I ran out my house, hoping Sheriff would bring the magnifying glass back.
I didn't even take the bus, I just ran. Finally I got there and knocked on the
gate. Ms. Shala answered, and saw me.
"Oh, it's you," she said snottily.
"Yeah, me... is Ozie here?" I hoped she wouldn't slam the gate shut. Just
then Ozie came over. "Come on in, detective." I followed him, and we went to
his apartment. When we got there he seemed depressed.
"I have the worst luck. Now a priceless statue I was supposed to get was stolen
from the pet delivering it to me today."
I was a little surprised, but then remembered the policeman's words about
a statue being stolen.
"That must be what the burglar yesterday stole!" But at least Ozie didn't
need to worry about Ms Shala. He had told her plainly that if she ever snooped
around again he would call a lawyer. It turns out she had gotten a locksmith
to create a key for his special lock. The locksmith didn't question her, as
she owned the apartments. Then it hit me.
"I think one of the tenants stole it! If she was snooping around, she might
have found information on the glass sculpture. Assuming that she gossiped about
it, anyone who listens to her knew it was valuable!" Just then, an ambulance's
siren came closer. Both Ozie and me exchanged glances.
"Now what?" We both said that at the same time. We ran out of the apartment
and down to the ground. As we were leaving, a fire Nimmo sitting near the pool
said, "Don't worry, it's nothing serious."
I looked at him. Ozie also glanced back. "How would you know Creel?"
The Nimmo seemed a bit surprised someone would ask. "I just do."
We looked at each other again and then ran off. The ambulance was at the building
for the Society of Nimmos. An old Nimmo was being carried out. The red Nimmo
whom I had talked to yesterday shook his head.
"I always told him to turn on the lights, but he thinks he saves us money.
I guess he slipped while he was cleaning," he was saying to a green Grarrl who
nodded. "Okay, put him in. It's nothing too serious, he should be back soon."
I turned to Ozie. "You sure do live in a strange area."
"Well, this is new to me. Seems like everything is going a little bad right
now. This much never happens at one time." We left, and on the way I asked him
about the glass statue. "Well, it made from the finest crystal, which is as
clear as water. It has a bit of gold in it."
"What does it look like?"
"Well, it's a Chia. Fero was interested in heroes, and made paintings and
sculptures. This is supposed to be his greatest work. The Chia was a hero long
ago. If I remember the tale correctly, there was a mean pack of Lupes—no
offense—who would come down to a Chia village. They would then take everything
and destroy the town. Well, this Chia, I think his name was Ginjan. Ginjan was
fed up with the Lupes and gathered a few Chias that weren't afraid to help him.
When the Lupes came down again, he sprang a surprise attack on them. There was
a huge battle, and more Chias joined in to help, until the Lupes were defeated
and ran off, never to come back."
As he told me we got back. Ozie went to his apartment, while I decided to
stay near the pool. Creel was meditating. I felt a little nervous, but I sat
by him. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.
"So you're the detective Ozie hired." It wasn't a question. I felt a small
chill. "How did you know I was a detective?"
"I just do." This was way too creepy for me. I began to leave.
"Did you know Ozie has a mandala in his apartment?" That stopped me.
"How did you--" I stopped, knowing the answer; he had just made my suspect
list.
When I went up to Ozie's apartment, he was sitting on a couch. He looked at
me. "You know, when you found out Ms. Shala was the snooper, I figured that
the shadowy thing would be gone. But now it's still here!"
I calmed him down. "Listen, I got this a few weeks ago on impulse." I showed
him a security camera."The store this was from went out of business, so I got
this cheap. I put it in a good place, and we see if anyone has the statue."
He agreed to that plan, and we hooked up the camera while no one was there.
Then we ran back to his apartment where I had hooked up the camera to his television
set.
"Got any popcorn?" I asked jokingly.
"In the kitchen," he said distractedly. I looked at the screen. A Skieth was
coming down the hall with a small package. Ms. Shala was there, almost lunging
for the package. A Lupess came down the hall and accepted the package. The delivery
Skeith left and Ms. Shala stayed there, while the Lupess waited for her to leave.
Ozie sighed.
"Ms. Shala likes to see what everyone gets. Honestly!" I watched as the Lupess
opened the box.
