"I hope Laura is alright", Willie thought to himself as he ran around to the side of the schoolhouse towards the outhouse. "I don't like her that way, but she's not as bad as Nellie has wanted me to think. Laura has almost always been nice towards me. I feel guilty for doing what Nellie told me to do to her. I certainly hope she's ok", Willie thought as he approached the outhouse.

"Wait a minute", Willie thought. "The Outhouse door is open."

He then saw some strange kind of tracks in the sand. They were the same width, but curved slightly here and there, and there were some weird shaped impressions inside the tracks.

"What's that?" Willie said out loud when he looked up from the tracks and saw a strange kind of wagon driving away. It had no horses. The sun reflected off parts of it as if it were made of metal.

"Willie was certain that what he just saw had something to do with why Laura wasn't in class.

"What should I do?" Willie said to himself. Mrs. Beatle said come back if she's ok, get Doctor Baker and then tell her Pa if she's sick, or go straight to her Pa if she is nowhere to be seen. Willie had a theory that Laura had been kidnapped. He knew what Mrs. Beatle told him to do, but if his theory was wrong and she was safe inside the school, he didn't want to raise a false alarm. So he decided to go back to the schoolhouse to check to see if Laura was there.

"Willie, is Laura alright?" Mrs. Beatle asked as he ran inside out of breathe.

"I don't know", he replied, trying to catch his breath.

"You have to know", Mrs. Beatle said. "Why did you come back?"

"I have a theory as to what happened to Laura, but needed to come back to test the theory, and I think it is right since she is not in here. Plus I needed a drink of water before I ran to go tell her Pa."

"What is your theory, Willie?"

"I think she was kidnapped."

"What! Are you sure Willie?" Mary said.

"Mary, I'm sorry, but I think that that's why she didn't come."

"Are you sure she is not skipping the rest of the day because she doesn't like history?" Nellie said with a sly grin.

"I'm positive. The outhouse door was wide open. She was not inside. There were some strange tracks in the sand. They were the same width and curved slightly to dodge trees and other objects. There were these strange shapes inside too. Plus, I saw some weird thing drive away. Jason was right when he predicted wagons without horses. It had no horses, the sun reflected off it as if it was made out of metal, but it did not appear to run on steam power."

"Willie, go tell Mr. Ingalls."

"Yes Mrs. Beatle. I will."

"Go. He must know. Tell him what you told us."

"Yes Mrs. Beatle."

Willie left and Mary started crying. Mrs. Beatle walked over to Mary and gently pulled her into a hug and began comforting Mary.

"Shhh. There, there. It will be ok Mary. She will be ok."

"I know Mrs. Beatle. It's just that we are so close, Laura and me."

"I can tell Mary. You two are almost always together."

"I miss her already."

"I'm sure you do Mary."

"Are you sure she will be ok?"

"Well, if she's kidnapped like Willie thinks, I'm sure she will at least come home alive."

"She better. Otherwise those guys are going to experience a slow, painful death, administered by me."

"Just calm down Mary. I'm sure she will come home alive."

"Good."

"I certainly hope so Mary. We will all be praying for her and your family.

"Thank you Mrs. Beatle. I don't know what I would do right now if I didn't have all of you right here, even you Nellie. True, you have always been mean to us, but right now, I need all of you."

"You're welcome Mary."