Breaking Illusions

      “What happened?” Anthony the Red Usul questioned.

      But Lisa refused to respond, turning on her heels and exiting in a dramatic fashion. Other members of the club had tried to contact her after for answers, but Lisa refused to respond to any inquiries. Cehani’s mind danced with the possibilities of what had happened to Lisa, yet she was scared to reach out. If Lisa refused to respond, like she had to the others, it would cement the death of the friendship they had grown. Cehani’s takeaway was simply that she must not meet Illusen. She did not want the possibility of ruining her hobby (aka obsession).

      So it was with much alarm the day Cehani faced a decision that would change her life forever. She was sitting around the large wooden table with her siblings, and they were going through their monthly goals. “Ah, that brings me to the next avatar we need,” Fantesha the Chocolate Draik said with a smile. The warming scent of hot chocolate wafted through the air, and Cehani put her paws around her evergreen mug letting the warmth run through her. “Illusen’s Glade. We must complete 20 quests. So who wants to take it on?” All heads spun to face Cehani, whose eyes widened as large as saucer pans.

      “Me?” Cehani squeaked.

      “Well? Who else? Don’t you love Illusen? I’m surprised we don’t already have this avatar.” Fantesha said, looking down at her clipboard and furrowing her brows.

      “How about let’s do it later?” Cehani offered pathetically.

      “Do you have other pressing matters?” Fantesha questioned in shock.

      Cehani couldn’t think of any excuse to make. The fan club did have a meeting today, but it was in the evening. So she spoke honestly: “I don’t know if I can. What if she’s actually terrible?”

      “So? Then she’s terrible? We need this avatar! Pull it together Cehani!” Fantesha said roughly. “Alright, moving on to the next matter…”

      Cehani’s mind was spinning with possibilities. She could ask her sibling to take on the quest, but she didn’t want to be jeered at, as they all knew about her hobby of collecting Illusen items as well as her active part in the Illusen fan club. When Cehani imagined Illusen, she thought of a kind, sweet faerie with a desire to do good. But was Illusen really like that? Perhaps there was something more sinister behind Jhudora kicking Illusen out of Faerieland. The speculation that Illusen had witnessed Jhudora do something horrendous might not be true. What if it was Illusen who had done something horrendous? Cehani took a deep breath. Still, perhaps it had been too long a time that she had procrastinated meeting the faerie adorned in green.

      When the meeting came to a close, Cehani stood to leave. Suddenly she felt a cool gust of breath on the nape of her neck, making her jump in shock. Turning around hastily, she was met by Jnexis the Stealthy Draik. Jnexis’s large ghastly blue eyes stared down at Cehani, and Cehani withheld a shiver.

      “I can come with you,” Jnexis whispered. Jnexis rarely spoke in a normal voice.

      Cehani considered the offer for a minute. Jnexis was Cehani’s sister, but the two rarely spoke. Jnexis’s presence was one that would make a villain think twice before enacting something evil. “Yes, sure! Let’s go now before I change my mind about going at all.” Cehani said with a sigh,

      The corners of Jnexis’s mouth turned up in what Cehani could only imagine was a smile.

      Meridell was not far, and soon their feet were thumping through the dirt path. Their eyes met with the rich green of the grass, bushes, and trees. “The castle looks quite grand!” Cehani noted referring to the grey brick Meridell castle that stood to their left. Jnexis simply nodded in response. They passed the ‘Ye Olde Petpet’ shop, then ‘Merifoods’, and finally they arrived at Illusen’s glade. Cehani stopped. She could hear her heart thumping loudly.

      “Are you ready?” Jnexis inquired softly.

      “Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” Cehani responded with a frown.

      “Sometimes she sits outside, but it looks like today she’s up there,” Jnexis said pointing to the top of the tree where a tree house sat comfortably. Jnexis frequented this land as well as many others, being the adventurous soul that she was. There were stairs that spun around the thick, dark brown tree that led up to the tree house where Illusen resided. Together they began the climb. The climb itself was not as scary as Cehani thought it might be. The stairs were paced close together, and she walked nearest to the sturdy tree. Reaching the treehouse, a melodic sound filled the air, and as Cehani entered the room, she could see the sound came from wind chimes that dangled next to the windows. In the center of the room Illusen sat on a plush light green chair. Cehani could not contain her shock and excitement at seeing Illusen, and a shrill shriek came tumbling out her mouth. It had been so long of Cehani collecting Illusen things, thinking about Illusen, and talking about her in the fan club, and now here she was before Cehani’s very eyes! Illusen wore her classic green gloves and light green outfit. Her gossamer wings caught the light in such an enthralling way. Cehani didn’t realize how thin and delicate Illusen’s wings were until now. None of the items she had could capture their brilliance.

      “I’m sorry!” Cehani said, paw going to her mouth to cover it in embarrassment. “I’ve just been a fan for so long.”

      A warm smile spread across Illusen’s face. “Oh, I’m truly flattered. Are you part of my fan club? I’ve offered to come, but no one ever got back to me…I do things the old-fashioned way though, through snail mail.” She let out an angelic laugh.

