The Iced Curse: Part Five

      Could he really be bold enough to come inside? Would Flames see through his disguise that he wasn't really an Ice Draik? Probably not, considering how gullible she seemed. But even then, that... that thing didn't look much like an Ice Draik, with small orbs of ice for eyes and a lot more sharp icicles pointing off of his body than a regular Ice Draik.

      Not taking any chances, I turned and dove for the couch. Snow Cloud followed after me, both of us ducking under the thick blanket I had used last night, Snow Cloud still trying his hardest not to get snow everywhere. I turned around while all huddled up in the blanket and peered out the bottom. Snow Cloud was resting on my head.

      "Who in the world is that?" Flames asked no one in particular as she walked out of the kitchen. "We have the four of us, we have all of our Petpets, who could we possibly be missing now?"

      Flames took some of the wood out of the door and slowly an icy shape was coming into view behind the planks.

      As soon as about six planks of wood were out of the door and on the floor, an icy figure darted through the opening and rolled onto the floor. The room suddenly went ice cold.

      Flames shivered as she lodged the wood back into the door, grumbling about how hard this was and they really needed to get it fixed soon because it wasn't worth the effort to do all of this for just one Neopet.

      I shivered violently and my blood ran cold at being in the same room as that thing. And even though it had been quite warm not only in the room but especially under the blanket, that Draik was messing everything up, and it was now as cold as it was outside. I thought that I could be safe here, but I guess he was making sure that I wasn't safe anywhere.

      The Draik stood up slowly. My eyes went wide at what he looked like.

      He looked exactly like an Ice Draik. There were no longer multiple extra spikes along his wings, arms, legs and head. His eyes weren't just icy orbs anymore; they were still an icy color but now had a darker pupil and white highlights. He looked like an actual Neopet.

      "Thank heavens you let me in!" the Draik shouted in a deep, gruff voice. He had never spoken when he was following me around so it was a surprise to hear him talk.

      "Now, who exactly are you?" Flames said in a tired voice, still glaring at the silver key grasped in her hand.

      "My name is Logan," the Draik said with a slight bow. "I have been wandering around lost in this storm for hours, but no matter how many Neohomes I stopped and knocked on the door at, not one of them would let me inside. I thank you again for being so kind as to let me in and out of this wretched storm."

      His gruff voice sounded so odd. His polite words hung in the air for a few moments before they dissolved in the cold.

      "Wow, there sure are a lot of Neopets stuck out in this storm," Flames said, prying her eyes away from the key. "I can't imagine what kind of owners would leave their Neopets outside in a storm like this." She glanced nervously back at Pacina, but the young desert Aisha seemed unaware.

      "Well actually, I don't have an owner," Logan said, his words sliding across the air. "I just ran away from that horrible place known as the Pound not too long ago, maybe a day or so, and escaped to Mystery Island. My previous owner placed me in there since she couldn't trade me for an unconverted Neopet. Apparently my stats weren't high enough, and she just got so frustrated that she dropped me in there. I can't stand the old food they give you and compared to the gourmet food that my owner was always feeding me in hopes to trade me; it was too horrible for me. So I broke out when someone opened the cage to adopt me. I blasted past them, out of the Pound and flew all the way to Mystery Island when this storm began. I couldn't believe it was snowing on Mystery Island because I had learned that it was a tropical paradise. So I wasn't prepared when I got trapped outside and no one would open the door and allow me inside their abode. But whatever you do, just please don't drop me back in that miserable place."

      "Oh dear, no," Flames said, placing a hand on his wrist. She shivered and pulled her hand away as ice began to form on the tips of her fingers. Logan seemed extremely uncomfortable having someone touching him, and his deep voice had faltered at the end of his speech, as if he was trying as hard as possible to keep this charade up.

      "I would never put you back in the Pound after that," Flames continued, studying the ice on her fingertips. "We'll find something to do with you after. In the mean time, you should meet my pets. Aluendi! Harpier! Pacina! Get out here! We have a guest!"

      "Another one?" Harpier grumbled. "We're trying to eat lunch here."

      Reluctantly, all three Neopets trudged out of the kitchen without their lunches. Pacina smiled, Aluendi was staring back at the kitchen, and Harpier was just glaring at the ground.

      "Hi, I'm Logan," the Draik said again, his voice returning. "I was trapped out in the storm."

      "Just like our friend Lodo here," Aluendi said, gesturing towards the blanket that I was cowering under. She gave me a confused look.

      "Hm? Is that Lodo?" Logan asked, flashing a menacing smile at me. "Lodo and I go way back, we're old friends."

