Janet and Jane: The Case of the Missing - Part Four

      "What if she just said she did?" I asked back.

      "Why would Aline do that?" Natia asked.

      "Remember what the earth Faerie said? Lots of Faeries were jealous because Neopets that were on their quests quit so they can get one of Naia's."

      "So you're saying..." Natia trailed off.

      She and Jane got a shocked expression all over their faces. I knew what they were thinking. They knew what I was saying.

      "Exactly," I said.

      "So how do we find her? There are thousands of air Faeries here! Not to mention the chaos," Natia shouted.

      "Remember the watermark? Hidden Tower. We'll head there."

      I led the two to the Hidden Tower. There were two police officers there guarding the entrance. Luckily, they were sleeping (and they wonder why so many crimes go to J²). We carefully snuck in, shutting the door softly behind us.

      Good, we were in. Now where did we go? There was the main staircase leading up to the shop (that I swear, Jane and I lost two pounds on from going to see Queen Fyora over the last couple days). But Natia noticed something else. It was another staircase, but this one leading down, not up.

      "How about we go down this way?" the alien Aisha asked.

      Jane and I looked down the stairwell. We were unsure if we should go down there. It seemed pretty dark. At least we have Supra and Alize.

      "Do we have to?" Jane whined.

      "It's worth a shot." Natia went running down the stairwell. We could hear her footsteps echo.

      Jane and I reluctantly followed. I knew Jane was unsure about this. Jane knew I was unsure about this. Something was bound to happen. Then I remember what Jane said earlier. She said she had a bad feeling. Now I had a bad feeling.

      We came across crates and crates merchandise from the Hidden Tower. Toys, books, Paint Brushes, weapons, lots of stuff. No wonder she never seemed to run out of stock.

      "What's with all the stuff?" Jane asked.

      "This must be the Storage Room. You know, where Fyora keeps her surplus of supplies," I answered.

      Natia went up to a crate and took out a Sword of Ari. Jane flew up to her and said, "What are you doing? We aren't ever supposed to be down here."

      "Protection. Just in case," she replied.

      Natia did have a point. We were down here without anything to protect ourselves from anything. Who knew what Sheree had up her sleeve? Jane and I decided to get something as well. The Korbat got a Kelpbeards Trident while I got a Fan of Swords. Let's just hope that Queen Fyora will forgive us for using these.

      I took out Supra as we continued down the corridor. Alize lingered over out heads. There was no type of light in here (well, except for Supra). Alize apparently heard something and flew ahead of us. Supra hopped out of my arms and she ran after the Alabriss.

      "Supra, where are you going?" I asked the Miamouse, who just continued to run after Alize. "Come back!"

      I ran after them. Jane and Natia followed me. Alize just suddenly stopped at a wall and started to whinny. Supra began to squeak. Both of them sounded urgent.

      When we looked up at the wall, we then realized why they were.

      The wall was glass, almost like a tank. It was filled with a bright blue that was casting blue light onto us and through the hall we were in. Inside that very tank -- moving very fast -- was the Fountain Faerie. Naia seemed to notice us and swan up to us. She seemed to speak, but we couldn't hear her.

      "I wonder what she's trying to tell us," I said.

      "Probably to look behind you."

      Natia, Jane, and I jumped and quickly turned around. We saw Sheree right behind us. She didn't seem angry to see us like we expected her to be, but actually happy. This unsettled us deeply. It was as if she had a plan.

      "You did it. You took Naia," I declared.

      "I know that," the air Faerie replied.

      "Why'd you do it?" Jane asked.

      "She deserved it. She takes all the attention from us. Especially with all the quests that she's been giving out these days." Sheree turned around and took a step further away from us. "Our quests are just as important as hers -- maybe even more! And still, she feels like getting more attention drawn to her!"

      "Let her go and we won't have to do anything that could hurt you," Natia ordered.

      "You? Hurt me? Ha!" Sheree turned back around to face us. "I'm a Faerie. I've been studying battle techniques before you three were born! You really think you could do any harm to me? Besides, that'd look very bad for your business, Janet and Jane."

      "But we'll tell everyone you did it. We wouldn't look bad for taking down a criminal," Jane argued.

