The Month of Hunting (May) Age 9

Week 1

I know I wasn't supposed to – it wasn't even a part of the plan – but I couldn't resist opening the letter to find out what Master Jacques was hiding. Can you blame me? The guy's more secretive than Kanrik. I didn't even know his name for two or three whole years!

I borrowed a letter opener from my Dad after school. It was shiny and silver, so I guessed he stole it but thought it too useful to pawn it off. Anyway, it cut through the seal like a charm. The problem was, I couldn't read it. It was gibberish. Pure gibberish!

I quickly turned it over to find the address. That was gibberish, too. That was so not part of the plan. Sooner or later, Jacques is going to notice one of his letters missing, and I'll have to give it back. But I can't. I need to get that address, which I guess means I have to crack the code. Oh, joy.

Good thing I know a good code-cracker who doesn't hate me. Razor was studying his potions book when I asked, "You know anything about message codes?"

He looked surprised. "Uh-huh. I'm not an expert, but I think I can translate it." His eyes widened when I brought out the letter. "Sweet Fyora, isn't that-?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "It's from Jacques's shelf."

He grinned. "Okay, I definitely have to help you with this one." He checked it over for a long time, flipping it, turning it upside down, even putting it near the fire. Nothing. Now he was really perplexed, but he wouldn't give up. I guess this equals to a challenge to him. In a way, he can't resist problems as much as I can't. But for awhile all he seemed to see was a bunch of numbers.

After a few more hours, I said, "Well?"

He sighed. "I know what code it is, and even how to crack it. But I can't do it right now. Looks like Jacques took extra precautions for this."

"How?" I asked eagerly.

"Okay, look. You see all these numbers with dashes and stuff?" He gestured to them. "The numbers are separated with dashes, and sometimes with spaces. The numbers that have dashes, like 24-11-6-9, are words. When those words are separated with spaces, like 24-25-12_11-22-5-9, they become separate. And a period marks the end of a sentence."

"So how do you translate it?"

"Well, that's the thing. He and the person on the other end would have to agree on a passage and then number it. Here's a sentence from my textbook: Potions are very important. So if we agreed that the passage would be that sentence, P would be 1, O would be 2, T would be 3, I would be 4, and so on. Whoever's trying to crack the code would have to find the passage they agreed on."

"Darn," I grumbled. "What if he notices the letter's missing before then?"

He stared at me indecorously. "Then copy it!"

"Oh," I said. "Oops. Okay, thanks Razor."

He shrugged. "Anytime. I owe you one."

Week 2

To make it even worse, I think I have bad news on Brynn's side. I'm not an absolute hundred percent sure, but it seems so. I was listening to Sharon and those snotty girls, when one of them said, "So, like, did you hear about Susan?"

"Like yeah! She's supposed to be, like, the new girl or something. She's a Shadow Cybunny. Like, dark much?"

"Still, she could be pretty anyway. Black is so fashionable in Neopia Central nowadays, I've heard."

"Oh, yeah, right. I wonder which side's she going to be in? Like, Harry's side or the Rebellion. What are you hoping for, Sharon?"

The girl shrugged. "Harry's?"

"But aren't we, like, in Sam's group?"

"Well, yeah," she admitted. "And I gotta say, he's pretty cool with that voice and stuff." Simultaneously, all the girls sighed. "But Harry's more of a tough guy. Nearly beat Sam in the tournament, remember? I'd like to go over to him, if it wasn't for Violet."

"How did he almost beat Sam?" Somebody wondered out loud. "No offense to him or whatever, but wasn't he like totally sucky with that sword? That weirdo, Brynn, got him in the last one."

"But wasn't that, like, three years ago? Anyway," she leaned forward as if she was about to share a juicy piece of gossip, "I saw he was talking to someone last month before the event. I couldn't tell if it was a girl or guy, since they were talking in whispers. I think it could have even been an adult. Tall for a kid, short for a grown-up, I mean, though she or he could've been crouching. I'm not sure – the person's face was cloaked."

