

After all the fish were forcibly given physical forms, Johan used DARE to drive them back down the staircase. Quickly, Anne covered the hatch with a mirror and Marcy held it in place with a heavy chair. They all collapsed in a heap, panting heavily. "So," panted Marcy. "Anyone think they're going to be able to sleep after that terrifying experience?" Everyone responded with variants of a "No way".

The group stayed up all night, wrapped in a blanket together and with bags under their eyes. At six AM, Anne and Marcy's cellphone alarms went off.

"Welp, we did it," said Sprig.

"We stayed awake all night," said Polly.

"Oh, I still have so many questions," said Marcy. "What were those things? What's the deal with the basement? And if those were really ghosts, is there actually an afterlife?"

Anne made a inquisitive look. "I didn't even think about that."

"From every Joestar's experience," said Johan. "The answer is yes. I think the better question is why did you not know that there was a staircase that leads to a haunted crypt, Marcy? And for that matter, why didn't Andrias tell you about it if the two of you are so buddy-buddy?"

"Well, that crypt was off limits for a reason...and now we know," said Marcy. "As for him not telling me, well, he is preoccupied with learning more about the music box. Maybe it slipped my mind."

Se quello che dici è vero, mi mangerò le scarpe.

"Well, one thing's for sure," said Sprig. "That sleepover was amazing."

"It was the best," cheered Polly.

The three humans fist bumped.

"I just wish I didn't have to add my name to the Book of Losers," Sprig said with a sigh as he opened the aforementioned book and signed his name.

Polly blew a raspberry and said, "Me either." She then signed her name.

The human kids looked at each other and nodded. "Hand me that pen. You're not the only losers," said Anne as she signed her name in it.

"We're all losers," said Johan as he signed his name as well.

"I know, right? I was scared out of my mind!"

"Me too," said Marcy as she signed her name. "It's not the first time either."

"Really?" asked Johan. "Let me see that." He flipped through the pages and each and every one of them had either Anne or Marcy's name in it. "I don't see Sasha's name in here."

"Yep," said Marcy with a hint of longing. "She was the only one brave enough to not end up in the book."

Anne exhaled. "We have to find her, Marcy. I need to make things right."

"And she does too," said Johan. "She hasn't exactly apologized for the whole 'trying to kill us' thing."

"And that glowing thing she and I did as well," said Anne.

Johan froze. No, Anne!

Marcy made a confused look. "Glowing thing? What are you-"

The sound of the door knocking made everyone scream and hide under the blanket. A very irritated Lady Olivia opened the door, her face doodled with a mustache and a "Polly Was Here" graffiti. "Rise and shine, kids. Because of you, I barely slept a wink last night."

"Neither did we, lady," said Johan, gesturing to his and his friends' tired eyes. "But you don't see us complaining!" Inside, he was mentally thanking her for helping Marcy forget what Anne just said.

"Ugh, well, whatever. It's go time. Your audience with King Andrias is about to begin. Get ready!" And with that, she stomped out of the room, grumbling to herself.

There was a moment's silence, then everyone giggled and laughed. Best sleepover ever. Then the giggles stopped and the screams began again when a ghost jellyfish popped out of the floor and giggled with them. Johan summoned DARE, quickly pummeled it and drove it back into the staircase.

As Johan changed from his night clothes to his usual attire, he called out to Marcy, who was in the changing room next door, "Hey Marcy, in all your time in the library, have you ever read a moment in Amphibia's history all about...oh, I don't know, vampires or zombies? I mean, those ghost fish got me wondering if any more undead stuff ever happened."

"I never had!" Marcy called out. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just curious after what happened last night," said Johan. His smile disappeared as he unwrapped an object in his pajama shirt: a stone mask of a fanged frog, the one he found in the crypt hanging on the wall. If this was what he thought it was... He pricked his finger with a pen, dropped a tiny bit of blood on the mask and almost immediately, spiked tendrils popped out of the mask's interior, making him drop it in surprise. A few seconds later, they receded and all he could do was stare at it. "Yeah...no reason," he said to himself.

To be continued ➟