Just too clear up any confusion, Harmony thought the sirens were Ella because Ella has a beautiful voice. Sorry for any confusion there.

ARGH!!!!! I'M GOING MENTAL WITH THE LACK OF REVIEWS!!!!

Disclaimer: We've been through this before. I don't own the dang story.

When I woke up the next morning, first I felt panic. All I could see was green, leafy bushes and tall trees. I couldn't even see the sky through the woods. Some sunlight filtered through the trees, but it only cast a greenish light on the forest, somehow making it even more eerie.

What happened? I thought in panic, Where am I? Then I remembered- the fight. Biting my lip anxiously, I sat up and looked around. Trees. Bushes. More trees. What way had I come from, anyway? And where had Elliott gone? What if he had gotten hurt by a monster?

I grabbed my pack and my sword and started walking. I didn't know where I was going; I just walked down the dirt path that wasn't far from where I had woken up. I was hoping desperately that I would come across Elliott, but I knew that the possibility of that was rare. And besides, what if he was still mad at me? I wasn't really that mad at him... it's hard to stay mad at someone that you're so close too. And even though he had gotten us into the siren situation, it hadn't turned out badly, so I wasn't even sure why I had blown up at him in the first place.

I continued ambling down the path, humming quietly to myself like I always did when I walked. I liked to sing. It was sort of a weird stress reliever for me. Then I heard a snap of a branch, and I paused.

"Hello?" I called.

"Harmony!"

I screamed, but then I turned to see that it was only Elliott.

"Shit, Elliott! You scared me!"

He smiled wanly, "Sorry about... blowing up at you. It was kind of my fault that we got into the stupid situation in the first place."

I smiled back at him, "No, you were right. Sirens were made to lure men to them. It's not your fault."

"So... we're both apologizing, right?" He asked, "So we're both not mad anymore?"

"I'm not mad if you're not."

"I'm definitely not mad."

We smiled at each other and exchanged a quick hug before deciding to discuss our primary issue; Ella. We still had no idea where she was or what we would do to find her. And if the Minotaur had her, then we didn't have much time left.

"Well, where was the town with the Minotaur?" I asked, "Wasn't that where we were going to go?"

He nodded, so we quickly looked it up on our map and headed in that direction. We grabbed a ride from a city bus, and soon enough, we were facing a sign that said "Welcome to Kirk, population; 5,697" **A/N: I looked up weird town names, and this was one. I just picked it randomly, so it's not necessarily in the state it's supposed to be in with its correct population. Plus, it's my nickname. LOL.

"Well, this is it," I said, "Let's go find traces of any attacks, alright?"

Elliott nodded, so we walked closer to the little town. It was a small town at the end of the highway. The houses were all neat and trim, and there were people everywhere. I suppose it was the sunny day, but seriously. People were walking around everywhere.

I also saw no sign of Minotaur damage. The way Chiron had said, it made it sound like the Minotaur ripped up half the town. As Alice would say, curious and curiouser. We continued to walk through the town, but we saw nothing that would help us. Not until we came across a store with a gaping hole in the wall- about the size of a Minotaur, I would say. Inside, there was a man who was slowly sweeping the floor. He didn't look like a man who would welcome a monster attack, so I decided that talking to him would be safe.

I nudged Elliott and pointed at the store. He nodded swiftly, and we walked up to the man who was sweeping the floor inside.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked as politely as I could. The man turned around; I would say he was in his sixties. He had neatly trimmed gray hair, twinkling black eyes, and very neat clothes underneath an apron.

"How may I help you?" He asked, setting down his broom and wiping his hands on his apron. I squinted around the store quickly; it appeared to be a bakery. There were delicious looking baked goods lying in a display case by a counter, and I could see the kitchen in the back. Around the shop, there were five or six little red tables, each with four red and silver chairs around them.

The shop had sort of a woodsy smell. Like the floorboards had just been cut down from the trees. But there was also the tell-tale scent of baked goods. My mouth started watering just smelling it.

"We were wondering how that hole came to be," I said, wrenching my mind from the food and pointing to the hole.

"Ah. My lovely little new addition," He laughed, then became serious, "A storm blew a tree through the wall."

I frowned. Even though he looked earnest, I could tell he was lying.

"Please, sir," I said, trying to look as sad-puppy-dog as I could, "But you don't understand. It's crucial that I learn how that hole was made."

The man scrutinized me and Elliott before nodding quickly.

"Fine. If you must know. But first, please, do sit."

He motioned to a table and Elliott and I sat down across from him.

"Where shall I start... ah, yes. Well, you see, a few days ago, a very sweet young girl came by here. She, quite frankly, was beautiful. She had golden curls, and-"

"Sparkling blue eyes," I said excitedly. The man looked alarmed.

"Do you know her?"

"Yes, Mr- I'm afraid I don't know your name," I apologized.

"Johnson. Mister Fredrick H. Johnson."

"Well then, yes, I do know her, Mr. Johnson. She's the reason I was so curious about that hole, you see."

"Interesting," He mused, "Anyway, she asked me if she could buy a muffin. I do specialize in muffins, you know. She asked for a poppy-seed muffin, but I was all out. She did look quite put out, so I offered to make her one. She looked delighted, so she sat down while nibbling on some bread of mine while I went to throw the muffins in. When they were in, I came back to chat with her. She really is a darling girl. Then the muffin timer dinged, so I went back to the kitchen to retrieve them. While I was doing so, I heard a horrible roar- so, of course, I ran back to the front room to see your darling friend being dragged off by some creature. And thus the hole was formed."

I looked at Elliott in alarm. So she was being held captive. She could be dead.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Johnson," I said quickly, "Um, did you happen to see where the Min- I mean, where the creature took her?"

"He went that way-" Mr. Johnson pointed out the hole, "And ran as far as I could see. I didn't chase him. No, I'm far too old for that. And calling the police wouldn't do much good, seeing as they already think I'm off my rocker. So I had to let her be taken."

He said the last part rather sadly. I could tell that he had grown rather fond of her during their short time together. What can I say? Children of Aphrodite are charmers.

"Thank you," I said again, "You have been very helpful. And when we return with Ella- alive- we'll bring her here and we'll all buy muffins."

Mr. Johnson smiled warmly at me.

"I would like that a lot."