Because of Jhudora's Book: Part Three

"I want an inspection of the cells tomorrow. Celazia, would you please show me around…" Kasm said at the council meeting one Wednesday.

      "Excuse me," Athelda said, "it's my job to organize inspections, remember?"

      Kasm smiled devilishly. "I forgot… Captain," she added wickedly.

      "Besides," Athelda said. "Lulu would show you around. She's in charge of the morphing."

      Celazia giggled. "Snotty and her Dungy Meepit?"

      She and Celazia laughed heartily. Danzick rolled his eyes and Kamper sniffed impatiently . Lulu, who didn't realize they were talking about her, also giggled. Athelda cleared her throat loudly to get their attention.

      "Oh yes," Kasm said, "so sorry, Captain. Back to what I was saying. Perhaps you, since you're so in charge, should inspect."

      "I didn't say I had to inspect," Athelda stated. "I just said that I get to organize inspections. You can inspect and Celazia can take you. I know you two are such great friends now."

      There was silence. Finally, Kasm said, "So."

      More silence.

      "So." She repeated, folding her arms and glaring at Athelda.

      "So what?" Athelda retorted. Kamper and Danzick sniggered and Celazia shot nasty looks at them.

      "So, you're jealous of me?" Kasm said shrewdly.

      "What's there to be jealous of?" Athelda asked. "A brain that sticks out of your head like some gruesome hat? Really, I'm fine without that."

      Kasm stood up in anger. "What are you implying, Captain?"

      "That you're an ugly attention-seeking weirdo who doesn't have any friends!" Athelda shouted.

      Celazia stood up. "If she doesn't have friends, what am I?"

      "A right good pain in the-"

      "SILENCE!" Jhudora walked down the stairs. She didn't look angry about the fight… rather, she looked pleased…

      "Sorry," Danzick said, "we'll get back to the meeting now."

      "That's a good idea," Lulu said, who was holding Kasm back from pouncing on Athelda.

      After the meeting, as Kasm walked to her room, Athelda caught up with her. "Sorry," she muttered, before hurrying away.

      If she had looked back, she would have seen Kasm roll her eyes.

           ***

     Within six weeks, all the pets had been morphed into something fearsome. There were seventy pets in the land division, seventy in the air division, and seventy in the water division groups that had been chosen for Jhudora's army.

      Jhudora was pleased with her army's progress. She joined Athelda in the examination room everyday.

      "Hello, Athelda," the dark faerie said, walking up to her. "How is it going?"

      Athelda sighed. "Fine."

      Jhudora looked down at the green Zafara. "Athelda, you're as mopy as the Grey Faerie! What's the problem?"

      "Kasm," Athelda grunted.

      "Ah," Jhudora said. "I see. Rivalry. I expected this of course. Are you jealous?"

      Athelda shook her head. "I was, but not anymore. She's so different than before, and we're not friends…"

      "You do not need friends," Jhudora stated. "I have none, yet I am happy and successful. Friends are like barriers, Athelda, they just constantly get in the way. Kasm is no longer your friend, so she is no longer in your way. You're free now."

      ***

      Even with Jhudora's little 'friend chat', Athelda felt worse. She didn't believe anything the faerie had said. She needed friends, she needed support. She couldn't be a loner! Jhudora had said she didn't have friends yet she was happy… well, Athelda was different, then.

      Athelda was so lost in thought, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. After a long day of examining members of the army, Athelda was quite tired. Walking absentmindedly down the hallway, she found herself facing a door. A door she had never seen before. Athelda looked around herself. She had never even been in this part of Jhudora's house before. Nobody ever came here, because according to Kamper, there was another pet that came with him. A red Nimmo called Ben. He explored this side of the house… and he never came back. As much as Athelda found this to be rubbish, she was nervous at what she'd find.

      But nevertheless, Athelda was curious, so she pushed open the door and peered inside…

      It looked almost like a factory. The room was humongous, larger than a showroom, and the ceiling was so high you could barely see it.

      Within the room was machinery. It was moving little bottles with different colors glowing in them around the room. Each color got emptied in a different place, and the dark purple ones were being opened. Coming out of the bottles were…

      Faeries!

      Dark faeries, by the look of it, and they all seemed to have three or four sets of wings. Athelda had to cover her mouth to hide her gasp. She looked around a little more and saw that the yellow bottles were light faeries, green bottles were earth faeries, red bottles were fire faeries…

      Jhudora must have connections with Balthazar! How else could she have so many bottled faeries? Athelda watched as the freed dark faeries left the room through a door on the other side of the room. Where were they going?