"Niki shouldn't allow Ms. Shala to bug her like that," Ozie said with disapproval.
Niki opened the box, and grinned. I watched as she lifted up a chocolate Chia
and ate it, and also ate a chocolate Kiko. She offered a mallowicious bar to
Ms. Shala, who declined.
"Sometimes I think she could be the eighth wonder of the world, considering
how she stays in shape despite her love for chocolate." Suddenly Niki fell over.
I jumped in surprise, and it looked as if Ms. Shala was surprised too. Ozie
and me ran over and I saw Ms. Shala dialing on a phone. I lifted up a small
bit off chocolate and sniffed once. The smell coming out nearly knocked me over.
"There's something in here that shouldn't be!"
A little while later, Ozie and me were at the pool. I looked at the clear
water, and counted the plain and gold color tiles. Ozie looked at his apartment.
"Maybe I should move out," he said.
"Yeah, something weird is definitely going on. But at least Niki is okay."
The poison wasn't deadly, but it still freaked me out. "This confirms my suspicions
that the person behind this is a tenant. I mean, if Niki exercises as much as
you said, no one would know she loves chocolate so much." Just then two electric
Eyries came over.
"Honestly Uncle, how could you be so careless? What if your place burned?
What if the whole placed burned?"
The bigger Eyrie looked at him. "Eyrioch, I'm careful. Don't worry!"
"Uncle Rentree, I'm just worried. You shouldn't leave candles unattended."
Rentree rolled his eyes and looked at me. "I hope you don't bug your owner
like this."
"Actually, I think he's right," I said, hoping he wouldn't think I was lecturing
him.
"Oh for the love of Fyora!" He walked away with Eyrioch behind.
"Rentree takes advice the wrong ways sometimes," Ozie said. I thought about
what to do.
"Wait! Could it be…?" I ran out while Ozie watched, confused.
"Where are you going, detective?" But I was too far to hear him. I ran over
to the building where the Society of Nimmos was. I knocked on the door, which
opened to my surprise. I saw a cloaked figure holding a candle. Even when I
got closer, I still couldn't tell what species of Neopet he or she was.
"Sir?" I walked in. As soon as I was close, the figure disappeared!
"Okay, this is getting weird," I said to myself as I walked toward the entrance.
THUD!
I jumped in surprise as the door slammed shut. I tried to open it but if felt
as if someone was on the other side preventing me from opening it.
"Okay, no problem. Just remain calm," I paced back and forth in the darkness
trying to keep calm. Then I just ran to the door.
"HELLO? IS ANYONE THERE! HELP I'M LOCKED IN!" I pounded on the door for what
felt like hours. Then the door opened and a police Chia looked at me.
"What happened?"
I looked at the small squad of police Chias. "Someone locked me in."
The Chias came in and looked around. "Is there anything missing?"
Then it hit me. I slapped my forehead in frustration. "OF COURSE!" This caused
the officers to jump, and one looked at me.
"What?"
"The burglar WAS here! And he or she was right under your noses. Well, you
get the idea." The police seemed confused, so I continued. "He or she ran in
here after hiding the sculpture, and disguised them selves as a statue. I also
think what happened to the care taker wasn't an accident. Someone who worked
there would notice a new statue, so the burglar must have crept up and--"
"Okay, thank you," said a Chia as he interrupted me. They took this all down
and I left.
When I got back to the apartments, Ms. Shala was looking at the pool. A split
Kyrii was also looking at it, along with Rentree.
"You know, I think I should clean the pool. Niki uses it every day, but now
I think I can drain it and get it cleaned."
Rentree opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it. The Kyrii
walked off, and I watched as he fed an Uggatrip, a Warf, and an Abdominable
Snowman. Rentree also left. Ozie looked at the split Kyrii.
"That's Channy. He takes in stray Petpets and feeds them for a while." I took
this in mentally.
Later that day, Ms. Shala was leaving. She left someone else in charge apparently
while she went off somewhere. As her bus came, I noticed that the only person
who wasn't there to see her off was Channy.
"Why isn't Channy here?" Ozie shrugged.
"I guess he's feeding the Petpets. He always feed them at six 'o clock.
Just then, a gigantic sound filled my ears. I looked as smoke rose from the
bus, which sounded as if an explosive had gone off. The people on were jumping
off, and Ms. Shala walked over to us and fainted. Everyone panicked until Eyrioch
called the ambulance. I looked at Ozie.
