The Move

      After sending everyone off, I knew I had only a limited amount of time before they all came back to the house. Actually, the more I thought of it, the more I realized that there were probably going to be a lot of distractions with everyone interacting with each other so I had a bit of time on my hands.

      My goal was simple: make the house accommodating for everyone. Luckily, Kon wasn’t the only one who was good at magic. It was a very powerful spell, transforming a house. I would need help but I was keeping it a surprise from my pets so I couldn’t ask any of them without raising suspicion. I decided to go with the easy option first before I started to call in favours.

      I went downstairs and went through the maze that is the Safety Deposit Box to find the petpet section. I turned on the lights and all the petpets woke up. “Rise and shine!” I shouted, “I need your help.”

      The petpets started to swarm upstairs (at least the ones that could walk. The ones that were in the water tank stayed swimming) and waited for me outside of the house. I gave each petpet a piece of chalk and showed them the diagram of the pattern they needed to draw. “This needs to go around the whole house. Then we have to work on the inside so the pattern reaches everywhere. We also need to do this really fast. If you guys complete it within the hour, you can raid the food shelves, agreed?”

      The petpets cheered and started to get to work. I directed them from the outside while also putting away all of the garden ornaments so they wouldn’t disappear during the spell. When the petpets were done, I let them all go inside and take whatever they wanted from the food section of the Safety Deposit Box. Since it was my biggest section, I didn’t mind them taking food, considering petpets were small and didn’t eat as much as the family that was about to move in.

      I checked the perimeter to make sure that the lines were smooth and had no inconsistencies. I ran back inside for my magical bracelet before I started the incantation. It wasn’t really magical but it felt lucky to me so I didn’t want to try the spell without it. It was my first time doing a spell of this calibre and since I was on my own, it was going to be a lot harder. I focused my energy onto the house and began to chant. I cleared my mind and imagined what I wanted. It took a few minutes but after I was almost completely drained of energy, the house was complete. Now all I had to do was wait for my pets.

     ~~~

      The complete Creep family started to come in one at a time to Shenkuu and all arrived to what used to be their house but was now a giant mystery object covered in a tarp with Hannah sitting in a chair, drinking lemonade in front of it. “Hey, don’t go in yet,” Hannah would object whenever someone would try to get close, “I want everyone to see this at the same time.”

      Everyone had their guesses as to what this could be but it was obvious it was their house. But why was the house covered in a tarp and looked larger than usual? “Maybe she replaced it with something more...aesthetically appealing!” Ursula suggested.

      “But the house looked nice as it was, considering it was a huge house before whatever renovations these are,” Kon suggested.

      Spike arrived with the final family and everyone waited for Hannah’s big reveal as the carriages were being unloaded in the front yard. “Creeps, let me introduce you to your new home!” Hannah said, pulling away the ginormous tarp.

      Everyone looked at the new house in awe, even Ann, Ursula, Kon, and Spike. The house was so huge it seemed like a couple of different houses had been combined. Everyone was awestruck at the huge mansion until Hannah said, “Before you go in, let me tell you about the house: while the building itself is located in Shenkuu, each family has a section dedicated to their homeland. That means there is a Mystery Island section, a Krawk Island section, a Haunted Woods section, and a Roo Island section. Your rooms have nameplates and each room has a window that you can program to either look out into Shenkuu or where your old window used to be. There are also doors inside the house that now have dials on them. Each part of the dial can transport you to a location inside of your hometown but I have already set where the locations are. I did all this so not only we could live together but no one could get homesick.”

      “Then why didn’t you just use magic doors to connect the houses?” Kon asked.

      “To be honest? It costs more to own five houses than it does to own one giant one. Everyone, if you would like to bring your stuff to your rooms, I would appreciate it and you can decorate your section however you want. If you want a tour of the Safety Deposit Box, ask Spike, Ann, Kon, or Ursula. Either way, welcome to your new home!” Hannah cheered.

      Everyone rushed to get their boxes and run to their new rooms. The rooms were bigger than in the original homes and everyone had their own living room area and even custom rooms for each pet's’ needs. Chris got his own space to make new inventions, Kimmy and Markeene got their own training rooms, and so much more for the family. After everyone got situated, a voice was heard throughout the house. “I also installed an intercom system only I can control, to avoid having certain practical jokes mess with everyone. I want to make my first announcement as a family: could I have Aren, Ann, and Markeene come to the main foyer? I need to take you somewhere,” Hannah said.

      No one questioned it but everyone wondered what made those 3 so special or why Hannah needed them almost immediately after the move until a couple of hours later, a crash was heard through the front door. “This is the best day ever!” Aren was heard yelling.

      A couple of family members walked into the main section of the house and saw the 4 walk in, 3 of which were sporting brand new colours. Aren was wearing royal girl clothes with a coat of pale purple colour on her skin, Markeene was wearing Christmas clothes while he now had greener skin, and Ann had pink wings and purple fur, showing she was now painted faerie. A few family members found the colours to be really cool while some had very vocal complaints: “Why does Aren get to be royal but I’m stuck as blue?!” Spike yelled.

      “Spike, be grateful I don’t make you drink a Quiggle transmogrification potion to make you miss being a blue Shoyru,” Hannah said.

      Spike grumbled a bit more but was interrupted by Kon saying, “But why does Aren deserve to be royal versus someone like Spike?”

      Hannah picked up Kon and said, “Spike will get his time, and so will the rest of you, but you shouldn’t question who I want to paint. I had the paint brushes lying around and thought they would be happy to be painted and happy they are.”

      “Who’s gonna get painted next?” Harmony asked.

      Hannah shrugged. “Whatever paint brush I get next will decide for me. I wouldn’t wanna spoil the surprise that is getting painted. None of you guys expected it and that’s what makes it such a great surprise!”

      So after a few more complaints and a couple of compliments, Hannah started to prepare dinner for everyone. By prepare, she went downstairs and grabbed as much jelly and omelettes as her arms could hold. She set the table and called everyone to dinner. The family rushed to the dining room as fast as they could and started to chow down after a long down. “Everyone adjusting well?” Hannah asked.

      There were a few nods and some trying to say yes with a mouth full of food. “Well, good. Get used to living in Shenkuu because this is our new home. I’m happy we get to live here as one, big, happy family.”

      “I just can’t wait until more of us can get painted,” Kimmy said as she took another bite out of her Chocolate Jelly.

      “Well, it depends on what kind of poetry prizes I get and if the Neopian Times can hand out a few more. I can’t paint all of you right now and we might have a few more on the way so...” Everyone stopped and started to stare at Hannah in shock.

      Ann was the first one to break the silence by asking, “What do you mean, a few more on the way?”

     The End.