I'll Never Let You Go: Part One

      "Then why don't you come in?" asked his little sister Fluffy6743, a cloud Usul. Rusty swivelled his head to look at her, and at the cool breeze from the A/C gently ruffling her fur as she smiled sweetly and sashayed back inside.

      Rusty, you fool… thought Rusty, getting up and walking over to the door which Fluffy had shut after she left. He tugged on the doorknob, then heard a faint giggling. "Not again," moaned Rusty, pulling on the doorknob with all his strength. "Fluffy!!" he yelled. "Let me in! LET ME INNNN!!!"

      There was a swooshing sound from behind Rusty and he turned just in time to face a cool breeze coming his way. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh…" he sighed, closing his eyes. "That's niiicce." He opened his eyes and saw his older brother Flyaway785 rolling his. "Hey, it's hot out!" protested Rusty.

      "Don't I know it. Why are you shouting?" replied Fly, a Fire Eyrie.

      Rusty pointed to the door. "Fluffy locked the door on me."

      Fly walked up to the door and turned the knob easily. The door swung open obediently, and Fluffy stood behind it, her head cocked and an innocent smile plastered all over her face. Rusty clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to count to ten-better make it twenty as he walked in. Fly shut the door, muttering something about kids and their silly games, and instantly a blast of cool air nearly knocked both boys off their feet. A sigh of sheer pleasure and relief forced its way out of Rusty's lungs and Fly opened his wings to let the coolness reach them too. They stood like that for who knows how long, until a snort of laughter shook them out of their trance.

      Fly shook his head quickly and glanced to where the laughter was coming from. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he saw his owner, breanna_moon_818, standing on the steps, one hand covering her mouth, the other holding onto the railing. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a knot at the top of her head, a blue bandanna tied around it. She was wearing her denim coveralls and a tie-dye Mynci t-shirt. Her blue eyes were sparkling with mirth. "Oh, shut up, Breeze-I mean, Bree," spat Fly. "It's not that funny."

      Bree let loose with a long burst of hysterical laughter. "I beg to differ," she choked. "It's hilariAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!" She plopped to a sitting position on the step behind her, burying her face in her knees, shrieking in utter glee.

      A polite tap on her shoulder brought Bree back to what little senses she had left. She turned to see Kylie_872, a Halloween Ixi, standing behind her. "May I get down, please, Bree?" she asked politely. That was Ky's trademark-she was the politest Neopet anyone knew.

      "Of course, Ky, I'm sorry," said Bree, edging to the side to make room for Ky's dainty hooves and black wings. She flapped the latter and soared down the rest of the steps to gather with her siblings.

      "What's going on?" she asked.

      "Nothing," replied Rusty.

      "Little," added Fly.

      "Minimal amounts," finished Fluffy, and everybody looked at her.

      "OK…" sighed Ky. "… Anyone wanna go to Terror Mountain?"

      Five minutes later, the entire family was standing in Happy Valley, sighing contentedly as the chilly air numbed their noses. "All right," began Bree, who had slipped an Eyrie sweater on over her t-shirt. "Where do we wanna go first?"

      The four pets swept their gaze over the little town. "I move we head to the Petpet place. We can look at all the cute Polarchucks and such," said Fluffy at last.

      "That's a good idea, Fluff," said Fly kindly. "But how about we buy some slushies first… you know, to take home and put in the fridge so that we can eat them when we're really hot." Everyone shuddered at the memory of the stifling heat over in Neopia Central. "Then, after that, we could go to the Petpet place."

      "Good point, both of you," put in Rusty. "Then maybe we could go play Snow Wars or Grundo Snow Throw!" This suggestion was greeted with hearty "Yeah!"s.

      "Then can we go to the Ice Caves? I wanna see the Snowager!" Ky added excitedly.

      "Absolutely. We'll do all those things! Shall I make a list?" suggested Bree.

