Awakening: Part One

      “What?” the Shadow Uni grumbled. “She decided to do one of Jhudora’s quests and is currently in the Shop Wizard’s tent, looking for carrots?”

      “Of course not. Why would Massie do that? That’s dumb... I’ll tell you what really happened... probably... ”

     *

      The twentieth of the Month of Gathering cast light and beauty into every corner of Neopia—even into the corners where light and beauty were generally unwelcome.

      On this special day, the magic of the faeries permeated the usually miserably rainy and foggy marshes of the Haunted Woods; shafts of sunlight poked through the dense gloom, spending pale dubloons on the boggy ground, a few Korbats floated about, grins of happy idiocy on their faces, Petpets chirped and whistled.

      All over Neopia, pets found themselves inexplicably yearning for the magical realm, mundane matters like cost and the possibility of falling through clouds thrust aside carelessly like their blankets as they exploded out of their beds, already on their way to the realm of the faeries.

      *

      Faerie Festival Madness also affected Massie, a young Speckled Shoyru, who, mesmerized by the beauty that had transfigured into the Haunted Woods while she was asleep, bounced on her bed for a few times while planning a trip to Faerieland, in the wee small hours of Count Von Roo’s breakfast time and when finished, bounded into her sibling’s bedrooms, singing, “It’s time to go to FAERIELAND, tra la la! And we’re going RIGHT NOW! TRA LA LA LA LA!”

      Understandably, her siblings did not much appreciate the wake-up call.

      “Well? Why are we awake at this indecent hour?” Raven, a Shadow Uni demanded, as Dethrin stumbled into the kitchen bleary-eyed and tripped on his tail, rattling the plates.

      “’M sorry...” the White Zafara muttered. “What’s the story?”

      “Story?” Massie tilted her head, thinking. “I wasn’t going to tell a story... but you can probably find lots of stories in Neopia Central—”

      “You can stand under the trees and listen to them whisper,” Annette said wisely as she set a platter of Pyramibread on the table.

      “—because of all the buildings there—” Massie continued, ignoring the Peophin’s interruption and the surprised expressions that suddenly appeared on her siblings’ faces.

      “—I’ll bet you’re surprised that I know where the stories come from, but remember last year when we went to Neopia Central ’cause we were out of shampoo, and then Raven asked you how many stories their were in the Neolodge, and you said four, and then Raven said it was the only building with more than two in Neopia Central, and it was pathetic, and y’know, I think it is kinda pathetic that the buildings are that big and they’re only got one or two stories in ’em—”

      “Oh! I remember now... you said we were going to Faerieland!” Dethrin suddenly grinned, his chin splattered with raspberry jam.

      “Yes!” Massie immediately forgot all about stories and smiled brightly at her siblings. “We’re gonna go to Faerieland!”

      “Faerieland?!” Raven repeated, flicking her shadowy tail in disgust. “Are you insane?”

      “No, why?”

      “Every fluffy, sweetly pastel Neopian will be in Faerieland today, dancing in the sun.” The Uni snorted. “Besides, everything is boring and expensive.”

      “It is not expensive!” Massie protested. “Dethrin’s courses at the Mystery Island Training School are expensive, and he still goes every week! Besides, Faerieland is NOT boring! Just think of Faerie Bubbles filled with sugary goo and those fluffy, fat Magarals! And why would they call a wheel the Wheel of EXCITEMENT if it weren’t exciting? I made reservations for us at the hotel, and they’ve got seven stories in it, and we can eat toast—”

      “I believe I can hear Edna calling for you.”

      “Really?”

      “Can’t you hear it?” Raven seemed surprised. “Listen—‘Massie, my dear, come to me. I neeeeeed you...’ You’d better hurry. It’s urgent.”

      Massie didn’t say another word but shot off as quickly as her Speckled wings could carry her towards the Witch’s Tower.

      Annette’s eyebrows disappeared beneath the brim of her floppy Halloween hat.

