Heilley blinked and stirred before sitting up with bleary
eyes.
"Ohhh my head," a familiar voice beside her
moaned.
"Koot!?!"
Kootmufin winced before she sat up as well.
"Don't yell, wouldya? Man, what a trip. What happened anyway?"
Heilley's slightly hazy wits suddenly sharpened.
A dull knot of fear warred with a deep desire for revenge. "Dr. Sloth kidnaped
me, that's what. Looks like he got you too."
"Sloth??" squealed Kootmufin.
"Now who's yelling?" Heilley retorted sarcastically.
"Yeah, Sloth. Spectre gave me a gold coin at the Cheat! tables, and when I went
to cash it they told me to go to the manager's office. Only it was Sloth waiting
for me and he...." she gulped as she remembered the fight and carefully rubbed
at her still slightly tender scalp.
"Heyyy me too! I remember now... I walked into
the office and something slapped a cloth over my nose." Kootmufin ran her tongue
over her lips and teeth thoughtfully. "Hmm... and I guess I really did bite
him, too. That taste wasn't just a dream after all."
Heilley grinned rather wanly. "Bit him? Good
for you. I got a nice bite on him, too, and even slammed his toe, for all the
good it did me. He's nasty!"
"Oh, I don't think he tastes that bad... hey,
do you think Spectre is in on this, too? He gave you that coin and me one, too...
and he came over special to do that."
"Stake your bottom Neopoint on it, sweetie,
he's in this up to... hsst! Someone's coming!"
Both Kyrii struggled to their feet as the door
opened and Dr. Sloth walked in. He smirked at the frightened looks they gave
him. "Ah, the precious little Neopets awake from their restful slumbers. How
sweet."
Heilley backed up slowly as she glared at him.
"What do you want?"
"Want?" Sloth raised bandaged hands in mock
innocence. "Why, nothing from you! It is your owners who must pay - and pay
much. I do hope they're multimillionaires... for your sake!" he chortled.
Kootmufin looked confused, but she bared her
teeth anyway as Dr. Sloth's evil chuckling continued. "If you thought so much
of us, why the kidnap routine?" she snarled.
"Oh, because you two pretties cost me so much
money! Yes, particularly the little skunk one here, with her friendly little
article in the Times. My partner and I have lost so much that we had to do something
to recoup our losses... and since said losses were caused by you, it was only
fitting that you make good on them."
"Hey now!" Heilley protested. "We only followed
the rules that you laid out in those games! If you lose, that's your hard luck."
"It is?" Sloth drawled. He stepped closer and
Heilley and Kootmufin found themselves backed against the wall. "Well let me
give you another little rule you may not have heard of, oh so smart Missies.
Win too much from me and I take it back the hard way. Oh, don't worry too much
about your precious lives. Assuming your owners pay up, we have every intention
of returning you. Of course, there might be a few... alterations..."
"Such as what... chickenhead?" Kootmufin snarled.
Sloth failed to take her verbal bait. "Why,
it's quite simple, little Kyrii We simply shave you... bald."
Both Kyrii simultaneously let out terrified
shrieks and Sloth's laughter rang off the walls of the small cell.
"Or maybe we just test out my new potion, made
especially for Kyrii Tell me, greenie, just how do you think this little hairdo
would look as a batch of wormy tentacles?"
Sloth reached over to stroke Kootmufin's hair
to illustrate his point, and she promptly sank her teeth deeply into his wrist.
Sloth roared in pain and anger, and flung his arm out, swinging Kootmufin until
she was torn loose and thudded into a wall. But his problems weren't over. He'd
turned his back to Heilley, and she promptly sank her own teeth into the back
of his heel. Another bellow of pain sounded, and Sloth kicked back with his
foot, knocking Heilley's head against the wall and breaking her grip. Before
she could clear the stars from her eyes, he'd run for the door.
"I'll electrolysis you both for that!" he roared
and the door slammed shut behind him.
Heilley sat up, blinking and shaking her head,
only to find Kootmufin standing over her, peering at her anxiously. "Heilley!
Are you okay?"
Heilley deliberately crossed her eyes and stuck
out her tongue. "Of course, I get knocked about by the worst villain in Neopia
every day." Her efforts were rewarded by a small giggle from Koot. Wincing,
she reached back into her hair and pulled out a hair pick.
"Hey, what's that for?"
"For opening the door and getting us out of
here. Or did he forget to lock it?"
Kootmufin rattled the door knob. "Nope." She
turned back to find Heilley bending on the hair pick, trying to break it.
"Aw, you're not going to ruin your best hair
pick, are you?"
Heilley glared at her. "If it means the difference
between us getting out of here or being shaved bald, a hair pick is a cheap
price to pay!"
***
I was still sitting at the computer staring into space when MonoKeras ushered
Meggiemufin in and closed the door behind them. She looked both sick and dazed,
and I gloomily figured that I looked about the same.
MonoKeras stood roughly between us so he could
address us both. "Right. Meggiemufin, do you have a copy of the note that you
received?"
She shook her head. "No. I didn't want to see
it, much less print it out."
MonoKeras got that injured look that he reserves
for stupid clients. "Okay. You told us that it was essentially the same as what...."
