The Faerie Dilemma: Part Three

      Amaida nodded, holding a small island berry smoothie. She sat in one of the chairs, watching the girl as she paced back and forth, and the Eyrie, who was staring at her suspiciously. “I was sent here by Queen Fyora to talk to Nolion here, but apparently the faerie had already shown up.”

      “How do we know you’re from Fyora?” asked Naellie, somehow managing to ask such a serious question in a bright way.

      “Look at my bag,” said the Kougra. “It has a seal on it that only workers of the queen have. Nobody else can duplicate it.”

      The pink Kyrii squealed in delight, and picked up the bag, eyeing it closely.

      “And no, there aren’t any top secret documents in there.”

      Naellie put down the back disappointedly, and Amaida grinned.

      “So are you saying that we’re going to have to find a place to hide until all of this has blown over?” Booville asked.

      “Yeah,” said Amaida. “The last person to find this item became who we now know of as Jhudora, and we don’t want anything like that to happen again. So, unless you have some knowledge that’s useful, I’m suggesting that you start packing. We’ve already arranged for you to stay for a few days in the AstroVilla.”

      “What if I want to help?” asked Nolion, standing up. He felt that because Rajani had been his owner, this whole mess was his fault, and that he had a responsibility to take care of it. The powers he’d gotten from bottled faeries built up inside of him, and he could feel the strength he’d gotten from all of his training on Mystery Island.

      Amaida just raised an eyebrow. “You? You haven’t even graduated from Neoschool. This job is for somebody with experience and elite training. I’ve looked at your records and none of the Neopians in this house have either. Now get ready to leave.”

      “What about Shirin? She’s not really mine, and I can’t contact her owner for a while anyway. Is she coming, too?”

      The Kougra nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

      Except for Shirin, who was already packed, everyone became busy packing things to leave. Nolion was done quickly. Because he was depressed about not being allowed to come along, he didn’t pack anything that he normally thought was fun to play with. Things were a little troublesome with Naellie, because she wanted to bring everything, including her entire usuki doll collection. It took longer than expected to convince her to only take a few dolls, and by the end of that, Amaida was tapping her feet with impatience.

      “Is everybody ready?” she asked in a forcefully friendly voice. Naellie was looking at the ground, pouting, and everybody else just stared at her with hardly any emotion. “Okay then... let’s go.”

      ~*~

      “Weee!” Naellie squealed, bouncing up and down on a nice, big fluffy bed. Her hair flew up and down, and all of her toys that’d been unpacked her bouncing along with her. She seemed to be enjoying herself a lot, and as Booville watched her from the other bed in the room, the dark feeling that’d been overshadowing her since the attack had started to leave.

      But what if Rajani found them here?

      The girl shook her head and looked at the windows, where the empty blackness of space gazed back. The girl—faerie?—couldn’t come all the way over to the hotel. The only faerie out here was the space faerie.

      Amaida had left as soon as they were all settled, and where she went, nobody knew. Nolion had stayed in the room next door ever since, and Shirin was busy checking out the pool downstairs.

      ~*~

      The starry Eyrie rested on his bed in the dark, staring up at the ceiling while thoughts whirled around in his head. He was here. Rajani was out there. Somehow the girl had managed to get hold of something that had turned her into a faerie. Rajani was an earth faerie, and now the faerie queen was after her. He had to do something, but how? Amaida had forbidden it, and she was one of the closest people to the most powerful faerie.

      Yet lately, his opinions of faeries hadn’t been very welcome, so why should he obey her? For all he knew, Fyora was another villain masquerading behind a mask of peace and serenity.

      A fountain of giggling erupted through the wall. How could his family be so happy? Something big was happening on Neopia, and if he were given an allowance, he would’ve bet every neopoint that it was something that would change the future of the planet for the worse if it were left alone.

      Only... it was his owner, or at least his old one. She would never do what the Kougra had led his family to believe! She was good! Sure she got a little obsessive sometimes, but she would never hurt anybody!

      He picked himself up and brought himself over to the window. Beneath him rested such a beautiful sight, it nearly brought tears to his eyes. Neopia was so beautiful from up here. It was like a bright jewel shining amongst the darkness.

      He had to do something. He had to convince Rajani to tell everybody that this was all a great joke, and that she only meant to ruffle everybody’s feathers a little bit.

      Scrambling over to the doorway, he found a light switch and flipped it up. As he blinked furiously, he scrambled over to the vanity, which held pamphlets advertising the events that would be happening here soon. There was to be a costume party and a pool party, but he was interested in more important matters.

      The drawers came out with a slight thunk and his gaze fell upon a notepad and a light faerie pen that seemed to be glowing. Gripping them with a tight hold, he slammed them down on top and began to scribble away.

     I’m sorry, Booville, but I can’t stay here. Rajani was my owner and I’m the only one who can stop this, despite what that Kougra says. I’ll see you soon,

      Nolion

      He folded up the note and left it on the pillow.

      ~*~

      Shirin gasped as the water floated around her, coming above her head for a moment before she kicked her way to the surface. It was cold for a moment, but as she kicked around in the pool, it began to feel warmer and warmer until it felt as comfortable in as the air. A leeble rubber ring came into her possession, and it became the source of much splashing and squealing.

      Something large and blue flitted by the edge of the pool. The white Shoyru had to stretch a little to see what it was, and then took in a short little breath when she saw. It was Nolion! But why was he here? He’d told everybody that he was going to sleep! She slowly began to make her way towards the side, but by the time she got there, he’d made it all the way over to the entrance, where dozens of small spaceships waited to take Neopians back to the planet.

      He was leaving? But the nice Kougra had told them to stay there! Why would he disobey her?

      Shirin wiggled and squirmed her way out of the ring, and gave it to a really young looking Mynci who was delighted to have it.

      She quickly ran over to grab a fancy looking towel and dried herself off before dashing towards the entrance. Time stood still as she ran, her feet making loud tapping noises on the floor, and it seemed as if it took forever before she came to the huge, sliding glass doors.

      “Nolion?” she called out in her usual soft spoken voice. She’d never been a pet to intrude boldly on somebody, and as a result had become quite quiet.

      Nobody answered.

      Shirin frowned and left the doorway as a huge group of important looking pets and faeries strode by her—was that King Hagan?—which seemed absorbed in the conversation it was holding. As the last Gelert passed, she found herself outside, with cold wind blowing on her scales.

      She caught another flash of blue in her vision, and quickly darted for it. The Eyrie entered into a small spaceship, and as she made her way to it, the door started to close. Her heart nearly stopped, and she tripped as she passed by a leaving Cybunny.

      “Ow... Nolion!” she gasped.

      The door was nearly shut by the time she came within a few paces of it, and she dove for it, hoping to make it before it closed. She shut her eyes, her breath catching in her throat, and tumbled onto a floor that was soft and velvety.

      “Shirin?”

      “Nolion!” she gasped. The Eyrie was peering down at her with a mixture of shock and shame that he’d been caught doing something that he obviously wasn’t supposed to. The door shut with a click, and a slight vibration told them that they were now moving.

To be continued...