When the Ghosts Come out: Part Five

      "Oh," Princess said, "I was just looking for you. I wanted to say thank you for giving me that paint brush."

      "Well, you're very welcome," Alicia told her. Princess couldn't believe that she had fallen for her aunt's fake kindness. She realized that she had to pretend not to have read the messages. She had to find a way out of here, and help Daisy and Cloud too. After all, she figured Alicia must have taken them as well.

      But would Daisy and Cloud want her help? After all, they seemed quite happy here. But Princess knew that she didn't want to live here. She loved living with Nicole, even if she wasn't rich like Alicia, and she could never stand living in the Haunted woods.

      Princess went up the stairs and down the hallway. She opened the door to her room and went in. She closed the door behind her and sat down on her bed. Good - now she had some space to think.

      So, was there any way that she could get out of here without Alicia noticing? She could try to sneak out, but that wouldn't work. Alicia would most likely catch her. She had no idea what would happen if she was caught, but it couldn't be good.

      Princess's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door.

      "Princess?" A voice asked, "Are you in there?"

      "Come in," Princess responded, not sure who was there. Daisy poked her head through the door before entering.

      "Oh, hi," Princess said when she saw her, "Can we talk for a minute?"

      "Sure," Daisy said, peering out of the door and looking through the hallway. She then closed the door tightly and went over to Princess. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you," she whispered.

      "I think I know what it is," Princess said, also in a whisper, "You were Nicole's pet once, weren't you?"

      Daisy nodded. "She wants to keep you here, too. She makes us do all sorts of work, Cloud and me, and we can't leave the neohome. It might be too late for even you to get out of here."

      "We could sneak out," Princess suggested, "All three of us."

      "Are you crazy?" Daisy asked, "She'll catch us. Then she'll give us more work and let us do fewer things. You can try to get out all you want, but I'm fine here. Things aren't that bad for us anyway. You get used to living here after a while."

      With that Daisy left the room. It looked like there was no one to help Princess. Daisy couldn't understand why Princess didn't want to live here. As much as she had enjoyed the past few days, the Haunted Woods was a horrible place to live. In fact it didn't so much matter to her that Alicia lived in the Haunted Woods. She would be evil no matter where she lived, and Princess didn't want to live with an evil person.

     Princess thought of her life with Nicole, and she could hardly keep from crying. Maybe she hadn't been rich, but her life had been great. There had to be some way that she could get out of here. She could try sneaking out. Even if Daisy and Cloud wouldn't come with her she'd still have a chance at getting out of here. But what if she failed? She knew that she had to come up with a way that she could leave without anyone noticing. There had to be a time when Alicia wouldn't be paying any attention to where she was.

     That's when it hit her - night! She had to leave here at night. That was the only time when no one would notice her because they were all asleep. She had to start to develop her plan. She would have to pretend to go to sleep, then get up and leave. But she couldn't just walk through the front door - what if someone woke from hearing her on the stairs? No, she'd have to get out some other way.

     Princess looked out her window. She noticed that the closest tree to her room was right by the window, its branches nearly touching the glass. If she went out the window she could probably climb down the tree. Yes, that would be perfect. Once she was out of the neohome she would have to go through the woods to Neopia Central. She remembered the way well from earlier that day. Good, this would work just fine, she thought.

     But as Princess carefully planned out her escape in her head, she was forgetting one very important detail - night was when the ghosts came out.

     ***

     "Wake up," Princess whispered. Daisy, being a light sleeper, rolled over and looked at her.

     "We're going to escape," Princess told her, "It's night, so Alicia won't see us."

     "You're crazy," Daisy said, shaking her head, "You think Alicia hadn't thought of that? We can't leave the neohome at night, you know that."

     Suddenly Princess realized what Daisy meant. Night was the worst time in the woods. But that didn't stop Princess. She had been out at night before and she could do it again.

     "We can still go," Princess said. "It's not far to Neopia Central and we'll be there before anything bad can happen. Trust me."

     Daisy looked at Princess for a moment. "Alright," she said. "We'll try. You might be right." Princess smiled, and then left the room to wake Cloud.

     "Hey Cloud," Princess said upon entering the rainbow Ixi's room. "Get up, you're coming with Daisy and me."

     "For what?" Cloud asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

     "We're going to escape," Princess said, "Come into my room in a minute." With that, Princess left Cloud's room. She quietly tiptoed back down the hallway and into her own room. She sat by the window, waiting for Cloud and Daisy.

     As scared as Princess was, she was also excited. What an adventure this was going to be! It was going to work, she just knew it. She heard Daisy and Cloud coming into her room and turned to face them.

     "Be quiet," she whispered, "You don't want to wake Alicia." Princess got up from where she sat on the floor and walked silently over to Cloud and Daisy. She began to explain her plan.

     "So we go out the window and climb down that tree," Princess said, pointing to the tree that she had noticed earlier, "Then we just sneak through the woods to Neopia Central. It couldn't be simpler."

      "I still don't know about this," Daisy said as Princess prepared to exit through the window.

     "Come on, Daisy," Cloud said. Daisy finally agreed and followed Princess out the window. The pets easily climbed down the tree and met each other on the ground below. So far, Princess's plan was working.

     "Be very quiet," Princess whispered to Cloud and Daisy as she noticed that Alicia's window was open. She wouldn't want her aunt to hear them.

     So the pets went through the darkness slowly, careful not to make any noise. Everything was going well. Then, Princess tripped. She hadn't seen the large rock in front of her. As she walked into it she fell forwards onto the twig-covered ground in front of her. She got up quickly. She was alright, but when she saw the light flicker on in Alicia's room she knew that they had been caught.

     "Run!" Princess screamed to Daisy and Cloud. The pets ran, but Alicia had soon come out of the neohome and was chasing them. Princess kept running. Though she doubted that she could outrun her aunt, she had to try. Then, she saw someone in front of her and stopped. She could tell even in the darkness that it was Red, but there was something different about him.

     "You were foolish to leave at night," Princess heard Alicia's voice say from behind her, "it's getting very late. And as it gets later here in the Haunted Woods, things start to change."

     As Alicia said this, Princess saw something happen to Red. He started to glow a dim blue color and his eyes turned bright red. Red was a ghost.

     Princess had to get past him. She tried to run again, but Red pushed her back. She couldn't get around him- there were too many trees. She had to find some way out of this.

     Then Princess noticed a light turning on in the neohome. Upstairs, Devil was watching her ghost brother in shock. Red noticed the light too, and took a few steps backwards. Of course, Princess thought. Ghosts were afraid of the light!

     Princess ran closer to the window. She stood underneath it where the light from the neohome shone onto the ground.

     "Go after her," Alicia told Red. "What are you waiting for?"

     Red made a disgusted face, but slowly approached the light, shielding his eyes with his hand. Princess stood there, waiting. When Red was almost there, Princess ran in the direction of Neopia Central. Red tried to follow her, but had to pass through the light to do so. As he walked into the light, he let out a loud yelping sound and fell down. Princess knew that this might be her only chance. She ran faster and didn't look back. Daisy and Cloud caught on and followed her. They ran for some time, hoping that they would not be caught. After a while, Princess could no longer hear the sounds of Alicia and Red chasing them. But she didn't slow down. She would keep running until she was back home.

     "We did it!" Daisy said, almost out of breath. She was pointing up ahead of them. Princess looked in the direction that her sister was pointing in and smiled. In the distance she could see the lights of Neopia Central.

The End