Wit and Courage
"Here you go, kids!" Hop Pop announced, walking toward the main large table inside the Fwagon with a tray of omelets in one hand and a jug filled with juice in the other. "A healthy, balanced breakfast, perfect for giving you the energy you need for the rest of the day!"
"Huzzah!"
"Woo-ho!"
"Hey, Hop Pop?" Anne pointed out, "How is it going with the omelets? Is your cooking getting better?"
"Judge it yourself, Anne," the old frog retorted, placing the tray right in front of her, "I may have taken some time to learn-"
"No kiddin," Sasha snickered to Amelia, both girls chuckling as they remembered Hop Pop's previous attempts at cooking Earth recipes.
"Let's see…" James moved his fork and took one bite of one omelet, carefully checking its taste. "It's… not bad! Not bad at all! It reminds me of cooking back home."
"Then it must still be bad," Sprig once again spoke without filters. "Didn't Sasha say British cooking is supposed to be bad?"
"Sprig!" Anne called out.
"For your information, the stereotype that our cooking is bad is completely untrue!" The silver-haired boy replied, feeling his sense of patriotism resurge. "England's dishes are on par level with those of many countries!"
"So, did you enjoy the effects of my potion yesterday?" Marcy spoke up, doing her best to change the subject, "It passed a whole night and there were no adverse effects, so we can say it passed?"
"So far, it seems." Maddie summarized, "Yet, I'm still trying to understand why you were so hellbent on keeping it a secret from me. You took a big risk, Mars."
"I told you, I wanted to make it a surprise. I mean, if the potion could turn us into Amphibian, why couldn't it, with proper recipe changes, have the…opposite effect?"
From where they were sitting, Polly, Sprig and Ivy looked up with bewilderment, as Maddie narrowed her eyes while Felicia and Hop Pop gasped.
"The opposite?" Sprig repeated, "You mean as, us turning into-"
"Hey, we did promise you that, if possible, we would like to have you visit our world." Marcy continued explaining, "And I thought it would be simpler if you could, like, experience yourself what it's like to be a human."
"That's quite an amazing idea!" Maddie said, suddenly feeling excited, "I guess that could be doable, but we would need specific ingredients, some I don't even know if they exist in Amphibia. Still worth thinking about it…"
"I could get my own face bump!" Ivy gleamed up, "Mom, that would be so cool!"
"Ivy Sundew, while I do agree that it would be quite a memorable experience to visit Sasha's own dimension, I'd say to save your enthusiasm for when the thing is closer to reality. So far, I think we should focus on our breakfast: we have had many adventures already and many more that we will probably have to face before reaching Newtopia. It's important to keep ourselves energized and in shape."
"Hey, wait a second here…" Amelia said as she stopped eating her breakfast. "Where's Jacob? Usually, he'd be already awake by now. Is he still sleeping like Polly?"
"Actually, Jacob woke up much earlier than any of you," Hop Pop revealed, "that boy said he couldn't sleep well, he kept having nightmares, so he ate already. He even volunteered to drive while we had breakfast."
"He did?" Anne looked up to the trapdoor for a second, "Wow, I didn't know he had it in him, he may play the strong guy but he's got a kind heart under that."
"Not big as yours, Boonchuy, otherwise he would be Heart and not you!"
"Sprig, what are you doing?!"
"Don't you remember, James? The spice must flow…" answered the pink amphibian, totally engrossed into adding more and more pepper on his meal.
"That's not spice, it's common pepper!" Marcy corrected, "If you ate this much at once, you'll risk-"
"AAAGH!" The easily-predictable outcome happened, and Sprig lunged forward for the juice jug. "Stop it! Stop it!"
"Ivy, you should go and help him."
"Why me and not you, Maddie?"
"Well, he is your boyfriend, after all."
(…)
Unbeknownst to the humans and their frog families still inside the Fwagon, the real reason why Jacob had volunteered to hold Bessie and Liptea's reins in Hop Pop's place wasn't simply to help, but to have a chance to stay alone and think, desperately trying to elaborate the thoughts that were crowding around in his head.
Namely, the thoughts about the words that Marcy had spoken in her sleep last night.
Didn't mean to... the sound of her voice kept playing in his head, didn't know Box would work… didn't want to… trap y'all in… Amphibia.
Did that mean that Marcy knew more about the Box than she was letting on? Did she know the Box had the power to bring them all to Amphibia? When they had met, that night, the Box was already in the girls' hands, and from what little Jacob had been able to learn, they had taken it from a thrift shop as a 'dare' for Anne's birthday. Nothing that could have helped them foresee what would later happen.
No, Marcy would never do something like this, Jacob shook his head, trying to push away all those intrusive thoughts that were devouring him from the inside, like woodworms in old wood. Marcy was just sleep-talking, and those were just unconscious ravings. She was the one among us who did the most to try and help us find a way back home, how can I even just think she had any part in getting us trapped here?
Yet, as the boy tried to focus on the road ahead of him, the poisonous, treacherous voices whispering into his head resumed, pointing to so many small events and accidents that he had witnessed ever since they ended up in Amphibia. How many times he thought Marcy seemed too comfortable and prepared with the concept of ending trapped in another world? How about her reluctance when news of another human brought them hope to be able to return home early? The uneasiness she tried so hard to hide day after day… Was this related to her role with the Box?
A role that, he now realized, may have been bigger than he assumed? Did Marcy hide her own actions out of simple fear, because her actions ended up trapping them into a world of giant bugs and untold danger? Or was there more?
What if it wasn't an incident? Another voice whispered, voicing the possibility that Jacob even refused to think, what if you being trapped in Amphibia was no mistake? What if it was done… on purpose?
"Shut up," Jacob hissed, his expressions filling with anger, as he tried to ignore the voices, to let them die, to refuse to give them the attention they wanted. "Marcy's the sweetest and most caring person in the world. She would never do something like this: she was talking in her sleep, case closed!"
Behind him, Akitsu began to buzz louder as she woke up, the large dragonfly feeling like she could need some more apples, completely unaware of the emotional battle that was happening inside the boy's head, a few steps from where she had rested for the night.
Little by little, the Fwagon kept traveling northward, on the road to Newtopia, the capital city of Amphibia, where King Andrias Leviathan currently resided and where laid the best hopes for the humans to find a way to return home. And to continue their travel, the group was now approaching a mandatory step.
"Ok, kids," Felicia said, her hands indicating the fwagon's current position on the map, "we are currently here. As you can see, the road now divides in two: the right road goes to the Eastern Tower, while the left one proceeds toward Newtopia."
"So, we take the left road." James nodded, "Easy."
"The issue is, taking the left road means we'll have to pass through the Bridge of Unification."
"Bridge of Unification?" Anne asked.
"Uh, it's something I remember writing in my Journal," Marcy exclaimed, opening the book and flipping through the pages. "There: it's a bridge built just after the Unification of the continent, to symbolize the newly-gained union among all lands and former kingdoms who now comprised the entirely of Amphibia, as well as to grant easier and fast connection for travelers and merchants who wanted to traverse the Saint's Lake."
"Thanks for the history lesson, but I still don't see the issue." Amelia rolled her eyes, "There is a bridge, let's cross it and continue our travel."
