The Haunted Woods Secret: Part Two

Daton yawned and opened her eyes; however, instead of rushing off into to the kitchen to make breakfast, her attention was drawn to the amulet she had found sitting on her kitchen table yesterday. “I wonder. How did this get here? That was a year ago. There’s no way this thing appeared out of thin air.” She eyed it closely. Was this some sort of sick joke? It couldn’t be. She hadn’t told anyone about it. Even though her best friend Zeth insisted they tell the whole of Neopia. The details could not be mistaken: The symbols engraved on the surface, the silver plated frame, the bluish-green glow of the snowflake-like gem that rested in the center. There was no way this was a fake. “This can’t be. I lost the amulet.” She shook her head, put on a coat and stuck the amulet inside the pocket.

“Hello miss, may I help you with anything?” a large yellow Grarrl called to her as she walked towards the desk. The older looking Grarrl sported: a pair of geekishly thick oval glasses, a ruffled white shirt and a crooked red tie. “I’m looking for a book on Neopian Myths please,” Daton said to the Librarian. “Oh. That would be section Z-100.” The Grarrl pointed to an aisle at the back of the library.

Daton strolled through the library looking at books. She used to rent books all the time and loved to read, but the Library had been closed down for a long time since then. It had only re-opened a few months ago when Neopia began to have trouble with: food, toy, book and other item shortages. She strolled through the aisles looking for one book in particular. Section Z contained mostly old books that dealt with: Neopian Myths, History, old tales, folklore, fiction and books on spells and potions. “It has to be here.” She pushed aside a copy of “The Day Fleye Was Born” and dug around in the back of the shelf. “I know it’s here; I only rented it a year ago!” She tossed books off the shelf, making quite a mess of the aisle in the process.

“Excuse me miss, but could you please be careful with our books?” The librarian Grarrl hurried over to the pile of books that had been strewn across the floor all around Daton. “I’m sorry. Err. I will clean it up. I was just looking for a particular book and I really, really need to find it,” she said as she tossed another book out of her way.

The Grarrl was already picking the books up from the floor. “Which book would that be, miss?” He forced a smile while looking for the bin for “misplaced and damaged books in need of repair.”

“It’s called Faerie Dreams and it has a large black leather cover with the picture of a Dark Faerie on it,” she told the Grarrl who was now looking very silly as he struggled for balance with an armful of books. “Oh. that book. Yes. Someone has already rented it out I’m afraid.” The Grarrl; using his pockets to hold even more books, waddled off to put them into a “misplaced books” trolley to be sorted out later.

“Who? Who rented it?” asked Daton with interest. “Oh, um Pardon?” the Librarian said as he adjusted the glasses on his eyes. “Who rented out the book?” Daton repeated. “Oh. I will just take a look at the computer…” The Grarrl turned around and started working on the odd computer. It was obviously from the very Space Station itself. Daton could tell by the odd metal markings and designs accompanied by Grundo language around the knobs. What gave it away even more; Daton thought, was the large red “Space Station” sticker on the side panel. Finally he looked up from the screen and said with a smile, “A young Lupe rented it. It should be back next week.”

Daton, defeated, walked out of the library and stepped outside. It was snowing and the streets were powdered with white fluffy snow. Why would someone want to rent Faerie Dreams? It was an old book that her friend had found in the back of the library collecting dust. It wasn’t like it was a popular book, so why would someone else suddenly take interest in it? Daton sat down on a large rock; probably brought there by a freak sandstorm; that was resting in front of the main food shop. There was never a queue for the book when she had rented it in the past. She was the only one who ever rented it out anyway. Daton could imagine the book as if she were holding it in her paws that very second. The book was a decent size (for a Kacheek anyway) and had a hard black leather cover. She remembered the picture the most, it was a Dark Faerie entwined in a large dead tree and in her hand was a small amulet. The cover would probably be washed out and faded by now, but Daton would recognise it anywhere.

Her deep thoughts about the book were suddenly swept away when a crowd of Neopians unexpectedly rushed out of the food shop. They were all screaming and trying to get away as fast as possible. Daton hopped off the rock. “What’s going on here?” she shouted to an older man with a Red Blumaroo. “The Chia chef has gone crazy,” the man said. “He won’t sell food to anyone now and is shouting threats at us! He said to stay away for our own good!” the man and his Neopet took off down the street. “That’s odd,” Daton thought to herself, as she edged closer to the window of the main food shop. The small yellow Chia could be seen though the windows of the food shop. He was brandishing a loaf of mouldy bread while mumbling to himself. His eyes seemed to be burning a fiery red. Daton noticed the he had barricaded the door with a large wooden plank and was fumbling with various food items behind the counter. Suddenly, he turned around and looked straight at Daton. “YOU” she heard him yell even though the window was closed.

She jumped back in surprise as the chef Chia dove towards the window, smashing his fist through the glass. “I know you have it! Give it to me,” the Chia chef said in a hiss. Daton couldn’t resist the fiery look in his eyes. They were so different. Full of anger like a murky swirling pool of hate. It seemed to paralyse. It wasn’t like the Chia chef to act like this; he was a friendly Chia and cared about his customers.

The possessed Chia leapt forward, pinning the stunned Kacheek to the ground.

The Chia’s voice was low and raspy “Give it to me!” he growled. “What? I don’t have anything! I swear I didn’t steal-” He cut her off mid sentence, “The Amulet of Dreams, give me the amulet,” he hissed. Daton let out a gasp. How did he know about the Amulet? “I, Um, don’t know what you’re talking about Lee, I” “LIAR!” he roared, pushing Daton even further into the snow. “Let me go!” she shouted and as if on cue, a bright flash erupted from her coat pocket. Lee stumbled backwards, blinded. Daton took this advantage to get up from the ground, but she had no weapons. “Oh, Just my luck,” she complained. “It’s not like I walk around heavily armed. Maybe I should from now on.” Daton suddenly felt a lump in her pocket. She reached in and withdrew an Icy Snowball. “Wha? Where did?” She never had this in her pocket before. “Maybe when I fell into the snow,” she thought, “it formed a ball in my pocket?” She looked up. Lee was recovering from the flash of light. “Whether this came from the Lost Desert sands; or a tall Donkey in a rabbit suit, it doesn’t matter now!” She chucked the icy weapon at Lee. The frozen clump of snow hit him right in the face. “Argghh! That was a cheap shot!” Lee wiped the snow from his face and stumbled around, yet to have is vision back. Daton dug her paws into the snow, rolled a ball and threw another at him. She pelted him with snowball after snowball until he fell to the ground and lay still. A smoky trail of mist appeared to seep out of him, and then vanished into thin air as if someone had just broken a spell.

“L-Lee?” She cautiously walked over towards the frozen Chia. “Muh. Ow. What? Where am I?” Lee the Chia chef sat up in the snow and looked around, confused. “How’d I get here?” he asked, rubbing his head. “You, well, you attacked your customers and then you attacked me,” she said. “You don’t remember?” Lee looked at her, at the broken window and then at the ground. “I don’t remember a thing,” he said, rubbing his head and brushing off snow.

Daton assisted Lee back into his shop and helped him take down the barricade from the door. He was his normal self again but what troubled Daton was: what possessed him to attack her and how did he know about the amulet? She left the food shop to go home. She had a feeling she’d know all of the answers very soon, and they wouldn’t be the kind of answers she was hoping she would have to face.

To be continued…