The Kau turned and looked at her sadly and said, "I don't know what's wrong... I've been standing here 20 minutes and haven't moved an inch!"

"I wonder why? Usually the line moves pretty fast. Maybe more people are poor from buying everyone Christmas presents?" Star shrugged.

After waiting a good 15 minutes herself without a single step forward, Star decided it was time for her to investigate. She always fancied herself as a bit of a detective. Of course, generally she caused more trouble than good.

"Hold my place in line will ya?" The Kau nodded. "Thanks."

She moved out of the line and started the long walk to the Soup Kitchen. Star had never seen the line even remotely this long. What could be wrong? she wondered.

Finally she reached the door of the small house. For the first time in her memory, the door was closed. Star moved around to the back window, and hoisted herself up to peer in.

Inside the little room, the Soup Faerie sat on her stool, face in her hands. A Neopian Police Chia was taking notes.

"I don't know why anyone would steal it!" she said in a shaky voice. "My bottomless cauldron of soup feeds all the poor pets of Neopia! Why would anyone do such a terrible thing?"

Star gasped. Someone has stolen the Soup Faerie's most prized artifact. It was an enchanted cauldron that never ran out of food for those who were hungry.

Star dropped back to the ground. She looked at all the hungry pets, waiting patiently in line, and listened to the rumbling of her own empty stomach. "Maybe I can find out who took it..." she muttered to herself, and began looking around for clues...

"Hey! No cutting in line!" yelled an exasperated Bruce when Star accidentally bumped into him.

"Sorry!" Star quipped, "I'm just looking for clues so I can find out who stole the Soup Faerie's cauldron!"

"What?" gasped the Bruce, along with the seven other pets closest to him in line. "Stolen?"

Soon the hungry crowd was in an uproar. Wings and arms waved wildly, while hooves and paws stamped the ground. "Stolen? How could it be? Who would do such a thing?"

"Oops!" Star mumbled to herself as she quickly drew away from what had started out as a hungry line, and was now an angry mob.

A police Chia stepped out of the Soup Faerie's home and addressed the food deprived throng of pets. "Calm down! We are going to find out who stole the cauldron very soon. Just stay calm, we're working as fast as we can! Now, who exactly was eavesdropping and informed you all that the cauldron was stolen?"

Everyone turned to Star and a young Techo shouted as he pointed, "It was that Zafara over there!"

Star blushed and looked up sheepishly at the Police Chia. "Sir, if you don't mind, I like to consider myself as a bit of a detective, and was looking for clues when-"

The Police Chia cut her off. "Sorry kid, this is a job for professionals, you'd better just go home."

"Go home?" Star thought to herself, Go home! How could I go home when there's a case to solve?

"You'd better be going-" started the officer, but this time Star cut him off. "Sir, look! Over by that bush!"...

"PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" cried a young Kiko who jumped out. The Police Chia let out a sigh of relief and turned to Star.

"You could've caused me to hurt that Kiko! If you knew what was good for you, you'd leave right now." He pointed away from the Soup Kitchen. "All of you go; we'll get to the bottom of this." The sad crowd along with Star left. The Police Chia was heading back to the Chia Police Station. The Soup Faerie poked her head out of her house.

"Psst! You, the Zafara! Come here," she whispered. Star spun around and walked over. "What did you say your name was?"

"My name is Star, and I consider myself to be a detec--"

"Yes, yes... I heard that part. Star, listen up. I've long since abandoned my trust in the bumbling hands of the Chia Police. I have a clue that might help. Last night I heard a slipping and sliding sound, and this morning I woke up and saw a long gooey green trail in the kitchen. Is that a good clue?"

Star paused to consider the clue. Slipping and sliding... as well as a long gooey green trail. "I've got it! Meuka, the mucus Meerca! Meuka has a big appetite, so I bet h he stole the cauldron to get a never-ending supply of food!"

"Brilliant! Now, where does Meuka live?" asked the Soup Faerie.

"I once read a book that said something about Meuka living in the Haunted Woods."

"Great! Go to the Haunted Woods, and find Meuka. I'd go with you, but I'm sure the Chia Police will want me for questioning. Good luck!"

Star turned around and walked down the trail. She wasn't crazy about going to the Haunted Woods, but what was the worst thing that could happen?...

