Down the Wishing Well

     Yottir glanced back at Schyff, frowning. "There's a lot that I wouldn't do if I were you, either," he retorted. "I just want to see where the magic comes from."

     Schyff rolled his eyes. "Magic doesn't exist outside of what the faeries can do, Yottir."

     "Then how do you suppose this thing always grants everyone all these crazy wishes?" the Xweetok went back on to his tiptoes and peered into the Wishing Well, leaning into it to a rather dangerous degree. "Do you think it has magic of its own? Or maybe some faeries live in here. Maybe there's such thing as Well Faeries! Could you imagine that, Schyff?"

     "No," the Hissi said simply. "There are no 'Well Faeries.' That would just be silly."

     "Maybe they're sleeping. The Well Faeries are sleeping."

     "Yottir, Well Faeries aren't real."

     "Wait, I see some golden sparkles!" Yottir leaned in slightly further to get a better look.

     "Yottir, don't--"

     "SO MANY SPARKLES!" Yottir yelled excitedly, but before he knew it he was falling down the Wishing Well.

     "YOTTIR!" Schyff yelled, his grasp just barely missing the Xweetok as he lunged forward for him. There was a distinct, echoing yell as Yottir went further and further down.

     Splash.

     "Yottir?" Schyff called down nervously.

     "Schyff, there are no Well Faeries. I was wrong!" Yottir called up. "But this water does smell oddly fruity."

     Schyff sighed in relief. "Can you see a way up?"

     "No, and I don't really want to swim all the way down either. It's pretty deep. Plus I don't want to be tempted by all the Neopoints down here." Yottir paused a moment, then sighed himself. "I think the Neopoints were the source of the sparkling if I'm being honest."

     "Well you never know, the Well does sleep around 18 hours a day, supposedly. Regardless, hang tight! I'm going to go get some help. I'll be back in a jiffy, I think Zarstun and Mom are at the book shop." The Hissi rushed away to the area of the main shops.

     "I'll be here I guess," Yottir mumbled.

     ***

     The Magma Hissi swung open the doors to the book shop with such aggression that the Nimmo behind the counter flailed, dropped the book he was reading, and fell out of his chair. Schyff didn't appear to notice as he frantically searched for the familiar Draik, Zarstun. He spotted her examining the back of a copy of Zombie Unis, clearly unaffected by his entrance.

     "Hey, Schyff," she said, without looking up at him. "What did you do this time?"

     "Yottir," he said, trying to catch his breath. "He fell down the Well!"

     This caught Zarstun's attention. She looked over at Schyff, panic in her eyes. "Yottir fell down the Well? The Well?"

     Schyff nodded and promptly yanked Zarstun in the direction of the door.

     "Put this one on my tab, you know I'll be back!" Zarstun called. The Shopkeeper peeked up at the two Neopets over his desk just as they bolted out the door.

     They were partway down the path when Schyff started to explain the situation further, but he was talking too fast for Zarstun to process all that he said. "Yottir was looking down the Well because he was curious on how it granted wishes and thought he saw sparkles and he thought there could be Well Faeries and I tried to tell him that they don't exist but he tried to get a better look at the sparkles that turned out to be Neopoints and he ended up falling in and I don't know how well he can swim and he's too far in for me to get him out on my own and--"

     "Schyff, slow down! I can't understand you when you ramble on like that, let alone in a panic," Zarstun said, trying to keep up with him. "We need to keep a level head and stay calm. Have you told Mom yet?"

     The Hissi took a deep breath. "No, I haven't. I thought she was with you."

     "She was but she went to the health food store instead because I was taking too long. You know me with my books... Regardless, maybe this is better."

     "Better?"

     "Better. Mom doesn't need to know. Right? We don't need her freaking out again. The last thing we need is to be put under another lock-down in her paranoia of us getting hurt."

     "Fair point. What should we do then?"

     Zarstun frowned thoughtfully. "We'll have to figure it out once we get there."

