"What is that?" Isabella squeaked, taking a step back from the pair of eyes watching them. They were perfectly almond-shaped, glowing a soft amber, unblinking. But, just as suddenly they had come, they vanished, appearing a moment later behind a thick cluster of bushes. Almost taunting, they stared without a sound.

"Maybe it's just a stray cat," Isabella whispered nervously, more to assure herself than to present the idea to Ferb. "Just a stray cat, right?"

Ferb had no comment.

Isabella shuddered, giving the forest a wary glance. "Are you sure we should go in there? I mean-"

Ferb just put a hand on her shoulder, and nodded.

Isabella finally sighed. "Alright. Let's go," she said quietly.

Ferb led her into the trees, keeping his eyes on anything that moved, which was just about everything, considering every few minutes or so a sharp breeze rustled through the area and made the trees shake.

"Do you even know which way they went?" Isabella whispered, her voice shaky and quiet.

Ferb nodded, pointing off in a seemingly random direction. Their footsteps were far from silent - they were both very aware of that - but, nonetheless, the forest seemed disturbingly quiet. Ahead stood a small clearing, marked only by a twisted tree that stood bare and crooked in the middle, its branches like spires pointing up at the sky. Isabella skirted around it, mistrusting of it but unable to take her eyes off of it, and then turned back to the trees where Ferb was headed. After a few more minutes they discovered an abandoned pick-up truck, parked next to a small cream-yellow shed. Both of the structures had been reclaimed by the plant-life of the forest, and Ferb gave it little more than a glance before they continued.

There was the sudden sharp snap of a broken twig behind them, and they both froze. Slowly Isabella turned, certain that Bellidor had found them, but she saw only darkness from the trees that surrounded them. Looking down, however, she could see the two eyes that had followed her from the edge of the forest. They blinked slowly but wouldn't move beyond that. Maybe they were harmless, Isabella reasoned, since she hadn't been able to convince herself that it was a stray cat. She only stared back at them, frozen in place, and gulped.

The amber eyes seemed uninterested in her, and after a minute they disappeared back into the darkness. As the creature that they belonged to scampered off, Isabella could hear its bounding footsteps as it left them behind.

"What was that?" Isabella squeaked, her heart still racing.

Ferb only shrugged.

"Do you think it would be a good idea to find out?"

Ferb had no answer.

Isabella decided that she did not, in fact, want to go chasing after it, as her main priority now should be finding Phineas. She wondered what had been done to him by now, although she knew it couldn't be good. Maybe Bellidor had already killed him, and they would be too late. The thought of that made her a little dizzy, and she quickly pushed it out of her mind. Phineas wasn't dead - he couldn't be. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if he was. She didn't want to think of that.

As she and Ferb went through the trees she could feel the temperature dropping, almost to the point where she thought she might freeze solid. She shivered, hugging herself to try and keep warm. Her light purple nightclothes provided little against the chill, and if it hadn't been so dark she was certain she would have seen her breath. "Ferb," she breathed, her voice quick and shaky, "It's getting cold..."

Ferb nodded, putting one arm around her to try and keep her warm. He was cold as well, but he knew that they had to get Phineas home before they could worry about that. He wished Moon was here. She would know what to do. It seemed she knew a great many things about the world, about the supernatural in particular, and although he didn't know how she had come to know so much he did wish she would share. He knew very little about her, other that what she had told them. He was normally adept at reading people, but Moon had proved impossible for him to see into. Instead, he would have to do this on his own. He kept one arm around Isabella, keeping her from shivering so badly, and they continued. His eyes traced the trees ahead, scanning for any signs of movement. He knew Bellidor had to be out here somewhere, and he could only hope Phineas was with him, since he saw little chance of finding him on his own.

Isabella suddenly stopped, tugging on one arm to get his attention and then pointing off to a small gap in the trees. She pulled him closer, and he could see the fallen form of Marissa, hidden under a dark cluster of shrubs. She dropped Ferb's hand and knelt down quickly by her, putting a hand on her forehead. She was cold, but Isabella could see that at least she was breathing. Relieved, she gave her hand a soft squeeze, but was startled when Marissa suddenly squeezed back, her eyes slowly blinking open.

