Despite the steaming hotness of the day in Neopia, the nights were always cold.
The icy wind beat against the four sisters, chilling them to the bone. But they
did not regret their leaving Tenley's horrible treatment behind. Poppy led the
way. They were all wrapped in their sleeping bags for warmth, and had their
PetPet's snuggled up to them for warmth. Lexi's didn't provide much warmth though,
seeing as it was an aquarium.
"Where do you plan to take us, Poppy?" Anah asked, her teeth chattering.
"We're going to the Haunted Woods to get mom. We can take care of ourselves
there, while she helps Auntie with the Krawk. We're not little babies anymore,"
Poppy answered.
"But Auntie lives on the other side of the actual Haunted Woods! That means
we'll have to go through the woods to get to her house!" Lexi cried. "We may
not be babies, but we're only NeoPets."
"Lexi's right! There are all sorts of evil creatures in there. The Dark Faerie
herself often goes there!" Snu said timidly.
"There's nothing to worry about. I have my Sword of Domar!" Anah said. "I
can fight any evil thing that comes our way."
"You're only level six, Anah. That's not strong enough to beat the Dark
Faerie," Poppy reminded her. "But what else can we do? I don't know
the password to our house, only mom knows that. There's no where else we can
go." They were all silent, knowing that Poppy was right. They trekked on
into the night, until dawn began to show on the sky, and the sunrise reflected
on the waters of Neopia Beach.
"What?!" Anah cried.
"I said that the boats to haunted woods costs five Neopoints per NeoPet.
There's four of you. Do the math," the snotty Usul behind the desk at 'Boats
to Go' said. It was the only boat service on the beach. Anah shot the Usul a
look and returned to her sisters. The day had warmed up a lot. A lot. They were
all sweating and sticking they're feet in the water.
"It costs twenty Neopoints for us all to go to the Haunted Woods,"
Anah said.
"What?!" Poppy exclaimed.
"That's what I said," Anah sighed. "What're we gonna do? We
don't even have one Neopoint."
"We'll have to beg," Lexi said, shrugging her shoulders.
"No," Snu protested. "No way. I will not tarnish my reputation by begging!
We are not poor NeoPets."
"So?" Anah said. "Poor NeoPets make Neopoints off of begging
all the time. Who cares if someone sees you? This is far away from our neighbourhood
anyway, no one from school will see us." Snu finally caved it. They found
a rusty can on the beach, and Poppy grabbed it. They found a bathing suit stand
on the beach and stood there with the can, asking everyone for Neopoints.
The sand burnt their feet, and they had only made a few Neopoints, when the
shop owner noticed them. He told them to get lost, and it took them a while
to find a place where they were aloud to beg. It was dull and tiring, but finally
after a few hours they had successfully made twenty Neopoints. They returned
to 'Boats to Go' paid the stuck-up Usul, and hopped onto a boat.
"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Lexi said. "I'm so afraid."
"Don't be," Poppy said reassuringly. But even Poppy felt fear. The waters
became murky as they neared the Haunted Woods, and as the boat skidded upon
land, a chill was sent down their spines. A dark, murky place, shrouded in fog
lay before them. They hugged their sleeping bags around them, and hopped out
of the boat, getting their sleeping bags wet.
"I don't like it here," Anah said right away. The Apothecary was
immediately to the right, and Anah could see the large mushroom shopkeeper's
beady red eyes staring out at them. Poppy could just see the tip of the Brain
Tree's disgusting brain. Snu could see the PetPet shop, where cackling PetPets
were biting and chasing all the customers. Lexi shivered as she heard the scary
stories being told in a far off cave. But eventually, all of their eyes were
drawn to the dark, looming forest they would have to travel through to reach
their owner.
They walked towards the woods. The Esophagor moaned as they walked past.
"I'm hunnnnnnngry! Find me foooooooooooooooooooood!!" It whaled. The witch
in her tower cackled loudly.
"Speaking of food," Poppy said. "We maybe should have brought
some with us. I'm very hungry."
"Now is not the time to talk about food, Poppy," Anah said.
"Maybe they have a food shop around here." Poppy turned around and
craned her neck to get a better look.
