Roomies 2: Part Two

      One day, after a tiring round of giving out quests, Jhudora peered inside the room she had lent to Jesc. Within a month, it had been completely changed. The dingy cover on the bed had been replaced with one that was bright blue, and was overflowing with plushies. The small desk was overfilling with books, and hanging all over the ceiling were hundreds of wind chimes that drove Jhudora insane on windy days. Sitting on her bed, almost hidden behind all of the plushies, was Jesc herself. Her blond hair was in pigtails and her wand was resting behind her ear as she read a book entitled "Truth Spells: More Harm Than Help." She glanced up at Jhudora when she entered. "Yes?" she asked.

      "Here," Jhudora grunted, throwing a Usul plushie onto the bed. "I found this under my throne."

      Jesc picked it up and examined it with bright eyes. "I was wondering where Mrs. Ruffles had been!" She then looked at Jhudora and said, "When you came in, I was in the middle of reading this really interesting book all about truth spells and how it is forbidden to perform them because they really are really, really, REALLY dangerous. There's a firsthand account, (well, it's actually, like, a seventh-hand account) from a fire faerie who knew a Uni, who knew a Techo, who knew another Techo, who knew a light faerie, who knew a water faerie who had a truth spell cast on her and now she blurts out random things like, 'I love asparagus,' wherever she goes and..."

      By this point, Jhudora had left and shut the door, leaving Jesc to babble to herself. Jhudora honestly didn't care about truth spells, or books or asparagus. All she wanted was peace and quiet. "I need to get Jesc out of this cloud," she muttered, sitting at her table and reading the newest issue of the Neopian Times. It was then that her eyes scanned an ad. Reading it out loud, she said, "Come to Mystery Island, a place for fun in the sun and a great time."

      "Are we going there?" a voice from behind her chirped.

      Jhudora flinched at the sound of Jesc's voice. "No, and don't just pop in on me like that!"

      Jesc pouted. "But wouldn't you like to go there? I mean, it's all bright and sunny!"

      "Faerieland is 'bright and sunny,'" Jhudora countered, her voice filled with disgust.

      "Not really," Jesc pointed out, sitting in a chair. "It's full of clouds, but it's so dark here and there's no ocean to swim in. I mean, there's the Healing Springs, but that doesn't really count."

      Jhudora glared at her. "Are you suggesting that we go on vacation?"

      Jesc nodded excitedly. "A month of summer has already gone by and we've been cramped in your cloud the entire time. I'm an air faerie! I need a bit of fresh air every once and a while."

      "Well, then why don't you just go?"

      Jesc looked shocked at the prospect. "First of all, I don't know how to get there, and secondly, you're never supposed to go on vacation alone, especially on Mystery Island. They have those natives there who I've read scare passing tourists and..."

      "STOP IT!" Jhudora shouted. "You're giving me a headache!"

      "You wouldn't be getting a headache if you took some time off," Jesc said, smiling sweetly. "You're too obsessed with work. I'm telling you, Mystery Island could be good for both of us!"

      Jhudora paused and considered it. On one hand, she really needed a vacation, but on the other hand, she had to go with Jesc. Vacation. Jesc. Vacation. Jesc...

      "Pack your bag," Jhudora muttered. "We're going to Mystery Island."

     ***

      Mrs. Pierce had prepared her plan and made it absolutely foolproof. It had been written on several pieces of paper (which were conveniently destroyed after being memorized) and she knew every step by heart. Every night she had studied it, sitting in the empty faculty room back at the Faerie Academy to readjust every little detail in the flickering firelight, just to make sure her plan would go without a hitch. And she also spent many nights reading up on all of the tidbits of information that needed to make her plan a success.

      All that left was for her to corner Jhudora in her lair. So, one bright afternoon a month into the summer vacation, she flew as quickly as her scarlet wings could fly all the way to the mass of purple cloud that belonged to Jhudora.

      The cloud was a noxious purple, coughing up green puffs of smoke that framed the lair. Landing on it, Mrs. Pierce felt as if she was going to fall right through the mushy surface. But that didn't happen, so she cautiously stepped forward, only the heels on her shoes sinking into the cloud.

      When she reached the imposing purple door, she was expecting to find it unlocked (after all, Jhudora gave out quests all day) but was surprised to find it bolted shut.

      "What?" she cursed, pulling on the stubborn knob, but it wouldn't open. Pulling out her wand, she flourished it and red sparks landed on the knob... and then died away. Her spell hadn't worked. She wouldn't be able to get inside.

      It was then that she noticed a little blue Uni carrying a Meat Feast Omelette. When she walked by the cloud, her little blue face instantly turned from fright to relief upon seeing the closed door.

