"Look!" Zoe pushed herself upright and shielded her eyes at Jeanette's cry.
"Land!" she gasped. She dug her paddle into the water and pushed as hard as she could.
Two hours later, she was drifting into a bustling harbor. Jeanette still swayed from the mast.
She reached up and quickly untied Jeanette from the mast. Then she tied Jeanette up again and put her in her pack.
She snuck off of the raft and hid behind a house.
"Where am I?" she wondered to herself.
She decided to ask.
"You're in Florida," the man huffed grumpily. "Honestly, why don't you even know what state you're in?"
He walked off.
Zoe gasped. "Florida…" She grinned. "My old house was in Florida!"
She began to run.
"Where are we?" Jeanette squeaked.
"We are at my old house," Zoe told her, pushing the door open. "And underneath this house is a lab. And you and I are going to go to that lab. Right now."
She grinned evilly at Jeanette's horrified look. She hurried to the stairs and pressed a secret button hidden in the banister. The stairs moved aside to reveal another set of stairs, this one leading down. Zoe grabbed Jeanette tightly and descended into the darkness, hitting another button when they got to the bottom so that the staircase above moved back over the staircase below, completely hiding it from sight.
Zoe flicked on a light, and the lab was instantly flooded with light. Zoe grabbed Jeanette and carried her over to the table. She dropped the bags and bags of treasure in the corner.
"I'll get to those in a minute," she decided. "But first, I have to deal with Miss Jeanette here." She grinned as she carried Jeanette over to a table and put her on it. She untied the vines and then took Velcro straps and strapped Jeanette down. Jeanette was wriggling and screaming with terror at this point, but she couldn't move because of the straps.
Zoe slowly took the container of spiders out, making sure Jeanette could see them.
"No!" Jeanette cried.
"Oh, yes," Zoe said evilly, pulling on plastic gloves. She pulled a spider out of the container and pulled up Jeanette's small purple skirt slightly so that her leg was exposed. "Say goodbye, Jeanette. You are nonexistent. I wonder who you'll be when you wake up?" She grinned at Jeanette's terrified look. "You won't remember a single thing. Your sisters…your dear Simon…all of that will be gone."
Jeanette began to cry. "Why are you doing this?"
"Why?" Zoe laughed. "So that I can be rich. Say goodbye to the world, Jeanette."
Then she placed the spider on Jeanette's leg, and the spider bit her.
Jeanette fell unconscious.
And then she began to change.
"How are we going to get her back?" was the first question Simon asked when he woke up.
"Get who back?" Eleanor asked.
"JEANETTE!" Simon yelled, exasperated.
"Oh, Jeanette." Eleanor bit her lip.
"You were planning to get her back, right?" There was a dangerous glint in Simon's eye.
"Yeah," Brittany said quickly. "Of course, Simon. She's our sister."
"But…" Eleanor stammered, looking back at the island, now a speck in the distance. "What if Zoe left her…"
She didn't finish her sentence. Everyone shivered.
"Zoe's too greedy for that," Theodore spoke up. Everyone turned to stare at him.
"What?" Brittany was alarmed.
"She's probably planning to use Jeanette somehow," he explained. "To make her rich."
"That's true," Eleanor nodded. "It does sound like her."
"But she already got the treasure!" Brittany exclaimed. "She's already really rich."
"Well, Jeanette could make her even richer," Alvin pointed out, reaching a paw into the water to steady the log, which was rolling dangerously.
"Not to mention the fact that Jeanette helped Zoe with the treasure and was forced to do it. If Jeanette gets free and runs to the media to tell her story, Zoe could get in big trouble."
"Well, she could've just left her on the island if she didn't want Jeanette to spill her beans," Theodore pointed out. Simon, Eleanor, and Brittany winced.
"That's true, but she wouldn't have gotten rich off of Jeanette that way," Alvin chimed in, trying to keep a level head. He didn't want Jeanette to die. She was his sister.
"But I don't think she'd cooperate," Brittany pointed out. "She may be more shy than us, but she wouldn't willingly help Zoe if something bad was going to come out of it."
"I wonder…" Simon was thinking to himself. "Maybe she's got some way of controlling Jeanette."
"It's possible," Brittany agreed. "We'll have to wait until we find our way back to civilization to make sure."
"How are we going to find her once we get back to land?" Simon demanded.
"If I know Zoe," Brittany said grimly, "she's going to want to make this public. The more audience, the more money."
Zoe watched in fascination as Jeanette changed.
Her height did not change. Her hair, however, grew longer and longer, popping out of the purple hairband. It fell to the floor. Her nails grew slightly longer. But most importantly, her dark brown chocolate fur began to get lighter and lighter. When it was done changing, it wasn't brown anymore. Nor was it blond like Brittany and Eleanor. It was a deep red.
"It appears the venom changed her physically, too," Zoe thought to herself. "That's an interesting twist…but it's good for me, because now the media won't recognize her."
Then she got to work.
She made sure Jeanette was securely strapped down to the table before leaving, making sure to hide the secret staircase behind her. Then she hurried to the store and bought some clothes for her. Different clothes. They were both doll-sized and chipmunk-sized.
