(A/N) Hello strangers. Yes, sorry for the long time between uploads, but I want to thank you all for your patience and thank you for still reading the story and sticking by me. I shall be doing updates for the rest of the week and even adding more stories hopefully. With any luck, I can get a regular schedule going again. But with work, babysitting and juggling relationships with people, writing has become a challenge. Plus, I'm a night owl, so my creativity only hits me at night. Right now, it's nearly 1oclock in the morning, so I should probably be getting some sleep, since I have early morning plans. But, yes. Thank you for patience, and if I keep taking too long, be sure to message me and tell me to get a move on;) Well, enjoy the latest instalment:)

Chapter 6

I grabbed my keys and dashed straight out over to Isabella's house. She couldn't be made to make a huge decision on her own, especially one like this!

Ferb caught up to me and grabbed my arm. "Phineas! Please, calm down. You can't just barge into Isabella's house like this. You'll make Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro panic."

I stopped and looked up to her window. Ferb was right, I needed to calm down and take rational steps. I took a deep breath and turned to face him. "Did you tell Buford to come over? I think we all need to speak about this."

Ferb nodded and I turned back and knocked on the door.

"Hello, hello! Oy vey, look how tall you've gotten! And..."

"Hi, Ms. Shapiro. Is Isabella in?" I rushed out before she could finish. It wasn't like me to interrupt someone, but I needed to see if Isabella was okay. By now, she must have figured out the responsibility she has, and I didn't want her to feel alone in this. I mean, she was my friend, my best friend; I didn't want her in any danger! She was just my friend, right?

I must have drifted away with my thoughts as Ferb tugged me up stairs to Isabella's room and gave me a look that said, 'Earth to Phineas'.

Just after we got to her room, Buford shouted up to us.

I am the key bearer! I couldn't believe it! Why was I trusted with this responsibility?! Heck, I couldn't even be trusted with unloading the dishwasher let alone have the responsibility of possibly two worlds on my shoulder! What was I going to do? The wind gushed outside and it pounded on my window, forcing them to swing open and let the torrent of wind crash against me, causing me to go flying towards my door.

From my position, I could listen clearly to outside my door. I heard a gruff voice shout 'Oi, Dinner Bell'.

Buford? I stood up and opened the door and came face-to-face with a rather flustered Phineas.

Isabella! Are you ok? What's going on? Do you..." Phineas pulled me into a hug whilst frantically blurting out sentences of concern.

"Phineas, maybe you should give her time to answer," Ferb rested his hand on his brother's shoulder as Buford stumbled into my room.

"Yeah, take a breath and let girlie talk!" Buford pulled both Phineas and Ferb away from me and sat them on my bed, whilst plonking himself on the chair beside my desk.

They all looked at me expectantly, but my attention was still drawn to the window. It was still technically summer, and there were no weather warning of strong winds on the news forecast today. In fact, that wind was stronger than anything I've ever experienced before. Was something going on with us? Had we all lost our minds? Or was I simply in a dream?

"Yo, girlie?! Give us answers!" Buford waved his hands in front of my eyes and I snapped back to reality.

"Answers? What do you expect me to know?! Didn't you read the letter? All the answers are in there, apparently. What do you want me to tell you? The only thing different from me to you is that I have that stupid key to Aliquid thingy." Phineas shot up after I said the last part.

"Wait, Aliquid? Isabella, do you have any science books... Chemistry to be precise?"

I looked at him, confused, but got up onto my feet and scowered my bookshelf for anything on science. I found 6 books related to chemistry and 3 others on basic science and placed them in front of Phineas.

"Okay... Here!" He pointed to the Periodic Table at the front of the first book.

"Wait, the table of elements? What is the importance of this?" I exclaimed, thinking that I might have missed something.

"The key, Isabella. It's the Key to Aliquid, Aliquid! It's Latin! It means Elements. That means that this could have something to do with that!" He gestured to both the textbook and the giant clam on my nightstand.

"Latin? Why'd they speak Latin then?" Buford was as equally as confused as me. I suppose that's why we were friends. Baljeet, Ferb and Phineas would 'geek off' and me and Buford could just exchange confused glances to each other, or just ignore them and talk. We had a lot in common, believe it or not, which helped me and Buford to actually get along. Also, he could act as your personal body guard. Nobody messes with you if you have a Buford.

"Well, Latin is the root of every language I guess. I suppose the same applies for them." Phineas shrugged as he looked through the science book, trying to find more clues.

I sighed and looked at the clam. It sure was pretty and shiny and... I found myself being drawn towards it. I sat down on my bed and picked up the beautiful 'key' I had been given.

'Isabella...' A voice called out to me. I looked around to see if anyone else had heard it, but the boys were busily reading through the books trying to look up everything they could about the elements.

'Isabella... You are wrong.'

"Wrong?" I exclaimed. The boys still paid no attention.

'Yes. This realm you speak of is filled with magic, so why...'

"Would logic be involved?! Why would logic be involved!"

"Isabella, what's wrong?" My sudden outburst had drawn attention away from the science books and put it on me. Phineas put down 'A Brief History of the Periodic Table' (which, judging by the thickness of the book, wasn't all that brief) and looked up to me.

I took a deep breath and sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. "Phineas, I think we are looking at the wrong kind of Elements..."

"What do you mean, what other kind of Elements are there?"

"Think about it. This whole thing isn't normal, and doesn't pay attention to any kind of rules of logic. So... maybe, just this time... Science doesn't hold any significant... value?"

Phineas and Ferb both gasped and looked at me as if I had just murdered someone.

"I think the responsibility is getting to her head!" Buford [loudly] whispered to Ferb who nodded in response.

"Just, hear me out! Maybe it means a different kind of element. Like... Like..." I whipped out my phone and googled the word 'Element' and found a bunch of results, mostly a song and the Periodic Table, but at the bottom I saw something which might have just been relevant: 'Earth, Air, Fire and Water' "The Elements!"

"Yes, we get that, but that is what we are..."

"No! Not in the table, but what's around us! The four main elements!"

"Of course!" Phineas hit himself on the forehead. "Four of us, four elements, it makes sense! In a non-logical sense kind of way..."

'Isabella!'

Whilst the boys were frantically talking about how 'stupid they were' and 'how couldn't we have realised before', I heard the voice again. I looked down and realised where it was coming from: the clam.

'Well done, Key Bearer. You were correctly chosen for this purpose; the purpose of leadership. You can lead this group- show them the right path. You are capable of great things and won't let obstacles hinder your path for success during the final battle. But take heed and remember: Cave Geminis'

Okay, the 'spot the Latin' this (week/month/however long it takes me) isn't too hard. But the meaning is quite important to the story later on, not to give too many spoilers away. Updates for stories this week, starting off with The Mermaids, The Witch and the Ocean, again, sorry for the delay, I have been busy. Stupid life getting in the way;) But hey, see you all soon, and be looking out for updates/new stories coming to you shortly.
*I'm not sure if 'scowered' is a real word or not, or if it's just slang from the part of Britain I'm from. By-the-by, it means 'to look high and low for' if you need any clarification on words used that you don't understand, then please, ask me!:)*