Pete's eyes were shut tightly, as he heard Myka click the pen. A moment later, he felt his feet being ripped up from the ground, and he felt as though he was flying through the air for another second, but then he was thrown down onto the ground.

His eyes popped open, and he was in the middle of a meadow. No, not a meadow, a yard. A really large yard, he noticed. It wasn't that bright outside, and from the position of the sun in the sky he guessed that it was far past noon. But still, he shielded his eyes with his hands, and looked up at Myka, who was standing, hands on her hip, looking down at him.

"Get up, Pete," she snapped impatiently, "we have to find Claudia and Josh. And quickly. Before the side effects start to kick in."

"Right. Side effects bad." Pete jumped up, and brushed some grass off his pants. "Is this their house?"

"Where do you think we are?" Myka looked around. "There aren't any houses like this in South Dakota."

"There aren't any houses," Pete looked around, but the house was surrounded by tall trees. "Do you think Claud's parents own all this land? They must be rich."

"Pete, please focus. We have to find Claudia and Joshua and then- Pete, where are you going?"

Pete looked over his shoulder as he walked towards the house. "Well, we wouldn't have come here if we weren't supposed to go inside."

Myka chewed her bottom lip. "Well, I'll look around the grounds."

"Okay."

"Pete?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful?"

"Always am…. Usually."

Mrs. Frederic had left (with strict instructions for Artie to call her when Pete and Myka returned), so it was just Steve, HG, Joshua, Claudia, Trailer and Artie left in the warehouse. They had finished all of the inventory the morning before, so they had nothing left to do but wait.

HG went off to play with her time machine (Artie had allowed her to repair it, but forbid her from ever using it again), and asked Joshua to give her hand. So they left, and it left Claudia, Steve, and Artie. Claudia's arms were crossed over her chest, and she was leaning against the wall next to Steve.

"How long is it going to take?" Claudia's eyes flickered to the spot on the floor where Myka and Pete had been standing minutes ago.

Artie shrugged, putting papers into a file on his desk. "Minutes. Hours. Days. We don't know for sure."

"Oh."

Steve's head turned to Claudia. "They'll get back safe, Claud."

She nodded, and looked around. "Waiting's boring."

"I have plenty of work you can do," Artie offered. "You can file all of these." He gestured towards the large stacks of thick files that were scattered around the desk. "Help yourself."

Claudia crinkled her nose. "Never mind. Boring's fine."

Pete didn't know whether he could open the door or not. He tested the doorknob, and it opened before him. "Woah," Pete walked into the foyer, looking up at the giant chandelier hanging over his head. "Cool!"

"Claudia, did you leave the front door open?" A woman's voice shouted through the house.

A woman appeared at the top of the stairs, to the left of Pete, her red hair pulled back into a tight bun. There was a thud, and Claudia ran out a room, coming next to her. "No, mother. Why?"

The woman (who Pete now knew was Claud's mom) gestured downstairs. "Close it please."

Claudia nodded, and started down the steps.

"Claudia- take your shoes off. You know better than to wear them in the house, especially your new ones."

Claudia stepped out of a pair of small pink heels (which Pete knew his Claud would never wear in real life), and held them in her hand as she descended the rest of the steps, placing them at the bottom and went to close the door.

Pete stepped out of her way, and the teenager shut and locked the door. He didn't know if she could walk through him or not- but he wasn't going to risk it.

They obviously couldn't see him- so Pete assumed they couldn't hear him or smell him or touch him either.

But he still wasn't going to risk it.

While Pete was inside, Myka walked around the side of the house, towards the backyard.

"Wow," Myka gasped as she finally saw it. There was a garden- not one that you'd see in an average backyard, but an elaborate garden that you'd only see in movies, behind a castle.

Myka was torn between trying to find Claudia or Joshua and walking through it… But she didn't have to.

"Dad," a boy by the name of Joshua Donovan came out of the back door. "Dad!"

