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By the time Fawnie arrived as SeaZ0ne’s Neohome, which she
knew quite well after following Trini home for so long now, it was growing late.
The sun which had been a blazing ball of fire was now watered down to a murky
slab in the sky.
Rather than opening the front door and letting
herself in as Trini would have done, Fawnie stood on the front steps and knocked.
Then she waited patiently for someone to come welcome her home.
Puppy was the one to open the door, a funny
look on her face. “Trin?” she asked skeptically.
Fawnie flew over to the baby Gelert and enveloped
her in a giant Polarchuck hug. “Are you feeling okay?” Puppy asked, closing
the door while the Faellie continued to cling on to her. “You’re acting kind
of…funny.”
“Why? Don’t I usually hug you?” Fawnie asked,
prying herself off of the Gelert.
“Uhh…” Puppy wasn’t sure what to say. Trini
wasn’t one to wear her emotions out on her fur.
Luckily Puppy was saved from answering when
Fawnie decided to head into the kitchen in search of SeaZ0ne and Ramoose.
“Oh, Trini,” SeaZ0ne said, catching sight of
the incoming Faellie. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
Fawnie inhaled deeply. “I can tell. It smells
delicious.”
At this Ramoose, who was setting the table,
looked at her strangely. “You’ve got to be kidding. SeaZ0ne’s cooking? Delicious?”
Fawnie nodded. “It always is.”
“Are you feeling alright?” SeaZ0ne asked. “Do
you have a temperature?”
Puppy came in from down the hall and put a paw
on the Faellie’s forehead. “Cool as a cucumber.”
“I know! You’re hallucinating!” Ramoose exclaimed.
“Hm. Maybe there’s a new bug going around,”
SeaZ0ne said. “We’ll have to keep an eye on you, Trin.”
“Sure thing,” Fawnie said with enthusiasm.
“Alright, everyone to the table,” SeaZ0ne said,
pulling out a tray of burnt vegetables. “Supper’s done.”
Trini was unusually polite during dinner and
actually asked Puppy to pass the peas rather than ordering her. While this struck
the pets as odd, their suspicions only deepened when they remembered that Trini
didn’t like peas. Nevertheless, there she was, working on a second helping.
At the end of the meal Fawnie excused herself
and went to the bathroom to clean herself up. This was something Trini never
did. Ramoose couldn’t remember the last time he had seen her brush her fur.
“Does Trini seem different to you guys, too?”
SeaZ0ne asked, looking at them from across the table.
“She’s being too well-mannered,” Puppy said.
“She’s cracked,” Ramoose said, frowning.
“Where all did you guys go today?” SeaZ0ne asked.
“We went to get my marbles!” Ramoose exclaimed.
“And after that?”
“Well, we came home and Trini went over to Dart’s
Neohome,” Puppy said.
“So whatever happened to Trini happened between
the time she left for Dart’s and the time she came home,” SeaZ0ne concluded.
“Anything could have taken place,” Puppy said.
“Maybe Trini was hit on the head,” Ramoose suggested.
“I don’t know,” SeaZ0ne said. “Why don’t we
sleep on it and see how Trini’s acting in the morning. Maybe she’ll have straightened
out by then.”
Puppy and Ramoose nodded in agreement before
clearing the table and heading to their room.
**********
Meanwhile Fawnie was busy reorganizing the room Trini shared with Puppy_Trix
and Ramoose_.
“What a Snorkle-sty,” she muttered under her
breath as she piled an armful of toys into an open chest. I wasn’t expecting
Trini to be this messy.
By the time Fawnie had cleared the floor and
gone to bed Ramoose and Puppy had cleared the table and were headed to bed.
When they entered their bedroom Ramoose almost fainted with surprise as he caught
sight of the spotless room.
“Since when do we clean?” he asked.
“Since Trini became a housepetpet,” Puppy said.
For there, already in bed and sound asleep, lay Fawnie, the Trini look alike.
“Something is seriously wrong with her,” Ramoose
said.
“You can say that again,” Puppy agreed.
“Something is seriously wrong with her,” Ramoose
said again.
Puppy shook her head and left to brush her teeth.
**********
Early the next morning, Dart got up to work in his Neogarden. At first glance
one might not have thought the shy, timid Warf to be much of a gardener, but
what he lacked in expressing his feelings he made up for in landscape design.
No one could top Dart when it came to plating starflowers and rose trees. He
was the best.
This particular morning Dart was in search of
a shovel so he could plant a new batch of flowers that he had picked up at the
Neomarket the previous day.
