Sorry I haven't been posting on schedule lately. I've been a little backlogged with some things. I'm hoping to get back on schedule soon as I can, so here's the next chapter...

By the time they got back to Shadowshire the sun was threatening to peek over the horizon, and the clouds that were scattered throughout the sky had begun to turn a deep pink that told whoever would watch that the sun would soon follow. Isabella had taken the boys upstairs and had asked Khan to find some bandages for them. After she patched them up the best she could, she just let them sleep.

They needed it.

She sat at the foot of the bed, her arms hugging her knees, and sighed. At least now they could go back to relative normal. Well, no. She knew that wasn't true. When the boys would wake up later she was certain that they would insist they go after Moon, since she had done the same for Phineas. She didn't like Moon. Why should she matter so much? She was just a weird animal that lived in the old house on the hill in the haunted part of town. Why should they care so much? She slowly began to realize that it didn't matter. Whatever the boys wanted she would probably follow. She usually did.

Then again, she reasoned, if this were a normal day they would probably be building the world's biggest sand castle or solar-powered hang-gliding panda robots or any other silly thing. She missed that. She glanced back at them, each snuggled up at Marissa's side, asleep. Marissa seemed so much more pale than she had been the night before, and if she hadn't seen her breathing Isabella might have thought she was dead. She sighed. She didn't want to have to break the news to Phineas about her, but she didn't see anything else she could do. She knew what he'd say, that he'd do anything to save his sister, but Isabella hoped that there was something else they could do.

But she didn't see it likely.

There was a small thud from behind her that made her jump, and she turned to see that small creature again, sitting on the floor by the side of the bed. It stared up at her for a moment, blinked, and then yawned.

Isabella frowned. "What are you?" she whispered, "What do you want?"

The creature didn't answer. Instead it just stared. After a moment it stood, shook itself out, and hopped out the door.

Isabella glanced out after it, but then turned back to the boys. She couldn't leave them here - it wasn't safe - but the creature seemed to want to lead her somewhere. She wasn't sure where, and she wasn't sure if she could trust it. For all she knew it could be one of Bellidor's little monsters. Moon would know what to do, she thought dimly. As much as she didn't like her, she had a feeling she might be a little more helpful than the rest of them. She'd taken Bellidor down the first time, after all.

Finally she decided to follow the creature, against her better judgment, and found it waiting for her on the front step. It sat still and silent, its crocodilian snout poised up in the air, and as it watched her approach it seemed to give her a smug smirk. It was the kind of smirk that immediately made Isabella think that perhaps it was hiding something, although if it was hiding something it was unlikely to share. It only sat and stared.

Isabella approached it a little cautiously, mindful of the blades on its tails, but then found a place to sit on the other end of the step. She looked at it for a moment, and it back at her, and then without a sound it took off, almost instantly disappearing into the thick forest.

Isabella quickly followed, barely able to keep up with the creature. She could see little more of it than its shadow, ahead, and so that was what she focused on as she ran through the trees. After a minute the creature stopped, hopping up onto a pile of rocks and then turning back to Isabella. It pawed at the rocks, keeping its stare, and then stepped back.

Without hesitation Isabella dove down, digging away at the rocks, pushing them aside and tossing them behind her. Her mind had gone blank; it seemed she was susceptible to any suggestion that the creature would offer. Her breathing was heavy yet steady as she went, kicking up chunks of stone and gravel, burrowing into the rocks and slowly creating a small tunnel. After a few minutes she paused to catch her breath, sitting back and taking in the chill morning air. She turned to the creature. "Why?" she asked between breaths, "Why am I doing this?"

The creature only pawed urgently at the rocks, hoping for Isabella to continue.

She shook her head instead. "I can't. I can't do this for you unless-"

The creature suddenly perked up, staring intently off into the trees, its ears pointed straight up on its head. It only stood for a moment, watching, and then relaxed.

"What is it?" Isabella whispered, her eyes wide. She stared in the same direction that the creature had been, but she didn't see anything. She turned back to it, frowning. She knew it could understand her, but it seemed to lack any reason to cooperate with her.

So she had to give it one. "If I do this for you...can you show me where Moon is?"

The creature only sat for a moment, staring at her with its blank amber eyes, but then blinked and darted off into the trees.

"Wait!" Isabella cried, getting to her feet and chasing after it. It kept easily ahead of her, but it seemed too to want her to keep up. In between a pair of dark black trees it paused and waited for her.

Isabella eventually caught up, taking a spot on the ground to catch her breath. For such a small animal it could run remarkably fast, and if it kept it up for too long Isabella was certain she'd lose it. She was beginning to think that wouldn't be perhaps such a bad idea. The creature didn't seem to know where it was going, or what it wanted, and so she saw no reason to trust it like she did. Despite that, something in her told her that the creature was okay. There was a little voice in her that insisted she should trust it. If it hadn't been for that she'd have given up on it before it had even left the house. It seemed to want to lead her off in random directions, and she was beginning to suspect it might want to get her lost.

If it did, it had succeeded. Isabella didn't have any idea where she was. All she could see around her were trees, and even though the sun would come up soon she couldn't see the sky through the thick canopy of branches above her. She knew that the little creature before her was her only hope of getting back.

The creature seemed to know it, too, but it didn't have any intention of leading her home. Instead it just sat in between those two black trees and waited.

Isabella groaned. "What more do you want?" she demanded, giving the creature an irritated glare. Whatever game it seemed to want to play she wasn't interested; if it wouldn't do anything else it had better at least take her back to Shadowshire. She didn't want to be stuck out in the forest forever. Bellidor would find her and that would be the end of that. As it was he already had Moon. He didn't need Isabella too.

The creature sat for a moment, its tails swishing back and forth, its eyes on Isabella. It cocked its head to one side and mewled quietly.

Isabella scowled. "Whatever game you want me to play I'm not interested," she said, "If you're not going to show me where Moon is you may as well take me home."

The creature stared back at Isabella in silence, blinked once, and then stood and turned off into the dense trees ahead. It kept its tails and its head low as it walked, leading Isabella still further into the forest, down a steep rocky slope and eventually into a small cave at the bottom of the rocks. Its opening was hardly noticeable, and Isabella was certain that if the creature hadn't led her to it she would have passed it by, but the inside was pitch-black and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't see anything inside.

The creature suddenly turned and ran, and a moment later Isabella spotted Bellidor's hideous form on the higher rocks. Immediately she darted behind a cluster of boulders, glad that it hadn't yet seen her, and watched. It came down with hardly a sound, and as it came closer she could see a deep scratch running down one side of its skull, and another one across its sunken ribcage. After a few moments it passed, but she remained hidden behind the boulders, afraid to come out until she was certain it was gone.

She suddenly spotted the little creature, having returned now that Bellidor had gone, and Isabella slowly came out from her hiding place, back to the narrow opening to the cave. The creature looked up at her expectantly.

Isabella hesitated, staring down into the darkness of the cave. She was nearly certain that the little animal was playing games with her. Now that it had gotten her lost, she half expected it to lead her back to its den and eat her. Perhaps this cave was its den, she thought to herself. Despite that, she couldn't keep her eyes off the creature for more than a few seconds, and it seemed to have an air of calm about it that had vanished when it had fled from Bellidor. She realized that was probably one of its tricks, and shortly after she realized it was too late for her to get away from it in the first place. Wherever it would go she knew she had to follow. Whether that was a good idea or not she couldn't tell. Could she trust it? Probably not. But there wasn't much she could do about it, at least not now.

Finally she sighed. "Okay," she whispered, "Let's go."