You Lost Our Owner!

     The sheer absence of those two Eyries was the first sign Something Was Wrong.

     ~*~

     Adie was annoyed. Granted, it didn't take much to annoy the poor electric Eyrie, but considering how much her temper was frizzed at the moment, she was acting much better than expected. Not that she was acting very well as it were.

     The annoyance came in the shape of her younger brother, a blue Eyrie whose ego was so enlarged, it was a miracle he could fit it through the dank hallways of the Deserted Tomb. Particularly, his reluctance to search for their owner which HE had misplaced in the first place. Well, misplaced might not have been the appropriate word, but considering Vulpis' habit of wandering out to gape at cracks in the walls should have hinted them that bringing her here was a bad idea in the first place.

     "I am NOT staying. You can look for Vulpis yourself," he was saying, not noticing Adie's rising ire.

     "Hey! You lost our owner, you find her!" Adie retorted, not even bothering to rephrase the argument she had already used three times in a row.

     "This humidity is bad for my fur!" Sander replied, showing an amazing inventiveness by excusing himself in a different way every time Adie opened her mouth.

     She was about to repeat one of her few arguments in favor of searching for Vulpis when a thought suddenly struck her.

     "Okay," she shrugged, suddenly looking terribly aloof for someone that mere seconds ago was ready to strangle her sibling. "Let's go and play the Tombola."

     Sander found it a little disturbing. He knew his sister well enough to recognize the blunt lack of subtlety, meaning she knew something HE didn't (not that it happened often, he'd say. But yes, it DID happen often).

     "Really? You're okay with this? We can go and let her find her way out by herself?" the younger Eyrie asked cautiously.

     "Suuure, we can even tell her how her auction turned out!" Adie laughed lightheartedly.

     "Auction?" There was something decidedly ominous in Adie's tone and Sander was afraid he'd find out.

     "Suuure," she made a wide gesture with her paw, "the one for that Paint Brush you've been drooling after for months. I do believe she found a great bargain," Sander's eyes bulged, "but, y'know, I think we can wait some months until she can scrape the money together for another one."

     Sander would have gnashed his teeth if he had any. Seeing how he didn't have any, however, he merely muttered something along the lines of "Let's go look for her," and stalked off down the corridor.

     Adie was quite proud of herself, really. She should have realised sooner that her brother's vanity would get the better of him one day.

     'Darn,' Sander thought. He'd been outsmarted by his sister. How could this happen?! He was the one that usually outsmarted HER. Well, it just goes to show spending quality time with the owner was a nice replacement for actual intellect, his mind added huffily. Yes, that was it, she simply got lucky.

     ~*~

     "Ummm... hello?" The shaky voice echoed throughout the tomb. "Adie? Sander? I'm kinda lost. Help? It's cold and kinda drafty and I think I stepped in some green goo... Anybody here? Huh... Guess not. Hey, a door! Wonder what's being i-eaaaaahhhh!"

     THUD!

     ~*~

     "Okay," Adie said, completely confident she knew exactly what she was talking about. "We go left now."

     "We can't go left," Sander groaned. This was the last time he'd let his sister lead the way. The Eyrie might have been older, but she had the sense of direction of a blind Miamouse in a cheese factory.

     "Why not?" Adie screeched, her feathers obviously ruffled.

     "Because we took left last time and it got us right back here."

     "It did?" She looked around, as if convinced her brother would mislead her on purpose (a slightly redundant phrase, as if Sander truly DID mislead her, it would be nothing *but* on purpose).

     "Yes."

     "Are you sure? I could swear we weren't here before."

     "I'm pretty sure. See the ugly statue? I remember passing it before and asking myself what the decorator was thinking. Techo statues were out thousand of years ago!"

     It was now Adie's turn to groan.

     "Sander, this tomb IS thousand of years old."

     "See my point?"

     There was a heartfelt sigh. But getting into pointless arguments with one's sibling is the all-time source of great misfortune, as that one Acara poet wrote, and indeed, doom was impending none too subtly.

     Click!

     "Sander, what did you--"

     Before Adie could screech in a panicked manner, spikes started shooting from the walls and the two Eyries scurried to safety.

     ~*~

     "Whoa! That was some fall! They don't make floors like they used to!" And even though she should have known better, the voice added, "Oh, well, what else could possibly happen now?"

     "Hiisssssss..."

     Famous last words.

     ~*~

     Adie stood perfectly still on the floor. Sander was somewhere in front of her, dusting himself off and chuckling.

     It was the last time she visited this faeries-forsaken place. Dodging those old, albeit very sharp, spears was too much. Next time she'd do something less dangerous, like wrestling Balthazar.

     Adie refused to move. As long as she stood perfectly still on the floor, nothing worse could happen. Yes, what a marvelous idea! She won't move for the rest of her life and she'll avoid all that unnecessary pain!

     "That wasn't so bad!" her brother commented.

     "I hate you," Adie stated calmly from her spot on the floor. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. You antagonize every aspect of my existence. You're Jhudora to my Illusen, you're Lupe to my Chia, you're CHEESE CAKE TO MY ASPARAGUS!"

     Sander scoffed. "That's a bit harsh, isn't it? Besides, we're alive."

     "No thanks to you."

     "And we might still find Vulpis in time for the auction."

     Adie was just about to convince herself that Vulpis was lost forever in the labyrinthine tomb and going home while all limbs were still attached to her body would have been a much better plan, but alas, a sharp shrieking broke that train of thoughts.

     That shrieking was several octaves above human capacity and therefore could only belong to Vulpis. Their owner. Their owner with a very good set of lungs, though a highly annoying voice.

     And just on cue, the aforementioned girl sprinted down the halls towards her two Eyries. She stopped running and screaming like a lunatic for just enough time to look from Adie to Sander and yell in a panicked frenzy, "RUN!", then continued sprinting towards what she obviously thought was the exit.

     Adie and Sander stood in numb shock and looked one at the other, slightly bemused, slightly startled and having no idea what they should do.

     Just as Sander was about to say something, however, a distinct hissing sound could be heard.

     The two Eyries were eager to follow their owner out of the tomb once the monstrous Ghost Hissi caught up with them, however.

     Later that day, when Vulpis could crash on the sofa and kick off her shoes and Sander could finally groom his feathers back in place, they'd both realise something was missing... Or possibly someone...

     ~*~

     "Hello? Vulpis? Sander? Erm... Guys, this isn't funny!"

     "Hissss...."

     "Uh oh..."

The End