Later, at the Seville residence, Alvin hadn't spoken to anyone in hours. He kept to himself in his room, looking at a picture of him with Simon.

Why did I have to make him go away? He asked himself. Why must I make everything difficult for him? And why was I so quick to judge Ally like that?

What the heck was I thinking?

Alvin bowed his head, still looking at the picture. "Simon, please come back..." he prayed. "I didn't mean any of that. I was only trying to look out for you..."

He was right, he thought. I am like Dad. All I wanted was to cut him down, like Dad cut Mom down.

All of a sudden, his cell phone rang. There was two unanswered texts and one unanswered call with a voice mail in his inbox. The first text was from an unknown number.

"HELP!" it read.

Alvin deleted it. The other was a text from Simon.

Yes, he thought.

"Alvin, you have to help us!" the text read. "Ally and I have no idea where we are and we need to get back home!"

Unfortunately for Alvin, he couldn't text back. He was out of minutes. So, he just moved on to his voicemail. He recognized the number, but couldn't put his finger of whose it was.

"Hello, Alvin," the familiar voice began. "I'm going to make this short and sweet. Either you play nice and surrender or your brother and his girlfriend are toast. Got it?"

The message ended.

Alvin growled.

Him, he thought. I have to get them back... fast.

Theodore, during the meantime, was calming the girls down, mainly one of them in particular. "Jeanette, it'll be okay," he said. "He'll come back. I know he will."

"That's what you said eight hours ago," Brittany muttered.

"Well, I never said it was going to happen overnight. He just needs a little time, that's all."

Jeanette wiped away a tear. "I sure hope you're right."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Theodore sprinted to answer it.

Alvin stood at the door when Theodore opened it.

"Hey, Theo," he said. "I need your help."

"Why, Alvin? What happened?"

"Ian has Simon and Ally! We have to find them and fast!"

The girls stood up, angry again.

"Let's get him!" Jeanette yelled, driving her fist into her hand.

"And let's give him a run for his money!" Eleanor added.

"That's right!" Brittany agreed. "I've had about enough of Ian!"

"Well, what are we standing around for?" Alvin asked. "Let's go!"

Ally and Simon were tied to ropes and were dangling over a few huge homemade fires that Ian had done himself.

Ian himself was holding their rope at the other end. "I hope you two have had your fun," he said, "because now, it's my turn."

"You're a sick man, Ian Hawke!" Ally snapped back. "You're never going to get away with this!"

"Oh, on the contrary, you little rat. Any moment now, you two will be fried and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

"Well, maybe they can't stop you," Jeanette said from the balcony above him, "but we can."

Ian smirked. "Don't think I didn't expect you little twerps, princess." He pulled a few more ropes, and the other chipmunks were trapped. "Now, it seems to me that you're all going to be in some heat."

"Really, Ian?" Brittany asked. "Is that the best pun you could possibly come up with? You're losing your touch, Ian."

"Oh, shut up, you little she-rat! ...And Ally, I really thought you were going to play by the rules, but since you're my latest traitor, you're getting fried first!"

Ally squealed, and Simon's eyes went wide, almost going into tears again.

Ian looked away for a second, and when he turned back around, a chipmunk was gone.

"Where'd the little rat go?" he asked.

The next thing he knew when he turned to look behind him, he was staring face with the escaped chipmunk, ready to fight.

"Nobody touches her..."