A Cheater's Redemption

      Elther couldn’t help but feel that this all seemed a little amateurish. That there was no way the thief would ever fall into such a trap. But still, he scattered the marbles (just a few, and only the ones he wouldn’t miss if they were damaged or lost) across the floor anyway; it was the best idea they had. The theory was, as Tiva put it, that the thief would need to step very carefully to avoid the shards of glass moving back through the window. But he wouldn’t be able to step carefully due to the marbles.

      As Elther fiddled with the marbles, trying to angle them so they weren’t catching the moonlight and reflecting into the thief’s eyes, Tiva and Oruna worked behind him. The next part of Tiva’s plan was that the thief would instinctively reach for the closest piece of furniture, which was Elther’s father’s desk. To that end, she was affixing a trip wire between the window and the desk. The trip wire stretched up to the ceiling, where it was attached to a bucket containing the contents of Elther’s father’s Blumaroo Pepper Shaker. The goal was to have it come crashing down on the thief’s head and leave him dizzy and sneezing.

      Oruna was working on the final part of the plan. She had gathered every light corded product owned by Elther’s mother that was kept in the downstairs bathroom: curlers, straighteners, dryers. She was presently working on detangling the wires. While the thief was disoriented, Elther, Oruna and Tiva were going to rush forward and tie him up in the cords. The ensuing racket was likely to be loud enough to attract Bertio, who would come in with the fire poker as needed.

      "Are you sure this is going to work?" Elther said doubtfully to Tiva. He could think of about a hundred reasons this could go down.

      "Yes," Tiva said.

      "Don’t forget," Oruna put in, "that Tiva won our school science fair three years in a row. She’s good at thinking of things that others don’t, and she’s good at building things."

      Tiva’s feathers fluttered with embarrassment. "Thanks, Oruna," she said sheepishly.

      Elther paused. That was certainly true. Tiva was really clever and inventive. Even if the plan wasn’t perfect, it was better than what he’d been able to think of in the same time that she’d had. I’ve been yelling at them for picking on me all night, and yet now they’re the ones saving me and my family. His stomach churned.

      Through the silence, they could hear the soft thuds against the side of the house from above. As if on cue, a light flickered beneath them – Aryn, with their candle. Tiva flapped her wings. "Places, everyone!" she hissed, backing into a corner and holding her hairdryer taut.

      Oruna followed with a curler and Elther backed into the shadow of an enormous bookshelf with his straightener. Elther’s heart lodged itself somewhere around his throat as a dark shadow filled the window.

      It paused for a moment, as if considering going down the house. But, just as Tiva had predicted, the thief seemed to think better of going down to meet someone below. The thief began to maneuvre one leg through the window, perching precariously on the sill. The second leg was brought in and then the thief stepped off the ledge. Right onto the waiting marbles.

      With a gruff yelp, the thief flailed his arms. Just as Tiva had predicted, they lunged for the corner of the desk. Their hand caught, however, on the precisely placed tripwire. The bucket came crashing down, engulfing the thief in a cloud of pepper. The thief began to sneeze and stumble. "Now!" Tiva cried.

      As one, she, Oruna, and Elther charged forward and began to wrap their bindings around the thief. Elther wound his straightener tightly around the thief’s legs. Tiva snared their wrists while Oruna wrapped her cord around their elbows. Elther seized another cord and bound the thief’s ankles. Just as they finished wrapping up the thief, Bertio bounded into the room, poker held aloft.

      "Did you get ‘em?" he asked urgently.

      "Yeah," Tiva said.

      Light flared in the room. Everyone, including the thief, winced from the sudden brightness that was the power being turned back on. From behind Bertio, a handful of footsteps clomped up the stairs and into the room burst a white Aisha with flowing golden hair and a green Lupe, Aisheena and Orig of the Defenders of Neopia. They took in the scene and rushed forward to the thief. "Stop right there, criminal scum!" the Lupe proclaimed. "The Defenders of Neopia are here to hold you accountable for your crimes."

      Aisheena took in the scattered marbles, the fallen bucket, and the improvised bindings. "You kids did pretty good on your own, but it was good to call for help," she said. "It can be very dangerous to tackle criminals on your own, so I hope you didn’t take any unnecessary risks."

      Orig ripped the black mask off the thief and Elther gasped: he recognized the thief! The face of the yellow Techo beneath the mask was twisted into a snarl, but Elther still knew who it was. "Colvin?" he blurted. Colvin was his father’s assistant at the office. Why would he be stealing?

