Moon sat silently in the corner of the room, perched like a gargoyle on the flat square bedpost. Below her lie sleeping Marissa, pale-white against the dark grey sheets of the bed she'd been given. She watched her for a minute, unblinking, and then turned to Isabella. "Tell me about that little animal you saw."

Isabella frowned. "Moon, I don't see how it would help-"

"Tell me," Moon snapped.

Isabella sighed. "It was little and black. About Pinky's size, maybe. Long long legs, with little paws. Kind of a lizard-nose, alligator, almost, and big yellow eyes, and six tails-"

"Six tails?" Moon interrupted, giving her a sharp side-long look.

Isabella nodded meekly.

Moon was silent, her face blank. Isabella was certain this was her thinking face, but it wasn't the kind of face to give her any clues as to what her thinking might have been about. She looked instead into her eyes, hoping for a hint, but found none and gave up.

A long time later Moon spoke. "We have to find it."

"Why?" Isabella asked, "What is it?"

"It's important," was all Moon said. She hopped down from the bedpost, landing with just a tiny thud on the floor, and then headed over to the door. She paused in the frame, turning back to Isabella. "You and the boys stay here. I'll be back."

Isabella was about to protest, but Moon was already gone. Instead she just found a place on the end of Marissa's bed and sat with her. The boys sat with her, too, one on each side as if they were protecting her. Phineas held one of her hands in both of his, and although he was silent it was clear that he'd been crying; his eyes were red, and every so often a hard sob wracked him.

Ferb just sat, stoic as usual, although behind his blank eyes he felt much the same as Phineas did. He'd hate to lose his sister, to lose his brother...it would be too much for him. He wouldn't be able to take it. He'd almost lost him when Bellidor had taken him the first time. This would be ten times worse. He hated that monster, more than he'd ever hated anything else in his life. It wasn't in him to hate; why did this come so easily? He was scared of it, almost as much as he was scared of the monster. But he was glad that Moon was okay.

She was a good fighter, and he knew that was what they needed right now.

He leaned in closer to sleeping Marissa, noticing how pale she'd gotten. Her skin was so cold, sending a shiver down his spine when he touched her. Regardless, he clung to her like a wet cloth clings, refusing to let go. He was certain that if Moon didn't return, she would die. There was nothing he could do for her.

That was probably the worst part.

It was silent. It had been for hours. They had little to do except wait. The boys had nestled in with Marissa to keep her warm, and after a time Isabella had joined them. Despite the three of them, Marissa still lie cold, shivering occasionally. Isabella had found a pile of old dusty blankets in a closet, and after shaking the dust and spiders out of them she had brought them back in the hopes that they might help warm Marissa up.

They hadn't.

Instead they were strewn about the bed, half-wrapped around the boys and Isabella and Marissa like fancy candies from the fine chocolatiers in town. They sat, each silent, each with their own thoughts. The time was slow here, and although the huge grandfather clock in the hall had long since stopped working, they could hear it echoing the silence back to them. It was the kind of silence that hung over a room after breaking the news that the family puppy has just been smashed by a truck, or that the family has to move far away and that no one would get to see their friends again, or that old granny has developed some deadly disease with no cure.

When Ferb spoke his voice seemed impossibly loud. "Phineas?"

Phineas looked up from his thoughts, his eyes sombre. "Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

Phineas sat still for a moment as a single tear formed in one eye and then slid silently down his cheek. "Me too."