"The issue is, the bridge is very old, and hasn't seen proper maintenance in centuries. A lot of water had passed under the bridge, undermining its foundation and weakening its arches, while time and nature had contributed to accelerate its decay. The bridge itself was declared a public nuisance and abandoned many years ago: lone travelers and small groups on foot can still cross it safely, but…" she looked around to the Fwagon, the large, sturdy carriage would probably be too heavy to cross the old, dilapidated bridge.
"Can't we take another road?" Sasha asked, "I mean, it's a lake: if we can't cross it, why can't we go around it?"
"It's a large lake, and the banks are muddy and infested with all kinds of dangerous predators." Hop Pop sighed, "It's an area too risky to open ourselves a way by force: many tried already." He looked down, his face and eyes clearly telling what was of those frogs.
"The only other road that we could probably take is to go eastward and pass near the Eastern Tower, going around Mount Mutu before rejoining the main road near Loggington. Yet, taking this road would extend our trip by another month, at minimum."
"What?" Anne almost jumped from her chair, outraged, "We can't stay here for yet another month!" We have been here in Amphibia for almost three months now!
"We know, and this is why so far, our plan is to reach the bridge and check if it's still stable enough to sustain the weight of our Fwagon. If it does, we can traverse it and there is no problem at all."
"And if it's not?" Ivy asked, "We'll have to pull back and take the road to the East Tower."
"Not necessarily!" Amelia jumped in, "Akitsu can fly, remember?"
"Huh, Amelia?" Sasha raised an eyebrow, "Not to curb your enthusiasm, but I doubt that dragonfly of yours can transport the whole fwagon to the other side. I mean, it could theoretically, but we would have to disassemble the whole vehicle, then we'd need countless travels and back-"
"I wasn't suggesting that, Sash." The cone-hatted wannabe samurai snorted. "But if we can fly, we can have an easier time exploring the banks of the lake, and find an alternate route."
"That's not a bad idea!" Sprig intervened, "Ivy, Maddie, if we have the chance, maybe we can go check as well? We can move faster, and-"
"Guys!" Jacob's voice came from the outside, calling everyone to come out and see, "We have arrived at a fork, but… one of the roads is blocked."
"What?!" Felicia gasped as she and everyone else rushed to see, her eyes widening as she saw what Jacob was referring to: the fwagon had now stopped, standing just in front of a large bifurcation, the path to the left still travelable while the path to the right was blocked by a large fallen tree, much bigger and heavier than the fwagon itself. Not only that, but all around the road, several other trees had been torn off as well. The ground was messy with large holes dug seemingly at random, and everywhere there were signs of large, clawed, three-fingered animal footprints.
"What the- don't tell me you got dinosaurs in Amphibia too!" Sasha lamented, already dreading the prospect of facing a T-Rex pack.
"What's a dinosaur?"
"Not now, Sprig." Jacob jumped down, walking next to one of the most visible footprints and gazing over it, his nervousness growing again as Felicia and Hop Pop approached him.
They too, like him, had recognized those signs.
"Please tell me it's not what I think," Jacob said with a low voice, "Roaring Roosters?"
"Roaring Roosters…" Hop Pop repeated with a voice trembling with fear.
"Huh, Mom?" Ivy asked, "What even is a Roaring Rooster?"
"A giant, massive, incredibly fast and voracious predator that eats everything that it can find on its path, Ivy. They are not very smart, but they're strong and persistent." Felicia was quick to reply, "You remember that giant, ferocious chicken that almost ate Sprig and Anne, two months ago?"
"Wait, you mean the Giant Chicken of Doom?!" Anne said in disbelief, Sprig shivering next to her. They both remembered that encounter, and they weren't enthusiastic about doing another soon.
"Wait, I thought those predators lived in the largest forests, like the Dark woods and Olm Wood Forest." Marcy replied, "What are they doing here?"
"I think I can answer that question," Jacob replied, as he kept looking over the holes dug in the ground. "Soggy Joe explained it to me once, it looks like we're dealing with a 'predatory migration'. In short, whenever there is too little food left to feed all the Roaring Roosters migrate from their traditional habitats and hunting ground to search for new sources of food, and they search for it in any way possible, even digging into the ground and hunting for worms or tearing off trees to hunt arboreal creatures."
"Are they bigger than that giant Ferret that you faced?" Polly said in shock, in a rare moment of genuine fear.
"Twice as big. Twice as fast." Anne summarized, "And twice as mean."
"Oh frog…"
"But that's not the worst part." Felicia spoke again, making everyone look at her.
"Oh, wonderful!" Sasha exclaimed, her voice full of sarcasm. "What's the worst part?"
"During a 'predatory migration', to increase their chances of survival, Roaring Roosters always travel in groups."
"Oh no!" Ivy gasped with horror "No, no, no!"
"Groups! BIG Groups!" Jacob concluded, "We are not facing one or two Roaring Roosters, but a whole pack! Ten, twenty, maybe a hundred, maybe more! And they are all starving, looking for everything edible they can fit in their beaks!"
The fear spread to everyone, Felicia, Jacob, and Hop Pop studying the traces left by the giant predators around them, while the others shivered together, almost expecting to be attacked any minute now. In particular, Anne and Sprig, the ones who had met one of these creatures already, still remember the fierce fight and run they had to escape just one of these creatures. But, to face twenty at once, or a hundred?
That thought was a grim menace, hanging over them.
"There is some good news, however," Felicia intervened. "The traces are cold. No matter how many there were, they must have left a long time ago. I guess in this area there was nothing left that was edible for them."
"Still, we don't know if there are some left in the area, or if they may return." James nodded, "I suggest we put as much distance as we can, now."
"That's a good idea." Hop Pop concluded, moving back to take the reins. "Come on, everyone, get back onboard!"
Felicia and Jacob rushed back to the Fwagon, while Hop flicked the reins, Bessie and Liptea began to pull anew, frogs and humans all too eager to leave such devastation behind them.
Let's hope they're gone already, Felicia silently prayed, giving one last glance behind them.
(…)
Finally, after one more hour of non-stop traveling, our heroes reached the shores of Saint's Lake, the place where, according to legends, a great hero of Amphibia's past revealed himself many centuries ago. There, surrounded by sporadic patches of vegetation and covered with climbing ivy-like plants, stood the large bridge that connected the roads to the Frog Valley and to Newtopia, at first sight still robust and resistant like the day after it was inaugurated.
Yet, as the fwagon approached the bridge, its passengers could take a closer look, and they were quick to realize that their hopes to traverse it safely had been dashed away.
"What's the response, Felicia?" Anne asked with a worried tone, while the veteran adventurer kept analyzing the falling structure with her cold gazes. "Do you think we can traverse it with the fwagon?"
"Frankly, I doubt it," was the response the Thai-American girl received. "The bridge's equilibrium is very unstable, due to the overall decay of its architecture, there are visible holes in the roadway and a couple of pillars are missing. With a bit of luck, I'd traverse it if I was by foot and alone, but… if we try to traverse it with the fwagon, we may risk the whole bridge to collapse under our weight."
"We're back!" Amelia announced as Akitsu descended from the sky, Polly with her. "We've reached the other end of the bridge, and we've seen it looks worn down and ruined like this one."
