The Day After Lutari Day: Part Two

      "Mummy, Mummy, get up, Mummy," he was saying in a quiet, hiccoughing voice that sounded on the edge of tears.

      "I'm up," I groaned, levering myself onto my elbows. My head spun a bit and I had to blink a few times to clear away the dots dancing in front of my eyes, but other than that, I seemed ok. Shaken, but still in one piece. "You ok, love?" I asked, turning to Bannok.

      "I'm ok," he assured me. I noticed with a vague sort of annoyance that his fur was covered in sand again. "What happened?"

      "I'm not quite sure," I answered. I couldn't hear the – whatever it was that had been in the rock pool, and wondered briefly if it has got scared and run off. My theory was shortly disproved as I tried to sit up fully and felt a weight against my side, pulling down on my shirt. I looked down, and there it was; small, red and soaking wet, curled into an almost spherical shape on the loose fabric of my shirt. It stared up at me with liquid, honey golden eyes, the only part of its face visible above its tail.

      "What are you then?" I asked softly, reaching carefully down for it. I half expected the creature to turn tail and run, but it pushed its head eagerly into my hand. I almost thought I heard it purring.

      "Is it a petpet?" Bannok asked, leaning over me to see it. His words made me think of Callum, and I looked around with a flash of panic – but the vacana was fine, sitting on top of the beach bag and watching from a safe distance.

      I gently scooped the small bundle up and onto my lap. "I don't know," I answered Bannok. "He might be."

      "Or she," Bannok corrected me, staring at it in fascination. The possible petpet stared back at him just as curiously, whiskers twitching. It mewed imperatively when I set it down, its head shooting forwards faster than I could see to catch my sleeve and drag my hand back.

      "Or she," I agreed, resuming my careful stroking. It closed its eyes, and this time I was sure; whatever it was, it purred. It had fur, I could see now, though it was short and very slick due to being wet. It looked rather catlike in form, though its ears were tiny and its legs far shorter than any cat I had seen. Its paws ended in wicked looking claws, as I had noticed earlier when it was clinging to my leg, but they were now very demurely curled underneath it, half hidden by its thick red tail.

      "So what are we going to do with you then?" I asked it, not expecting an answer. It blinked slowly at me, continuing its rumbling purr.

      "Can we keep her?" Bannok asked hopefully.

      "We can't just take it – her," I corrected at Bannok's reproachful look, "home with us. What if someone comes looking for her?" Although, it was odd; we hadn't seen another soul on the beach all day, so it seemed unlikely that the strange little creature had just wandered off and got lost. "Or what if she's a wild petpet?" I tried, though her obvious friendliness suggested otherwise.

      "But Mum, she likes us!" Bannok protested. "And I promise, I'll look after her and feed her and everything – you won't even know she's there!"

      "And what will poor Callum think of being usurped?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

      "I can look after them both!"

      I sighed, putting the little red creature down on the sand so that I could stand up. It meeped in annoyance and squirmed out of my hands; before I could blink, it was back on my lap, curled up in exactly the same position as though it had never left. I tried again, but it hooked its claws into my shirt, crawling (rather painfully) up my chest to settle determinedly under my chin. Bannok giggled delightedly.

      "Look," I told it, tilting my head so I could see it. "If you're going to stay up here, that's a really inconvenient place to be." It ignored me, burying its claws further into my shirt. I rolled my eyes exaggeratedly, making Bannok giggle again, and stood up. Surprisingly, the creature stayed put, spread across my front like a thick scarf. Its eyes were closed and it was still stubbornly purring.

      "We'll have to stop at the petpet shop on the way home," Bannok said, shooing Callum off the bag and dragging it over to me. "And the neohome store, and we'll need some food too. What do you reckon she eats? Would she eat green stuff like Callum does, or I can give her some cake – I bet she loves cake!"

      "Bannok, slow down," I said. "We don't know that we're keeping her – or him. We don't even know that she's a petpet!"

      "But Mummy, she'll be cold if we leave her out here!" Bannok protested, gesturing emphatically at the deserted beach. "And, and lonely!" I felt her – it – tensing on my chest, the fur on its back standing up a bit as it did so.

      "We're not leaving her here," I reassured them both. "She can stay with us tonight, but tomorrow morning we need to take her in to town and find out what she is and whether someone's looking for her. Now, hand me the bag Bannok and let's go home, hey?"

      "Kay," Bannok mumbled. I slung the bag over my shoulder and reached down with my other hand to hold his paw.