"Marissa?" Isabella squeaked, "Are you okay?"

Marissa nodded, keeping her eyes low to the ground as she slowly sat up. When she spoke her voice was nothing but hurt: "It took Phineas..."

Isabella and Ferb both put an arm around her. "I know," Isabella whispered, "We were out here looking for him when we found you."

"It took Moon," Marissa added, leaning her head into Isabella's shoulder as hot tears begun to well up in her eyes. "She can't help us this time."

At the mention of Moon Isabella hardened. There was only silence for a minute, but then she gave a quiet sigh. "Let's just see if we can get Phineas back, okay? We can keep looking for him in the morning."

Marissa turned to her, clear worry written on her face. "We have to look for him now. What if we're too late?"

"Marissa, it's practically freezing out here," Isabella told her, "And it's dark, and we don't know where we're going, and we can't defend ourselves even if we find that monster. Come on. Let's go home, okay?"

Marissa hung her head, defeated. "Fine."

"Okay," Isabella said gently, helping Marissa up and then turning back to where she knew the edge of the forest would be. But then she spotted the pair of eyes that had been watching her earlier. They blinked once, and then again, watching her.

Isabella just stood, frozen, watching the creature in return. She couldn't see anything of its form, only the two glowing amber almonds that stared back at her. She wasn't really sure she wanted to know what it was, although she was fairly certain it was dangerous. Somewhere in her mind the stray cat idea resurfaced.

The creature blinked, and then came slowly out of the darkness. It was low to the ground, and Isabella could see little of its texture, but what she did see disturbed her. The creature was small, only the size of a house-cat, with long fox-like legs and a skeletally thin frame. It head was a mesh of mammal and reptile - its face followed a perfectly catlike curvature; its eyes set just so; its tufted ears sitting pertly on either side of its skull; but its long nose was taken from a crocodile, flat and sharp. Tiny teeth jutted crookedly out from its mouth, giving it a slight saur-like quality, and its thin bony frame melted almost invisibly into the black ground. Isabella could see its long slender fox-legs as it hopped a little in place, but its six tails made her back away a little. Hardly believing what she'd seen she counted them again - six tails, all lined up in a row, two of them boasting sharp protruding bones like the hind end of an Andalite: small, yet scythe-like in curvature. As it sat on the mossy ground it blinked, first once and then again, and then cocked its head to one side, keeping its eyes on Isabella.

Isabella didn't know what to think. If it hadn't been so strange it could almost be classified as cute, but Isabella thought that couldn't be the right word. After searching in her mind for a minute she found a better one: demonic. Although it didn't posses any horns, Isabella saw it likely that it might develop them if it was allowed to grow. She backed away from it a little, keeping her eyes on it in case it should want to attack her.

The creature only sat, however, preferring to paw lightly at the ground in front of it. After a minute it noticed Ferb, one if its ears flicking off to the side as it stared at him. After a brief silence it stood, shaking out its fur, and bounded up to him, its movements kitten-like and clumsy. Sitting at his feet, its wiry tails twitched back and forth for a moment and then finally settled down.

Ferb stared down at the creature without a word. What was it doing here? What was it? It wasn't anything like the wild animals that lived around here, that was for sure. He took an uncertain step back from it, although it didn't seem to notice and instead turned to Marissa. It put its nose close to her, but then snorted and turned away. After a moment it turned and ran off.

"What was that?" Marissa asked, unsure of what exactly it was she'd just seen.

"I don't know," Isabella admitted, "But I think it's following us."

"Just make sure it doesn't get into the house," Marissa turned back to the edge of the woods, and the three of them went back to the overgrown lawn of Shadowshire. Marissa opened the old oak front door, and soon as she did she noticed that it was significantly warmer inside than it was out here. Glad of it, she headed upstairs to find an empty bedroom at the end of the hall where she could sleep. "You two can sleep with me tonight," she told them, "We'll need to stay together in case that monster comes back."

Ferb and Isabella each curled up with Marissa, and within minutes they were all asleep.