Mystery of the Neolodge: Part Seven

"Stop, let go of me!" TigerWing protested, but Myrah jerked harder. So it was the green Aisha after the Storm Amulet! That's why her name hadn't showed up in the file cabinet, she was a Staff Member, not a resident! Myrah dragged TigerWing into the Staff Room and into a storage closet. Pushing her weight up against the door, Myrah locked it, leaving TigerWing in darkness.

     "Let me out! Let me out!" TigerWing yelled.

     "Be quiet you fool!" Myrah yelled. "You will stay in there as along as it takes me to find that amulet!"

     TigerWing stopped pounding against the door when she heard the Staff Room door close. She started to cry in anger. Tears rolled down her face and dropped to the floor.

     "So, you figured it out too, huh?"

     TigerWing gasped. "Who…who's in here?" A Neopet came out of the shadows and put his wing on TigerWing's shoulder.

     "Jack?" TigerWing asked. "Jack Kenton?"

     The Eyrie nodded.

     "Jack, I'm really, really sorry," said TigerWing drying her eyes, "I thought it was you who was after the Storm Amulet."

     "Me?" Jack laughed dryly. "Nope."

     "Well, you were always running from here to there with a mysterious briefcase and I… I kind of overheard you talking to someone about wanting to find the amulet. I didn't mean to overhear you… and then when the lights went off you weren't in your seat."

     "You're quite smart, TigerWing," Jack said, scooting a couple of buckets over so he could sit down. "But I have a good explanation for all of that." He pulled something from his pocket and showed TigerWing a shiny badge, "I'm an undercover detective."

     Now it was TigerWing who laughed, "Well, that does explain everything! The Neopet you were talking to in the morning was…?"

     "My boss… who is also a detective. He hired me to take on this case."

     "And… when you were missing when the lights went off at the dinner party…?"

     "I thought that this was part of Myrah's plot so I doubled around to try to catch her," said Jack.

     "But Jack…" TigerWing said, "I mean, Agent Kenton, how did you figure out that it was that Aisha?"

     "Well, after all of the staff left and the residents went back inside to finish dinner, I poked around. I found some boot prints in the carpet, just the markings on the underside left little imprints in the carpet. So, I searched for the boots. I finally saw Myrah carrying them back to her desk and when she wasn't there I checked them. They had little bits of carpet stuck to them. When I accused her, she threw me in here this morning."

     "Wow, you've been in here for a while," TigerWing said, and she told him about how she found the ring with the initials on it, and then the nametag.

     "Pretty clever bit of investigating," Agent Kenton said.

     TigerWing also explained about their other suspects, and Jack laughed when she got to Spectre,

     "Him? Well, I suppose he could have been after it…"

     "What will happen if Myrah finds the amulet?" TigerWing asked.

     "I'm not sure…" Jack said, "it probably hasn't occurred to her that she can't sell it. There's only one left in Neopia and if she tries to sell it, someone will figure out that she found it. It'll be all over the Neopian Times."

     TigerWing yawned and slid down onto the floor. She was so sleepy, and a little hungry, too. Poor Agent Kenton hadn't eaten since breakfast.

     TigerWing was so sleepy that her eyelids closed and she drifted off to sleep.

     She woke about an hour later, even hungrier. Jack was still up, though he looked sleepy.

     "There has to be a way out of here…" TigerWing mumbled.

     "The door won't budge," said Jack. "I've already tried it."

     TigerWing flew higher in the storage closet until her head bumped the ceiling. She felt around with her wings and touched something metal and cold. It felt like a large vent.

     "Hey, Agent Kenton, I think I found some kind of vent…" Agent Kenton flew up next to TigerWing and tried to pry off the metal piece.

     "See if you can find something that we can use to pry this open," Agent Kenton said, "Check the floor." TigerWing felt her way over the floor but her wings touched nothing, only buckets, mops and rags.

     "Wait a second," Agent Kenton called, "I have my badge." He dug into his pocket and used his badge to pry off the metal covering. "I got it off! Now we can escape!"

     TigerWing flew up to him and he tried to squeeze in, but he was too big. "I can try," she offered. She squeezed right into the vent and started crawling through.

     "Keep going until you find a way out!" Agent Kenton yelled.

     TigerWing slowly crawled through the dusty vent. The cobwebs made her cough and the cold metal chilled her. She pressed on slowly, feeling her way through the vent. She spent ten minutes just moving a few feet because there were spots where it seemed to get smaller. TigerWing turned to her left and spotted a light. Relief washed over her as she crawled to it. There were so many twists and turns in this vent that she was afraid of getting lost. TigerWing wanted to get out so bad that she turned herself around and used her feet to kick open the vent. It immediately flew open. She slid out of the vent and collapsed to the floor.

     Two Acaras sat up in their beds. They probably thought that the Pteri was a burglar. TigerWing had landed in someone's room! She brushed herself off and said embarrassedly,

     "Sorry, but this is an emergency!" TigerWing rushed passed them and headed out the door. "Not to worry, though," she added, seeing their scared expressions in the dark, "Nothing to be concerned about!" She sprinted down the staircase and into the Staff Room in the dark. TigerWing flipped the light switch and unlocked the storage closet. Jack Kenton smiled with relief.