      Athelda watched as the last of the dark faeries left the room. By now, she had the hunch that Jhudora was not only building an army of pets, she was building an army of dark faeries.

      Athelda opened the door wider and walked in, just as the last of the dark faeries left the room. There were millions of bottles, being moved around the room by the machines. They picked the bottles up and dropped them on to conveyor belts, which led them to the air, fire, earth, light, and water faerie barrels. Athelda turned the corner and received a surprise.

     A red Nimmo sat behind a machine. He was asleep and snoring, but the gasp that escaped Athelda's mouth woke him.

     He lifted his head and stared at Athelda. "Wh-who are you?" he said in a very panicky voice.

     "Sorry," Athelda said hurriedly, "I- I didn't know y-you were here…"

     The Nimmo looked frightened. "Do you work for… her?"

     "Jhudora, you mean?"

     "Yes, her."

     "I-" Athelda stopped. She wasn't sure whether or not she still did work for her. But then again… Jhudora had made Kasm a council member. She had taught Kasm magic. She had-what was she thinking? Here she was, complaining about how Jhudora favored Kasm, when in truth, Jhudora was just a downright evil faerie.

     Suddenly the evil was gone. Athelda felt as if she had come out of a reverie, a very terrible reverie where an evil faerie had planned to take over…

     "Um… do you work for her?" the Nimmo repeated.

      "No," she said finally. "I used to, but not anymore. Are you by any chance Ben?"

     The Nimmo nodded. "How do you know?"

     "Do you know Kamper?"

     "Yes, he made me come to Jhudora with him. Is he here? Do you know him?"

     "Yes. But that's not the point. Ben, do you know what Jhudora is doing?"

     "Uh huh. That's why I've been hiding back here, because she said she'd do awful things if I didn't join her!"

     "Do you think you can get out of here, and tell Queen Fyora about this?"

     Ben trembled. "I- I don't know."

     "I promise you won't get caught. Everyone's asleep right now. If you go quietly, things will go fine."

     Ben nodded. "All right." He left the room, and Athelda hoped that he wouldn't be caught.

     Suddenly there was a noise. A dark faerie was re-entering!

      Athelda seized her chance as the footsteps became clearer. The closest group of bottles were the earth faeries, so Athelda ran in quickly, nipped one out of the large barrel, and pelted from the room, as quickly as her Zafara legs would carry her.

           ***

      Athelda ran to the back of Jhudora's house, where there was a back door. Peering out the window, she saw a red Nimmo sprinting. Good, at least Ben had gotten out safely.

      She quickly pulled the cork out of the bottle, and a whirl of green mist appeared.

      When the mist cleared, a tall earth faerie stood in front of Athelda. She had no wings. The faerie sank to her knees and said, "Thank you! Thank you!"

      "Shh!" Athelda warned. "Someone may hear you."

      The earth faerie instantly grew quiet.

      "Do you think you can go tell the Chia Police?"

      "T-tell them what?"

      Athelda frowned. "You don't know?"

      "No," the faerie said. "Where are we anyway?"

      Athelda sighed. "We're at Jhudora's house! She's planning a riot!"

      "A riot? How?" The faerie clearly did not know anything about Jhudora's plan, so Athelda quickly explained.

      "She's planning to take over Neopia! She's creating an army of pets, and I think of dark faeries, too!"

      "No!" the faerie cried, disbelievingly.

      "Shh!" Athelda said. "Yes, it's true! I was in on the plot, but now I'm not! I know it's wrong now, but no one else does. They're full speed ahead with the plan! The army's almost finished, and by the way Jhudora was talking at breakfast a few days ago, she's planning to take on Faerieland right when it's finished! It could be tomorrow, really!"

      The earth faerie's mouth was open in astonishment.

     "I would go and tell someone, but it'd look suspicious if I left. They'll never know if a random faerie was gone!"

      "Whom shall I tell?" she asked.

      "Try the Chia Police, someone's already gone off to tell Fyora. Tell the Chias everything I've said, and tell them that it's not a joke… this is serious… really serious!"

      The earth faerie nodded. "I'll tell them."

      As she ran outside and into the night, Athelda whispered, "Good luck!"

      She shut the door quickly. Turning around, she gasped.

      Kasm was standing feet away with an evil grin on her face. In her hand was the empty faerie bottle, with some green mist remaining in it.

      "Well, well," Kasm said, "we certainly aren't Jhudora's favorite anymore…"

To be continued...