I TOLD CALIXZO and Tazz the next day everything that had happened in the office.
I thought Tazz would be furious at me, but he thanked me over and over again
for not listening to him. Everyone was at a loss for what to do, especially
me. We told each other if anything happened, or we got an idea for what to do,
the first thing we'd do would be to tell each other.
Two weeks passed slowly by, and we hadn't said
a word about it. Until a few days before visitor's day, when we thought we might
be able to get out of here. None of us had thought about it before, and a million
pounds were lifted from my shoulders as I realised what Cali was saying was
true.
I was happy all day, nice even, to everyone.
I even was cheery around Branston-although that took a lot of nerve on my part.
When mail came that afternoon, I was all ready
for a letter from Omni or Ev saying, "Can't wait to see you soon!" but instead
I got something very, very unwanted.
I actually got a letter from both Ev and Omni,
and they both seemed extremely upset. I was, too, when I read the letters.
Po,
I'm really sorry to
hear visitor's day has been cancelled. I was so looking forward to it...sorry
this isn't long, I'm just really sad right now...
Love,
Ev
"WHAT?!" I screamed, reading and re-reading the
note over and over again. "VISITOR'S DAY IS CANCELLED?"
I ripped open the envelope of the second letter,
from Omni, and I was met with the same disappointment, but this time I was very
puzzled, too.
When I got the letter from you that visitor's
day was cancelled, I was devastated. I was so looking forward to seeing you!
I went over to Nova's and told Ev, and we sat in a sad silence for quite a while...
I guess I'll see you in four weeks--it will seem like
aeons, but whatever you survive makes you stronger. Hugs! Anyway, I got the
camera developed you wanted me to, here are the pictures.
Love,
Omni
I sat down on my bed and cried-cried for hours.
I normally never cried, but this was too much to bear. This summer, the summer
my friends and I may meet our ends, was the summer that had to go horrible.
Not to mention it was my first summer, too.
"Cali," I said, calling through the window to
where she sat outside, reading a book. "Go get Tazz and bring him in here. It's
important."
When they were both there, we sat in a circle
on the floor, and I passed around the letters in silence. For a while, we let
the deflated quietness sit around us, suffocating us. When I could take it no
longer, I spoke.
"What are we going to do?"
Tazz and Cali were at a loss of words. Finally,
Tazz overcame his speechlessness and opened his mouth.
"Omni's letter is the one that confuses me,"
he said. "It said you sent her the letter-and you didn't. That's the part that
puzzles me."
Cali nodded, but her mouth still hung open. As
the lunch bell rang, and Tazz and I got up, she stayed there on the floor reading
the letter.
She caught up with us a few minutes later, gasping.
"Po! Po! Did you look at the pictures you took?"
"No..." I said. "Why would I? This is way more
important."
She was grinning from ear to ear. "No, it isn't!"
She whipped out a large, zoomed in picture of
the photo I took of Branston. A note was attached to it.
Ev had me enlarge this one for you, she thought
she saw something in the background. It's up to you! Write us back to tell us.
I gaped at the picture Cali had given me. In
the background, behind Branston's leg, were two figures I was glad to see.
Two shadowed Aishas, dashing through the trees,
ears flying back behind them-the Aisha Thieves.
"The Aisha Thieves are here! They're HERE!" I
screamed pointing at the picture. "THEY'RE HERE!"
I laughed an excited, relieved laugh. "We're
gonna be OK! Oh, my god..." I felt relieved as if I'd been rescued by my hero-and
right now my hero was Cali.
"What would I do without you!" I shouted as I
hugged her.
We spent the next few days devising plans, which,
unfortunately, we knew would never work. At the beginning of our fifth week
at Camp Neko, we began to lose hope.
"Why haven't the Thieves shown up yet? We need
them!" I whined one night when Cali and I were alone in the cabin. "Without
them, we're back to where we were a few days ago-nowhere."
"We're still nowhere," she pointed out in a mournful
voice, and the last thing I heard her say before I drifted off to sleep. "We
were stupid to come here, but we have to be smart to get out..."
The next day, as we went to each of the classes
in turn, we found Wyndie, Nisiko, and Quatri all packing up. "Branston's sending
us home," they replied, puzzled. "He fired us. Good luck for the rest of the
summer, because we certainly didn't have it."
That afternoon, Tazz, Cali and I were all in
a state of depression.
"It's over now," I said. "All over. We're alone
in this camp with Branston, and he can do with us what he pleases."
"Might as well just give up," suggested Cali.
"NO!" Said Tazz, and Cali and I both looked up.
"NO! We won't give up, no matter what we do. We're Neopia's last hope, aren't
we? You read the files. You're the one that knows best, Po, that can't give
up. And with all your dreams, Po...you'd be the last one I'd have thought to
give up!"
"You're right," I said, agreeing with him. "But
we've been let down so many times-I don't want to give up, but I don't feel
like I have the heart to go on."
I fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming of a million
things. I woke with a start-the ending of my dream was a strong hand clamping
around my neck.
When I woke, my dream turned out not to be a
dream-it was reality.
***
I woke up again three days later, to find myself in a gray tunnel, large enough
for me to stand up in, lay across either way, and spread my arms. In the corner
I found a pile of blankets and a bowl of Kau-Kau farm milk. On a towel next
to it there was a mug of steaming, green liquid-I knew right away it was the
sludge Branston had talked about in his letter.
Branston. He must have been the one to grab me-oh,
how he would be when I get out of here!
If you get out of here, a voice in my head said.
My lower lip trembled, but I promised myself I wouldn't cry. I took the blankets,
spread them out and made them into a comfortable position, and laid down.
Although I had just slept for three days, I was
surprisingly tired. Pulling one of the blankets over me, I wrapped my wings
around myself and fell asleep once again.
To be continued... | 