      “May Light be in my path, Tolerance in my heart, and Peace all around me.” Raven rolled her eyes. “Now spare me the lecture on cruelty to idiots. If I hadn’t shut her up, she’d have gone on forever. And we don’t have forever, do we? Besides, Faerieland really is disgusting, and if you’d paid attention to the disappearances in the Neopian Times lately—”

      Just then, Massie came climbing in through the window. “This is gonna be so fun!” she squealed, spooning Pyramibread onto her plate. “Just wait, you’re all gonna love Faerieland! You could learn a thing or two from ’em, ’Nette—” she swallowed her mouthful, “—They can REALLY make toast!”

      “What did Edna want?” Raven asked, before the Shoyru could start babbling about why the faerie’s toast was good.

      “What?”

      “Why’d she call you?”

      “Oh, nothing. She just wanted to say good morning to me, and ask my opinion on her new spell.”

      The Uni’s eyes widened. “You worry me,” she told the Shoyru, and walked away.

      “What’s wrong with her?” asked Massie, now stuffing an odd assortment of jellies and gummies into her pocket. “She asked me!”

      Annette and Dethrin exchanged a glance. Edna, as everyone (but a certain Speckled Shoyru, it seemed) knew, was currently on a vacation in Geraptiku.

      *

      “...She probably failed Jhudora’s quest, so Jhudora turned her into a Snorkle!”

      Raven scoffed. “If Massie were a Snorkle, people would’ve heard her snorting and gone to investigate. And I thought the theory of Massie doing Jhudora’s quest was ‘dumb’.”

      “She was turned into a deaf and dumb Snorkle. Of course it’s dumb, she doesn’t have any Neopoints, remember? But Massie doesn’t know it’s dumb, right?” Dethrin promptly replied.

      “There aren’t any deaf and dumb Snorkles,” Raven disagreed. “Have you ever seen a Petpet afflicted before, in any way?”

      “Just because you haven’t seen it before doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!”

      The two pets then plunged into a heated argument over beliefs, brains and brown sugar.

      “Correct me if I am wrong,” Annette cut in, squinting in the direction of Jhudora’s Cloud, “but isn’t that the alleged deaf-and-dumb-Snorkle creator?”

      Dethrin and Raven turned around to stare at the slender faerie making her way through the crowd, dragging a dark sack with a bulge the approximate shape and size of—

      “Massie!” Dethrin gasped, and charged through the throng of faerie-mad Neopians. “Massie! Don’t worry, we’re coming! Hey, Jhudora!”

      The faerie stiffened and clutched the sack, tendrils of purple smoke seeping from her palms and snaking around the cloth, blocking it from view...

      “How!” gasped Annette, racing after Dethrin.

     She formed a fiery dart in her mind and made it blossom into reality, scorching the air as it screamed past.

     She was a second too late.

     The faerie was gone, and along with her, the sack.

     “No! COME BACK, YOU COWARD!” Dethrin howled in rage. “She’s gone!”

     “It’s okay, it’s okay.” Annette soothed him. “Shhhh, you’re attracting too much attention. Everything will be fine, we’ll—”

     “No, it will NOT be fine!” Tears were now rolling down Dethrin’s pain-loss-and rage-stricken face. “She’s gone!”

     Annette opened her mouth to offer him comforting platitudes—

     “I just lost my chance to do battle with a real, live faerie!” Dethrin gulped, and succumbed to paroxysms of grief.

     Annette closed her mouth. Raven snorted.

     “Well—” The Peophin took a deep breath. “Let’s go and report this to Fyora. At least then you’ll get to see a real, live faerie. And who knows, if you manage to irritate her enough, you might get a chance to duel one as well.”

     *

     The Queen of the Faeries muttered an incantation in the language known only to mages, then took a deep breath. Her stomach felt as if it were being sucked out through her nose, as everything before her shifted and altered, growing indistinct and hazy. A moment, then everything coalesced into the familiar surroundings of the throne room.

     Teleporting was always an intense, draining process, not at all as glamorous as it seemed to ignorant pets. She breathed out, and collapsed onto the throne, her skirts settling about her with a soft sigh.

     She looked out the window, against her better judgement—she would become alternately distracted by wonder at what the faeries had built here and fright at what power was needed in her responsibility to it—and saw below her Faerie City, spread like a tapestry of brick, slate and magic, unstained by shadows and filth like the rest of Neopia.

