I woke up on the Kauvara sofa with a book in my lap. Shaking
myself awake, I looked at the time on the official Usuki clock that was hanging
on the wall. It was almost time for breakfast.
I stood up and flew upstairs to Flowal2000's
room. She was in the very messy bathroom, applying her makeup. The vanity desk
was cluttered with every cosmetic you could imagine. The jelly walls had graffiti
written on them with lipstick. Flowal obviously shared the room with Annalisaca,
because there was a giant picture of a badly drawn Usuki painted in nail polish
(Grundioy obviously wasn’t the only artistic pet). Plus the baby Cybunny was
splashing in the bath.
"Lalala," Anna cooed. She was playing with a
battle duck.
"Isn't that dangerous?" I asked Flowal, referring
to the battle duck.
"No, Anna knows to be careful," she said brightly.
Anna was making the battle duck and her mermaid Usuki zoom through the air,
along with sound effects.
I splashed my face to wake myself up. I heard
a loud crash come from downstairs. Was anybody ever quiet in this house?
"So, what are you going to do in Faerieland,
Cettica?" Flowal asked, brushing her grass colored mane carefully. She really
was beautiful.
"Oh, I don't know, stuff," I said, hoping my
voice didn't betray anything.
Flowal2000 looked up and smiled at me, "Grimlaerian
sure seems excited about our trip. Can you hear him?"
I listened, and sure enough, I could hear the
brown Grundo gurgling and laughing loudly, along with the voices of Rofal2000
and 6612. I excused myself from Flowal and Anna's company, walking into Flowal's
room.
I sat on her bed, thinking hard. The strong
coconut stench of her Tiki room made it hard to concentrate, making me feel
sleepy instead. Rabbit, Flowal’s Bearog jumped into my lap, and with a guilty
shock I realized I had forgotten about my own petpet, Jewel, whom Jhudora was
holding prisoner. I also felt a pang of sadness, I missed her so much. I knew
she was safe ... or at least as safe as she could be in the possession of a
dark Faerie. Listening to the stupid giggling of my sibling, I resolved I wouldn't
think twice about swapping him for my petpet, and securing my future.
Before I knew it we were there, in Faerieland.
I'd never actually taken a good look around there, I was too busy with Jhudora.
But now that I had a chance, it was pretty neat.
Heidi had never been to Faerieland, and was
gripping my wing tightly. "Look Cetti, there's the Wheel of Excitement," she
pointed at the giant sparkling wheel, the name of which seemed to match her
mood.
I couldn't help smiling at her, this was the
old Heidi, the one that got overjoyed about the slightest thing, like finding
20 Neopoints on the ground.
Before I knew what was happening, everybody
started going their separate ways. Grundioy was off to the book shop immediately,
Rofal disappeared and Flowal was leading me away, gushing, "You have got
to try this Faerieland food."
"No, wait ..." I started, losing sight of Grimlaerian,
Heidi and Joey as they headed towards the Poogle Races. I sighed and let Flowal
yank me to a quaint little cottage painted lavender. It had a sign saying 'Faerie
Foods' above the door, and a pair of satisfied looking Faerie Moehogs were just
leaving.
Taking a seat, I watched Flowal pick up the
menu and study it, so I did the same. I read the captions under all the pictures
of the food, 'You haven't eaten at Faerieland if you haven't had a pigalicious
ham sandwich!'
Eventually an earth Faerie wearing an apron
and with a tray permanently attached to her hand came over, reminding me very
much of the Soup Faerie. She took my order, I ordered some Faerie bubbles. Her
and Flowal seemed to be good friends, "The usual, Flo?" Flowal2000 nodded happily.
"So, my little green Lenny friend, where do
you want to go next?" she asked brightly before our meals came.
I was still studying the menu, afraid to meet
her eyes. "I think we should meet up with Grim and Heidi," I finally said. She
didn't get a chance to reply, because as that moment her eyes lit up and our
meals were placed on the table.
Flowal had chosen the fluffy Faerie pancakes
with a side order of celestial salad (no surprises there). I guessed that was
her "usual". We ate our meal in silence, and I was glad for that meant I didn't
have to explain myself. I hardly tasted the food, I was thinking so hard. How
was I going to get Grimlaerian alone and go to meet Jhudora?
We left the Faerie Food shop, and I looked around
desperately for Grim. I didn't know what the dark Faerie would do to Jewel if
I did not go through with my end of the deal.
"Come on, we're going to the Hidden Tower,"
Flowal suddenly said, interrupting my thoughts.
"Okay .... umm where is it?"
She looked at me like I had never heard of Chet
Flash. "Over there," she said, pointing to a big empty space. I began to think
the skunk Usul wearing the Pteri-feather boa was a bit more spacey than I had
first imagined. But I followed her, and sure enough when we were about a meter
away, a huge tower came into sight. She took my wing and pulled me inside.
I had never seen so many rich pets and owners
in one place, even at the Gourmet Club. Celandra, Fyora's maid, was dusting
some glass display cases with the most powerful weapons in Neopia behind them,
more expensive then I could ever have. No, I suddenly thought, Jhudora
promised you this.
Hearing a familiar laugh, I looked over to a
group of Darigan and Faerie pets. I knew this was a handful of the richest Neopians
I could ever hope to meet. In the middle of the group was Heidi with Grim and
Joey, so Flowal and I walked over.
"Having fun?" I asked Grim casually. He stared
at me blankly. I wondered how I was going to get him alone ...
Heidi and Joey finally noticed us. "Oh, Flowal!
Cetti!" Heidi exclaimed, "isn’t this an awesome place?!" Her cheeks were flushed
with excitement. I nodded briefly then stared in amazement at who was approaching
us.
"Hello Joey200010, Flowal2000," the Faerie Queen
said in a voice as sweet as heart fruits. She was a little taller than my owner,
with deep purple flowing hair. Her dress was lilac with mulberry trimming and
her wings were the colour of violet. She was surrounded by a feint glow.
"You know the FAERIE QUEEN?" I hissed at Flowal.
"Sure, who doesn’t?" she asked in surprise.
Turning back to the Faerie Queen she said, "Hey Fyora."
Joey smiled at her and introduced us, "This
is Heidi, Grimlaerian, and this is Cettica." I pretended to be looking at the
price tag of a doll, then almost feinted when I read it. Who in their right
mind would pay that much for a doll? "Always nice to see new faces here,"
Fyora said as she turned to leave. At that exact moment, she looked directly
into my eyes and I flinched. I could tell -- she knew. I didn’t know how she
knew what I had planned for Grim but her eyes told me and I turned away, ashamed.
A loud crashing noise interrupted my thoughts,
as the whole tower went silent. Grim had dropped a potion and was standing there
awkwardly.
Fyora flew back, giving Grim a stern look and
repairing the damage with a flick of her wand.
"I’ll take Grim outside," I said, as Heidi was
apologizing profusely to the Faerie Queen. I grabbed my brother by the hand
and dragged him outside, in the direction of Jhudora’s Cloud.
To be continued...
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