Niah's heart began to throb in her chest. Not only that, but her throat was so dry that she could hardly swallow as she looked at the gloomy corner of Faerieland that was home to the darkest faerie, Jhudora. None of her friends had ever accepted a quest off the dark faerie and until now the white Kougra had given Jhudora's Bluff a wide berth. However, she now had something to prove, and Niah wasn't one to back out of a challenge, especially not one that had been set by her own mum, whom she loved dearly.
This morning, Niah had been complaining that she was bored of not being adventurous enough so her mum had turned to her and said, "Well in that case, go out somewhere. It's a lovely day. Do something exciting!"
So that was what Niah did. Breathing deeply to calm herself, she stepped into the Bluff. The stark difference between it and the rest of Faerieland was astonishing. Skeletal dead trees lined the winding path leading into the heart of the Bluff, overshadowed by smoky black clouds. The air was heavy and cold, like Faerieland had suddenly plunged straight from summer into the darkest depths of winter. Niah crept up the path, trying not to make a sound.
She saw Jhudora sitting on her throne. She was busy admiring herself in a grand purple mirror, twisting her indigo hair around her spindly fingers. Occasionally she would pout, her painted lips glistening. Niah crept up to the distracted faerie, scared that if she were to make a sound and startle her she would cast a horrific spell on her and turn her into an ugly Petpet that had a pea for a brain.
Jhudora sniffed the air and placed the mirror onto the arm of her throne. She pulled her lips up into a grin, dazzling Niah with a set of perfectly straight white teeth.
"Ah," she said, her voice startlingly strong. "Fresh meat."
"H-Hello," Niah replied, timidly. She wanted to turn and run, but her legs refused to budge.
"Are you here to do a quest?" she said. "I don't like to be messed about, you see."
"Of c-c-course."
Niah cursed herself silently for being so outwardly nervous.
"Very well," replied Jhudora. "Fetch me a Golden Juppie and make sure it's quick! You only have 16 minutes. Now go! And don't return until you have it or there will be consequences."
To emphasise her point, she clasped her lean fingers around her wand and moved it through the air in one graceful motion. Sparks of dark magic cascaded from its tip and dissipated instantly in the heavy air.
She looked at Niah disapprovingly, as if the Kougra was a mild annoyance to her and then raised her eyebrows. Niah knew that look. It meant, 'Why are you still here?' Turning on her heels, she darted off in the direction that she came, not daring to look back. After a lot of searching and haggling, Niah re-entered the Bluff with just thirty seconds to spare, carrying the biggest, juiciest Golden Juppie she could find.
"I-I have the Golden Juppie," she said, quivering.
"What took you so long?" she boomed. Her eyes were brimming with a faint trace of rage that was simmering away beneath the surface. "Anyway, I have a small gift. Here."
Jhudora handed Niah a hairbrush. It wasn't the prettiest of things, and certainly not as grand as Jhudora's own, which was lying behind the faerie on a purple silk cushion, but at least it was a gift. She needed a new brush anyway. She looked at it, smiled, thanked Jhudora and ran back home, eager to get away from her.
She knocked on the front door of her Neohome. A small woman with blonde wispy hair and big blue eyes answered. She was wearing a fancy pink and green summer-dress and was slurping Cherry NeoCola from a glass with a pink straw.
"Hi, Niah," she said, happily. "Come inside and you can tell me about all the things you've done today."
In the living room, Niah retrieved the brush from her pink rucksack and showed it to her mum. It had looked fairly mundane before, but now it appeared to be in a worse condition. It looked drab and very old. Still, what did she expect from a dark faerie?
"Jhudora gave this to me after I completed one of her quests. I had to fetch a Golden Juppie for her."
"Oh, Niah," said her mum, patting the Kougra on the head and passing her drink to her so that she could have some. "I didn't mean that you had to go and visit Jhudora. Even I wouldn't do that! But did you enjoy it?"
"Well… yes, and no," replied Niah honestly. While it had been quite daunting, it had also been a learning curve and she felt braver for doing it. She explained in great detail about her day, shared the glass of NeoCola with her mum and then went upstairs to her bedroom, clutching the brush tightly in her paws.
As night drew in, Niah scrutinized the brush under the bright, harsh lighting in her bedroom, twisting and turning it so that the light could reflect off it, but it remained dull, like it was trapped in another realm where light couldn't reach. In fact, it looked more dingy now than it had earlier. She turned it over and checked out the bristles. They were surprisingly sharp. They were also like new and all accountable for, much unlike the bristles on her own brush which was falling apart. She decided to use it.