"What if we try to traverse it slowly?" Marcy suggested. "If we move slowly, careful not to upset the equilibrium, we may reach the other bank with no risk."
"Alternatively, we could try to lighten up our weight." Sasha nodded. "We unload everything we carry, and we move it on the opposite end with Akitsu-"
"Bri-Bruz!" The large dragonfly protested, clearly not wanting to be used as a pack mule.
"Oh yeah?" The blonde human sniped back, "Maybe you got a better idea!"
"Bri-bri! Bru-brubram! Bru-bru bru!"
"Hey! Don't talk to me like that!"
"Huh, Anne?" James approached her, "Is Sasha really having a fight with Akitsu?"
"And from what it looks like, she's losing." Sprig added with an amused expression.
"Yes, she is, James." The girl replied, rolling her eyes "Yes, she is."
"ANYWAY!" Felicia intervened, putting herself between her adoptive human daughter and the giant, legendary bug, "They're both good ideas, the issue is, they would both take time. And we don't have it!" Hop Pop exclaimed, showing the area they currently were. Not only was there no visible fauna on sight, but the claw signs left on the trees' bark were a clear hint that the Roaring Rooster had passed here too.
"He's right," James nodded. "As long as we're here, we are basically sitting ducks."
"Sitting ducks?"
"That's a way to say 'easy prey', Sprig." The British boy explained, "We have nowhere to run and no place to hide. If the Roaring Roosters are still here, we'd have no other option but to fight or…succumb."
"Maddie, Marcy, how about you use one of your spells?" Ivy suggested. "You could make the whole Fwagon weigh almost nothing-"
"Sorry, Ivy, but despite my best attempts, I couldn't produce a functional 'Feather Fall' spell yet."
"And we can't waste time or resources," the spell-making frog added. "We'll need everything we have if the Roaring Roosters find us."
"Then, we must turn back," Felicia concluded. "We must turn back at the crossroad and-"
"Wait, weren't we supposed to look around for other possible ways?!" Anne protested, clearly irked at the idea of having to spend another additional month trapped in Amphibia.
"That was before we found out about the Roosters," Hop Pop retorted. "Look, Anne, I don't want to go back on my promise, but now we can't afford to just stay here too long. Every second we wait the risk becomes greater."
"We can still attempt one try, at least! What if we can find a way that's travelable around the lake? It would be safer than going back and taking the other road."
"She does have a point," Felicia thought about it. "Even if the Roaring Roosters left the area, we risk facing them the same on the road to the Eastern Tower."
"Plus, to take that road, we'd have to move the fallen tree who's currently blocking it." James spoke as well, "And that would require no less time."
"And we are many!" Amelia waved her arms, "We could explore all the possible paths we may take all at once, to reduce the time we'd need."
Hop Pop thought about it: on one hand, the idea of stopping and waiting while the kids go around exploring made him feel nervous, especially since they had no fool-proof ways to defend themselves against the Roosters besides Maddie & Marcy's spells… and Anne's and Sasha's Calamity Powers. On the other-
"Fine," the old frog shrugged, "but you have just one chance. Be careful not to waste time and return here as soon as possible."
"Great!" Amelia jumped, "Polly and I will be following the path to the east, to the most dangerous area: with Akitsu we can move way faster than by foot, and if we do end up meeting something dangerous, we can just fly out of the reach."
"Then we'll take the way westward," Sasha nodded. "Anne, Marcy, I guess-"
"Actually," Jacob's hand rose up, "I would like to ask Marcy to go with me, if that's not a problem."
"Huh?" The aforementioned dark-haired nerd girl reacted. Why did Jacob specifically request that they go together?
"From what Soggy Joe told me, there are some quite… nice plants growing near this area." The boy with a Viking hat continued, "I think that would be quite a nice addition for your Journal."
"But why- ohhhh!" Amelia gasped, her expression turning from surprised to gleaming in seconds, a big 'Cheshire cat' smile blossoming on her lips. "Well, I guess you surely can't miss such an opportunity, Mar-Mar."
"I guess it would be worth a look," the titular lovable nerd replied. Yet, why did Jacob look so uneasy around her? And why was he unable to look at her like he usually did?
"Hey Anne, if Marcy's going with Jacob, can Ivy and I come with you?" Sprig jumped in.
"Sure thing!"
"I'm staying here, for my part," James replied. "Sorry, but I don't feel much like going into the wild, today."
OMG, Jacob actually managed to get the courage to ask Marcy to go with him alone? Amelia did the best she could to hide her own heartbeat as it began to hyperventilate, is he…going to confess?
Ironically, while Jacob DID want to talk with Marcy about something in private, it was for a much more dramatic topic than the one Amelia was thinking of.
"Ok, where are the plants you were talking about, Jacob?" Marcy chirped, holding her Journal in her right hand, looking around with an excited expression. It had been several minutes since the Fwagon disappeared from their sight, and both humans were now standing in a small hill covered with bushes, a large stone placed in the center, the stump of a tree from a long-gone tree just in front of it.
"I'm sorry, Marbles, but…the plants I was talking about, were not real."
"Eh?!"
"It was just an excuse, to have you come here with me. You see, I was hoping to have a word with you: it's very important."
"But you could've asked back at the fwagon. Why didn't-"
"Actually, I was hoping to speak with you." Jacob took a big breath, "Alone."
"Oh, you can ask me anything!" The girl replied, "What do you want to talk about?"
"I want to talk about something I heard last night, while you were sleeping. You see, you were…talking in your sleep."
"I did?!" Marcy gasped, feeling a rush of nervousness grow inside of her, an alarm playing in her head. "And…what did I say that you may have heard?"
"You were talking about the Box, and how you were sorry for…trapping all of us in Amphibia."
Marcy's eyes widened in horror, her mouth wide open by the shock, as all the fears that she had faced ever since that day, every nightmare she had suffered through, every moment of mental torment she was forced to endure, played back in her head, her body freezing in horror. It was lucky for her that Jacob couldn't bring herself to look at her, as he continued his explanation.
"But that… that can't be true, of course!" The boy smiled, as he tried to convince himself, "You're one of my best friends, Marcy. You're the smartest girl I've ever known, you always ace all your tests, you're so cheerful and innocent, so I know you would never do something like that. That was just you rambling in your sleep, right? Marcy, please tell me. Tell me that's not true." He raised his head, and he looked at her once again, waiting for the girl to confirm that yes, that was just a nightmare out of acid reflux, nothing that she said was true and she wasn't in any way related to the Box.
Until she didn't.
"It's not true, right Marcy?" The boy insisted, feeling worried by her silence, the girl turned head not to look him in the eyes.
Could she lie once again? Could she tell him that he was right, and whatever he may have heard was just some rambling in her sleep? She knew he would've accepted it, and she would have more time to find a solution, to get everyone home, so no one would ever-would ever…
But she couldn't. She had spent so much time hiding and running from the truth, she couldn't deny it anymore.
"Mar-Mar?" The boy spoke again, his voice now barely a whimper, standing in front of the truth, yet unable to accept it.
