| Also by luvinnemiousis
R & R - Reassurances and Research
Silence descended and I lowered my numbed
paws and looked around. Total silence except for the faint ticking of the grandfather
clock in the hallway.
Then, tentatively; "M-mom? Are you okay? Alkuna?"
Serifinan, Luvin's rainbow Zafara, slowly peered into the room.
"We're okay," Luvin said, and blew out a long
breath. She shifted back into human form and wiped frozen strands of hair out
of her face.
I changed back as well and raised the palm of
my hand toward the fireplace. "Fireball," I commanded, and a ball of flame shot
from my hand into the fireplace, setting the log ablaze. Slowly the room began
to warm up again.
"Well that was fun," Alkuna grumped from behind
Serifinan, "Let's NOT do that again huh? I don't like hearing my mom scream
and not be able to do anything about it." Her normally harsh expression had
changed to shaken and if I hadn't known any better, downright terrified for
me.
It took a long time to calm the pets, and the
younger ones insisted on sharing the bed with the older siblings. Vhai was squeezing
his Poogle plushie, Woobly, so tightly I was afraid the stuffing would come
out. I left everyone with a nightlight in my half of the house and once everyone
was settled I went back downstairs. Luvin came down shortly after I did and
from the looks of her, had been giving the same reassurances that I had.
"What's the game plan?" she asked me tiredly,
"You know time runs the same in our world as this one now. We don't have the
Fyora's little shortcut anymore. My mom is gonna have a fit when I disappear
for several days...not to mention my boyfriend..."
"Maybe not," I reminded her, "We'll set the
answering machine to take all calls from our parents. Then just call them both
and say we're on a business trip for our jobs."
"That's my Eyrie," she said with a wry smile,
"Okay, so we know that these Wraith's are undead, have a connection to water
or ice, and a big thing for darkness. Who do we know of among the baddies who
match up somewhere with those things?"
I bit my lip, "Not that many. The Gallery of
Evil doesn't cover everything. There are a lot of baddies out there what haven
been researched very well and were only noted on cards."
I pulled down Vhai's binder of collectable cards
and thumbed through it slowly. "Count Von Roo, the vampire... Hubrid Nox that
nasty Chia...Captain Dread the skeletal Kiko... the Snowager...The Shadow Usul...
and our little friend the Dark Faerie."
"What about Sloth?" She paused me on a page.
I shook my head, "I wouldn't rule him out entirely
I guess, but he has no control over darkness, ice or the undead. He's more for
technology and mutations than magic and undead. And if he did, these things
would have turned on him and wiped him out. I would think such an evil genius
would be smarter than to do something as stupid as that."
"You sure have a high opinion of him," Luvin
teased, "Why? Getting sweet on him?"
We had a brief but fierce pillow fight over
that before we laughingly got back to business.
"Okay, first thing tomorrow we'll go to Roo
Island, stock up on some garlic and make a trip to his castle to see what we
can find." Luvin didn't sound all that thrilled about it.
***
We arrived at Roo's castle sometime in the early morning, but though the sun
was blazing brightly all around us, the Count's lair remained dingy looking.
"It's days like this when being a Hero just
ain't all it's cracked up to be." I sighed, and walked with Luvin through the
gates.
Most of the castle was full of dust and cobwebs,
but still managed to keep a kind of noble pride in its slowly decaying furniture.
We went up a broad set of stairs and into a room. A quick look around told us
that we were on a balcony above the dining room. The long table below us was
set for a dinner that never happened. A thick layer of dust coated everything.
"Vell, vell now..." hissed a cold voice in my
ear.
Now I was already jumpy enough as it is, but
when a cold vampire voice talks to me right next to my neck, I naturally freaked.
I let out a piercing yell and jerked to the
side, forgetting that we were on the second floor. I hit the railing, and kept
on going as the rotting wood gave way. It was only a split second before I was
in Eyrie form, flapping desperately in the air to keep from falling. I was only
half successful, and landed with only a slightly softer whump on the table below
the balcony.
Muttering pirate phrases about bilge rats, I
began delicately prying forks out of my sides. "So this is where the Hidden
Tower gets its bent forks," I grumbled, prying a final fork out of my posterior.
"Ouch!"
"Alkuna are you all right?" Luvin's voice was
somewhat strained.
"No." I grumped, "But I'll live." I flapped
my way back up to the second floor and glowered back at the amused shadow with
glowing red eyes.
"My dear Alkuna, you should be more careful,"
the Count said, smiling and showing a little too much fang for my comfort.
I opened my mouth to retort my usual rude comment
when someone says something stupid, but decided against it. It could get too
literal in a hurry; he really would bite me. Instead I clacked my beak and growled,
"We're here to ask you some questions Von Roo."
"By all means. I always velcome young blood."
He bowed gallantly and opened a door to a large room.
Luvin and I traded looks, walked in a little
stiffly and settled down on a couch while Von Roo made himself comfortable in
a mouldering velvet chair.
"We wanna know if you're responsible for the
Wraiths that have been turning up lately." Luvin cut right to the point. Good
girl.
Roo looked taken aback. "V-Vraiths? The Vraiths
are back?" He shook himself a little and to my surprise he looked frightened.
"Back?" I asked, feeling a little bolder now
that he showed some emotion other than arrogance and amusement.
He sighed, "No... I suppose you vouldn't know
young one. It happened only ten years ago, before you humans came to Neopia
and took us NeoPets under your vings. Whole packs of Lupes vould be found frozen
stiff in the morning. Chias vould hide in Lupe dens. It vould have been a catastrophe
for the Chias, if the Lupes had not been too busy being terrified of the same
thing. Even the Swamp Ghoul was terrified. No one knew vhat stirred them up."
"Any idea what pushed them back to wherever
they came from?" I asked curiously. But Roo shook his head, "I cannot tell you
any more my dear lady. I vas spending most of my time here in the castle resting
and... hiding from the Vraiths. I can only speculate. Either the Faeries themselves
did it, or the arrival of you humans gave the Vraiths something to be concerned
about and they left on their own."
We thanked Von Roo and made our way back outside.
"Okay... not him..." I said, "He seemed to be
telling the truth about being cooped up in...ouch! Luvin! What in the...?"
"Sorry Alkuna. But hold still. You've still
got splinters of banister sticking out of your side." Luvin carefully pulled
several splinters out of my ribs, "Who's next?"
To be continued... | 
