The Iced Curse: Part Three

      I sighed deeply, my face crestfallen. I should have been expecting someone to notice, even if they were as frazzled as Flames, who was shuffling over to the couch where I had left my crumpled blanket and pillow.

      "I'm going to take a guess and say that you weren't just 'howling for pleasure,'" Flames said as she plopped down and took a bite of her Chokato omelette. I gagged at the thought of fruit on an omelette. "Whatever that means," Flames continued as if I hadn't even regarded her.

      "Uh, heh heh." I crouched low and crept into the corner of the room. "We might need to call a carpenter to fix the door."

      "Why would that be?" Flames asked, placing her omelette on the low-lying table. She leaned forwards to see me scrunched up in the corner. "You mean someone didn't just open our door and put firewood in it? They actually broke our door?" She paused to think. "You were down here last night, Lodo. Do you know who did this?"

      "Well, there's a funny story about that," I said in a voice that was barely audible. "Um, you know how the wind was really really strong last night and the snow was blowing so fast? Well, um, the snow and wood kind of splintered the door into millions of little tiny shards and they all broke and fell in to the Neohome so all the snow and wind started blowing in through the doorframe and snow started covering everything and the only thing I saw in here strong enough to block the door was the firewood so I grabbed all of it and struggled back to the door and started jamming it in the doorframe so the snow would stop blowing in and then I scooped up handful after handful of snow and put it in the sink so it would eventually all melt and then disappear down the drain but I guess that there was so much of it that it still hasn't melted." I let out a huge breath after my run-on sentence and then breathed back in. My lungs were gasping for air after finishing my story about why the icy snow was clumped in the sink and why the door was replaced with firewood.

      Flames's eyes were glazed over, and she was idly taking bites out of her omelette. "Wait, so what did you just say?" she asked between mouthfuls. "All I heard was something about our door breaking because of the wind, you jamming firewood into the doorframe and grabbing handfuls of snow and dropping them into our sink." She stopped to think about what she had just said. "Wait a minute, you put snow into my sink and jammed my firewood into my doorframe?"

      "Yeah," I said, scrunching up as low as I could get. "I just told you why. But I can tell the short version if you would like."

      "Please do," said Flames, rubbing her forehead as if she had a headache.

      "Well, the storm broke open the door, so I put the firewood and knick-knacks in the doorframe to stop the snow from blowing inside and I grabbed all of the snow and put it in the sink so it wouldn't melt and make a watery mess all over the living room." I stared at Flames, hoping that she would understand what I had just said.

      Flames just shook her head. "Oh, okay. Alright. I get what happened now." Flames peered out the window. "This storm is so weird. It blew in so fast, in about three minutes. I saw the clouds brewing over our Neohome, but I really didn't think much of it considering all that the residents of Mystery Island have ever known is sun, sand, and exotic fruits. I figured Pacina would be fine if she went out fruit gathering and exploring for a little while, I had no idea she would find a lost Lutari and get caught in the middle of a terrible snowstorm."

      "I would recommend not even trying going outside," I suggested. "Even from the five minutes Pacina and I were running back to your Neohome and the few minutes of the door smashing and the snow blowing in, it was freezing cold out there and people who have lived on a warm island their whole life have been known to be really susceptible to the cold."

      "That's what I figured," Flames said with a sigh. "It seems we may be stuck inside our Neohome for a few days. In the mean time, I'll dig up some old board games and plushies out of the closets and maybe I'll even find a few trading cards stuck in there with them. Even though we can't venture outside we can still have fun."

      A small knocking occurred on the wood, and Flames rushed over to see who it was and who would be insane enough to walk out to a Neohome in this blizzard.

      Flames removed the very bottom piece of wood that I jammed in the doorway, resulting in a large gust of wind and snow blowing in through the hole in the barricade. A beefy Razumi dashed through the doorway, soaked head to toe in melting snow. His eyes scanned the Neohome until they landed on the shadow Eyrie Harpier stumbling sleepily out of her bedroom at the cusp of their hallway.

      The Razumi tore across the rug and sailed into Harpier's arms, jolting her awake. She looked at the Petpet shocked for a second, but then smiled warmly and gave the Petpet a loving pat on the head. The Razumi made a low gurgling sound that I guessed must have been a purr of sorts.

      "Oh right," Harpier said as she walked into the living room. "I guess we didn't exactly introduce you to every member of our family yesterday. Lodo, this is my Razumi Charge."

      "Harpier," Flames said slowly with a scolding tone. "Did you leave Charge outside yesterday?"

      "Yeah, what of it?" Harpier said, cuddling the shivering Petpet up to her chest. "Charge is smarter than you think, Flames. He knows his way back home. And here he is, safe and sound and no worse for wear."

      "You're supposed to take great care of your Petpet." Flames stuffed the piece of wood back into its spot before any more snow could blow in. "And it looks to me like you're not doing a very good job at it."

      "Why is our door jammed full of all of our firewood and some trinkets? And what looks like a picture?" Harpier asked, clearly wanting to change the subject.

      "The snow and wind broke our door," Flames explained. "Lodo here was very heroic and stopped the snow from blowing in by lodging our firewood in it. And then she was very tidy and cleaned up all of the snow that was scattered across our living room." I blushed at Flames's description.

