Mysterious Patchwork: Part Three

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      The rainbow Aisha was startled by the sudden appearance of a frantic Aurora in her doorway. She set down her Maraquan Acara Pencil and Yellow Lined Notebook to give her complete attention to her distressed sister.

      "Aurora, what's wrong?" Concern and pained worry darkened the rainbow Aisha's eyes. Aurora was usually the calm one. Aurora didn't panic; she didn't run through the house to seek the comfort of her sister's company.

      "Midnight. Where's Midnight?" Aurora was desperate. Someone had to deal with the thing in her room, and it wasn't going to be her. Surreal wasn't home, so it would have to be Midnight, if he decided not to go after all.

      "Battledome, testing some new weapon, or something. I didn't listen to him. Aurora, what's wrong?" Twilight asked again.

      "There's something in my room. I think it's a pet, but it's really strange. I don't know what to do," Aurora mumbled quickly, trying to avoid a raising too much of a reaction from her sister.

      "What? Have you seen it before? What does it look like? Did you get a good look?" Twilight acted excited about whatever it was that was in her sister's room.

      "It looks like an old quilt. That's all I saw. It's lying on my bed. It's big. I don't like it. What are we supposed to do?" As neither of the sisters were trained in the arts of the Battledome, they were reluctant to confront the patchwork pet.

      "We wait for Midnight or Surreal. They'll know what to do. Until then, we can barricade ourselves in here. Surreal promised to be back before the Builders are finished. That'll only be another three or four hours, tops," Twilight became the voice of reason in the shadow of her sister's fear.

      "Hopefully, Midnight gets back before Surreal does. I don't think I can wait three or four hours. I don't like having anything strange in my house," Aurora asserted.

      Barricading themselves in Twilight's room consisted of locking the door. The two Aishas sat in silence, wanting only to hear the familiar creak of the front door. They stole glances at each other from time to time, otherwise letting their gazes wander over the carpeted floor, stone walls, and poster-strewn ceiling. Time passed slowly as each sister imagined the worst of what could come from the thing in Aurora's bedroom. Twilight feared the pet would make a mess of the house and she would be forced to clean it up. Aurora worried that a trip to the Healing Springs would follow any encounter with the creature.

      Finally, the front door opened. The eight ears in Twilight's room perked up, hoping to recognize the sound of familiar footsteps. Unfortunately, the ones they heard were strange to their ears and more than one set trespassed in the otherwise silent house.

      "That has to be the Builders. Come on, we have to go downstairs to see what they want. I'm sure that pet is still in your room. We don't have to worry about it, yet," Twilight insisted. "Surreal would want us to accommodate them, so we have to."

      For Surreal's sake, Aurora would do anything. Even brave leaving the safety of Twilight's room. She stood up and crept to the door, wishing she wouldn't make any noise. Twilight followed somewhat less carefully. After carefully unlocking the door, Aurora led the way downstairs, and, much to Twilight's dismay, she took the stairs one at a time Aurora stopped between each step to make certain there was no sign the strange pet decided to explore the rest of the house.

      By the time the two Aishas got to the bottom, their visitors started to grow impatient. To the surprise of Twilight and Aurora, it was not the Builders who awaited them on the ground floor at all. It was the friendly Furniture Shop storekeeper accompanied by two strong-looking red Grarrls.

      "Is there a Surreal here? We have a delivery for her." The shopkeeper had an air of pleasantness about him as he looked up from his clipboard.

      "Actually, she's out running errands now. My guess is that she wants the new furniture taken around back where the Builders are working," Twilight answered, noticing Aurora's eyes wander down the hallway where the stairs to her rooms were concealed.

      Just then, Surreal strode up the cobblestone front path, two shopping bags in each hand. "Oh, good. You can take those around back. The Builders will know exactly where everything goes. Girls, please give me a hand with these. Where's your brother?" Surreal-the typical mom-come-home-from-shopping.

      The bags Aurora and Twilight took were filled with some of the usual stuff: food, drinks, books, and new toys. The two Aishas didn't question the bag Surreal took to her room and stashed away or the square packages wrapped inside. She returned to help put things away in the kitchen moments later, dispelling all doubts of other motives.

      "Where's Midnight? It's getting close to dinner time, he knows to be home by now," Surreal asked again.

      "He went to the Battledome. He's probably not watching the clock. I think he went to test some new weapon or another," Twilight answered, falling back to stand next to the silent Aurora.

      "Girls-" Surreal eyed them both with suspicion. Twin Aishas wore looks of hidden secrets.

      "There's some kind of pet up in Aurora's room. At least, she thinks it's a pet," Twilight spoke in the wake of her sister's silence.

      "A neopet? How could a pet get into the house? Aurora, are you sure it wasn't just one of your plushies?" The human didn't mean to imply that her pet was wrong, she just knew that Aurora got scared over the smallest things.

      "I'm sure," Aurora replied, her voice weak and shaky.

      "Well then, I think we'll have to go upstairs to see what this thing is." Surreal led the way up the stairs. Reluctantly, Aurora and Twilight followed.

      Surreal pushed open the door to Aurora's room and allowed her gaze to sweep the chamber. Her eyes settled on the bed and she laughed. Stepping aside, she let her Aishas enter.

      "I think we've solved the mystery of the missing plushie. The poor thing must have taken some sort of shrinking potion," Surreal laughed again, watching as the Plushie Kau chewed on Aurora's blanket.

      "Awww, he's cute. Can we keep him?" Twilight asked.

      "Cuddles? Cuddles is really alive?" Every plushie collector's dream was to have one of her stuffed pets come to life. "Wow. Yeah. Mom, can we keep him?"

      Both Twilight and Aurora were eager to take in the Plushie Kau. To them, he seemed like an adorable little petpet, a perfect little brother. They would never know what she had been planning.

      "Well," Surreal answered, relieved to not have to worry about the species or color of her new pet, "we'll have to ask Midnight what he thinks first, but I think we can keep him." Surreal watched the twin Aishas in their excitement.

      The human smiled knowingly and left Aurora and Twilight to play with their new brother. Some day, she would have to remember to thank the red Lupe running Neopia Central's Toy Shop.

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      Twilight ripped the square box open and threw the paper behind the Mutant sofa she was perched on. The Weewoo flew out of the box and started chirping instantly, quite verbal about his dismay at being put in a box. The White Petpet Paint Brush was still up in Twilight's room. There would most definitely be a trip to the Rainbow Pool in the morning.

      Aurora had two presents to open: a box and a velvet bag. In the box was DuskRunner, the Fire Noil. After Twilight's Weewoo, the royal Aisha expected to pull the disheveled petpet out of a box. She was not, however, expecting a present from Cuddles. Opening the bag and peering inside, a smile broke out across the Aisha's face. Letting the bag fall to the floor, she cradled the Plushie Kau Plushie where everyone could see it.

      Swimming through the air, Stargazer poked at the plushie with his scaled fins. He seemed confused when it didn't move and looked back and forth between the stuffed Plushie Kau and the real Plushie Kau. Surreal and Midnight both laughed at the Maraquan Anubis. It was then that Midnight decided he had to keep Stargazer. The Anubis was amusing and not too demanding, perfect for the Shoyru.

      The only thing left to do was find a petpet for Cuddles. Hopefully, the Kau wouldn't be as picky as his older brother.

The End

Author's Note: Woohoo. My first story for the Neopian Times. I'd love to hear your comments or criticisms. -dark_goddess_rising