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Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Ten


by kemppotatoe

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Everything was black. Everything was silent.

      Cypher felt as if the night sky had fallen, crushing her under its depth and stillness. She couldn’t even hear anyone around her, though she knew Luther was nearby. And Tickle’s grip on her arm was as tight as ever.

      A sarcastic voice pierced the air. “Yes, I’d say this room is definitely concealed. I can’t see a thing.”

      “Oh, be quiet!” Tackle muttered. With another flick of their fingers, the twin faeries brought light into the room. They were standing on an elevated platform that overlooked the rest of the lab. The walls were black and there were no windows. Nearby, there was a metal table piled high with books as thick as Cypher’s head.

      But it was the majority of the lab that awed Cypher the most. Beyond the stairs that led away from the platform, there was a factory built by two evil geniuses. Along the walls, there were ceiling-high shelves, stacked with little red eggs. Cypher squinted at the strange eggs, trying to make out the detail on the front...

      “Ferocious Neggs!” Luther gasped, just as realization hit Cypher. There were thousands of them. Each had a frozen snarl forever on its face. Tickle and Tackle released their prisoners’ arms. Luther frowned and asked, “Aren’t you worried we’ll get away?”

      Tickle laughed loudly. “Please! You escaping the station, let alone the lab, is about as possible as our plan being foiled.”

      Cypher looked up at Tickle. “I remember after the Ice Caves were attacked, I searched the Neggery. All the Ferocious Neggs were gone except one, and the log book said that Taelia bought the rest, but it was after Taelia had been kidnapped!”

      “That darn Negg Faerie’s spell couldn’t override the one we cast on her,” Tickle responded.

      “You cast a spell on the Negg Faerie?” Luther exclaimed. “What, did you hypnotize her like Taelia?”

      “Yes, actually, we did!” Tackle said. “Taelia was hypnotized to ask only for orange neggs on her quests. She would store these in a secret room in her igloo. She would then go to the Neggery and purchase as many Ferocious Neggs as she could at the time. The Negg Faerie was hypnotized so she wouldn’t notice Taelia’s strange behavior.”

      “But what did you say about The Negg Faerie’s own spell?” Cypher inquired, interested.

      “Well, The Negg Faerie is very protective of her neggs. Her enchanted logbook writes down everything that is bought. It’s impossible to steal from the Negg Faerie, because neggs can’t even be picked up until the right amount is traded in. We had no choice but to collect orange neggs and trade them in for these little beasties.”

      Luther looked at the Ferocious Neggs with a horrified expression on his face. “But they just sit there! You don’t mean...”

      “Oh yes, that is what we mean,” Tickle said in a chilling voice.

      “There’s this spell, you see. A very, very dangerous and powerful spell. Take a look at what else lies in the lab.”

      Cypher and Luther looked. There was a conveyer belt transporting the motionless neggs through a metal tube, and then to a spot on the shelf. Cypher frowned. “They don’t look any different when they come out.”

      “When they pass under that tube, magic envelops them. It’s our own idea, combining the magic of faeries with the extreme technology of the space station. When they come out, they appear the same on the outside. Inside, though, it’s a whole other story!”

      Tackle spoke now. “They will awaken when we call. And only when we call. Think about it... how many civilians of Neopia honestly expect something as brilliant as an army of Ferocious Neggs?”

      Cypher glanced around her nearby surroundings. There had to be something to get her and Luther out of this! They didn’t need any more explanations; they needed an escape. Cypher glanced at the heavy books on the nearby table. Maybe an explanation was their escape...

      “What about those spell books?” she asked, pointing at them.

      Tickle walked over to the table and smiled evilly. “At first, we weren’t sure which spell could bring the inanimate object to life. In fact, we never did find one. Every one of those books we checked, but no luck. In the end, we realized we could invent our own spell. That’s why it’s so dangerous.”

      Cypher thought quickly. “Can anyone do this magic? What spells are there?”

      Tickle raised her eyebrows. “I hate you curious pets, but I’ll answer. This is incredibly advanced magic. The spells are made for faeries specifically, but it’s been said that anyone in desperate need can perform magic if they need to.”

      Tackle walked over and skimmed the page of one of the books. “We tried many spells on the neggs. See here? These are disarming enchantments. We tested our own invention by waking them up and fighting them the other day. It was quite successful, considering they almost overtook the two of us! That’s just how powerful we are!”

      “What do you mean by disarming enchantments?” Cypher asked, trying her very best to sound unfamiliar with magic, even though she had studied it in Neoschool.

      “Any spell that causes the opponent to become undefended, even if it just means knocking them over,” Tickle explained. “Don’t they teach you anything?”

      “About the neggs,” Cypher continued, ignoring Tickle’s last question, “what wakes them up?”

      Tackle sighed. “Geez, you’re annoying! Isn’t it obvious? Only we know how!”

      Luther seemed to be catching on to Cypher’s plan. “So,” he said slowly, “any great faeries like yourselves would make sure that their creations only answer to them, right?” Tackle narrowed his eyes at him. Luther chuckled, “I guess not, eh?”