     ***

     Zarstun peered down the Well. "Yottir?"

     "What's up, sis?" Yottir called back up.

     "Well, he doesn't seem all that concerned," the Draik said, relieved.

     "He usually isn't," Schyff said, also chancing a glance down the Well. "So what do you think? Can we get him out?"

     Zarstun thought for a moment, then nodded. "There looks like there would be enough space for me to fly down and pick him up and out, but I don't know how long I could hold his weight for. It's pretty deep... I don't suppose you have any rope...?"

     Schyff shook his head.

     "Uhh, guys?" Yottir called up. The other two Neopets ignored him for the time being, trying to work on their plan.

     "Maybe we should get Mom and risk her panicking. She would know what to do," Schyff suggested. "Or at least have something that could help."

     "Not the best idea. We don't know how far away she is and what she may have on hand. She might just end up pacing around in a panic and be of no extra help anyway," she said, then glanced over at Yottir's Niptor, surprisingly content, sitting beside the Well and munching on a spicy chicken burrito. She rose an eyebrow. "What if we use our Petpets? We all have ours here. Maybe we can get them to hold on to each other like a chain, then you hold on to them and I--"

     "Guys?" Yottir called up again, in vain.

     "Zarstun, you're forgetting something," Schyff said.

     "What's that?"

     "I have a Meepit," Schyff said, gesturing to the bush his Meepit was staring unblinkingly out of, directly at them.

     "Seriously, why do you even have that thing? He's creepy," Zarstun said, shuddering. "Well, what do you propose then?"

     "GUYS!" Yottir shouted with more urgency.

     "WHAT?" Zarstun and Schyff yelled back, irritated.

     "WHY IS EVERYTHING SPARKLING?"

     Confused, Zarstun and Schyff glanced at each other, then once again down the Well. Yottir was right, nearly the entire Well was shimmering in gold. They stared on in utter shock.

     "Well, do something! Am I going to get an episode of Castle Escape: Zarstun Edition or what?" the Xweetok called up, clearly growing nervous.

     "Schyff, how many Neopoints do you have?" Zarstun asked quietly.

     "What? Uhh, I don't know, I spent most of them at the Spooky Food cart."

     Zarstun glared at him.

     "I don't know! Maybe around 22 left?" Schyff began checking his pockets. Zarstun also began checking hers.

     "Okay, I have 50. Give me yours," she said.

     "WHAT?"

     "JUST DO IT."

     Rolling his eyes, Schyff handed his Neopoints over. Zarstun promptly threw all 72 of them into the Wishing Well, and the gold shimmering grew brighter.

     "OW!" Yottir shouted when he was pelted by the onslaught of falling Neopoints. He never realized such an event would actually be somewhat painful.

     "I wish Yottir was free from the Well! And possibly for a Goodie Bag. But, you know! Whatever works!" Zarstun shouted. Schyff finally realized what his sister's plan had been. Both Neopets looked into the light in awe as the glow grew brighter and brighter, before suddenly dying out completely.

     Silence followed, an uncommon thing among the trio. There was not a single sparkle, nor a single sound Schyff or Zarstun could hear.

     "Yottir?" Schyff called.

     "Well, that sucked. And Well Faeries don't even exist." Yottir said from behind them. Schyff and Zarstun both turned to face the unimpressed, soaking-wet Xweetok. They both burst out laughing and charged in to hug him. The water clinging to Yottir sizzled upon contact with the Magma Hissi.

     "You're okay!" Schyff yelled excitedly.

     "And you smell kind of fruity," Zarstun chimed in, somewhat confused but nonetheless happy.

     The three of them stood there for an awkwardly long time in their group hug with another silence, all besides the persistent sizzling of the water. Schyff's head suddenly popped up. "This is getting weird," he stated. They all let go at the realization.

     "Seriously though," Yottir said, "We are not telling Mom about this."

     The End.