Shades of Darkness: Shadow is Arising - Part Five

Inside Information

We called an emergency meeting in Nfc's living room. Nfc sent out frantic Neomail's telling Bananagirl and Dykred to get down to his place fast and to watch out for unusual things on the way there.

     Dykred arrived first, and he was soaking wet because it had started to rain. Dykred is about half an inch taller then me with blonde highlights on top of his brown hair. His pet was a red Shoyru, named Leader428, otherwise known as Leader.

     Bananagirl arrived a bit later. Our meeting then started. Hop was still curled up on Nfc's couch, shaking, so we had the meeting in the kitchen so he could rest.

     I started to explain what happened during the shopping trip, and then stopped when I got to the Shade-pets part. Nfc showed them the book. We sat in silence for a few moments, but then Dykred spoke up:

     "I think we should get the faeries to help us on this one. We don't know where there base is, or anything else about them except what's in that book. And if these things can possess people, it's dangerous to be around them."

     *******************************************************************

     Hop and I where going to the faeries since we were the ones who encountered the Shades and the faeries were more likely to believe us. I wrapped Hop up in a blanket for the journey (he still was shaking). It was raining hard, which meant the Uni Taxi was down. I took Nevony instead.

     We didn't impress the queen the moment we walked in through the palace doors. We were wet, muddy, and cold.

     "We need to see the Faerie Queen! It's urgent!" I cried to one of the faerie guards in the hall.

     "Do you have an appointment?" said the earth faerie guard in a sweet, innocent voice.

     "No."

     "No appointment, no seeing the queen."

     "Would any sane person trudge up here in that rain if it wasn't important?" I yelled, pointing to the window.

     "I can give her a message."

     "Just tell Fyora that it's about The Shades."

     The Faerie walked up the stairs to Fyora's office while we waited. Some Faeries brought us towels, which we greatly accepted.

     The Faerie came back a few minutes later.

     "Fyora wishes to see you," and she signaled for us to follow her.

     We trudged up the stairs and into Fyora's office, which was decorated in pink Faerie Furniture. Fyora sat behind a pink desk in front of a large window. A large pink quill sat on her desk, along with paper bearing the queens signature.

     "Thank you Celia," she said to the earth faerie. "You may leave, but stand outside and close the door," Celia walked out.

     "Lets see, your names are?" asked Fyora.

     "I'm Mackenzie, the Uni is Nevony, and this is Hop the Kacheek."

     "And what about the Shades?"

     We told our story, describing the Shades with great detail, but Fyora didn't seam that interested.

     "Okay, let me tell you something. These 'pets' you saw couldn't have been Shades. The faeries and The Guardian of Neopia made a Barrier long ago to keep them out of Neopia. If the Barrier had broken, I would know."

     "Look at Hop," I said holding Hop up, who was still shaking, but not as much. "He was almost kidnapped by them. He's still suffering some aftershock!"

     "You flew over here in freezing rain, no wonder he's shivering. Listen, I have no clue who those pets were, but they weren't Shades. Now, if we could please end this, I need to write a report." We left; we knew she didn't believe us.

      *******************************************************************

     "Well, how did it go?" asked Nfc eagerly as we arrived back at his Neohome.

     "Terribly," I said. "She didn't believe one bit of our story. She just went on about some barrier that the Faeries and some Guardian made that keeps them away and refuses to believe that it's broken. I even showed her Hop and she just insisted that his shivering was only from the ride over there!"

     The evening Neopian Times thudded against the door, which Nfc grabbed. Written in large, bold letters on the front page was "Torono_Darkshadow takes over Tyrannia" along with a picture of a starry Shoyru with a sword in the air. Torono's eyes were a lifeless grey.

     "He's a Shade," I mumbled and read the rest of the article, but stopped and nearly fell over when a came across this; Torono_Darkshadow also currently rules south Meridell, which came along with a picture of Torono standing on his tower balcony.

     "Hey guys! Come look at this!"

     I showed them the article.

     "So?" asked Bananagirl.

     "We can send one of us in to that tower and spy. They can sketch pictures and write down what ever those Shade pets say." I said. "Then the Faerie Queen will have to believe us!"

     "How is one of us going to move through that tower without being seen?" asked Dykred.

     "Wait, I know!" said Nfc. He ran into the kitchen and came back with a green Invisihat. "This will keep the user Invisible for two hours, so they can move about the tower without anybody noticing, unless someone runs into you."

     "Good! But who should be the person to go?"

     There was a long silent period.

     "I'll go," said a quiet voice behind them.

     I turned around. Behind me was Leader, who was apparently eavesdropping on our entire conversation.

