Disclaimer: I do not under any circumstances own Neopets. If I did the site would fail miserably so thank goodness I don't!
Author's Note: Hi, I'm back! Ya miss me? Thanks for another review Yoshi and Kirby Fan and thanks to CardCaptor Li Luva for her first review in return here's the fourth chapter!
Chapter 4
Getting to Know You the Wrong Way
Skip blinked at me and then smiled sincerely. "I'd love to." he replied, "But first I need to sell these." he said nodding at the pile of canvases he held. "Ya mind going to the Auction House with me?" I looked at him confused. The Haunted Woods had never had an Auction House. Did it have one now?
"How long is it to go there?" I said making up my mind that the Auction House was located in another world. I hoped it wouldn't take to long I wanted to see what had changed before dark. I also hoped the Auction House was not on Mystery Island, the only other world I'd been to because my parents thought it was the only place fit for them.
"About two hours if you know your way through the forestry. One hour if I fly alone. But then you can't fly, so scratch that, and it takes about five hours if you don't know your way." Skip answered, "If we go now and stay at the Central for about four hours we can come back couple hours before dark." What was with all the hours? I didn't care about much of it except for the fact that if we left now we'd come back way before dark.
"Which way to the Central?" I asked. Ready to do something that might give away the fact I was "special".
"It's north of- WHOA!" Skip yelled in surprise as I grabbed his free hand and practically dragged him northward. It had to be someone who liked to talk in complete sentences. Out of all the people in the Haunted Woods he had to be the one who saw me? Maybe if Kaymara did find that I had been out I wouldn't plea for his life, it would be his fault anyway. I quickly shook that thought away. I was beginning to sound like my sister. I dodged in and out of the few crowds that I came by, ignoring the fact that Skip was now gliding to keep from falling over because of the speed I was running. After the sappy scene I had to endure because of my curiosity I wasn't going to let this Shoyru get away from being my guide emotionally unharmed, at least a little for pay back. At the speed I was going it was mere minutes before I was nearly slamming Skip into trees and not pets. I didn't stop running until I got to what Skip referred to as the Central.
"Well, that's a record." Skip said hazily, "Fifteen minutes…At least I think so." He snapped out of his daze. "There's the Auction House! C'mon, let's go." Skip said not waiting for me to lead but took flight to make sure he was in front this time. I didn't blame him for doing that after I had actually let him hit a low tree branch. I followed his shadow towards the large building in the distance. In no time we were there. I'm not even going to put any details into my short visit there. Skip merely told one of many auctioneers his address and what the bids were starting at on each of his paintings, except one he wanted to keep. I was glad to leave he place was rather stuffy and noisy.
"So, where do you wanna go?" Skip asked me once we had left the Auction House. I looked around and then I glanced at the piece of work Skip held under his arm.
"Shouldn't you put that away first?" I said indicating the painting. He shrugged.
"If you insist." The Shoyru said. I was disgusted at his behavior, however, it was not so much what he said as much as the way he said it. It was kind of the way you say: "Yeah, okay." to a little kid. Sighing, I followed him towards a building that resembled a giant safe. What a drag. I silently watched as he deposited the painting in his safety deposit box. It was a picture of the Haunted Woods, but it showed rays of light filtering through the trees and near the center of the painting…
"Wait!" I suddenly yelled. Skip looked at me in surprise.
"What?" he asked.
"Let me see that." I commanded holding out my hand. Skip handed me the picture. My eyes widened as I saw myself. He'd captured the look of surprise I had on my face when I noticed he had seen me, the soft gray glow he had painted around me was perfect. The position I as in was different but I didn't care. I was having second thoughts about letting Kaymara kill him.
"Do you like it?" Skip asked from what seemed out of nowhere and I jumped. "I saw it in the woods this morning, that Usul sure wasn't expecting to be seen." he looked at me, "It had an orange collar like yours but that glow around it was there too. That's why I asked if I'd seen you before." Skip concluded chuckling softly as I handed him the canvas. Then a sudden remembrance made Skip grab my shoulder. "Okay, um, do me a favor will ya?" I nodded, surprised at the action. "Forget I even told you that okay, it was all in my head." I rolled my eyes.
"Let's just go." I muttered annoyed at the shock he'd given me. As for not letting my sister at him? Let's say the decision of letting him live was hanging by a weighed down burning rope. Four hours with having to make sure this jerk wasn't off telling stories about his encounter with the Usul in the woods was going to be harder than I thought.