Impostor

Chapter Four: Proof

Marissa

"You know she's gonna find something," Isabella told me, "She's Candace. She takes her busting very seriously."

I sighed. "I know, but I'm just worried, that's all. You know me, always looking out for my brothers."

"Yeah," Isabella's voice trailed off and she looked down out the window. The boys were sitting over the blueprints and seemed to be discussing some design flaw or other. She sighed, turning back to me. "What if Candace doesn't find anything? What if I just imagined it?"

"I believe you, Isabella," I told her, giving her a reassuring smile.

There was a quiet knock on the door and Isabella jumped off the bed to go and open it. On the other side stood Ferb, holding the rolled-up blueprints for today's project. Although he kept his blank-faced look I could tell he was worried about something. Before he could say anything Isabella gave him a look. "It's Phineas, isn't it?" she asked.

Ferb only nodded.

"Candace is on it already," Isabella told him, "Soon as we hear back from her-"

As if on cue Candace burst into the room, accidentally knocking Ferb over and giving me a panicked look. "Ohmygahd, guys, you're not gonna believe this!"

"About time," Isabella crossed her arms at Candace in a clear expression of annoyance. After a moment it was replaced with urgent concern and she asked, "So what did you find?"

"Come and see," Candace took Isabella's arm and we all followed her back into her room, where she had a tripod set up overlooking the backyard. She had the camera resting on the bed, paused at a certain point, and she turned it so we could all see. "Look at this," she said, pressing the play button on the camera. Since the footage had been taken from the window, there was no audio, but it was clear that Phineas was in the middle of screwing two pieces of metal together. After he finished he picked it up and looked at it for a minute, frowning, and then turned to refer to the blueprints. He briefly turned back to the part he had put together, and then again to the blueprints.

"There!" Candace cried as she paused the footage and pointed to the screen on the camera. "You see it?"

"No," Isabella admitted, "What is it we're supposed to be seeing?"

"Right here," she backed it up a few seconds and then played it again, this time frame-by-frame. Slowly we watched again as Phineas turned to the blueprints. As he turned back, I could see his eyes had changed-into what Isabella had found earlier this morning.

Isabella gasped, also seeing the change, and Candace paused the video. "See," she said, as if this was her idea in the first place and we didn't already know about it. "I told you there's something wrong here!"

"Um, Candace-" Isabella started.

"I so told you," Candace ignored Isabella completely and gave us each a brief triumphant look.

"Candace," I snapped, "Pay attention."

Candace frowned at me but she didn't say another word. Instead she just crossed her arms.

"So what do we do?" Isabella asked, "I mean, did Phineas get turned into a monster now or what? and how do we turn him back?"

As if there had been any question before, I now knew that this wasn't Phineas. Something had taken him and I wasn't going to stop at anything to get him back. Only thing was...I didn't know how to do that. If only we could find out about whatever kind of monster it was-maybe Baljeet would know. It was worth a try, at least. I spoke up: "We could ask Baljeet. He's bound to know something."

Isabella was about to say something, but Phineas's familiar voice came from the doorway. "Hey, Ferb."

I turned to see the impostor leaning against the doorframe. Its arms were crossed and it gave Ferb an annoyed look. "Ferb, I told you to bring out those jumper cables like ten minutes ago. Now come on, get your head out of the clouds-we have stuff to do."

Ferb just looked helplessly at me, but then turned and followed Phineas out the door. I was about to protest, to tell that monster exactly what I thought of it, but Isabella grabbed my arm and pulled me back. She shook her head-now was not the time. Realizing this, I nodded; we didn't really know what it could do, and I didn't want to take any chances. Instead, we just waited till they were out of earshot and continued the discussion.

