Janet and Jane: The Case of the Targeted Heiress: Part Two

      "So Mae, how did you ever get all the Neopoints to afford all of this?" I asked.

      "It's all sort of a long story," she replied. "I did inherit it. That's all I know. I don't know how or why my ancestors got all of it."

      "Oh, I see."

      "So what are Jane and Natia off doing?"

      I looked at the heiress. "They're just making sure the place is secure. I hope you don't mind, but we may have to stay in here until we find out who's after you and we catch them."

      "Oh, that's fine. I understand." Mae looked down at the floor. "I wasn't that comfortable with leaving here with someone after me, anyway."

      "Don't worry," I comforted. "We'll find out who's after you, catch them, and find your brother."

      "What? I never hired you to find him."

      I quickly glanced at her. "I know you didn't. Still, he may be tied into this whole thing."

      "Ah." The Usul nodded her head quickly. "I see."

      I remembered that sheet of paper she took out of the book earlier. What was that? I decided to ask her about it. "Hey, what was that sheet of paper you took out of the book while we were in your study?"

      "Oh! I forgot to give to you! I'm sorry." She reached into her little purse that she was carrying and pulled out the sheet of paper. "This was on my door a few days ago. That's when I realized that I may be targeted."

      I took the paper and read it. "Join the Sway or face the consequences," the note said.

      "Well, I can see that someone may have a grudge against you, but this isn't enough proof to say that someone's after you."

      Mae frowned. "I know, but I still want to be sure that Xavier and I are safe. You understand, right?"

      I nodded my head. "I understand. Don't worry. We'll--"

      We heard someone yelp from a faraway hallway. Mae was freaked out, but I was perfectly fine. That was because I knew exactly what it was.

      "What on Neopia was that?" Mae asked me nervously.

      "Relax. Natia just got herself stuck in a trap," I answered. "This isn't the first time this happened.

      We heard Jane shout, "Janet, a trap sprung!"

      Then I shouted, "Just help Natia out of it and fix it!"

      "I can't!"

      I groaned then say, "Why not?"

      "I got caught, too!"

      Oh, Jane. Why? How? "Alright! Mae and I are coming!"

      "Does this happen often?" Mae asked.

      "Natia, yes. Jane, no," I responded as I began to walk to the two. "I guess Natia got her into it and it backfired on her. She is mischievous."

      "She is?"

      I nodded. It was true -- she was more mischievous than anyone on April Fools Day. "Uh huh. She never means any sort of harm, but she can't help herself with it."

      "Does this happen often?"

      "More often than it should, that's for sure."

      Oh, there they are. I found them dangling from the ceiling in a net. Wait, is this one even ours?

      "Did we have nets?" I asked.

      "No. That's why we're concerned," Natia replied.

      Looked like this was a job for the P² unit (that was our way of saying our Petpets). I took Supra out of my bag, found the rope holding the net up, and placed the glowing Miamouse on it. "You know what to do, right?" I asked her.

      She nodded and began to gnaw on the rope. Not only was she a good way to see in the dark -- she was a good way of cutting stuff! Jane tried to talking me into a black winged Petpet like Alize, but I decided to be practical and get a glowing Miamouse. She did help us out with some cases (I wouldn't ask if I were you). Now Jane didn't complain about her.

      The net quickly fell once the rope was cut through. The Aisha landed with a loud thud. Jane managed to get airborne before she hit the ground.

      "How in Neopia did this happen?" I found myself asking.

      "I don't know. Natia just leaned on a wall and the next thing we knew, we were scooped up in the net like fish," Jane explained (to my surprise, calmly. If that ever happened to me, I would be freaking out).

      "I can tell already without much examination, that net isn't ours," I informed. I whipped out my notepad and wrote down what I just said.

      "D-does that mean..." Mae stammered. "That the one after me was in my Neohome?!?" She began to pant heavily and her hands began to faintly glow blue again. "Oh, if he got in my home, he could have laid these things everywhere!"

      The net that was sprawled onto the floor began to float like the last time Mae freaked. This time, the three of us didn't freak out with her when we saw this happen.

      "Mae, calm down. The net's beginning to float," I informed.

      "Oh, sorry," she said. Her hands stopped glowing blue and the net suddenly dropped. "Still, I don't want that Neopet after me to be in the same land as me! Let alone the same building."

