Now with 50% more useless text Circulation: 178,210,560 Issue: 431 | 19th day of Awakening, Y12
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Lani and the Beast: Part Four


by selenial

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Lani couldn’t sleep; not with her petpets missing. She spent the evening staring out her bedroom window, watching the desolate pond, and stayed there as evening turned into night, turning away Jean’s offers of food, drink, and comfort. The moon was full, and it was reflected entirely, white and startlingly bright, in the little pond. On any other night, Lani would have found it beautiful, but that night there were no little ripples in the pond. There were no Primellas or Tanizards to admire the moon with her. Where were they?

      Lani held her head in her hands, staring up at the surrounding jungle for the first time without fear. Were they hurt? Scared? Could they see the moon, or were they locked away somewhere? She scowled at the shadows, brooding over her missing petpets. Whoever stole them was going to get what they deserved– tomorrow, when the Defenders came back. A particularly strong wind whipped through the masses of palm trees at the edge of the garden, interrupting Lani’s thoughts. The shadows leapt up, thrashing around the garden, as if just waiting to get in, and Lani’s moment of bravery passed. She quietly repeated Blackwing’s words to herself.

      “You’ll be safe, too. I’ll be safe.” Immediately deciding that there were no chances of her going on a midnight safari, Lani reasoned that she WAS safe. Even if natives or venomous petpets or even the thief decided to sneak into the garden, the house had strong walls and a security system. The door and windows had locks. There was no way that anyone could possibly touch her from her bedroom window. “You’re safe too, Minnie,” Lani whispered, gently stroking her feepit (who had no trouble sleeping at all). “And you can have the whole bed to yourself. I don’t think that I’m going to be able to sleep at all tonight.” Minnie rolled over in her sleep in agreement as Lani watered the mint plants by her window sill, pulled down the shades, and pulled out The Art of Aromas: Your Garden Guide.

     Hidden by the shadows at the edge of the garden, something watched Lani pull down her shades. It held its raspy, parched breath for a moment, and then slunk forward, through the flowerbeds. Anyone watching would have seen the shadow’s shoulders sag with relief as ripples spread across the garden pond. Its huge yellow eyes were half closed with content as the creature drank its fill.

      Minnie’s ear twitched in her sleep. Through her dream of chasing Petnip Carmarillers, she could barely pick up traces of a sound– the smacking, lapping sound of an animal drinking. What woke her, however, was the smell. The aroma of mint was parted like a curtain, and that familiar musky smell pinched her in the nose. Minnie’s eyes snapped open and she growled forebodingly. Though she couldn’t understand her owner’s speech, she could pick up that Lani was very upset because the other petpets had gone missing. Minnie wasn’t upset; she was furious. Whatever was down there had woken her at the wrong time and on the wrong night. It had even done the wrong thing: invading her territory. Minnie’s eyes narrowed and her growls grew stronger. Those bright yellow eyes were going to pay. Minnie’s pampered house petpet’s habits slipped into instinct. A feepit is one of the only things that can take on a meepit and win.

      “Minnie! Minnie, what is it?” Lani stared in shock as the feepit suddenly jumped off the bed with her speckled fur fluffed out, growling at the top of her tiny lungs. “Minnie? It’s okay, Minnie, you’re–”

      Before Lani could finish her sentence, Minnie nosed the door open and ran downstairs. “Minnie! No, get back here!” Lani threw her book down, opened the door and glanced down the staircase. Minnie was almost at the bottom. Silently apologizing to Jean, Lani leapt onto the railing and slid down the stairs. “Minnie, come here!” Lani made a grab at the feepit, but Minnie dodged and jumped out of her petpet door, still growling. “Oh no, Minnie, not outside!” Lani swung the door open hurriedly. She froze.

      Minnie was standing stock still a few feet in front of her, growling at a shadowy figure with two huge yellow eyes crouching beside the pond. For a moment all three of them were paralyzed, each staring at the other with widened eyes, and then the shadow backpedaled noisily and fled, trampling plants and tripping over itself in its haste.

