"Genius," I call to my dog. "Genius! Here, boy!" I give a whistle and a whoop. "It's Lyrica," I say aloud. "I'm looking for you! I need you to come back!" I sigh and kick a pile of leaves in frustration. Right now, finding Genius is my top priority. This dog could be the key to my success in defeating Tanya and going back home. If I survive. And if I don't, well...if I'm going down...I'm going down fighting. I keep calling Genius 's name, following his footprints. So far, they haven't led me anywhere useful or important. I haven't found him or Tanya yet and I have no idea where they are. I have no idea where I am. All I know is that I'm stuck in the middle of the woods. I don't even know how Chase managed to find me in such a remote place.

  Chase. My sweet, sweet Chase. I honestly feel bad about the way that I left things between the two of us before I ran off. The way that his face looked before I left made me want to take him in my arms and hug him and kiss him and tell him how much I loved him and that everything was gonna be okay. But I couldn't do that because it would have just made it harder for me to leave, especially since he didn't want me to leave in the first place. I miss him. I miss my family. I miss my home. I just wanna go back home. I'll never say that out loud though. I can't let anyone know how desperate and defenseless I feel right now.

  There has to be a way that I can track Genius, I think. I have to find that dog.
Calling his name obviously isn't helping. I don't know what he likes, so I can't really lure him to me with anything. I hope that Tanya hasn't done anything to him, the poor dog. I can't give up. There has to be a way to find them both. There has to be some sort of key to defeating Tanya and getting back home successfully. As far as I know, the key is Genius, but I could be wrong. There are times like these when I'm really confused and I think, What would a genius like Chase do? So I do just that. Bingo. Dig deeper. What exactly does Tanya want? Revenge. What do I want? I want to get back home in one piece. What do we both want? The satisfaction of knowing that we have accomplished our goal.

  What is wrong with me? I am strong. Just because I need help doesn't mean that I'm not strong. I get the feeling that my family and friends are the key to defeating Tanya. There has to be a way that I can contact them all at once. Oh, wait a minute. There is. I take out my earpiece that was given to me by Uncle Donnie for missions, tap on it, and say, "I need backup. Calling...everyone."