     "Are you sure?" asked Dykred. "You know what you're facing?"

     The Shoyru nodded. "Besides, I'm the smallest, and the quietest. And don't forget that I have wings."

     "Alright, Leader will spy on the Shades tomorrow. Now let's round up our pets and let's go home. We'll meet at my place at ten A.M. NST."

     *******************************************************************

     We arrived at Dykred's place the next day to bid Leader good luck. The rain still hadn't stopped. Leader was already ready when arrived, wearing a backpack containing paper and pencil, bottle of water, and the Invisihat.

     "Don't put it on until you reach the tower. I um, got you a map," said Nfc.

     I let out a snigger. Nfc had said that he went to the Space Station last night and hacked the map of somewhere that I didn't want to know about.

     "Good Luck!" I said as Leader left.

     *******************************************************************

     To Leader, it seemed as if he had walked through the forest twice before he finally reached the tower. It loomed over him, as if trying to frighten him out of entering, but Leader knew what he had to do, and he wasn't going to quit. He put on his Invisihat and walked across the grounds, expecting to be attacked, but he wasn't. He looked at Nfc's map, which had a red x marked where he could enter without using the front door. He flew over to the marked spot, which looked like a pipe.

     "Oh great," murmured Leader. He knew where he was going. Up the toilet. Well, at least he could just fly up.

     Leader was finally inside the tower. A half an hour of his time was up, so he decided he better get to work. He pulled out some paper. He'd

     sketch pictures now, and if a good conversation came up, then he'd pull out his notebook.

     Leader flew up the stairs, sketching pictures of random Shades that were going up or down. He peaked in a few rooms and sketched more pictures, but most of the conversations were just idle chatter. But once in a while he got a whiff of Torono's next spot for takeover, which was going to be Terror Mountain.

     Leader had only a half hour left, so he decided to go to the top of the tower and spy on Torono_Darkshadow himself.

     Leader approached the large black doors. Two guards stood on each side. He looked through his pack and pulled out his water bottle, which was now empty. He threw it at one of the guards, who responded with an "Ow! Who did that?"

     "What? There's nobody there," said the other guard.

     "Something threw this bottle at me!" The guards started to feel around for an attacker. Leader opened the door silently and slipped inside while the guards where looking for an invisible person.

     Torono sat at his desk with the back of the chair toward Leader. He was just staring out the window and mumbling inaudibly under his breath.

     There was a knock on the door.

     "Come in!" yelled Torono.

     A yellow Acara entered. He was also a Shade, Leader noted as he saw the eyes. Leader side-stepped and went to stand over by a life size portrait of Torono himself. Torono swiveled around in his chair.

     "Have you found out how to break that Barrier yet?" asked Torono.

     "No My Lord, but-"

     "I NEED that Barrier broken Acara! I need my magic back! When are you going to do what I've asked you to! GUARDS! GUARDS! GET IN HERE!"

     "Um Sir, when I came up here they were on their way down the steps mumbling something about a water bottle hitting one of them in the face and that they're going to find the person responsible," said the Acara, now very scared.

     "THEN GET OUT YOURSELF! WHAT AM I PAYING YOU FO-"

      Torono stopped screaming in mid sentence. Leader wondered why... until he found out that he could see his own hand.

     "WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY OFFICE?" bellowed Darkshadow.

     Leader had to think fast. He grabbed his pack and threw it in Darkshadow's face. He took flight and shot out the door like a bullet. He soared down the stairs, dodging random Shades as Torono flew after him. Torono was catching up.

     Torono and Leader were now neck and neck. Torono rammed his body into Leader's, causing him to fall. Leader hit the wall and slumped over. He wouldn't make it out. He was just going to die here. Or worse. He looked at the floor as Torono landed. The water bottle that he had thrown earlier was lying there. The guard must have dropped it when he was looking for him. Leader had an idea. He grabbed the bottle and whacked Darkshadow on the head, then took flight.

     Leader soared out the door and onto the grounds. He didn't stop flying till he was over the Meridell-Neopia Central boarder. He swooped down and sat down to rest once he was in Neopia Central. Well...it hadn't been a total waste of time. At least he could tell the others the info.

     Leader reached his home just as darkness was settling in. He opened the door to a bunch of relieved sighs.

     "Show us what you found!" asked Dykred.

     "The Invisihat wore off when I was in Torono's office. He saw me and I had to throw my stuff at him so I could escape. But I do know that he is planning to take over Terror Mountain next and he is trying to break this Barrier thing. If it breaks, they will be able to use their magic." And then Leader sat down on the couch to rest.

To be continued...