Now You See Me, Now You Don't: Part Five

     "That's an awful lot to be asking for," Belinda said, furrowing her brows. She snorted. "But I guess it's worth this one." She looked down at Marigold and winked. "Let's hurry. I want to get home," she said. "Can I adopt another one too, the one above, in the cage above where Mari - I mean, this Moehog, was in? Can I have the sleeping Moehog?" Belinda asked.

     "How can he still be sleeping through all of this, new owner?" Marigold asked with a cough and a wink. "I can't wait to get to my new neohome." She gasped as she suddenly saw Mr. Picky turn the corner. "New mommy, there's Mr. Picky, the Grarrl," she said quickly, tugging on Belinda's arm.

     "Run!" the Nimmo said, remembering they wanted to avoid him. "I'll distract him, okay? You both take the back exit... Just keep going down the hall, turn left, and there it will be. Open the door and you'll be out. Good luck," he hissed, giving them both a little push.

     Marigold let out a loud sigh once she and Belinda were safely outside. "That wasn't so hard," she said. "I guess you'll have to get Kipper tomorrow. Take me back to the neohome. I think I should catch up on some sleep," Marigold said.

     "I can't," Belinda confessed. "I'm sorry, but they took my old neohome away." She looked at Marigold's shocked face and said: "I know, I can't believe it either. I'm so angry. They gave it to some poor Neopian, with all of my furniture and keepsakes inside and everything. But that's okay... Not really, but you know... I'm getting a new neohome built. It has two rooms in it now, but we can still go in it. They're working on building more rooms. Right now it has the kitchen and a bathroom, but they're working on a bedroom. It'll be done in a couple hours and then you can go in there. We can buy furniture together," Belinda offered.

     "That would be wonderful! Could you buy a sofa that I really like?" Marigold begged. "It's not over twenty thousand neopoints," she said. "Barely under, but I think it's worth it. It's the most comfortable sofa and it looks darling. I forgot the name but I'll know it when I see it. We could look," Marigold pleaded.

     "Maybe," Belinda said. "I just spent three thousand getting you back. Of course, it's worth it, but I don't have a lot left now. I spent a lot just getting those few rooms to be put in our new neohome. But the good thing is we're situated in a better location now. Anyway, I have fifty thousand left and I don't think I could spend almost half of that on a sofa. We have a lot to buy." Belinda laughed and took one of Marigold's hooves. "C'mon!" she cried, giving her daughter a huge grin.

     The next day Belinda went back to the pound. She left Marigold at their neohome, thinking it was the smartest thing to do. Belinda easily adopted Kipper because Mr. Picky was at his own neohome with a Neopian illness, the Sneezles, that day. Belinda was back to their neohome with the pleased Kipper in a jiffy.

     "When I'd woken up and you weren't there, Marigold, I admit I freaked out! I thought someone adopted you and not me, and I was scared and lonely... Amazing how all of this worked out. And I'm surprised Belinda could just adopt us right back. LOL! Belinda, you're a tricky one," Kipper said with a laugh.

     Belinda smiled. "I'm going to run out to the furniture store and buy a few things," she said. "You two stay here - and stay put. Don't make any distress calls," she said, looking towards Kipper.

     Kipper looked down towards the floor. "I'm sorry!" he cried. "Anyway, they finished the bedroom, right? Who gets the first bedroom?" he asked with pleading eyes.

     "You can have it," Belinda said, looking at Marigold. "But let Marigold rest in it, okay? You slept a lot, didn't you?" she asked Kipper. "Marigold could have her bedroom be on the second floor. Does that sound nice?"

     Marigold nodded. "You hurry and go buy the furniture. We'll be good little children and wait right here," she said. "We'll be quiet and nice and everything."

     Soon Belinda was gone to shop for furniture and Kipper and Marigold were sitting in the corner of the bare room on the hard dirt floor. That was when they heard a big knock on the front door.

     Kipper jumped up to answer it, but Marigold pushed him down. "No," she hissed in his ear. "It might be Mr. Picky or someone! Belinda has a key, and if it was her, she wouldn't knock. Let's hurry and run to another room so whoever it is knocking won't see us through the window."

     Marigold ushered Kipper into the bathroom and locked the door. "No windows in this room," she said with a smile. "We'll be fine in here." But then her voice caught in her throat when she heard a loud bang and big stomps inside of the neohome. "I hope," she whispered, making sure the door was locked. It was.

     "Oh no," Kipper said, almost ready to cry.

     "Don't cry," Marigold warned him. "We can't let whoever it is hear us. The footsteps are practically stomps, and it sounds like Mr. Picky. I don't think he's a rescuer," she said. "He's much more dangerous, and mean, and he doesn't care about rescuing poor little pets at all!"

     "Shush," Kipper whispered. "Let's just be quiet."

     They listened intensely as the footsteps stomped around the empty kitchen, and the empty bedroom. Then they stomped over and stopped, as it sounded, right in front of the locked bathroom door.

     "Anyone home?" the gruff voice of Mr. Picky growled. "Belinda, I know this your new residence!" His voice boomed through the three-room neohome. "And those two pesky Moehogs were adopted! I don't know who it was, but my Nimmo assistant is pretty fidgety about telling me who adopted them!" he cried. "And I know it was you."

     Marigold felt terrified. She grabbed Kipper and held him close. She felt scared and wished Belinda would hurry back. But it could be an hour more before she got home. If Mr. Picky could break through a front door, he could definitely break through a weaker bathroom door.

     "I'm scared," Kipper whispered to his older sister. "There's nowhere to hide. This whole place is empty," he cried, scooting even closer, if it was possible, to Marigold.

     "Shh," Marigold hissed.

     The doorknob started turning violently. Mr. Picky was trying to get in. "It's locked," he said, "which means someone has to be in there. Belinda, or you Moehog pets, you open up now. I can break in, and if you let me in I'll be much easier on you!" he screamed.

     "What should we do?" Marigold asked.

     "Don't open it, whatever you do. He'll still take us away even if we do open up. We can figure out something. Or stall as long as possible until Belinda gets neohome. I hope she hurries back," Kipper said quietly. "Until then, maybe we could try and come up with a way to get out of this situation," he suggested.

     Marigold listened to Mr. Picky slamming his large Grarrl body against their bathroom door. She heard the door cracking under the pressure of all of his weight. "Okay. But let's hurry and think of something. Fast!"

     Kipper got up and started feeling around all parts of the wall to see if everything was completely built in. He hoped it wasn't. But his hands hit a soft spot in the wall. "Marigold, come here," he whispered, beckoning to her.

     She quickly ran over and felt the wall for herself. "Yes," she murmured. "I think they're building another room, a living room maybe, right on the other side of this wall. This might be where the door is going. Come on. I bet we can break through it; this part of the wall is so weak."

     Marigold and Kipper slammed their own bodies at this part of the wall, making plenty of noise. Mr. Picky would know they were in there, but that was fine, as long as they got out. He still wasn't in the bathroom yet, but he would be very soon. The bathroom door was visibly about to fall down.

     Finally pieces of the wall crumbled. Marigold climbed through first, followed by Kipper. They weren't in any living room, just a space where it looked like a living room would soon be built. There were lots of supplies around and the yard was cleared here. But they were outside and not in another room, so it was fine. Marigold and Kipper began to run. As they were running, they heard the bathroom door fall and Mr. Picky cry out. They smiled to themselves but just kept running. He could easily catch up to them.

To be continued...