The Petpet Detectives: Case of the Stolen Sharky - Part Three

      It was the feeling of a new case, mixed with excitement about flying to a new world first thing in the morning. Luna was making a schedule in her notebook and packing her Faerie Back Pack. Damien was sitting on the couch talking to Charlie and I had my feet up on the coffee table.

      I was famished by the time we exited The Neopian Aquarium. We didn't stop at the Pizzaroo, I just threw on some sausage wraps and we ate those. Now it was 9:00 pm NST and I was starting to get tired.

      "This is really interesting," Luna said. She looked through the book Guide to Petpets. Her paw had been frantically flipping through the pages, but now she was stopped on the 'Sharky' page. Luna read aloud, "Sharkies used to inhabit the darkest and deepest caves on the ocean floor. Even though they look ferocious, they are quite sweet and don't have any teeth. The Sharky has been extinct since year two."

      "Wow," Damien said, "the Sharky is supposed to be extinct?"

      "Maybe Scout is the only one left," Charlie yawned, "then it would be very important to keep him in the aquarium."

      "If Sharkies were supposedly 'extinct' then Scout has to be the only one left," I said.

      "But what if there are more of them out there?" Luna wondered aloud. "Then don't you think that Scout should be with the rest of them?"

      "Luna, there is no 'rest of them'," I told her firmly, "Scout's the only one."

      "How can you be so sure?"

      I rolled my eyes, "because they were classified in year two as extinct. It's been five years since someone discovered Scout. You think someone would have seen a Sharky if they hadn't been extinct. Scout got lucky, that's all."

      Luna shrugged, but I could tell she still wanted to believe that there were more Sharkies out there. "I almost agree with The Glass Bottom Boat Tour. I mean, that Neopet Shannon had one thing right: they would be losing business. Maybe we should have considered the attraction in Kiko Lake before we decided that we were on the aquarium's side."

      "We're not taking sides, Luna," Damien said, taking off his hat and tossing it like a Frisbee onto the hook near the front door. "We're just trying to view the case from all angles."

           "Maybe we should all just go to sleep," I advised, "and think about this later. Tomorrow's going to be a big day." Luna started off to her room without saying goodnight. She was the most sentimental one, and I figured she was feeling sorry for the boat tours when the aquarium opened.

      I was really tired now. Damien stood up and said goodnight. "Ready for bed, Charlie?" I reached down to take Charlie to his room, but the pea Chia was fast asleep on the armrest.

      ***

      The following morning came quicker than I expected. I woke up in my Fresh Bamboo bed to the small of Hot Cakes wafting in from the other room. I rolled out of bed and stretched my white wings: they reached past the ceiling. I kind of staggered out of the room, still half asleep.

      The Hot Cakes were coming from a large frying pan of the stove. Damien flipped some eggs as I came in. His shirt and pants were well ironed; he looked very professional.

      "Morning, Marlo!" he said cheerily. The royal Aisha watched me sit down before saying, "Today's going to be a big day!"

      "Not that big."

      "Yeah, even bigger!" Damien's smiled, "We've never gone to another world to solve a mystery before."

      "I wouldn't really call Kiko Lake a world," I mumbled, "It's more of a mini-world. And it's not all its cracked up to be. You'll see when we get there. Now, if we had to fly to The Lost Desert on a mystery, that would be a lot more exciting."

      Damien didn't have time to respond, because he was busy flipping Hot Cakes onto a plate. He set it down in front of me and I poured on some syrup. Just after I took the first bite, Luna came in, carrying Charlie. She set him on the table, where he stood at the edge of my plate.

     "Kiko Lake is northeast of us. It will take about thirty minutes to get there, at your flight speed, Marlo."

      "Sounds good," I said through a bite of Hot Cakes, "we should leave as soon as possible."

      'As soon as possible' turned out to be thirty minutes later. Luna double-checked to make sure she had brought enough Neopoints for snacks and her notebook to jot down clues and ideas. Plus, we had to roll Charlie off the table because he seemed to have fallen asleep again. When we got outside, the cold woke him up.

