It Happened Twice

     *

      “Ready to go to Cassie’s house, guys?” The high soprano voice of Ambreon rang through the suite. Am, a short Filipino twelve year old girl, is our owner, but she wishes she was a vampire who is physically nine years old. Also, our suite was on the fourth floor of the AstroVilla Neolodge on the Space Station since Am was still saving up for us to live in Shenkuu. She had the money, but she “accidentally” bought me some new clothes and Hannah a Cloud Eizzil.

      “Hold on, Am!” my sister Hannah, a Cloud Usul, pleaded from her room. “I can’t find my hat!” Piku P and I sighed. How many times a day can she lose that hat? I wondered.

      As Hannah stumbled into the front room with her hat askew, Am asked, “Where’re Vujaba and Speckie?”

      “Uh-oh.” Looking guilty, Piku P, a Red Lupe, shuffled to the side a bit.

      Sighing hopelessly, she asked, “What did you do this time, Piku P?”

      “Well,” Piku P paused, probably deciding whether or not to lie, “Vu was annoying me, so I kinda sorta told her to get lost.” He grinned sheepishly.

      “That’s just fantastic. You know Vu doesn’t understand figures of speech. She and Speckie are probably lost in the suite somewhere!” Am scolded.

     “Vujaba, Speckie! Where are you?” Hannah and I called. No answer. “Vujaba, Speckie!” Am repeated. Suddenly, they appeared from the kitchen. “Ready to go, guys?” Am asked pleasantly.

      “Yep!” The duo, a baby Xweetok and a Faerie-Feepit-to-be, acted as if they have been here the whole time.

     “I’ll take care of you when we come back,” Am warned Piku P. As always, he shrugged.

      As we walked down the hallway, Piku P was constantly making faces at Vujaba who just stared back at him blankly. It’s amazing Am didn’t notice. We then took the elevator down to the lobby, and headed towards the transporter station. The transporters were really fun to ride. One time, when we still lived in Neopia Central, I took a transporter to the Space Station and back just for fun. It’s a good thing they are mechanically operated; if there was a driver, he would probably be annoyed. Anyway, lucky for us, a nearly empty transporter was waiting there. We boarded the transporter and flew off to Neopia.

      The transporter landed softly at the station in Neopia Central. When it came to a stop, we hopped off and followed Am. “Before we go to Mystery Island, I have to withdraw some Neopoints,” Am explained, since we weren’t going in the direction we would have gone to go to Mystery Island. “Oh yeah, and Kat will be there, too.” Of course this was very good news, but for Vu, the announcement was almost as thrilling as winning the Neopian Lottery. She absolutely adored Cloudy, our Xweetok cousin, but I didn’t think that Cloudy didn’t enjoy having her number one fan around.

      When we arrived at the bank, the Bank Manager smiled at us and asked, “You have the whole clan today, Miss Ambreon?”

      “Yep,” Am replied in a conversational tone. “But we’re just here to withdraw one hundred Neopoints.”

      The manager disappeared behind the counter and soon came back with a bag of 100 Neopoints. “Here you go, madam,” he said.

      “Thank you very much,” Am answered. As soon as we left the bank building, she asked brightly, “Ready to go to the get-together now?” We all answered a cheerful “Yep!”

      We were now walking into the Plaza. This meant we were near the evil Pound. A few teenage humans lingered in front of that horrid place. One of the boys’ eyes lit up as he saw us pass by. I could sense what was going to happen as soon as he started running towards us.

      “Hey! Hey, you there!” he called after Am.

      Knowing what was about to happen, she sighed, and then turned around to face him. “What the heck do you want?” she asked him harshly. My siblings and I knew what that tone meant, so we hid behind her.

      “I really like your Island Gelert,” he said brightly. I grimaced as I realized he wanted to trade an innocent, and probably scared, pet for me.

      “Yeah, she’s a very good girl,” Am said as harshly as before. Now all of us knew what was going to happen next.

      “I’ll give you an unconverted Cloud Cybunny for her,” the boy answered, his voice not as light as before due to her intimidating tone.

      “As if,” Am retorted curtly. “Come on, guys.” We followed her silently and obediently.

      “Wait,” the boy called after us. Am stopped and turned around again.

      “Guess what?” she snarled.

      “Sure,” he answered, clearing not realizing that this was another threat. Piku P rolled his eyes at the boy.

      Irritated, Am glared at the boy. “I love my pets, and they will NEVER be up for trade or adoption.” She snorted. “Let’s go, guys.”

      He stared blankly at us as we hurriedly walked away. Unfortunately, Am’s face was anything but blank.

      “I can’t believe people actually do that,” she muttered to herself. “And to think about how their pets feel.” She kept rambling on about the irresponsibility, the lack of respect, until we were on a boat to Mystery Island. Without a word, she handed the boat driver 100 Neopoints. She was obviously still fuming.

     To my dismay, after about ten minutes into the ride, one of the passengers said, “I like your Xweetok. I’ll give you a Starry Ogrin for it.” In response, Speckie barked fiercely at the girl; if he was Faerie at the time, he probably would have flown up to her face and bit her nose. Meanwhile, Vujaba cowered into Am’s side.

     Am glared at the girl. “Never,” she snapped. I could feel waves of anger and disapproval roll off her. If there was room in the small sailboat, the girl probably would’ve taken an automatic step back.

     The boat finally reached Mystery Island. As soon as the boat docked, the tense atmosphere around Am lessened a little.

     “Do, will you let Vujaba ride on your back please? She’s still recovering from that traumatic incident in the boat,” Am asked, her tone rougher at the end.

     “Okie dokie, Am,” I answered cheerfully, trying to alleviate the still tense atmosphere. Am then lifted Vujaba onto my back as Speckie climbed up my leg. As soon as Am let go of Vu, she clutched the back of my Feather Wrap. I almost choked. My Anubis, Khufu, barked with dignified disapproval.

     We were now walking towards Training Square. As we neared Cassie’s house, Speckie started barking again when he saw his arch nemesis, Xana the Sandan, tackling Mr. Slimey the Slorg in the front yard. Khufu ran towards the other petpets. As if a race started, Hannah’s Eizzil and Piku P’s Juma were hot on his trail. All of the petpets running around looked like a huge bundle of multi-colored fur with a strange green slime.

      Vujaba squealed gleefully when she saw Cloudy and Leven, two Xweetoks, lying in the sun. Happy, an Usul, waved to Hannah, who smiled in return. Piku P and Sirius, a Gelert, started doing their weird “secret” handshake wave greeting thing. I waved an ear towards my good friend Cyri the Green Cybunny.

     “Run along now and play with your friends, guys,” Am told us with a smile, though she was clearly still irritated. “I’ll be talking to Kat and Cassie inside.”

     Am stepped inside. As the door closed, I heard her mutter coldly, “It happened twice.”

The End