A man's head popped out from behind the bushes near the back of the garden. "Yeah, Josh?"

Joshua started to walk towards him, and Myka did too- She didn't want to compromise important information.

"Can I borrow the car?" Joshua stopped in front of the bush.

"To go where?"

"The store to get Claudia's birthday present."

Josh's dad raised an eyebrow. "Your sister's birthday isn't for months."

Joshua shrugged, and smiled. "I want to get my shopping done early. Mom says that you should never leave things until the last minute."

"Your mother says a lot of things," Josh's dad replied. "But okay. I'll believe you this time." He reached into his back pocket, and tossed a ring of keys towards Joshua. "Be careful."

"I will," Josh grumbled, but her turned and ran towards the driveway.

This really isn't so bad, Myka thought. Claudia's probably fine too.

Myka found Pete in the kitchen, sitting on a countertop, watching Claudia. She was on the phone.

"Pete! What are you doing?"

Pete almost fell off the counter, when Myka's voice made him jump. "Gosh, Myks! I'm doing our job." He pointed to Claudia. "She's talking to someone."

Myka nodded. "Good observations, Pete. Very good job" Myka jumped up next to him. "I saw Joshua and their dad. Josh seems happy and their dad seems pretty nice."

"Well their mom is very precise." Pete rolled his eyes, still watching Claudia. "She only lets them talk on the phone in the kitchen, and they can only use their cell phones at certain hours of the day."

"Well, just because she's really strict doesn't mean that they wouldn't have a good life here."

Pete shrugged his eyes still on Claudia.

Myka looked at him. "What are you thinking?"

"Claudia… She's acting weird."

"Well, Pete, she isn't our Claud; they're not going to act the exact same way."

"I know, but… She keeps glancing around, like she's afraid someone's going to hear her, but she isn't trying to talk quietly and she isn't whispering. And whenever she answers a question- to whoever she's talking to- she has to really think about what she's going to say. I think she's talking in code."

Myka laughed. "Don't be absurd, Pete! Why would she be talking in code?"

He shrugged, and Claudia hung up the phone. "I don't know. Maybe she's a spy."

"Does every theory you have to involve spies, aliens or zombies?" Myka raised her eyebrow at him.

"You can't be too careful."

They both watched as she left the kitchen. They followed her up the stairs, to the landing. It was starting to get dark out, and Myka wondered how long they'd been gone.

"I'm going to take a shower and go to bed," the alternative Claudia called down the hall, as she opened a door to what Myka and Pete assumed was her room.

Her room was even more opposite of their Claudia. Mocha brown walls, pastel pink bedding, pictures of the girl and her friends and family covered the lavender bulletin board. Posters of pop singers and girly wall stickers covered the rest of the walls.

Myka looked at Pete. "What, no movie quotes to describe the room?"

Pete shook his head. "I think I'm in shock. Claudia could never survive in a place like this."

Myka rolled her eyes, and the duo watched as Claudia entered the large bathroom and started the water in the shower that was probably as big as the entire bathroom at the B&B.

"Uh, Myks, should we really be watching this?" Pete asked as Claudia stepped out of her skirt and removed her jacket.

"You're right." Myka said. "This is weird. Something's not right."

They looked as Claudia lightly walked to the door to her bedroom, and pressed her ear to it.

"What is she doing?" Pete asked in a loud whisper.

After a few moments of total silence, Claudia ran to her bed and dropped to her knees. She pulled out a large box.

"What is she doing?" Pete repeated.

Opening the box, she pulled out two pieces of dark clothing. Claudia threw on the purple jacket and slid into the black skinny jeans.

"Is she…"

"That's my girl," Myka smiled, as Claudia opened the window and climbed out.

This has to have been the funest chapter to write. I had the second part already written (the scene with Claud sneaking out was one of the first I wrote for this story) but I just love this chapter so much! And it isn't short!

Please review (: