The Mysterious Sound

      After Julie had finished reading about Meridell, she went back and picked another book off the shelf. This book was about Jerdana, one of the other heroes of Altador. Julie went back to the study to read the story. She sat down in her favorite chair, a pink recliner with purple flowers on it, after grabbing a can of Neocola to drink. Her brother was playing with some of his friends so she had the study to herself for a while.

      Julie had been reading for a few minutes when she heard something outside. It sounded like a ball being bounced on the sidewalk. She found it a bit annoying that someone would be bouncing a ball on their private property so she walked outside to investigate the source of the sound. Nothing was outside, which made her think the culprit was an invisible Neopet or a fast troublemaker.

      This made her curious and she started to explore Brightvale until she found the source of the noise. She walked into the Scrollery to see if the shopkeeper had any idea who could be making trouble in Brightvale but the shopkeeper, Roberta, had no idea what it could possibly be and went back to restocking her shop.

      The young Aisha left the shop and went to the Royal Potionery to ask the shopkeeper there. The Cybunny said that he had seen a mischievous band of Lutaris stop by earlier and said that he saw them heading towards Meridell. Julie thanked the shopkeeper for assistance and made her way to Meridell.

      She walked to the neighboring kingdom of Brightvale, Meridell. As soon as she entered, she saw Neopets of all ages, colors and species playing various games. She laughed as she saw a purple Chia playing Cheeseroller tumble down the hill.

      A young group of Kacheeks were running around laughing with their owners chasing after them. The young Aisha almost forgot what her real mission was while she watched everything happen. She wandered into the Petpet shop nearby to ask the shopkeeper about the Lutaris she had heard about.

      "Excuse me, ma'am, have you seen a group of Lutaris pass this way?"

      The Ixi shook her head and sighed.

      "I'm sorry, darling, no Lutaris have been near here all day."

      Julie left the shop, going to the castle. She walked to the potion shop and asked the shopkeeper if she had seen any Lutaris pass this way. Kayla said she had seen some young Lutaris heading towards Faerieland.

      "Then why hasn't the shopkeeper at Ye Old Petpets seen them?"

      Kayla gave a light chuckle. "She's not very observant when it comes to Neopets, too busy with her Petpets."

     Julie headed towards Faerieland, continuing her search for the Lutari troublemakers.

     Julie hummed a little tune to herself as she arrived in Faerieland. She took a look around at the Healing Springs and Rainbow Fountain. She decided to ask the water faerie at the Healing Springs if she had seen any Lutari troublemakers around here.

      "As a matter of fact, I have! They passed this way not too long ago, just a couple of minutes, actually."

      "Where did they go?" Julie asked, wanting to track them down.

      The water faerie pointed in the direction of Faerie City and Julie thanked her for her help. As Julie walked into Faerie City, she soon noticed all of the faeries going about their various businesses. She also seemed to notice a group of three young Lutaris snickering and whispering about something. They immediately stopped once they saw the young Aisha.

      "Excuse me," Julie said, adjusting her glasses, "do you happen to know anything about a sound I heard outside this morning? It sounded like someone bouncing a ball outside on our sidewalk."

      The leader of the group, a blue Lutari named Damien, looked nervous after she asked that question. He gulped and tried to think up a convincing lie to tell her but he couldn't think up anything. Julie noticed this and she smiled, satisfied that she finally found out who the culprit was. The other two members, a yellow Lutari and a green Lutari had left to go to their home in Mystery Island, leaving Damien on his own.

      "Fine, you caught me. But how did you know where I was?"

      "I had some help," the Aisha replied.

      "Oh, of course, you Brightvale neopets are smarter than the average neopet." Damien rolled his eyes as he said that.

      "It's kind of true; we tend to be smarter than most Neopians, but that's only because we read a lot of books. Where do you live, anyway?"

      "I live in Mystery Island, near the Tiki Tack."

      "That's cool. I should have figured you would live near the water because Lutaris are very good swimmers."

      "Yep, that we are. I live in a Neohome with my two brothers, the yellow and green ones you saw earlier, and my owner, Emma. I don't get along with Dylan very well, though. He's the green one and the youngest. Most of the time, he's too busy drawing to pay attention to me or my older brother, James."

      "That sounds pretty different from my family. I live with my older brother, Ramone, and my mom and dad. Ramone is five years older than me. Anyway, enough chatting, I should get home. My family is probably worried about me." Julie walked back home to Brightvale, humming a tune all the while.

      When she got home, her parents were waiting by the door for her and they looked very upset.

      "Where have you been, Julie? You had us worried sick!"

      Julie then remembered she had forgotten to leave a note saying where she was going.

      "I heard a noise outside and I went to investigate," Julie replied, her head hanging low, "I didn't know what it was and I got curious."

      "You're not in trouble, darling, we were just worried about you. We thought something happened to you. "

      Julie went inside to get warmed up after her adventure. She was sketching a Peophin swimming around Maraqua in a pink sketchbook when she heard her brother arrive home. She went up to her room and took her drawing materials with her. She really wanted to finish her drawing in time to bring it to the art gallery and she didn't want do that in the study because she really wanted to concentrate on her drawing.

      Julie wanted to draw the best drawing she had ever drawn before in her life. She sat down at her desk, picked up her pink pencil and a blue eraser, adjusted her dress and opened up her sketchbook to continue her drawing.

      At 6 pm NST, Julie went to the kitchen to have dinner with her family and talk about what they did today. She told her brother about her adventure and her brother seemed a bit jealous of her. Julie stuck her tongue out at him, saying if he wasn't too busy with his friends and he wanted to, he would have gone on an adventure like she did. Anna, Julie's mom, giggled at the two arguing like young Neopets would.

The End