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The four Super Authors, Jay, and Spot the rock arrived
back on the sandy shores of Mystery Island the next morning. The salty sea air
bit at their faces as they trudged through the jungles of the isle. The island
natives were still tense, and the crater in front of the Mystery Island Training
Center had not been filled.
"Shall we go visit the Tiki-Tack man again?"
Jay suggested.
"How will that help matters?" Rosie said, raising
an eyebrow. Sebastian nodded in agreement.
"I don't know," Jay admitted. "It's just that
the only leads that we have came out of an archived book, that the lead itself
was only a couple paragraphs long, and that once faced with the trouble of solving
this mystery, I honestly have no idea what to do." He was wringing his Eyrie
paws (rather violently) in desperation.
"Why don't you get some coffee?" Harriet suggested
innocently.
"Yeah... yeah, that sounds good, yeah, I think
I'll do that," Jay said. "Spot, would you like to come?"
Spot nodded frantically, breathing heavily and
wheezing. The two set off in the direction of the Coffee Shoppe.
Rosie sighed deeply. "Right, now that they're
gone, what should we do?"
"Visit the Tiki-Tack Man again?" Albert suggested.
Rosie glared at him. "You never know," Albert said, defending himself. "Something
may have happened since we left, and Tiki's pretty up-to-date on his Neopian
news."
The four agreed, and began walking to the Tiki-Tack
man's straw hut. Just as they were about to open the door tot he hut, an island
Kiko jumped out of a bush and into their path.
"What the..." Sebastian said. "What do YOU want?"
"Sebastian!" Rosie hissed. "Be nice, this Kiko
could have some information!"
"Rosie. I mean this in the nicest possible way,
but stop reading so many detective novels," Sebastian said gently.
The Kiko blinked. "Hello! Are you four the Super
Authors?"
This time it was Rosie's turn to jump. "What?
How did you know who we are?" she shot.
The Kiko smiled, and pointed to the capes they
were wearing, each emblazoned with a monogram and the words 'Super Authors'
underneath. "Right," Rosie said, blushing madly. "And who are you?"
The Kiko smiled happily. "My name is Charlie.
I was sent by Pango-Pango himself to find the legendary Super Authors to help
us islanders defeat our most feared enemy."
"Wow, Pango-Pango!" said Harriet. "Who's Pango-Pango?"
"Nevermind that, Charlie," Rosie said, pushing
Harriet into a nearby bush. "Who is your most feared enemy?"
Charlie's eyes grew wide with horror. "We do
not speak his name! He is a dastardly creature! He enjoys torture, punishment,
persecution, and pain! Hate and malice run through his veins instead of blood!
They say he cannot have any feelings except for feelings of pure evil! He's
as tall as volcano and his temper is like its eruption! It is said that if he
looks directly at someone, they explode in a burst of fire! He's sure to be
the death of us all, with nasty, sharp, pointy teeth!"
"What an eccentric performance," Sebastian whispered
to Albert.
"Could you just mutter his name? For our sake?"
Harriet said, disentangling herself from the bush.
Charlie choked several times, but managed to
squeak out, "George."
"George is back? That evil pink Meepit we defeated
a couple of months ago? No kidding! I've been meaning to make amends." Sebastian
rubbed his paws together in anticipation.
"George? Did I say George?" Charlie squeaked.
"I meant Gertrude."
"Wait, so is it Gertrude or George?" asked Rosie.
"Gertrude. Definitely Gertrude. Not George, Gregory,
Gaston or Gioacchino: Gertrude," Charlie squeaked.
"Where is Gertrude?" Rosie said, leaning over
to better hear the small Kiko's speech.
"She's picked a clever hiding spot, Miss Rosie.
She calls it the Chamber of Mysteries. It is hidden near the opening of the
Mystery Island Volcano. I know this because I once saw her come out of volcano
with an army of her followers."
"Can you lead me to it?" Rosie asked, politely.
"Yes," Charlie said, gulping. He began to take
a beaten down path in the thick jungle.
Harriet, Sebastian, and Albert all stood up to
follow, but Rosie stopped them. "Listen. I think it would be to your benefit
for you three to stay here for the moment."
Sebastian gaped. "What?"
"Stay here. I can handle this on my own," Rosie
hissed.
Sebastian shook his head. "We're a team, Rosie.
I'm not going to let you face peril by your onesies. I'm coming, too."
"And what are we, Sebastian? Innocent bystanders?"
cried Harriet. "Albert and I are coming, too!"
Rosie glared at them. "Just. Stay. Here. Trust
me, I have a knack for keeping clear of danger. I read detective novels. This
is one of those situations where one loss- erm... what I mean is, it's better
to have one instead of four in this situation. Four is a big crowd, and we could
ruin our chances of bargaining for the pencil."
Sebastian opened his mouth again to protest,
but Albert interrupted. "Okay, we believe you. But if you're not back by sunset,
we're coming after you."
Rosie looked at the sky. It was midday. She nodded.
"Right. Stay back, and don't do anything... incredibly dumb." She looked at
Harriet pointedly.
Charlie was waiting patiently on the path. Rosie
smiled at him in a sad way, and followed him down the path. Sebastian, Harriet,
and Albert watched the two until they were out of sight.
"I can't believe you said that!" spat Sebastian
at Albert.
