They were a melancholy group. Stumbling along Summit Strip as if they had been
walking forever. Finally, they reached the end of the street.
"What number was the house again?" A fire Scorchio named FlamingFireCannon
asked his owner, GryphonSong, quietly.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, GryphonSong answered, "3346 Summit Strip,
Terror Mountain." She spoke as if she had said it one too many times, which
was true.
"Home sweet ski lodge of doom..." A purple Eyrie, NeverForgetGriffiane, said
with a sigh and began trudging to the house on the street corner.
GryphonSong turned to look at the huge mansion with the letters 3346 carefully
engraved on a plaque on the door. The bottom floor was excellently planned and
made entirely of stone; the next two stories were made of wood. The place was
dark, haunting and looked abandoned. GryphonSong watched as her pets began to
walk toward it. True, it did give off the feel of a ski lodge, and a rather
frightening one at that, but it beat living in their shop.
In utter defeat, GryphonSong began to follow her pets. She stopped for a moment
to eye the barbed wire fence that bordered the snowy landscape. Shaking her
head as she continued, she muttered, "Griff was right."
Meeting up with her four shivering pets at the door, GryphonSong pulled out
the silver key and began to unlock the door. It creaked slowly open and GryphonSong
entered tentatively, and quickly turned on the gas lamp next to the door on
a peg. Her shoes tapped and resonated throughout the long, desolate hallway.
She looked at her surroundings: wooden floors, royal wallpaper and a lone heater
in the corner.
Tapping in behind her, MissingMoonstruk, a faerie Uni, entered. "This isn't
so bad," she said, looking around. With a scream, she jumped backward, knocking
over FireCannon.
"EEP!" Triano the Pepito yelped as he hung from a cobweb on the ceiling.
With an annoyed sigh, GryphonSong reached up to untangle the little fish.
With a wriggling Triano under one arm, GryphonSong continued down the hallway
as the others began to enter. Peeking into the rooms, she saw that the movers
had loaded all of their boxes in, but everything still seemed unbelievably dusty.
Moonstruk trotted up behind her. "I don't like it here," she said. Not
normally one to complain about anything but food and her family, GryphonSong
took note of her Uni's discomfort.
"All we need to do is to fix it up and you'll feel right at home," GryphonSong
said soothingly.
"Why not Neopia Central like everyone else, I ask, but no, we have to live
in the expensive places..." Moonstruk muttered. "We could have at least moved
to Faerieland..."
GryphonSong ignored her Uni's complaints and set Triano on the floor and let
him hop after as Moonstruk went to find her boxes of furniture. As GryphonSong
neared the end of the hall, she found the staircase. It was tall and lonesome,
but she started up. Each step creaked noticeably and GryphonSong took a breath
as she continued. Something crashed and GryphonSong turned around. "Did you
guys break something?" She called and was answered by a chorus of no's. Her
eyes widened as she turned back to the staircase and looked up. What was it?
She had to know, so she continued.
Each step seemed to bring a whole other terrifying question to GryphonSong's
mind. What could it be up there? Could it be the Pant Devil? Well, Moonstruk
could take care of that, after all, she had completely pulverised four of them,
and left not one spared. But what if it was something else? Could it be the
Lava Ghoul? She stopped dead in her tracks. What if it was the Shadow Usul?
She looked up the dusty stairs once more; the mover's foot prints all ready
fading... but wait! Was that a new set of footprints? Could it be? Did the Pant
Devil or the Shadow Usul even leave footprints? She looked up the staircase
again, and was about to take another step when Moonstruk gave out a loud shriek.
GryphonSong turned and ran quickly down the stairs and ran to the sound of
Moonstruk's shriek in the future living room. Griffiane stood on a green bean
bag chair, holding a pink diary high in the air above Moonstruk's head, who
was rearing up to get it in her teeth.
With a sigh of relief, GryphonSong put a hand on her hip and looked at the
two. "Give Moonstruk back her diary, Griff."
"But I found it," Griffiane said indignantly.
"I don't care if you dove down in the depths of the Maraquan ruins for it,
give it back to her," GryphonSong said sternly and Griff gave it back to the
Uni with a groan.
Moonstruk, diary in teeth, nodded her thanks to GryphonSong and trotted out
of the room. Stopping at the doorway, she put the diary down on the floor for
a moment to say, "I get first pick on rooms!" With that, she picked the diary
back up, gave Triano a moment to flop up onto her mane and he tied himself down
just as Moonstruk went galloping around the corner and up the stairs, Griffiane
followed soon after, a purple streak down the hall.
"Wait - you guys!" GryphonSong called, running out of the room and yelling
to them at the foot of the stairs. "I need to tell you something!"
It was too late. Griffiane yelled and Moonstruk screamed. LoveChargoun, the
blue Lupe, and FireCannon darted out of the rooms they had claimed as their
own and followed GryphonSong up the staircase and into the hallway on the second
floor. Griffiane turned around, his face pale and walked shakily over to GryphonSong.
"We saw it... Big... Big thing..." he murmured, his eyes glazing over.
Moonstruk, however, was looking at a particularly dark part of the floor with
extreme interest. Poking the darkened spot with a hoof, she looked back at GryphonSong.
"Something was here."
"Like what?" Chargoun asked, leaning against the wall.
"Like… Like a shadow…" She looked back at the floor and sighed.
"Usul?" GryphonSong asked.
"No… Like… You." She pointed her muzzle at GryphonSong.