Admiring herself in the full-length mirror, Niah was amazed at how beautiful and shiny her white fur had become. It looked like doing that quest had paid off. After posing in front of her mirror, she placed the brush onto the shelf above her bed, pulled a book from her bookshelf, climbed into bed and started reading. As she read, the Kougra's eyes began to get heavy. She hadn't even been able to get to the good part. She dropped the book on to the floor in a sleepy daze and fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
During the night, as Niah was tossing and turning in her bed, she bumped her head against the wall, causing the brush to slip off the shelf and hit her sharply on the forehead. She woke up with an abrupt start, mumbling angry incoherencies to herself.
"Can't anyone get a bit of shuteye around here?" she growled as she shot up and looked around. Someone had hit her over the head while she'd been sleeping, she angrily assumed. Whoever it was had better watch out. When her eyes adjusted and she couldn't see anybody lurking she looked down at her pillow and saw the dark silhouette of the hairbrush lying there. She angrily scooped it up and tossed it across the other side of the room.
"Stupid thing!" she yelled before falling into an uneasy sleep.
She opened one eye a couple of hours later and saw that it was daylight. Rain was beating against the window and the wind was making the catch rattle. When she pulled back the curtains she was greeted with a scene that matched her unusual foul mood. The sky was dark grey and heavy with precipitation and the wind struck against the trees and shrubs, bending them into awkward positions.
She saw a yellow Kacheek walking up the road without any protection from the weather and carrying two massive and heavy looking bags full of shopping as he pushed against the unforgiving wind, so Niah flung open her window and started laughing at him.
"Hey, you!" she sneered between laughs.
The Kacheek turned to look at her, a pained expression on his face as he tried to brace the weather and carry his heavy load at the same time.
"Yeah, that's right! You!"
She started to point and laugh and then closed the window with a bang, watching him through the comfort of her own bedroom. She watched him fight his way up the street, just hoping that she'd upset him enough to make him cry. A sly grin crept onto her face when she thought about it. She picked up the brush from the corner of her bedroom, gave her fur a quick going over, dropped it to the floor casually and made her way downstairs.
"Morning, Niah," called her mum from the kitchen as she prepared her breakfast. Niah sniffed the air and took in the wonderful aroma of sausages, eggs and bacon. Her belly rumbled and she suddenly felt very angry that her mum had taken so long cooking breakfast this morning.
"Are you going to hurry up with my breakfast or what?" asked Niah rudely.
"Yes, it's nearly ready," replied her mum, either not detecting the rude tone of Niah's voice, or choosing to ignore it. This only enraged Niah further and she continued on with her tirade.
"This is pathetic!" she yelled. "When I come down here, I expect my breakfast to be ready for me! And it isn't! You're not fit to be my mother!"
Now she had heard. The Kougra's mum spun round with a perplexed look carved upon her pretty face. She was clutching a spatula in her hand so tightly that her knuckles went white. Her eyes were watery, but she sniffed and held the tears back.
"Niah, what's gotten into you?" she cried. "This isn't like you at all!"
"Oh isn't it?" Niah replied with a sinister grin. "Well you'd better get used to it! If not, then you know where the door is! Now cook my breakfast!"
"No!" her mum snapped. "I will not cook your breakfast, not if that's the way you're going to speak to me!" Her voice was suddenly full of anger.
"So it's like that then is it?" Niah responded, stamping her paw down on the tiled floor. "In that case, I'm no longer your daughter. I'm going and I'm not coming back!"
With those final words, Niah grabbed her pink raincoat and stormed out of the door. The rain was coming down almost horizontally as the wind pummelled through the air. This made Niah very angry. She looked up into the tortured sky, shielding her eyes with a paw, muttering angrily to herself.
"Is everything alright?" came a soft voice to her left. Niah turned her head. An ugly green Shoyru was standing in front of her, far too close for comfort. Niah immediately coined a term for her. Space invader. The space invader was wearing huge round glasses and an out-of-season pale blue anorak that clashed with her colouring.
"Wow, what a sorry sight!" she yelled, tactlessly. "Didn't you know that blue and green should never be seen? And what's with the glasses? You look awful!
"Niah?" the Shoyru said, her huge brown eyes full of concern. "Why would you say something like that?"
"Do I know you?" Niah spat. "Do me a favour and get your ugly green face out of mine!"
"It's me, Zandrina!" cried the Shoyru, her eyes now shiny with tears. "Why are you saying such awful things? Are we… not friends anymore?"
"What kind of a name is Zandrina?" exclaimed Niah, emphasising the last two syllables and ignoring the Shoyru's questions. "It sounds so stupid! Don't you get embarrassed by it?" She started to laugh and did nothing to hide her amusement.
"But you always said my name was pretty. It's like you're just being mean for the sake of it. I… I don't think I want to be your friend anymore. You've… changed. Goodbye, Niah…" the Shoyru finished, regretfully.
