Darkness Gathering: Part Two

     He carefully folded the letter and put it aside. He would get some stamps and mail it tomorrow. He got up, thinking about going outside to see if one of his friends was home. He walked down the corridor and into the hall. He saw the front door, but he also saw something peculiar…another letter had fallen through the letter slot and slid to the floor.

     He picked it up, and read his name on the front. He opened it and read it three times in quick succession.

Dear Shine,

I noticed you have answered my question. Good. Very good, indeed. You are trying to find something. Its location is hidden from me, but this address might provide some answers for you.

     There followed a small address, somewhere in Neopia central.

     The letter ended with Good Luck. Shine was torn between shock at the letter writer already knowing his answer without him mailing it, and amusement that he had wasted his stationary writing two words that he wasn't even going to mail. Shine sighed, and headed for the door.

     He walked outside, still staring in wonderment at the letter. It was a beautiful summers day, but even gorgeous weather couldn't distract him at the moment. What should he do now? Well, that was obvious. He needed to visit this address and see if there was anything there that he might find useful.

     But there was something the disturbed him. The letter said that he was looking for something. He wasn't looking for anything at the moment. Maybe they wanted him to think deeply. What did he really want to find, above all other things?

     The answer was so clear he was surprised that it had taken him this long to guess. The dreams he had been having came to the surface of his mind. He remembered the door, the pound, and the darkness. What did he want to find?

     "My brother," Shine said, aloud, "My brother."

     And with that he began to walk, first this way, then the other. He was trying to find the street sign that matched the street on the address. Two streets down, then three. Shine still hadn't found it. When he did, he realized it was five streets down and two over. He walked along it, wearily. It was a strange part of the neighborhood.

     He looked for a house marked with the numbers 22475. He found the house, at last, to discover that this house was small and well-kept looking. He walked slowly up the steps and knocked on the front door. While he waited, he double checked the address and looked around. It took the house owner a long time to answer, until Shine was sure they weren't home. But then…

     A young neopet owner, looking about fourteen, said, "Umm…who are you exactly?" Shine gave her his name, and she welcomed him into the house. It was tidy, but small. Despite its size, it had the most wonderful blue furniture with yellow stars on it. Just like me, Shine thought.

     "I don't keep Neopets myself," She said, "That's why I let you in. I hardly ever get to talk to one." Shine had thought she was I neopet owner, but now he supposed he was wrong. "What do you need, Shine? Are you lost or something?" She pulled of her jacket, and Shine gasped, softly and in awe.

     She was plainly a faerie. Small, yellow wings that she had tucked carefully under her jacket were revealed. So that was why she didn't keep Neopets. Faeries never did. She was young, though, to be a faerie. Shine guessed she was in training. She also looked like a light faerie because her wings and clothes were yellow.

     "You caught me at a bad time. I was crystal gazing," she said, and then smiled. Then repeated her question.

     Shine replied, "I came for answers. I was told to come to this address." He showed her the letter. She stopped and stared at the letter when she saw it.

     "And what question did she ask?" she said.

     "She asked me if Ghosts could still cry," Shine said. The girl sat down at her table and motioned for Shine to do the same opposite her. Shine obeyed. "My name is Aurora, and I am a light faerie in training." Shine had guessed right. "And I know Sirens Desire, too. She wrote this, didn't she?" Shine nodded.

     "It's a warning. She does this. It means that whatever your looking for is gone, but all hope is not lost." Shine blinked. It was then he noticed a tear roll down his cheek. "What were you looking for?"

     Shine said, shakily, tears still streaming, "My brother…"

     She smiled and said in an almost business-like way, "Well, that's good then. Now I know exactly what she means." Shine stared. How could this be good? "It means that your brother has died, but you could probably still find him somewhere. She wouldn't have told you to come to me if there was no hope."

     Shine smiled. This made sense. Still, his happiness did not last long. Four of her words were just now starting to sink in.

     "Your brother has died."

     Aurora seemed to realize what she said and what it meant to Shine. She almost instantly changed her buisness-like look to a horror-struck, devastated one. "…I'm sorry," she mumbled.

     Shine stood up trying to keep himself under control. He pretended to be straightening his collar to give him an excuse to look down, so Aurora didn't see him crying. All his efforts were in vain, however, because shortly after he sobbed loudly. Then, feeling it was useless to hide his despair any longer, sniffed.

     "Oh, don't!" sighed Aurora. "The last thing you need is to cry!" She had plainly no idea how to handle the situation. She stood uneasily on the spot as Shine wept, now silently, tears dripping onto her floor. "Er…Shall I make a cup of tea?" she asked. Shine looked up, startled. She ran into the kitchen to begin brewing.

     After the kettle was on the stove she said, "Umm…I need to do some quick crystal gazing. I've had a thought. Will you wait right here? Call me when the tea is ready." She got up and left Shine alone in the room.

     He picked up the letter from the table and looked down at it. Now that he read it again, he thought to himself that the letter sounded hopeful, not sympathetic. He sat on the couch, re-reading the letter as intently as his favorite books. He let his mind wander until the silence was desperately broken. By the kettle whistling and Aurora bursting into the room yelling. "Aha, I knew it! I just knew it!"

     "You knew what?" Shine inquired, "Calm down, you're not making any sense!" The kettle whistled shrilly. "And will you get that kettle off the stove. Please," he added, when she didn't heed him. She went to get the tea off the stove, but she was not in the mood for tea anymore.

     "When I went Crystal gazing, I just couldn't take my thoughts off you. Naturally, my orb showed me something that related to you…I peered and I saw…a ghostly figure." She ended this pronouncement dreamily and, to Shine, rather creepily, too.

     "Great, but what's this got to do with me?"

     "I don't know, Shine. I have yet to figure it out. Though I have my suspicions. I believe that you should look for your brother anyway."

     "But," sputtered Shine, "you said he died."

     "Maybe he didn't. What I saw in my crystal ball made we think he was still alive…in some form or another. Who knows? Now, I suggest you go home, get some sleep and leave first thing in the morning." And with that, she lead him to her door, shoved a cup of tea in his hands and turned to go do other things.

     Shine's head was swimming. He had many things he'd like to ask Aurora. His long list included things like 'How about a good-bye' and 'Why give me tea now?' But there were two questions he wanted answered above all others. Where was Blase and was he alive?

      Slowly, he made his way home. He couldn't believe what was happening. He drank his tea as he walked, but had no way to return the cup once he had finished. He just took it home and set it on the counter to be washed. When he walked in Harmony just said, "Hello Shine. Off to your room again?"

     "Yes," was Shine's dull response.

     "Well, clean it!" said Harmony. "It looks like a mess!"

     "That's because it is a mess!" Shine yelled back as he shut his door.

     When he entered, the first thing he did was trip over a baseball bat. "Maybe, she's right," he said to himself, "It does need to be straightened up a little, doesn't it." This was not the time. First, he set the letter down on his dresser. Then, he worked around his almost ankle-deep mess and packed as best he could. A few collars, some food that he stole from the fridge, his petpet (who angrily protested to being shoved into the bag) and a few other things. He hung the bag on the edge of his bed and met Harmony for dinner.

To be continued...