Marcy looked back at him with heavy eyes, like she'd be crushed under the weight of her guilt. "Jacob…"
"No," The boy murmured, his heart beginning to pound harder and harder, his chest felt like it was closing up as his eyes began to well up with tears, as he realized it was true. "No, no, no, no, NO!"
"I-I didn't mean to," Marcy tried to explain, "I only knew what the Box was supposed to do. I didn't know it would work for real until we ended up in Amphibia!"
For a moment, Jacob took a step back, as he struggled to regain his foothold, taking deep breaths as he held onto the rock behind him. And then he looked back at Marcy, the girl realizing to her dread that his usually friendly eyes were now devoid of any warmth. Rather, they were cold, and filled with despair.
"Start explaining," was everything the boy could say, still too shocked to be angry. "NOW."
"The day we left, Anne's birthday," Marcy said with a voice full of sadness, tears dropping from her eyes, "I was studying at the library when a mysterious book fell off a cart and dropped one right in front of me…"
(…)
"Hop Pop, are you ok?" James asked, raising his eyes from the book he was reading as he looked at the old frog pacing back and forth. It had been a good half-hour ever since the others had left, every small group going on their own round of exploration, and now only four were still in the Fwagon: Felicia, Maddie, Hop Pop and himself.
"I'm fine, James," the Plantar's head of the family replied. "It's just, I feel nervous. To know there are those predators out there, and for everyone to be out of my sight-"
"Amelia and Polly are on Akistu, Marcy is with Jacob, and Sasha and Anne both have Calamity Powers." Felicia intervened, feeling the need to calm him down. "Believe me, I understand your worry, but to indulge in your fears walking around the fwagon is not going to help you. Rather, would you like some green tea? The matcha is a good way to fight off stress and anxiety, should-"
"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!" A loud and vibrant cry, with a tone somewhere between the venomous hiss of a snake and the fierce roar of a lion or tiger, rang out from outside, the eyes of all widening, Felicia grabbing her sword and Maddie her spells, as James opened the window closets to him, while Hop Pop rushed to the trapdoor on the fwagon's roof.
"Run!" Sprig yelled holding onto Anne, Ivy in Sasha's hands, both humans having activated their Calamity Powers, the blue/pink energy flourishing through their bodies and hairs as they zoomed toward the Fwagon. Barely a second later, and the threat they were trying to run from showed in all its might.
Hop Pop didn't say a word as he mentally counted the Roaring Roosters who were rushing out of the woods and the horizon, almost appearing all of a sudden, many of them clearly malnourished and showing visible injuries on their legs, necks and around their beaks. How many were there? He counted: two, five, ten, twenty, twenty-seven, thirty-five, fifty, a hundred-
This was not a normal migration, the old frog realized in horror, as his brain could barely assimilate the large number of monstrous Roosters who were converging on the fwagon, Bessie and Liptea screaming before hiding in their shells while Felicia began to yell orders, James and Maddie doing the best they could to follow her lead. Nothing short of a catastrophe could have driven so many Roaring Roosters out of their territory, depriving them of their usual sources of food and hunting ground, causing them to blend into a stampede that kept moving and ravaging the land, searching for everything they could eat.
Their retreat cut was now cut off and to risk crossing the bridge would have probably ended with their deaths. Either they fought, or they would die.
I'm sorry, Sally, Hop Pop thought, a tear running down his cheek as he rushed to help the other with the defenses, I couldn't keep my promise.
(…)
Jacob said nothing, sitting down on the rock as Marcy kept explaining with a tone filled with nervousness, the truth she had tried so hard to keep a secret to him and everyone else. How she found out about the Box at the library; how she ended up finding it for real when she saw it in the showcase of the thrift shop; how she basically manipulated Sasha (Sasha, the manipulator herself, manipulated by her most innocent friend!) into pushing Anne to take it…
With every passage, Jacob felt his own heart sink lower and lower, every second wishing to wake up and find out it was only a bad dream. Yet, every time he pinched himself, he only felt pain, but he didn't wake up.
This was real. Everything that Marcy confessed to, had actually happened. He felt his throat become sore, his breath become heavy, as his eyes once again focused on her.
It was at that moment that something changed inside of Jacob. Something snapped.
"How could you?" The boy spoke, Marcy's eyes widening in fear as she realized how cold his voice sounded.
"Jacob-"
"I'm not blaming you for bringing us here," The boy kept talking, interrupting Marcy's response. "To tell the truth, I understand you had no idea the Box was legit, and it would work for real. Even if you did tell us when we all met, that night… I probably wouldn't have believed it." At least not before they opened the Box and ended up in Amphibia, he added in his mind. "Plus, from what you told me, you did try to find us a way to get back home, after you realized your mistake. I guess that explains why you were so determined to work yourself to the bone on those translations."
"You- you understand?" Marcy gasped.
"Of course I do," he replied with a neutral tone of voice. "More than you realize, I understand wanting to leave your old life behind, to start a new one in another world."
"Oh!" Marcy breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Jacob, it's a huge relief to hear that. I wasn't expecting for you to forgive me so easily-"
"I don't." Jacob spoke again, shattering Marcy's hopes in one go, as his voice once again began to vibrate with anger. "That you didn't know the Box's power was real, I can understand. That you didn't know the world we would end up in was filled with giant carnivorous bugs, birds with teeth like dinosaurs and many other kinds of unspeakable threats, I can excuse. That you lied to all of us, that you kept it a secret for so long, and that you had no plans ever to tell us, I cannot!"
"Jacob-"
"WHY didn't you tell us, Marcy?" The boy was now visibly shaking with anger. "You kept this from us for how long, two months? Three? How long were you planning to keep it a secret? Were you actually planning to tell us or were you just hoping none of us would ever find out?!"
"Jacob-"
"Tell me Marcy, when would you have told us?"
"When- when we would be back home," the girl confessed, looking down. "So, you wouldn't miss me when I would…leave."
"LEAVE?" Jacob's eyes widened once again, shock overtaking him once more, as he realized there was another part that Marcy had kept secret to him and the others.
"The day we ended up in Amphibia, Anne's birthday," Marcy began to explain, tears running down her cheeks, "my parents told me we were moving. Dad… he had received a job offer out of state, and we were moving to the East coast. They were going to tear us apart! I couldn't believe it when they told me: I knew dad was very focused on his career but… they had everything settled already, they just told me as a 'fait accompli'. We had an argument, and I stormed out… I kept running until I stopped, right in front of the thrift shop. It was then when I saw the Box."
"Your family is moving?" Jacob repeated, unable to assimilate the news. Marcy…was leaving?
"This is why I told Sasha about the Box: I wanted to send us to a place where we'd never have to grow apart, where the three of us could be friends forever together! I didn't know that you, Amelia, and James would end up coming with us, nor did I know that Amphibia would be… less fun than I imagined. So, I wanted to keep it hidden until we would' get back home-"
"You were going to leave," Jacob said once again, his fury resurfacing. "You were just going to run away from your problems, like you've always done?!"
"WHY DO YOU CARE?!" Marcy yelled back, "I was the one who ended up kidnapping you and trapping you in this world, it would be better for everyone if you all simply forgot about me!"
