Now You See Me, Now You Don't: Part Two

     Marigold sat down on her bedroom floor with her plate full of food in front of her. If she had gotten this big of a serving at the family table, she would have been scolded for getting too much. And even now, she probably didn't have enough to make her full. Belinda liked to eat bigger servings and give her "darling angels" barely anything. But now Marigold had chances to eat what and however much she wanted.

     Marigold hungrily gobbled down the food. She didn't even notice when Kipper entered. She looked up and saw him staring intently at the plate on the middle of her floor. Then she lifted her utensils, slowly took another bite, and set the fork back down. Kipper screamed.

     "Haunted food!" he shrieked. "A ghost, a ghost! Something is eating it!!" Kipper seemed frozen to the spot he was standing at, but Belinda came running. Kipper pointed at the plate. For the effect, Marigold took another bite. "See?!" Kipper screamed.

     "Something is going on here," Belinda said slowly. Her voice was shaking. She walked slowly towards the plate, so Marigold stood up and walked to the other corner of her room. This was pathetic. As Belinda gave a war scream and dove for the spot where Marigold had previously been sitting, Marigold couldn't help but laugh.

     "Marigold?" Kipper asked. "That sounds like Marigold's laugh," he muttered. "Maybe she's fooling us," he said softly. "After all, meat balls and noodles don't rise in the air and let the air swallow them. That's too weird and impossible," Marigold's little brother said. All of a sudden, he begged. "Belinda! Please paint me a pretty color! I hate being green!"

     "Marigold, come out from hiding," Belinda said, ignoring Kipper's request. "You are in big trouble, young lady." The expression on Belinda's face, the stern glare in her eyes, the gritted teeth, it all frightened Marigold and almost made her cry. She wished so desperately she had a smiling, loving owner. A mommy. "MARIGOLD!" Belinda screamed.

     Marigold didn't reply. She quietly and slowly walked around Belinda, who was edging toward the corner of the room. She picked up her plate on the way out and made her way past Kipper. She accidentally brushed against him on her way out of the room, but she hoped he hadn't noticed. But he did.

     "Belinda!" Kipper screamed. "The plate just flew out of the room!" he cried, pointing. "Plus, something... I felt something on my side!" he insisted. "I don't think it's Marigold," he whispered. "I'd be able to see her..."

     "No, you wouldn't," Marigold said quietly to herself. She ran down to the kitchen, the flying plate in her arms. It was a dead giveaway, she knew she'd have to put it down somewhere. Or maybe throw it all on Belinda. Her awful, cruel owner deserved ruining the clean dress she had on now. But did Marigold have to be that cruel back? "No," Marigold sighed to herself. "Don't stoop to her level."

     Marigold ate two more meat balls in one bite and then saw Belinda wildly steer herself into the room. Marigold almost screamed and dropped the fork, but by now she knew better. She quickly laid it down and ran off in the opposite direction. But Belinda was still directly behind her, running madly in efforts.

     Marigold ran outside. She left the door open, but she stood right beside it. She wanted to fool Belinda into thinking that she'd run right out. Belinda would run and make a beeline to the yard. Then Marigold, who was hovering by the doorway, would go back in and lock the door. Then she'd have to deal with her little brother, but he wasn't a big threat. Marigold actually loved her brother.

     It happened just as she'd planned. Belinda ran right out, and Marigold quickly ran back in and shut the door and locked it. Perfect! Then she ran up to her room. There Kipper was. He was at her bookshelves, taking the books down and tossing them all over the place. Marigold sighed. He was making a mess and ruining her perfect organization, but at least he wasn't ripping out the pages. She hoped he wouldn't harm a single book.

     "Kipper," Marigold rasped. "It's me, Mari..." What am I doing,she asked herself. "It's me, the Money Tree ghost. I've come for your neopoints. I demand two thousand," she said in a spooky voice.

     "Two thousand?!" Kipper repeated in shock. "I'm only a little boy Moehog! I don't know if I even have that much!" Tears came to his eyes. "And since when do ghosts want two thousand, anyway? I'm poor, you know. I can't even buy all of the things I want, much less give it to the Money Tree."

     Marigold felt tears come to her eyes, too. Was she that mean? Trying her best to take her little brother's neopoints so she could live her life in luxury for a little while? She felt awful, seeing tears roll down his green cheeks as he reached for his little, pitiful pile of coins.

     "I only have four hundred," he said with a small sniffle. "I've been saving up for a very long time, but you can take all of it if you must. A random event is a random event, I suppose," he said sadly, placing the pile of coins on the carpeted floor. "Take them. Put me in debt, if you wish." He sighed and buried his face in his hands.

     "I can't!" Marigold screamed. She pushed his coins back to him. "You keep them, little boy." Then she reached in her pocket and pulled out ten neopoints she'd been holding that day. "You even take these. It's not much, but buy something you'll like." She placed the extra neopoints in his pile. It depleted her pile, but gave to his. Marigold sighed and exited his room. Now he had more than she did - only 350.

     Marigold wondered if this really was the life she wanted to be living. With one full of lies, running, hiding, and full of loneliness and nothing to do with other people. It made her sad now, not happy. Good things didn't last long, Marigold decided, and she wished she'd never said she wanted to be invisible. She didn't know how to reverse the effects.

     "Marigold?" Kipper cried out. "I wonder where she is," he said to himself. "I really miss her. Belinda isn't the nicest and I'd like someone kind to play a game with."

     Marigold burst into tears. She hoped Kipper couldn't hear. She didn't want to scare him or worry him. She wanted so much to be herself. She wanted to be pounded and be adopted by someone else. But if that happened, the same owner wouldn't adopt both her and Kipper. She probably wouldn't see him again if they were both pounded.

     Marigold went down to the kitchen and finished off her cold supper. By now it was getting dark and Belinda was apparently still outside. Marigold lay down and wished to Borovan almighty that he would please, please grant her the opportunity of being her old self again. She wanted to be friends with Kipper. She wanted to play games with him and to be seen and to not be so lonely. She didn't know what to do about Belinda, though. They couldn't get rid of her.

     Marigold lifted her arm. She still couldn't see it. She sighed. Borovan, the almighty one, didn't care anymore. He decided to leave her alone with her problems and let her work them out herself. She felt like the most unloved and bad off pet in all of Neopia, and maybe she was. Maybe she was...

     "Kipper," she called in her normal old Marigold voice. "Kipper!" she repeated, her voice echoing through the neohome. "Kipper?" she called again. He wasn't answering! How strange. She hoped nothing had happened to him. "Kipper?" Marigold slowly made her way to her room, where she expected him to still be - still messing in her books.

     But he wasn't there. Marigold sighed and went into her bedroom. She started picking her books up and placing them on the shelves again. After she put up five books, all in a series and all in alphabetical order, she felt a poke. She dropped her really old edition of the Neopian Times and squealed. Marigold looked around and saw her brother, Kipper.

     "What? How did you know I was here?" she asked. "I'm still invisible, right?" she asked. She looked down at herself, but there was still nothing there. "Hey - I'm invisible! How did you see me?" she demanded.

     "I'm invisible, too," Kipper whispered.

To be continued...