Secret of the Advent Calendar: Part Two

     “Yeah, basically,” Jibjuff answered. The Moehog burst into laughter at the apparently absurd idea.

      “Sure,” he said, “and faerie paint brushes fall from the sky.”

      “I know it sounds funny, sir,” Jibjuff added hesitantly, “but it’s true! Here are some of my notes,” Jibjuff pulled a blue note pad out from her bag. Written on it were all of her suspicions and a list of all the incidents including any Advent Calendar gifts. She had asked around before coming here, so her total was twelve. All of these included the Advent Calendar and meepits.

      “Blah, blah, blah, this is just a few words, soup kitchen, money tree, all a lot of lies. The Advent Calendar is something to express gratitude and festivities, you silly Lupe!” the Moehog said sternly. “Now off with ye so some one with a real problem who needs our help can get it.” With that, Jibjuff was shoved out the door. Jibjuff walked slowly home, feeling dejected and useless. If the Defenders would not help her, no one would. They would probably just laugh and say she was crazy, just like that Moehog.

      A plate of lemon jelly sat on a plate on the table with a note attached. The note was as follows:

     We have all gone to see a concert in Tyrannia; your dinner is sitting here, and you can join us if you want.

      -Amanda

      Jibjuff ate the jelly but did not go to the concert; instead she went to her room and grabbed her copy of A Ruki Christmas. Then she proceeded to tie it to a rock, lock it in a box, wrap the box in chain, lock the box in the closet and finally, completely exhausted, she fell asleep.

      In her dreams the book climbed out of the box, out of the closet, on to her face where it ripped her fur out. She woke in a cold sweat. The book made horrible noises from inside its prison, but it was safely locked up.

      “Help!” Jibjuff heard people outside screaming and shouting; she looked out the window and saw a terrible sight. Repaired meepit plushies and dung meepit plushies marched forth in swarms, enveloping all in their wrath of evil plushieness. Meepits with remote controls made the plushies kick, punch, and wreak general havoc on the city. Gobblers flew overhead attacking screaming civilians. New Year Dentures bit neopets' feet left and right. Chichichi, Tillia, Kikoo and Amanda came running toward her.

      “You four run and hide somewhere safe. I’ve got to send word to someone and get reinforcements to fight the meepits,” Amanda said. “Go with the Soup Faerie.” With that she sent them all into the bushes. The Soup Faerie grabbed them all and said, “Hurry, I’m going to try a random teleport; that’s the quickest way to get away.” Chichichi, Jibjuff, Kikoo, and Tilia along with 3 other neopets clung to the Soup Faerie as she surrounded them with green light. All that could be seen was blurred colors, light, water and sun mixed together. They landed on an icy slope on Terror Mountain. Thick piles of snow, once delicately balanced atop tree boughs now fell on them. Jibjuff spat snow and twigs out of her mouth and shook herself dry. Snow swirled and spun from all directions in this terrible blizzard.

      “Come on, I think I see a house farther on,” a yellow Kacheek had to yell to be heard in the storm.

      “He’s right, we’ve all got to take shelter in Taelia’s house,” the Soup Faerie said. The company crawled over piles of powdery snow, sinking in 3 or 4 feet each time they stepped in a spot that was not firmly packed. They only knew when they had reached the house when they crashed into the oaken side. Thick snow made it impossible to see a few inches in front of them. Jibjuff felt her way around the corner of the house, being careful to not be swept away by the terrible blizzard. She knocked and wiggled the door knob, screaming for it to open up. When the door was only unlatched for a moment, the fierce wind blew the door open.

      “I found a way inside!” Jibjuff yelled into the wind. The Soup Faerie, Chichichi, Kikoo, Tillia, the yellow Kacheek, whose name was Mojo, and a red Shoyru called Vo were blown in the door. The last pet had been lost in the storm.

      “Hello!! Is anybody home?” Vo yelled out.

