Chapter 3

Vanessa turned her head and noticed her letter from Johnny sitting partly inside the hedge. She took it.

"Oh what a relief. I found it," she said and unfolded it. Ferb came around a corner and found her. He put up a finger and opened his mouth, but Vanessa stopped him and said, "Hang on. Sorry, but I've got this really important letter I have to read from someone I really like."

Ferb put his hand down and frowned at that last part. He folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at her.

Vanessa read the letter in a murmur to herself, "Yo Vanessa, I know a letter is kind of old school and all, but I didn't know how to, like, say this and stuff. I just think it's time for us to, ya know, separate. I know we've been dating for a while, but all relationships have to come to an end at some point. I hope we can, like, still be friends or whatever. Sorry. Johnny."

Vanessa felt tears stinging her eyes as she looked at the letter. Ferb's face softened and he unfolded his arms.

"He didn't even spell my name right. He spelled it with two N's and one S," Vanessa said quietly.

The tears welling up in her eyes began to turn into anger and she immediately crumpled up the letter and threw it on the ground. Ferb could tell that even though, she knew he tried to let her down gently, it still must have hurt.

Vanessa was about to pick up the paper again and tear it to shreds, but Ferb picked it up first. Vanessa let out a deep breath and sat down on the dirt. She covered her eyes with her hands.

"I'm sorry," she managed. "I know I kind of overreacted, but…" Ferb uncrumpled the paper and began smoothing it out. Once he finally got it to how he wanted it, he began to fold it. Vanessa slowly looked up to see what he was doing. Ferb swiftly and easily folded the paper up into a lovely origami swan. He handed it to Vanessa.

Vanessa stopped to think for a moment and said, "Where have I seen you before? Your name is… uh… Fred? Frank? Herb? Ferb! Ferb!" Vanessa looked closely at the paper bird in her hand and gasped, "Ferb! It's beautiful."

Ferb smiled and replied, "Well, I guess that you and it have something in common now."

Vanessa felt another tear roll down her cheek, but this one wasn't a sad one.

XXXX

Dr. Doofenshmirtz had headed back to his apartment to see if he could find Vanessa with his telescope from high up.

"Ferb! Ferb!" Phineas called.

Candace complained, "Oh why do we have to be searching in this heat?" The two teenagers trudged behind the kids.

Isabella pointed out, "Look! There's the wind machine!" The four headed over to it.

They looked around, but Ferb wasn't there.

Stacy noticed the labyrinth and asked, "Hey, how long has that been there?" Everyone's attention turned to the maze.

"Huh. I have no idea," Phineas said scratching his head.

"You don't think he went in there, do you?" Isabella said.

"It wouldn't hurt to look. Makes sense, though. I mean the wind machine's here," Phineas said.

Candace said as they entered, "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"It's alright, Candace. No one would put something unsafe in the middle of town like this. Unless, of course, they're an evil villain or something like that."

The four walked around a while, still calling Ferb's name. There was still no response.

"Well, I guess he's not here," Phineas said. They all turned around to head out, but for some reason, they couldn't find their way out. All the walls looked the same and for all they knew, they could have been getting deeper and deeper into the maze rather than out of it, or even going in complete circles. That's when Candace began to have a nervous breakdown.

"Oh no! We've been here already! I know we have! We've been stuck in here for hours! If we haven't gotten out by now, that probably means we're trapped inside here! It's just like Dad's Greek mythology stories! About that guy who got stuck in the labyrinth! We'll be stuck in here forever! We could die in here! We'll starve to death or dry up from the sun and then we'll have to eat or be eaten! But worst of all, Jeremy will never get to see my scrapbook! We're all going to perish in this maze of death!!!!" Candace collapsed to her knees and sobbed.

Phineas patted his sister on the back and said, "We're not going to die, Candace. Don't worry. Besides, if Theseus was able to make it out alive, then the four of us can too. Besides, we've got it easy. It's not like there are any minotaurs or weird creatures in here with us."

Candace looked up at him and said angrily, "You know, if we were going to search for Ferb in here, why couldn't you have just built a helicopter so we could hover over the maze and look for him? We could just drop down a ladder and he could climb up!"

Phineas shrugged innocently and said, "I don't know. Why didn't you suggest that idea before we entered the maze?"

Candace began her dramatic sobbing again.