      Damien was still in his oh-so-cheerful mood. I couldn't help but wonder why on earth he was so happy when it was windy, cold and gray. I hated flying in the wind, but this was a case, and we needed to do what we could as soon as we could do it.

      As we always did it, Charlie sat on the top of my head, and Luna and Damien perched on my back. I took a few steps and accelerated into the dreary sky. It was a good thing that raindrops weren't falling; otherwise it would have been even harder to fly in the rain and wind.

      The four of us soared over Neopia Central and above the blue water. We were looking for the small island that was Kiko Lake. On the other side of it was a small kingdom called Roo Island, or at least that's what Luna told me.

      Charlie's guess on time was right-it took us almost a half hour to get to our destination. I landed swiftly on my feet in front of a tiny village with buildings shaped like Kikos. A pair of Yellow Kikos bounced by and a large boat was tied to the dock. Along the side it read: Glass Bottom Boat Tour

      Bingo! I thought.

      "Why don't we go in the boat tours building and see what the departure times are?" I suggested, as Damien and Luna slid off my back.

      "Yes, and we can look for a Neopet named Shannon," Damien pointed out.

      We wandered along the dock that ran between the lake and water until a round wooden building came into view. Its sign said: 'Glass Bottom Boat Tours' and under that 'Take a Look at the World Beneath You'. Luna led the way inside, where there was a yellow Bori sitting at a desk.

      "Excuse me," I said, "Could you tell us when the next boat will be departing for the tour?"

      "The first tour starts at 10 am and it runs every hour until sunset," she said in a flat voice. "It's one hundred Neopoints a seat. The Bori continued to scribble on some papers on her desk. I glanced at the wall clock: 9:49. That would give us just enough time to get on and experience the tour!

      "Great, we'll take three seats," Luna said and she pulled out some Neopoints from her Faerie Back Pack.

      "Four," the yellow Bori corrected. She pointed to Charlie on top of my head, "He's going too, right?"

      "Well," I began, "Yes, but he's not going to fill a seat himself. He'll just sit with me."

      "He still has to pay."

      I felt a stab of annoyance, rather than anger, "Look, can't you just cut him some slack? He's a pea Chia for Fyora's sake! If we pay for his seat that leaves one Neopet that can't go on the tour. You said it was one hundred Neopoints per seat. If he's not taking up a seat, then why make him pay?"

      "You know," the Bori began, "I can make your stay in Kiko Lake very, very short. You have paid for three seats. Which means, three Neopets can go."

      Even though Charlie was so small, his face turned red from the attention.

      "Marlo, forget it, we'll just pay for his seat," Luna said, tugging me on the arm, like, 'We don't want any trouble'.

      "Yeah, yeah," I mumbled, watching her pay for Charlie's seat. We didn't want any trouble, but I was about ready to cause some. That was absolutely ridiculous, in my opinion. Maybe I was being cheap, but I still felt it unfair. The Bori handed us four tickets and we started outside to find seats.

      "Do you think that was Shannon?" Damien whispered to me.

      "I don't know," I muttered, "she didn't say her name."

      There was a Kiko at the dock, who took our tickets and let us climbs into the boat. It had six green seats that faced each other, two in the front, and two beyond that for the boat driver and tour guide. In the center was a large, flat surface with wood on the sides and glass on the bottom. It let you see right through the water, down to the shallow floor.

      A few other Neopets were already seated-two Kikos in the front, sitting with their backs to the driver and two other Neopets who appeared to be tourists. We sat down in a row that took up three seats, (Charlie was standing on the glass).

      In just a few minutes, the boat started to fill with other passengers. An Aisha, a Skeith and a Techo all took seats across from us. The rest of the passengers were Kikos. The yellow Bori from the office stepped into the boat. I winced, figuring she was the tour guide. I thought to myself, Well, we paid for four seats. This had better be a good tour.

      The Bori stepped to the front and said, "Good morning everyone. My name is Shannon and I'll be your tour guide."

      My ears perked up and a sly grin spread across my face. This was going to be a good tour after all…

To be Continued…