Chapter 13

"Oohhh, lookit, lookit!" Phineas called out as he rushed ahead of Ferb. They had only been walking for about five minutes away from the bus stop, when Phineas claimed he had spotted a parked product supplier truck behind a corner.

As he approached it with Ferb following in tow, Phineas said sing-songingly, "III foooound anoooother oooone."

Ferb came over to stand beside Phineas, placing his hands on his hips so that he could look up at the side of the truck with examination. Phineas did have a point; this truck was definitely more colorful than any of the grey-or-white vehicles they had passed so far.

Upon further analysis, Ferb saw that most of one half of the picture was taken up by an exaggerated, smiling animal character. The other half was covered by elaborately designed text: Tracker's Pet Food Unlimited.

"Seriously," Ferb said with a growingly annoyed frown. He sat down on the edge of the raised curb. "At least it's a clue, I guess."

But Ferb wasn't done talking when Phineas joined him on the sidewalk. Ferb turned to him and said, "But "Pet Food"? Why do brains always have to talk in riddles?"

"Okay," Phineas started. "So what do the law firm, fire, and this Tracker's Pet Food truck have in common?"

Following was a moment of silence, in which neither of them offered an idea. Then Phineas broke it with reference to his own logic. He said with a scrunched up lip, "That makes absolutely no sense at all."

"I know," Ferb agreed, still attempting to work it out. "It can't be of any help if we don't know what it means."

Then Ferb gave an air-filled exhale, and commented, "I wish Phineas was here. He would be able to unravel to enigma of my mind in two seconds flat."

Edging forward a bit, Phineas tried to see Ferb's eyes. He asked with confusion, "He knows your mind better than you do?"

Ferb turned away with a sad look. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm just rambling nonsensically. But Phineas is good with puzzles."

Holding up a finger, Phineas gave Ferb a reassuring poke. "You're good with puzzles, too."

"Yeah, I know," Ferb replied, taking the bases of his wrists and pressing them against his forehead. He dipped his head between his arms. "But I'm not really up for solving riddles right now. I just want to go home."

...you to come home.

Ferb opened his eyes a bit and tipped his head upwards to look at Phineas. He asked after a moment, "What was that?"

Phineas, who had been mirroring Ferb's actions and was staring down at his feet, took a glance at him. He answered in reaction, "Huh? I didn't say anything."

"I could have sworn I heard you say something," Ferb replied, still deep in processing.

Then Phineas gave a surprised gasp and shot his posture straight up. "Oooh! Maybe it was Real Phineas and you can hear him from the outside!"

"...You think so?" Ferb asked, widening his eyes as he considered it.

"I dunno. Do you think it was?" Phineas echoed. Then he yanked both hands up to his own mouth and covered it tightly. He said a few more words muffled from behind his fingers. "Ima be quiet now, so you can hear."

Facing forward again, Ferb shut his eyes and tried to focus on whatever he could.

"Hang-hang on..." Ferb said, holding up his palm before him. He looked down at it as he flexed his fingers in and out. "I think... I think there's something in my hand..."

Phineas reached over to grab Ferb by the fingers. He brought his hand over to his eyes so close that he almost touched it to his nose as he stared into it. "...Nope I don't see anything."

"Hah, no, Phineas," Ferb laughed as he pulled his hand back. Then he formed it into a fist and resumed his alternation between slowly squeezing it and releasing the tension. "Not this hand. I mean my real one..."

With a tight clutch, Ferb lowered his hand, closed his eyes, and tipped his head toward the sky. "...The one that's outside, out there."

"Really?" Phineas responded, scooching closer to now merely peer over Ferb's shoulder. "What do you think is in it?"

"I-I don't know..." Ferb answered haphazardly, clearly attempting to hold his focus, still maintaining his tipped head and shut eyes. He was continuing to weave his fingers back and forth, trying to feel the shape of the intangible object and envision every detail of what it could look like.

"I-I think it's square..." Ferb whispered. Then he winced in thought. "No... rectangular. It has edges, an-and is made of... of..."

Ferb drew up his fist in front of his closed and squinted eyes. "...metal."

But then he frowned and shook his head. "Or-or hard plastic. I can't tell."

