I watch the brown Ruki's slender profile as she leads the way down the dimly lit corridor. I slither behind, my mind wandering off to the time when the both of us had decided to work as sleuths and promised to support each other's backs. Right now, we are heading towards a room believed to have the evidence that might lead to answers as to where the victims are.

But in actuality, that was an excuse I fabricated. Instead of possible clues, that room holds several booby traps meant for the capture of anyone who trespasses the grounds. Mirynna has no clue that I will betray her.

"Maccain!"

"Huh?" I snap to attention, realizing that I've been inattentive when she called me.

"Are you alright? You're blurring out."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I murmur.

Always worrying about others. I chew my inner lip. I feel really sorry for her but I swear that I will save her after all this is done.

"There's the room," Mirynna says a moment later, pointing towards a door in front of her. That door was a dead end to the hallway.

We reach the doorstep before Mirynna pipes up again.

"I'll go in and investigate while you guard outside?"

"Mmhmm." I feel relieved that she suggested that because guilt and shame are already gnawing at my insides. It makes me want to retch but I hold it in.

Once she steps into the room, I know that this is it. I cannot back down now if I want to succeed in this mission.

"I'm really sorry, Mirynna," I mutter my sincerest apologies as I lock the door as quietly as I can and slither away in a hurry.

I'm not doing this out of revenge or betrayal. My actions now, and for the rest of this case, is for one reason only, and that is ...

It all started a few months ago when Mirynna and I had decided to work as sleuths. At first everything was great. But then dark things began happening.

Our co-workers began disappearing for days on end. when they returned it was like they were different people, like they were almost robotic. Their minds were completely gone and any sense of individuality they had was completely washed away.

At first I thought brainwashing neopets into clones was a rumor, it sounds so crazy. But then I began to investigate and the truth I discovered was even more horrible than one could imagine.

My first clue to what had been going on was..

It had been just after Mirynna and I had investigated the latest clue we'd dug up. Though it had turned out to be a dead end, we had managed to get one step closer to the truth, and they were planning on chasing down some more leads the next day.

Being in the job I was, I was immediately suspicious of the note. I checked through the peephole immediately, but no one was there. Whoever had dropped it off had scampered off real quick. That was a hint in itself, since there were only so many Neopets with that kind of speed.

So, I turned my attention to the note. A cursory examination proved there wasn't anything wrong with it, like poison or a curse, so, warily, I decided to take a peek. It said:

"Meet me at the Deserted Fairground, behind the carnival rides. Midnight. Come alone. I know what's happening to your co-workers."

It screamed "trap", and I thought about taking it to my boss, or Mirynna, but I was worried they would find out and the lead would be lost. Though it was risky, I was determined to have answers, so I threw caution into the wind and decided to go...

At that moment, whether it were that gnawing guilt, the creeping fear, or the 7 cans of of lime Achyfi, I heard Mirynna's voice behind my ear, "Come back and let me help."

I gazed on, mesmerized by the voice I had just heard, and the growing shadow that was approaching me. Something told me I was about to meet the little bird who dropped off the note.

The fog grew thinner as the shadow drew closer. Hold on - I knew this figure. Not a second later, we were a few feet apart, and I stared at the familiar face in disbelief...

"Andy," I said, nodding towards him.

"Maccain," he said without any inflection in his voice. His face was expressionless. "I can see you followed my instructions and came alone. Good."

"Andy, what's happening? Why are all our coworkers--your employees--acting so strange?" I questioned.

Andy kept staring straight at me, unblinking, like a cold, stone statue.

"Do you know who is behind it? Do you know if we can fix this?" My voice sounded panicked, Andy's face was making me nervous. His expression had changed from a fixed nothing to a rather unsettling grimace.

Andy chuckled. His voice was deep and menacing. "As usual, Maccain, you're asking all the wrong questions. That's why you and Mirynna only had dead leads up to this point that got you nowhere."

Mirynna. I felt so guilty that I had left her alone. That I left her to be captured.

