Run Away to Knighthood: Part One

     "I'm bored," he grumbled. Angel stood up from his bed and walked over to his siblings' rooms. He opened the door to Glitter's bedroom first, and found the faerie Acara brushing her fur in front of a mirror. She turned immediately and faced her brother. "What do you want? I'm busy right now," Glitter said absently.

     Angel scratched his head. "But you can have all the time you want for grooming later on, when we go to bed," he replied. "Can't we do something together?"

     Glitter shook her head. "No…I want some private time, and my Baby Fireball needs some special attention right now," she answered. "Now, please, vamoose so I can work in peace."

     Shrugging, the blue Zafara gently shut the Acara's door and casually opened the next one.

     "Sweet, don't you want to do something with your favorite little brother?" asked Angel, peeking into the room of the striped Kacheek. He found Sweet on the floor, polishing a huge brown sword and reading a book at the same time.

     "Not now, Angel," said Sweet. "I have to polish my weapons, take care of Apollo, my Angelpuss, and find out how I can save up for a nice petpetpet for him. Maybe we can both play tomorrow."

     Angel sighed and closed Sweet's door. He tried the next room and found Fluffy the white Aisha at her table, with a stack of books and writing something in her notebook. A Snowbunny was asleep at her feet, and just before the Zafara could take another step, Fluffy casually turned to face him and said, "Look, whatever you want, it will have to wait. I must finish my essay, read more on math, and do some particularly important research. I'm sorry, but I must finish my work today."

     The blue Zafara bit his lip and exited his other sister's room. As he turned to go back to his room, he accidentally bumped into his owner, a tall teenage girl who was clutching a sheaf of papers and wearing a tired expression on her face.

     "Hi, Angel," Kat said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an essay to write and a story to finish for the next issue of the Times. I'm really sorry, but I'm just too busy to pay too much attention to you."

     Angel nodded and sighed. He was alone, with no one to play with or talk to. His Anubis was fast asleep and was not to be disturbed. Then he was struck with a brilliant idea.

     "Maybe Kat will notice me if I prepare something for her, since she's been doing a lot of stuff for me, and now it's my turn to repay the favors!" he exclaimed to himself. Angel decided not to go back to his room, but ran towards the kitchen instead.

     The Zafara pulled out a large chair in order to reach a high cabinet. He quickly pulled out a container of coffee and poured the contents into a small blue cup. Angel pulled out a bottle of water and then added this to the coffee, along with some milk and sugar. After stirring the drink well, he placed this on a saucer and walked gently (so as not to spill a single drop of the coffee) towards Kat's room.

     The door was slightly ajar, but Angel kicked it aside anyway. He walked silently in order to surprise his owner, and watched closely if she would suddenly look up from her work. Unfortunately he was too busy looking at Kat to notice that he had stepped on a stray crease in the carpet of her room, gasped…and tripped, sending the cup of coffee flying.

     "Angel…" The girl stood up from her desk, dropped whatever she was writing aside, and grabbed the Zafara before he could take a nasty fall. "Are you all right?" Kat asked worriedly. "What is going on?"

     Suddenly they both heard a crash. The coffee cup had landed right onto the girl's papers…her Neopian Times submissions. They were now a damp, brown mess with blurry, seemingly liquefied script.

     Her eyes grew wide, and she looked at Angel. She was not happy at all.

     ***

     "Oh, this is wonderful," groaned Angel. "I'm grounded for three days just because I ruined your stories. Well, you can just write more, right?"

     Kat sighed, and sat down beside Angel, on the Zafara's bed. The two were inside his room, talking about what happened a few minutes ago. "Angel, I was working on that for a week! I took time off from my usual schedule just to write something for the Neopian Times, and slaved over it day and night! I worked really hard on it…and you go and drench it with hot borovan? You really should be more careful."

     "But that wasn't borovan, Kat. That was coffee," mumbled Angel softly.

     "That's not the point," she answered. "Honestly, you really should know better than to disturb me. When I ask for some time alone or some time off, I mean it, OK? But that doesn't mean I'll ignore you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some serious rewriting to do. Remember, three days." Kat stood up and left the room silently.

     As the door closed behind the teenage girl, the Zafara flung himself on the bed and sobbed. "Nobody will play with me, no one appreciates me…why in Neopia did they adopt me in the first place anyway? Maybe because they just…just…"

     His voice trailed off. "Maybe I can find my real owner…and go back home, and tell her that I'm being ignored here!" he added suddenly. Angel stood up and grabbed his backpack. He shoved his prized toys, petpet supplies, some snacks and the blanket from his bed. Then he shook Morpheus up. "Come on, boy," Angel whispered. "We're running away from here."

     The Anubis awoke with a yawn, and trotted up to the Zafara, who was busy unraveling some yarn to use as a leash. Angel bent down and tied it to Morpheus's collar, after which he noiselessly opened his bedroom window. The blue Zafara picked his petpet up and gently lowered him into the bushes below the window. "Stay," he whispered to the Anubis.

     Suddenly Angel heard something click, and found out in horror that the doorknob was being turned. Quickly, he hurled his backpack out the window as well, where it landed with a soft thump. And just before the door opened all the way, the Zafara jumped into his bed and pulled up the covers, to look as if he was sleeping.

     "Angel?" a voice called out. "Hey, why are you in bed already? Don't tell me you're going to miss dinner?" A faerie Acara hovered into the room and looked down at the blue Zafara, who nodded.

     "Glitter, I'm sleepy. I want to sleep now," he replied. "Getting grounded makes me lose my appetite." His sister shrugged and zoomed out the door slamming it behind her and making a plushie from the shelves topple to the floor. "That was close," whispered Angel as he climbed out of the covers and shoved his pillow into the covers to make it look like he really was fast asleep. Then the Zafara grabbed the fallen plush toy, got a running start and leapt out of the window in a flash.

     Angel picked Morpheus up and said to him, "We made it, pal. We're going to start a new life with my old owner. But first, we have to find her…or him…or whoever that was." He closed the window, took one last look at his Neohome and at the window of the dining room where his siblings, their petpets and their owner were already enjoying dinner. He tugged on the yarn tied to the Anubis's collar. "OK, let's go."

     ***

     "So Angel's not coming to dinner?" asked Kat as she gave Sweet and Fluffy both more helpings of roast chicken. "I just hope he's feeling all right."

     Glitter ate another bite of baked beans. "He said he only wanted to sleep. Maybe he'll be better in the morning," she answered.

     "Fluffy, can you check and see how your little brother is doing?" asked Kat nervously. The white Aisha jumped off the chair and strode over to Angel's bedroom. She opened the door a crack and looked inside. Fluffy's gaze fell upon the lump in the covers. "He's asleep, all right," she called out. "Not even the Snowager's icy blasts could wake him up, I bet."

     "Thanks," the girl called back. "Should we give him some dinner?"

     "Don't bother," answered Sweet. "You heard what Fluffy said, he's dozing like a rock right now. I don't think he'll wake up till morning. Glitter, are you going to eat the rest of your strawberry jelly?"

     "Yes, I am," the Acara answered stiffly. "Don't you ever get full up?"

     The dinner continued, and no one else ventured inside Angel's room. No one else knew what had really happened to the blue Zafara, who, at the precise moment the family was having dinner, was now walking under the night sky, with only a backpack and an Anubis by his side, not daring to look back at his now former Neohome. And as the three pets, their petpets, and their owner drifted off to sleep they still did not know exactly why Angel's room was unusually quiet that night.

To be continued...