Lost and Found: Part Three

by Mewthree12

We looked all around the lift area. Bleeb found a tuft of brown fur caught on something sharp, but we didn't have any idea what it was. I decided to log onto NeoPets to look through the Gallery of Evil. There, on the first page, was the answer.

"A Monocerous! It had to be! Look!" I held the fur up, alongside the photo on the screen. The colour matched perfectly, fur stuck to the screen. Bleeb looked very smug indeed.

"What did I tell you? Wait a minute...how could a Monocerous get here? Hey! What the--" Bleeb had just noticed something sticking to his skin.

"A paintbrush!" said Roxzie, "I saw a Uni being painted. The paint looked just like that...(what colour?....erm...) invisible! That's it! I'd bet a thousand Codestones that someone painted the Monocerous invisible, then ordered it to come here and steal Emini!" Roxzie looked very proud, indeed.

"I'll go find her," volunteered Amarina quietly, "We all know it's true that the Jubjub is the only pet unaffected by it's roar, and I have the ability 'Heal' if I get in trouble."

"Amarina! You can't go all by yourself! If you go, we go! If we do come across a Monocerous, we can run and hide if it roars. Besides, my Night Vision will see one coming at night a mile away! I'm sure Bleeb's Magic Torch could scare a Monocerous off! All of us together will get Emini back!" declared Roxzie.

I agreed, reluctantly, to let them go off. I sat at the house, wracked with worry. There is nothing else I can say, so Amarina takes over. We walked and walked, following splatters of paint. As it grew darker, we saw the trails starting to get fewer and fewer. We kept walking the same way, until Roxzie, who had used Night Vision, saw a castle. We walked nearer and nearer to it, seeing herds of Monocerous I was very scared, but I can only imagine the fear of the others, since they were not immune to the Monocerous roar. Fortunately, none of the Monocerous challenged us as we walked nearer. Suddenly, we saw hoof prints, pounding into the ground! The invisible Monocerous was coming this way! "Hide! Run and hide!" I shouted to the others. They quickly did, but not in time. The Monocerous roared and I feared my friends were gone.....

My friends dropped to the ground. Were they unconscious? Pretending to be dead? I didn't know. I emulated them, hoping the Monocerous was stupid enough to think I was affected, too. It obviously did, because it bellowed in triumph and stomped away. I ran to my friends, and healed them.

"Whew! That was really close! One more second, and we would have-" Roxzie stopped.

"Sorry Amarina. That was stupid. We should have known that would be scary for you...you probably-"

"All right! You're sorry! Now can we move on!?!" I snapped. The look on poor Roxzie's face stopped me. "Oh, Roxzie, I'm sorry. I'm just stressed, worried, mad, and scared. Let's move on OK?" I asked gently. Roxzie nodded, turned her Night Vision back on and we set off.

After some more walking we reached the castle. With some difficulty, Bleeb, Roxzie and I opened the door. Finally we were in. We headed up the stairs. There was a door wide open at the end of a long hallway. It seemed to have a fire burning in the fireplace, for we could see the flickering flames. A voice halted us.

"Why, come in, come in! I've been waiting for you three to come! Ah, little Emini told me all about you. Well? Aren't you coming in?" demanded the voice. The chair he was sitting in swung around. It was Balthazar! Looking around the room, I saw many faeries in bottles, and...Emini! She was all tied up.

"There aren't three of us," I whispered, "Only two. Poor Bleeb got eaten by your Monocerous on the way here." A bluff. I gestured to Bleeb, pointing out Emini. I mouthed the word 'torch' indicating a gag and straps. Bleeb got it, and nodded.

"Ok, Mr. Balthazar," said Roxzie, "You know, I've always admired you, stealing all the faeries,"she said coming into the left side of the room, opposite Emini, so that Balthazar had to turn around. His back was now to Emini. Bleeb crept in and burned away the gag and bindings that was keeping Emini from moving. They crept out behind him, knocking over a few faeries, setting them free. The Fire Faerie was setting the room on fire, while the others freed the remaining faeries. Unfortunately, Balthazar didn't keep all his faeries in the mansion, so only about a hundred were released.

With the help of the faeries, we returned safely home to Mewthree12, who cried at the sight of us. We were home and safe. At dinner that night, Emini made an announcement. "From now on, I will never speak to anyone online ever again!"

"Oh, Emini! You don't have to do that! Just don't agree to meet them unless I can accompany you, OK?" Mewthree12 asked. Emini promised, and we were all safe and sound, at home, with no lasting harm done.

The End