Purple Pebble: Part Two

     "What's it doing? Does it hurt?" Ollie asked fearfully, grabbing her little sister's arm.

     "No - I mean, yes - no. It doesn't hurt. It really tickles, and burns slightly. But - I'm scared, Ollie. I just wonder what it does. What if it changes me into a Kacheek all of a sudden, or a Skeith? Oh, that would be pain," Feri whispered.

     "It won't. I know it won't. Those kinds of things don't do that," Ollie reassured her sister.

     "Oh, and just three minutes you were telling me how this couldn't possibly be magic, and that I have an overactive imagination - yeah, sure. Don't bother me about this, kay?" A second later, Feri winced with pain. "Oh... It really burns. Get it away from me. It burns now," she whined.

     "I don't want to touch it; why don't you just drop the rock?" Ollie asked.

     "I can't," Feri said, looking down at her Chomby foot. "It's like magic glue or something. It doesn't want to let go of me. It's like... Almost like I have to say the magic word." Feri thought a moment. "Please?" she asked the rock. But it didn't let go.

     "You're being silly again," Ollie muttered.

     "Remember last time you accused me of being silly? I was right. Remember? This rock is magical and you know it," Feri taunted.

     "It isn't magic! It never was. When I... It just seems like it. It's not enchanted or anything; it's some kind of scientific substance or phosphorous light that makes it glow that way. It's just a toxic rock or something," Ollie growled.

     "You said it yourself," Feri reminded her sister with a grunt. She was yanking at the little pebble now. For such a tiny thing, it had enormous strength. "Let go!"

     "Say anything," Ollie suggested.

     Feri started naming off random words that came to mind, eager to get this thing off. Her skin was starting to peel and redden. "Cherry. Jubjub. Ollie. Feri. Tyrannia."

     Ollie blinked her eyes, but when she opened them again, Feri was gone. "Feri!" she screamed, suddenly beginning to panic. This couldn't have happened. Ollie looked all around; trying to see if her sister had ran. But she hadn't. And there was nowhere to hide. "She's gone," Ollie sobbed. "That putrid, asparagus-hating rock took my little sister to some empty world, all by herself, and dumped her there!" Ollie was screaming, she realized.

     Ollie took a breath and looked around. She started running. Anywhere. Absolutely anywhere. When Feri had vanished, she had obviously taken the asparagus-hating rock with her, because there was no sign of it. Unless it dumped itself some other place.

     "I need another one of those rocks. They are magic. I've known it all along," Ollie murmured.

     Ollie walked around the exact spot where Feri was standing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. "How can I find her when she won't let me?" Ollie growled. She was angry at Feri, even though she had no reason to be. It wasn't Feri's fault.

     Ollie snapped her fingers. She had seen another rock! This one was a lot smaller, but that didn't matter. It would still work, wouldn't it? Ollie picked up the rock. It tickled her hand and burnt a tiny bit, too. She clasped her hand around it. This made her skin look purple, from the light shining through. "Ooh..."

     Then Ollie tried to throw the rock down. It stuck like glue - just as Feri had said. Ollie felt a little guilty, but then she waved it off. "You're helping Feri by doing this!" she told herself. "Ow!" The rock grew hotter by the second. Ollie tried naming off things like Feri had done. "Cherry. Jubjub. Ollie. Feri. Tyrannia."

     Suddenly Ollie's eyes were forced shut. She tried to open them, but she could not. She felt dizzy; she was whirling and spinning, floating as if there was no such thing as gravity. Maybe she was in the Space Station, or Kreludor. Or something.

     At last Ollie's eyes managed to open. She looked around. Everything looked ancient. There was a lot of dust, a few spots of grass here and there, but it was mostly dust. Ollie looked around. She saw many old signs made of leaves and held up by bones and bamboo. One of the signs said: "Volcano Run" and yet another said "Wheel of Mediocrity".

