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The dream started out pretty good.
Fyora handed over 2 billion Neopoints and let
me have all the items in the Hidden Tower. I painted my three pets several different
colors before deciding that I would just paint them each day – all of a sudden,
I had unlimited power to every single paintbrush that ever existed.
My dream continued as my three pets and I discovered
Jelly World and became famous. We grew even richer and I was able to afford
the most beautiful Neohome in the world. Even if it was one of those dreams
that just don’t seem realistic, it was awesome.
Then, out of nowhere, appeared Count Von Roo.
He came for my pets, me helpless and screaming at the top of my lungs. I suddenly
couldn’t move and my pets were left to defend themselves.
In reality, my pets were all very capable of
taking care of themselves. They had all been well trained and were always taking
on new opponents in the Battledome. But in my dream, the Count got to them and
they did nothing.
I sat up in my regal oak wood bed, sweating.
My first thought was that it was a dream, and I had nothing to worry about.
But I was always worrying about my pets during their battles and this had really
messed me up.
I threw off my sheets and hurried across the
floor. I was shaking and I noticed this as I grasped the doorknob and opened
the door very slowly. It let out a long CREEEAAAAKKKK as I did, sending a chill
down my back. Shrugging off the feeling, I stepped out into the hall.
The house was silent.
The wind howled outside, sounding like a ghostly
moan. Rain pattered against the walls. The sounds weren’t helping lighten the
situation. The floor squeaked under my feet as I moved forward, guiding myself
by holding unto the wall. The silence was eerie, and I hoped it wasn’t due to
my pets’ absence.
A loud thud was audible, and I let out a shriek.
What had that been? A door slamming? Someone falling? A door slamming because
someone had fallen and the one who caused it was trying to escape? The horrifying
thoughts filtered through my mind.
Before I realized it, I was at the door of one
of my pets. If Count Von Roo was inside, I certainly didn’t want to barge right
in. Carefully, I pressed an ear to the door, listening for any sounds on the
other side. I heard something… a soft sound that I hardly recognized at the
time…
A snore.
Silently, I opened the door, relaxing a bit.
“Terence?” I whispered into the room, not wanting to disturb him if he was asleep.
Remembering I still had to check the rest of the house alone didn’t sound very
enjoyable, so I decided to ask for his company. “Terence?” I said a bit louder,
though not much because I was so terrified.
Yawning, my blue Gelert rose and reached out.
I believe he was searching for his lamp. I heard a soft click, but nothing happened.
It looked as if the power were out. Terence looked up just as lightning flashed
behind me. “Mom? Mom what are you doing here? It’s awfully late… what’s going
on?” he asked, frowning.
“I came to check on you, sweetie,” I explained,
stepping into the room and closing the door behind me. I strode over to this
Kauvara bed and eased down on the edge, smiling at him. I knew it must be a
strange smile, I still had the other two pets to worry about.
“Did you have a dream again?” Terence asked plainly,
frowning at me. “I thought it was Guinevere’s turn for you to go check on…”
I ignored his statement because he didn’t know
any better. He was the youngest of my pets and clearly the most innocent. Every
night for the past two months I had been having nice dreams which ended in Count
Von Roo coming and attacking at least one of my pets. The three had established
a chart on who Mom should go and sit up with until she fell asleep.
I sighed. “But this one had all of you in it…
can’t I be a good mother and worry about you?” I asked, taking a quick survey
of the room. Each corner contained a dark shadow. My senses went on end. Couldn’t
vampires hide in shadows?
“Yeah… well… I’m sorry Mom…” he said quietly.
“And just so you know, the Count still hasn’t visited my room…”
“Did you remember to close your windows?” I asked,
making sure he went over my checklist.
“Yes ma’am.”
“And… where in Neopia is your garlic?” I exclaimed,
suddenly scared again. He could have been attacked! He didn’t have any protection!
“In my dresser, Mom,” he explained, rolling his
eyes.
Glancing around, I realized one of the dark shadowy
corners held his dresser. “Do you think you would be able to make it to your
dresser in time? What if the Count hid in the shadows? What if he caught you?”
I demanded, looking wildly between the Gelert and his dresser.
“Mom… can I go back to sleep now? I have school
in the morning!” he cried.
“No you don’t… tomorrow’s Saturday…” I said,
crossing my arms and standing up. Terence looked defeated. I reached over and
patted his sheets. “Now come with me, we have to check on your brother and sister.”
Groaning, Terence climbed out of bed and reluctantly
followed me out into the hall. We went on farther and came to the stairs. Slowly
we climbed, Terence rolling his eyes, and mine wide and alert, scanning every
dark spot.
