Tobias was asleep and dreaming.

"Tobias, you see this yellow disk?"

"Yeah." he was seven. And Katherine was watching him again.

"Don't you mess with it, all right?" "Please." "It's extremely dangerous. Got me?"

"Uh huh. I understand Kitty Kat." " Katherine, why is it so dangerous?" she said something he couldn't hear.

"What?" she said it again.

"Come on Tobias, your aunt and uncle are here." Tobias listened, he heard the sound of their footsteps on the hard wood floor. They were loud, and getting louder. Pretty soon Tobias realized they sounded like door knocks. Then Tobiasd realized, someone was knocking on the door. He got up off the couch and turned off the t.v.

"So much for Law and Order." he muttered. He opened the door. Jake was there.

"Jake?" Tobias was now wide awake. "Wha-how, what are you doing here?"

"We decided to some and see you." Marco, Rachel, Cassie, and Jake were all there. Tobias looked confused.

"Come on in." he said. They filed in.

"Nice place." it was clean and not too shabby. Jake couldn't see why he wouldn't ever invite them here, it was okay to him.

"Thanks." Tobias said.

"So, where is your aunt?"

"She's visiting a sick friend, a.k.a. hanging out with the girls."

"Oh, so you are here by yourself?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah. But hey, it's not that bad. Nobody around but it could be worse."

"I imagine." "So, uh, everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, why did you guys come?"

"Well to be honest, we wanted to see your house." Marco answered.

"My house? Why?"

"Well, think of it as a pilgrimage, to see the sacred secret." Marco said. "In short, we've never been here." Tobias went a little crimson.

"Sorry."

"Hey it's okay, we were just wondering what it was like." Jake said as the phone rang. Tobias answered it.

"Hello?" the person on the other line said something.

"Katherine, hey, what's up?"

"Uh huh." "Yeah." "No, hold on a minute." he got a piece of paper from a drawer, and the only pen he could find was a calligraphy pen.

"Yeah I'm back." "Uh huh, okay, got it." he wrote in what looked like calligraphy. "Okay, I'll see you. Yes I still have it. Bye." he hung up the phone. Rachel picked up the paper he had put on the desk when he went to his room.

"I didn't know you could write calligraphy." Rachel called.

"What?" Tobias called out. Rachel went to where she had heard his voice, Jake, Cassie, and Marco followed.

"I didn't know you could write calligraphy." she said. Tobias was picking the lock of a drawer. He turned.

"Oh, yeah. I learned a while ago. One of my prime skills. My only skill perhaps."

"Aside from lock picking." Marco stated.

"Well, I wouldn't have to do that, if I wouldn't lose my keys." "But as I have failed to acquire a key chain, I am in need of this handy dandy skill." he had obviously unlocked the door because he pulled it out, then dodged a falling baseball bat.

"Woah." he picked it up.

"Never give up do you Alex?" He placed it in the closet.

"Alex?" Marco asked confused.

"Oh, that's Alex's bat, Alex McCershy."

"He must have been a pretty good friend to give you a bat." Jake said. Tobias looked at him oddly.

"He did give it to you, didn't he?" Jake asked carefully.

"Sort of." Tobias said. "You see he was trying to give it to me in a different way." Now it was Jake's turn to be confused.

"He tried to hit me with it." Tobias said.

"But that's metal." Cassie said.

"Yeah, easier to knock me out with. And more painful."

"Why would someone want to do that?" Jake asked.

"I was different." "When you're nine, some differences matter. I've always been a target for that kind of thing, no matter where I go."

"So he tried to kill you for no reason?" Rachel asked a little peeved. She cared a lot about Tobias, and one thing she didn't like was people messing with him.

"Well, I was different. I suppose if I would have been more normal. . . ah well, it's not important."

"Well how did you get the bat, did he hit you and drop it?" Cassie asked.

"No, he didn't even hit me." "He tried to, but when he took the swing at me this Belgian Groenendael, or Belgian Sheepdog that lived in this empty field jumped out and scared him. He dropped his bat and ran."

"How did you know what kind of dog it was?"

"Oh, we had met, she was a real sweetheart." "I gave her my lunch." "My unce was a horrible cook, so Katherine would give me and Teresa lunch money and while she threw her food to the birds, I gave mine to Aiden. That's what I called her at least. Finally Katherine said we could keep her, and now Teresa is taking care of her pups." "Ever since one of the pups in her litter has always been named Aiden."

"Wow, that was a great story." Cassie said.

"Thanks." "Aiden was probably the truest friend I had up until I met you guys."

"Well, now you have us." Rachel said. "So, what were you getting?"

"Oh, the key to Katherine's old house. She needs something from it." "I think she said she needed a disk." He looked at the paper.

"Yeah, orange one labeled 22146." "And a purple one labeled 3343, a green one labeled 4456, a red one 2525, and a blue one labeled 6543."

"Hey Tobias?" Marco asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are these the keys you were looking for?" Marco held up a ring of keys.

"Yeah, where did you find them?"

"Behind the book. The book entitled. . . BeastMaster." Tobias nodded.

"Thanks Marco."

"So, can we come with you?" Rachel asked.

"For?"

"For the disks?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." "Just be warned, it's a little. . . crazy."

"Crazy?" "A simple house crazy?" "No offense Tobias, but I think we are able to conquer a little house."

"No, well number one it's not so little, number two, the filing system is crazy, so we will be there for a while."

"Well, we'll reduce the finding time, and help out."Cassie said. "After all, what are friends for?"

"When we aren't helping you get nearly killed we are helping you find disks." "Well, at least we learn more about the tall dark and mysterious Tobias."

"Excuse me Marco, I believe you are looking for a girlfriend, not a boyfriend." Jake joked. Marco laughed and then punched him on the shoulder. Tobias shook his head while Cassie and Rachel laughed.

They all five headed for Katherine's house, and her crazy disk collection.