When Tang Xiaonan and the others returned to Millstone Peak, it was already pitch black. The Thorne family home, however, was in an uproar. Phoebe Huxley had come home from work to find two chickens missing—the fattest ones, at that. Two of the largest slabs of cured meat were gone as well, along with some dried fish and preserved duck.
Phoebe Huxley's first reaction was that they had been robbed. But with Dollar guarding the house, a petty thief shouldn't have been able to get in. Then she realized it was dark, and the siblings, Tang Xiaonan and Jim Thorne, still weren't home. Amanda Chapman didn't know where they were either. That's when Phoebe really started to panic, thinking a kidnapper had abducted her daughter.
Fortunately, Felix Thorne was calmer. He thought it was unlikely. Jim Thorne had probably just taken his sister out to play. Still, Felix couldn't figure out why they would take so much meat—and catch two chickens—just to go out and play.