      Lani’s breath was jagged and shaky, but still deep and relieved that the thing was gone. She reached down to pick up Minnie. Minnie wasn’t there. Lani’s head whipped back to where the shadow had disappeared just in time to see her feepit disappear into the jungle after it. Lani’s heart beat faster, and for a moment she choked on her own fear. The thing was going to take Minnie if Lani didn’t catch her first. Lani looked around for a weapon, but the only things outside were the gardening tools. More for the feel of it in her hand than for actual protection, Lani grabbed the small spade and raced across the garden. She paused briefly at the edge of the jungle, Minnie! and disappeared into the jaw-like shadows.

      As soon as Lani stepped into the jungle, she wished that she had brought a flashlight. Lani was a fast runner, but she had never been in the jungle before. She couldn’t run; after every few steps she would stub her foot on something, bump into a rock or branch or tree, or trip on the uneven soil.

      “Ouch! Oh, my knee!” Lani fell over again, this time banging her knee on a rock as she fell. She pushed herself halfway up and broke down sobbing. There was no way that she was going to find Minnie when she couldn’t move forward. After a few moments of staring at the surrounding foliage, Lani realized that she didn’t know where she was either. How could she have been stupid enough to go out into the jungle alone?

      Lani felt very small and completely un-queenly in the Mystery Island jungle. There was no place for a little lost Xweetok, royalty or not, in the wilderness. Her sobs turned into quick, frightened gasps as she pulled herself into a sitting position and stared at tree after shadowy tree. They all looked the same to her, and they sent her head reeling. At night, everything looked like the shadowy creature; the palm fronds tuned into fangs and claws. The grass turned into fur.

      “No,” Lani whispered to herself. “There aren’t any eyes. Every time I saw that thing, I saw its eyes. I have to find Minnie. I have to find Minnie.” Her thoughts were interrupted with a shrill, piercing, angry shriek. “Minnie!” Lani jumped to her feet, narrowly avoiding being whacked on the head by a low branch. Lani’s acute Xweetok ears swiveled to the exact direction that the noise had come from. Her blood froze. That yellow eyed thing had better not hurt Minnie!

      “Think,” Lani muttered to herself. “Eyes and ears. I’m a Xweetok. I can do this.” Securing the small spade in her mouth, Lani slunk down onto all fours, still facing the direction of Minnie’s squeal. “I am Queen Lani,” she breathed. “I AM Queen!” Now that she was on all fours, Lani felt more comfortable. She was able to maneuver more, and on top of that, her eyes were finally adjusting to the jungle’s darkness, so she knew what to avoid. Untested muscles and joints flexed and rippled as she wove over a large root and around a fern. Wave after wave of determination and exhilaration swept over her, but deep down Lani was afraid. But, as Lani knew, sometimes a queen has to fight that fear. A queen may have the odds stacked against her, but a queen has a kingdom to protect and people to defend.

      “What am I going to do?” she thought. “That thing is probably dangerous. I don’t even know what it is. I’m not even armed! What am I going to do once I find Minnie?” but all of these thoughts were subconscious. NOW was more important. “Jump- now- under the log, miss that stump, there,” the Xweetok muttered to herself. Lani was putting so much concentration into getting though the foliage that she didn’t notice the clearing until she tripped on nothing. Lani fell forward and landed face-first in the dirt.

      Lani really had tripped on nothing. She had adjusted her step to the snagging grasses of the jungle, and in the clearing there was suddenly nothing- no vines, no trees, not even grass. Even the dirt was hard and dry, not like the moist, fertile Mystery Island soil at all. Without pulling herself up, Lani raised her head cautiously to get a look at the clearing. Immediately, she gasped and jumped up. The clearing was dotted with small stick-and-mud huts.

To be continued...

 
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Other Episodes


» Lani and the Beast: Part One
» Lani and the Beast: Part Two
» Lani and the Beast: Part Three
» Lani and the Beast: Part Five
» Lani and the Beast



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