Happy Birthday, Jhudora

      Illusen comforted the heartbroken neopet as she began to tell her story of being turned into a slorg on her birthday. “I spun the Wheel of Excitement,” she paused to wipe her runny nose, “and it like, landed on the question mark. I was super disappointed. So I went to find something else to do, you know? Suddenly, there was a flash of like this hideous green looking light. (It really doesn’t go with my color.) And I saw a dark faerie rushing off and the next thing I know I’m a slorg.” She broke off in sobs. “Everyone was laughing and I wasn’t even painted.”

      “There, there,” Illusen said soothingly, rolling her eyes a little at the last part, “We’ll find out who did this to you.” She already had an idea of who was behind it. The Uni smiled up at her through tear filled eyes and thanked her.

      ***

      Fyora and Illusen stormed into Jhudora's home unexpectedly. Jhudora looked up, a bit surprised. “Come to wish me a happy birthday?” she asked sarcastically, “Well, you’ll just have to wait, it’s not for another two weeks.”

      Fyora cut in. “Jhudora! You know very well why we’re here. You turned an innocent, faerie painted Uni into a slorg!”

      Illusen whispered something into the queen's ear.

      “And on her birthday!!!”

      “Where’s your proof?” Jhudora thundered.

      Illusen blushed with anger. “The Uni saw a flash of green light and a dark faerie hurrying off!”

      “There are many dark faeries! They’re all over the place!”

      “We know it’s you!”

      “No, we don’t have any proof,” Fyora said calmly.

      “Bu--” Illusen stammered as Jhudora snorted at her.

      “Jhudora’s right; there are a lot of dark faeries, and the Uni didn’t know who it was. Come, Illusen, we are leaving. My apologies, Jhudora.”

      “Well, it happens when you’re the most feared faerie,” Jhudora said rather proudly, twirling her wand. Illusen ground her teeth together and stomped out.

      ***

      In the Haunted Woods stood a crooked tower made of stone. Light emanated from every crack in the foundation and two cloaked figures entered through the creaking door. Once inside, they climbed step after step until they finally reached the top. Something stirred in the shadows and a voice came from the darkness. “Have you done what I’ve asked of you?”

      “Yes,” the two voices said gloomily.

      “Very good. Continue with your work.”

      “Of course,” the two voices droned and they turned to leave.

      “Wait!” the shadowy voice called after them. “Please make sure reporters from the Neopian Times are at Jhudora's house on her birthday,” it said slyly. With those last words the figures vanished.

      ***

      Illusen sat watching the Wheel of Excitement from a tall, leafy tree. She needed evidence that Jhudora was behind everything. Hearing someone say it was their birthday, she glued her eyes to them. She watched as they spun the colorful wheel. It seemed to take forever, but it finally landed on the question mark.

      She saw the neopet, a Desert Painted Cybunny, walk away disappointed. Suddenly, darkness seeped into the air and a few screams sounded. Illusen knew what was happening but couldn’t see anything. When the misty shadow finally lifted, a mortog sat in the place of the Cybunny. A few neopets started giggling and soon the whole crowd was laughing. Illusen was horrified. How could these neopets be so shallow? Even some of the passing faeries were trying to hold back laughter, as Illusen was trying to hold back tears. Quickly, she turned the Cybunny back to its regular self and watched it rush off.

       Throwing open the doors, Illusen stormed in to Jhudora's Bluff to find her bossing around decorators and party planners.

      “Hey look, Flower Girl,” Jhudora hissed. “Party’s not till next week.”

      “Jhudora, stop terrorizing the neopets!”

      “Oh, so you’re still going on about that, are you?”

      “Because I know you did it!”

      “YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU ARE A FOOL!” Jhudora's rising voice caused the whole cliff to shake. “I AM NOT PLANNING ANYTHING EXCEPT MY PARTY!” Taking a few deep breaths to calm down, Jhudora shot a few glares at the frightened workers and they hurried to get back to their jobs.

      “Jhudora, I’m going to find proof that you’re behind this.”

      “You are ruining my party! Just like you ruin everything else!” Jhudora sniffed. “Fine, go ahead, I don’t care!”

      At that point, Illusen left. Jhudora had given her a wonderful idea.

      ***

      “The day is getting near,” an excited voice whispered. “Did you inform the reporters?”

      “Yes.”

      “Good! Everything is working out perfectly!” Golden eyes peered into a small, beautiful crystal ball, watching Illusen and Jhudora as the cloaked figures looked around the dark room nervously.

      The golden eyes watched the clear, floating ball intently. In it, they watched Jhudora choke down a food that looked like it didn’t quite taste right, judging by the way Jhudora became angered. Illusen was busy growing flowers with her wand. Giggling, the golden eyes disappeared.

     ***

      It was the day of Jhudora's birthday and it seemed as if all of Neopia was gathered at her house. The large crowd went silent as Jhudora appeared at the top of the stairs. A long purple and green cloak clung majestically to her shoulders and a magical green pendant hung from her slender neck. Her usual dress had been replaced by one that had tank top sleeves and green, purple, and black gems streamed across the neckline. The skirt of the dress had the same colors of cloth draped over each other and in her hair was a black tiara, accented with purple stones.

      Jhudora glided down the stairs gracefully. All eyes were on her in wonder, but as soon as she stepped off the last step, confusion arose. Flowers had sprung up out of the ground where Jhudora had stepped and were quickly spreading around the entire room. Horrified, she grabbed for her wand, but only grasped air.

      Her wand was zooming around the house. She was soon chasing it and a few neopets joined in. Faeries laughed as they watched the infamous dark faerie stumble over her dress trying to catch her wand. Soon Jhudora had grown tired and decided to forget it.

      Starting to sit down she called in a loud voice, “Let the party begi--!” Red began to creep up her face and into her cheeks, but for once it wasn’t in anger. Embarrassed, she realized she had sat on a Meerca Whoopee Cushion. Neopets giggled fearing if they laughed too hard, Jhudora would turn them into something horrible. But faeries laughed hard because they did not fear Jhudora.

      Behind the crowd, Jhudora spotted Illusen, smirking. Suddenly, she wielded her wand and pointed it at Illusen, but before she could shoot off a spell, the mansion began to rumble. The laughter stopped and everybody leaned against something to keep from toppling over.

      No one noticed any change from the inside, but Jhudora rushed outside and let out a mangled scream. Her whole house had turned into a gigantic tree. Reporters snapped photos and in the corner of some of the shots stood a gleeful light faerie and two glum looking dark faeries.

      "Happy birthday, Jhudora," whispered the light faerie triumphantly and a little darkly.

The End