      “Shut up! Taelia might not want us to be here,” Mojo whispered.

      “Don’t be silly, Taelia left all the other faeries to help pets who were lost in the snow,” the Soup Faerie explained.

      “But no one is here,” Jibjuff pointed out. It was true, the snow faerie was not at home, but there was a note on the table:

     Pets who have come upon my house in a search for shelter, feel welcome to stay and warm yourselves; there is hot chocolate in the lower left cupboard. Stay until the weather is clear enough to find your way home, or if you are lost, you may wait for me to take you when I get back. But Whatever You Do, Don’t Touch Anything But The Hot Chocolate And Blankets.

      -Sincerely, Taelia

      “Well that seems clear enough,” Chichichi commented.

      “I’m not going to touch anything; it’s all probably a booby trap,” Mojo said stubbornly.

      “I’ll make hot chocolate; who wants some?” Kikoo asked.

      “Me!”

      “Me too.”

      “Yes please.”

      “Sure!”

      “Well, I’m not going to have any. The whole lot of you are crazy!” Mojo argued.

      “Are you sure?” the Soup Faerie inquired kindly.

      “Yes,” Mojo answered, “and if you all die from getting poisoned, it’s not my fault.” And with that, the yellow Kacheek marched out the door into the icy wind. He had not walked two steps when a group of meepits snatched him and carried him off.

      “Did you see that?” Tilia gasped and pointed to the spot where the Kacheek had been just a few moments before.

      “What do the meepits need to kidnap pets for?” Jibjuff asked. This weird conspiracy was getting stranger by the hour. First, Advent Calendar items came to life, then they found out the meepits were behind it all (no surprise there), and now they needed pets for some strange purpose.

      “Who knows,” Vo answered, “but we’ve got to follow them and see where the meepit stronghold is.”

      “I’m too tired.” Chichichi yawned. “We can just do it in the morning.”

      “But they’ll be long gone by then,” Kikoo tried to explain to her older brother.

      “There will be tracks.” Chichichi pretended to fall asleep.

      “The snow will cover it all up!” Kikoo shook the red Kougra. “Please?”

      “I get all of your Halloween candy and you have to do my chores for a week,” Chichichi demanded.

      “Deal,” Kikoo said.

      “Enough jabber; let’s get moving!” Jibjuff opened the door, letting in another freezing blast of icy wind. She was getting bored and annoyed with her stuck-up older brother.

      “Gather close,” the Soup Faerie shouted above the wind. “I’ll try to fly above the storm.” They all clutched the Soup Faerie’s feet as she tried to fly with them all. Eventually they rose above the clouds, but their newfound visibility did them no good. All they could see was white fluffy clouds. But something could be seen that was so tall that the tip rose above the clouds; it appeared to be a castle. Perhaps it was the one belonging to the meepits. The Soup Faerie flew down and landed at the base of the fortress. A mass of pointy black rock rose above them all. The tip was above the clouds where they had just come from. Giant mutant meepits stood guard at the huge spike covered doors. Kikoo stretched her neck to get a better look but Chichichi pulled her back down again.

      “We’ll have to find another way in,” he whispered. “Otherwise we might be taken captive like Mojo. Besides, if they catch you and eat you, then you won’t be able to do my chores for me.” Jibjuff paced around in a circle behind the rock that they hid in the rear of. She climbed up on top of a small flat rock to think but as soon as she put her weight on the rock, the rock rotated flipped and dumped her in to a long, deep shaft.

      “I think I’ve found a secret way in!” Jibjuff called up. “There is a tunnel that looks like it goes on for miles!”

      “Bravo, Jibjuff. We’ll be down in a minute,” Tillia called back.

      “Quickly now, those meepit guards look as though they might have heard us,” the Soup Faerie whispered. One by one they climbed down to the floor where Jibjuff waited and a few minutes later they were walking into the depths of the meepit stronghold.

To be continued...