The humble Shoyru sighed heavily, turned and continued down the street, her shoulders hunched from the weather and her head bowed. Niah watched her as she disappeared into the thick sheet of rain and rolled her eyes at the hopeless Shoyru. She had never met this Zandriona before, or whatever her name was. After all, Niah would never willingly hang around with such a geeky looking pet anyway.
Her stomach was grumbling since she had missed breakfast. She felt anger brewing inside her, but it soon dissipated when she smelt the wondrous aroma of hotdogs. She had some spare Neopoints so she ran over to Hubert's Hotdogs, knocking in to a spotted Hissi as she did.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" he snapped at her.
"No, you!" she called back at him before entering the shop.
Oh, great she thought as she stepped inside. There was a massive queue with at least ten Neopets waiting in line. A big fat Skeith was stood in the left corner munching on a Triple Hot Dog with extra mustard squirted on top. His mouth was covered in mustard and bits of sausage, which he kept trying (and failing) to wipe off with a napkin.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you manners?" Niah shouted at him, wincing in mock disgust.
The Skeith looked at Niah in actual disgust and said in a quiet, friendly voice that didn't match his bulky physique, "I ought to ask you the same question."
"Watch who you're talking to!" Niah growled.
She was anticipating a confrontation. She wanted to fight, but the Skeith simply turned away and continued to eat his hotdog.
"I SAID watch who you're TALKING to!" she yelled, spittle flying out of her mouth.
Everyone in the queue turned to look at her. An old Lenny clicked his tongue at her in disgust, while a motherly Zafara shook her head in disbelief. The Skeith, evidently upset, stomped out of the shop muttering under his breath, "I really don't have time to be insulted like this…"
She was offending everybody, but Niah was past caring. She even forgot why she was here in the first place. Thoughts of that dowdy old hairbrush whizzed through her mind. Suddenly, she was overcome with a powerful urge to brush her fur with it. She raced out of Hubert's Hotdogs, but not without throwing a wicked jibe at Hubert first.
"Your hotdogs taste like mouldy cheese!"
The rain was still pouring down and a bolt of lightning streaked through the leaden sky. Two seconds later, a crackle of thunder ripped through the air. A timid Usul screamed, hiding herself under her bushy tail. People gathered around her to protect her which Niah didn't really see the point of. They ought to have just let the Usul suffer for being such a cry-baby.
"Niah!" came a shrill cry from up ahead. Racing towards her was a short woman dressed in a grey and pink anorak with the hood pulled up. The woman stopped and knelt down besides the Kougra, rosy-cheeked and wheezing like she'd run a marathon. "What on Neopia is wrong with you? Do you realise how sad you made me feel back there?"
"Hey, do I know you?" Niah asked, her eyes no more than slits. "And you're in my way! Now move it!"
Niah rammed into her mum with such force that she was nearly knocked off her feet.
"Niah!" her mum called. "Niah, it's me! Your mum!"
Niah suppressed a laugh. Her mum? That was crazy. Niah didn't even have a mum. She loped through the rain, thinking about that brush and how she needed to feel it on her fur. When she got back home, she raced upstairs to her room and found that someone had been snooping around. For one, her bed was neat and tidy and the clothes she had worn yesterday were draped over her armchair. The worst thing of all, though? Her beloved brush had gone.
She ought to have been angry, but instead Cerys was mad with worry. This was very unlike Niah. It was as if her daughter had been possessed by the spirit of a very naughty and ungrateful Mynci, but she doubted the real reason was anything quite so innocent. She had finished cooking Niah's breakfast for her with the intention of eating it herself, but she was too anxious to eat anything at all so she put the sausage, eggs and bacon into bags and wrote on them 'For the Soup Kitchen'. She thought that an 'All Day Breakfast Soup' would go down a treat with the less fortunate.
Cerys was always doing kind things. She had taught Niah well over the years and her lessons in kindness had always paid off on the little Kougra. So it was a major concern for Cerys to see Niah acting so aggressive and rude. It wasn't like her at all. Something was wrong. Had Jhudora done something to her? Maybe it was that brush. Yes. It was a dowdy little thing, hardly worth giving as a prize. Something was wrong about it. She decided to check it out.
When she entered Niah's room, she was dismayed to find that she had left it in a mess. Her duvet was in a crumpled heap on top of her bed and the clothes she had been in yesterday were strewn over the floor all creased up. She made Niah's bed and then bent down to pick the clothes off the floor which she folded up and draped over Niah's armchair. She noticed the brush lying on the floor next to the window. She picked the brush up and held it up against the natural, if yet gloomy light from the window.
It was such an awful looking thing that looked fifty years out of date. It was a faded purple colour that was a dank grey in a few places where it had been worn down with excessive use. The bristles were sharp to the touch; too sharp. She decided it might be cursed, so gingerly placed it into a bag and took the offending object to Kauvara.