"I think Rosie knows what she's doing," Albert
replied coolly.
The three trekked back through the jungle to
the main center of the town. Sitting down on a fell tree, the three sighed in
unison.
"So now, we wait."
So they waited. And waited. And waited. It was
almost three o' clock, and there was no sign of Rosie's return. Spot and Jay
had also not returned from their coffee break. The three began to settle down
to their usual boredom routines.
Harriet was playing with a few of the Usukis
out of her backpack. Albert was reading the book on calculus he had borrowed
from the Faerieland Library. Sebastian, however, was pacing and muttering to
himself like a disgruntled warlord.
The sun went from high overhead to become a pink
and red line on the horizon. Sebastian stood up. "It's sunset. We're going after
her," he announced, puffing out his chest.
Albert pulled his head out of his book. "Sorry,
what?"
"Rosie's still not back," Sebastian said.
"Sketchy," Harriet pondered. "Maybe we should
go after her."
"You know, Harriet," Sebastian said. "They say
one in every three Neopians is clinically insane. Take a look at good long look
at Albert and me..."
Harriet squinted up at the desert Lupe and the
desert Chia. She shrugged. "Albert glasses are giving him dark circles under
his eyes, and you've got a harelip," she announced.
Albert sighed. "Never argue with an idiot, Sebastian.
She's more experienced at this sort of thing than you are," he muttered to the
Lupe. He raised his voice several notches and announced, "Right. Let's go find
Rosie!"
Sebastian nodded, leading the way down the small
narrow path in the jungle.
"Ooh! Pretty flowers!" Harriet said, bouncing
off behind, sniffing the large buds.
It took another hour to reach the base of the
Mystery Island Volcano. The three tilted their heads back to see the peak of
the gigantic mountain in the clouds, in awe at the sheer magnitude of the volcano's
size.
"Big mountain," Albert commented.
"Yeah," Sebastian said, craning his neck even
farther.
"Lots of lava, I'm sure?"
"More than likely."
"Probably has good chances of avalanches, as
well?"
"True."
"Small chance of survival once inside?"
"Naturally."
"Thank goodness for my lucky underwear."
Albert sighed deeply as the the three approached
the heavy wooden door set in the bottom of the volcano. The volcano rumbled
ominously as the three stood outside the door. Stuck to the door with an arrow
shaped like a quill was a note.
"This is one of Rosie's arrow quills!" Harriet
said.
Albert pulled off the note. "My Dear Remainders
of the Super Authors: Let me express my happiness that you could make it this
far! Most unfortunately, you're too late. Right when you reach this doorstep,
you will have only realized that Jay, the squabbling pet rock of yours, and
your dear Desert Ixi have all been kidnapped by yours truly.
"My intentions are far from evil, however! My
army and I shall kill my three kidnappees quickly and painlessly, except for
that stupid rock- his constant whining and blubbering annoy me terribly. Later,
after their untimely deaths, I shall uncover the legendary pencil of Mystery
Island and rewrite the history of the Isle, which will, in time, result in the
destruction of the island as we know it.
"My condolences if this puts a bit of a damper
on your day! Let me express thanks for your time and effort in your futile search.
Love, your mortal enemy.
"P.S. My condolences again for the young Aisha
named Harriet."
"What? What does he mean?" said Sebastian. "Harriet's
right here!"
Albert turned around. Harriet was not right here.
She was, in fact, hanging by her tail eons of feet above the pair. She had stepped
on a hidden trap when Albert was halfway through reading the letter. She waved
innocently.
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME!" she screamed. However,
she was so high up, that her voice sounded like a whisper of a Psimouse to Sebastian
and Albert.
"We'll get you down!" yelled Sebastian back up
to the Desert Aisha.
"ERM... I DON'T THINK THAT WOULD WORK. YOU SEE,
I'M HANGING ON BY A MERE THREAD, AND IF YOU TWO MANAGED TO CUT THE ROPE, I'D
PROBABLY DIE!" she called back.
"What? We'd catch you!" screamed Albert.
"UMM... NO OFFENSE... BUT... I'VE SEEN YOU TWO
PLAY CATCH, AND IF I WERE TO FALL, IT PROBABLY WOULDN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF
YOU TWO TRIED TO CATCH ME OR NOT. AND BESIDES, I RATHER LIKE THE VIEW!" she
cried back.
"Fair enough," Sebastian said, shrugging. He
looked up at the sky. "We'll be back as soon as possible!"
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"
"Back to the village to find more clues!" Albert
called.
"ARE YOU SURE THERE ARE ANY?"
"Well, maybe Charlie is still there to give us
another prediction!"
"RIGHT!"
"Hey, Harriet! Did you see who your captor was,
anyway? What did he or she look like? Did you see any faces? What does it look
like up there, anyway?"
Harriet did not answer for a second. "IT'S VERY
SKETCHY AT THE MOMENT," she finally said.
To be continued...
Poor Harriet. You never really understand somebody's situation until you,
too, are hung eons of feet by your tail off of the ground by a thin rope. Who
left the mysterious note at the entrance? What will happen to Jay, Spot, and
Rosie? Will Sebastian and Albert be able to save their friends and Mystery Island?
Not to mention Charlie! Find out in the next thrilling chapter of... The Super
Authors and the Chamber of Mysteries!
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