     "I'm so glad you made it out!" he said. "We have to find Myrah. She's still looking for the Storm Amulet!" Suddenly, a small figure rushed into the room and hugged TigerWing hard.

     "Cali?"

     "Oh, I'm so glad you're safe. Wiseguy, Tweetie and I were worried about you!"

     "There's no time to loose!" TigerWing said, pushing her sister away, "We have to find Myrah!"

     "Mr. Kenton," said Cali, finally noticing the Eyrie, "What are you doing here?" TigerWing quickly explained about Jack, Myrah and the Storage Closet.

     "You're a real detective?" Cali asked.

     "Yes," said Agent Kenton smiling down at Cali. "Now we must hurry and find Myrah!"

     "You don't need to look much further," said a nasty voice behind them. TigerWing wheeled around. Myrah was standing in the doorway wearing a sinister grin. "So, you managed to escape. Well done, I guess I'll give you credit for that, but you can't stop me from finding the Amulet. You fools are nothing but snoops… I--"

     Tweetie came flying out of nowhere with his tennis racket. He whacked Myrah on the head and she fell to the ground, temporarily unconscious. Tweetie stood smiling triumphantly with the racket in his wing, "Pow! Gotcha!" He yelled.

     "Tweetie! That was great!" TigerWing exclaimed hugging her brother. She turned to Agent Kenton, "We need to get the Defenders of Neopia in here right away!"

     "They're already here."

     Now it was Wiseguy that entered the room with four other Neopets from the Defenders of Neopia. As Myrah was coming around they put her in handcuffs and guided her outside.

     "Wow," said Agent Kenton. "Pretty good, you guys."

     "Well, I think this mystery is solved," Cali said proudly.

     "No, it isn't," said Wiseguy. "We still haven't found the Storm Amulet."

     "Oh my gosh!" TigerWing breathed. "I…I think I know where the amulet is!" She rushed upstairs to room 3-A and seized the clipping from the Neopian Times about the Neolodge's secret.

     "Look at this…" she pointed to a line in the article, "It's a clue!" She read aloud, " ' Mr. Hughes stated, at one time, that even though the Storm Amulet was well hidden, he felt it was never out of his sight.'"

     Everyone exchanged confused glances.

     "I know where the amulet is!" TigerWing yelled. She grabbed a flashlight off the table and ran out of the Staff Room. Her footsteps echoed off the marble floor. She pointed the flashlight at the old portrait of the Founder. TigerWing touched the picture frame, her wings running up and down every cruve. She thought a minute and tried to slide it upwards, but it wouldn't budge. TigerWing leaned against it, and it slid to the left a little. The picture was on a sliding wall!

     TigerWing used all of her strength to push the portrait aside. Wiseguy and Cali helped too by pushing with their paws. When the portrait had finally slid forward, it revealed a long dark hole. TigerWing reached inside and her wing feathers touched something smooth and cold. With increasing excitement, she pulled it out and admired it in her wings.

     It was the Storm Amulet.

     "You found it! You found it!" Cali yelled.

     The amulet was a sapphire-colored gem that had swirls of gray and white in the middle. It was connected to a chain with silver and blue links. The Storm Amulet was the most beautiful thing that TigerWing had ever seen,

     "And I know just what to do with it."

***

The Storm Amulet had been taken to the Deep Catacombs in Neopia Central early in the morning. There it was displayed for everyone to see and learn about how TigerWing, Wiseguy, Tweetie and Cali solved the Mystery of the Neolodge.

     TigerWing woke that morning feeling refreshed. The mystery was solved, the Storm Amulet was behind layers of glass at the Art Center, and today they were going home.

     A knock on the door startled them. Cali answered it to find that it was their owner, Sam wearing a Tombola T-shirt from Mystery Island. She tossed TigerWing and Cali some souvenirs, like she had promised.

     "Hey guys!" Sam said, petting Cali on the head. "Did you have a nice vacation?"

     "Vacation?" TigerWing echoed. "To tell you the truth, I could use another week of relaxation."

     Sam laughed, "Come on, let's sign you guys out and we'll go home." After picking up Tweetie and Wiseguy the four Neopets and their owner exited the Neolodge.

     "I saw the weirdest thing this morning," Sam told them, "very early there was a team from the Defenders of Neopia that had arrested an Aisha for attempted theft and vandalism. Any clue what that was all about?"

     "Nope," lied Wiseguy suppressing a grin, "not at all."

     "Was Mystery Island fun?"

     Sam sighed, "Yes, Tweetie, Mystery Island was tons of fun. But I did miss you guys. What a week!"

     "Yeah," TigerWing echoed, taking one last look at the Neolodge, "what a week…"

The End

Author's Note: Thank you for reading everyone! Hope you enjoyed my little mystery series. Feedback is appreciated.