Yay! The second chapter of my first murder-mystery, CLUEDO!

I don't really have much to say this time (my first AN pretty much explained everything) so just read on and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Phineas and Ferb

Mysteries are not necessarily miracles

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Her room was her safe haven.

The only place where she really and truly belonged. Not at school, not where she volunteered, definitely not downstairs. In her own private bedroom.

Leaning against the cool pole of her basic white canopy, Gretchen sighed as she held her heart-shaped pillow tightly against her chest and scolded herself. What the heck was she thinking, agreeing to go to that party? She didn't belong there. She didn't belong anywhere, save her own room. So why did she say she would go?

I was scared.

Of what, exactly? Of being alone and friendless for the rest of her life? If it meant she could stay in her bedroom, then she had absolutely no problem with it, as sad as it sounded.

Gretchen continued to hug the pillow until stuffing began to seep through the cheaply sewn edges. When she closed her eyes, she could still see the message staring back at her with big, bold letters, as if the threat itself wasn't clear enough on its own.

I cannot force you to come, Gretchen. The choice must be made by you. I must warn you, though. E has a list of things that he wants and he ALWAYS gets what he wants, even if it puts others at harm. You are currently on that list. If you choose not to show up it is your loss, however E WILL have you in the end, even if it is just a lifeless body.

It was a joke, just some stupid prank someone was pulling to scare her. It had to be, right? What kind of a person threatens to kill someone for not showing up at a party?

A crazy one, that's who.

Gretchen didn't know an E.E. Institute. She didn't volunteer there. It didn't exist. Someone simply made up a fake organization, typed up some creepy messages, and e-mailed them to her. While not many people knew her e-mail, it was the twenty-first century after all. She knew for a fact that tracking people down through the internet wasn't nearly as difficult as it used to be.

Which was also what made it just as likely not to be a prank, unfortunately.

Gretchen flopped back down onto her bed and allowed to head to hang over the edge. It all felt so real. The message, the directions, the threat. Regardless of whether or not it was a joke, she had to go. It was the only logical explanation, and Gretchen had always been one for logic. She would simply wait outside her house for the said white limo to come pick her up. If it did, she would go to the party. If it didn't, then she would go back inside and that would be the end of it.

Of course, if this was just a prank and word got around that she actually fell for it, then it would not be the end of it as she would quickly become the laughing stock of the century. Not that Gretchen didn't already get laughed at for being the awkward nerd girl at school, because she did. All the freakin' time. Fortunately for her, getting laughed at by everyone was a price she was willing to pay. When it came between being bullied—which she already was—and potentially losing her life—well, it was pretty obvious which was the better choice.

Gretchen slowly lifted her head and rolled onto her side to check the time. 7:30. The invitation said she would be picked up at nine o'clock. That left her exactly an hour and a half to get ready. Not that it would be a problem or anything like that, for Gretchen—being the serious pre-planner that she was—had already gotten everything ready. She had her entire outfit laid out at the corner of her bed, her purse was fully packed with everything that she needed (complete with pepper spray, just in case), and the bathroom sink was lined with various products from her mother's favourite makeup brand, Flawless Girl.

Tucking a strand of sandy brown hair behind her ear, Gretchen sulkily rolled out of bed—quite literally, really. How much she would rather stay at home, laying around in bed and listening to Beethoven's Best on repeat, words could not describe. Gretchen could not, however, do any of these things, for fear had already overturned her and there was no turning back.

'I'll be there,' Gretchen had texted the moment she had received the threat, even before she had fully thought things over and decided to go.

What a funny thing fear was. Got you to do things you never would have done had you not been scared.

People kill out of fear.

Gretchen shook all negative thoughts out of her mind. For all she knew she could end up having a blast at this party. Meet a few new faces, maybe even some cute boys. That was always a possibility.

And if it was a prank like she had speculated earlier, it didn't matter how hard things were at school. At least she would always have her safe haven. At least she would always have her room.

Gretchen slipped out of her Ducky Momo flannel pyjamas and into the dress she had picked out from her closet. It was a slim strapped white dress, never-been-worn, with a silver sash and flowers embroidered along the bottom. A birthday present from her grandmother, as she recalled. Shoving her feet into hand-me-down grey flats, Gretchen headed to the washroom and carefully applied a light coat of eyeshadow, along with eyeliner and mascara.

To finish off the look, Gretchen grabbed her purse from her dresser and took a quick peek inside, making sure she did not forget a single thing; her cellphone, chap stick, vanilla lipgloss, her glasses (just in case her contacts fell out), pepper spray, wallet, and, of course, her asthma inhaler.

Because the last thing I want while running away from a potential serial killer is to have an asthma attack.

Taking one last look at herself—an above to her usual average—Gretchen headed down the steps.

Phineas had only ever been to one party in his entire high school experience.

And with the stories he ever-so-often heard, he was glad he did so.