Ferb flinched a bit. He thought he could barely catch a couple single words through the ambient sounds of the street, and recognized them welcomingly and without doubt as the familiar voice of his brother.

...help...to think.

"Phineas..." Ferb said softy, rubbing his fingers together as he contemplated. "It's the names... not the rest of it...!"

Repositioning to look Phineas directly in the eye, Ferb continued to work through it while Phineas listened intently. "It doesn't make any sense if you think of it as lawyers, fire and pet food. The names that my mind created-Raund & Raund and Tracker's-are the parts that are unique. Liiike... Tracker's, for instance..."

Waving his pointer finger in a circle, Ferb looked to the corner of his eyes in analysis. "Tracker... tracks, like... like, rails. Like a train track..."

Then Ferb snapped his fingers, threw them on his knee, and pointed at Phineas. "And train wheels run round and round!"

Giggling merrily behind his hands, Phineas almost fell over. "Haha no, Ferb! That's a bus," he informed him through laughter. Then Phineas began to hum a giddy tune.

"Phineas...!" Ferb exclaimed at him. "My brain isn't trying to write children's songs. It's trying to help us get out of here."

Shaking his head and reclaiming himself, Phineas breathed as he pointed at Ferb. "Na. Helping you, ya mean."

"Phin, I don't need a figment of my imagination correcting my pronoun use," Ferb said, attempting to suppress a chuckle. Then he stood up from the sidewalk and peered down the monotonously busy Danville street.

"The clues point to a train, so I say we check the train station," Ferb speculated as he started off down the block, motioning for Phineas to follow.

"Okay," Phineas said, jumping to walk alongside him. "But what's fire got to do with any of it?"

"That I'm not so sure," Ferb admitted as he stuck his fingers through his hair. "I just hope I don't have to crash a train into a flaming explosion or something, if I want to get out of here."

The Danville Train station, unlike the rest of the city, was unsettlingly quiet. From the stillness, Ferb could almost see an invisible white mist hovering over the open tracks and empty waiting seats of the hall. Not a soul was wandering around the marble floor, and it gave Ferb the same unnaturally lonely feeling that he had felt when first exploring this new Danville.

As Ferb led the way into the front doorways, Phineas followed him and they both began to give the station a thorough survey.

"Check everywhere," Ferb commanded to Phineas, who immediately followed his order and started to weave back and forth through the seats and open doorways. Ferb voiced his methods as he began to do the same, "It could be anywhere, somewhere on one of the trains."

Phineas was approaching the parallel array of tracks, and ended up on the other side of them. He looked back and forth along all the rails, before finally halting and peering upwards to Ferb, who was meandering around the ticketing area.

"But there's no trains here…!" Phineas shouted over the wide gap in the low floor that housed the tracks. Ferb looked up and saw that Phineas had been right: Each rail space for an arriving train was strangely vacant.

"I would think it would be a departure we're looking for, but we might have to look at the arrivals, too," Ferb suggested in a loud voice across the space.

But Phineas was shaking his head. He threw his arm straight to point at the entire station. "No, I mean there's no trains anywhere in here."

By now, Ferb had already started to climb over the barrier to join Phineas on his side of the tracks. When he reached him, he followed Phineas' stare over the long, receding track line.

"If there's no trains, how am I supposed to get out of here…" Ferb spoke anxiously. He looked down the line at the blank whiteness that it disappeared into. Upon further inspection, Ferb guessed that it was nothing more than the fog coming up from the bay beneath them.

Ferb looked backwards, around and up at the two-stories of the station, the second of which was cornered by a golden balcony railing. The whole place still emanated with an eerie quietness.

"What if it's not a train…" he whispered. After Phineas perked up, Ferb continued. "I knew the clues pointed towards a rail and track… but I just assumed it meant a train track."

With a hard thump on his head, Ferb slapped himself in revelation. "I don't know why I never thought of it before! It's been sitting right on the pier next to the southern bridge this entire time!"

Phineas jumped in surprise as Ferb grabbed onto his shoulders, attempting to contain his own joy at his discovery. "It's not train rails! It's a rollercoaster!"

Trying to take a breath between words, Ferb just kept explaining. "I mean, going round and round on the loops was the most fun part about the one we made!"

Barely even having a chance to nod his agreement, Phineas was suddenly yanked by the arm and pulled towards the station's exit.