Chapter 2

After sitting in that cave for the majority of the night Genie and Nico had become quite comfortable with each other. No, they weren't the best of friends, but at least they could both say they weren't enemies. It had started with that one simple handshake and then evolved into a full blown discussion of who they were, what they liked, what they hated, and the final discussion consisted of how they had gotten into their current situation. Neither could come up with answer of how or why they were sitting out in the middle of the woods. Neither could answer where they were. The only thing that the two of them could answer was that neither were capable of fully remembering everything about their past. To Genie it felt as if it were right there at the edge of her mind just waiting , but she just couldn't reach it. The same went for Nico, he knew that whatever it was he wanted to remember was just right out of his grasp.

" Looks like its finally safe to go outside." Genie stated as she stood at the entrance to their little temporary dwelling. The rain had finally let up a little and the sky had finally cleared enough to show a stunningly ominous moon peeking over the tree tops. She turned and walked back to the place that she had unconsciously deemed hers. " So where do plan on going from here? I mean, I haven't seen any sign of civilization anywhere near here."

" I honestly don't know. I might just keep going north till I find something. It can't be all woods you know." said Nico with a slightly optimistic tone." What are your plans?"

" I don't know. I don't want to keep wondering, but I sure as hell don't want to just sit here and rot…" She was about to finish when they both heard a loud *crack* come from outside the cave. They both tensed and within that one second everything seemed to stop as a small light coming from outside seemed to grow larger and lager. Fear started to knot up in Genie's stomach because not only was this sudden, but if there was someone coming closer it would be the first person, other than Nico, she had seen the entire time she had been there. As the light grew closer all that could be heard was a small, "Hello? Is anybody in hear ?". Another *crack* reverberated off the walls of the cave, "Hello?". The light stopped, a silhouette could be seen at the entrance. "Hello…oh hi there, um are you two okay?" asked the small dark figure at the end of the cave. To say this person was small would only be an understatement, this person was…well just odd. In fact, it almost didn't look like a human, but instead as the figured slowed it's way into the cave, it started to shrink. its ears looked like they were close to the top of the person's head, and was that a tail she saw? No, this definitely wasn't a human and as it came closer to the dim fire it began to look more and more like well… a weasel ,as odd as that may sound. Then as creature finally came to a stop in front of both humans all doubt had fled the room ,because standing there before Genie and Nico was indeed a small, talking weasel. "Hey are you two okay?".

Genie couldn't help it. She just couldn't help but sit there gawking at this odd creature. It was a weasel - a talking, walking, clothes-wearing weasel. If she thought that things were bizarre before, well this totally blew all that straight out the water. She started to think, " OK. Ok being lost in woods and being forced to stay in a cave with a stranger is one thing, but if there are talking animals then that could only mean two things…..I'm either dreaming. or I've lost it." And with that she turned to look at the Nico who, not to her surprise, looked just as bamboozled as she did. He turned his head to looked at her, then back to the weasel.

" Uuuh I don't want to sound rude, but you're a weasel. And you're talking….." Poor Genie just couldn't seem to wrap her mind around this. Of all the things to happen she really never could have expected this.

" Well yes I am a talking weasel , you guys sound like you've never seen one before. Wait, you guys have seen one before haven't you?", both teens shook their head in a negative fashion. " Oh dear, that's never good. Well my friends till we can sort this out you can me Topy or Tops either will do. And I do believe neither have answered my question. Are you okay?" stated the little creature with the slightest hint of worry tugging at his mousy features.

As the shock of the situation and the fear of what the weasel meant by "never good", started to settle in, both Genie and Nico glanced at each other for some sign of how to proceed. Of course Nico was the one to answer the animal's question. "Actually to be honest…Tops… no we are not completely okay. You see we're sort of lost, and neither of us knows where we are. I don't suppose you know how to help us do you?" He stated not once having his voice waver.

"Well of course I can. But if you don't mind my saying I think it would be a better idea if we get you guys out of this cave and patched up before either of you guys go anywhere." said the mousy looking creature. He started for the entrance glancing back at the two dumbfounded humans, " Well are you coming."

The two teens shared one more glance before getting up and stepping toward their strange little guide. Neither knew how this would end up, but both could definitely agree that they would rather get help than spend another day sitting in that cave. And seeing on how neither of them knew where they were headed, the talking weasel, strange as that may sound, was starting to look like their best bet as to figuring out how they should proceed.