Chemistry

Search and Rescue by Jacob

5:00:01. Where is Noel? You may think I'm a stickler for time, but Noel is never late. Not even by a second. Let them train unprotected, they said. It'll be fine, they said. NOOOOOO. IT'S NOT FINE! THE LOVE OF MY LIFE IS MISSING AND I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT HER. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. IMPOSSIBLE I TELL YOU! I ran screaming nonsense into the living room. Sam fell off the couch (strange, he usually only does that when Bryn is around), Connor hit his head underneath the couch when he was grabbing a ball for Messi, Bubbles, Sam's dog Ronaldo, and Bryn's dog Ginger. Ronaldo is a chocolate lab and Ginger is a black lab. Drew burned his...um...area...scooping noodles into a bowl. Ben dropped the picture frame he was holding. We all looked at him and gasped. It was a picture of him and Cam holding hands on the beach. He blushed profusely. Everyone said "oooooh" or "I KNEW IT!"

"Guys, we need to go search for the girls!"

Drew turned around from the stove and put his hands on his hips

"We all know you love Noel, Jacob, but it's only 5:02. Chillax, bro!"

"They're never late!"

"Jacob has a point, Drew. They're never late to anything," Sam said.

Connor absentmindedly threw the ball to the dogs and they scrambled over each other to retrieve it.

"Cam is always on time, and I'm worried."

"'Cause you like her!" Drew retorted.

"Connor? Are you ok?" Sam asked.

Connor looked up.

"What if they got captured by Amàya?"

"OH NO. NONONONONONONO THIS IS BAD. THIS IS VERY BAD." I started to freak out. I ran up to my room and started to put my mission suit on. I had just laced up my boots when I heard a mew from across the room. I looked at Mushu, my cat. He and Star were snuggled up in his little cat house. Star was Noel's cat.

"Sorry guys. I have to go find Noel. She's missing."

Star jumped onto my shoulders, signaling she wanted to go along. When Mushu saw that Star was going, he went too.

"Mushu! Star! You can't come! You'll get hurt! I promise I'll bring Noel back safely."

Star huffed and jumped off of me, followed by Mushu. I grabbed my mission bag and sprinted out the door. Connor, Sam, and Ben were waiting for me, with their gear on as well. All of us grabbed the ladies' gear in case they were in trouble.

"Where's Drew?" I asked.

Drew rolled his eyes and sassily stuck his hip out while holding the soup ladle.

"Now listen here. I am not going anywhere because my soufflé is not done! I am staying here!"

"I got this," Sam whispered.

"You won't be able to kiss or even see Andie again..."

"I'LL BE READY IN 39 SECONDS!"

After 39 seconds, we all rushed out the door.

I turned into a Blue Poison Dart Frog and hopped into the forest. Drew turned into a great white shark, then he remembered that he was not in water, so he turned back into a human and sprinted into the forest. Ben blinked, turned into a Cottonmouth, and slithered off. Connor jumped into the air and turned into a macaw and flew off, and then Sam switched into a Coyote and darted away. We searched the forest, beach, and Drew even searched the ocean reef, but no luck. We headed to their normal training spot to look again. We found singed weapons, webs, and...a dead jellyfish. We all looked up in horror and realized what had happened. Amàya had happened. She'd captured them.

"AMÀYA? WE KNOW YOU'RE THERE! TAKE US TO THE GIRLS!" Connor yelled.

We heard a slight titter from the trees. We looked around, weapons drawn, back in human form.

"What girls? Do you mean those little nuisances, always foiling my plans? And what? Are you their "knights in shining armor?""

"I always thought of myself as more of a 'Prince Charming', but that works too." Drew said.

"Show yourself, Amàya!"

Incessant tittering again. Finally, a curvy woman's shape walked out from the forest. She had the ideal evil villain look. Black hair streaked with red, dark eye makeup and red lipstick, black crop top that was a bit too revealing for her own good, skin tight leggings, and red stilettos.

"Back again, are you, boys? You just can't get enough of this." At this point she bumped Drew with her hips. He disabled her and growled,

"Where is my girlfriend?!"

"Chill, bro, I'll take you to her. Just... be warned. Don't touch her when you see her."

She flourished her hand, and we ended up in a pitch black room.

"Amàya...?"

We heard a click and a spotlight from up above gave a soft glow onto the ground. A spider crawled into the light. We looked closer at the spider and then realized that it was a Black Widow. We slowly backed away and Sam whispered,

"Guys-that's a black widow."

We were all confused.

"What does that mean? Does that mean we can squish it? I don't like poisonous spiders." Drew said, then shivered.

Connor thought for a second.

"Isn't the Black Widow the most poisonous spider in the world?" Connor asked.

"Yeah..." Ben answered.

"Isn't it dressed in red and black?"

"Yeah but we really don't need to be discussing a spider's dress code right now." Drew said.

"Connor, Black Widows aren't usually found in Cuba, which I assume that's where we all are. They're usually found in Midwestern USA..." I said.

"But who is really dangerous, is a woman, wears red and black, and can turn into any invertebrate (because her father was once part of the FBI and could also change into invertebrates)?!"

"Amàya!" We all whisper shouted.

"Exactly!"

"LEMME SQUISH HER! LEMME SQUISH HER!" Drew yelled.

"Drew stop!" Sam hissed. "We know she has the girls but right now, she's the only one who knows where they are, and if we take her down,"

"The girls will go down too," I finished.

Drew huffed.

"New plan..." Sam explained what we were going to do and we got into position.