The police sirens grew louder by the second as the four of them reached the sidewalk. 

     "The van's a block away," Abby said. "We'll never make it."  

     "I'll have it come to us," Gramps said as he pulled a device out of his pocket. 

     But Winston was already on the move, and Alison stayed with him. 

     "Hey!" Gramps barked, but Winston and Alison had already disappeared down an alley that separated the apartment building from what looked like a two story warehouse. 

​     Gramps and Abby had no choice but to chase after them. 

     The alley was narrow and all but bare. 

     On one side of the alley, where the stores and apartments were, Abby saw windows and doors and all of that.

     On the other side of the alley, a two-story cement warehouse had no windows, no doors.  

     It did have something the other side didn't, though, and it was the oddest thing.

     It had a bush.

     Right in the middle of the alley.    

     A thick bush, too, dense and green, twelve feet across and eight feet high.

     Absolutely no sunlight could get to it in that alley, and yet it thrived.

​     It seemed to grow right out of the sidewalk.      

     What the...so strange. 

     Then, something even stranger.

     Winston and Alison walked right into the bush and disappeared.

     They didn't even slow their pace. 

     It was like they went through an open door to walk into that bush. 

     Behind them, on the street, Gramps heard running feet and barking voices, people, police, converging. 

     Choice time.

     Gramps touched his daughter's arm and said, "Let's go." 

     They moved quick to follow behind Winston and Alison. 

     So that, they too disappeared into the bush. 

END OF CHAPTER THREE

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