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Open Your Eyes and Brace Yourself
"I have a surprise for you, once we get to Terror
Mountain," Omni teased.
"What is it?" I asked excitedly.
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise,
would it?" she replied, and changed the subject.
I leaned towards the window of the plane, looking
down on Neopia. We were flying over water now, so there wasn't much to see.
I leaned back in my seat, and shut my eyes. Since I'd gotten barely any sleep
the night before, because of my travels through the space station, I was exhausted.
So I slept the rest of the plane ride.
Omni shook me awake when we landed, and I yawned
and stretched for a moment before getting up. We made our way off the plane
and into the terminal, where I wrapped a scarf and my cloak from the Lost Desert
around me. Omni slid into a sweatshirt and pulled a wool cap with an Aisha embroidered
on it over her head. We'd been to Terror Mountain a few times before, and new
how fierce the cold could be.
I saw the gleam in Omni's eyes, and it reminded
me that she was planning something. Knowing better than to ask, I followed her
with my bags out of the airport.
"EV!" I screamed, dashing toward the two shapes
nearly lost in the snow. One was a human, one a pirate Aisha-EverWild, and her
owner, Novalaen.
I ran toward Ev hugged her, stepped back after
I'd let go. "And exactly how did this happen?" I asked all three of them.
"A lot goes on behind the scenes," joked Ev.
Nova laughed. "She's right! Come on, let's
get to the hotel, it's freezing out here."
We trudged through the snow till we approached
our hotel, and stepped inside, and felt, to our relief, heat waving over us.
I smiled and took off my cloak.
"Aw, Po, that's an awesome cloak..."
***
Four days later, Omni and Nova were out to coffee, and Ev and I, bundled up
in scarves and hats, were out in Terror Mountain.
It wasn't snowing this time, but it was still
freezing. Wind whipped our cold faces, and we shivered, but we picked up our
paws and placed them firmly in the snow, never stopping.
"Why are we even doing this, PO?" Ev complained.
"C'mon, Ev, we're in Terror Mountain, we've
gotta see if the Snowager's awake or not!"
"Well...fine," she conceded, and kept on going.
Finally, the Snowager's Cave came into view,
and it wasn't long until we were there.
"I'll-I'll stay out here," Ev said through
chattering teeth.
"Ev, are you scared?" I asked, doubtfully.
"No!" She paused. "Well, yeah, I am. But you
can go if you want."
"Well, I do," I replied, "and I'm going to."
I stepped into the icy cave, and walked in
a bit, slipping and sliding on the reflecting floor. I saw myself, cheeks pink,
on the silvery floor and almost giggled, but caught myself, as to not wake the
Snowager-if he were asleep, that is.
And he was. I stepped into his icy cavern to
find him sound asleep, a bed his pile of treasures. Grinning, I walked silently
forward, and plucked an item off the pile. Before I had a chance to even see
what it was, another one came off, and bounced on the floor.
Uh-oh.
He awoke with a roar, glaring at me for a moment
as I froze with fear. When I finally was able to move, he was ready to come
after me. I dashed out of the as fast as I could but he was behind me all the
way, breathing icily down my back as I ran, just out of reach.
But then I slipped. Or nearly slipped, but
had to take a moment to steady myself. I had to run extra fast, for he nearly
had me. Breathing heavily, I made it out of the caves exit just in time, to
find Ev, extremely scared. I almost didn't stop running, until I realised that
the Snowager wouldn't come out of his cave. He let out one angry growl, but
then retreated back into the icy depths of his cave.
Ev turned to me, fear in her eyes. "Are you
okay? I heard all these sounds, and I didn't know what was happening!"
"Yeah, I'm fine...I think," I looked down at
my paw and saw that I still carried the item I'd gotten off the treasure pile.
A fortune cookie.
"All that for a fortune cookie?" Ev said with
a giggle.
"I guess so," I replied, cracking it open.
Startled, I stared down at the fortune, reading
what it said. Open your eyes and brace yourself.
"Great," I muttered.
"What is it?"
"I guess even the Snowager knows I don't belong."
Roots Go Deep
I shuddered as I stepped off the train into the
Haunted Woods.
"This place is scary," I announced to Omni.