Andy slowly took a few steps closer to me. "You should have asked, why did I ask you to meet me all the way out here, in the Deserted Fairground, at midnight."

Andy's laughter seemed to echo off the abandoned structures nearby. In the corner of my I noticed a bit of movement among the shadows.

Maybe it was the guilt, but I definitely heard Mirynna's voice again. This time, her voice seemed loud and clear, "RUN...."

From the corner of my eye, I could see all too familiar figures chasing after me. My co-workers! They were all here, with that dead-eyed stare, running with surprising speed.

Fyora, couldn't I have gotten the slow-moving zombies instead? I thought desperately, as one Neopet got entirely too close to me.

"Hide!" Mirynna's voice shouted at me.

Slithering faster, I saw an opening in a tent coming up and took my chances, ducking in immediately.

It was dark inside, but my eyes adjusted quickly, and I immediately slithered further inside, trying to find a good hiding place. As I went deeper, however, I realized just where I was.

With horrified eyes, I looked up above me to see...

They were in some kind of stasis. Eyes closed, tubes keeping them alive. As a hissi i flapped my wings and flew up to get a closer look.

Andy and Mirynna were both here as well as some of the towns people. My eyes widened as a saw an empty tank, suddenly; my stomach gave a heave as I noticed the name inscribed at the bottom of the tank in a wooden plaque.

"Maccain.." I whispered as I read it.

Panic set in, I flew to the back of the tent, it was darker back there.

I glided down into the darkness and nestled myself in between a few oval-ish objects. That's when i felt it one of them move....

"Edna," I stammered in fear. "What is going on?"

"Shhh," Edna hissed, "We need to speak quietly so they don't hear us."

"What is going on?" I whispered.

"I cant tell you that information." Edna replied. "Although, I can tell you that you are next. Unless of course you help me."

"Help you do what?" I asked.

"We need to get all of the tanks out of here and into my tower." She replied, "then I can whip up a potion to make this all go away. I need you to cause a distraction so I can sneak these tanks out of here."

I sighed, this was very dangerous, but it had to be done if there was any chance of saving the others. I stood up quickly and as loud as I could I yelled "Hey, come and get me then."

I started slithering away as fast as I could. My goal was to get as far away from the tanks as possible.

After a few minutes I looked back to make sure I was still being followed and ran right into...

No sooner had I begun to get a grasp of my surroundings when I felt something around my body. I soon realized that it was one of my co-workers, who was working a rope around my body with automated movements.

Uh oh, I had been bound.

The sound of cackling echoed across the tent as Edna approached me.

"I never thought you'd actually believe my words!" she exclaimed with mirth.

I was at a loss for words. I knew she was a witch, I knew she wasn't good, so why had I trusted her so willingly?

"Why are you doing this?" I finally asked when I found my voice.

"You sleuths are ruining my business," Edna explained. "Very few questers visit my tower ever since you lot intruded into Haunted Woods' operations. It ruins my plans, you see."

"But it's our job," I said lamely.

Edna continued as if I never spoke. "So I decided to take matters into hand." She withdrew a potion from her robes and tilted my head upwards. "Now be a good boy and drink this."

I struggled against the bindings but it was no use; the ropes were too tight and my co-worker was limiting my movements even further. However, I noticed that my tail was free from any obstructions.

With as much strength as I could muster, I lashed out at Edna's feet with a powerful swish of my tail ...

How will the story end?

With him rampaging around, unfortunately managing to avoid trampling Edna, the ropes were much more slack. I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised - zombies were hardly known for their ability to tie good knots. I was able to escape far quicker than Edna was able to get to her feet.

The Zafara witch was thoroughly distracted by my co-worker, however. "You dumb oaf!" she screeched. "It's just a bit of potion. Get over here and tie that Hissi back up!"

I hastily flapped my wings to get out of reach of Edna and my co-worker. His rampages were getting him very close to the pods. Eventually I noticed that as he shoved on one, it rocked precariously. I flew up behind it and pushed it back into him.

