To Help A Faerie

     But most of all, I loved to accompany my owner to the home of the faeries: Faerieland! Watching the Poogles race around the tracks, playing endless games of Faerie Cloud Racers... Those were the days.

     Of course, some days, I spent hours, sometimes the entire day, in Faerieland. I had befriended faeries of all types. (I had found that light faeries were the kindest of them all.) I had ventured onto the cloud of Jhudora, though never dared to come face to face with her. And, being a trained pet, my owner had taken me to the Hidden Tower. More than once. There, I had met the Faerie Queen herself. (Though she takes her job very seriously, she has a sense of humor =D.)

     One day, as I was taking a walk through Faerieland (my owner was browsing through the Faerie Weapon Shop), I had stumbled across a light faerie sitting on a rock away from the main city. She seemed to be upset. Since I was quite fond of light faeries, I gently tapped her on the shoulder.

     “Excuse me, is there something wrong?” I asked her.

     She looked at me with dreary eyes. “Young pet, please help me. One of Jhudora’s horrid... workers. They attacked me in my sleep and stole all my potions and rare items.”

     My mouth dropped open wide. “That’s horrible!”

     “I suppose I don’t need all of them. But there’s one potion. I wasn’t done putting all the herbs in. I was still looking for it. Without the one herb, it is very dangerous. And in the hands of Jhudora...” Her voice drifted off.

     All the thoughts on the stories of Jhudora flooded my brain. I shook my head to clear them. “What can I do to help you?”

     The light faerie smiled weakly at my concern. “I do not want to endanger you.”

     “No,” I insisted. “I will help you.”

     She hesitated for a moment. “It is a light green potion in a bottle about this big.” She held her hands apart about six inches apart. “On the cap, there is a picture of a leaf.”

     I nodded.

     “I would guess that it is in Jhudora’s mess of items she collects,” she said. “I will reward you with something beyond your dreams if you find it. And by the way, my name is Melodia.”

     “I’ll find it for you,” I reassured her. “I promise.”

     ****

     Although I had once sworn to my owner that I wouldn’t ever go to Jhudora, I did. I walked up to the throne. Her long, dark shadow cast over me. I shuddered at all the thoughts going through my head.

     “What do you want?” Jhudora boomed. She didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.

     “I-I...” I paused. “I would like to do a quest for you.”

     “You pitiful Neopet,” she spat. “You don’t like you would harm a Squippit.”

     I tried to put on my best ‘I-Challenge-You’ face. “Give me your hardest quest.”

     She glared at me with beady eyes. Before I knew what was happening, she grabbed my hand and dragged me to a small, dark room behind her throne. She pointed to a shelf filled with potions and items and jars.

     “Do you see this?!” she snapped.

     I imitated her glare. “I’m not blind.” I said it to regret it.

     Her grip on my hand tightened. “WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!” she screeched.

     “I’m. Not. Blind,” I repeated.

     I noticed one of the potions matched the description of the potion Melodia had told me about.

     Jhudora grabbed the potion next to it and stuck it in front of my face. “One drop of this potion on you, and you will wish you never existed,” she seethed.

     “I’ll make you a deal,” I told her. “Give me the hardest quest you can think of. In return, I want that potion.” I pointed to the bottle with the light green liquid in it.

     Jhudora paused. Then she laughed in my face. “In. Your. Pathetic. Little. Dreams.” She pointed a bony finger at the door. “GET OUT!”

     I was just glad I was getting out of there alive. I gave her one last glare and marched off her stormy cloud. Since I couldn’t get the potion that way, I’d have to do it the other way...

     ****

     I didn’t want to tell Melodia that I had failed. My owner took me back to our Neohome. I went into my room and thought. What were the chances of me being able to sneak back into that room and steal the potion back? Well, I still had that Instant Invisible Armour Potion on my desk...

     I took the Invisible Potion and went to my owner. I had to lie and tell her that I was going to the Battledome. She said it was okay only if I was back by dinner. If only we had known...

     ****

     I used the potion and went onto Jhudora’s cloud once again. She wasn’t on her throne. I heard voices in the room. I listened against the door.

     “You thief!” It was Jhudora’s voice unmistakably.

     “I’m a thief?!” a second voice shouted. “You stole it from my sister in the first place!” The light that flickered from underneath the door told me it was a light faerie. I was guessing it was a sister of Melodia.

     “Put it down!” Jhudora screeched.

     I figured it was probably time to go inside and get that potion. I opened the door a few inches wide, just enough to get me in. Melodia was scrunched up in a corner of the room with a traumatized look on her face. A second light faerie was standing in front of Jhudora with the light green potion in her hand. Jhudora looked as if she were about to burn a hole right through the light faerie’s stomach.

     “Make me,” the light faerie taunted.

     Jhudora glowered at her. “I will.”

     From the stories of Jhudora, I had known that Jhudora herself never did anything evil. She only sent her minions to do it for her. Would she actually hurt this light faerie? If she was, I certainly wasn’t just going to stand here and watch her.

     Jhudora snatched a potion off the shelf. She tore the cap off. “Would you like to be a light faerie doll?” she snickered.

     Before I knew what I was doing, I pushed the light faerie out of the way. Jhudora splashed the potion on me.

     ****

     She knocked on the door of the room. “It’s dinnertime!”

     No answer.

     “Where are you?” she asked.

     She ran out of the Neohome and to the Battledome.

     Don’t panic, don’t panic, she told herself. She asked the Shoyru at the front of the Battledome if she had seen her Neopet. They were regular visitors, and the Shoyru knew who she and her Neopet were.

     “Nope, sorry. Last time I saw him was two days ago,” the Shoyru answered.

     She thanked him and went to Faerieland. Where else would her Neopet go? She asked all the local faeries if they had seen him. They all had the same answer: No.

     It was getting dark. She thought maybe her Neopet would be at the Neohome. She was about to head back when she tripped over something. As soon as she looked down and saw what she had tripped on, she burst into tears.

     There was a note lying next to it:

     Dear owner,

      You have a very brave pet. I feel very guilty that this happened because of me. Your courageous Neopet was turned this way by Jhudora. One of her evil workers stole an unfinished, dangerous potion from me while I was sleeping. Your Neopet found me and asked me what was wrong. I had told him that the dangerous potion was in the hands of Jhudora. So your pet offered to help me get it back. I was too cowardly to get it back myself. I said he didn’t have to, but he did.

     I guess he had taken an invisibility potion to sneak into Jhudora’s potion room. At the time, my sister was attempting to get the potion back for me also. Jhudora was about to splash a potion on her that would turn her into a doll. Your Neopet must have a strong passion for us faeries. He jumped in the way and the potion was splashed on him instead of my sister.

     I thank your pet from the bottom of my heart. Maybe he was just a friend to some, but he is a hero to my sister and me. I apologize for being such a coward, and I promise that I will do everything to try to turn him back.

      With much regret, Melodia, the light faerie

     She ran back to her Neohome. It took some years to forget it all. I don’t know what she’s doing at the moment, for I’m still here on this cloud in Faerieland.

     Oh, I didn’t tell you my name. Greyer. My name is Greyer.

     Except you might know me as The Discarded Magical Blue Grundo of Prosperity.

The End