My Vacation: Part Two

Hello again, Readers. Now let us review. Last week, I (Ailemea), Haelee the Ditsy (my petpet), and my owner (Jeanie) had explored Kreludor, eaten lovely food at the Space Station, and were just on our way back to Neopia. We were on the road again! Or, in this instance, on an Eyrie's back again.

     This ride was much worse than the ride to Kreludor. Probably because of the fact that my Eyrie liked to dive perfectly vertically and then come out of it smoothly. Such a show-off. It was a great relief to see the snow covered peak of Terror Mountain. The landing was not very good and I landed straight in the center of a junk pile.

     "Sorry," the Eyrie said, helping me out of the pile. A scream cut off my curt reply. I turned around to find a yellow Chia trying to pull a large bone out of Haelee's mouth.

     "This-" she tugged "was a gift-" she tugged again "from the King-" once again "of Tyrannia." She pulled once more, but this time Haelee had let go and she went tumbling.

     "There is no King of Tyrannia," I stated bluntly.

     "Of course there isn't you silly Xweetok," she said, brushing off the bone. "It's his bone!"

     "Yuck!" I said, recoiling. The Chia eyed Haelee then pointed at her with the bone.

     "This your petpet?" she asked.

     I nodded uncertainly.

     "My name's Carassa. I'll give you this bone for 500np."

     "That's a rip off," Jeanie said, her Eyrie landing lightly beside me. "It isn't worth 200!"

     "This was a gift from the King of Tyrannia!" Carassa argued.

     "There is no-" Jeanie began.

     "It's his bone," I explained.

     "Oh."

     "'Oh' is right," the Chia said. "Now, it's 400 or no deal."

     "Fine. Just who are you?" Jeanie said, paying her.

     "My name is Carassa - Mika and I run this here garage sale." Jeanie gasped as a blue Chia appeared with a large box.

     "I found this in the attic, Carassa, who knew we had so much junk? We should apply for the packrat avatar - we'd get it about a hundred times!"

     "Mika, this stuff isn't junk! Look, there are my old ballet slippers. And there's Uncle Leroy's old Ice Cream Machine trophy," Carassa said fondly.

     "Don't you start that again, Carassa! Otherwise we'll never move out of here," Mika warned.

     "Oh please, we've been "moving" for years. Besides, this mountain has gotten a lot warmer since then. And we are getting so rich from all the garage selling... " I felt myself getting bored. I looked at Jeanie who was in a trance as she listened to the Chias. I tugged on the sleeve of her fur coat.

     "Hey, HEY!"

     Jeanie looked down at me. "What?"

     "Can we go please?"

     "Oh... right. Umm... excuse me!" Jeanie called to the Chias and they turned to us. "Sorry, but we were wondering if you could direct us to the Ice Caves? That is where we are staying." The Chias pointed then returned to arguing about the items. "Thank you!" Jeanie called, then gestured to the Eyries. They picked up our luggage and began to follow us.

     "Do you know who those Chias were, Ailemea?" Jeanie asked me in her 'I'm-going-to-teach-you-something' tone. I didn't answer for a moment as I wrapped Haelee into a fur blanket. It was so cold!

     "Sure I do. Carassa and Mika. Two of the craziest Chias I have ever met. But I guess you would have to be crazy to live in Terror Mountain," I chuckled.

     "No! They are the Igloo Garage Chias! Haven't you heard of them? They're famous!" I stared at her, clueless. "Don't tell- OOOoohhh my!" Jeanie said, staring at something behind me. I turned around and saw a large shop shrouded in mystery. Literally. It was called 'The Mystery Shop.' "I've heard of this place! I always wanted to try it out."

     "Hey, how about we try it tomorrow? I'm about to collapse. Heck, we can do a quest for Taelia while we're at it," I said sarcastically. Jeanie gasped.

     "That's a great idea! Let's go!" She dashed off in the direction of the Ice Caves, leaving me with a frown on my face.

     "I was just kidding," I said to Haelee, still curled up in my arms. With a sigh, I followed the Eyries as they chased my owner.

     ~~~

     "Ooohhh, no! I am NOT sleeping on blocks of ice," I said, staring at the room before me. I started backing up but Jeanie stopped me.

     "Oh come on, it'll be fun!"

     "I'll freeze to death!"

     "Not with these heated mats I brought," she said proudly.

     "Oh, I really want my bed to melt while I'm sleeping on it." Jeanie frowned. The Eyries entered and dropped our luggage down by the ice blocks that were meant to be beds. They turned to leave but I grabbed them and pulled them back.

     "Wait! Go tell Management that this is not the room we asked for. I don't want to sleep on ice!"

     "Never mind her, you can go," Jeanie said, waving them off. They left with a grunt. "Come on, Ailemea, let's go get some ice cream." Surprisingly, that was comforting. We hiked down to the ice cream cart and I looked up at the menu.

     "What'll it be, ladies?" the Lutari said.

     "Hot fudge sundae, please," Jeanie said handing him some Neopoints.

     "Make that two," I added. He nodded and pulled out a tub that read 'Cream'. Reaching into it he scooped a large glob of cream out and dumped it into the snow.