Then she hurried back to Jeanette after buying some chipmunk-sized supplies. She snuck down and was relieved to see that the chipmunk was still asleep. The fur on her head, her hair as it were, was waving to her waist. It was as red as the rest of her. Zoe was a little surprised. The other chipettes' hair hadn't been that long.
She shrugged it off. Then she got to work.
She removed Jeanette's purple shirt, jean jacket, and skirt. Then she quickly replaced it with the clothes that she had gotten for her—a turquoise shirt and a sparkly aqua skirt with a blue belt. She removed Jeanette's purple glasses and replaced them with turquoise ones. She tied Jeanette's long hair back into a ponytail.
Then she sat down and waited.
She had the back-story all ready when Jeanette's eyes finally fluttered open.
Zoe had unstrapped her, of course, as not to arouse suspicion. Jeanette was gone. No part of her would remain.
Only her eyes.
The rich purple irises were the same as they had been before. They almost seemed to glow for a moment before she blinked, her eyelashes fluttering. She looked absolutely beautiful. She frowned and squinted, and then pulled the glasses off. Evidently, even though Jeanette had needed them, Callie did not.
Zoe got ready to prepare her acting skills.
"Callie!" she gasped, and ran across the room to scoop up the little chipmunk. She held her close. "Oh, Callie, you're awake! I was so worried about you!"
Jeanette wriggled in her arms and did a backflip, landing on the table with a slight thud. Her eyes were wide with alarm. Inwardly, Zoe was impressed. So the new Jeanette was more athletic than the old one had been. More graceful, too.
Zoe made her eyes wide and worried. "Callie, what's the matter?"
"What…you…who are you?" Jeanette whispered, her eyes wide with alarm.
No, Zoe reprimanded herself mentally. She's not Jeanette. Not anymore. That's Callie. That's not Jeanette.
Jeanette is gone.
Zoe wanted to grin at that, but she forced her mouth to stay in the worried frown. She began to become stern. "Calissa. That's enough. That's not funny. I was worried about you!"
"Who are you?" Callie repeated, her eyes wide.
"What do you mean?" Zoe stared at her in astonishment. "Zoe? Your mother? Any of this ringing a bell?"
"Who am I?" Callie whispered, staring down at herself. She pinched the skirt between her two fingers.
"I dressed you while you were unconscious," Zoe said hurriedly. "Your other clothes were so dirty…I mean, that's your favorite skirt, so I just thought you might like it."
"It is?" Callie whispered. She looked more closely at it. She tugged at the belt slightly.
Then she looked up with wide purple eyes. "Zoe…I don't know who you are. I don't know who I am. I don't know what's going on."
"Oh, no," Zoe whispered, her eyes filling with tears. Careful…you have to orchestrate this exactly right. "You can't…remember?"
Callie shook her head, her eyes wide and worried.
"I have to get you to the doctor, quick!" Zoe exclaimed. She snatched Callie up and raced up the stairs.
She ran and got into the car. She hadn't driven a car in ten years, and she hoped she still remembered how to do it.
"Just hang on, Callie," she called. "We'll fix this. I promise."
She bit her lip to keep from smiling.
It was working just as she had planned it.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Simon asked to himself. The other chipmunks were singing "Survivor" with downcast expressions, and Ian and Dave were searching the skies in vain for any sight of an airplane or a helicopter.
"I hear something!" Eleanor cried, breaking out of the chorus and waving a hand to shush the others. She frowned, concentrating. Then she whirled and pointed to the right. "It's coming from…that direction!"
They all cheered as they saw a cruise ship come into view.
"HEY!" they all yelled, jumping up and down and waving their arms. The ship came closer and closer.
"We're going to get back home!" Brittany enthused happily, clasping her hands together.
Simon waved as hard as he could as the ship came closer and closer. He could feel it bringing himself closer and closer to Jeanette.
Hang in there, Jeanette. I'm coming.
"I don't think that it is fatal," the doctor was continuing as she checked her notes. "But do you have any idea how it got there?"
Zoe snapped her fingers. "Our vacation!" she cried. "Callie got a spider bite on our vacation on the way back home. Do you think that could have caused it?"
"It's most likely," the doctor nodded. "I say you give it some time and allow the venom to run its course through her system, and then she should return to normal."
"That's the thing," Zoe said with a frown. "That's how she normally acts and looks. The only thing that's different is her memories are completely gone."
"Well, they should come back within a few days," the doctor assured her.
"Thank you so much," Zoe told her, smiling brightly. She picked up her purse, which she had found at her house, and headed out of the room.
Callie was waiting in one of the plastic chairs, her legs swinging back and forth as she stared around the room with interest.
Zoe carefully arranged her facial expressions into a downcast look. Callie looked up at her when she entered the room, and her purple eyes were filled with trust.
"Let's go home, Callie," Zoe sighed, scooping her up and putting her in her purse. Callie poked her head out and looked worriedly up at Zoe.
Zoe buckled her into the car before driving home. They got home, and Callie scampered on all fours after Zoe as they went into the house.
