Adventures Aren't Just in Books: Part Four

      It was the 18th day of Storing just last year. Our species had been “discovered” a few days earlier. Of course, we have been on Neopia as long as you have we just preferred the mountains where we could be away from other species and have a pure Vandagyre society.

      Our ruler at the time decided that we had stayed in the mountains for far too long and was running a campaign to get us out of them and back into the rest of Neopia. It took a while but eventually everybody was convinced that the best decision was to head out of the mountains.

      And so we found ourselves in a completely new society. It was not too much unlike our own but there were enough differences for me to feel quite uneasy. I spent the first few days exploring Neopia Central and getting to know how everything worked down here.

      That was how I came across the Help Wanted poster. I had been heading home after a long day of walking when a piece of paper stuck to a nearby tree caught my eye:

      HELP WANTED BY THE DEFENDERS OF NEOPIA

      NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY

      ENQUIRE AT:

      Followed by the address. I had been thinking about getting a job, money seems to be a lot more important down here than it was when we lived in the mountains. This surprised me quite a bit but I suppose it should have been expected, a lot of people means a lot of money needed and sometimes there isn’t enough to go around.

      So I arrived at the address (which was of course here) and knocked on the door. The only problem is that I was so nervous that I knocked very quietly and I think Brian did some stupid thing...

      ---- It wasn’t stupid, the coffee mug just slipped out of my hand! ----

      ---- Sure it did. ----

      ---- Shut up Al. ----

      Anyway, because Brian dropping the mug made such a noise, nobody heard my, already quiet, knocking. I didn’t want to knock again in case they had heard and they thought that I was impatient and rude—which was not the impression I wanted to give to my potential employer—so I just stood there.

      ---- Stood where? ----

      ---- On the doorstep. Imagine our surprise when we walked out the door about an hour later. ----

      It wasn’t an hour later, more like ten minutes. So Michael came out, quickly followed by the other three. From what I can understand, they were heading out to have lunch. I was still in the doorway so Michael banged into me and it was like dominoes. Soon enough, all of us were on the floor. Al, Luce and Brian were laughing but Michael was thunderous. I nearly ran away there and then despite waiting an hour- I mean waiting ten minutes.

      ---- Told you it was an hour. ----

      ---- Shut up and let her finish the story. ----

      Well there isn’t much more to tell. I apologised for a few minutes before Michael eventually told me to shut up and asked me why I was standing outside their door. Having explained that I was here about the job, he led me inside and we started the interview properly. At the end, he stayed quiet for a moment before asking,

      “You want the job?”

      “So that’s us, I guess. Now we’re all friends, you can tell us your story.” Brian says cheerfully—I don’t understand how he is so happy all of the time.

      “Yeah, after we braid each other’s hair and gossip.” I mutter sarcastically.

      “Oh, come on, we have been acting perfectly civil to you and you still won’t talk to us about why you’re here.” Jenny replies, not realising she is about to make me angry.

      “WHY I’M HERE? WHY I AM HERE? I AM HERE BECAUSE SOME NEOPETS WHO APPARARENTLY DO PAPERWORK FOR THE DEFENDERS OF NEOPIA TOOK IT UPON THEMSELVES TO KIDNAP ME BECAUSE THEY THINK THAT I AM SOME SORT OF CRIMINAL MASTERMIND! I CAN’T SAY WHY I AM HERE BECAUSE I DIDN’T BRING MYSELF HERE.”

      “Look, just calm down a minute.”

      “CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN! WHO ARE YOU TELLING TO CALM DOWN? I AM CALM, I AM-”

      And it is back to darkness...

      I wake up and reach up to put my hands on my head. Then I realise that I can actually move my hands. I’m not tied up any more, I can get out.

      I stand up, preparing to run...

      And my legs collapse from underneath me, making me fall to the floor.

      I can hear laughing behind me and am about to start shouting at them when two strong bodies on either side of me pull me back into sitting position in the chair.

      Once more the team pulls up a chair each and sit around in a semi-circle surrounding me. Going from left to right there is Albert, then Michael, Lucy in the middle, next to him Brian and finally Jenny. Despite all of them staring at me, only Lucy speaks.

      “Now don’t start getting upset again or we will have to knock you out again and that is very counter-productive as well as a waste of energy. Don’t bother trying to escape, the door’s locked and your legs will be too weak for a good few minutes. We aren’t accusing of anything despite what that oaf of an Elephante might tell you. All we want to know is why you were in the woods watching the conversations.”

      I sigh ready to explain what I had been doing in the woods: “I had been annoyed at my parents so I stormed out of the house and into the woods. I was sitting on the rocks and minding my own business when I heard some people walking towards me. I didn’t want to have to talk to someone plus I was scared since I had no idea who it could be, especially since I was very deep in the woods. So I hid behind the rocks.”

      “OK fine but why didn’t you show yourself after the two had gone?”

      “But I did, albeit briefly. I heard another noise so I was worried that they were coming back because they thought I knew something or that some other secret exchange was going to take place. I realise now that you it was you guys- then again, maybe I was right to be scared. All you’ve done is tell me stories, tie me up, knock me out and scare me to death.”

      “Yes our methods may not have been the best that we could have used considering the circumstances,” I can’t help but notice that she is particularly staring at Michael as she says this, “but we needed to make sure that you didn’t know anything about the things you saw and heard. It is obvious that you don’t know anything so we can let you go and you can just head back to your parents and leave the rest to us.”

      Well, that was a change. I stare at them in confusion but all of them seem to be agreeing with what Lucy said (Michael might be nodding a bit stiffly but he is nodding all the same). Sure I want to get away from these crazy people but my curiosity wins out , though hopefully it won’t kill the Kacheek this time.

      “But what about what I saw?”

      “What do you mean?”

      “Well, I can’t just forget about what happened. Any way I can help you guys?” Who cares what I thought about adventures before now? I want to know what is going on with that Shadow Wocky and the figure that she was with.

      “Unless you can give us an accurate description of either of them or know where they went, you can’t really.”

      “But I can do that.”

      “You can?”

      It has been a few hours but I have finally given an accurate enough description and also shown them which way the Wocky went after parting ways with the other figure. Because of my obscured vision I couldn’t tell who she was with but from their faces when I told them who the Wocky was, I’m guessing that they already know.

      “So any ideas about who they were or what they were doing?”

      “We don’t have any ideas,” I frown at that, annoyed that I couldn’t be of more help, “Answers, we do.”

      “You know who it was for certain?”

      “Yep, no question. Only one person has a Shadow Wocky as his second-in-command.”

      “Who is it then?”

      “You wouldn’t have heard of him?”

      “Who cares, I only want his name.”

      “OK, he is called The Market Trader. Nobody knows what he looks like but rumour has it that he practically runs the Black Market—items stolen from the Hidden Tower being sold for half the price, fakes of retired items sold for huge profits, he does it all. The Defenders have been waiting for him to slip up for a while and it looks like he finally might have.”

      To be continued…