Coincidentally, the shovel was stored in Dart’s
tool shed and thinking little of this fact Dart went to get it. However, when
the Warf went to open the door he was surprised to find it wedged shut. Dart
leaned his shoulder into it and pushed with all his body weight, but the door
only squeaked under the pressure.
From inside Trini jumped to her paws. She had
finally fallen asleep on the cold stone floor with only a bruised apple for
nourishment, and now awoke to the disturbance. Trini rushed to the door and
put her large ear to it.
Again Dart pushed.
“Hello?” Trini called, feeling movement on the
other side.
Dart jumped away from the shed in fright.
“Dart, is that you?” Trini hollered.
The Warf took a wavering step forward. “Trini?”
he whispered.
“GET ME OUT OF HERE, DART!” Trini yelled.
“It is you!” Dart said in awe. “How did you
get stuck in my tool shed?”
“Just get me OUT!” Trini ordered.
The Warf began to push the door obediently,
struggling as it refused to budge.
“Come on Dart, user your muscle!” Trini said.
Finally the door gave way and came crashing
down from its hinges, just shy of Trini, who had flown out of its path.
“About time,” Trini said, her paws on her hips.
“It took you long enough. Didn’t you know I was here?”
“No,” Dart whimpered.
“Some mental connection we have,” Trini said.
“Why are you here?” Dart asked.
The Faellie heaved a deep sigh before beginning
her recount of the long confusing tale that was her life.
**********
That morning Ramoose was startled to alertness. In his ear he could hear who
he thought was Trini, telling him to get up and he could feel his bed being
rattled.
“Wha?” Ramoose asked groggily, his articulation
poor so early in the morning.
Ramoose pulled the covers back over his head
and groaned. A bit irritated, Fawnie moved then to Puppy’s bed.
“Come on Trixy. Get up,” Fawnie said.
Puppy opened one eye and stared at the Faellie.
Puppy_Trix hated being called Trixy. It ranked way up there as her number one
Neopet peeve and Trini knew that. Yet here she was calling Puppy by that grotesque
nickname. Trixy was a fine nickname for some, but not for Puppy.
The Gelert gave a low growl and rolled over
so she no longer faced the Faellie.
“Hmph,” Fawnie sulked. “I’ll go wake up SeaZ0ne
then.”
“Good luck,” Puppy said under her breath.
When he was sure that the Faellie was out of
earshot Ramoose emerged from the heap of sheets.
“Something’s wrong,” he said. “That’s not Trini.
Not the Trini we know at least. Trini never gets up this early.”
“That’s for sure,” Puppy agreed. “And she never
called me Trixy. We need to talk to SeaZ0ne and get this all straightened out.
Wherever the old Trini went I want her back.”
**********
“I don’t get it,” Dart said. “You have a sister?”
“No. I don’t have a sister,” Trini said. “I
don’t think. She was just there when I was little.”
“I still don’t get it,” Dart said. “Your sister
kidnapped you?”
“She’s not my sister!” Trini exclaimed. “But
she did kidnap me.”
“And now she’s pretending to be you.”
“Right,” Trini said. “So now I want you to go
over to SeaZ0ne’s Neohome and tell her what’s going on. Then they can bag her
and take her of to the Defenders of Neopia.”
“Why don’t you go?” Dart asked.
“Because I don’t’ want to scare her away,” Trini
said. “I want her to think she’s got the life she’s always wanted and then we’ll
pull the rug out from under it.”
“Isn’t that kind of mean?” Dart asked.
“She’s the one that kidnapped me,” Trini said.
“Yeah, but…” Dart began.
“Great! So you’ll do it?” Trini asked.
“Huh?” Dart said.
“You’ll go warn SeaZ0ne for me?”
“Well, I…” Dart stuttered.
“Come on,” Trini said. “She kidnapped me!”
“Okay,” Dart gave in. “But what do I say?”
“Here,” Trini said. “I’ll tell you everything
you need to say and do. You’ll be like a robot ticking off your lines.”
“I’m not a robot,” Dart said. “I’m a Warf.”
“This could take awhile,” Trini said.
For the next two hours Trini and Dart sat on
the granite floor of the Warf’s tool shed going over what he would say. Somehow
what Trini said always seemed to come out differently when Dart tried to repeat
it. Despite Trini’s lack of patience the Warf eventually learned his lines.
“Okay,” Trini said, walking out with Dart. “You
know what to say, right”
The Warf nodded, scared to talk in case he forgot
them in the process.
“Alright. Get to it!” Trini ordered.
Shaking with nerves Dart began his journey to
SeaZ0ne’s.
To be continued…
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