"Oh, Neopia!" Maiyaia breathed. "It's gone? How can it
be gone?" "I don't know!" Naetea cried tearfully. "I was sure I had it when
we were in the shuttle."
"Yes..." Mai recalled. "We were arguing about
whether we should do the 'quest' or not. Did we have it when we got off?"
Naetea gave a helpless shrug, looking at her
friend apologetically. "We could go back and ask the shuttle driver?"
The Kau sighed. "I guess that's the only option
we have."
Fyora cleared her throat, and the two Neopets
looked at her. "Are you making a purchase?" she asked, her voice tinged with
annoyance. She fingered the furry trim of the Snow Faerie Doll in her hand.
After a moment she set it down and picked up the Faerie Queen Doll. The regal
queen smoothed the doll's hair, then looked up at the whispering pets. "Excuse
me?"
"Um, n-no," Maiyaia stuttered. She grabbed Naetea's
paw and dragged her away from an Everlasting Apple, out of the Hidden Tower.
They went stumbling down the endless tower steps
and stumbled out on the clouds into the sunshine. Both stood squinting for a
moment, and then Naetea dashed off to the air shuttle stop with Maiyaia close
on her heels.
"Next stop, Neopia Central," they heard the shuttle
loudspeaker saying.
"Wait!" Naetea gasped, sticking her paw into
the closing doors. "Wait, stop the shuttle!"
The stubby island Poogle driver punched the open
door button on his console and glared at the two intruding Neopets. "Excuse
me, misses! I have a schedule to stick to!"
"Please," Maiyaia panted, trying to catch her
breath. "We lost a large amount of NP here about an hour ago! Did you find any?"
The driver stared sceptically at her. "Kid, there
is more than one shuttle you know."
Naetea let out a loud groan. "No, this is not
happening!"
He frowned. "How much are we talking here?"
Maiyaia coughed. "Um, a million NP."
"Whoa, Chia!" the Poogle exclaimed. "You know,
you two do look familiar. An hour ago, did you say?" He scooped up a
shuttle schedule and squinted at it. "I was up here...fifty-seven minutes ago."
He looked up questioningly.
"I don't know!" cried Naetea with despair. "Either
you found a huge bunch of NP or you didn't! Now can't you at least try to think?!"
"Okay...you know, I think someone did give me
a big bag that was lost?" the driver offered.
"ARGH!" Maiyaia screeched. Naetea mouthed, "Short
attention span!" over the Poogle's head.
"But wait," the driver said suspiciously. "How
do I know that it's really you two that lost this NP? Maybe you're just
thieving posers!"
"Hey!" Naetea protested indignantly. "Come on,
we are not just trying to get a million free NP!"
Just then, a faerie Gelert carrying two overstuffed
bags of faerie bubbles stepped into the shuttle. "Hello?" she said, peering
around the doorframe into the driver's cockpit. "Oh, hello! I thought I would
miss the shuttle and have to wait ten minutes for the next one! But I guess
I'm not late. Phew!" The talkative Gelert wiped a bit of sweat off her furry
brow. "Hello, girls! Weren't you on the shuttle with me on the way up?"
"Yes, we were!" Mai cried happily. "Ma'am, can
you please verify with the driver that me and my friend here had a big bag of
NP coming up to Faerieland?"
The Gelert smiled blandly at the girls. "Oh,
yes. You had a very big sack and you were looking out the window. I remember
thinking that you were two lucky girls and you'd have a fine day shopping."
She turned her bright smile to the Poogle driver. "Sir, you don't want to ruin
their outing?"
"Er...no...I suppose not," he answered. "Here
you go, misses." He handed over the NP.
"Thank you, ma'am!" Naetea cheered. "Thank you,
sir! Come on, Mai!" The Neopets went running out of the shuttle.
"Such nice girls," the Gelert told the driver,
shifting her grocery bags.
"Um, yes," the Poogle replied, turning a bit
red. He cleared his throat and grabbed the loudspeaker microphone. "Next stop,
Neopia Central!"
"Your turn!" Naetea gasped, shoving the heavy
sack at Maiyaia.
"Wait, what's the hurry?" Mai asked. She slowed
down and peeked into the window of Faerie Foods. "The gnomes think it'll take
days. Besides, I'm starved. We have lots of Neopoints. Why don't we stop and
get a snack?"
"Well, okay," Naetea agreed easily. The Zafara
pushed open the faerie-shaped door of the food shop and went in with her friend.
Half an hour later, the two pets came out happily
munching on warm baked goods bought with pocket money (ever tried counting 600
NP from a million?). Mai dug her face into a fresh Cherry-tastic Faerie Pie,
while Nae chomped on Earth Faerie Brownies.
"Now we should go to the Hidden Tower again,"
Maiyaia told Naetea bossily. "Fyora won't be very pleased, I'm sure. You have
the money, don't you?"
"Yes, yes, and yes," Nae answered irritably.
"I won't lose it again. Oh Neopia, you just can't trust me, can you?!"
"Well! You haven't exactly proved to be trustworthy!"
Ice seeped from Mai's tone of voice.
The two glared at each other for a moment. Then
Nae sighed and said, "Oh, Maiya, don't fight like this. Come on, let's go."
They made their way up the long stairs again
that led to the Hidden Tower.
To be continued... | 