We reached the landing and turned down the hall,
Terence falling behind. I reached out and pulled him onward, not wanting him
to get lost or hurt. I took long and measured steps, trying to be silent and
not catch Von Roo’s attention if he was wandering around here.
Soon, we found my next pet’s door. It was slightly
ajar, and I stifled a shriek. What had made it open like this? I had closed
all of their doors when I tucked them in. Something had came out… or went in.
Gnawing on my fingernails, I reached for the
door, only stopping when I heard voices.
“Hey! Someone’s…” I clapped a hand over Terence’s
mouth and stood silently, attentive to the conversation going on the other side
of the door:
“Kira, you shouldn’t be here! It’s my night for
mom to wake up and come to and she probably heard you slam the front door!”
A-ha! So that had been the slamming sound I heard
earlier. I continued to listen:
“But, Guinevere, I was scared… I had to…”
She fell short as I threw open the door. Scanning
the room, I saw our neighboring Ixi, Kira, sitting on the edge of my Acara’s,
Guinevere’s, beauty bed. The Halloween Ixi stared wide-eyed at me as I stood
there, no one speaking for a few minutes. Kira was Guinevere and Terence’s playmate,
coming over every afternoon.
All thoughts of Count Von Roo suddenly fled my
mind. I stood in the doorway, hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes at the two
sitting on the bed. Terence stood beside me, curiously eyeing the friends.
“What is going on here?” I demanded, glaring
between the Acara and the Ixi.
“Um… Mom… Kira was afraid of the storm and came
over because her owner isn’t home…” began Guinevere, visibly nudging Kira in
the side to speak. I had no idea why the Ixi was always so terrified of me.
She would always ask Guinevere and Terence if they could play outside when I
was inside, and tell them she was getting too hot when I came outside. How could
I prove this? She said she was getting hot during the Month of Celebrating.
“Um… yeah, Miss Serena, she went to a party and
got rained in…” explained Kira, her voice quivering. Clearly she hadn’t expected
my arrival, even though Guinevere had been warning her constantly. She tried
to get off the subject, “You okay, Miss Serena? You look kind of pale…”
Suddenly, my memory returned and I remembered
my dream.
A loud yell echoed through the house.
“Oh my goodness! I forgot Wolfie!” I cried, remembering
my Lupe. Turning, I dashed out of the room. I heard the clatter of paws behind
me and knew that the three pets were at my back. We hurried further down the
hall, reaching the next flight of stairs.
Was it him that had let out that strange yell?
Had he been hurt? Had the Count attacked him? Thousands of questions thundered
through my head as we ascended the staircase. I realized we were making too
much noise and that it might be alerting his attacker. But I didn’t care – one
of my pets was in trouble!
I found Wolfie’s door quickly enough. I didn’t
bother to knock or listen before throwing it completely against the adjacent
wall.
“Wolfie! Are you all ri…” I stopped short as
I saw him. The pets following me had just appeared in the doorway and clamored
to see into the room.
Terence gasped.
Guinevere’s mouth fell open.
And Kira… Kira started to giggle.
“He looks funny!” she yelled over the loud music
blaring from the room. Wolfie pranced around the room, playing some sort of
air instrument, though I wasn’t sure what it was at the time. His eyes were
shut tight and he had a Tyrannian band blaring out of a speaker in the corner.
The yell had been his voice hitting a high note
over the (what he called) music. He still hadn’t noticed us, his eyes remaining
closed, so I marched over to the speaker and shut it off. Surprised, he opened
his eyes and looked wildly around at us.
His gaze fell on me, standing beside his speaker.
“What’s going on?” he asked, still bewildered. “What’d you do that for?”
“We heard you yell, but I guess it was due to
your music,” I explained.
Wolfie shrugged, flopping down on his fungus
bed. “Yeah… so…”
He was the rebel of the bunch. He was always
running off with his friends and didn’t really care about anyone but himself.
He was the oldest of my pets. I had adopted him from the pound and he hadn’t
been very grateful. It was surprising, really. I hadn’t wanted the speakers
in my house, but I let him save up his money and buy them himself. His room
kept the noise in pretty well, only a small murmur audible at most times.
Wolfie glanced at the three in the doorway.
“What are you guys doing here?” he asked, looking
amongst the three of them. They shrugged and muttered incomprehensible answers.
Wolfie narrowed his eyes, mad at not getting his way. Letting out a terrifying
growl, he bared his teeth at the younger pets.