"This brush is cursed," Kauvara said, confirming Cerys' suspicions. "It's brimming with dark energy. Do you know how many times Niah has used this?"
"I'm sorry," replied Cerys unhappily. "I don't. But one thing I know is that she isn't my daughter at the moment. She's changed. I saw her just a moment ago. She looked really angry and… she had a go at me, her own mother. And you know what else? She didn't even recognise me…" She sighed and said, "She'll be okay, won't she?"
She wrung her hands together, scared to know the answer Kauvara was about to give, but wanting to know nonetheless.
"Oh, she'll be absolutely fine," Kauvara replied brightly. "You see, I just happen to know the spell that was used and the incantation used to reverse it. Many people have asked for my help because of their naughty children. Some… well, they were just naughty. Others had completed a quest off Jhudora and became cursed. The spell feeds off positive energy, emotions and traits. As it grows stronger, the afflicted person begins to lose all memories of the ones they hold close to their heart, including their own family."
Kauvara paused and looked at Cerys with eyes full of admiration.
"You know, you should be extremely proud of yourself. This spell wouldn't have worked as well as it did on poor Niah had her personality not been completely innocent."
It was an amazing feeling to be told that by someone else. She had always believed that she had been the best mother a Neopet could have but there was also the worry that she was the only one who thought so. After all, every parent believed their children were special, didn't they? But Niah was special and Jhudora had exploited it. She felt a wave of anger rising within her, but quelled it instantly. Jhudora was just a pesky dark faerie. She was hardly worth bothering about. Niah mattered more than anything else.
"Thanks so much, Kauvara, it means a lot," Cerys said with a smile.
"You're very welcome. Leave the brush with me. I'll perform the incantation right away, and then I'll destroy the brush with a clever little spell of my own. Niah will soon be free of the curse, but when she does, she'll be vulnerable."
"How do I know where she is?" asked Cerys.
"She'll be looking for the brush in the place where she left it."
"Thank you!" chimed Cerys as she bounded out the door.
Niah was absolutely furious. She knew the brush was here, but she had forgotten where she'd put it. She needed that brush. In a way, she felt that the brush needed her, too, like they had become 'one'.
In a rage, she tore off the cushion on her armchair, expecting the brush to be there, but it wasn't. She pushed the armchair over with a strength so powerful it couldn't possibly have come from within her. She ripped the duvet off her bed, scratching chunks out of the mattress with her unsheathed claws. The brush wasn't here, either.
She then gouged great chunks out of her carpet, an intense anger swelling inside her. Niah was no longer concerned with the whereabouts of the brush. Her only instinct now was to act upon the rage that was coursing through her veins. She turned to the left wall. Her eyes turned to slits and as she charged towards it, all of the muscles in her body loosened and she dropped to the floor unconscious.
"Niah?" spoke Cerys gingerly as she approached the foot of the stairs.
"Mum, I'm in my bedroom!" cried Niah almost instantly. She sounded teary.
Cerys raced up the stairs in such a rush that she almost tripped up the last step. She charged into Niah's bedroom and gasped, clasping a shaky hand to her mouth. The room was in a complete shambles. Her armchair had been de-cushioned and upturned, damaged springs standing upright and crooked, and the duvet and sheets had been badly torn, the mattress hanging haphazardly from the bed frame. The carpet had been pulled to shreds and ornaments and trinkets lay broken on the floor.
None of it mattered though. Niah mattered. She was sitting in the middle of her bedroom, covering her face with her paws. Cerys knelt down beside the Kougra and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She felt so cold.
"Niah, sweetheart," said Cerys. "Everything's okay now. I promise."
"My room," sobbed Niah. "What happened to my room?"
Cerys looked down at the floor and in that instant she became speechless. How could she tell Niah that she had done all of this? How could she tell her that she'd caused an uproar outside, angering everyone she met? She seemed to remember none of it. She wondered whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"My lucky Kougra doll's damaged," she said, pointing to the faerie Kougra doll on the floor and saving Cerys from answering a tricky question. One of its eyes had come out and there was a chunk missing from its side.
"Don't worry; we'll pick another one up from town. How about it?"
Niah simply nodded, but Cerys could tell from the slight smile on her face that she was content with the idea.
"Why don't we decorate your bedroom, too? A fresh coat of paint, in any colour you want. New furniture, too."
"Really?" replied Niah, her eyes widening.
"Really. And Niah?"
"Yes, Mum?"
"You know that dark faerie, Jhudora? Stay away from her, you hear me? I've heard she's nothing but trouble."
Niah giggled girlishly, clamping a paw to her mouth as if to suppress the laughter.
"Oh mum," she said. "That was totally random! Why would I want to visit her for? I'm happy enough just being here with you!"
The End