3 PIP

CHAPTER 3 PIP Mom was still frozen in place. She whispered, "I never thought . . . I was so sure I was the only one." She finally snapped out of it and sat down at her desk. "Sorry for acting strange. Come sit, and I'll try to explain." Mom shook her head once more and smiled at me. I sat down slowly. I was super confused. A glowing frog? That only my mom could see? My

stomach flipped and flopped. I picked up Sassafras and gave him a squeeze. He settled into my lap and purred, which calmed me down a little. I seriously hoped that all of this would start making sense soon. "Remember how this used to be Grandma and Grandpa's house?" I nodded slowly and kept petting Sassafras as my heart thumped loudly. "When I was your age, I also spent hours wandering in the forest. One day, I was tossing rocks into the stream when I saw something shimmer in the sunlight." "The purple frog?" I guessed. Mom nodded. "His bright purple skin was covered head to toe with neon-orange spots. I'd never seen anything like it. I was sure I'd discovered a new species!" I nodded again. I love frogs, and I'd never seen a frog that looked like that. "The poor thing was crumpled on the ground, barely breathing. I knew it must be very sick or hurt. I had to help it. I carefully scooped it up and held it close. I found an old empty fish tank in our barn and

got to work figuring out what was wrong. Books helped a little, but I needed to run some simple experiments, too. "I used what I learned from the experiments to help the frog recover. Once he was better, I knew I had to return him to the forest. I reached into his tank and he hopped right into my hand! As I lifted him out, something incredible happened. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen..." I could tell my mom was about to say something big. My mom is a scientist, so she sees crazy things all the time. If this was the craziest thing she'd ever seen, then it must be incredible. I leaned in, scooting so far forward that

Sassafras slid to the ground with a whump. I quickly scooped him back up. "What happened? What did you see?" "The frog looked me in the eye, smiled, and said, 'Thank you!'" I clapped my hand over my mouth. What was going on? Was my mom playing a joke on me? She seemed pretty serious. But a talking frog? Really? It just couldn't be true! "I was so shocked," my mom continued, "I almost tossed the poor frog into the air! 'Whoa!' he said. 'Steady there, little girl! Don't be afraid. My name is Pip. And I'm so grateful for all of your help.'" Here I had to interrupt. "But Mom — this is crazy! Frogs. Can't. Talk." Mom patted my knee. "That's what I thought at first too. But the frog kept on talking. I wasn't dreaming. I wasn't imagining things. There really was a frog named Pip talking to me.

"My hands shook so much that I set Pip on a table for his own safety. He told me he'd been out past dark looking for something he'd dropped during the day. An owl attacked him. He was terrified and hurt, but managed to escape. He didn't remember anything after that until he woke up in our barn. "Once I recovered from the shock of it all, Pip told me that there are lots of magical animals in our forests. Humans can't usually see them. He asked if I'd help others like him who were hurt or sick. I agreed, of course. Pip spread the word about me and the barn after he left. And I've been helping the

magical animals of our forest ever since." A big smile spread across my face. This was incredible. The only thing I might love more than science is magic. And my mom was telling me there was magic right here in our own backyard!