Piper of Dreams

Part II

Dream don't own Neopets.


On a day when every right-thinking Neopet should have been indoors, a little Gelert was pushing his way through the deep snow, struggling to keep his nose above the drifts.

Ricky wandered Neopia Central as best he could, hoping for a glimpse of his sister's paws and wings above his head. All he found were empty market stalls and emptier streets, whichever way he turned.

"C'mon, Sis," he murmured. "Come back and tell me the proper explanation for all this."

There had to be an explanation, he knew. Some little thing that would cause her behaviour to make sense at once. Try as he might, Ricky couldn't face the other possibility.

His sister had lied to him.

It was impossible. He'd seen her trying to pull off even the simplest of white lies, like convincing a door-to-door salespet that she already had a Petpet play tunnel. The thought that she might lie so openly to her own brother was nothing short of unbelievable.

His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he still hadn't had any dinner. He glanced at the small leather bag he'd tied to his collar. There would be enough Neopoints in there for several meals, if he needed them, but he realised that they might well be spent by the time his sister returned.

Turning sharply, he set off in a different direction. There was one Faerie who simply had to be working in this weather.

---...---

"No, sweetie, I haven't seen your sister. Who knows? Maybe she went on an adventure of her own."

The Soup Faerie ruffled Ricky's fur. He lapped his bowl of soup in silence, annoyed at being treated so much like a pup.

A sudden shadow crossed the Faerie's face as she considered. "She wasn't having any arguments with your owner?" she asked carefully.

"We don't live with an owner. Sis is old enough to take care of me by herself."

"Thank goodness," the Soup Faerie sighed. "No, I don't mean it's good not to have an owner, but… well, sometimes when a pet goes missing they're running away from conflict. But it sounds like you and your sister get along fine, little Gelert."

"We do." Ricky sniffed angrily to prevent a tear from sliding down his muzzle. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bother you. I just wanted some soup."

"That's all right." Picking up his bowl, the Faerie refilled it with steaming hot broth and set it in front of him again. "You're one of my only customers today. I guess the snow is keeping everyone at home."

Ricky drank the soup, taking comfort in its warmth. "You'd think they'd want more in this weather. Are you still going to work, though?"

"Of course." Her smile was still as bright as ever. "I've got an important job to do. I can't just close up because I'm getting fewer customers."

"Thanks for the soup." Ricky wrapped his scarf around his shoulders. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, if I haven't found Sis by then."

Jumping down from his seat, he left the little shop, carefully closing the door behind him as he went. The Faerie stood looking through the glass for a moment, but there seemed no sign of any other customers. With a sigh, she went back to her recipe book, flicking through the well-worn pages to try and find a new treat for the next Neopet to come her way.

A knock at her door distracted her. "Come in!" she called. "I've got some fresh soup still hot."

The door opened, revealing not a Neopet in need of food, but a smart-looking Lenny dressed in a green suit. He glanced around, looking the Soup Faerie up and down.

"I'm sorry," the Faerie began automatically, "but I can't let you dine here unless you have fewer than 3000 Neopoints…"

"That's all right. I'm not after any soup." The Lenny smiled. "Ma'am, I'm from the Money Tree Charitable Association. We've been reviewing your work for the past two months and I think you'll agree when we say that the financial allowance you get is desperately inadequate."

"What? …Oh!... Well, I don't know…" The Faerie stuttered, taken by surprise. "I guess I manage all right…"

"Nonsense. We're all agreed that you deserve far more for the work you do." The Lenny pushed the door open, gesturing for her to follow. "If you'll come down to the charity headquarters, we'll see about depositing some money in your National Neopian account."

"I… I don't know what to say." Setting down her soup ladle, the Faerie followed her benefactor out of the kitchen. "Thank you. Thank you so much…"

"Don't mention it, ma'am. Now come along and we'll get the funds processed."

---...---

As Ricky walked away from the marketplace, his mind troubled by thoughts of missing sisters and vanishing Neomail, something large and furry bumped against him, knocking the little Gelert off his paws. Landing in the middle of a snowdrift, Ricky gasped for breath. "What…?"

The Cybunny who had knocked him over didn't even stop to apologise. Appearing not to notice him, she walked on carelessly, her flimsy blouse flapping in the wind. She must be cold, Ricky reflected. Forgetting that she'd caused him to fall into a snowdrift a moment earlier, he ran up to the stranger. "Excuse me, Miss. Um… would you like to borrow my scarf? I can wear my sister's."

She ignored him, continuing to walk with a dreamy smile on her face.

"Some Neopets!" Ricky kicked up a flurry of snow to vent his frustration. "Bet she's some kind of snob… doesn't want to talk to an ordinary Gelert. Sis said she knew a lot of Neopets like that once." Leaving the Cybunny to her reverie, he made his way into the centre of town, where the streets had been swept clear of snow. More flakes were already falling, but for now, the familiar cobbles felt pleasantly warm on Ricky's half-frozen paws.

I don't even know whether Sis is in Neopia Central, he thought. Fyora knows where she's got to. With a sigh, he walked on.

A few seconds later, he stopped in his tracks. That was it!

The Faerie Queen had lived longer than any Neopet Ricky had ever heard of. He wouldn't be surprised if she knew everything there was to be known. Fyora knows, people said all the time, when they wanted to exaggerate. Perhaps she would know where his sister had lived, before he was born. Perhaps she could help him.

