Chapter 7
Date: August 9th
Location: Sky's over Athens
"Everybody, we'll be landing soon. Prepare to disembark." Agent Lance called over the plane's P.A. system. At this moment, Brittany came out of the planes bathroom. She had been changing clothes. 'Kinda cramped in there, but it's good to have a change of clothes on. Thanks for bringing these, Miss Miller." "No problem dear. Alvin, do you want to go change now?" "I already did. Can't you tell?" Ms. Miller looked closely at Alvin's clothes. "Oh, so you did. But, when did you.." "While you were all still sleeping." The flight had taken over night to make, and so the group caught some sleep while they had the chance. "So, you were up before all of us then?" "Kind of. See, I never really went to sleep. I couldn't. Every time I'd close my eyes, I'd just about immediately start dreaming. And, I kept having pretty much the same dream. I'd see one of the others, calling out to me, begging me for help. The only difference between the dreams was who was calling out to me. First it was Jeanette, the second time, Simon, and then Theo, followed by Ely. My eyes closed four times, and I saw all four of them. After I saw Ely that fourth and final time, I knew that I'd never be able to stop having the dream when I went to sleep. So, to keep from having it, I decided to stay up. I drank of bunch pop to do it, so if I start twitchin' or something, it's the caffeine, just so you know." "Alvin.." Brittany said. "You mean to say, you didn't get any sleep at all?" "Maybe a grand total of five minutes. But, it's okay. Plenty of time to sleep when this is over, right?" "Uh, yeah." "Alright then. Grab your passports, everybody. Looks like we're landing." Alvin said, while looking out the window. The group landed and quickly made their way into Athens. "Okay, what's the fastest way to the Parthenon?" Alvin asked. "Same as in Mexico, I assume. By car. I'll go rent us one. Stay right here." Agent Sterns said. "Alright." Agent Sterns left. Alvin then spotted something that caught his eye. "Hey, I'm gonna go look at something. I'll be right back." "But, Agent Sterns said to stay here, Alvin." Vinny said. 'Relax, mom. I'm just going over there. I just wanna check this thing out. You know, to get my mind off of things. I'll be right back." "Well, okay. Please, hurry though." "You got it." Alvin walked off to look at the thing. As she watched Alvin walk away with her, Miss Miller noticed a look of concern spread across Brittany's face out of the corner of her eye. "Are you worried about him?" She asked. " Yeah." Brittany said, embarrassed by being caught. "I mean, of course I am. After all, despite all the fights we have, Alvin's still my good friend. And it's hard not to worry about your friends, especially in situations like this, right?" "Yes, it is." "'sigh' Poor Alvin. He's bearing the burden of this so much more than the rest of us. Hard to say it's his fault though. After all, the Vorsteins did heap the responsibility of pulling off the rescues all on him. But, even so, I still wish there was something I could do to, you know, take some of the weight off his shoulders." "There is something you can do, Brittany. And, your already doing it." "I am?" "Yes. See, what it is that you can do for him is simply being there for him. Be there to give him a word of encouragement, or a warm smile, when things get rough." "But, isn't that what his mom's for? Wouldn't it mean more to hear or see that kind of stuff from her, his mother, than from me, a simple friend?" 'I don't think the relationship between you and Alvin is all that simple, Brittany. I mean, after all, you've been through a lot together." "Yeah, but.." 'Brittany, the fact of the matter is, your close to Alvin. And right now, Alvin needs the support of those closest to him. Now, I'm sure Vinny is a major part of that support, what with her being his mother and all like you said. But, I know, you and I are important to him too. We're close to him. So, it's our job to support him. So the best thing you can do for him, is to just keep making sure that he knows that your there for him." "Just keep reminding him?" "That's right. And don't let it bother you if start sounding like broken record. Your support is still vital, even if you just keep saying the same thing. Remember that, okay?' "Okay." "One more thing." "Hmmm?" "I know you and your sisters have been used to calling me Miss Miller all these but, I'm the closest thing to a mother you've got right?" "Yeah." "Well, call me selfish but, I'd like to be acknowledge as such." "You want us to start calling you mom?" "Well, as you know, I never had any biological children of my own, so it would be nice." "Well, shoot. What took you so long to bring this up? Man, all this time, all you had to do tell us, mom." "Brittany, you called me.." "Uh-huh. I sure did. And, you know, it feels kinda good. I like this. And I want Jean and Ely to feel this too. I'll be sure to tell them to call you mom after we get them back. Okay?" "Yes, that's fine dear. I love you, Brittany." "I love you too, Mom." Vinny, who had watched this scene play out since the first time she had heard herself be brought up in the conversation, smiled. She then noticed Alvin returning. "Did you see what you wanted to, dear?" "Yeah." "What was that anyway?" Brittany asked. "It was a poster, advertising a music festival. Or at least, I think it was. It was in Greek and I don't speak or read greek. Still though, I wish we could see it." "Well, we'll just have to put that on the list of things to do after this is over, right?" Brittany asked. 