"Me? Like a human ghost?" she asked, walking over slowly.
Moonstruk and Griff nodded. "It looked surprised to see us. It took one look
at us and disappeared. What it was doing, I'll never know."
GryphonSong sighed and looked at the second staircase that led up to the third
floor and she rested a hand on the railing. "Then let's go up and see." She
could sense the others discomfort, but they followed her ascent of the stairs.
At the top, it was just as dark as the other floors, and GryphonSong switched
on a gas lamp. The light of the flame danced across the room and hit the shadow
creature. It cringed back but GryphonSong yelled to it, "Don't go! We aren't
going to hurt you!"
"Us hurting it? I'm more worried about the other way around!"
FireCannon hissed in GryphonSong's ear.
I would not hurt you. The creature said, more in their minds than
out loud. But my pet, she might.
"Who's your pet?" GryphonSong asked.
My pet, is more commonly known as the 'Shadow Usul.' We died here; it was
an accident, when I finally got wood floors. We had torches for lighting, fireplaces
for heating. I didn't think much of it... But a torch fell off the bracket... Shaduin,
my Usul, was standing by the fireplace, it hit her in the back and she fell
in, I tried to get to her, but the flames caught me, too... The ghost shuddered.
Ever since we've been afraid of the light, turned to the shadows for answers.
Shaduin tries to protect me, to make people fear this place... But I miss the
company. The last owners of this house rebuilt it, and I liked them, but Shaduin
had fallen too far in with the shadows, she told me no one could live here.
Ever.
Ascora! What are you doing, conversing with the living? The Shadow Usul
hissed as it came up from the floor. I trusted you! I thought you would scare
them away from here, and this is what happens? Ascora, please don't do this
to me!
No, Shaduin. These people have done us no harm. Let them be. Ascora
said softly.
"Shaduin, we don't mean to bother you. We didn't even know you resided here.
Please, we don't want any trouble," Moonstruk said softly. "None at all."
You? Who trespasses on my land? My home? You think you are strong like me,
you who prances around with her faerie wings and strong legs! You will never
replace me in this house! Shaduin cried.
They did not mean to trespass, Shady! They only meant to live! She said
it herself, she didn't know that we were living here, leave them be! Ascora
cried, and she shrank back into the wall, surprised by her outburst. Shaduin
was eerily silent and her glowing eyes rested on GryphonSong.
Do you mean us harm?
All five shook their heads. "We only mean to seek shelter and hope to live
in peace with you," Chargoun said. "No more than that."
Shaduin looked from Ascora to the five. In silent decision, she bowed to GryphonSong
and her pets and walked over to Ascora. If you want them to live here, she
said, I would be honoured.
Ascora looked at her Usul and a smile crept over the ash grey ghost's face.
I would like that very much, Shady. With that, they disappeared into
the wall of the NeoHome with a laugh.
"Well," Griffiane said, "Now that that's over..." With a quick movement,
he had snatched up Moonstruk's forgotten diary and bounded down the stairs with
it. Moonstruk ran after with a yell. "GRYPHONSONG!" she screeched and Triano
was knocked off of her back and landed with a thump on GryphonSong's foot.
"Really, I don't get it. Something extremely amazing and history making can
happen, and they simply forget about it," GryphonSong said in wonder.
Chargoun and FireCannon shrugged. "By the way," FireCannon said, "Did you take
my pillows, Chargoun?"
"You mean the pretty pink ones?" Chargoun asked.
"Yea, those are the ones," FireCannon answered.
"Yup," Chargoun answered. After a moment of silence, Chargoun bounded down
the stairs with FireCannon in close pursuit.
"I'm going to obliterate you!" FireCannon screamed as he followed.
GryphonSong, her jaw dropped and her brow furrowed, looked down the stairs
in awe. They were probably the only ones that knew the Shadow Usul's name and
owner, and they had just met two extremely frightening things, had just witnessed
a history-making event, and now they were going to go and chase each other around
the house for what the other had taken. She shook her head. "It's just you and
me now, Triano," she said and looked down at the empty floor in puzzlement.
"Triano?"
"CHARGE!" Triano screamed from outside. GryphonSong rushed to the window to
see Triano, his tail tightly twined around Chargoun's Christmas Anubis, Bailey's
neck, chasing Griff's Airax, Atreyu, around the house while Moonstruk yelled
at Griff and FireCannon yelled at Chargoun. Would it never end?
Well, most likely, no. The Shadow Usul said with a grin behind her.
"Be quiet!" GryphonSong said. "Now I have a mind - probing Usul poltergeist
to deal with on top of it all.
Oh, don't worry. I'll only mess up your table and chairs in your kitchen
and put your rug on top of the coffee table in the living room. Otherwise, you'll
hardly know I'll be here.
Without really thinking about it, GryphonSong walked over to her Royal Oak
Bed and slammed her head on the bedpost. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid." She
hissed to herself over and over again as her world of chaos continued around
her.
"You've always got me!" FireCannon's White Stego, Cyrin, said from her pillow.
GryphonSong took a moment before collapsing on the bed and gathering Cyrin
in her arms. "We're both..." And together, they began to chant, "Stupid, stupid,
stupid, stupid" over and over again.
What a happy ending, eh?
The End? (Not in this life, buddy.)
The author of this story would like to tell everyone who sees this that if
you find a strange, seemingly abandoned Pepito in your NEOHOME - you can keep
him. | 