      "Sounds like our guest had a busy night," Harpier said as if I wasn't standing right next to her. I squashed a flare of irritation.

      "I was just about to go get some board games and stuff to use while we're stuck inside our Neohome until the storm blows over. Do you want to help me, Harpier?" Flames asked.

      Harpier placed Charge down gently on the couch where he flopped down to sleep with a contented sigh. "Sure, I can help," she said. "After all, I am the battle pet, and you and your scrawny muscles will probably need my help."

      Flames glared at her, but said thanks through gritted teeth. "We can wake up Pacina and then we can see if Aluendi wants to play too."

      "I can wake Pacina up," Harpier said quickly. "But I'll leave waking the great sleeping Cybunny beast for you."

      "Ha." Flames smiled. "Alu sleeps as much as Turmy does. But I don't think she'd take kindly to eating Petpets."

      "Lodo, you can sit on our couch and take a break from all of the excitement while we scrounge through our closets for stuff to do," Harpier said. "Oh, and you can help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Perhaps a nice glass of ice." She chuckled.

      I snorted as Harpier and Flames walked down the hallway.

      But I was pretty famished after wandering through the forests of Mystery Island. I hadn't eaten in a while, unless you count the ice cube I ate last night. But that didn't fill me up at all.

      Wanting to feel as normal as possible in this Neohome, I grabbed some Bacon Omelette from the fridge and began heating it up in a pan on the stove. I had read enough books to know how to be careful around a stove and how to cook with one too, so my omelette turned out a golden color and looked absolutely delicious.

      I turned the stove off and walked back into the living room with a plate full of steaming omelette, just like I had seen Flames do this morning. Except for the fact that my omelette looked appetizing and hers looked charred to a crisp.

      A sat down on the couch and took a forkful of omelette. I shoved it into my mouth and though the flavor was good, it froze in my throat like the water had and I nearly choked.

      But I finally managed to gulp it down just as I heard a lot of grumbling coming from a room branching off of the hallway. The yellow Cybunny Aluendi stomped out into the living room, cursing under her breath. She caught sight of me sitting on the couch staring at her and immediately snapped her mouth shut.

      "What happened to our door?" she asked as her gaze shifted to the logs in our doorway. I sighed.

      "It's kind of a long story," I said quietly. "Last night, the snow—"

      "I'll spare you the talking," Aluendi said quickly. "It obviously has something to do with this storm, and it's obviously not your fault. I'm just going to get myself some omelette." She peered down at my fluffy omelette with a small bite taken out of it. "Man that looks good. Would you mind showing me how to cook my omelettes like that? Everyone in this house chars them but Harpier, and she won't cook for me because she thinks that I'm old enough to cook for myself."

      "I've read plenty of books on how to cook," I said. "I love to read."

      "Yeah, that's nice." Aluendi began walking towards the kitchen. "Now come on, just help me cook my omelette."

      Aluendi snatched a piece of Clay Omelette from the fridge (how do you eat clay?) and flopped it into the pan. It started sizzling and slightly melting around the edges, but I skillfully flipped it over and pressed my spatula onto it before it could disintegrate. Aluendi nodded her head thoughtfully as I flipped it again, the edges beginning to turn a deeper brownish-golden color.

      I grabbed a plate and quickly ran back to the stove and the pan with the omelette before it could burn. Since I had just done this about five minutes ago it was no trouble and I was done cooking the omelette in a few minutes. I slid it out of the pan and onto the plate with the rubbery spatula. It left a trail of clay in the pan, which I took off of the stove and shoved into the icy snow that was still piled in the sink since it wasn't melting as fast as I had hoped it would. It sizzled and made a deep hole through the snow.

      "Why is there snow in our sink?" Aluendi asked.

      "Part of what happened last night," I said. "But as I said, it's a long story, and I'm sure you would rather be enjoying your omelette."

      "You're right." Aluendi grabbed the plate and took a bite of the Clay Omelette while I gagged at the thought of eating clay. She nodded her head and hummed slightly as she chewed. "This is really good. I bet your owner enjoys having someone to cook around, because in this house, Flames can't cook to save her life."

      "Yeah." It was obviously a lie, but Aluendi just shrugged.

      A tan blur tackled me onto the rug as I walked into the living room. I hacked and struggled, but whoever was on top of me was older than me, which narrowed it down to about anyone in this Neohome.

      "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" Pacina stepped off of me and began to prance around like a Uni. She was wearing a white polo shirt with dark blue jeans and a golden necklace in the shape of a flying Carmariller. She was fluttering her fake golden wings. Her light golden-blonde hair with brown streaks was pulled back into two loose ponytails on the sides of her head. She was still wearing her fuzzy slippers even though she was no longer in her pajamas.

      "I heard we were going to play board games and play make-believe with plushies and trade trading cards!" Pacina said, her eyes glinting with mischief. "Are you going to stay here longer and play with us too Lodo?"

      Even though I was questioning staying with this crazy family any longer I could feel myself smiling. Despite being sort of dysfunctional, the family seemed nice, much nicer than he had been to me.

To be continued...