Zoe chuckled to herself. She had lured the two groups away from the raft, and then had towed it around to the other side of the island. Now it was hers. She was going to get away safely, and whether the other chipmunks did or not, she did not care.

She loaded her treasure onto the raft and then pushed off. She was getting nervous as red-hot rocks, spewing from the volcano, hit the beach on every side, but she managed to get off the island.

She pulled out a Tupperware and smiled at the contents.

Oh, yes, she had plans for Jeanette. There were enough spiders there for her to reproduce them. Then she could get the venom out of them and put it in a syringe. And if she was careful to give Jeanette constant injections of it…Jeanette wouldn't be herself anymore. If she was changed like Simon had been, she would be more daring and outgoing. But what was most important was that she wouldn't remember her previous life.

She would be all Zoe's.

But first, she would have to disguise Jeanette, of course. The media would see her as a different chipmunk, not Jeanette who had gone missing on the cruise ship.

Zoe grinned when she pushed her paddle through the water. She smiled when she realized that she had made it. She laughed in pure exultation when she realized that she had made it! She was alive and off the cursed island, and she had the treasure. What's more, she had Jeanette. She had Jeanette. That was a bonus she hadn't been expecting! If she disguised the chipmunk and brought her to the media as a different chipmunk, they would totally buy it. After all, if there were six singing chipmunks in the world, what's to say there couldn't be another one?

Zoe reached down into her pack and pulled out Jeanette. She smirked tauntingly at her. "Thank you very much, Jeanette, for getting that treasure for me," she sneered. She turned Jeanette so that the chipmunk could see the bags and bags of treasure. "I knew you would cooperate."

She turned Jeanette back to face her. Jeanette's large purple eyes were overflowing with shame.

Zoe laughed delightedly. "You know what you did," she whispered, "and you have to live with it."

The shame and guilt increased, and it only made Zoe laugh harder. Zoe began to unwrap the vines, and Jeanette began to look hopeful for a moment.

"Oh, no," Zoe whispered, a smile curling at her lips. "No, no, no, Miss Jeanette. I'm not releasing you. You are going to make me even richer than I already am."

Jeanette wriggled as hard as she could. "No!" she exclaimed. "I'm not going to help you again!"

Zoe's lip curled as she unwound the rest of the vines, still keeping a tight grip on Jeanette with one hand.

"I think you will," Zoe whispered. She grabbed the vines again and stood up clumsily in the raft. She walked over to the mast on the ship and stood up. She reached up about halfway up on the mast and pinned Jeanette to it. Then she looped the ropes around Jeanette and tied it tight, fastening her to the mast.

"There," Zoe said with satisfaction, stepping back and looking at the tiny chipmunk, tied to the mast. Jeanette wriggled.

"There's no point in squirming," Zoe whispered, stepping closer, her eyes sparking with malice. "You are my reward, Jeanette, and I am going to keep you there where I can see you, where I can admire my prize."

"Stop it! Stop it!" Jeanette yelled, struggling furiously. "Let me go!"

Just then, there was a deafening rumble, and Jeanette and Zoe both looked up in time to see the volcano erupt. It spewed rock and lava all over the island.

Jeanette screamed. "SIMON!" she shrieked. She slumped down on the mast, sobbing. "Brittany…Eleanor…Alvin…Theo…"

This was their raft! They were still on the island when it…when the volcano…

Zoe cackled maliciously. "I must thank you, my dear. You helped me get all of the treasure." She gestured to the overflowing bags, and saw the shame rear up once again in Jeanette's eyes.

"Yes," she smiled. "You helped me get all of this lovely treasure. And yes, you are GOING to help me again."

Jeanette shook her head violently.

Zoe reached for the Tupperware in her pack and stepping closer to Jeanette. "Oh, yes. You will. You are going to make me even more rich than I already am. And the clincher?"

She pulled the Tupperware out of the pack and held it up so that Jeanette could see the spiders running around inside, the spiders with the venom that made your personality change and made you forget about it. Zoe relished in Jeanette's look of absolute horror.

"The clincher is that you won't remember a thing."

Zoe put the pack of spiders back into her bag, to Jeanette's relief. Then she grabbed an oar and began to paddle. Jeanette tried to wriggle out of her bonds, but she was stuck, tied to the mast. She looked helplessly back at the island, her purple eyes filled with tears.

Then she thought she saw something. She blinked the tears away and looked harder.

A faint, dark shape was moving steadily away from the island. She squinted hard and shook her head slightly so that her glasses went farther up on her nose. She could just make out two large figures on it and five smaller ones.

They made it! They're okay! They're alive.

Jeanette thought about screaming for help, but then she realized that the two rafts were too far away for them to hear her, and then Zoe might hurt her. Or, even worse, she might target the others and go to kidnap them or hurt them. Whatever happens to you, she told herself firmly, the others must not get hurt. They can't. Think about Ellie. You have to protect her, and Theo. And Simon!

Jeanette watched helplessly as her family grew smaller and smaller until they finally vanished.

"The volcano's about to explode!" Eleanor screamed. She pointed to the smoking, sputtering mountain in the distance. Theodore wrapped his arm protectively around her.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Dave yelled.

"Look!"

They all whirled to see Ian dragging an enormous log out of the jungle and holding two of the spare oars that they had made.

Dave ran over and helped him get it in the water. They pushed off and began to paddle with all their might, struggling to hold the log steady.

They were quite far out to sea when the volcano erupted. Eleanor shivered, and Theodore put a comforting arm around her.

"What the…"

The chipmunks scampered over to where Simon was finally waking up on the log.

"Are you okay, Simone?" Theodore asked worriedly.

"Simone!" Eleanor cried.

"Why are you…calling me…Simone?" he mumbled dizzily.

"Simon?" Alvin gasped.

"Uh…yeah?"

"Ha, ha!" Alvin cried, rubbing his brother's shoulder. "You're back! It finally wore off!"

"What wore off?" Simon stammered.

"You were bitten by a spider!" Alvin said earnestly. "It…like…messed up your brain!"

"Where are we?" Simon asked, pushing himself up on the log and looking around. "I thought we were on the island."

"It's a long story," Eleanor said, looking back at the island, which was now being rained on by ash and lava.

Simon shivered as he saw it. "That mountain was a volcano?" he exclaimed.

"Yes," Brittany nodded. "It was scary."

It was then that he noticed Dave and Ian. "Dave!" he cried. Then he froze. "Wait. Ian?"

"It's okay," Dave assured him. "Ian's cool now. He saved my life, actually."

Simon regarded Ian suspiciously, and then turned to face his siblings. He frowned.

Alvin…Brittany…Theodore…Eleanor.

Someone was missing.

"Wait," he croaked. "Where's Jeanette?"

They all froze and exchanged looks.

Simon's heart started to hammer. He pushed himself up on one arm. "That's not funny, guys. Where is she?"

Brittany sighed and knelt down next to him, putting a paw on Simon's leg. "She…" She looked at the others, and Eleanor nodded once. She turned back to Simon. "She…" Brittany held back a sob. "She's gone, Simon. Zoe took her."

Simon fainted.