As she plopped down on her "bench", Star saw a flash of lime green light. She immediately knew what this must be, and decided to follow the slimy trail Meuka had left. She grabbed her magnifying glass out of her coat pocket and held it up to the green substance, and then glanced further down the path at the puddle of slime that ended the trail.

"Where could it have gone?" Star asked herself, pondering all the ways that Meuka could've magically disappeared. As she thought about her first REAL case, Star suddenly remembered what she had brought with her.

"My 'Big Book of Neopian Evil'!" Star exclaimed, rummaging through her backpack.

The young Zafara had a ton of stuff in her backpack, from gum wrappers and un-sharpened pencils to large notebooks. Unfortunately, this slowed Star down in her search for the book, and by the time she found it, she decided that Meuka would be long gone. Star groaned in despair, about to give up.

Then she remembered the horrendous line, and all the poor Neopets that were starving and needed food. Star also recalled that the Soup Faerie had put her trust in her, and it would be a shame to let the Faerie down. Star regained her confidence, and decided to investigate further.

As Star approached the trail Meuka left, she suddenly had a feeling that someone was watching her. Peering cautiously around the woods, Star examined every single spot for someone... or something. After looking through a good part of the forest, Star assured herself that she was safe, and continued along the mucus trail.

As she reached the end, something suddenly grabbed Star around the neck. Horrified, Star shrieked as loud as she could. She tried to turn her neck to see what had her in its clutches, but could not. She squirmed and wriggled in hope of escaping, but had no success.

"So this is it," Star thought to herself. "This is how it will all end."

But, surprisingly, she was suddenly plopped onto the dusty ground.

"Wha..." Star began, but was interrupted by...

The mysterious stranger and Star then came out of the bushes. Star was gasping for air and was unaware of the situation she was in, until she turned back and saw who the mysterious pet was. It was a Shoyru. "I'm very sorry that I did that just now. At first I thought you were one of Meuka's accomplices. By the way, my name is Light. What's your name?" asked the Shoyru.

"My name's Star. Nice to meet you, Light," she replied.

"Nice to meet you too Star, but I don't think you should be in this part of the Haunted Woods. This is where Meuka lives!" exclaimed Light.

"And that's precisely why I'm here," replied Star in an excited tone.

"Huh? Do you mean that Meuka has stolen your food too?" asked Light.

"No, but it's the Soup Faerie's cauldron. I'm here to investigate Meuka because he is the prime suspect of this theft. By the way, what did you mean by 'stolen your food too'? Don't tell me that Meuka has also stolen yours?" asked Star. Light nodded, and they continued talking as Light led her to his home, as it was quickly getting dark.

At Light's home, Star got to know that Light used to be the son of a village chief in one of the villages in the Haunted Woods. But disaster struck one day. When Light was returning to his village after hunting, he saw it was completely empty, except for the huts. He found it strange, and therefore went to investigate. He later found out that Meuka had been to his village and had demanded the villagers to give him all their food, but to no avail. In his fury, Meuka captured all the villagers and took away the food.

The next day, both of them went back to the exact spot where they had first run into each other. When they arrived however, they found that the whole place looked very different...

"HA HA HA HA HA! MEUKA HAS BEEN HERE!" the Zafara read. Then, as she turned towards her new friend, Star said, "Light, this is too obvious..." but Light was gone. "Light? Light!" Star called out, while inspecting pots and the slime that rested on the branches.

After what seemed like endless hours of searching, Star gave up and rested on a slimy stump. Suddenly, she looked up and saw another message in the slime-drenched trees ahead: "DARKNESS HAS FALLEN, LIGHT IS GONE." Star shuddered, then, feeling awfully uncomfortable, got up and wandered through the Woods, heading deeper and deeper.

There was a trail of slime along the ground; following it, Star came to the edge of a cliff. Looking down, she saw the trail of slime lead downwards, ever downwards. Gulping, Star made her way over, and started climbing down, wishing she had taken rock-climbing lessons. It was a long way down, and all the while, Star was wondering how Mueka could make it with a captured Light.

She came to a long, curving flat trail in the cliff. The slime went along there; taking a deep breath, and trying not to look down, Star edged along the trail, once stumbling and nearly falling into the pearly white mist. At the end of the long trail there was a rickety ladder made of wood and rope covered in green slime. Taking another deep breath, which made her stomach feel as though it was dropping all those feet into the mist, Star climbed down. Soon she was surrounded only by mist, but through it she could tell it was getting darker. Finally she reached the end, and gingerly put a foot down. It plunged into nothingness; Star groped for the ladder, but it was too late; her fall had loosened the ladder and, suddenly, its bindings on the cliff broke. Star fell down, down, down... the whole time she tried to scream, but could find no breath. Then, there was complete silence, and utter blackness.