      Cypher raised her eyebrows and laughed. “Anyone can control them? Wow! How careless!”

      Tickle rolled her eyes. “We’re not stupid, you know!”

      “Yeah,” Tackle agreed, “we’re pretty much impenetrable in every way.”

      “We even made our own code and form of communication!” Tickle bragged.

      “Yes, we know,” Cypher said, nodding.

      Tackle stopped smiling and stared at her. “Excuse me? You know what?”

      Cypher put on her most obnoxious smirk and winked at the angry faerie. “Oh, we know all about your little code! We each found scraps of paper warning us about the attack! Seems like you have a cohort who’s lazy enough to drop a message as he’s flying overhead...”

      Tickle’s mouth dropped open. “You found part of a message?”

      “Yes, Laughter,” Luther said with a smile, “and yes, Moaning!”

      Tackle glared angrily at him, hands on her hips. “You know about that too? What exactly did the message say?”

      “See for yourselves!” Luther pulled out the papers and handed them to Tickle, who snatched them angrily.

      She didn’t even stop to see exactly what they said. “When the frosty hill is empty, Laughter and Moaning will be in the space around us...” Immediately, Tickle clapped her hand over her mouth as if she had uttered something rude.

      Next to her, Tackle growled, “No!” She grabbed the scraps from Tickle’s hands and tore them up viciously.

      Cypher frowned at the faeries’ odd behavior. “What?”

      But her question wasn’t answered by either of them. Something caught Cypher’s eye behind the two faeries. On the other side of the lab, something red stirred. A negg had definitely begun to wake.

     Then another! One by one, the neggs slowly shook themselves awake. Their mouths opened and closed, their eyes blinked. Cypher gasped. “That was it!” she exclaimed. “Our very first clue is the key to bring them to life!”

     Tackle glared at Cypher. “Don’t think you’ve won, you little brat! We can just put them back to sleep!”

     “Oh no, you can’t!” Luther was standing next to the open magic spell book. With a grin, he glanced at the page and screamed, “FLY!” Immediately, the two faeries’ feet lifted into the air, and their bodies were thrown off the platform into the main lab.

     Cypher ran to the edge. Looking up at the neggs, all of whom had hopped off their perch on the shelves, she bellowed, “It’s them! Those are the evildoers! Get them!” The neggs followed her gaze and proceeded towards Tickle and Tackle, who heaving themselves off the floor.

     Nearby, Cypher heard Luther say quickly into the Wocky-Talkie, “Nork! Get the Chia Police in the Space Station! Quick!”

     Just as the faeries stood up, they found themselves surrounded by the teething neggs. Tickle and Tackle both looked up at Cypher, who grinned broadly. “We told you!” she said with a shrug. “You should’ve made them only obey you! Oh well!”

     Tackle made a movement as if to fly up at Cypher, but a negg threw itself and attached onto her long dress with its razor teeth. The same happened to Tickle, and the neggs proceeded to pile up on top of them, prohibiting any movement.

     Luther joined Cypher at the edge of the platform. “I remember something you said earlier! Something like ‘You escaping is as possible as our plan being foiled!’ Well, I’d say your plan’s been foiled. And look at that! It appears we’re about to escape. Have a nice day!”

     Cypher laughed and looked back at the faeries. She didn’t want the neggs to just eat the faeries, because the Chia Police would need to question them thoroughly. Besides, a real heroine wasn’t murderer. “Hey, you neggs!” she called. “Don’t eat them, just keep them right there!”

     She and Luther whipped around and spotted the exit. “Okay,” Luther said as they hurried to the door, “I’ll find Nork and wait for help...”

     At that moment, the doors burst open. Cypher jumped back in surprise and stared at the little white Pteri in the entrance. She frowned. “Nork? How’d you... how’d THEY get here so fast?”

     Many members of the Chia Police had appeared at his side. Nork was looking incredibly pleased with himself. “Go get ‘em, boys!” he called, and nodded his head at Luther and Cypher.

     Luther’s mouth dropped open. “What? We’re helping you guys, not Tickle and Tackle!”

     Nork rolled his eyes. “Not you, the faeries. Go get the faeries, boys!”

     As the officials sped past, Cypher walked up to Nork and crossed her arms. “Explanation, please!”

     “I guess I’m a pretty good actor,” the Pteri replied with a wink, “because I had you and Luther fooled. I’m in the transportation department of the Chia Police. When I brought my boss up to the space station for an inspection a while ago, he came back out acting like he’d had a pleasant day trip or something. I took him home and came back up to investigate, and I managed to get in a crowd of new followers. I convinced Tickle and Tackle to let me stay painted white, because I’d be less conspicuous as their messenger. I purposely dropped the messages with hopes they’d be found. Lucky it was you two!”

     Luther, who had come over, asked, “Why didn’t you just tell us? If you knew it was Tickle and Tackle the whole time, and you even knew to come here... why’d you just watch us go from land to land looking for answers?”

     “When I became their messenger,” Nork explained, “I made a promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone, and their magic prohibited me from doing so. I guided you the best I could! I contacted the Chia Police as soon as you were inside the station.”