It was half an hour later and we had decided on a course of action. I was at Baljeet's house, waiting for him to answer the door, and once we got some info on this monster we would figure out how to destroy it and get my brother back. I worried for him, taken away to some horrible place. He must be so scared, all alone-it suddenly struck me that there may be more of those monsters, perhaps a pack of them, and the rest were keeping Phineas away from us. But why? Why would anyone take my little brother? What could they possibly want with him? That was what worried me the most. I only hoped that he wasn't hurt, or...it pained me to even think it...dead...

Baljeet opened the door and then looked up at me. "Oh," he said, "Hello, Marissa. What brings you here?"

"Baljeet, we need your help," I told him, "Phineas has been kidnapped by a monster and we need to know what it is."

"Phineas? Kidnapped?" Baljeet exclaimed, "Oh, that is terrible! I will do anything I can to help you."

"Great. I need you to find out as much as you can about anything related to this," I handed him a snapshot of the monster-one of the few frames that Candace had caught with the freaky eyes that had given the monster's secret up. "Let us know as soon as you find anything."

"Okay," Baljeet said, taking the picture, "Give me half of an hour, and I will give you everything you need to know."

"Thanks," I said, relieved. It had occurred to me earlier that Baljeet might not have the info we needed. But then I remembered his nickname of "human encyclopedia." Of course he would be able to help. He'd probably throw in some unrelated math facts too. I headed back home, careful to avoid the backyard, and quickly went inside, up to Candace's bedroom. She and Isabella were there, keeping a close eye on the impostor to make sure nothing happened to Ferb. Isabella turned to me as I opened the door and asked, "So?"

"Yeah, he's on it," I told her, "He'll let us know soon as he finds something."

"Great," Isabella said, then sighed. "I hope Phineas is okay, wherever he is..."

"Me too," I agreed, sitting next to her next to the window. I didn't want to think of what could be happening to him. How long had he been gone? Until this morning, none of us had noticed anything different. Did that mean that he had been taken sometime last night? or that the monster had only now made a noticeable mistake? I sighed, trying to push out of my head the thought of Phineas being injured, possibly dead. I had to believe that he was still alive. I wouldn't be able to take it if he wasn't.

My cell suddenly beeped, making me jump. I picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Oh! Marissa," came Baljeet's voice from the other end, "I am afraid I have been unable to find out anything about this scary monster. I have failed terribly!" his voice was piercing and I thought I heard him crying for a moment. There was a small silence and then he continued. "I am sorry, Marissa, but I can be of no help."

At this my heart sank. If even Baljeet knew nothing about this monster, then who did? How would we defeat it? When could I see my li'l bro again? For now I just sighed, snapping the phone shut and turning glumly to Isabella and Candace. "Baljeet's got nothing," I told them, "Now what do we do?"

"What? Nothing?" Isabella exclaimed, turning to me and frowning. "That can't be right. Baljeet always knows something."

I shook my head. "He doesn't have a clue."

Isabella's eyes fell, settling sadly on the floor. "Okay," she said quietly.

"Hey," I said, "We'll get Phineas back. Somehow."

"But how?" Isabella cried, suddenly angry, "Baljeet doesn't know anything!"

"Perhaps Moon does," Ferb said from the doorway, making us jump. "She seems knowledgeable in the supernatural."

"You know, you might be right," Isabella said reluctantly. I could tell she didn't like Moon, and she probably never would. Or maybe it was just me.

"I hope so," I sighed, "Why don't you go over to her house and ask her. With any luck she'll be of more help than Baljeet."

"Now wait a minute, why do I have to go?" Isabella protested.

"Ferb'll go with you," I added, "Right, Ferb?"

Ferb only nodded.

"See? You two meet back up here in twenty minutes. Me and Candace'll keep an eye on that monster," I knew Candace would be doing most of the keeping-an-eye-on, but that was okay with me. Despite his resemblance to my brother, I didn't even want to see that impostor. Whatever it had done to Phineas, I was going to make sure it would pay, but I also knew that if it had captured him it had some tricks up its sleeves. That, I suppose, is what scared me the most about it. How were we going to stop it? Hopefully Moon would know...