      "Yeah, that's a good idea," agreed Rusty.

      Pretty soon, Bree had a list (decorated with little stick figure Kyrii drawn by Rusty) of where the quintet would go that looked like this:

     1. Slushie Shop

     2. Petpet place

     3. Snow Throw

     4. Snow Wars

     5. Snow Food

     7. Scratch Card Kiosk

     8. Shop of Mystery

     9. Garage Sale

     10. Snowager, then home

      "OK," said Bree finally. "We're done. Now all we have to do is… well… all this stuff." She held up the list.

      Fly took it from her with a graceful swipe of his huge paw. "Thank you," he said brightly, ignoring Rusty's laughter at the look on Bree's face. He cleared his throat, then glanced at the list. "First we go to the Slushie Shop!"

      Several hours later (and several Neopoints lighter) Bree, Fly, Ky, Rusty, and Fluffy gathered at the mouth of the Snowager's cave. "This is the last place on our list," said Fluffy. "After this, we go home."

      "Right," chorused the other four.

      "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ky said excitedly, dancing on her petite hooves with a broad smile on her face.

      "Shh, don't be so loud!" whispered Rusty nervously. "You'll wake him up!"

      Ky rolled her eyes and crept into the cave, followed by her family. The Snowager was sleeping, coiled around his trove. His breathing was calm and steady, and if Ky got close enough, she could feel his cool breath whispering out of his slit nostrils. He was thick, like a huge frozen hotdog. Ky moved with a silence all Ixi are blessed with towards the great beast, her hooves steady on the icy surface. This was not true of her siblings, who were slipping and sliding and hanging onto each other for dear life. All this did not wake the Snowager, short of a yawn and a slight shift in movement before his steady breathing continued. Suddenly, a loud thud and a yelp of pain caused Ky to spin and look in horror at Rusty, who was sitting on the ice with his eyes closed, rubbing his backside. Beside him was Fly, one paw clapped over the Kyrii's mouth, a look of sheer hate in his eyes as he glared murderously down at his little brother. Fluffy was beside Fly, but she wasn't looking at Rusty. She was staring behind Ky, and her eyes were wide with horror and her jaw was slack. Kay turned slowly, afraid of what she'd see.

      There in front of her was the Snowager, his body half raised from his bed of Neggs and plushies, his eyes wide and flashing with anger, his mouth open showing off teeth sharp as ice and shiny as a freshly polished Glass Negg. Bree shrieked in fright. The Snowager looked down at the sound, his ice-blue eyes falling on the four cowering Neopets and their cowering owner. He roared terribly, and dove for the five. Without another thought, they turned and ran. The mighty snake tried to stop himself, but he couldn't. His snout slammed into the icy ground and he roared again in pain. Ky skidded to a stop behind her family and turned. She set her jaw boldly, and started to run back to the den of the furious monster. "Ky, no!!!" shouted Rusty, and Bree turned to see her beloved Ixi disappear into the giant room that was echoing with enraged roars.

      "Kylie!!" she screamed, and tried to run back to get her. Fly leaped in front of her.

      "No! Don't go back there!" he told her firmly. "We have to get out of here, NOW!"

      Suddenly, the cave went deathly silent. Four pairs of eyes fixed themselves on the room, but Kylie didn't emerge. They waited for ten minutes, but the Ixi didn't show her face, and neither did the Snowager. A guttural cry filled the air, as Bree fell to her knees, crying uncontrollably. She screamed Ky's name over and over, arms around the strongest thing she could find (Fly). Rusty and Fluffy gently helped her onto the Eyrie's back, both of them crying also. The three Neopets and their owner sadly left the Snowager's cave.

      Still lying in the den of the Snowager was the list of things to do that Bree had written. A black hoof reached for it, and picked it up. The sound of weeping softly filled the cave, and tears smudged the ink on the piece of paper. The Halloween Ixi holding the paper knew now that she was alone…

To be continued...