Luna had taken the first ride to Neopia Central and in
the meanwhile dragged Sari and Romano along. Dae, her Christmas Doglefox, seemed
less than happy with the new climate.
Luna ran so fast into the furniture shop, she
rammed into the shopkeeper.
"Watch where you're going!" the temperamental
yellow Eyrie squawked.
"Well, SOR-RY!" Luna moodily retorted.
She got up and noticed the shop was empty. Groaning,
she decided to wait. The Eyrie soon dragged from the back room several tables.
Like mad, Luna started haggling.
By the end of the day, they had twenty-five
tables, which was more than enough. They also had one hundred chairs, which
was even MORE than enough.
"Now, where should I send these to?" the Eyrie
asked, scribbling down on a piece of paper.
"Terror Mountain. Send them two houses down
the road of Mika and Carassa's igloo. On the name Luna McSilver."
Happy with their newly bought furniture (and
with the counter they managed to take from a broken down and abandoned bar),
they went to buy plates and silverware. No problem there.
Next was going back at the bar and arranging
it so it would really look like one. THAT went a tad wrong.
"Okay, Romano, move it a little to the left.
No, not that much! Move it back. Just two inches, not that much!" Luna was,
as you might have guessed, arranging the bar.
Romano was very frustrated, because his employer
was indecisive. He gave up and collapsed on a nearby chair.
"What are you doing? I need it moved just a
little in front!" Luna said.
As if on cue, the table moved two inches ahead.
"Tell me that was you!" Luna said, with her
face whiter than usual.
"That was me doing what?" Romano asked, not
having seen the event.
Just then, the chair the fire Lupe was sitting
on moved closer to the table.
"Don't say it!" Romano said with wide eyes.
"WE HAVE GHOSTS!" Luna shrieked and jumped on
top of Romano's head.
Dae started running with panic all around the
place. Sari was just taking a giant stack of plates to the back room, which
was suppose to be a kitchen.
"What are you guys talking aboouu--" Dae had
ran around her legs, making her fall. The stack of plates, however, instead
of falling, floated in thin air.
"GHOOOOOSTS!" Sari yelled ran into the kitchen,
locking the door.
She leaned on the door, taking her breath. The
back of the room was dark, but Sari could see two eyes staring...at her!
"AIIIIIEEEEEEE!" she jumped to her feet, trying
to unlock the door.
"Please don't go,' the two yellow eyes pleaded.
"Huh?" Sari, shaking life a leaf, turned around
and saw a Lupe...a ghostly white Lupe...A Ghost Lupe.
"I only tried to help,' he spoke.
"T-tried to h-h-help?" Sari tried calming herself
down.
"Well, ya, this little Kadoatie" he pointed
towards a pink Kadoatie on the shelves "said she wanted an owner, so when I
took her here and saw the way all of you were trying so hard to make this place
work, I wanted to help. Can I?"
Sari slid slowly on the floor.
"I guess so. But mind doing me a favour?"
The Ghost Lupe nodded.
Outside the improvised kitchen, Luna and Romano
were calming themselves down.
"Do you think it's over?" Luna asked with shaky
voice.
Just as Romano was about to reply, an ear-piercing
scream was heard from the room Sari had ran into. Soon, noises of all sorts
could be heard.
The two dashed towards the door, trying to open
the door.
"It's locked!" Romano despaired.
"HEEEEELLLLPP!" could be heard from the other
side of the door.
Where, might I add, Sari was snickering low
and yelling after help.
"Okay, now!" Sari whispered to the Lupe.
The Ghost Lupe hovered a few inches off the
ground towards the door and went through it.
Screams of terror flooded the bar. Sari released
the Kadoatie in the main bar, as planned. What they planned, you ask?
Simple. Romano refused to take the Kadoatie,
so the Ghost Lupe will pretend to be angry because of this and FORCE him to
take the Petpet.
"B-but she's...PINK!" Romano retorted.
"You can always change her colour!" the Ghost
Lupe approached his face uncomfortably close to Romano's, and their glares fought
for a second, until Romano lost.
"Fine..." the fire Lupe shrugged. "But I don't
like pink!"
The Ghost Lupe's face changed.
"Then you swear on your honour to take this
Petpet as your own?"
"What am I getting, married, or a feline?" Romano
growled. "Fine, I swear."
"HEY SARI!" the Ghost Lupe yelled, panting happily.
"He took the hook, line and sinker!"
"Wha--" Romano backed away the minute Sari and
the ghost erupted in laughter.
"We did it! We made him adopt her!"
Romano was about to ram into the Ghost Lupe,
but reminded himself that being intact was a definite advantage in a fight.
"Well then get this thing out of my sight!"
Romano growled. "Before I have to resort to violence!"
"Sorry, but you DID swear on your honour you'd
take care of her,' Sari said with a smirk.
"Oh...so I did..." he growled low. "Fine, I'll
take care of her, but I won't like it!"
"She needs a name, now!" Luna clapped happily.
Romano glared. "Well she does!" she defended herself.
Romano glared at her.
"Then I'll name her Deception."
"Gee, ain't ya a fun guy..." the Ghost Lupe
commented.
"Well, thanks for the help Nervim," Sari said
towards the Ghost Lupe. "I guess we're all done here."
"Yea, guess so. G'bye!" the Lupe disappeared
in thin air.
"He was nice!" Luna smiled. "But we still have
one problem."
"What?" Romano said, disgusted at the Kadoatie.
"We need to prepare the opening night." Luna
flipped through some keys. "And I have the perfect idea for it."
She disappeared for a second in a back room
and returned with some sketches.
"Er, Luna, what's that?" Sari asked, pointing
towards the papers.
The white Lupe smirked.
"Get building. It's a stage!"
She dropped the sketches on the floor.
"Wood's in the basement. Careful, though, the
door opens very easily. Just nudge it. I have work to do." Luna tied a scarf
around her neck.
"Work? Gee, what a coincidence, we have that
kind too!" Sari said sarcastically.
"Now, now. Dae's cowering behind the bar, so
make sure he doesn't see Deception any time soon."
Luna exited the building.
"Now where did SHE go?" Sari mumbled.
"Well, we might as well get to work,' Romano
said. Deception had unwrapped the papers.
"It's gonna be a LOOOOONG night."
To be continued... | 