      "You," Mrs. Pierce barked, stopping the Uni in her tracks. "Come here."

      The Uni, not at all calm anymore, quickly galloped up to the fire faerie. "Yes?" she asked frightened.

      "Do you know why Jhudora isn't here?"

      The Uni looked confused. "Didn't you see the sign on the door?"

      Mrs. Pierce jerked her head back around feeling like an utter fool and spotted the notice pinned to the door. On it was a quick scribble in pencil. As she read it, the Uni quietly slipped away.

      "I, Jhudora," Mrs. Pierce read, "will not be back for another week. I will be attending a very important meeting in M_ _ _ _ _ _ I_ _ _ _ _ Somewhere. All questors have an extended time frame for their quests due to my absence. Now leave."

      Mrs. Pierce wrinkled her nose at the note. As far as she knew, there wasn't a single important meeting happening all summer, but that wasn't the most intriguing part of the letter. In the middle, where it mentioned where the "meeting" would be taking place, the original word had been erased, only leaving a faint "M" and "I" visible. After it, the word "somewhere" had been put.

      "Apparently she didn't want anyone to find out where she was going," Mrs. Pierce muttered, adjusting her glasses as she plucked the note from the door. She herself knew of only one place that consisted of both the letters "M" and "I" and that was Mystery Island.

      "I can't believe it!" Mrs. Pierce cackled. "She went on vacation!" The thought was a bit bewildering; Jhudora never went on vacation. "But yet again, Jesc is with her, and that annoying young air faerie could have persuaded her into leaving," she muttered. But she didn't mind. The change of scenery might be good for her and Mystery Island was full of tourists that time of year. She could easily accommodate her plan to fit that area.

      "You fool. You haven't spoiled my plans. In fact, I think that you've just made it a bit more interesting." And with that, she kicked off the fluffy ground, flying back to the Faerie Academy. She needed to pack for a little vacation.

     ***

      "Yippee!" Jesc shouted as she ran into the ocean surrounding Mystery Island along with the hundred other Neopians who were enjoying the summer. The water was clear and the temperature was perfect: not too warm and not too hot.

      Jesc's hair was up in a high ponytail as she swam through the calm water in her aqua blue bathing suit with matching blue Usul earrings. Covering her blue eyes were sunglasses that shielded the bright sun, and she splashed around without a care in the world.

      Jhudora, however, wasn't as lucky. As much as she tried to relax, she couldn't help but think about quests. She had left a note on her door explaining her absence because of a "meeting," despite the fact that it was a total lie, but what else could she have done? No one expected a faerie of her caliber to do something as trivial as vacationing, yet here she was, lying on a towel under a beach umbrella with sunglasses as her only disguise.

      "Relax," she muttered, closing her eyes as the warm sun hit her pale skin. She didn't particularly enjoy sunbathing (too much sun gave her purple hair green streaks), but it was better than splashing around like some hyperactive Wocky in the ocean.

      Of course, her note had been less than perfect. By mistake, she had scribbled "Mystery Island," on it and had spent the next five minutes trying to erase the words. She even had covered it up with the word, "somewhere," but a few letters were still visible. "Don't worry. It's fine!" Jesc had said when they had packed, but Jhudora still felt a bit antsy. She really didn't want someone to recognize her.

      But of course, that wasn't easy. She was an infamous faerie with a short temper, and being in such a happy and public place made her edgy. But at least it kept Jesc busy and she had some time to relax. Soon enough, she fell asleep.

      Meanwhile, Jesc came out of the ocean, dripping water onto the sand as she ducked under the Mynci ball net. She was carrying around twenty shells, all which were cradled in her arms. She was going to show Jhudora all of the shells she had found on the shore when a fire faerie suddenly stormed by her, her auburn grey hair leaking out from under an ugly sunhat.

      Jesc glared at the faerie angrily as she stormed past, wondering why she had been so hurried that she had bumped into her, but when she saw the color of her hair, the red tacky sun-dress, and the pointed black glasses, she immediately dropped her shells and ran all the way to Jhudora who was napping.

      Jesc shook her awake. "Jhudora! Wake up!"

      Jhudora lifted her sunglasses. "Stop shaking me!" she barked and then added in a whisper, "And don't call me Jhudora. For the duration of this trip I am to be called 'Judy.' Got it?"

      "Sorry!" Jesc mumbled, "but when I got out of the ocean after collecting a bunch of shells, I passed the Mynci ball net and this fire faerie stormed by and she had auburn hair with grey streaks and she was wearing this ugly outfit and she had on these pointy glasses and it's Mrs. Pierce!"

