"Should we eat now or wait for them?" Ron asked, hungrily looking at the food on the table.

"Let's go ahead, and then if they haven't shown up by the time we're finshed, we'll go look for them." Jim said. "Besides, I'm hungry after our little adventure."

About 10-15 minutes had passed, and everyone was finishing up eating. Well, all except Ron, who was on his third piece of garlic bread.

"It's not like Rufus to be this late for dinner." Ron said between mouthfuls of bread.

"You all better go look for them. I'll clean up for you guys this time. Next time, you are all cleaning up afterwards." Ron's mom said emphasizing the last statement.

They all split off in different directions. Mr. and Mrs. Possible one direction, Ron's dad went another, and Kim and Ron went a third direction. They all started calling the missing three's names immediately.

Kim and Ron ended up in the clearing where their fathers had been earlier. They split up, each walking the clearing edge in opposite directions from each other, and calling out names.

"Jim, Tim!" Kim yelled.

"Rufus!" Ron called.

When they met up again, Kim said, "Ron, you realize we just walked a near-perfect circle?"

"What's that over there?" Ron said, pointing opposite of them at the log where Jim and Tim had been hiding earlier.

At first it looked like a lump of something on the log as they walked towards it. As they got closer, both realized what the lump was, but Ron recognized it just a little faster.

"Rufus!" Ron called as he picked up speed, and was in a dead run. Kim was at his heels, and actually starting to fall back a little. At first she was surprised at this, but then realized it was probably the adrenaline Ron had over his worry of his beloved pet.

As they approached the log, both immediately could tell that Rufus was hurt.

"Rufus! Buddy! Are you OK?" Ron blurted out when he saw the state of his little mole rat.

Rufus had mud all over himself, and there were cuts and scrapes everywhere. There was also a big red bump on his head.

"Where's Jim and Tim, Rufus?" Kim asked, her voice full of concern over her younger brothers.

"Let's get back to camp, Kim, and tend to these cuts and things on him.

Rufus squeaked in a little pain when Ron carefully picked him up. "Sorry, buddy. We'll get you back to camp and you'll be OK."

The two slowly walked back, careful not to shake the injured Rufus too much. On the way, they ran into the rest of their search party.

All of them walked into camp, Ron in the lead carefully carrying his injured little mole rat.

"Ronald!" His mother exclaimed when she saw the group. "What happened? Where are the twins? Is that Rufus? Is he OK?"

"Mom, Mom… calm down. I don't think it's as bad as it looks."

After about 5-10 minutes of cleaning Rufus's wounds, and bandaging some of the cuts, both Ron and Rufus felt better.

"How are we going to find Jim and Tim? We can't talk to an animal, even Rufus, and get that kind of detail, Ron."

"I've got an idea, Kim. It's kind of radical. Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do. You know that." Kim said as she playfully nudged him in the shoulder.

Looking at the rest of the group, Ron noticed they had pretty much calmed down, and were doing things to keep themselves busy. He turned his back to everyone, blocking their view of what he was about to do. He motioned to Kim to do the same.

"Take my hand, he whispered. They clasped hands, Kim's left in Ron's right. "Now place your other hand on Rufus." Ron did the same also, and bowed his head slightly, and closed his eyes.

Almost immediately, each of them had that white flash in their minds eye again. They found themselves in the same place again that was all white. Again they had the white clothes on. This time, though, they had someone else with them. It was Rufus.

"Rufus! Buddy! It worked Kim!"

"H…How…did…you…?" Kim slowly said. "Rufus, can you understand us?" Kim was sounding a little unbelieving.

"Uh huh." Squeaked Rufus.

"What happened to Jim and Tim?" Ron asked.

Rufus proceeded to talk in a squeaky voice, but perfect english. He told them about what happened in the clearing, and how he got hurt trying to follow them.

Ron bowed his head slightly, and then everything came back to normal for the three. Immediately they took their hands off of Rufus. Kim squeezed Ron's hand hard before they released their hands. Ron looked at her, and smiled knowingly into her questioning eyes.

"Mom, Dad." Kim said. "We're going to go check some things out. You guys stay here in case Jim and Tim come back."

"I'm going with you, Kimmie Cub." Her dad said.

"Daddy, please stay here. Ron and I can handle this."

"You sure, Honey?"

"Yeah, Dad, I'm sure." Kim said smiling at Ron. She took his hand, and looked into Ron's eyes. She didn't have to say it, but she trusted Ron completely. Kim had never felt such a strong connection to Ron as she did at that moment.

The two teen heroes and their faithful companion headed back towards the clearing.

"How you doing, Rufus? You OK?" Kim asked, checking on him in Ron's backpack. He gave her the thumbs up sign.

"He sure is a tough little mole rat." Kim said smiling.

"I think we're coming up on the clearing, Kim."

A few more steps and they were there. This time they were by the log where Rufus was previously found.

"Ron, how did we end up here? I thought this fallen tree was over there." She pointed at a 45 deg. angle from where they stood.

"You know, your right."

"OK…" Kim started. "We know the path we just walked on didn't change. Things must be changing in this clearing. It's almost as if it's rotated. But why?"

Kim then noticed Ron looking across the clearing at something past the tree line. "Follow me." He said.

Ron walked straight across the clearing, and stopped at the edge. He then took 2 steps into the trees and said to Rufus, "Ok buddy, do you recognize anything?"

Rufus poked his head over Ron's shoulder, looked around, and then pointed straight ahead towards an over-grown trail. ""Thata way."" He squeaked.

Ron and Kim started walking in the direction Rufus had pointed. It wasn't far, and Ron noticed fresh footprints. Large footprints, and deep too. He compared them to his foot, and said "Whoa" under his breath.

He looked at Kim, motioned her to be quiet, and to move forward with him. They quietly moved around a large boulder that had rolled onto the path, and suddenly, right in front of them, was the overgrown entrance of a cave. Of course to the side of the entrance was a sign that read in scribbled letters "DANGER, DO NOT ENTER"

Slowly they crept inside. After about 50 yards or so of a narrow tunnel, suddenly it opened up into a large well-lit cavern.