"I wouldn't eat ANYTHING they sold here anyway," Lexi said. "Come on Poppy.
The sooner we enter the forest, the closer we are to mum." Poppy nodded and
they walked into the forest.
They were suddenly enveloped in darkness. The loud 'whooooo whoooo' of a Whoot
nearby made Snu jump. It was a very dreary, creepy place. The walk was surprisingly,
and happily, uneventful. They almost felt cozy as they snuggled up against the
gnarled trunk of a tree, curled in their sleepy bags, and let their heavy eyelids
fall.
Lexi woke up as a cold wind swept past her. Quiet laughter could be heard,
but as though it came from every tree in the woods, it surrounded her. She stood
up quickly, suddenly very awake. Her sisters were all sleeping on the floor.
She looked up, and what she saw almost made her scream. The Dark Faerie... not
just a dark Faerie, but the Uber Dark Faerie was floating just about the ground
in front of her. The laughter was coming from her mouth, her dark purple skin
blended in with the utter darkness in the forest.
"Hello," the Dark Faerie said softly. "What an adorable Blumaroo."
Then she let out a loud, ear-splitting laughter. Lexi screamed. Either the Dark
Faerie's laughter or Lexi's scream woke up her sisters, because soon they were
standing up beside her. Snu was screaming and would not stop. "Will you
quit screaming you inferior little NeoPet!" the Dark Faerie hissed. Snu
closed her mouth quickly and was silent.
"Where's my Sword of Domar?" Anah whispered, she was rummaging around
for it, but her eyes had not left the Faerie.
"Your swords and cannons and trumpets will not hurt me," the Dark
Faerie laughed. She held out her hand, and a rope of black mist crept towards
Anah. It twirled around her, and tightened. Suddenly the mist took shape, and
the horrible head of a Reptilliar was seen at the end of the misty rope. It
turned towards Anah and hissed. Anah whimpered. Her sisters had never seen her
so scared. Suddenly, the mist rope gave a jerk, and was pulling Anah towards
the Dark Faerie. Her sisters screamed, and tried to grab at her, but their hands
past right through Anah, like she was made of mist herself. "The rest of
you can stay here. Sleep tight," the Dark Faerie cackled madly, and disappeared,
along with Anah.
Lexi couldn't stop from crying. Snu tried to comfort her, but nothing would
work. Poppy sat in silence, a bit away from them, thinking.
"We have to get Anah back," she said finally. "But how?"
"I don't Poppy!" Lexi cried. "You're the smart one."
"Shhh," Poppy hushed her. "I need to think." She was silent
once again. Poppy scanned the area, and her eyes fell on the ground. She ran
to it, her eyes bright. On the ground were footprints, and in them were tiny
black and purple sparkles. "I read once," Poppy said, as her sister
gathered around, "That most Faeries prefer walking to flying. The Dark
Faerie didn't teleport, she just went invisible, and walked away. If we follow
these, we find her and Anah!" Lexi stopped crying, and actually smiled.
"It's not that easy, Poppy," Snu said. "This is the Dark Faerie we're talking
about."
"So?" Poppy said. "She may be evil, and strong... but we have
to get Anah! We are much smarter than her."
"Well, weapons may not work against the Dark Faerie, but we can't go unarmed,"
Lexi said.
"Lexi's right. She will obviously have her minions all over the place. We
need to fend them off," Snu said.
"Right. Well, where's Anah's sword?" Poppy walked over to Anah's back, and
shuffled through it. It made her very upset to see all of Anah's stuff. In the
back of Poppy's mind, she knew it would be very VERY hard to get Anah back.
Anah was her little sister, and she felt like she let her down. She fought back
tears, as she got up. "It's not in there. She must of lost it."
"Well, is their a weapon shop?" Snu asked.
"No... I've read about the Haunted Woods. The only way we can get a weapon
is..." Poppy began.
"To do a quest for the brain tree," Lexi finished. They looked at each other
gravely. Even though Lexi was quite the Brain Tree plushie collector, she never
actually wanted to meet the Brain Tree. She was very afraid of the Brain Tree,
and doing a terribly hard quest for him... how could they do it?
To be continued... | 