      We walked along in quiet for a couple of minutes, Callum once again choosing the rocks over the sand. Once it was clear that we weren't leaving it behind, the furry red creature relaxed enough to crawl up to my shoulder and settle there, tail draped across the back of my neck. I wondered if it was a petpet, and if so what kind – there was a petpet shop on Mystery Island, called, ironically, the Rock Pool. I had heard though that they specialised in aquatic petpets; dartails and ghotis and other such petpets. It was possible that our foundling had escaped from there, but it seemed unlikely. For one thing, we were at the other end of the island.

      "Mummy?" Bannok said in a small voice.

      "Mhmm?" I asked. I already had a fair idea as to what was on his mind.

      "Are we really going to give her away?"

      I paused, trying to work out how I was going to say this. "We don't have much choice if she's a petpet, Bannok," I said gently. "The Petpet Protection League is very strict about only letting pets have one petpet, and we can't get rid of Callum, can we?"

      "No," Bannok said dejectedly, head down and eyes fixed on his feet. We had approached the harbour now, and though the coconut JubJub who ran it waved a friendly greeting, the boat was nowhere in sight.

      "Looks like we've got a bit of a wait then," I said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. I lifted Bannok up to sit on the edge of the quay, and took out a towel to brush the sand off him. "Left foot, Bannok," I said, reaching for it with the towel. He obediently lifted his foot and held it still as I brushed the sand off and buckled his shoe up, then did the same for the other one. Shoes on, he got up and wandered down to the other end of the quay, sitting on the farthest out part with his feet dangling over the water.

      "Well, this has ended on a downer, hasn't it?" I asked rhetorically. The little thing that may or may not have been a petpet mewed curiously, pushing its head against my cheek until I raised a finger to stroke it. "Here's hoping you're not a petpet," I said quietly. "I don't think anyone would be happy to have to get rid of you, least of all Bannok." It purred in agreement.

      I debated for a moment whether to go up and join Bannok or not; Callum was with him, the stoic vacana sitting next to him and staying a far safer distance from the edge of the quay than Bannok was. They seemed like an odd match, those two – Bannok being usually so full of energy and liking nothing more than to get properly muddy (much to my chagrin), and Callum being one of the most persnickety and long suffering petpets I have ever come across. But they wouldn't be separated for the world, and I knew that Bannok would never give up Callum for a new petpet.

      Just then, the boat appeared over the horizon. The coconut JubJub bustled up to me carrying a rattling, metal box.

      "Tickets, please!" he said cheerfully.

      "Oh – we got return tickets this morning," I said, opening my bag. "Hang on a sec... There." I fished the two slightly crumpled tickets out of my purse and handed them over to him.

      "Thank you, thank you – and one more, or are you buying the third as a single?" he said, flipping open the lid of the box.

      "Third?" I asked blankly, not comprehending.

      "For the young Kyrii with the petpet – he is with you, no?" the JubJub asked. "It's 25 neopoints for a single ticket, please."

      "Right," I said, handing over the neopoints, still trying to work out why I needed a third ticket. "Wait, could you tell me –" I began to ask, but he had already deposited the coins in the box and gone back to his hut.

      "All aboard!" the Kougra called from the boat, and I noticed that his current load of passengers had already disembarked. Bannok was, of course, sat right up in the bow, already swinging his legs in excitement. "Come on, Mummy!" he yelled.

      I gave up wondering – 25 neopoints wasn't going to break the bank, and I didn't want to hold the boat up by going to ask. "Have you got Callum?" I asked Bannok as I stepped down into the boat. He nodded, pointing at the covered section at the back of the boat. I could just see the vacana through the window, sat on one of the seats in there.

      "Just the three of you, then?" the Kougra asked jovially. I nodded, and he released the rope with quick, practiced movements. "Right-o, on to Neopia Central!"

      "I don't suppose you could stop in at Brightvale, could you?" I said.

      "Sure thing, any preference whereabouts?" the Kougra replied.

      "South side, please – we're near the Faerieland Road." He nodded his affirmation, then kicked the engine into gear. I went to put the bag inside with Callum and give the petpet a stroke, then moved up towards the bow to sit with Bannok.

      Strange – the Kougra had also thought there were three of us. It made no sense; we were four in total. Maybe he hadn't seen Callum? But then why would the JubJub at the harbour charge us for three tickets, since petpets travelled free? Could it be that the little red petpet sat on my shoulder was not a petpet – was, in fact, a pet?

To be continued...