For all high school parties were no different than the one before. It was as if the events were practiced countless times to ensure that nothing would ever change. Every single time, like a broken record, people got drunk, a fist fight broke out, very bad things happened, the cops would show up, and then it was complete blackout for the next two days. Not exactly the most fun of ways to spend the weekend, in Phineas' own personal opinion. So it never made sense to him as to why most of the high school population couldn't get enough of them.

Fortunately for him, this party was to be nothing like any regular high school party. At least, he didn't think it would be. It couldn't be. No one at his school owned a mansion. In fact, the only kids in town who did were the ones who attended the private school uptown, and everyone knew that the two schools never interacted. This was a real, grown up party and for that exact reason was Phineas beyond excited to attend, despite the creepy messages he had received along with the invite.

Phineas checked his watch. 8:55. Less than five minutes until the limo was to appear and Phineas would be off. He could hardly contain his emotions as he began bouncing up and down uncontrollably with what could easily be described as the world's largest grin.

As he did so, he could not help but to wonder what the rest of his family would be doing while he was absent. He knew his parents would be going on another one of their dates that they went on in order to keep their marriage fresh. Phineas never understood why they went on so many. They had only just gotten married three months ago. It couldn't possibly get any fresher than that.

His older sister, Candace, would most likely be with her fiancé, Jeremy, doing whatever it was that newly engaged couples did.

As for Ferb, Phineas had no idea what his brother would be doing at this time. He didn't know him well enough to do so much as to take a guess. Perhaps he would hang around in his room listening to music or visit Vanessa, the girl Phineas so often saw him with.

"Hullo."

Or perhaps he would be sneaking up on his slightly younger stepbrother, scaring the daylights out of him.

Phineas wasn't sure which was more surprising, the fact that Ferb was outside at night or the fact that Ferb was actually talking to him. Now that he thought about it, this was the very first time Ferb had ever spoken to him directly.

He took in Ferb's outfit. An ironed green shirt, black slacks, and a dark green tie. Similar to his own outfit, except that his shirt was lavender and his tie was more of a deep purple. Plum coloured, the label had said. Not exactly the kind of outfit you would casually wear on the weekend. Not at home, in the very least.

So where was his brother going?

Phineas doubted it was a date. By the looks of it, Ferb didn't have many—if any—friends, better yet a girlfriend. While he did have Vanessa, it was a known fact that she was around Candace's age. Phineas had tried several times to include Ferb in his daily activities with his friends, but by the looks of it, Ferb liked to keep to himself. He liked to be alone, although Phineas never could understand why.

"Are you going someplace?" Phineas asked with interested, rather than greeting his brother like he should have.

Ferb didn't reply and Phineas didn't push him. He knew Ferb wasn't much for conversation, and while it annoyed him at times, he respected it. He had shy friends of his own, after all. Plus, according to his mother, Ferb had 'been through a lot.' Phineas wasn't exactly sure what it meant, as by his standards he had been through a lot himself, but it was simply one of the many things he never bother ask about because, frankly, it was none of his business and he knew that.

Instead, he kept his eyes on the driveway, as the clock had just struck nine and a purple limo came into view, followed by another limo. A green limo.

Wait, another limo?

Phineas couldn't remember the invitation saying anything about two limos, nor did he know anyone to whom the second limo might have belonged to. Who would own a green limo anyway? Perhaps it was a test, one to ensure that he would follow the directions entirely. Yeah, that must have been it. Phineas began to walk to the limo—the correct one—then stopped himself.

What would Ferb say when he saw Phineas climb into the limo? Of course, Ferb technically didn't speak much, so it wasn't so much of what he would say than it was what he would think. Would he be scared for his brother? Would he be jealous? Would he care at all? Or maybe he would tell Candace. Or worse, their parents.

That would be bad. Very bad.

While Phineas never lied to his mother—he couldn't, even if he wanted to—he definitely didn't tell the full truth. In fact, he left so much out of the story that he practically did lie to her. Not like he didn't feel bad about doing so, but he knew it would be the only way he would be able to leave the house so late. He also knew, from Candace's 'intimate get together' days that if his mother ever found out that he stretched the truth even in the slightest, there would be big consequences. And while Phineas liked big, he most definitely did not like consequences.

Maybe if he ran to the limo quickly enough then his brother wouldn't see him. Or maybe Ferb wouldn't care at all. He had always been one of those mind-your-own business type of people, and Ferb didn't seem like a hypocrite. He stole a quick glance at his brother for confirmation, only to discover that Ferb was no longer standing behind him.

Phineas felt his phone buzz in his pants pocket. Hesitantly he fished it out. It was a text message from none other than E.E. Institute. An uneasy feeling rose in his stomach as something told him that E wasn't texting simply to see how he was doing.

Tick tock goes the clock. You're brother has caught on quickly, why have you not?

Phineas looked up and watched as Ferb climbed into the green limo. Could it be? Was it possible that Ferb had been threatened by E.E. Institute as well? He didn't think much about, he didn't have much time. E.E. Institute was waiting for him, and something told him that he was not patient.

Hickory dickory dock.

The mouse never did run up that clock.

Caught by a cat. What do you know?