      "Is that so?" Flames asked. "Lodo, get out from under your blanket. I know that it's cold, but show our guest some hospitality."

      "That's Lodo for you," Logan said, walking over to me. My entire body felt like it had frozen into a block of ice as he lifted the blanket off of me, revealing Snow Cloud and me. "She was always cold, mostly because our owners both lived at the peak of Terror Mountain where it was always extremely cold and snowy. My owner zapped me until I was ice for not only a more desirable color but also protection from the harsh climate, but unfortunately for Lodo her owner didn't have the money to afford the Lab Ray map and so Lodowaty had to stay the plain color of blue, which also made it so she was constantly cold."

      "Shaddup, Logan," I grumbled. Realizing that Flames seemed surprise by my reaction, I straightened my words out. "It's, erm, nice to see you again." I had to choke the words out of my mouth, because it certainly wasn't a pleasure to see him.

      "I haven't seen you in a long time Lodo," he said slickly. "What has it been, about a year, maybe? A little less than that? Anyways, you know how my owner Melissa placed me in the Pound, right? You were devastated."

      "I sure was," I said. "I couldn't believe that I would never see you again." Sure, that was about as far from the truth as it could possibly get, but I wasn't about to let this manifestation of ice out-lie me.

      "Anyways, once this storm stops, I'll just be heading out and on my way once again," Logan continued. "Although for right now I thank you for your hospitality."

      "Of course, Logan," Flames said. "You can all just go get lunch. I'll be in my writing room if you need me."

      I cocked my head as Flames walked down the hall and into the small room full of Neopian Times stuff. The door slammed behind her and I could hear her quill pen scribbling away. I noticed that Flames had been in there for an extended amount of time since I had come here, always writing. She was in there for a while after everyone had went to bed last night, because I could hear the scratchy sound of her pen as she wrote.

      "Well, let's get ourselves lunch, shall we?" Aluendi said, turning back to the kitchen. Harpier followed after her, mumbling about how so many strange Neopets were coming to their house.

      Pacina stayed behind with Logan and me. "So you really went to the lab ray, Logan?" she asked. "I've been begging Flames to buy that map forever since she has enough Neopoints. I want to be zapped. But Flames doesn't want to zap me." Her face drooped.

      "Well, you really don't want to be zapped," Logan said as we all got up and walked to the kitchen. I was still ice cold from being even near that thing.

      "Is it really painful?" Pacina asked. Her eyes were wide, and her face was no longer drooping. I scowled at her.

      "Not really, just kind of tingly," he explained. "But it is difficult getting used to all of the species and color changes."

      I opened the fridge. There was quite an assortment of Battledome food in there which hadn't been there yesterday. Flames must've taken Harpier to the Battledome in the middle of the night to get more food. I picked up a half of Tigersquash Jelly and plopped it onto a plate. It jiggled and wobbled as I carried it to the small dining table on the edge of their kitchen. Aluendi was already sitting there and I figured that Harpier had retreated to her room for lunch.

      "So how have you been?" I asked Aluendi, trying to start up a conversation and not feel so awkward eating in the silence.

      "I've been good," Aluendi said through mouthfuls of omelette. Thankfully it wasn't made of clay this time. "Did you really know Logan from before?" she continued, completely changing the subject.

      "Well," I muttered, staring down at my jelly. I stabbed my fork in it, not wanting to eat anymore. "I guess I did kind of know him from before."

      Pacina and Logan bounced over to the table, interrupting our conversation. They were each holding a plate with a slice of omelette with all different kinds of meat on it. They each took one of the two remaining seats.

      "This is really good omelette," Logan said, shoving it in his mouth. I noticed that he was having trouble swallowing, just like I was. "I mean, I thought that gourmet food was good, but this is awesome!"

      "Really?" Aluendi asked. "I've always thought of omelette as plain and boring. I guess having it for the first time makes it seem really tasty but having it over and over again makes it taste really bland."

      Flames staggered into the kitchen. "I can't believe that we're eating lunch now," she mumbled. "At this rate, we should be finished with dinner." She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. "When you all finish lunch, I want you to go to bed. Logan, I'm afraid that we don't have any more open beds or couches for you to sleep on. You can sleep on the rug in the living room if you would like and I could give you an extra blanket and pillow."

      "Yeah, I would be alright with that," Logan said as he finished off the last of his omelette.

      "I'll be going to bed early," Flames said. She started wandering back to her own bedroom down the hall and I was surprised when she passed by her writing room without stopping in to jot down a few more words for her story. She opened the door to her room and stepped inside.

      "Remember, all of you, the instant you're done I want all of you in bed right away!" she called. "And that means you especially, Pacina."

To be continued...