Feeling the heavy glass thunk against him must have triggered something in his zombie brain, because he roared and pulled the tank down, shattering it on the floor and freeing the captive within.

"No!" Edna shrieked. "What are you doing? Stop that, STOP THAT!"

I flew to another pod. "Hey, pea brain!" I called. "Over here! Come and get me! I've got another one for ya."

Now, I did not pick that tank at random. I picked it because it was the tank that held the physical body of the very same co-worker I was baiting into pushing the tanks over. What would happen, I wondered, when he freed his real self?

A shove was all it took to find out.

The tank crashed to the ground and the Skeith inside began to stir. As he did so, the large zombie one began to writhe and shriek, grabbing its head. Curiously, it also began to shrink. Its fur began to lighten as well, until all that was left was a Meepit standing in a puddle.

Edna was shaking her fist at me - the tanks we had wrecked had created a large pile of liquid and broken glass that the barefooted Zafara did not want to walk through. "Are you happy now? You ruin my business and now you're ruining my plans!"

"Quite happy," I said as I continued shoving pods down. It was much harder without the help of a giant, braindead behemoth of a Skeith, but I was able to free my co-workers one by one. And one by one the zombies who trickled in, drawn by the noise, were replaced with Meepits. The Meepits didn't seem to mind; they all just huddled together and watched me work. When I approached Mirynna's tank, I placed my hand on it. "I promised I would save you. I just wish I hadn't had to be the one to put you in danger in the first place," I murmured.

The Ruki zombie was the only one still roaming around as I began to push on Mirynna's tank. My arms were weak from the exertion, though. Why did I save Mirynna's for last? Some of my co-workers were starting to stir and shake themselves free of the tubes, but they would certainly not have the strength to help.

"I knew you'd come. I knew you'd solve this. You can do it, Maccain."

Mirynna's voice in my head gave me a sudden surge of strength. I watched in satisfaction as the final tank fell and crashed, the final zombie shrunk into a Meepit, the final piece of Edna's evil plot destroyed.

One by one my co-workers got to their feet. Many of them hugged me, Andy shook my hand firmly and proclaimed hoarsely that I would be getting a promotion and a raise effective immediately. Mirynna was the last to her feet. I faced her awkwardly.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

"I know," she replied simply. "And I was mad when I realized I was trapped. So, so mad." She paused and shook her head. "But I knew I had to trust you. I knew I had to believe that you would help me... help all of us. And you did. Thank you."

Words cannot even describe the joy I felt when she embraced me. It was as though a massive weight was lifted off my chest. All the guilt at my betrayal was gone. I was very glad for this to be over.

"Come on guys," I declared. "Let's leave Edna to her Meepits." We all laughed as we exited the tent, hearing Edna's shrieks of rage as she tried to climb through the piles of broken glass and tubing.

"It's odd, you know," Mirynna said, examining the newspaper. "That whole hullabaloo and Edna's acting like none of it ever happened. Denying that she would even go to the Deserted Fairground, denying she was out of her tower the night it happened, refusing reporters.

I bit down on an apple tart, fresh from the Crumpetmongers which Mirynna and I were sitting outside of.

"Do you ever think maybe it wasn't the real Edna? Maybe she was cloned as well?" the Ruki asked.

"I don't know. The clone of Andy talked, so I suppose anything's possible," I replied. Then I grinned. "Anyway, I think break time's over. We've gotta get back to work."

"Oh, look at Mr. High-and-Mighty with his big promotion," Mirynna laughed. "Alright, alright. I just wanted to ask if you thought it was strange, that's all."

I had gotten up to throw our trash in the bin, when I caught sight of a small movement. A Meepit was sitting in the bushes and staring at us. I faked a lunge for it, but it didn't even move. Could it have been... no, it was just a random Meepit, there were thousands of the things roaming around the Woods. And staring intently was just what they did. Nothing out of the ordinary... right? I tore my eyes from it and returned to Mirynna.

"Well, it certainly is strange. Strange, indeed."

The End.