      "Oh it’s Erthnel’s brat kid," Colvin sneered dismissively. "I came by to tell your wonderful father that I quit! I got hired by a different company, so I don’t need to work for him anymore! And then I saw one of you idiot kids had left the door open and I thought, why not get a nice little gift for my new employers: the company secrets they’d been wanting from your father for so long! I heard you all yapping in the dining room and figured you’d be nice and happy with your dumb little game. But you brats just had to get in my way."

      Orig yanked roughly on the cords and pulled Colvin to his feet. "Save it for the Judge," he growled. "Just because you’re unhappy at your job doesn’t give you the right to break in and threaten a bunch of kids." And he marched Colvin from the room.

      Aisheena turned to them. "I’m glad we were able to resolve this without anyone getting hurt," she said. "If ever you’re in need of assistance in stopping a criminal, you can always call the Defenders of Neopia!" And she departed with her partner.

      In the aftermath, no one quite knew what to say. Eventually, Aryn came into the room. "I’m glad it all worked out," they said. "I had to walk quite a ways to get to the nearest neighbor."

      "Me too, everything worked perfectly," Oruna said. "Well done, everyone."

      Elther’s head sank as the others congratulated each other for the plan. When they’d all subsided, he took a deep breath and said, "Yes, thank you. Thank you so much. I – I was totally useless. All I did was doubt all your strengths, and before that all I did was yell at you during the game. I’m a bad friend, and you still helped me."

      "That’s not true," protested Oruna. "When Tiva was putting her plan into motion, you knew exactly where to go to get what we needed, no hesitation."

      "And when we were investigating, you helped me avoid making unnecessary noise and bought us all the time we needed," Bertio chipped in.

      "No one person was the hero," Aryn pointed out. "We all worked together and did what we do best."

      "Totally," agreed Tiva.

      "Now, I don’t know about you guys, but my brain is kinda fried," admitted Aryn. "Maybe we should just watch a movie before bed."

      "A funny movie," Oruna said. "Nothing scary."

      "Let’s make a blanket fort in our theater room," Elther said excitedly.

      "Last one there’s a rotten Pteri egg!" roared Bertio. And giggling, all the kids ran from the room.

     ***

     To Elther’s surprise, his parents were home the next morning and they both swept him into a hug. Once they’d heard about the break-in, they’d come home to check on him. And they weren’t mad about the broken window, or the candles the group had used, at all!

      "We’re just glad you’re alright," Elther’s mother insisted.

      "I never knew Colvin was so unhappy," Elther’s father mused. "I’ll have to keep that in mind when I hire a new assistant. I wouldn’t want the people who work for me to be so unhappy that they’d break into my home."

      To Elther, his father had said, "We were at the conference long enough that I was able to talk with some of my contacts. I know that game you like is getting an update in a few weeks. I was able to get a copy early. I was going to give it to you the morning it released – like I’m supposed to – but I think you’ve earned a treat."

      He pulled out a wrapped present that was the exact size and shape of a game book. Elther gazed at it. He desperately wanted to know what was inside. To be one of the first to know what was inside. He had another game session between now and when the update was scheduled to release. He could wow his friends with new content – real new content. But then...

      As soon as the impulse hit him, it faded. Maybe it wouldn’t be so fun to be the only one who knew things. Maybe it wouldn’t be fun to make Aryn frustrated as they tried to balance around content they were hearing for the first time mid-session. Maybe it wouldn’t be fun to see the looks of sadness and envy on Bertio and Oruna and Tiva, knowing they would have to wait even longer to try out the new features for their characters. Maybe it wouldn’t be fun.

      Elther put out his flippers and pushed the wrapped book back toward his dad while shaking his head. "I appreciate it, I really do. But I’d rather wait," he said. "I can wait for the release date."

      "Are you sure? I don’t mind giving it to you early," his father said.

      Elther nodded. "I’m sure. The fun of role-playing games isn’t in having stuff no one else has or in winning at the expense of your friends. The fun is in getting to tell a story, together, where everyone contributes in their own way."

      "Well, I don’t understand the games you kids play these days, but if you’re sure," his father said. "But if you’re sure. I’d still like to reward you in some way, for helping to catch the thief."

      "If you really want to do something nice, I think I’m ready to go back to being Shadow," Elther said shyly.

      "Oh we can do that easily, honey," his mother said. "Paint Brushes are no problem at all."

      "Thanks," Elther said. "I’ve had quite enough of trying to be a show-off."

     The End.