     "1... 2... 3!" He pulled the cream out and put it into a cup. He then smothered it in steaming hot fudge. My mouth was watering considerably and I licked the cream. I screamed through my open mouth.

     "Mah tung! Mah tung iz duck!" I screeched. The Lutari reacted very fast. Throwing down his ice cream scoop, he grabbed a cup of hot water and poured it over the ice cream. My tongue came away easily.

     "Sorry," he apologized, "I must've left the cream in the snow too long." He frowned.

     "Ith otay," I said, my tongue hanging out of my mouth. He scooped me some more melted ice cream and we were on our way. As we made our way to the Ice Caves NeoLodge we passed a cave. It was completely silent.

     "Isn't that the Snowager's cave?" I asked Jeanie.

     She nodded.

     "It's awfully quiet for someone who is usually snoring or roaring." I chuckled at my rhyme. She smiled at me.

     "Want to check it out?" she asked.

     "No way! Not me. Uh-uh. Don't even think about it!"

     She grinned and grabbed my paw, dragging me to the cave.

     "NO!" I screeched. "Please! He'll eat me!" She pulled me into the cave and then we stopped and watched, agape.

     The Snowager sat awake, talking to a Yurble Cameraman and an Acara Reporter who were trembling in their boots. "I just feel really misunderstood, ya know?" he rumbled to the two. "I just want that packrat avatar so bad but everyone keeps stealing my stuff! And every time I fall asleep, someone comes in and wakes me up. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in years! I haven't had any dreams either. Only nightmares about jerks stealing all my neggs and scratchcards. I'm seriously stressing out. So, that's why I called you here. I want you to broadcast to all of Neopia that I just want to be left alone. OK? Alone! Wait... aw no... don't run... AA... .AAAAA... .AACCHHOOOO!!!!" A roar escaped from the Snowager and the screaming reporter and cameraman ran faster for the entrance. "Aw no! Come back, please!"

     Jeanie and I ran with them, screaming. We ran all the way back to the NeoLodge where we ran into our room and slammed the door. We turned to find Haelee staring awkwardly at us.

     "Don't look at us like that," I scolded her. "The Snowager was about to eat us!" She gave a high-pitched squeal which we knew to be her laugh. "Hey! I'm serious! Alright, that's enough! It's your bedtime." I scowled and she gave her familiar little smile. Winking, she went and curled up in her little basket. I began to stroke the rough cardboard and she purred until she fell asleep.

     I looked at my ice block with a sigh, and curled up on it. Surprisingly it was almost overheating. Smiling contentedly, I fell asleep.

     ~~~

     The next day we started the day by eating at the Super Happy Icy Fun Snow Shop. Oh it was so cold! Straight afterwards I was dragged to Taelia's house. The Snow Faerie smiled at us. "I would be most appreciative if you could do this little errand for me," she said, her tone soothing and disarming. I realized this was my last chance.

     "Sorry, we were just on our way to play Cliffhanger. We made an appointment," I said. Jeanie gaped at me in wonder and I dragged her out of the igloo.

     "You liar," she chided when we were outside.

     "I didn't lie," I confessed. "I had Haelee make the appointment just in case." Her eyes widened and we set off to meet a Tuskaninny about a cliff, Haelee on top of my head.

     As we approached the Tuskaninny smiled. "You must be Haelee," he said. "You wanna play, huh?"

     "Actually, this is Haelee," I pointed at the Ditsy. "But yes, we would like to play." He frowned.

     "I'm afraid I don't quite understand," he said, staring at Haelee.

     "Don't think too hard about it," Jeanie said. He shrugged.

     "What level?"

     "Hard!" Jeanie cried at the exact moment I said "Easy!" He looked at us both.

     "Average it is then. Let me get my jumping gear on," he said, and headed for the bottom of the slight hill that led to the cliff. "OK," he yelled at us. "Start guessing!"

     The poor Tuskaninny had to jump about five times before we gave up. "At least we got the avatar." Jeanie shrugged as we walked away from the cliff. She lead me into the Mystery Shop where an insane Ixi greeted us.

     "Welcome... to the... Shop... of Mystery!!!" she crowed in a "mysterious" voice. "Please, pick any bag you like. And then we will see what lies within." I rolled my eyes. Jeanie ran and snatched up one of the cheapest bags.

     "This one please," Jeanie said, throwing five hundred or so Neopoints at the Ixi.

     The Ixi nodded and took the bag. "I can practically feel the paintbrush's aura within." The Ixi smiled.

     "Now we see what is inside," she announced. Slow and suspenseful, she opened the bag. She pulled out a pile of dung. "I'm sorry, but this is the Shop of Mystery... " she said, shoving us out the door. Jeanie looked disappointed, but I was laughing my head off.

     "Alright, so that was a waste. Let's go already," she grumbled. Still laughing, I followed.

     ~~~

     After almost a complete week of ice skating, Snowager sneaking, slushie-drinking, and toy repairing, I was ready for the Eyrie to take me out of the freezing Terror Mountain. Strapping my bags to his back, I told him all about the stay on Terror Mountain. When I was finished, I packed a soggy Ditsy into my jacket and climbed onto the Eyrie's back. I couldn't wait to get to Tyrannia.

To be continued...