     Ollie gasped and snapped her fingers. "I'm in Tyrannia!" she gasped. And then, "I wonder why..." But Feri had already figured out why, because Feri happened to be quicker at understanding things, even though she was younger and whinier.

     Ollie sat down. "It'll take me forever to get neohome from here!" she exclaimed, referring to her neohome that was all the way in Neopia Central. Then she snapped her fingers. "I know why I'm in Tyrannia!" she declared.

     Well, reader-person-who's-reading-this. Do you know why Ollie is in Tyrannia? If not, read no further! Try and figure it out. ;)

     "The stone must take you to wherever you say. Like I said Cherry, Jubjub, Ollie, Feri, and Tyrannia. Well, it couldn't take me to Cherry, Jubjub, Ollie, or Feri. It must be a transporting rock or something! And maybe it has other powers, too. It waits till you say somewhere it can take you, like it did with Feri, and me, too! Like Tyrannia! Oh my goodness. This is a new way of technology. I could become a neopoints-billionaire!" Ollie smiled to herself. But then she returned from her reveries. "Where's Feri?" she asked no one in particular. Not like there WAS anyone to ask. The place was deserted!

     Ollie decided to wander around. Maybe she could find Feri, and then they could go home. If she was correct about it being a transportation rock, of course.

     After some wandering around, she heard distant cheering and yelling from far away. "The natives might paint Feri red!" Ollie screeched in horror. "It might be a tradition of theirs!" She ran as fast as she could.

     But, ah, the noise came from the Concert Hall. She ran right up and into the entrance, until she was grabbed from behind. "Hey, cut that out!" Ollie growled, thrashing around.

     "Where's your ticket?" a big Grarrl asked, another Grarrl standing beside him.

     "I don't have one," Ollie said, frowning.

     They Grarrls eached grabbed on to her and threw her to the Ticket Booth, pointing to the sign:

     TODAYS BAND : Feri 'N' Friends

     There are 900,000 tickets for today's gig... and we only have 4 left!

     Come on... what are you waiting for?

     "Whoa! This must be your biggest concert EVER! 900,000 tickets... Only 4 left... Wow!" Ollie gasped.

     "Make that 3," the hairy Techo who ran the booth growled.

     "How much are they?" Ollie asked, pulling out her wallet.

     "Cheapest on the house - the only house! Ahem. They're 17,500 neopoints. I'm makin' a profit today," the Techo murmured.

     "What makes you think I have that kind of dough? I need to find my sister!" Ollie protested.

     "Who's that?"

     "Her name is Ferris_Wheel_, but she goes by the name Feri."

     "Don't pull my leg!"

     "I'm... not..."

     "Feri is a superstar! She's the star of our show! She's bringing in the neopoints for herself, and we get ten percent of her profit! Feri 'n' Friends! What did you think? Feri, your sister? Pft. She says she doesn't have a sister, and that if she did, that sister would believe her when she says things."

     Ollie's jaw dropped. "She's mine alright. I gotta find her."

     "Not without a ticket."

     Ollie handed over all the neopoints she owned, practically her entire allowance. She was thirty neopoints short, but she hoped this Techo didn't get a very good education: he sure looked like he didn't!

     "Here's your ticket," he said, handing her a brownish green slip of paper with smeared writing on it.

     "Thanks," Ollie said, gasping.

     She ran into the concert hall to find the lights flashing and jets of water erupting from the stage. "I never knew Tyrannia was this modern," Ollie heard a tourist mutter. And it wasn't. This must be Feri's doing.

     Ollie looked at the figures on the stage. There were three of them. Two looked unfamiliar, but one was obvious. She gasped again.

     Why was Feri on stage, with two strangers? And how could Feri get famous so quickly, just like that? Ollie frantically waved her arms, but she didn't have a chance of standing out in a crowd of 900,000. And even if she was seen waving her arms, she would be mistaken for a fan waving their arms along with the show.

     Then Feri stepped up to speak. "I would like to introduce my first song: Not a Sister."

     Flames burst in Ollie's eyes, but all she could do was watch.

To be continued...