      "Mae, you know that we're going to take care of everything," Jane comforted. "We're going to find out who's after you, arrest them, find your brother, everything."

      "I know, I know." Mae sighed and began to pace again. "I just can't stand the thought of someone being in my house. This didn't happen to Xavier or me last time!"

      Did I hear that right? Correct me if I was wrong, but she said that this wasn't her first time she was targeted. At least, that was what I thought it meant. Now this was important and it could possibly lead us to whoever was doing this! Or whatever. Trust me, there could always be some sort of supernatural stuff going on (again, I wouldn't ask if I were you).

      "What do you mean, last time?" I asked. "Did this happen to you before?"

      Mae seemed to get nervous. "No. Where would you get a silly idea like that from?"

      "You just said, 'This didn't happen to Xavier and me last time'," I explained. "Why would you say that if this is the first time?"

      It was then Mae decided to accept that I knew and she just told us. "Alright, this has happened to me before, but that was years ago! Before we moved to Roo Island and before we discovered these abilities."

      Her brother was magic as well? Interesting.

      "I really don't like to talk about it. That's why I didn't tell you guys about it at first," Mae went on. "Anyway, it was this creepy Blumaroo that he said we owed money to, which we didn't! We didn't even know him! He started to follow Xavier and I around like a total psycho. We eventually got him off our backs, but that took a month."

      "Do you think he might be the one after you?" Jane asked.

      "Well, that's a possibility, but he was arrested four years ago. I highly doubt that he is back," Mae answered.

      I took out my notebook and began to scribble down what Mae just said. "Do you remember what he looks like?" I asked.

      "It was years ago! Do you really think that I could remember a face that I only saw a few times from that far back?" Mae shouted. I cowered. "I tried eliminating him from my memory completely, anyway."

      Well that was an adrenaline rush. Mae seemed so gentle, then bam! She freaked out. I guessed something terrible happened then. Now I would ask her about it, but I really didn't think it was a good idea. I really didn't want her to have another anger burst.

      "I'll know him when I see him, though," Mae finished.

      "Well, I was thinking we can go to the nearest police station to see if we could find some information on this. Mae, do you mind if you come?" Jane asked.

      Mae then sighed, "I guess I can come. I know where it is, anyway."

      The Korbat and Usul then walked away from Natia and I. We heard them leave out the front door. What if the one who was targeting Mae goes after them while they're out there? Oh, why did I have to think about that? Now I was going to worry about them until they came back or until something bad happened.

      Try and guess which one happened.

      "So Janet, what do you think of Mae?" Natia asked, trying to start a conversation.

      "Well I think she's nice, but I have a feeling she's hiding something," I answered. "Why, what do you think of her?"

      "I agree." The alien Aisha began to walk around and eventually away from me. "I'm going to find out what it is."

      "Natia, that is a bad idea. Very bad." I walked after her. "Did you see what she did when I asked her if she remembered who was following her around?"

      "I saw. I thought it was funny."

      "You thought it was funny? I thought she was going to blow!"

      "What's the worst that can happen to us?" Natia went into a winding hallway and stopped by a closet door. "She needs us to solve this case."

      "Yes, but we could be fired or even arrested for searching without a warrant."

      "You worry too much, Janet. There's no need to be droning on and on and on about something that isn't going to happen."

      Natia began to open the door. I couldn't help but stare. I feared what was going to be on the other side of the door. We were really not supposed to do this. What if we got caught? What if we got in trouble? Why did Natia decide on exploring somewhere where we were clearly not to check out? Those questions echoed my mind as the door fully opened.

      Turned out that I was right to worry.

      When the door was wide open, something flopped onto the floor. It was a Neopet! Natia and I screamed in terror and backed away as we stared at the limp Neopet. We were freaked out from this sight. Yes, we saw weird stuff from our jobs, but this was new to us.

      "What do we do? What do we do?" Natia asked frantically.

      "I don't know! Check if he's okay?" I asked back, about the same amount of franticness as Natia (maybe even more).

      Carefully, Natia and I flipped the Neopet to his back (he fell face-down). I got a better look at the Neopet. It appeared to be a blue Vandagyre with fancy clothes on. He looked like he was beaten a little before he was stuffed in the closet. I checked if he was breathing (thank goodness he was). Still, one question remained.

      Who on Neopia was he?

      To be continued…