      “You have? I never heard about it…” Cehani said, troubled now at the thought that such a kind request was met with silence. “Who did you send a letter to?”

      “Oh the leader of the fan club…what’s her name,” Illusen said, thinking for a moment. “Harper! In fact, now that I think about it, I sent a few letters. Well, anyway. No matter! It is so nice to meet a fan. Are you interested in taking me up on one of my quests?”

      “Yes, we are,” Jnexis whispered back.

      “Yooyuball Pizza. You have 15 minutes and 50 seconds.” The faerie said with a grin.

      “We’ll be back!” Cehani said with a smile. Exiting, the two Neopets descended down the stairs.

      “How was it?” Jnexis asked as they reached the grass.

      “Wow! She is so nice! What on earth was Lisa talking about…” Cehani knew she had to talk to Lisa, and on top of that, what in Neopia had happened to Illusen’s invite? Everyone in the club had always wanted Illusen to make an appearance. Had Harper really not gotten Illusen’s letters? “I’ve got to talk to Lisa!” Cehani said aloud determinedly.

      “Not so fast!” Jnexis responded, almost out of her usual whisper. “We’ve got a quest to finish.”

      “I’m sure you can do it without me!” Cehani said desperately. “I’ve really got to see my friend!”

      “How about we do the quest together, and then I’ll take you to your friend Lisa. I have wings, and it’ll be faster with me as your ride.” Jnexis offered.

      “Deal.” Cehani agreed, though she wondered why Jnexis wanted to be involved at all.

      Collecting and returning the item was a breeze. Though Jnexis wanted to return the item by herself, which Cehani thought was strange but agreed to, as there was much more on her mind. When Jnexis returned from delivering the item, she informed Cehani that she had promised Illusen they’d be back soon for another quest. Then it was off to Lisa’s house. She lived in Tyrannia, but it didn’t take too long as Jnexis flew with great speed. Once they got to her stone grey house, Cehani wasted no time, pounding on the door and calling out: “Lisa!”

      A moment later the Plushie Ixi poked her head through. “What do you want?” She asked Cehani pointedly, crossing her arms.

      “What do you mean?” Cehani asked in shock. She expected either no answer at the door or a warmer tone, if Lisa did choose to answer.

      “I haven’t heard from you in two months!”

      “Well, I didn’t hear from you either!” Cehani tossed back, eyes widening

      “Oh..yes…but you saw how upset I was at that fan meeting, and you didn’t even bother to contact me.”

      “I was worried you wouldn’t respond. I heard from the other members that you wouldn’t elaborate on what happened.”

      “Ugh, what was the point? Everyone follows Harper blindly. It’s not like it would make a difference. My word against hers.”

      “Harper?” Cehani said quizzically. “What does she have to do with it? I thought you had met Illusen, and it was a bad experience?”

      “Illusen? No, of course not!” Lisa let out a loud laugh. “What...is that what everyone thinks? I mean I guess I had mentioned I was planning on doing one of her quests and finally meeting her that week…” Lisa smiled to herself and then looked up at Cehani who was a few inches taller than her. “No, no, Illusen’s lovely.”

      A wave of relief flooded through Cehani. She too thought Illusen was lovely. “Well, then what is wrong with Harper?”

      “She works for Jhudora. She’s a Jhudora fan disguised as an Illusen fan! She’s bent on destroying Illusen’s reputation! I was in Faerieland and happened to overhear her conversation with Jhudora, and that was the gist of it!”

      “What?” Cehani cried in surprise, but the puzzle pieces were already fitting together.

     Harper had been making comments about this and that, all alluding to Illusen being not a very good faerie. Most recently she had been talking about how Illusen didn’t care about them enough to even attend the fan club.

      “I’m afraid she’ll be successful in destroying Illusen’s reputation if she’s not stopped.” Lisa said looking down in despair. “I don’t think she knows I know…at least she didn’t see me that day.”

      “I have an idea!” Cehani said. “An idea to expose her. Illusen has been sending letters to Harper about being able to attend the fan club and was met with silence. If we can find those letters, if Harper did indeed keep them, we can use them as proof that she is truly against Illusen.”

      Lisa looked up with hopeful eyes. “You know she always keeps her office locked at all times. If they were anywhere, she’d probably keep them there.”

      Harper’s office was not too far, and fortunately it had some windows they could peek into, as it was located on the first floor. Nobody was inside, and the office was dark. They entered the building easily, but when they got to the door it was a matter of picking the lock. “I heard if you take a hairpin,” Lisa began, but Jnexis was already pulling one out of her thick black hair and stuffing it into the lock. Cehani and Lisa exchanged looks.