There were voices, strange voices, speaking in Star's head... no, they weren't inside of her head, they were outside... she couldn't open her eyes, so she lay there. It felt cool and hard. She tried to listen.

"She fell from up there, Sir."

"How?"

"She climbed down the ladder, then somehow dislodged it, and came tumbling down."

"Ah. Now, don't wake her up. And don't tell her anything."

"Yes, Sir."

"GO! Go now! Leave me!"

"Yes, Sir." There was the sound of shuffling feet, and then silence, then a pacing of some sort and the dragging of feet.

The creature above didn't seem to know she was awake, and said in a hushed tone: "Bring the prisoners." A moment later frantic shuffling was heard and two figures were dropped onto the floor. There was the sound of dripping slime...

Standing before her, dripping with ooze and slime, was none other than Meuka. He grinned oozily, with mucus sliding down his chin, as though he were drooling.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" he said, his voice bubbling like a sludge-filled volcano.

"I've come to return the Soup Faerie's cauldron," said Star, hoping she sounded a lot braver than she felt. To her dismay, Star's bold answer was met with laughter, and she ducked as she was sprayed with slime.

"Oh you have, eh?" Meuka chuckled. "Well, your Faerie friend tried that already, but she's about to have a rendezvous with my pal Balthazar."

"You caught the Soup Faerie?" squeaked Star in alarm. Meuka just laughed again.

"No, not your celestial chef. That Light character- wouldn't deceive a child."

Sure enough, as Star looked, Light, who was being restrained, began to glow, transforming into a Light Faerie.

"So, to business; you want the cauldron back? You'll have to give me something in return."

Star gulped. What would Meuka want with a Zafara and a Light Faerie? Still, she squared her shoulders and looked Meuka in the slimy eye.

"What?" she asked, trying to sound as though she wasn't really bothered.

"If you can persuade your Faerie to cure me of this infernal cold, I will give you back the cauldron. That way, I need never have to sleep in a puddle of my own mucus ever again."

Star swallowed nervously; it sounded quite reasonable to her - but there had to be a catch somewhere. She looked around at Light, only to see that the Faerie was shaking her head.

"I'm only a kid like you," the Faerie said. "I can only do switching spells. If we're going to get the Soup Faerie her cauldron back, you're going to have to take his place, Star."

Star's eyes widened. Take Meuka's place? No way! But then she thought of all those hungry pets, and felt a whole lot braver.

She nodded. "I'll do it."

Meuka rubbed his hands in glee. Star grimaced, as her stomach did an odd flip. Light looked doubtful, but raised her arms high in the air. She said some magic words, and - boom! There was a blinding flash of light, and then all was darkness. Star saw nothing, yet started to feel like she was drowning in slime...

"Free at last!" cried Meuka evily. He ran away, far from where Star and Light could see him, brandishing his new Zafara body. Star moved awkwardly over to free Light.

"Hope isn't lost yet," Light said, trying to sooth Star, who could only look up with wonder. "Once the Soup Faerie regains her cauldron, she may be able to help you..." her voice faltered, her tone uncertain.

"It's okay, I guess," sniffed Star. "I had to think about all those poor Neopians in the Soup Kitchen line... but I guess you're right. Maybe she can help out, or tell us what to do."

"Right. That's the spirit! Lets go!"

Star trudged on, beside Light, with great difficulty. The slime slowed her steps, and her breathing got slower and deeper. Everything had an ugly greenish tint to it. Slime dripped over her eyes, blinding Star from time to time. At length, a huge glob oozed down over her forehead, then dripped down into her eyes. Everything was now a dark, throbbing green.

"Ahhh!!! I can't see anything!" Star reeled and groped for Light's arm. But Light had vanished. Star painfully fell to the ground, and stayed there... weighed down by the slime. "Light!" Star gurgled in her throat. She heard, or imagined that Light answered her, but it sounded distant. It was as if Light's voice had come from underneath the ground... and faint, as if from afar...

Then Star felt something, or someone, grip her shoulder in a hostile manner...

