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**Exploring**

Leighanne spent most of the morning of the next day looking out the window, to see if Brian might stop by. So far, there was no sigh of him yet.

"Leighanne," Cherry said, walking up to her. "Why are you still there? Isn't that boring? Let's play, that's fun!"

"That's very nice of you Cherry, but I'm waiting for Brain to show up," Leighanne said, looking at Cherry and smiling at her.

"I heard an old saying that said: 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder,' but I think waiting there isn't going to make things better, dear," Mrs. Guide said, walking up to Leighanne and Cherry. "You're just making yourself more worried. Have some breakfast Leighanne. I've cooked up some sausages. It won't help worrying on an empty stomach."

"Thank you, Mrs. Guide," Leighanne said and walked up to Gladys.

"It's going to be alright, dear," Mrs. Guide said. "Brian seems to be the type of man who will keep his promise. He'll show up, just be patience."

"Maybe he hasn't found the right time to leave," Cherry said, running to Leighanne's side.

"Just waiting there will just make it harder for you," Mrs. Guide said, as they walked to the kitchen. "We'll give him an hour or two more, then we'll look for him. Meanwhile, try not to stress over it. Maybe this afternoon we'll go to The Wishing Tree, if you feel up to it. What do you say, dear?"

"That sounds nice," Leighanne said, as Mrs. Guide smiled at her.

"Yay! An adventure!" Cherry cheered, leaping playfully up in the air.

Leighanne laughed a little, while Cherry pranced excitedly around the kitchen and Mrs. Guide prepared breakfast. She just hoped Brian will arrive before she leaves the house and sees The Wishing Tree.
~*~

Luke patted Howie's furry back, as they waited for Donna and Mrs. Meadow to come home. They had left to sign up for the talent contest. Luke was not alone. Mr. Meadow was in the other room making business phone calls. Soon, Mrs. Meadow and Donna returned. Luke ran up to them to say hello to his mother and his sister. Mrs. Meadow then left the kids to talk to her husband. This gave Donna and Luke the chance to talk about the talent contest.

"Did it work?" Luke asked, as he and Donna walked up to Howie.

"Yeah, Dino is going to be in the talent contest!" Donna cheered. "We almost didn't make it."

Luke smiled and laughed, as he celebrated along with Donna, hearing the good news. Howie just sighed. He wasn't really enthusiastic as the children, hearing the news. He still felt a little uneasy being in the talent contest. However, part of him wanted to beat Odd Ball as much as the children wanted to beat Alvin.

"So, what are we going to do for the talent contest?" Donna asked Luke.

"What?" Luke asked, confused.

"Luke, I said I'll make sure Dino is in the contest. Your job was to think what Dino can do," Donna said.

"It was?" Luke said. "I don't remembered."

Howie rolled his eyes, as Donna and Luke argue what Howie could do in the talent contest.

"Where's the book dad got us about dog tricks?" Donna asked, looking around the room.

"I don't know," Luke said, and shrugged.

`This is going to take hours to solve,` Howie thought, as he got up, watching Donna and Luke argue. `I better fix it.`

Howie walked into the room where he last saw the dog trick book, and looked for it. He then spotted the book, picked it up, and carried it in his mouth. Howie walked back to where the children were, and barked to get their attention. The kids stopped talking, and saw Howie with the book.

"Wow, thanks Dino," Luke said, and took the book out of Howie's mouth. Luke patted Howie on his head. Howie just smiled back, and couldn't help but wag his tail. Donna then smiled.

"I think I know what Dino can do in the talent contest," Donna said, smiling, getting an idea.
~*~

A. J. looked up as he laid on the sofa, when Richard walked in the room.

"Hey little dude, I'm back from the animal shelter," Richard announced. He then took out a piece of paper. "I got the addresses of all your little buddies."

"You did? Thank you!" A. J. said. He then jumped off the sofa and headed to the front door. "What are you waiting for? Let's go find them!"

"Whoa, can I least have a snack first?" Richard asked.

"Fine, you can eat something before we go out," A. J. said, sounding a little impatient.