     On the edges of the tapestry, she could see Neopets, Petpets, and hovering above the crowds, the navy blue figure of the Pant Devil...

     Trivial, amusing creatures; unaware of what immortality boded for those who would bear it, blissfully ignorant of power, unknowing of what the future held...

     “Your Majesty?” the low voice pulled her back to the throne room.

     “Yes, Jaina?”

     “Your Majesty, they are becoming ever more... efficient. Yesterday, an Earth Faerie, an Eyrie and a pair of Pawkeets were reported as missing.”

     Fyora scowled, darkly. “Where?”

     Jaina checked her notebook. “All near Jhudora’s Cloud, Majesty.”

     Fyora looked down at Faerie City again, purple tresses sliding forward to block her face. An aura of hazy contemplation surrounded her and wafted across the room, inviting Jaina into the depths of her mind.

     The young faerie cleared her throat. “Ah—Your Majesty?”

     Fyora inclined her head slightly, to show that she was listening.

     “There are three Neopets here to see you, Your Majesty, about the disappearances. They say it’s important.”

     Fyora was startled; had they found a clue? Were the faeries vanishing the Neopians so careless? If they were, she would see to it that they were punished... severely.

     “Very well.” She straightened. “Send them in.”

     *

     By the time Annette, Dethrin and Raven were ushered into the throne room, Fyora had become Queen Fyora. Her chin went up, her left hand clenched around her wand. Her eyes flashed with a steeliness Jaina was sure hadn’t been there earlier.

     She was Her Regal Highness, Queen Fyora of the Faeries.

     “You wished to report a disappearance?” Every syllable throbbed with power.

     The scruffy white Zafara stepped forward. “Our sister, Massie the Speckled Shoyru, has been disappeared by faeries unknown—well, it was probably Jhudora.”

     When Fyora did not speak, he went on, “She was probably squeezed until she turned into pulp and Noxious Nectar.”

     At this, the Queen of the faeries could not help raising an eyebrow.

     To the Zafara’s left, the Shadow Uni was muttering quietly, “...I thought she was turned into a deaf and dumb Snorkle...”

     The Halloween Peophin looked embarrassed.

     Fyora was intrigued by this odd trio and their theories.

     “Very well,” she said. “Tell me what happened. If the faerie behind this vanishing act was careless enough to leave behind so much as a single hair, when I find out who she is... I shall see to it that she is severely punished.”

     “How do you know it’s a she?” the Zafara asked. “Are you behind this?”

     The Uni moved sideways onto his foot and appeared to shift her weight to that hoof.

     Fyora was relieved when the Zafara did not ask any more awkward questions and began narrating the story of their sister’s disappearance.

     “We were here to celebrate your Faerie Festival—which is way too crowded, by the way— and Massie probably decided that she wanted to do one of Jhudora’s Quests and probably went to her cloud, and I think we realized she was missing after a while, and we started looking for her, but of course she was probably captured by Jhudora, so we didn’t find her, and then we saw someone who was probably Jhudora dragging her down the street so we followed her, and when she realized we were following her, she teleported herself and Massie to somewhere... pretty suspicious, huh?”

     “Yes...” Fyora murmured. “Very suspicious. Well, I advise you to leave me and my assistant to find out who is behind this poorly performed disappearing act, take a room in the city and wait for news.”

     “We don’t want to—”

     “The Queen told you to go, now go.”

     “We can help—” the Zafara started to say.

     “Out.”

     “But—”

     “How very kind of you.” Jaina smiled at him. “We don’t need help, however. Good day.”

     And the pets were ushered out of the throne room, the door slamming behind them by itself.

     *

     “Your Majesty?”

     Fyora’s delicate eyebrows drew together. “I know... it could merely be chance, not carelessness... in any case, they undoubtedly alerted the vanisher that they saw her, and I doubt that she will be as careless the next time...

     “But now these pets know that something is a-wing as well, and the news will travel fast... which means that we must strike quickly, before news spreads to those who would exploit the knowledge and panic ravages the land. Alert our armies... and have them prepare for war.

     “We must not fail. The future of Neopia is at stake.”

     Jaina bowed. “It shall be done, your Majesty.”

To be continued...