"No, I said exactly the same. Remember? Scriptfox
read it to me over the phone. It was word for word, except it had "Ma'am" and
"Kootmufin" instead of "Sir" and "Heilley".
"A kidnapper with form letters," I said bitterly.
"How encouraging."
MonoKeras nodded. "Actually, as crazy as it
may sound, it really is. Professionals follow through on their word. If he--or
she--says that they will release Heilley and Kootmufin for the money, they really
mean it."
"But I don't have a million Neopoints!" Meggiemufin
wailed. "Whether he's honest or not doesn't matter!"
I winced. "I'll pay for both of them, Meg, we
don't need to worry about that part."
Her mouth opened and shut. "But... a million?
You're shelling out two million there!"
I nodded. "I know. Believe me, I know!"
"You can afford it?"
"Can I afford not to?" I countered.
"I guess not."
"Meggiemufin, for your information, my owner
has a pile of Neopoints from back when he first started on Neopets. He used
to run a bookshop. As for whether he can afford it.... we aren't using them
anyway, so I suppose we can."
I gave him a dark look. "We?"
He ignored me. "At any rate, our path seems
clear. You'll get the money today, and head for the Lost Desert. Leave it at
the shrine, pick up the note with their location, and go get them. It's a simple
and nearly fool-proof scheme on their part."
"Oh great, we have intelligent kidnappers to
deal with now."
MonoKeras looked at Meggiemufin. "Exactly. And
that's our guarantee that they'll follow through. Dumb kidnappers would decide
it was a lot easier to get rid of all the evidence--permanently--once they had
their money. Intelligent ones know you have to follow through on your promises
in order to do business again."
"Okay, okay," I interrupted. "So it's pretty
clear you think we won't have any trouble getting the girls back."
MonoKeras rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I wouldn't
say any trouble. Yes, I'm sure you'll get them back, but they'll have been through
quite a shock. Even assuming the best, simply being forcibly taken away like
that is going to be a nasty experience. It might be a good idea if you took
something with you to help soothe them."
I blinked. "Come again?"
MonoKeras went into lecture mode. "You're going
to have a Neopet in shock here. She's going to be scared, and even though she'll
be overjoyed to see you again, the emotional and mental shocks are going to
have their physical effects. She's going to need a lot of comfort, and if you've
got anything that she treasures and finds comfort in, then bring it. It'll be
just that much more normality in her life, and that's what she's going to desperately
need. Normality, and the assurance of your love to show it's still real and
that she can be safe again."
"Hmm.... I think I see what you're getting at.
So a favourite toy of Heilley's? How about her red Kyrii plushie?"
MonoKeras nodded. "Good choice."
For the first time since she'd come over, Meggiemufin
grinned. "And I know just what Kootmufin loves best, too! My orange and splime
muffins!"
I almost laughed in her face, but MonoKeras
looked thoughtful. "That may be a very good idea, Meggie. You'll help reassure
her and give her body physical nourishment at the same time."
"Good!" She leaped up, her pine green hair snapping
out behind her. "I'll go home and fix up a big batch right now!"
"Be back here at one," I called after her. "I'll
have the money by then and we'll head down to the shrine!"
"Right!" and she was out the door and gone.
I stared after her, absorbed in my own dark
thoughts.
"Still wishing you could strangle whoever it
is, aren't you."
MonoKeras' voice made me jump a bit. "Yeah,
I guess so. How'd you know?"
He pointed. "It's a good thing that chair back
doesn't unscrew, or you would've twisted it to pieces by now." I gave a rueful
grin. "Caught me. Oh well." I stood up and headed for the door myself. "It's
a good thing we're going to get this resolved today. I'm not going to sleep
easy until Heilley is safe back again."
***
Spectre walked into the small medical cubicle to find Dr. Sloth wrapping gauze
around his injured ankle. His gaze quickly scanned the new bandage around Sloth's
wrist and the bloody ankle wound that was being covered with the gauze. "Don't
tell me you've been fighting with those Kyrii again."
Dr. Sloth glared at him. "None of your wisecracks,
jetsam. Yes, I did talk with them, and the ungrateful wretches tried to hamstring
me."
Spectre shook his head in mock wonder. "I thought
you said you knew how to take care of them."
A green hand grabbed him and jerked him off
his flippers. He looked up to find himself nose to nose with his partner in
crime. "Shut up before I forget I need you," Dr. Sloth growled.
"Okay, okay!"
"And another thing," Dr. Sloth added as he dropped
his grip on Spectre. "I've changed my mind about our plans."
"What?"
"I mean, you're going to handle the Lost Desert
end and get the money. I'm going to be the one that gets rid of these two troublemakers."
Spectre's red eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't be
thinking of a quick slice and dice job, would you?"
Sloth growled wordlessly. "As satisfying as
that might be, no, I'm not. I agree that we need the money worse than the revenge."
"Well okay," Spectre agreed rather grudgingly.
"Just remember two million Neopoints says they get back safe and sound."
Sloth's grin was rather unsettling. "Oh, they'll
be safe, all right. But they're not ever going to want to cross my path again
by the time I finish with their miserable little skins."
Spectre shrugged, obviously unfazed by Sloth's
threats... or perhaps simply uncaring about the fate of their two prisoners.
To be continued... | 
