"I'm confused." Blue shook his head. "What's the plan?"

They were walking to Sundew's house to case the joint, so to speak. It was a short walk from school and it gave Cricket time to explain.

"We are heading there for that point. To make a plan. This is what friends are for, when you need backup, we will provide backup." Cricket said.

They were in front of the house now. Cricket took in every detail. The tree in front, the tree in back, the gabled windows, the fence, everything. Walking as casually as she was able, Cricket tried to get a better look at the side of the house without stepping on the lawn.

"Look!" She whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Blue whispered back.

"That window! There is a venus flytrap in the window! That must be Sundew's room!" Cricket felt this plan was coming together beautifully. "We just need to get to get up there."

"You say that like we can scale the house like monkeys."

"I believe in you." She grinned. "You aren't getting cold feet, are you?"

"Getting colder. I don't think this is a good idea."

"You suggested it."

"And I kinda wish I didn't."

"Well, you don't need to participate if you don't want to."

"I can't do that! I wouldn't abandon you. No, I'll stay, just don't get killed. Please." Blue's face filled with anxious compassion and Cricket bit her lip to stop from blushing.

"Great. We'll meet back here at midnight."

____________________________________________________________________________

Cricket sat on her bed, staring at the clock. It was quarter to twelve, which gave her plenty of time to walk to Sundew's house. She wore black leggings and sweater. And paired with her dark hair and skin tone, she'd be invisible.

The plan that she and Blue had developed wouldn't require much equipment, as they didn't have much equipment. But, she would be bringing a small flashlight and a few granola bars and slipped them into her sweater sleaves.

In case of emergency.

She silently crept out of the house, closing the door with a soft click.

Walking quickly, but not running, she hurried until the targeted house came into sight.

Both Cricket and Blue had agreed that they shouldn't stand in front of the house upon arrival. So, she crouched in the shadow of a bush beside the yard as she waited for her partner in crime showed up.

Cricket laughed to herself at how her situation reminded her of the books she read. Charismatic and noble heroes rescuing an imprisoned comrade was exactly the type of story she'd read.

She froze. Quiet footsteps padded down the road and Cricket tried to see who it was through the leafy bush.

"Cricket?"

She couldn't help smiling at the sound of her name from that voice.

"Are you here?-Aahh!" Blue yelped as Cricket jumped from behind the bush.

"Shh! Stealth, remember?" Cricket whisper-laughed. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Blue looked very nervous.

They crept around to the side of the house and looked up at Sundew's window. After a failed attempt to find any way to climb the wall, Cricket looked around a little more.

"Blue! There's a tree in the backyard that reaches over the roof! Help me over the fence." Blue hoisted Cricket over and she landed with a thud, and afterward, she was able to open the gate and let Blue in. She latched the gate behind them.

On the tree there was a sagging branch that looked like it had been used to climb it many times. They pulled themselves up the tree and carefully stepped onto the roof.

Cricket and Blue stopped talking at this point and just signaled with their hands in an unspoken code. Cricket signed Blue to walk carefully and quietly.

Rounding the corner of the house, they peered into the dark window. They were barely able to see a Sundew shaped form laying in a bed facing them. Blue lifted his hand as if to rap on the window but Cricket caught hold of it before he did. Instead, she took out her flashlight and shone it through the window and onto Sundew's face. She stirred and sat up groggily, a confused scowl on her face.

Her eyes went wide when she saw the dark figures outside her window. Before she did anything crazy, Cricket shined the flashlight on her face to show who it was. Sundew stepped out of her bed and came to the window.

Cricket mouthed "open the window" and Sundew mouthed "it's locked".

Cricket furrowed her brow and looked at Blue, but he just shrugged. But then Sundew looked like she had an idea and retreated to the darkness of her room, out of view of the window. She returned shortly with a long silver wire and stuck it in the lock. After fiddling around with it, a look of satisfaction showed on her face. Sundew lifted the window and Cricket and Blue made room for her on the roof.

"Quick! Close the window and come with us!" Cricket whispered, and they all slipped off the roof and down the tree, as silent as moths.

Once on the ground, Cricket and Blue turned to leave the way they came, through the front gate. But Sundew waved them towards the back fence, where she opened a back gate, and led them through the forest beyond.

Once they were outside, Sundew laughed. "You guys are crazy!"

"We were saving you!" Cricket defended Blue and herself. "It always takes a bit of crazy to get something done!"

"I like crazy." Sundew clarified. "What happened?"

Blue and Cricket took turns explaining how she wasn't answering her phone and they thought she was sick, all the way to climbing the tree and waking her up.

Sundew nodded, smiling. "That sounds just like something I would do." She laughed again.

"Ok, your turn." Cricket said. "What did you do to get grounded?"

Cricket and Blue listened intently as Sundew reluctantly explained how she met Willow, and how they would meet in the woods, and how eventually she got caught.

"We would meet almost every night in these woods. Right here, in fact." They stopped walking as they came into sight of the bench and flickering lamp post.

Cricket nodded in understanding. "So, Willow, is she nice?"

"Nice?" Sundew snorted. "She's much more than nice. She's amazing! You guys should meet her sometime."

Blue interrupted the conversation. "Guys. What do we do now? Sundew can't go back to her house and we didn't prepare for her to stay at either of our houses." He looked nervously from one girl to the other. "What now?"