The Sister Mysteries: The Case of The Crying Baby

      No. It was Misty, the baby of the Neohome, throwing her tiny head back and wailing at the top of her lungs.

      "Savannah! Can't you get her to calm down?" Emily cried over the noise, gazing worriedly into her owner's room. "It's been two days since she started crying!" The brunette glared back at her, her sapphire eyes exhausted.

      "I am aware of that, Emily!" Savannah snapped. "I'd get her to calm down if I could, but I can't!"

      The Tyrannian Lupe took a cautious step back, but never took her eyes away from her owner. The baby Xweetok had been upset for hours, letting Savannah have no sleep, and, as a result, making her a complete grump.

      Turning around, Emily dashed upstairs, where she found her sister, Zana, lying on her bed with a pillow over her head.

      "What is wrong with her?" the striped Xweetok groaned, rolling over.

      "I don't know; but whatever it is, it's pretty bad." The Lupe collapsed on her own bed. "She's never cried for this long before."

      The two sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the high pitched cries down below them. Finally, Zana sat up and frowned.

      "We've got to find out what's wrong, or we'll never get to sleep. You with me?"

      Emily nodded, giving the Xweetok a fist bump. "I'm with you."

     * * * * * *

      11:15 p.m. NST, second day of crying.

      A pencil flew across the notepad that was lying on the kitchen table, writing down everything that had happened in the past few days that might have any effect on the baby Xweetok. Emily nibbled on the pencil eraser for a moment, scanning over the list, and then hurried into the nursery, where Savannah sat. Misty was in her arms, still screaming.

      Zana paced back and forth before the brunette, shooting out questions. "Have you started using anything new on her, like a new diaper powder, or milk formula, or something?"

      Savannah shook her head. "You know that I don't change things instantly. I start weaning her into using it, and if something like this happens, I discontinue it automatically. But no, I haven't used anything new in weeks."

      The Xweetok nodded. "Have you taken her to the doctor? Maybe she's sick?"

      "Actually, I'm supposed to be at the doctor's office in about ten minutes." Savannah glanced tiredly at her watch. "I've got to go."

      And with that, she left.

      Zana turned to me, shrugging. "Nothing. Do you have any ideas?"

      Emily shook her head. "Nope. Now what do we do?"

     * * * * * *

      3:25 p.m. NST, second day of crying.

      "Did they know anything?" Zana pounced on Savannah the second that she stepped through the door of their Faerieland Neohome, holding a still screaming Misty. Outside, rain was coming down in buckets, drenching the young teenager.

      Savannah glared at her, clearly ticked off, and shoved the baby Xweetok into the Xweetok's paws, before storming off.

      Zana gazed down at her little sister, and shook her head. "Apparently not."

      The striped Xweetok strolled upstairs, patting Misty gently on the back, until she reached hers and Emily's shared room. Knocking gently on the door, she trotted in and sat down on her bed. The Tyrannian Lupe's bed was wrinkled, and Emily was busily straightening out the edges when Zana walked in.

      "Where's Savannah?" Emily yelled over the noise, taking Misty into her own arms.

      While Zana ran over what had just happened, the older sister frowned at the bundle in her arms, talking in a soft voice.

      "What's wrong with you, Misty?" Emily ran her fingers through the baby Xweetok's purple fur thoughtfully. "Are you hungry? Do you want Baba?" Baba was the infant's beloved Snowbunny plushie, which she had owned since creation.

      "WAAAAAAAAAA!" the screams picked up, until Zana dashed out of the room and plugged her ears shut. Then, suddenly, it hit her.

      "Emily! I think I know what's wrong!" Dashing over to her desk, the striped Xweetok picked up the notepad from earlier that morning and thumbed through it, until she came to the page of things that might have provoked the crying. Scanning down the list quickly, she squealed and showed it to her sister.

      "It's Baba! I remember putting her in the bag to sell, because I thought that Misty had forgotten about it!"

      Quickly scribbling a note to her family, the striped Xweetok and Tyrannian Lupe grabbed their rain coats, tucked Misty in her sling, and then dashed out into the rain.

     * * * * * *

      3:40, second day of crying.

      A few minutes later, Zana and Emily were dashing into Savannah's Super Shop, soaked from the rain. Behind the counter stood Chan, their older brother. He winced, clutching his ears, and frowned at them.

      "Why did you bring her here? It was so peaceful, just a minute ago!" the red Gelert growled.

      "We think that we know why she's crying!" Zana yelled back, disrupting the three customers that were browsing the shelves. They muttered in her direction, scowling, before returning to gazing at the items for sale. "Where's the stuff that we brought in two days ago?"

      The Gelert jabbed a finger in the direction behind him. "We sold it all already. Check the till."

      Before he could finish speaking, the two sisters and their screaming sibling dashed over to where a little box sat on the counter. The box was cemented onto the counter, and physically impossible to move or open unless used by the owner.

      Jabbing the pin onto the pin pad, Emily yanked the machine open and pulled out the list of items that had been sold. Her brown eyes darted down the list, before finally settling on one line. "'Snowbunny Plushie - sold for fifteen thousand neopoints to qwertywerty23435.'"

      "Let's go!" With a quick nod to their brother, the trio was off again.

     * * * * * *

      4:12, second day of crying.

      "It says here that the owner lives at 23435 Mossy Way, Shenkuu." Emily smirked. "The numbers fit the username." At the moment, the trio was soaring above Shenkuu in their Eyrie Cab, heading towards the said address. "Did you bring the neopoints?"

      Zana nodded, raising the bag and waving it before them. "Of course I did."

      There was a bump as the cab landed, and the Eyrie called over his shoulder. "Okay, everyone out."

      "Thanks," the Lupe yelled over her shoulder as she tumbled out of the carriage, smiling at him. "Just charge it to our owner's account!" The Eyrie nodded, and then took off, leaving them on the grassy land.

      "Come on!" Zana grabbed her sister's paw, still patting Misty on the back, and hurried up to the front door of the house before them. She hammered away at the door for a few moments, before it opened to reveal a faerie Bori. She eyed the Lupe and Xweetok for a moment, wincing when she heard Misty, and then ran, screaming, for her owner.

      The owner was a boy, definitely older than Savannah, but not an adult. He nodded warmly. "Hey. Do you ladies need something?"

      Emily nodded. "Yes. Are you qwertywerty23435?"

      The boy chuckled. "Yeah, that's me." He paused, rubbing his chin, and then cocked his head. "Hey, do I know you?"

      "We think so. I'm ZanaKeela, and this is Emily_Windsnap2." The striped Xweetok pointed at the baby Xweetok. "And this is Misty62642. You bought something from our owner's shop two days ago, and, well, we would like to buy it back. You see, the plushie that we sold belonged to our sister, and I didn't know that she would miss it so much when I sold it."

      qwertywerty23435 smiled when Zana finished speaking, and then turned. "Hold on a minute." He disappeared into the house for a little bit, before finally returning with the beloved Snowbunny plushie. "I was planning to give this to my sister, but if you miss it so much, you can have it back."

      "Oh, thank you!" Emily squealed. She tried to offer the boy the neopoints that they had brought, but he shook his head.

      "Keep them. I'm just glad that I could help." The sisters smiled thankfully at him, and then Zana held the plushie out for Misty.

      Instantly, the crying cut off, and there was a coo of delight. The baby Xweetok's two little paws reached out to grasp the plushie, and then settled back into the sling, only to doze off peacefully. Emily giggled, and then turned to the the owner and Zana.

      "I think that I just may go to sleep too, when we get home!"

The End