      Jhudora, who hadn't been paying attention to the babble, suddenly sat up straight. "She's here? Right now?" She didn't wait for a reply. "We need to leave NOW!"

      For once, they both agreed on something and without gathering their things, they fled the shore.

      "Where should we go?" Jesc looked around nervously, curling her wet hair around a finger. Mystery Island was a foreign place to her and she had no clue where anything was. Lucky for her, however, Jhudora knew the place like the back of her hand.

      "Come on," she said, grabbing Jesc and pulling her through a thicket of small trees. After a few minutes of travel, they emerged at a clearing where there was a stand with the word "Tombola" written overhead in sloppy handwriting.

      "Ooh!" Jesc said excitedly, forgetting for a moment that they were on the run. "I read about this place in a guidebook. It's a stand where there's this game where every day you get to draw a number for free and if the last number ends in a 0, 2, or a 5 you get a prize, like Neopoints or something. But if you don't, you get nothing, or some unsellable booby prize like a toy sailboat or flip-flops or..."

      "We all know about Tombola," Jhudora hissed. "Now hurry up!"

      "Are we going to play?"

      "No, we're going to hide!" With that, Jhudora pulled up to the stand.

      The Tombola Man was happily whistling some unrecognizable tune and playing with a toy sailboat when he saw Jhudora and Jesc approach. He was happy for the customers; it had been a pretty slow day for business. "Hello! Hello!" he bellowed, his voice still loud and cheerful despite the fact he was wearing a large mask. "Welcome to Tombola, the best game in all of Mystery Island! Roll up! Roll up! We have tons of FABULOUS prizes awaiting you, ladies! Just pick a number, any number, and..."

      "Be quiet, you big oaf!" Jhudora snarled, pulling off her sunglasses so that he could see who he was talking to.

      "Jhudora!" he gasped, suddenly nervous. He had heard of the notorious dark faerie, but had never expected to find her at his cheap little stand of all places. "What... what are y-you doing h-here?"

      "That's my business!" she snapped, her violet eyes flashing, "But if you don't want to see your stand obliterated right now, you better hide us this instant!"

      "Yes, yes! Of course, your faerieness!" He gave a deep bow, crinkling his cheap flowered shirt, and said quickly, "You two can hide under the stand back here." He indicated to a place under the counter. It was hollow, but small and cramped with booby prizes.

      "It will have to do," Jhudora muttered, annoyed, and without a "thank you," she jumped over the counter and ducked under the stand. Jesc did the same, except she gave a polite smile in thanks that made the Tiki Man blush.

      "And don't tell anyone we're here!" Jhudora snarled, pulling out her wand threateningly as she snuggled against about fifty bottles of colored sand.

      "Wouldn't even think of it!" he said quickly with another bow, and though he was rather nervous, he pretended that they weren't even there as the next tourist came over to try his luck at the game.

      "How long are we going to stay here?" Jesc whispered. She was wet and cramped under the stand and was a tad claustrophobic. Not to mention a pair of flip-flops were uncomfortably digging into her ribs.

      "Until night arrives," Jhudora mumbled. "We can't let Mrs. Pierce find us and I bet that she will have given up by sundown."

      "Okay. So we're just going to stay under here all day?"

      "Listen," Jhudora said, "I'm not happy about it, but yes, we ARE going to stay here all day. It's only a few hours until sundown and then we can leave."

      "But where will we go? There are no hotels..."

      "I don't know! Anywhere besides here! But until then, we are to be as quiet as possible! No one can know we are here!"

      "Quiet..." Jesc muttered, thinking it over. Then, with a sudden burst of inspiration, her eyes lit up and she shouted, "We can play charades!"

      "Shh!" Jhudora barked. "NO CHARADES!"

      Jesc covered her ears at Jhudora's shout and Jhudora quickly bit her tongue. She had been pretty loud. Had anyone heard her scream?

      Unfortunately, the answer was yes. The Aisha who was at the Tombola stand heard the noise.

      "What's that?" he asked the Tiki Man, dropping his number.

      "Nothing." He said it quickly.

      The Aisha was unconvinced. "I heard a scream. It almost sounded as if it was coming from under here." He bent over to look behind the stand, but the Tiki Man got in his way.

      "You cannot come back here! It's for... um... workers only!"

      But it was too late. The yellow Aisha had seen the two faeries squeezed under the stand despite the Tiki Man's desperate attempt to hide them. Their faces were covered in their hands, but he recognized one of them.

      "Jhudora?" he asked in amazement, adjusting his glasses.

      Jhudora was furious! They had been found so quickly! And yet, the Aisha's voice sounded vaguely familiar. Craning her neck and taking her hands off her face, she looked up at the yellow Aisha.

      "Jim?"

To be continued...