"Bye Mom! I'll be back later!"

"Bye, sweetie! Love you!"

Piper shut the door behind her and climbed into the car. As it turns out, the gang down in the Man Cave weren't the only ones headed somewhere.

While Henry and Charlotte were locating Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort, Piper had decided to go to Junk N' Stuff to look for… well, actually, that was the one uncertain part of her plan. She wasn't exactly sure why she was going, although finding Henry seemed be a good place to start.

Piper turned the radio on before taking off. A few songs and almost getting hit by a car later, she parked in front of the store and went inside.

Piper was greeted by both Jasper and the dinosaur. Jasper started to say hey, but she cut him off.

"Yeah, hi, where's Henry?"

Piper immediately noticed that Jasper looked really nervous. Come to think of it, she thought, he always gets nervous when I come here.

"He, um…" Jasper stuttered a little before he realized that Piper was talking again. "Hey, you got your voice back."

"Yes, I did." Piper took a step forward, trying really hard to keep her patience from running out. "So I'm using it to ask you a question: where is Henry?"

"Ummmmmmmmmm why?"

"That is none of your beeswax." Piper took another step forward; she was really starting to lose control of her temper. "Just tell me."

Jasper's hands started sweating (more than usual) and was struggling to find words when the elevator dinged from the back room.

The ears of both Piper and Jasper practically perked up like those of a dog's. Piper didn't hesitate and started for the back room just as the elevator's occupants started for the main room.

"Ow!"

"Hey!"

"Char, are you- Piper?!"

"What just happened?"

Piper had completely collided with Charlotte, who was standing right in front of Henry, and they both lost their footing. Only Piper actually hit the ground; Henry helped Charlotte catch her balance before she completely rolled over on her ankle. Behind Henry, Ray stopped in his tracks and Schwoz ran into him. Once he heard Piper's voice, though, the inventor ducked back into the elevator so she wouldn't see him.

"Piper," said Henry once both girls were steady again, "what are you doing here?"

Piper opened her mouth to answer but realized she didn't have any kind of explanation ready.

By now, the three teens and Piper were all in the main room of the store. Ray came out from the back. "Can we help you with something, Popper?"

"Piper," the girl snapped. "And… um…"

At that point, she completely panicked on the inside. She didn't want anyone to know she was on to Henry.

Piper could only think of two options: give in or get out.

She ran to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Henry and his friends exchanged looks. "Well that was weird," he said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah," added Charlotte. "Usually when she comes here she's demanding something."

"Maybe she just forgot, or just really needed to go," suggested Jasper. The others shrugged, not bothering to give Jasper's theories too much thought right then.

"Wait," said Charlotte, looking around. "Where's Schwoz?"

"Schwoz?"

"Is she gone?" Schwoz didn't dare to raise his voice as he peeked out from the open elevator.

"Yeah, she's gone, Schwoz. You can come out."

Schwoz cautiously came out from the back. "Are you scared of her, or something?" Ray asked.

"She thinks he lives under her house," said Charlotte. Henry and Ray gave her a questioning by look.

"What?" Henry looked towards the bathrooms.

"Long story, I'll explain later. Let's go, before they leave the park."

Four pairs of feet ran across the floor and left the building as Jasper called, "Wait, what about me?" He frowned. "Don't worry, they'll come back for me in three, two…." Jasper gestured at the door and nothing happened. Sighing, he took a snack cake out of his pocket and started eating.

Meanwhile, Piper tried not to barf as she watched her brother's sweaty friend chew with his mouth open. When his eyes were closed, she raced out of the store.

They were gone. She missed them.

Piper grumbled and climbed into her car. Her head was still trying to get around what she just heard.

Yep, everything the boys and Charlotte said had been heard by Piper. All of it.

The whole guy-lives-under-her-house thing was still confusing her a few minutes later, but she figured out one thing: "the park" had to mean Swellview Park.

"Hen, why do you think Piper was acting so weird earlier?"

"Shh, she might hear us!"

"I know, that's why I'm whispering!"

"Oh."

The gang had arrived at Swellview Park a few minutes earlier, glad to find that both villains were still there. Charlotte and Henry had agreed to call dibs on watching Nurse Cohort back in the van, since she was a bit smaller and would be easier for them to take down (if needed) than Minyak. Ray agreed, although he did grumble a little about getting "stuck" with Schwoz, as he put it.

Nurse Cohort was still at the same bench she was at earlier, but she had moved on from the hot dog to a giant ice cream cone that was dripping onto her shirt (and pants and shoes). At this rate, she would have an entire tye dye ensemble with pink, brown, red, and several other colors.

Anyway, Henry and Charlotte were hiding in a big bush about ten, fifteen feet from her back, the former holding a pair of binoculars. They weren't sure were Ray and Schwoz were at this point, but they hadn't received any message saying Minyak was out of sight.

Anyway, back to their whispered conversation. "I don't know," said Henry in response to Charlotte's question about Piper. "Maybe those meds she was taking did something weird to her. Japser could've been right."

"Maybe… but something's still bugging me." Charlotte shifted her position before her butt could start getting numb.

"Yeah, you're right. Now that you mention it," he lowered the binoculars and looked at her, "I've got kind of a funny feeling, too." He frowned, his forehead creased with worry. "You don't think…?"

Charlotte caught on immediately. "Jesus rice, I hope not."

"Me too. Although it would be nice if I could get her to stop calling my alter ego hot."

"Yeah, I don't think-" Charlotte gasped all of a sudden and pointed towards Nurse Cohort, her finger almost out of the bush. "Henry, look!"

Henry practically slapped the binoculars back onto his face and watched. Charlotte leaned forward some and squinted through the leaves.

Nurse Cohort had pulled out a small vial of clear liquid. The woman casually looked around before producing a dropper and dipping it in. Then, she gave one final glance around before putting a single drop of the liquid onto the her shirt.

Henry and Charlotte watched in amazement as her food-splattered clothes seemed to glow and became out-of-the-dryer clean. The two teens exchanged a look. Whatever that stuff is can clearly get rid of food stains, but they were thinking about what else it could clean away; fingerprints, for example.

Nurse Cohort didn't see Henry and Charlotte, so that wasn't her reason for getting up and walking away. The two teens barely realized she was leaving before they saw she wasn't sitting down anymore.

"Shoot!" Henry flipped open his Wiz Watch and called Ray.

"Henry, what is it?" The image of Ray was a bit distorted, since he was crouched down behind a tree.

"Ray, Nurse Cohort just left the table."

"Where's she going?"

"I dunno, I can still see her, about ten feet or so away from the table." Henry glanced over, then looked back at his boss. "Maybe fifteen, I think-"

Charlotte suddenly seized his arm. "Henry!" she hissed, suddenly frantic.

He gave her a worried look. "What?"

With a shaking arm, Charlotte pointed towards where Nurse Cohort was walking.

That general direction led to Piper.

Again, y'all, sorry last week's chapter got posted so late in the day, so I did all the editing and stuff on Saturday so this one would be ready to post in the morning.

So, this is my last full week of summer vacation (having mixed emotions...), and I'm a little behind on having chapters written and ready. I'll do as much as I can, but having a new chapter posted as early in the morning as I have gotten them may not be as frequent. BUT, I do still plan to update every Sunday.

Ciao, and Happy Reading!