Masila? I thought. That would've made sense. Making him insecure about being in the guard might have gotten him on her side. She must want him a lot, though, to be going out in the open. Most likely, she sent her spy. And Harry knows who he or she is.

But no way would he ever, ever tell me. Ever.

"So, anyway," said Sharon, "About Harry. Who thinks we should join his side? He does have all the power around here. I don't know how Violet talked me into not going there, anyway."

"Well, it could have something to do with how she's turned beauty queen again after months of looking like a witch."

"True." Then Sharon grinned and leaned to the middle of the circle, as if she was going to tell them some big secret. "Might not be for long, though. I heard that Harry's planning an ambush."

"Why haven't you told Sam?'

She rolled her eyes. "It's common knowledge, actually. You'd have to live under, like, a rock not to of heard. But Brynn's house is even worse, so it'd make sense if she doesn't know." I chanted in my head, Stay calm. Stay calm. Being impulsive is for the sugar-crazed. Stay calm.

I went back to headquarters, thinking. Brynn's no idiot, I'm sure she knows what's going on in her turf. But I'm worried about her anyway. What if she gets jumped and beat up when Sam's not there? And who was that spy?

Week 3

I went to Julius's and Juliet's lunch table. They were in a middle of an animated conversation, but stopped short when they saw me. I think they were a bit shocked. I mean, usually it's them interrupting one of my chats. Juliet was the first to recover. "Hi, Hanso," she said cheerfully. "Anything you need?"

"Just wondering, did any of you guys show how to use the candy to anyone else?" I asked.

They frowned. "No."

"Anybody else who knows how to use it?" I pressed.

"We-ell, I'm guessing you don't mean the Meerca brothers," said Julius. "They kind of go without saying. I can't really think of anyone right now. Why do you want to know, anyway?"

"Last month there was a guard's tournament," I explained. "I think that Harry guy could've eaten some of that chocolate to beat this other person."

"Wait," Juliet said. "You're accusing us of showing that jerk?" Her brows were cinched together, her whole face showing that she was hurt.

"No!" I quickly answered, not wanting another Kayley fiasco. "But it has to be somebody."

"It could've been that Luke," Julius suggested. "Harry might have forced it out of him."

"Not likely," I said. "Sam's taking good care of him especially, since he's so young."

"There are the Aisha thieves, but last I heard they were up robbing in Mystery Island." She shook her head. "I honestly don't know. On the other hand, we have been talking about it a little carelessly. There's a big chance that someone might have eavesdropped and told him." Her face darkened. "Then there' s Masila. Either she knew it herself and told her spy or vice-versa. My guess is that whoever's informing Harry is keeping her up to date as well."

"That's mostly why I need to find out who it is."

"We definitely have to," Julius agreed. "Nobody abuses the candy and gets away with it."

"Anybody have any ideas?" I asked. Julius and I turned to Juliet hopefully.

She rolled her eyes. "Boys. Always thinking the girl's are going to the hard work. But I might just have an idea."

"Great!" I exclaimed.

She shook her head. "It might be tougher than you expect."

Week 4

Luring Harry's gang away wasn't the hard part. They were all pretty ditzy anyway, and all of them had a triumphant look on their face. I didn't know why, but I had a strange feeling that it had something to do with Brynn. One of them said, "We really got 'em, didn't we?" And the others murmured in agreement. I couldn't worry about that, though.

Julius was the strongest one of us, so it was his job to distract Harry's group. If they somehow managed to corner him, he can beat them all to pulp anyway. He stood in front of them. "I'm a thief." Seriously, that was all it took to get them all chasing him.

Juliet had a rope. With it, she made a loop and lassoed Harry by the foot. She pulled to get him to us, and then glared at me. "A little help would be nice."

"Oh, right," I said as I yanked him along with us. He was still squirming. "Hey, I didn't know you were a cow-girl!"

She shrugged. "I did it with Julius a lot of times when he was getting a little bit too annoying."

Harry, though, wasn't as easy to chat with. "HEY! LEMME GO! I NEED TO CATCH THAT THIEF!"