Callie jumped up to the table, doing a flip in midair before landing lightly on her back paws on the top of the table. Zoe tried not to look alarmed or surprised. Callie was certainly more acrobatic than Jeanette had been.
"Callie…" Zoe sighed. "You probably don't remember about our vacation if you don't even remember who you or I am."
"No," Callie said, shaking her head, her purple eyes wide and troubled.
"Well, we were going to vacation on an island way out in the middle of the ocean," Zoe explained. "And you were bitten by a snake when you were out there." Zoe sighed. "You were unconscious for almost a week, sweetie. I got you home as fast as I could, and when you woke up, you couldn't remember anything. Correct?"
Callie nodded.
"Sweetie…" Zoe put her hands over her eyes and pretended to let out a sob. "The doctor says that you're not going to get your memories back."
Callie's eyes widened in horror. "I'm…I'm never going to remember ANYTHING?" she whispered.
Zoe sighed. "I'm so sorry, Callie."
"Can…is there…" Callie couldn't finish. She sighed after a long moment. "Tell me about myself. What am I like?"
Zoe smiled to herself and began to lie.
The ship grew closer and closer to the little raft. Simon read the lettering on the side. It said, S.S. Tipton.
He frowned. The Tipton? He'd never heard of a ship like that.
Then a rope fell over and hit the water near them with a splash. "Grab on and climb up!" a voice from above yelled.
Dave and Ian both climbed up hand over hand. "Okay, guys, hang on and we'll pull you up!" Dave called down. Brittany, Alvin, Eleanor, Theodore, and Simon all dug their claws into the rope and hung on tight. Dave and Ian helped pull them up off the log, which floated merrily off on its way in the opposite direction of the ship.
Once they were on board, they came face-to-face with two blond boys that looked exactly alike.
"Wow! Alvin and the Chipmunks!" one exclaimed.
"You're such a dork, Cody," the other one retorted. "You'd think you've never seen someone famous before."
"I haven't, Zack!" the first one reminded him.
"What about London or Marcus?" Zack asked him, raising an eyebrow.
"They don't count," Cody shrugged.
"Excuse us!" Simon interrupted. "Listen. We were shipwrecked and—,"
There was a shriek from across the deck. They turned to see a girl with black hair, fancy clothes, and a purse jump up on a lounge chair. "Look!" she cried. "ENORMOUS FURRY BUGS!"
"That's London," Cody said, rolling his eyes. "She's got a strange lack of brain. Don't mind her."
"Those aren't bugs!" another voice exclaimed, and a pretty blond-haired girl raced across the deck to kneel down beside them. "Those are the chipmunks! And the chipettes! They're international rock stars."
"Finally!" Brittany folded her arms. "SOME one has brains."
"H-h-hi, Bailey," Cody stammered.
"I'm not Bailey, I'm Brittany!" Brittany snapped.
"I'M Bailey," the blond corrected. She smiled. "Wow, guys, I'm such a big fan. Can I talk to…" She froze and counted again. "Wait a minute, where is she?"
"Who?" Cody asked.
"Jeanette?" Eleanor guessed sadly.
Bailey nodded eagerly. "She's so pretty and smart! I'm such a big fan of hers."
Brittany crossed her arms with a "humph." Why was Jeanette getting all the attention from everyone lately?
"Jeanette…well…er, she isn't here right now," Eleanor said sadly, staring at her feet.
"What?" Bailey cried.
Simon stepped forward. "She got separated from us by an evil girl named Zoe. We don't know where Zoe took her. We have to get back to the United States so that we can find her."
"The United…" Bailey stared in silent shock.
"Oh, dear," Cody said quietly.
"What?" Brittany asked sharply, her anxiety level rising. "What is it?"
"Well…um…" Zack and Cody exchanged uneasy glances.
"Spit it out!" Simon snapped. The others looked at him in surprise—Simon never yelled.
"The United States?" London asked cheerfully. "We won't be there for over a year!"
The chipmunks, Brittany, Eleanor, Dave, and Ian all stared at her in shock.
"You see," a short, bald, African-American man said apologetically from the back of the crowd, "this isn't just a cruise ship. The Tipton is a floating school for these children—," He gestured to Cody, Zack, London, and Bailey, "—along with many others. We make stops and travel all around the world, and I'm afraid that we aren't going to be back at the United States for over a year."
"You mean we can't help Jeanette for over a YEAR?" Simon cried.
The man shrugged apologetically. "I'm so sorry."
Brittany and the others were all staring at Simon, waiting for a reaction. He did absolutely nothing. Brittany hesitantly reached forward and put a paw on Simon's shoulder. "Simon—,"
Her touch reminded him so much of Jeanette's that it actually hurt, like a lancing blow to his chest. He shook her paw off and scampered off the deck and down the stairs.
The others watched him go silently.
The man cleared his throat. "I am Mr. Moesby. You are all welcome to be passengers on the ship, of course," he added. "I think we have a spare room for you, and the chipmunks can all go to our school. We will strive to help you as best as we can, of course."
"Thank you," Dave said quietly.
"Do you have anything I can wear other than this pelican suit?" Ian asked.