That's what he gets for being too slow.

Yep. E.E. Institute definitely was not patient.

The air around her grew cold, and Isabella knew that she had just walked into what would now be the biggest mistake of her life.

Or maybe it was just the air conditioning, which was on full blast, despite the fact that it was fairly cool outside.

Isabella let her body sink deeper into the velvet cushions. The more she thought about her situation, the most it occurred to her that she had absolutely no idea where she was going or what would become of her. At the time of the messages, it made sense to go. It was clear that the mysterious E.E. Institute wanted her present and the last this she wanted was to upset him, as he seemed to have a bit of a temper. If anything, it would be wrong not to go. But now, sitting alone in the giant red limo, she realized that the best solution would have been to go to the police. Or, in the very least, her own mother. While she wasn't near genius when it came to the subject of law, she was pretty sure threatening to kill a stranger leaned much closer to the illegal side of things.

Unfortunately for her, it was far too late for second thoughts, as she was already off to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what.

To party, Isabella constantly needed to remind herself. She was going to a party.

The first party in months, Isabella realized as she adjusted her strapless red dress. Not the first party held, for sure, but definitely the first party she had been able to attend.

Although, technically, her mother hadn't given the teen permission to go out. As far as she was concerned, Isabella was safe in bed, tucked neatly beneath the covers.

Isabella hated lying, especially to her mother, but what other choice did she have? Ever since her father disappeared years ago, Isabella's mother had gone beyond the usual standards of an over-protective parent. She made life impossible, completely ruining her social life, not to mention her love life. Even getting to school in the morning was a challenge because her mother wouldn't allow her to cross the street without supervision. The teen had absolutely no freedom.

Then E.E. Institute came along.

Three days earlier, her mother received a letter in the mail. Apparently she had won a first class ticket to her hometown and was scheduled to leave right away. The letter claimed it was a business thing, that everyone in her workplace had been secretly entered, but Isabella knew better. She had recognized the calligraphic E's at the bottom of the page. It was the same as the ones on the bottom on the letter she had received the day before, the invitation to the party.

The invitation that quickly turned to violent e-mails when she had thrown it away.

Isabella knew she should have warned her mother, that it might all be a trap. But the thought of being alone for a month, being freed from her mother's watchful wrath, it was an offer to good to be refused.

So she encouraged it. She told her mother she would be fine, that she would be home at all times, anything that would get her mother to leave the house. On any other occasion, Isabella's persistence wouldn't have worked, but considering her mother hadn't seen her family in years—and with the amount of money she made, it would take a while before she see them again, Isabella's words were nothing but confirmation that everything would be alright.

And everything was alright. Her mother had called to tell her she had made it there safely, and Isabella was free to do whatever she pleased.

All thanks to E.E. Institute.

Maybe that was why she had agreed to go to the party so quickly, because E.E Institute had given her the first taste of freedom she'd had in years. He had helped her, and all he wanted in return was for her to show up at one silly party. Something she herself knew she would enjoy.

Isabella let out the breath she had subconsciously been holding in, suddenly feeling a lot calmer as her worries drifted to the back of her mind. She let her eyelids droop, thinking of all the positive possibilities instead. The party could be fun. The party will be fun. And after, I will go back home and I will be free.

I will be free.

o.O.o

Isabella may not have remembered falling asleep, but she sure as heck remembered waking up.

The limo driver had been driving way past the speeding limit when the shiny scarlet vehicle halted to a stop. Isabella was abruptly woken by her body slamming forward, leaving her shocked, dizzy, and slightly nauseous.

What the..?

It was a matter of seconds before the limo driver was at her side, opening the door like a true gentleman. Isabella clumsily stepped out of the limo, still noticeably shocked from the stop. While her heart was beating rapidly, she managed to regain her composure long enough to take in her surroundings.

The place was deserted. Nothing but flat ground for miles and miles on end. She was literally standing in the middle of nowhere.

"Sir…are you sure we're at the right place. There's nothing—"

Isabella froze. Neither the limo nor the limo driver were anywhere in sight. But…this is impossible. He was just here. If he had left, I would've, in the very least, heard the limo move.

Isabella looked to the ground. All she could see was her own footsteps. Not a single tire track was visible. There was no proof that the limo had been there, that it had even existed. If she was to tell somebody what had happened, they were likely to think she was out of her mind. Isabella herself was starting to believe she was out of her mind.

The previous worries she had before came flooding back quicker than she could process them. I am alone in the middle of nowhere. Isabella pulled her cell phone out of her black clutch. It was no surprise that she had no reception. What was a surprise was that she had one unread message.

Walk.

There was nothing else. No more of an explanation. No preference of direction. Yet, Isabella knew exactly what the message meant. While the simple four-letter word was telling her to walk, she could hear it screaming at her to suck up her fear. To move forward. To run.

So she did.

Okay, so things are starting to get a little more intense. Where exactly is Izzy? Is she alone?

I guess we'll just have to wait until the next chapter is written and posted.

Till next time, my lovelies.

XoXoX BETA :)