After Richard had his snack, he put on the leash around A. J.'s neck, and they headed out.

"Okay dude, let's start with the closest places first," Richard said, looking at the paper. "First stop is where your white cat buddy lives."

"Nick," A. J. said to himself.

They soon found themselves in front of a door. Richard knocked at the door, and a woman with strawberry blonde hair answered it.

"Hi, my name is Richard Shea. I volunteer at the animal shelter," Richard said, as another woman came to the door. "Is this where Gina Knight and Ruth Garden live?"

"Yes, I'm Ruth," Ruth said.

"Oh, cool! It would have been totally embarrassing if I got the wrong house," Richard said. "Yeah, I'm doing an inventory of animals adopted. You know, how the animals are doing, and such. You did adopt a white cat from the animal shelter, right?"

"Well, you see . . . " Gina said, looking a little sad. "We don't know where our cat is."

"You don't?" Richard asked, sounding a little shock.

"We came home yesterday from shopping, and Snowball was gone," Ruth said, as her eyes began to water. "We don't know how he escaped! The door was lock!"

"We were just about to go out and look for him," Gina said.

"Oh . . . wow, um, I'm sorry that happened," Richard said. He then took out a piece of paper and wrote his phone number down. "Look, if you need any help looking for your cat, call me, or if you have any news about him."

"Okay, thank you," Gina said, as Richard handed her the paper.

"I hope you find Snowball soon," Richard said, before he said good-bye to the women, and turned around to leave.

"It looks like that was a dead end," Richard said to A. J., as they walked away. "Sorry dude."

"It's not your fault," A. J. said. `It's Nick's.`

"Cool," Richard said, and looked at the list. "Maybe we'll have better luck with the next house."

`Nick, you idiot. Why, why did you run away?` A. J. thought, as he walked. `How stupid can you be? Where are you now?`
~*~

Aaron stepped out into the park, and looked around. He still carried Nick inside the gym bag.

"Is this the place where they were last seen?" Aaron asked the driver.

"That's what I heard," the driver said.

"Okay, thanks. I'm just going to look around," Aaron said. The driver nodded back in response, and Aaron walked off.

Aaron walked around the park, looking for any clues, to find out what happened to the guys. He didn't know he was carrying the biggest clue that could lead him to the BackStreet Boys.

"Man, what happened to them?" Aaron said, stopping under a tree. Nick looked up and recognized the tree.

`The Wishing Tree!` Nick thought, seeing the tree.

"This is getting weird, almost scary," Aaron said, and looked at the cat. "Nick would have told me if he left to have fun. Even on a secret vacation. I'm his brother. I'm kinda mad that he didn't invite me. I wish . . ."

"No Aaron! Don't!" Nick meowed out.

"I wish I knew what happened to him," Aaron said.

Aaron suddenly gasped, and Nick turned around to see what made Aaron gasped. Nick saw why, and gasped as well. One of the branches of The Wishing Tree was bending down, hovering above Nick. As if the branch was pointing at the cat.
~*~

"Linda dear! I'm done!" Mrs. Crown called out to her daughter. Linda ran into her mother's sewing room.

"What is it Mom?" Linda asked.

"I'm done making Midnight's new toy," Mrs. Crown said and Linda smiled. "I also made one for the new cat . . . Honey, what's her name?"

"Tiger Lily, Mom," Linda said as Mrs. Crown handed her one of the toys. "I'm thinking of letting them outside later. Midnight really has calm down since Tiger Lily arrived."

"Well, let's see if they like my toys first," Mrs. Crown said, getting up. She followed Linda to the room where Midnight and Tiger Lily were in. The cats were looking out the window, sitting together.

"Midnight, Tiger Lily," Linda called out. Kevin and Kristin looked up at her. Linda carefully threw one of the toys onto the floor. "Here."

The cats walked away from the window and towards the toy. Mrs. Crown gently threw the other toy on the floor. The toys were cloth packets, and the cats heard something was inside the packets, when the toys landed on the floor. Kevin inspected his toy, while Kristin sniffed her toy.

"Kevin, what is it?" Kristin asked, looking over her toy.