"HOW COULD YOU EVER THINK WE COULD EVER FORGET ABOUT YOU, MARCY?!" Jacob roared, "Even if you did end up transferring very far away, I would never forget about you!"
"WHY? What can make you so sure? Sasha and Anne are my friends, yet they would surely forget about me if I left; why would YOU be different?"
"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!" The boy shouted at full lungs, before realizing what he had just said, hands moving on his mouth, silence falling over them.
Marcy blinked, standing still, her eyes widening, her mouth wide open. "You…what?"
"I said I love you, Marcy." The boy continued, realizing it was useless to hide it anymore. "Ever since we were little…I always thought you were cheerful and kind, and I felt attracted to you. You were my friend, as were Anne and Sasha, but, as we grew up, I realized I felt different about you. That I was seeing you more than just friend… but rather, as agirlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" Marcy repeated, still feeling shocked. "Y-you mean you had-you had-"
"Yes, I had a crush on you, Marcy." The boy confessed, looking down. "Even as Sasha's leadership became more and more tyrannical, why do you think I kept staying close to you? Why do you think I visited you at your house, while you and the girls were having sleepovers? I was in love, but I couldn't say it, so I kept waiting for a good occasion to tell you. I figured out I would tell you once we would be back home." He said with a bitter note. "But, I guess now that would've been too late, wouldn't it?"
Jacob began to move, the emotional meltdown he was experiencing making him unable to think clearly, his movement ruled only by instinct and inertia.
"I-I think I need to take a walk to…sort myself out."
"Jacob!"
"I'm sorry, Mar-Mar," the boy replied, without turning. "I wish I could believe you… but how could I? All you've ever done is lie to me."
"Jacob, wait!" Marcy pleaded, as she felt her knees growing weak, falling on the ground, as she kept pleading while Jacob walked away from her, his back turned. "Don't go! Stay! Don't leave me!"
But Jacob didn't stop, too caught by his own turmoil to hear her, as he kept walking one step after another, until he disappeared from her sight.
It was then, that the 'emotional barrier' Marcy had built broke down, and she began to cry her heart out, her hands over her eyes, heartbroken.
"I…I just didn't want to be alone."
"Bring it on, you chicken headed freaks!" Sasha yelled, cutting through the formation of predator chickens with her swords, the heron-shaped weapons glowing pink with power as the superpowered teenager kept moving as fast as she could, trying to scare them away while Anne, she too glowing with Calamity Powers energy, raised her hand to throw another bolt of explosive energy on their aggressors, a couple of Roosters screaming as the blast hit them.
On the small area just in front of the bridge's ramp, a grand battle was being fought, as the Roaring Roosters herd (actually, many herds gathered together by the desperate search for food) kept attacking the immobilized Fwagon from all sides while its occupants desperately fought to drive them away. On top of the Fwagon, James was throwing different projectiles at the Roosters who managed to get close (mostly spell bags from Marcy's reserve, or small, durable objects they could sacrifice), while, on ground level, Felicia and Hop Pop were fighting side by side (she had her sword, and he a long spear) to protect the Fwagon's door. Inside, Maddie was trying to produce spells as fast as she could and passing them to Ivy, the young yellow frog throwing them from the window while Sprig used his slingshot. Everyone was fighting for their life because they knew that it was just that.
"Banzai!" A voice came from above, as Akitsu made another pass, Amelia holding tightly on her flying companion as the giant dragonfly rotated on itself, allowing for the katana-wielding girl to strike the Roosters who were gathering to attack the Fwagon, hitting many while Polly supported with her ol' Doris.
"Bri! Bri!"
Yet, the Rooster's numerical advantage was overwhelming and for every dozen Roosters who either ran away or laid on the ground, a dozen more came forward, their hunger pushing them to ignore any basic instinct of self-preservation, using their numbers to wear down their prey until they were exhausted.
As Anne and Sasha were finding out the hard way, it was quite an effective tactic.
"Boonchuy!" Sasha yelled, moving her hand to her forehead to wipe out the accumulated sweat, only for yet another rooster to take advantage of her momentary distraction and attempt to bite her, the blonde girl enveloped in pink energy moving just in time to avoid and counterattack. "We-we can't hold on like this forever!"
"I know!" Anne replied, feeling her heartbeat becoming faster and faster, the blue energy fizzling around her. Neither she or Sash had ever used their powers for too long before, and if she stopped for just one second to rest, if she even found a moment of reprieve, she could feel her body approaching the limit even faster than if she kept fighting. It was a sardonic paradox, rest making her weaker than if she just tried to power through on sheer willpower.
The main reason why they had lasted this long, was their own desperation. Both girls and their powers were the only thing standing between the Fwagon, and the endless horde hellbent on ravaging it and devouring its occupants, their families. No matter how hard Amelia, James and the others fought to help them, their actions were barely enough to offer them a small reprieve, there and there, as the fight kept raging on, the Roaring Roosters refusing to back down, preferring to face their power than starvation.
Anne's vision was becoming foggy, the power draining her of all her energy, the girl feeling like if she stopped, just for a second, she would drop on the ground.
"Co-ckoo!" A large Rooster with many scars on its beck charged, Anne rushing toward it and hitting it with one of her fists, her hand pulsating with pain as she ripped the humongous enemy apart.
Where are Marcy and Jacob? the Thai-American girl thought, for a brief second, before the fury of the battle engulfed her once again.
(…)
Jacob kicked another rock with his boot as he kept walking, not even looking at the direction he was going, the mental turmoil the boy was experiencing was not getting better, in fact it was worsening the more he thought about it.
Jacob always considered Marcy as his favorite girl friend to hang out with. Always cheerful, optimistic and with an easy-going personality; always smart and able to get high scores on tests with little to no studying; always happy to spend time with her friends. Always ready to support you, willing to stand to your side, just like you would do with her. But now?
Now, he felt like his world suddenly made no sense, like the Marcy he had known for all his life had been replaced by someone else.
On one hand, he felt ashamed of how he reacted a bit earlier: clearly, Marcy had no intention to put him or any of the others in real danger. Sure, she made a bad decision out of panic and desperation, but as he himself told earlier, she had no way to know that a music box could really teleport them to another world! And once she realized the severity of her mistake, she did everything she could to find a way and bring them back home.
And yet-
Marcy had lied to him. She had lied to Anne, to Sasha, to everyone. Sasha-freaking-Waybright, the Queen Bee of St. James herself! THE master manipulator, the girl with the silver tongue, hadn't suspected anything! Just like himself. If Marcy hadn't spoken in her sleep while he was there to listen, he wouldn't have ever found out, and if Marcy wanted to keep the secret, she could have told him that it was all the ramblings of her sleep. He would have believed that and trusted her.
So, why didn't she?
He thought back to Marcy's parents, and how she said they were planning to move, to take her away from her friends. Jacob had met them only a couple of occasions in the last few years, and he got an overall bad impression of them, both her dad and mom being those kinds of persons so focused on their own works and careers, they basically had no time to spend with their own daughter. Leaving early in the morning, with little to no talk, returning late, always having something 'important' they needed to do, just-
-just like Amelia's parents, he realized. Sure, Amelia came to live with him and his parents after the divorce, but what if it didn't? What if she had grown ignored, in a house empty of parental love like Marcy? Would she have pulled something like that, if backed into a corner? Someone that would rather kidnap her own friends rather than face separation?