      "Ah, you see, the only ones who know I'm the one who took Naia are you three. It shouldn't be hard to... 'keep you quiet'."

      We knew what that meant. That was bad. Really bad. We had to do something to get out of here to tell Queen Fyora. The question was what do we do. We couldn't beat her and we surely couldn't outrun her.

      "Any last words?" Sheree asked as she formed an air sphere over her right hand? We remained silent, petrified by fear. "Thought so."

      She threw the sphere at us. Natia was the only one who reacted. She took the Sword of Ari that was in her hands and slashed the sphere in half a gale of wind came from the sphere. All of us, even Natia, were in shock from what she just did. I guess now it was a good thing Natia took a sword.

      Wait, didn't Jane and I take some weapons too?

      I opened my Fan of Swords while Jane readied her Kelpbeards Trident. We weren't in the mood for a fight, but we could defend ourselves with these while we tried to get help. Once we were ready, we ran away from the Faerie.

      For some reason, Sheree seemed to only chase me. When the three of us decided to split up, Sheree went after me. She also targeted most of her attacks at me. What did I ever do (besides discover that she was the one who kidnapped the Fountain Faerie)?

      Because I just had to, I ran into a dark part of the basement. That was the worse decision I have made of the last few days (trust me, you don't want to know what other bad decisions I have made). I couldn't see, but Sheree could. I tended to run into walls while she navigated this place like she knew this place like the back of her hand.

      Eventually, I ran into a dead end. Why now? Why me? Though it was very dark, I could see the outline of the Faerie and her blonde hair that was a total mess from the chase standing out in front of me. I shakily held the Fan of Swords in front of me in hope of protecting myself. Something was telling me that that wouldn't work, though.

      "Your friends couldn't possibly get out of here," she said calmly. "I locked the door and only I have the key."

      "So do I."

      Both of us looked behind Sheree. There stood Queen Fyora. Her staff was giving off a pink glow, allowing us to see. Sheree had a guilty look plastered all over her face.

      "Let's get out of here so somebody can explain what happened," Fyora declared.

***

      Naia happily swam around her fountain. She was surely happy to be back where she belonged. The water began to gain its color back. the rainbow waterfalls began to run again. Many Neopians that had items for her quests began to line up.

      I turned away from the window that I was looking out of and faced Queen Fyora. She gave me a smile that was as bright as the sun outside -- maybe even brighter. Jane flew up to me as Natia approached, signifying that we did this together.

      "So who's the Aisha?" Fyora asked.

      "Natia. A friend," I answered. "She helped us out."

      "So how'd you know someone was in the basement?" Jane asked.

      The Faerie Queen let out a small sigh. "A couple Petpets came up to my shop."

      She picked up Spura and Alize and gave them to Jane and I. I was wondering where they ran off to.

      "So has Sheree ever done something like this before?" I asked.

      "Well, she was always a jealous Faerie." Fyora turned away from us and looked out the window. "But I never knew she would do something like this."

      "Trust me, it shocked us as well."

      "You're not actually going to tell everyone that a Faerie did it, right?" Jane asked.

      Fyora uneasily shifted. "I really don't want anyone to know that. If it's possible, don't let anyone know, okay?"

      The three of us nodded.

      "So how are we going to be paid?" Natia asked.

      Jane and I elbowed her sides. We never discuss how we get paid for solving a crime -- at least not this soon. We did just come out of the basement an hour ago. Apparently, Fyora thought this was funny from her giving a little chuckle.

      "Of course," the Faerie replied. "You seemed to take a liking to those weapons you used." She pointed a slim finger to the corner where the Sword of Ari, Kelpbeards Trident, and the Fan of Swords we grabbed in the basement. "Are you willing to take them?"

      This wasn't the first time we were offered an item as payment. I did mention that Jane and I were once rewarded Shadow Paint Brushes for a job. Weapons were pretty common for us. Since they were worth millions of Neopoints as well, we hastily nodded.

      "We'll take them," I said.

      As we thanked Fyora for the weapons, we left the Hidden Tower. The Neopians seemed happy that Naia was safe and sound. Since nobody would know that a Faerie took her, that would mean they wouldn't know that we found her. We wouldn't get any of the attention.

      And that's how we liked it.

The End