"There you are, you filthy thief! Thought you could hide from the Chia Police, did you?"...

"I don't care about your blabbering nonsense, Meuka!" snarled the Chia Officer. "You're going straight to prison, where you'll carry out a lifetime sentence."

"No Sir, you don't understand! Light will explain everything! I'm not quite sure where she is, but she was here a minute ago!"

"I'm not listening Meuka!" replied the officer.

It went on like this for quite some time, until the officer had dragged Star all the way back to the Soup Kitchen. "I've caught the thief!" he announced cheerfully.

"I'm not a thief!" exclaimed Star. "Honestly, I'm an innocent Zafara! Oh look, it's the Soup Faerie! Please tell them I'm innocent Soup Faerie!"

But the Soup Faerie looked angry. Star had never seen her this way before. She was quite shocked. "Where did you put my soup cauldron, Meuka?" she demanded.

"I don't have your cauldron!" Star cried. "I'm that Zafara that was helping you! Light switched me with Meuka to get the cauldron back! Why doesn't anyone believe me?"

"Why would anyone believe you, Meuka?" asked the Chia Officer angrily. "The sooner you confess, the sooner we can get on with your punishment!"

Star suddenly realised how awful the situation really was. In the crowd's position she would feel exactly the same way. Meuka trying to tell everyone that he was a Zafara.She had never felt more alone in her life.

A street nearby suddenly erupted in screams. Neopets were running away from what appeared to be a wild and vicious Zafara who tore through the street, chasing a Light Faerie that was carrying a very heavy cauldron. Star's stomach churned as she realised who the Zafara was. It was Meuka, in her body...

Watching in horror, Star saw Meuka leap and grip Light's leg, causing her to fall towards the ground. Meuka, in Star's Zafara body, leapt forward... and was getting ready to attack the helpless Faerie when the Chia cop raced forward.

"Stop!" the officer commanded as he ran up.

The Zafara stopped, and said in a sickeningly sweet way, "Oh officer! This Light Faerie is Meuka's friend, and was hiding the cauldron for him. I was just being an average good Neopian and trying to stop her!" he explained with an unconvincing smile.

The Chia nodded his head. "Okay then! I'll arrest her too. Thank you very much!"

"Here, let me help!" Meuka bent over to help the cop handcuff the Light Faerie as she pleaded.

"I didn't do it! That's Meuka!" she cried out, pointing at the blue Zafara that used to be Star.

Star watched Meuka suddenly handcuff the Chia Policeman with the cuffs he was about to use on Light. The crowd that was gathered around them gasped in surprise. This was Star's chance!

"Meuka! I demand you un-cuff that police officer right now!" she said, advancing on him.

The Zafara looked up. "Well, well, well! I thought you would be in jail already. I can see that you want to fight! Well, that's okay, because no pet can stand the mighty wrath of Meuka's Snot Trai..." he dropped off, seeing that she had it in her hand.

Meuka, as Star, made a run for it. He was, of course, much faster that her, but Star was finally getting used to being in his body. She got on her snot tail and started to bounce after him. The Snot Trail could reach from pretty far anyway, so if she could just get a little closer..

Star twirled the Snot Trail above her head, then let if fly. Looping around the Zafara, it knocked him to the ground. She pulled back and it came racing to her. She made sure he was tied up securely, then bounced back, dragging him to where the crowd still stood in awe and confusion. Once the crowd saw her, they began to clap and made room for Star to pass.

It turned out that in the time that she was gone, Light had untied the Chia cop and called the Soup Faerie over to explain the whole mess. The Soup Faerie clarified it for the crowd and they now knew who the real culprit was; Meuka, in Star's stolen body.

Light smiled as the Soup Faerie came up to Star. "Star, you were very brave to go into the Haunted Woods, and also showed great courage with what you did back there. I have decided to do something special beside restore you to your own body..."

A group of Chia Cops appeared and handcuffed the blue Zafara before she switched them back. Star closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she no longer saw a green tint to everything. She was herself again!

Light rushed up to Star. "Your beautiful!" she commented.

Star was confused. "What is it?"

The Faerie smiled. "Take a look at yourself!" she laughed.

Star did so, and smiled with joy. The Soup Faerie's other gift was that she had been magically painted Starry!

And so, with her new friends, new coat, and new business as a detective, Star never had to return to the Soup Kitchen again (for want of food, at least) and lived happily ever after.

The End