"Yeah, yeah," I said.

He turned back to look at me. "You!"

"What is it with people and that word?" I asked rhetorically. "Yes, it's me. And we have to ask you a few questions."

"I'm never gonna tell you anything. All secrets of the Guard are safe with me, no matter how much you torture, burn, or even threaten-" Juliet brought out her knife. With that, he screamed like a girl. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you! There's a secret passage in the back wall which I use to sneak out, and then there's…"

"That's not what we need," Juliet interrupted.

"Oh," the big baby whimpered. He's powerless without his gang. "What do you want?"

"Remember last month?" I asked. "How'd you beat Sam?"

He struggled at first, but then finally answered, "Candy."

"That's cheating!" Juliet cried. "I never, ever, use candy in duels."

"I'm not you," Harry replied.

"Sure as Neopia you aren't. Who told you about the sugar?" She said. She dangled her dagger back and forth, like trying to hypnotize him.

"I-" His expression turned blank. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" I said angrily. "I heard somebody say that a person showed you last month."

"I don't know," he repeated.

"Don't play dumb-"

"Hanso," Juliet whispered. "I don't think he's lying."

"But then how does he know about it?"

She closed her eyes in frustration. "I have a theory about that. I told you that consuming too much would give you an energy overload, right?" I nodded. "It can also make you temporarily forgetful. Not completely, but it makes your memory fuzzy. I don't remember much when I was seven – just these flashes. If whoever gave him the candy forced him to try a high dose of it out, then that's what's happening to him."

"So we can't coax any information out?" I questioned. "He's completely useless?"

"Hey," he protested. "I am not useless." He did this wide, evil smirk. "Even got one of Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes' s friends to betray her."

"What?" I yelped. He snickered. Suddenly, I had my own knife out, and was pointing it to him. "Okay, you're not useless. Now be a good little prisoner and tell me who the betrayer in sam's group is. Violet?"

He stared, cross-eyed, at the point. "Susan."

"That Shadow Cybunny," I muttered. "But I bet Brynn's probably figured it out now."

He did this horrible laugh. "Yeah."

"Want me to punch you again?" I asked. It was an empty threat, but he cowered just the same.

"I can make him forget about everything," Juliet piped up. "Even the candy. If he just eats this sugar crystal…" She grabbed it from her pocket never-ending sweets. It was sugary and small, seeming too sweet to be any real harm. Just like Juliet herself.

"So, how does it work? Like, is it a complete memory loss? 'Cause I wouldn't mind that if we had to."

She shook her head. "Nah, it'll just nearly everything that happened the last two months. Not all, but just enough so that he won't remember the important bits." She smirked. "He might not even remember that the Violet girl quit his gang, and that he's mad at her – I bet he'll try to get her back."

I hesitated. For all I knew, this could be the last chance I would find out who the spy is, and I didn't want to give it up too hastily. But it'll make it a lot safer for Brynn. And besides, if it really was Masila, then I didn't want to give her another initiative to kill Brynn. I just sighed. "Go ahead."

"Uh-uh. There is no way I'm gonna-" Juliet shoved the candy in his mouth. "Woah…goodnight, Mommy…" With that, he fell on top of her in a heap.

She squealed. "Hey, get me out of here!" I laughed and tried to pull her. Wow, that guy was really heavy. I couldn't lug her out from under him. "Hanso, if you can't get me out of here then this is so going to be the last time I am ever going to help you."

"Need some assistance?" A voice asked. Sam was there, grinning slightly, though it faltered when he saw Harry. "Not that I'm complaining, but you could get in trouble for this. What'd you do to him?"

"Let's just say he won't be beating you in any more duels," I said. He nodded like this was perfectly normal and tugged Juliet out.

"Be careful, you two," he warned us. "You don't know how dangerous the situation really is, especially for thieves." He winked and escorted us to the door.

"Oh, and if anyone asks," I said, grinning.

"You were never here," he finished.

Sorry for the delay. :( I just have loads of stuff to pack, plus a few extra assignments from my parents. You're welcome to feel sorry for me. ;)