"Well, this is not your average week," I said, thinking about the upcoming
Lupe Day. Most pets had gone to celebrate, but I was here to solve the problem.
The ambulance came again and picked up any pets that were injured or in shock.
"This is just too weird. Why would someone do that?" I was feeling creeped
out.
Later that night, I had the camera set up near Creel's room. Ozie was to stay
there and make sure he didn't leave. I sat in the bushes, waiting. I heard someone
come out and saw a fire Nimmo.
"Creel," I muttered to myself. I walked over to him. He was near the pool.
When I got there he vanished!
"What the--" I didn't get it out because something tripped me. It and me went
flying toward the pool, with a loud splash. The thing made a large grunting
noise and bit my leg. The light came on and Channy came running over. He saw
me and pulled me out, removing the Uggatrip from my leg.
"So sorry about that." He checked the Uggatrip and me. Aside from being wet,
nothing was wrong with either of us. I ran up to Ozie.
"Did you see Creel leave?" He seemed confused.
"Leave? He was in his apartment the whole time!"
"That's impossible! I just saw him. There must be a good explanation for this!"
I looked through the whole business book the next day, making sure that no
one saw me. It seemed like a stupid idea, but I was out of them. I looked at
the ad. "Professor Tryphen's Scientific Research Facility for Paranormal Incidents.
Seems good," I muttered, and went over to the address.
When I got there a Wocky greeted me. "Hello, I'm Professor Tryphen. What do
you need?"
I told him about Creel, and he nodded. "Come in!"
I looked at the many scientists working. He led me to a private area.
"Well, what I believe is that Creel is a wanderer." He laughed at my blank
stare. "Very few people posses this ability. What happens is that when he sleeps,
it's possible that he leaves his body."
"Leaves his body?" This was sounding even weirder then before. If I hadn't
had that experience last night, I would have been out.
"I remember a case like this before. A Lenny was having these weird dreams.
She once dreamed that some friends of hers were preparing a surprise party.
A few days later, they did have a surprise party. She came to us later because
she didn't know what was happening. We ran a few tests, and decided to see if
she was a wanderer. We had an envelope with a number inside, and we placed it
far away, while we made sure she didn't get up. The next morning, she couldn't
tell us the number but she gave us a perfect description of the envelope, up
to the color of the wax used to seal it. Then we left the number on a piece
of paper, and the next day she told us what it was. There was also a case when
a Uni was in Mystery Island. His Doglefox began to bark, and when he looked
for what was bothering his Petpet, he saw another Uni, who looked like his friend.
He called out to him, but the Uni ran in his house. He followed him until he
couldn't find his friend. He called him on the telephone and told him what happened.
The other Uni said he had a dream where he was at his house, and felt threatened
when the other Uni confronted him so he ran. The dream ended when the telephone
rang."
There was silence for a long time. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"So Creel could be a wanderer?" It would make sense.
Tryphen nodded. "Of course, it may not be so. But…." He let it hang.
"And they can't hold or touch anything while they are wandering, right?" He
nodded.
"Thanks for the information." We waved good-bye to each other, and on the
way to Ozie's apartment I was deep in thought. When I got there, I looked at
the building and gasped. Smoke was rising. I ran in, and saw fire fighters and
some tenants.
"What happened?" Ozie looked at me.
"It's Rentree. There was a fire. I guess he didn't pay attention to a candle
or something." By now the ambulance was familiar with this place, and they took
away Rentree, who was alive. Considering what had happened before I didn't think
it was an accident. I walked over to his nephew Eyrioch.
"Do you think this happened on accident?" He nodded.
"Are you sure? He did seem to be the type who is careful."
He looked at me. "Of course it was! Who would want to do that?"
I could have pointed out what other things had happened, but I didn't want
to make him feel bad. I looked at Ozie.
"Somehow this all seems to be connected to your statue's theft. I just can't
place my finger on it, but I know the statue has to be around here somewhere."
Then another idea hit me. By now everyone was gone, so no one really noticed
when I yelled, "OF COURSE!" Kazooie looked at me and gave a small squawk.
"Yes Kazooie, I know I'm saying that a lot."
To be continued… | 