The boy gritted his teeth, and he would have probably continued to mellow down in his own thoughts if the sound of large Amphibian birds, accompanied by the screams and yells of frogs and humans, didn't bring him back. Step after step, the boy with the horned hat had now returned in sight of the fwagon, and from the height of a small hill, he saw the battle happening in front of his eyes. He saw the Roaring Rooster surrounding her friends, he saw Anne and Sasha, both girls clad in the energy of their powers, fighting them to a standstill, Amelia and Akitsu supporting them from above while James, Felicia and the other fought from the fwagon. He saw-
A Roaring Rooster jumped and managed to headbutt Akitsu, making the giant dragonfly and its rider fall into the ground. Amelia now lying a few meters from her mount, while the Rooster rushed toward his soon to be meal. He cried, he yelled, his heart began to beat faster and faster, so many emotions flooding him at the same time.
And then, his eyes began to burn yellow.
(…)
"Amelia!" Anne yelled, as she saw the whole scene happening before her eyes, instinctively moving to give assistance to Amelia and her mount. "Are you ok?!"
"I'm-I'm fine, Anne," the girl in a samurai outfit, gritting her teeth, both she and Akitsu having received visible bruises in the fall. "I can still fight, just let me…"
"Boonchuy!" Sasha screamed in horror, "behind you!"
Anne turned around just in time to see seven large Roaring Roosters charge toward her, the energy blasting out of her hands as she tried to push them back, yet the large chickens didn't retreat, covering each other as they kept getting closer. Neither Amelia nor Akitsu were in any condition to move soon, and before her friends could mount any kind of rescue, the roosters would overcome her and their desperate defense would fall.
And it was then, just as the girl felt every part of her body aching in pain, as sweat and blood fell off her forehead, her heart kept beating faster and faster, almost like it was going to blow up… that an actual miracle occurred.
Suddenly, the battlefield was engulfed in an explosion of yellow, golden-like energy, dozens of roosters being blown away at the same instant while their brethren interrupted the attack, the humans and their families taking the chance of unexpected moment of rest to take a breath as the energy condensed into a massive orb. And walking out of it-
"Jacob?" James said, recognizing the figure of his bro.
The Roaring Rooster shrieked as they focused on the late arrival, the human kept walking toward them, apparently uncaring about the threat.
"In the struggle of day, in the fear of night," the boy spoke, as he kept getting closer to the roosters, feeling his chest burning, his blood pumping, a feeling he had never felt before rising from inside him. "May no enemy escape my sight. Let's remember, to anyone who fights, to never yield hope – FOR COURAGE BURNS BRIGHT!"
And then, as he raised his head and looked at them, a powerful blast of yellow energy sparked from his hands.
"Oh, frog." Hop Pop gasped, his mouth wide open like those of everyone else. He could see the Calamity energy spread all over Jacob's body, his hair turning from black with a white streak to glowing yellow, his armor and cape becoming golden as well. The horns from his helmet grew in length as they bent backward, making them now look like the antlers of an 'ibex'. As for his hammer, it has now grown in proportion as well, its head becoming larger and strange runic signs appearing on its face and handle.
"VALHALLA!" The boy roared, his arms moving suddenly as he struck, hitting the nearest Roaring Rooster with his hammer in a single, fluid strike, the carcass of his enemy dropping on the ground to never get up again, the humans not even giving the predator a second glance as he moved on to attack the rest of the ferocious herds. The Roosters apparently forgot about the Fwagon and the girls as they all moved to face him.
"Amelia," James spoke as he ran out with Felicia and Sprig, bent on helping their fallen companion, "do you need help?"
"I'm in for another round, I only need to…catch my breath." The youngest of the six replied, turning her head to see her cousin and adoptive brother cutting his path through the roosters' pack like a hot knife (or rather, a hot chainsaw) through butter. She was in pain, yet, as they carried her inside, Akitsu retreating on the top of the fwagon, she couldn't suppress her emotion as she smiled at the carnage.
"Go on, brother."
(…)
Marcy silently sat down, having cried so much that her eyes were now dry, wallowing in her own despair. Jacob had left for a while, and yet, his words kept cutting trough her, the usually cheerful nerd unable to smile as she was forced to face the consequences of her own decisions: her own worst nightmares were becoming true.
Ever since she had realized that Amphibia was far from the idea of the 'epic, adventure-filled fantasy world' she hoped to live with her besties forever, her original plan had fallen trough and a new plan had come to her mind: she hid the truth about her knowledge of the Box, then she would find a way to bring everyone home, and THEN she would reveal the truth to them, before moving away with her family, as her final act of expiation and to make sure her (former) friends wouldn't be to worried about her leaving.
But now?
Now, due to an unforeseeable twist of destiny, Jacob had learned the truth, he had faced her and found out the whole story that she had desperately tried to hide them. It was certain that he would tell the others, if he hadn't done so already, and what would happen then? Would the others yell at her? Would they shun her instantly? Or would they hear her explanation before turning their backs on her? Maddie already knew, and she would probably help her, but… she knew that the outcome wouldn't change, no matter what she did.
And that wasn't the worst part.
She could still see the shock in Jacob's eyes, the horror in his voice… had the boy been angry at her, had he yelled, she would have felt bad already. Instead, he looked hurt, broken, unable to accept the idea that the girl he had trusted so much (and he had a crush on, her brain reminded her) had lied to him for all this time.
Mentally, Marcy asked herself how she hadn't noticed it. How long had Jacob had a crush on her? How long had been he pining after her? Marcy herself had no experience with relationships, that was Sasha and Anne's specialty. She herself didn't consider herself good-looking enough to catch the eye of anybody, and yet apparently, she had been able to charm Jacob to the point he felt in love with her.
And by her own action, that love had been killed. Guilt, shame, shock, sadness, and fear all mixed in her head, making her own emotional turmoil even more powerful than before. What could she do now?
Suddenly, an idea formed in her mind. What if she didn't go back to the Fwagon?
She couldn't face her friends, not anymore now that they knew the truth, and it would hurt her much less than if she returned only to be rejected. She still had her Journal, her crossbow, and enough spells to last a couple of days. She remembered the ingredients for each one of them, and how to prepare them. She had learned many things now, and she could take care of herself.
So, what kept her from simply leaving the group? Abandoning the Fwagon and going on her own quest? She could start her own research, find more information about the Gems and the Box, and she would return only when she had found a sure way for them to return home-
Then, one second before she could put the new plan into action, the sounds of battle reached her ears, the dark-haired girl hearing sounds of sword clashing and magic-powered explosion, inter-crossed with the monstrous shrieks and roars of avian predators.
The Roaring Roosters, Marcy gasped as she remembered the traces they'd found earlier that day. Had they found the Fwagon? Were the others fighting to defend it? Did they need help?
Suddenly, as fast as it had blossomed in her mind, the idea of running away withered and burned down, Marcy feeling shame for even having thought about it. Her friends and families were in great danger, they required all the help they needed, and what she was going to do? To flee, to turn her back on them like she feared they would to her, to run away from her problems like she had always done.