'Yeah. But, sadly, summer vacation's almost over. Don't know if we'd get the time to come." "We'll find a way." "Yeah, your right, Britt. We'll just have to find a way." Just then, Agent Sterns rolled up in a very nice car. He rolled down one of the windows and said 'hop in." The gang loaded in and quickly headed to the Parthenon. Once there, they began to look around for anything suspicious. "Well, the last note was telling the truth. They're making this harder. She's not laying out in the open like you were, Brittany." "Yeah. Where is she?" "Hey, look over there." Miss Miller called. She pointed out a lone tent off the side of hill that the Parthenon sat on. "What was it you said, Vinny? Put her in a place plain enough and you can hide her in plain sight?" "Something like that. Let's check it out." "Me first, of course." Alvin said. The others nodded and hung a few steps back from Alvin as they approached the tent. When he reached the 'door' of the tent, Alvin looked around. 'Don't see any booby traps." "Guess it's safe then." Brittany said. 'let's hope so. Alright, here goes." Alvin opened the tent and stepped inside. Sure enough, Jeanette was inside, tied up the same as Brittany was. She was also near the door. "Take this!" She cried, her eyes shut in concentration. She then fired a strong kick into Alvin's stomach. "Ugh!" Just then, Brittany came into the tent. "Jeanette! It's so good to see you! Are you…okay? Uh, what happened in here?" "Huh?" Jeanette said. She finally opened her eyes. 'Brittany?" 'Hey, sis." "It's so good to see you." "Same here. Um, mind telling me what happened to Alvin?" Brittany asked, pointing to Alvin, who was doubled over in the corner. Jeanette looked over in the corner. "Wait, that was Alvin who first walked in?" "Uh, yeah." "'Gasp'! oh no!" "What happened?" "She kicked me in the gut!" Alvin cried. "I'm so sorry, Alvin! I heard the tent open, and I thought it was the men who were keeping me in here again, and I wanted to escape, so I planned to kick them as hard as I could and then dart out. And I was concentrating on acting out that plan so hard that I involuntarily closed my eyes. That's why I didn't see you. But, that's no excuse. I'm so sorry for hurting you, Alvin. Please forgive me!" " 'cough, cough' it's okay, Jean. I've been hit in the gut before. Nothing I can handle. Here, let's untie you." Alvin bent over, wincing a little as he did, and untied Brittany. "Ugh, man, Jean. Remind me never to get on your bad side. Ugh, guess it's true. Having long legs makes you good at kicking." "I'm sorry, Alvin." Jeanette said, her eyes tearing. "Hey, no tears now. I'm okay. You didn't mortally wound me or anything. You just knocked the wind out of me. I'm okay, see?" Jeanette nodded and wiped away her tears once her hands were free. When the rope fell away, Brittany noticed a now very familiar object pinned to the stomach of Jeanette's shirt. "Alvin, look. On Jean's stomach." "Another note." Alvin quickly snatched the note off of Jeanette's stomach. He opened it and quickly read over it. "Yup. It's from them alright. Come on, we'll read this on the plane." "Right. Come on, let's go Jeanette." 'um, alright. But, what's going on here?" "We'll tell you later. Now let's go." "Right." As the chipmunks walked out, they heard a strange, rumbling sound. 'What's that noise?" Brittany asked. Alvin then happened to look up the hill and saw the source of the sound. "Rockslide! Run!" The gang took off running, trying to clear the falling rubble. However, Jeanette tripped, and so Brittany stopped to help her up. Alvin looked back and noticed that a large piece of rock was head right for and they had no time to get out of the way. He dashed back and grabbed Jeanette and Brittany by the wrists and pulled them towards him. This yanked the girls out of the way, but also brought them crashing into Alvin, which knocked all three of them down. The boulder passed and the rockslide ceased. It was then that rest of the gang ran back to check on the three young munks. "Are you alright?" Vinny asked. "yeah, we're fine." Alvin said. "Um, Alvin?" Brittany asked. "Yeah?" "Could you move your arm? It's kinda going right across my you know what's." Alvin looked and noticed that, when he and the girls had landed, Brittany's chest had landed right on top of his arm. Alvin snapped up. "Sorry, Britt." "It's okay. I can let it slide. After all, you did just save our necks." Alvin nodded. "What caused that rock slide anyway?" Just then, an archeologist came running towards them. "Hey, are you okay?" "Yeah, we're alright." Alvin said. "Thank goodness. I saw the slide and I was worried that somebody might be down here, so I came down to check on things. Your sure your all alright?" "Yes, we're fine. Rattled, but fine.' Jeanette said. 'Well, that's good." 'What caused that anyway?" Agent Sterns asked. "Weak Earth. Been getting a lot of rain here lately. It must've weakened the soil. And, when the soil eventually gave way, down came the rocks. Uh, listen, I need to go check to see if anyone else was in the slide's path." 'Go right ahead." Vinny said. The archeologist nodded and ran off. "Man, one thing after another." Alvin said. "Come on, let's get out of here before something else happens." The gang quickly returned to the plane. Along the way, Brittany and Alvin explained the situation to Jeanette. When they arrived at the plane, Alvin gave Jeanette a receiver and explained how to use it. After that, Alvin pulled out the clue. "Alright, let's figure this thing out." Meanwhile, a certain archeologist was on the phone. 'Yes ma'am. I checked afterwards and they definitely survived. But, they were spooked pretty good by it. Of course ma'am. Anything for you. Well, I need to get back to 'work'. I'll talk to you later. Oh, but before I forget, let me just say that it's good to have you back, Miss Vorstein."