      A moment later, the door opened, and the three of them entered, turning on the office light. It was drab and plain. Nothing on the walls, and only a large dark wooden desk sat in the middle of the room. Both Cehani and Lisa rushed over, and Lisa began thumbing through the papers that were laying on the desk. Cehani opened the first drawer on the right-hand side. It was filled with colourful Illusen flyers. Shutting it, Cehani opened the next one. Inside lay a stack of papers. Looking through them, they appeared to be all sorts of documents relating to the club. The bottom drawer was next, but there was a lock on it. Pulling at it yielded no results. Seeing Cehani’s struggle, Jnexis came over. It took her a few more moments with the pin than the door had, but she was able to open it. Both Lisa and Cehani let out a gasp as they were met with the glowing purple eyes of Jhudora. It was a poster reading: ‘Jhudora is the best!’ above the image of Jhudora. Cehani pulled it off and handed it to Lisa, who dropped it on the desk in disgust. Underneath lay a stack of envelopes that were paper clipped together with a yellow sticky note on top: ‘Give to Jhudora’. Could she be more obvious? Though Cehani guessed Harper never expected someone to break into her office like they were doing now. Cehani peeked under the sticky note, and sure enough the envelopes were addressed to Harper from Illusen. There were three letters in total, and they all appeared to be open.

      “Oh, I want to read them!” Lisa said excitedly, pulling them from Cehani’s paws. Lisa opened the flap of one of the envelopes and pulled out the letter. “Dear Harper, I would love to attend the fan club meeting. Let me know the time and date that is best for you. By the way, I’ve sent two letters before, have you not received them? I will wait for your response. Illusen.”

      “Wow!” Cehani said in surprise. She then returned her attention to the open drawer. “Look at this!” Cehani cried pulling out a photo. It was Jhudora and Harper smiling in front of the Giant Omelette.

      “No way!” Lisa exclaimed. “This is the definite evidence we need!”

      “What time is it?” Cehani asked hurriedly. “There’s a fan club meeting tonight at six o’clock. We’d better bring this evidence there.”

      Jnexis pulled out a watch from her grey purse. “5:50.”

      “How long will it take to get there? It’s in Neopia Central.”

      “Perhaps I can make it in ten minutes.” Jnexis responded.

      It was exactly six o’clock as they declined into Neopia Central on Jnexis’s back. The Draik made a smooth descent, and soon they were on the fresh green grass. They walked toward the meeting area. The meeting was under a tree, and already all the members were gathered. Harper was standing near the tree, directing the beginning of the meeting, and everyone else was seated on the grass.

      “It is with great chagrin I must announce that lllusen refuses to attend these meetings. In fact she is not even pleased that she has a fan club. I’m not sure she is as good as we all have been thinking…” Harper trailed off.

      “Stop with the lies!” Lisa exclaimed, and all the fan club members’ heads turned to Lisa as she stomped over to Harper. “You are a Jhudora fan disguised as an Illusen fan!”

      The members gasped in unison, and a low rumble of whispers arose.

      “What are you talking about?” Harper said angrily, crossing her arms, but her Kyrii eyes could not hide her fear. “Did you not say yourself that she’s terrible and that you had to quit the fan club?”

      “I was talking about you!” Lisa responded loudly.

      Another eruption of gasps came from the members.

      “I overheard you talking to Jhudora about your plans to ruin Illusen’s reputation.” Lisa continued.

      “Don’t believe her!” Harper said desperately, looking toward the members. “She’s lying.”

      “Cehani, show them the proof!” Lisa said, turning to Cehani who was now in front of the members as well.

      Cehani turned to the members and began to explain: “I met with Illusen today, and she said she had sent letters wanting to attend the fan meeting to Harper and received no response. So I’m not proud of this, but we had to find the evidence. So we went to Harper’s office, and there we found these letters from Illusen.” Cehani showed the letters and gave them to the first row of members to pass down. “They do indeed say that she’s interested in attending the fan club meeting.”

      “You simple faked them!” Harper snarled.

      “Oh yeah? Then what about this picture!” Cehani responded, pulling out the picture of Harper and Jhudora smiling happily in front of the omelette. The members gasped once again.

      Leah, the most quiet of the fan club members, stood up. “It’s time you leave Harper!”

      “You’re all on the wrong side!” Harper said angrily. “Jhudora forever!” With that she set off in the direction of Faerieland.

      “Attention everyone!” Jnexis said in a loud announcing voice, surprising both Cehani and Lisa. Cehani didn’t even know it was possible for Jnexis to speak so loudly. Jnexis continued: “Illusen will be joining us shortly! We can inform her of what has happened. Illusen agreed to do a little Q and A as well as a signing, if anyone is interested.” Jnexis said with a smile.

      “When did this happen?” Cehani asked in surprise.

      “Oh when I went in to complete the quest. I wanted it to be a surprise for you! I thought it would be more special that way. I’m also actually an Illusen fan, but I had a bad feeling about Harper. I once saw her visiting Jhudora, but I had no solid evidence. Just a suspicion. Now that she has been found out though, I can start attending the fan club meeting with you! Is that ok?”

      Cehani grinned happily. “Of course! It is so nice someone else in the family shares my interest.”

      The sun was beginning to set in Neopia Central, and in the distance Cehani could see Illusen flying toward them. Never meet your heroes. Well, it was clearly not true in this case.

     The End.