No, the girl gritted her teeth, her determination rising, I'm tired of running away from my problems. I'm tired of making a mess for others to fix. And I'm tired of being afraid…of my own fear.
As the girl got back on her feet, something incredible started to happen to her, as she reached deep inside of her and tapped into the power that had been sealed inside her body, her eyes beginning to fizzle while her lips twitched, the girl feeling like a lock had just been opened inside her, feeling a tingling sensation on her fingers, and she realized what was happening to her.
She closed her eyes, embracing the power as it came unto her, the words Jacob himself had taught her a long time ago rising from her lips.
"An answer for every question,"
A strange sensation formed on her chest, quickly spreading through all her like water following the flow of a river to her hair, to her eyes, filling every cell of her body. She knew what was happening, and she embraced it.
"For every problem, a solution."
If Marcy had been able to see herself in a mirror right now, she would have seen her eyes becoming a bright neon green color, the same electricity pouring into her hair and her uniform, her cape and armor changing color as well as her figure began to glow. A transformation very similar to the one Sasha and Anne had experienced on the day they awakened their own Calamity Powers.
"Here I come, faster than a faraday,"
I won't run again from my problem, Marcy thought as she felt the energy of the gem filling her, not anymore. I'm done fleeing from my problem. All of this had happened because I chose to run, instead of confronting them.
She had made an awful mistake.
"Wit has been summoned – HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!"
But now, she was going to be the one to deal with it.
(…)
"Jacob surely learned a lot when it comes to fighting," Felicia mused, as she watched the battle unfold from the Fwagon, Anne and Sasha lying low, their bodies now drained of any kind of energy, while their friends and families took care of them and Amelia, wary in case any of the Roosters tried to attack the Fwagon once again.
"He made a lot of progresses- GET THEM!" Hop Pop suddenly shouted, noticing an opening on Jacob's adversaries "Hit them on the head, boy! Aim for the jugular! The jugular!"
"Wow, Hop Pop," Sprig commented, "You surely look very enthusiastic about it."
"Just because I don't like to use violence doesn't mean I can't be proud of my kids using it."
"Yay!" Polly smiled at his side.
"I must admit, he got better at watching his flank," James mused for a second. "Though I wasn't expecting for him to activate his Calamity Powers this soon."
"I'm feeling jealous, it was him and not me!" Amelia murmured, still shivering from her bruises and the treatment she was receiving. "I mean-ow!"
"Be careful how you move!" Felicia called her out, "You've taken quite a knock earlier, if you keep agitating my decoction will lose efficacy."
"Huh, guys?" Maddie raised a hand, a worried expression on her face, "shouldn't we, like, try to help Jacob? Do you realize the only reason why we're still alive is that those monsters are all focusing on him?"
"I know perfectly, kiddo," Hop Pop nodded, feeling concerned as well, "but we don't have a solution to run or assist him. Even if we went and to help him, we wouldn't be nothing more than a hindrance, plus we can't abandon Sasha and Anne," his gaze fell on the two girls, who were still resting down, having passed out from energy drain.
"He's right, you know girls?" James nodded, "The best we can do for now is stay here and let him focus on our little 'issue'."
"Co-ckoo! Another roaring Rooster rushed forward, trying to grab Jacob with his beak, but the boy saw it approaching and pointed his free hand at it, a lighting of yellow energy detaching from his hand and blasting the ferocious chicken in the face, making him scream and run in pain, the fwagon's occupants gasping in shock as they saw it.
"W-what was that?" Sprig gasped in surprise.
"No way!" Amelia protested, now feeling even more outraged, "Not only Jacob woke up his Calamity before me, but he can shoot lighting from his fingers?!"
"I have to admit, I am quite surprised he was the next one," Ivy smiled, "I was half expecting the next to be Mar-"
A split second before the young yellow frog could finish her sentence, a new explosion could be heard, and a blast of neon green energy brightened on the battlefield, the dust moved by it covering the area for a few seconds. And when the dust dissipated…
"-Mar?" Ivy finished, as she saw the green-clad girls join Jacob's side.
"Mars?" The boy gasped, noticing her new brand Calamity form. "W-what happened to you?"
"The same thing it happened to you, I guess," the girl smirked, noticing the boy's empowered armor and weapon, "Not exactly how I expected to awaken my Calamity Power, but I guess that'll make it for now."
Some roosters, after overcoming the shock to see yet another adversary stand against them and tried to attack her, once again using their numerical superiority to cover the distance between them and the humans, dozens of throats were shrieking at the same time. Jacob heard that and, with his hammer, violently hit the ground in front of him and created a shockwave that interrupted the assault and caused confusion among the roosters' ranks. Meanwhile Marcy, pointed her crossbow at the middle of the predator's formation, the weapon's dart glowing in pixelated energy power as Marcy shot it, the dart exploding and killing many roosters at the same time, a 'COMBO' sign appearing above Marcy.
Figures, Jacob smiled internally, only Marcy could make superpowers look like classic video-games graphics.
"I've got a power-up!" The girl squealed in delight, "This is better than any game I've ever played!"
"Happy that you're liking it, but we can't afford to celebrate victory yet," Jacob issued, pointing out how still more than half of the Roaring Roosters' herd was still standing and looking ready to fight. "We can't fight that many roosters at once. They are terrible fighters, but there are awfully a lot of them! Do you have a plan?"
"Yes," Marcy nodded, as he looked at the area around her, her Calamity-enhanced brain going into overdrive, hyper-complex calculations running at a higher speed than any military supercomputer could achieve. "It may be risky, but I think it's doable."
"How risky are we talking?"
"How does traversing an unstable bridge at full speed to reach the other side before it falls down sounds?"
The boy smiled. "I'll keep these birdbrains occupied; you go to the Fwagon and warns the others, I'll reach you as soon as I can!"
Marcy smiled as she flew back to the Fwagon, the others gasping as they could finally see her in front of them, in full Calamity glory.
"Marcy-" Maddie began to speak, only for her students to cut her short.
"Sorry, no time to explain! I have a plan to bring everyone to safety, and we need your cooperation!"
"I'm on it!" Hop Pop immediately replied. "What do we have to do?!
"Hop Pop, how fast can Bessie and Liptea carry the fwagon to the other end of the bridge?"
"The other end?!" Ivy gasped in surprise. "Surely you're joking!"
"Never been more serious! The bridge is unstable, and will crumble if we try to cross it; yet, if we traverse it fast enough-
"-we may be able to reach the opposite bank, and with the bridge destroyed, the Roaring Roosters won't be able to follow us!" Felicia smiled in realization. "The plan is good, but also a high-risk one. If something goes wrong, we may all die!"
"Better to take a swim than to be eaten alive by those monstrous poultries!" James pointed out, looking at Jacob who was still busy in his rearguard mission.
"I agree, to drown is a better way to go rather than being eaten alive," Maddie nodded.
"I've already determined the path that will guarantee you the best combination between relative safety and high-speed performance," Marcy added, scribbling on a paper of her Journal, and passing it to Hop Pop. "You'll need to follow it exactly as I calculated, or you may risk either not reach the other bank on time or over-destabilize the bridge's structure."
"But what about Jacob? And you?" Sprig asked, suddenly worried. "You risk remain trapped here!"