Ricky didn't have wings, but he knew that Eyries could fly to Faerieland. If he paid one of them, he could ride as far as the cloudworld border. Breaking into a run, he headed for the main square.

---...---

"…Buy… Sell… Buy… Sell…"

Dressed in pin-striped pyjamas and a nightcap, the Chia lay in bed, murmuring in his dreams. "Sell. No, wait for it to go higher. Sell!"

"Oi, Nigel!" The shout echoed up from outside. "Wake up!"

"Whassamatter?" Nigel rubbed his eyes with two chubby fists, not really wanting to get out of bed. "Leavemealone."

"Wake up!" The voice, giggly and cheerful, was insistent. "Come and see your Toy Car!"

Nigel sat bolt upright in bed. Since a kindly Faerie had cast a Supersize enchantment on it all those years ago, the giant-sized, red-painted Toy Car had been his pride and joy, the one thing he'd never part with for any profit. "My Car? What have you done to my Car?"

Looking out of the window, he saw a Faerie Moehog resting her hooves on the bonnet of the Car, grinning madly. "Get off!" he yelled. "You'll chip the paint with those hooves of yours, girl! I don't pay you to mess up my possessions!"

"I didn't mess it up," she beamed. "I asked Illusen really, really nicely. And she gave me a spell to cast on it!"

"A spell?" Nigel threw a jacket over his pyjamas and hurried downstairs, still shouting to the junior accountant. "What kind of a spell, you incompetent lunatic?"

"You'll never guess." The Moehog waved a hoof. "Are you ready for this?"

"Just tell me!"

"You're going to love this." She smiled. "It moves by magic, now. You don't need to pedal it at all. The spell will keep it going by itself."

Nigel was speechless. He hurried out onto the snow-covered drive, staring at the Toy Car with a kind of childish wonder. "It goes by itself… I've got to try this!"

The accountant Moehog swung herself into the body of the car, which began to drift along gently as Nigel watched, as if pushed by the wind. "You'll have to catch up with me first!" she yelled, laughing.

In a better humour than he'd been for many months, the Chia followed his beloved toy, humming the tune of a song that seemed to have sprung into his head, unbidden.

---...---

The water in the Rainbow Pool was frozen solid. Ricky gazed at it in fascination, intrigued by the icy swirls of colour.

The main square seemed as deserted as the rest of Neopia Central. Sitting on the steps of the Art Catacomb entrance, Ricky listened for any sound of approaching wings.

I have to get to Faerieland and find Queen Fyora. Then she can find Sis. I don't care if it takes all day. Only please, don't let me freeze my paws off waiting…

All at once, a sound echoed through the empty square. Not wingbeats, but something almost as good: pawsteps. Ricky sat bolt upright. Paws could mean an Eyrie, after all.

A young Lupe, his fur scruffy and tangled, bounded around the corner and straight past the place where Ricky was sitting. The next minute, he was followed by a Grundo, running as fast as its white feet could carry it. Eyes fixed on something in the distance, the Grundo waddled away.

"Huh?" Ricky glanced after them. "Where are you going? What…"

The next minute, he was surrounded by Neopets.

The square erupted with a tide of yellow, red, blue and green. Dozens of Neopets pushed past Ricky, seeming not to notice the confused Gelert as they made their way across the centre of town. All of them, without exchanging a word, headed in the same direction, past the Rainbow Pool and to the north of the town.

As Ricky struggled to free himself from the mass of running pets, a voice rang out from somewhere behind them. "That's enough! Get back here this instant before I have to drag you!"

A Pink Uni and a Techo in a white lab coat rounded the corner, followed closely by a young Wocky carrying a bundle of cloth. The Techo glared furiously at the crowd of pets. "I don't know what's got into you, but you had better stop it before the Defenders of Neopia hear about this!"

In response, the pets only moved faster, carrying the helpless Ricky with them. Their swift pace soon left the Techo behind; the Uni, running on all fours, managed to keep up for longer. Eventually, though, her hoof slipped on a patch of ice and she could only watch as the gap grew between them.

Ricky shoved desperately at the Neopets around him, unable to escape the sea of fur and feathers. A Zafara's elbow caught him in the eye, forcing him to close it in pain. Through the other eye, he managed to catch sight of the Wocky, riding a home-made scooter a short distance behind the pack. "Help me…" he gasped.

The Wocky steered the scooter with one forepaw, swinging the other out in a wide arc. "All right, you had your chance," she shouted. "Now you're coming back, whether you like it or not."

The bundle in her paw expanded, shimmering in the light as it unfolded. Now Ricky could see what it was: an enormous net.

In front of him, pets tripped and stumbled. The silence gave way to a chaotic muddle of cries and growls as the net closed on the Neopets.

"OK. Let's get you lot home."

Barely managing to breathe among the fallen pets, Ricky waited for the lurching movement of the net to stop. Eventually, he heard a door slam shut behind him, and felt a pair of clawed hands lift his exhausted body out of the net. He breathed a sigh of relief as, for the first time, his paws touched solid ground.

"Shhh, now. No more trying to escape. You've been one bad Gelert."

Trying to escape?

Ricky opened his eyes, just in time to see a wire door being closed in front of him. The Wocky was already padding away, carrying the key in her mouth.

"No… wait…" His voice faded away, echoing uselessly off the walls of his unfamiliar prison. Bruised and weary, Ricky collapsed into sleep, and dreams of his sister.