"It's some type of toy," Kevin said, pawing his toy.

"Do you think they like it?" Linda asked her mother.

"Just wait and see dear," Mrs. Crown said.

"Maybe they don't have the gene for it," Linda said.

Kevin looked at Linda, hearing that part. He wanted to hear more, but he heard something else that caught his attention. It was Kristin. She was giggling.

"Kristin?" Kevin said, looking at her.

"I see now," Kristin said, still giggling. She picked up her toy and walked off to the other side of the room with it.

"What? Hey . . ." Kevin said, sniffing his toy, wondering why Kristin said that.

Kevin felt . . . relaxed now. He laughed and tugged at his toy with his teeth. Kevin then batted at his toy and chased after it, while Kristin rubbed her toy with her head.

"Oh Mom, look! They love it!" Linda said, watching the cats. "They look so cute!"

"I'm glad that they do," Mrs. Crown said and smiled; Kristin now had her toy between her paws and was tugging on it, while Kevin still chased his. "I knew they'll like the catnip toys."

Kevin was having too much fun to pay attention to Mrs. Crown's words. He never felt this happy before! He was energetic as a kitten! He was a kid again! A kid-ten! Kevin rolled on his back as he played with his toy. He smiled as he saw Kristin tossed her toy into the air and leaped after it. Linda and her mother laughed, as they watched the cats played with the catnip toys. The cats didn't seem to notice them, they were having too much fun.

An hour later, Kevin woke up. He found himself laying on his back, letting his stomach soak up the sunshine. He shook his head, as he straighten up. What happened? The last thing he remembered was looking at the toy Mrs. Crown made. Kevin then remembered what Mrs. Crown said: Catnip.

Kevin groaned, as he laid down. It was coming back to him. Kristin then walked into the room, and saw her husband.

"Morning sleepyhead," Kristin teased, as she walked up to Kevin and sat next to him. "How do you feel?"

"Embarrassed," Kevin moaned. "Did I . . . did we play with cat toys?"

"I'm afraid so," Kristin said.

"We also got affected by catnip, didn't we?" Kevin asked. Kristin nodded back. "I can't believe I played with catnip."

"Kevin, there's nothing to be ashamed of," Kristin said. "You did look cute."

Kevin just groaned again.

"Just be glad none of the other guys saw you," Kristin said, as Kevin looked at her. "Only Linda and her mother saw us."

"Yeah, if it was one of the guys, I will never hear the end of it," Kevin said, and both cats laughed.
~*~

"Hey Mom, do you think we should let Brian out now?" Marcus asked, when he saw Brian staring at the door. "He's been looking at the door for quite some time."

"Well, he has been inside for almost two days," Mrs. Ellard said, thinking it over. "I think he's accustomed to our house now."

"Come on honey," Mr. Ellard said. "If he keeps on staring at the door, he's going to bore a hole through it."

"Oh, I guess it's alright then," Mrs. Ellard said, after she laughed at what Mr. Ellard said. "Maybe he just wants to check out the neighborhood."

"Come back home Brian," Marcus said softly, as he opened the door and let Brian out.

Brian stepped outside and looked around. When Marcus closed the door, Brian headed out to Mrs. Guide's house to see Leighanne.

`Don't worry Leighanne. I'm on my way,` Brian thought as he walked.

Brian was just about to turn a corner, when a Golden Retriever jumped in front of him, and blocked his path.

"Hey cat," the dog said. "Do you want to play?"

"Um, I'm on my way to see . . . someone," Brian said, trying to get around the dog, but the dog prevented Brian to walk around him.

"We're playing now," the dog said, leaning in close until he was an inch away from Brian's face. "When we're done, then you can see your friend."

"Okay . . . so what are we going to play?" Brian asked, getting nervous, as he backed away. The dog barked in front of Brian's face, making Brain jump back; if the dog was any closer, the Golden Retriever could have bitten off Brian's whiskers.

"Chase," the dog said, causing Brian to gulp. "Run. Now."

`This isn't my day!` Brian thought, as he ran as fast as he can, as the dog ran after him.
~**~

**~To Be Continued...~**