"Sorry, we can't follow you immediately," Marcy glowed back, loading another dart in her crossbow, and throwing it toward the Rooster as Jacob disengaged and began to slowly retreat. "Jacob and I…. we will cover your retreat and hold back the Roosters long enough for you to traverse the bridge safely. Don't worry: as soon as you're far enough, we will follow and rejoin you. But you must be fast!"
"DID YOU HEAR THAT?!" Polly screamed, jumping on the staging coach, and yelling as loud as she could. "Bessie, Liptea, things are getting messy!"
The two snails didn't need to hear that twice and quickly emerged from their shells, speeding at the maximum they could manage toward the entrance of the bridge, Akitsu holding tightly onto the fwagon's roof and flapping her wings as fast as possible to support them. Jacob and Marcy rushing behind them, the ranger/mage throwing bolts and spells to block the path to the bridge to the roosters. Yet, as soon as the fwagon began to traverse the bridge's main path, the structure around them began to creak, the worn-down, stiffened materials that composed it unable to withstand the added weight on the structure, ruined cords beginning to wilt, weakened arcs losing bricks and other pieces. The snails were pulling as fast as possible, and they were now surpassing the center of the bridge, but it was clear that, before the fwagon could safely reach the other side, the bridge would collapse around it…unless someone did something first.
"Jacob!" Amelia cried as she saw her cousin jumping from the bridge and fly toward the central, biggest arc of the bridge, "What is that idiot doing?!"
"Giving you as much time as I can get," the boy replied though greet teeth and grabbed the main pillar, pushing it to prevent it from collapsing. Jacob felt like he was trying to support a whole mountain with his bare muscles, the yellow Calamity magic burning all over his body, and sweat dripping from his forehead as blood began to drop out of his nose. Yet, the boy didn't yield, his muscles aching in pain as he kept pushing…
The sound of a roaring and shrieking stampede informed the boy that the Roaring Roosters were trying to follow the fwagon trough the bridge, their combined weight adding even more of a challenge on Jacob's shoulders.
"Jacob, you can let it go!" Marcy hurried him, as the fwagon finally reached the other bank, the girl looking back just in time to see the bridge break in two, the weight of the roosters on it being too much for the damaged infrastructure to handle as it fell, her eyes widening in horror.
"JACOB!" The girl cried again, as she launched herself forward, the world slowing down around her.
No one knows exactly what happened at that moment. Did Marcy run at super-speed' Did she fly? None among the occupants of the fwagon was looking, Hop Pop and Felicia were busy making sure they were safe. Only after half a minute, the group realized the two humans were still missing, and rushed outside, to see what had happened to them.
The bridge had collapsed, its debris falling into the cold water of the lake under it. The bodies of several Roaring Roosters were floating in the water, attracting several aquatic predators interested to feed on their flesh while, on the opposite end, the surviving members of the humongous herd that attacked them shrieked, as they saw their prey escape from their beaks.
And standing right in front of the fwagon, breathing deeply, stood Marcy, the girl's power fizzling and sparking, holding Jacob by her shoulder, the boy having lost consciousness, his powers turned off, both covered in bruises and scratches, but alive.
"I-I did it!" Marcy panted as she dropped on her knees, feeling her head beginning to spin, "I did it! I-I…"
Then, the world around became black, the girl collapsing onto the ground as her family and friends rushed to her.
When Marcy regained consciousness, she saw she was not in the fwagon. Rather, she was in a small tent, lying on a comfortable bed made with dried-up hay and other herbs, a pillow under her head, the fresh smell and the green, vital color of nature coming from a small opening in front of her. And to her right, separated from her by a meter or two, stood Jacob, the boy lying in a small bed just like hers, but having already woken up, and looking at her with friendly eyes.
"Marcy, you're awake!" He said with a happy voice.
"How-how long have I been-"
"Unconscious? A couple of hours at most. Felicia said she and Hop Pop have stopped the fwagon and prepared this little tent for us to recover. Since the bridge is gone, the roosters are trapped on the opposite side and we can afford to take it easy."
"Wait, you said the bridge is gone? But-"
"Well, Hop Pop passed by not long ago to check on us, so I asked him for a recap of what had happened. He told me about what happened while I lost consciousness, and by the way… thank you for saving my life."
"Oh, don't worry about that," the girl chuckled nervously for a few seconds, as an embarrassed silence fell among them.
"So… about what you said to me earlier…"
"Well, yeah…look, we went through a lot today, so…maybe it would be better to pretend that didn't happen, don't you agree? I mean, I don't feel sure about myself, and we do have a long path ahead of us before reaching Newtopia. How about… we take some time to figure out our thoughts, and we discuss it again, maybe someday? How about we remain friends, at least for now?"
"I-I guess it would be for the best," Marcy nodded. "Sorry, I just... What's happening here, exactly? Are you… forgiving me for what I've done?"
For a moment, Jacob was tempted to say 'yes, of course I do', but before replying to her, he considered the question. His mind went back to the very first days they had spent in Amphibia, scrambling for food, sleeping in a cave, hiding from monstrous bugs that threatened to kill them every day. He thought of how hard they had worked to become accepted in Wartwood, where the locals saw them as monsters, all the hardships they had endured, the Herons, the Toads, Aiden, how Marcy had been behind the whole thing from the beginning-
"No," he admitted with full, unblemished truth. "Sorry Marbles, but I can't sincerely forgive you, not yet at least. Frog, Marcy, if you had just talked to us, we could-"
"I did," the dark-haired girl murmured. "I told it to Maddie."
"Oh?"
"I…I didn't believe I could keep it a secret forever, so I told her. She was…helping me manage my own guilt, hoping to help me tell you whenever I would be…ready."
"So, she knew, huh?" The boy took a deep breath. "Anyway, I'm sorry Marcy, but I don't believe I can fully forgive you for…this. However, I'm not going to hate you, Marbles. Yeah, you screwed up big time, but you know what? It's okay. You made a mistake, but you realized it and you tried to fix it. You tried to change, that's what's important. And whatever will happen from now on, I'll be at your side, ready to help you, to trust you if you're willing to trust me."
"You…you're willing to stand at my side, no matter what?"
"What can I say, I'm a sucker for nice, cute, nerd girls." He chuckled, laughing at himself. "And, when we'll be back on Earth, if you'll have reconsidered the whole 'moving away' thing… my house has a big guest room, maybe I could ask mom and dad if you could…move in for a while?"
"Hey guys!" Sprig's voice announced from outside, "Marcy's awake!"
"Marcy!"
"Mar-Mar!"
"MARS!"
The titular girl almost jumped in surprise as everyone gathered around the entrance of the tent, smiling at her, Sasha and Anne rushing to hug her.
"We were so scared when we woke up to find you had passed out!" Sasha confessed, "You had any idea how much worried I was?!"
"Welcome to the club, calamity girl!" Anne smiled, trying not to show her own fears. "Well, I guess this is the most amazing thing that could've happened to you, today."
"Actually…" Marcy said, her eyes turning and meeting with Jacob's, her determination rising as he gave her a small nod of encouragement.
No more lies, no more secrets.
"…there is something I think I should tell you."