Letting out shrieks, the three dove into the
hall, occasionally peeking around the edge of the doorway. After a while they
all came in and sat on Wolfie’s bed.
I began to walk through his room, stepping over
strewn clothing and unfinished books. I looked around, “tsk-tsking” at the mess.
“We came to check on you. I had another dream.”
I pretended not to see him rolling his eyes.
“Weren’t you supposed to just go to Guinevere tonight?” he asked, picking up
a book and glancing through it. I rolled my own eyes and walked over to the
window. It was cracked a bit and a little rain and wind had found its way into
the room.
I reached to close the window, looking out as
I did. “You guys…”
I fell short as I looked over the garden.
At first, I thought it was some kind of scarecrow.
Remembering we didn’t have a scarecrow, I deleted the thought from my mind.
Squinting my eyes to try and see better, I realized it resembled a Blumaroo.
A Blumaroo with some kind of long clothing falling from his shoulders.
It’s head turned and looked up in my direction.
I covered my hand with my mouth and stumbled
backwards, tripping over a Twisted Roses T-shirt and falling.
“Mom, what is it?” asked Wolfie, leaping from
the bed and hurrying to the window. He peered out for a moment, then turned
back to me. “What was that? Something dark moved across the lawn, looked like
it was running around the house…” he said, looking at my horrified face.
He dropped down beside me and tried to help me
to my feet. I heard a loud gasp behind me and somehow managed to stand. Slowly
turning, I saw the other two pets staring at Kira and realized it had been her.
“What is it?” I asked, frowning.
“Your garden was really creepy when I was out
there… on my way up, I went through the kitchen,” she said quietly, glancing
at Guinevere for help.
“So…” said Wolfie, stepping up beside me.
Eyes wide, she clamped a hoof over her mouth,
staring at me. I didn’t understand what could there have been about the kitchen
that was bad. Sure the kitchen was on the ground floor, but I didn’t see what
she could of possibly seen. Slowly she removed her hoof from her mouth…
“The window was open…”
“I’ll go close it,” offered Wolfie, moving past
me. I shot out and grabbed him.
“Oh no you don’t! We’ll go to my room… it doesn’t
have any windows and we can lock ourselves in…”
“Miss Serena, your room’s on the ground floor…”
whispered Kira.
“Good point…”
“Maybe we should just stay here…” said Terence,
finding his voice.
“Maybe you should…” said another voice.
We all turned our attention to the doorway. The
cape-wearing Blumaroo stood in the hallway, grinning at us, his fangs glittering
in the small light. On seeing him, the younger pets on the bed scurried off
and hid behind me. Wolfie, however, did not.
He leapt forward, snarling at the Count, his
fur standing on end. “Go away!” he ordered.
The Count continued to smile, silence lingering
in the room for a time. Then he let out a loud hiss and lunged for my Lupe.
Guinevere met him halfway, knocking him back.
Surprised at the attack, the Count fell, landing on his back and staring up,
stunned, at the glaring pets. But the Count wasn’t bothered. He rose again,
going to try and get them both at once.
Suddenly, he was flying through the air again.
Terence came out of nowhere, grabbing the Count’s
tail and pulling him down. Before Von Roo could react, Terence flung him against
the wall. The vampire rested there a minute, trying to collect himself from
the blows he was suffering from my pets.
Once more, he again seemed as if unharmed.
“Do you believe you truly harm me, mortal pets?”
he said, laughing a wicked laugh. It sent chills down my spine. I shivered.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the garlic.
Wolfie had actually listened to me! He had actually
kept a wreath of garlic near his bed!
Finding a sudden burst of energy, I dashed for
it. My pets were keeping the Count pretty busy by growling and backing him into
the hall. My hands closed around the garlic bulbs, and I picked the wreath up.
Turning, with a devilish glint in my eye, I hurled the smelly item right into
Von Roo’s face.
He let out a scream and fell back against the
hall wall. Managing to untangle himself from the wreath, he glared at our whole
group.
“You have not seen the last of me!” he threatened,
before turning and disappearing into the shadows.
No one said anything for a while. I think everyone
was too stunned to say anything. First of all, Mom had conquered her fears and
attacked the Count. Second of all, everyone had acted as a team without having
been trained in that way. And third of all, Count Von Roo was gone… for the
time being.
Wolfie was the first to turn and face me. “Go
Mom!” he exclaimed. “All right!” Cheers came from the rest of the group as everyone
crowded around. A group hug was formed and everyone was happy. Kira was suddenly
less afraid of me, as she latched onto my leg, smiling brightly.
I took the time to notice her glinting vampire
fangs.
The End
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