"Aw, PO, be brave!" She exclaimed, grabbing
me in one arm and our bags in the other. I frantically grabbed at Tika, so she
wouldn't be left behind.
That morning we'd said goodbye to our friends,
Omni and Nova, as they took the plane back to Neopia Central, and we took the
train down to the Haunted Woods, from Terror Mountain. It took all day, and
now, as the sun was beginning to set, we had arrived.
There was definitely something eerie about
the woods, but it didn't throw me off. No, it wasn't as much as it scared me
that it made me pleasantly spooked. I didn't really know what it was...it was
more like I wanted to be scared than I didn't.
We got our first taste of the Haunted Woods
as we walked along the outer edge of the market place, toward our hotel. We
were close, when all the sudden...
"BOO!" It said, whatever it was, as it jumped
out of the forest in front of us.
I screamed. I screamed, along with Omni, like
I was being murdered. It cackled evilly, tried grabbing at Tika, and then ran
off into the woods, still laughing maniacally.
"It's okay," I said, more to myself than to
anyone. "It's all right."
"Yeah, whatever," said Omni, shaken up by the
whole thing. "C'mon," she sounded hoarse from her scream. "Let's get to the
hotel."
At the front desk, we asked if they'd heard
the scream outside and they laughed, saying of course, yes, that kind of thing
happens all the time around here. I exchanged a glance with Omni. That wasn't
a good sign.
We got our key and headed up to the second
floor, and opened our room. This was the one part of the Haunted Woods that
wasn't taken over by the essence of it-this still looked normal, as normal as
any hotel in Neopia Central could. But I shuddered anyway.
Later that night, after we'd had a dinner of
Claw-matoe soup (it was actually quite good!), Omni and I slid into our separate
beds and read for a bit, but I know I, at least, wasn't concentrating on the
words. Eventually, she said, "Hey, PO? Do you wanna just turn out the light
now?"
I didn't need to hesitate. "Sure! I'm exhausted!"
I replied, not sounding tired at all.
She shut off the light and, despite the fact
I felt very wide-awake, I fell asleep almost instantly.
***
"Tika? Tika, are you there?" I whispered as I groped around in my bed for Tika.
Nervously, I couldn't find her anywhere, and I fell out of bed with a thump.
Omni stirred in her sleep, but didn't wake.
Tika wasn't there. Where was she? I glanced
at the door and saw it, confirming my fears. It was open a sliver-just a sliver!-but
it would have been enough for Tika to get out of.
Even though I knew I should wait for Omni in
the morning, or at least wake her up now, I walked boldly out the door-or as
boldly as I could be.
I wanted to go back in but, in my mind, I knew
that wherever Tika was I had to find her, and if I turned back, who knew what
would happen to her?
I held in my hand the lantern the warehouse
Grundo had given me, and it lighted the way a few feet in front of me. I walked
down the stairs, searching for signs of Tika, and when I could find none, out
the door.
I breathed in sharply as I stepped out, because
no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't tell myself there was nothing to be afraid
of. Especially not after what had happened that evening on the way to the hotel.
I wandered aimlessly around the border of the
hotel, but there was no sign that any creature had been there. Holding my breath,
I walked further away from the edge.
I stumbled, but I was able to catch myself
before I tripped. But the lantern wasn't. The shake and moved it, and it wasn't
long before the dwindling light was gone and I was there, in the dark, frozen
by fear.
I started running in the direction I thought
was the hotel. It didn't take me long to realise it wasn't, because I would
have hit it by then.
I was lost.
I whimpered, from being scared and exhausted,
and yearning for someone to take charge, rather than me fending for myself.
Feeling defeated, I sat down, leaning against a tree.
Startled, I jumped up. The tree had vibrated!
I stepped back and looked up and saw it, feeling silly for being so ignorant.
It was the Brain Tree.
It seemed to know, intuitively, that I wasn't
there for a quest. It moved its head, this way and that, looking at me from
different angles. Finally, it spoke three short words. "Roots go deep."
I found myself back, outside the hotel, and
Tika stumbling along the edge, barely thinking, I simply grabbed her and stormed
inside the hotel, up the stairs, and into my bedroom.
What a night.
And what a tree.
To be continued... | 