     Cypher turned to see Tickle and Tackle with their hands tied behind their backs, and Chias surrounding them intensely. Tackle looked at Cypher and Luther and glared.

     Cypher returned the harsh look with a smile.

      ***

     This is how everything went.

     Tickle and Tackle were jealous of their sister’s fame, so they decided to challenge Jhudora’s power by marking themselves as enemies of Neopia. They overtook the space station and turned it into their headquarters, renaming it along the way.

     Everyone knows that Snowberry Tea is a common drink during the holiday season, so the twin faeries created a potion to affect the memories of all who visited the station. They had a contact, Lorien, who enlisted the help of new followers throughout the Neopian lands. This was whom Nork was delivering messages to.

     The code that Tickle and Tackle used is simple to understand once you see how it’s done. Any word is replaced with a similarly-meaning word, so that to the average Neopian, it would only appear to be gibberish. As Nork flew with the message about Tickle and Tackle’s whereabouts to Lorien, he ripped it up and dropped the separate pieces, thinking that there was two chances someone would find it.

     The twins planned the first big statement, the attack of Terror Mountain, because Taelia’s hypnotic spell was beginning to wear off, and taking all the residents showed off their power. Also, they thought they had all the neggs they needed. However, they didn’t know that Cypher actually had two of the neggs, and both of them were needed to purchase another ferocious negg. Lorien, the Darigan Lupe who knocked Cypher off the mountain, retrieved the neggs from her house.

     A spell was also cast on the Negg Faerie so she wouldn’t notice Taelia buying neggs, but the enchantment on the Neggery, which recorded everyone’s name and didn’t allow a negg to be taken until the payment was given, was enough to leave hints for Cypher and Luther.

     As soon as Cypher and Luther had entered the Space Station, Nork flew to Neopia and told the Chia Police that there was an emergency at the station. Nork waited for Luther’s call for help, and then he and the Chias overtook the guards at the front entrance.

     Tickle and Tackle forgot to make the Ferocious Neggs only obey them, so it was easy for Cypher to command the little neggs. When the faeries revealed that magic could be done by anybody if they needed it enough, Luther scanned the page and cast the spell to send the twins flying into the lab, where their own creation succeeded in attacking them.

      ***

     “For she’s a jolly good fellow, for she’s a jolly good fellow, for she a jolly good felllllooow! Thaaaat nobody can deny!”

     Cypher smiled at the faces surrounding her. She was standing on Terror Mountain (which had been restored to its regular state) in the middle of the Christmas Day celebrations. Even the residents of the Ice Caves and Happy Valley hiked up to the top of the mountain for a festival in the snow, honoring the spirit of the holidays. Borovan and slushies were all around... but very few people drank Snowberry Tea. The celebrations ended with the Poogle Racers having an event down the mountain.

     Now, as the evening sky settled in, the inhabitants of the land had decided to honor Cypher.

     “We thank you, Cypher,” Taelia said as everyone listened on, “for your brilliant work on yet another mystery.”

     The Negg Faerie nodded. “We are all grateful for your help.”

     An Aisha in the crowd stood up and walked forward. In her hand was a notepad and a pen. “Cypher,” she said, “The avid readers of the Neopian Times were amazed with what you did at the AstroVilla. Our previous article told everyone about your first accomplishment. Now, I’m sure everyone here will agree with me when I say that a live interview would be outstanding!”

     Cheers rang out. Cypher smiled at all the people, but shook her head. “Sorry, but it’s not me you want to interview. My equally important partner in crime, Luther, has a few things to say, though!”

     Cypher turned and beckoned Luther forward. He rolled his eyes at her, but came anyway. The Aisha Reporter raised her eyebrows and smiled. “Hmm... the man and muscle behind the mystery, eh? Sounds good to me!”

     The festivities raged on for hours. There was music, dancing, food, and games, but none of which Cypher joined in. Instead, she left the noise behind and took a walk to the edge of the cliff. It had been here that she found the scrap of paper. Her first clue. The key to beating the enemy.

     Cypher gazed back at the party and saw Luther chatting animatedly with the Aisha reporter, who was busily writing things down. Cypher laughed to herself and turned back towards the edge.

     With a sigh, she sat down and leaned down into the snow. The stars twinkled next to Kreludor like little Koi in the Neopian Ocean. And then there was the space station... its looming presence didn’t daunt Cypher anymore. Now that Tickle and Tackle were facing maid duty in Fyora’s castle for the rest of their lives, there were no more villains to worry about. No more mysteries to solve, or cases to crack. No more people to save. No more risks to be taken.

     “Who am I kidding?” she said out loud. “There are villains everywhere! Mysteries too! No more risks? It’s skepticism that led Tickle and Tackle to believe they could win. I'm not going to be like that. I'm Cypher the Solver, and I'm on the case."

The End

 
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Other Episodes


» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part One
» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Two
» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Three
» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Four
» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Five
» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Six
» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Seven
» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Eight
» Spells, Secrets, and Snowberry Tea: Part Nine



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