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Just tell me what you think. This isn't it - this is just about seven pages of it really. So I cut it in half so you don't get the bulk of it to weigh you down. Thanks again, and I am working on a Rambling Hell Journal chapter as we speak. Wrath, goin' hero style...

Tyler didn’t realize how much he would regret signing his name on the paper. He was feeling near to sickness about it when his mother had come home. For the sake of her sanity, none of them told her about the letter or Ton. They couldn’t, however, hide the whole stove incident from her.

As always, Vikaliyn blamed Nyilakiv, Nyilakiv blamed Vikaliyn and Tyler was left to clean up the mess while they bickered with themselves. It was just the event of the week in the Smithson household and it paled in comparison to the secret that the three of them were keeping from Mother. The stove helped them hide it, although both Vikaliyn and Tyler had to watch Nyilakiv and what he said.

Tyler, drowsy and sleepless the next morning, came up from the basement and into the kitchen. He placed the brown package that Ton had brought with him onto his kitchen chair, the contents weighing heavily on his mind. From behind him, before the door could close, three heads peeked around the corner and scampered into the room soundlessly.

Aside from Tyler’s petpet, he was the only soul awake in the early hours of the day. He had stayed up all night long pondering over the many problems within his life, when his stomach reminded him of the need to eat. Tyler pulled open the fridge with a quick jerk and was perusing the content when a knock came at the door jolting him out of his stupor.

The door, freed from his grasp, slammed onto his other hand and grumbling Tyler went to answer the door. He was only dimly aware of how ridiculous it was that someone was calling on them so early in the morning. “And what do you want?” Tyler looked up to the visitor, eager to blame whoever it was for the throbbing in his hand.

The visitor cleared her throat and Tyler had to take a step back in his amazement. A kougra, plum colored with orange freckles upon her cheeks, stood in the doorway her tail twitching and her well kept claws tapping against her hip. An old styled leather belt with a hilt attached to it hung at her side and she wore a cream colored button up short sleeved blouse and dark brown pants that stopped mid-shin. Other various ornaments adorned her body such as bracelets which hung around her tail ankles and wrists, knives in several different locations one of which was her belt, fingerless gloves that were tattered and worn and offered little to no protection, and hoops that dangled from her shredded ears.

Tyler’s first choice was pirate. “I didn’t realize the Altador Cup had started so soon after it had ended. We always get a weird passerby or an overzealous fan during that time.” He found it increasingly difficult to look into her sharp red orange eyes.

“Really now?” the kougra purred, her purr more akin to a growl.

“Oh, sure,” Tyler replied conversationally. “Now, what can I get for you miss?” Tyler leaned against the doorframe, wishing then that he had drunk the potion that Ton had bought for him. Maybe then he would look a bit more formidable, and at least he would have been a foot or two taller and able to match height with the guest.

The kougra looked into the house over Tyler, disinterested with him already. “I am looking for someone of this address. Unless you had guests over last night, I am inquiring in upon your family.”

Tyler waited, but she nothing more on the subject. He tapped his foot impatiently. The way she kept looking down on him, and not at all in the literal sense, was more than annoying. “A name would be nice.”

With a flourish, the kougra produced a piece of paper from her breast pocket and real aloud the name she was seeking. “Tyler Smithson of Neopia Central ADDRESS HERE, who abides there with three other siblings all belonging to the species of lupe, and who owns a Hydruplit named,” and it was here where she faltered. “Trimonster,” she concluded, mispronouncing the name.

But Tyler got the point when she had said his first name.

Tyler nodded and then turned back into the house, debating internally whether he could bolt for it or not. She was definitely a collector of some sort and Tyler was getting a bit behind on some bills. He knew she wasn’t here from the bank however - would the National Neopian really hire a pirate to take care of someone’s debts? Instead of running, he called for Ton who had decided to stay after yesterday’s events, but only lurked about in the attic out of sight.

The ghost materialized within seconds of being called. His eyes searched Tyler with scrutiny as if he were disappointed with what he saw, but then widened when he saw the kougra that occupied the door. Her reaction was much the same, her mouth parting slightly.

“Ton? I’m sorry, but are you sure you remember nothing of Sable, yourself, or that day?” Tyler asked, turning back to their guest. He wasn’t sure what to make of the exchange going on betwixt his brother and the kougra.

“No,” Ton answered, a bit stiffly. “Nothing more than what I’ve told you already.” And what he had said was pretty much useless unless paired with other information. Ton barely remembered boarding a ship that was to set sail to Mystery Island and then his memory blanked. The story never changed from that or grew more beyond that.

“You think she is here about Sable,” Ton ventured, not forming a question but a statement.

The kougra’s ears flattened against her head and she looked down to Tyler with slits for eyes. “I inquire upon Tyler, not this Sable. You, grundo, are the Tyler upon which I inquire for?”

Tyler grinned, his smile turning lopsided. “Yup. Which teacher you to mind how you address people.”

“Hypocrite,” the kougra muttered, inviting herself into the house. Tyler made room for her in the doorway, she would have bowled him over otherwise, and backed up into the living room. He was tempted to back up all the way into the kitchen, and then reemerge as his old self. He day dreamed about how satisfying it would be to see the confused look on the kougra’s face on that while she took a seat on the sofa that lay against the front bay windows.

“I don’t believe we’ve caught your name.” Ton’s growl broke Tyler out of his daze, and the grundo eased forward to shut the door.

Whoever she was she didn’t like being surprised. Everything always went as it should go, but Ton being there obviously threw her off. Her tail flicked and curled about her in her irritation. “Hedeke,” she growled in response, the rumble seeming to come from her chest.
Tyler noted then that she had a deep set voice, sort of like Vikaliyn’s, that always seemed to come from her chest. Mentally, he shrugged. Some pet’s voices came from their nose and others from their throats, some even seeming to sprout voices from their bellies.

Ton hovered near Tyler’s left as Tyler entered further into the room. Neither of them took a seat yet, but chose to stand off in front of the couch across from Hedeke. Again, Tyler sensed that something was exchanging between the two of them, but decided to dismiss it for the second time as just an odd notion. “So, Hedeke, just why are you here to call on me?” Tyler asked.

“This isn’t about a certain letter, is it?” Ton asked before Hedeke could reply to Tyler. There was an unmistakable threat that set an undertone for the question.

Tyler turned to gawk at Ton’s sudden hostility. Hedeke, her ears still flattened against her head, turned down her eyes in what seemed to be shame. “Yes. And it appears to have evidence of being tampered with several times. I have come to collect the signer physically as the portal did not open upon signing. He is to come with me upon my immediate departure so he can entertain the mistress in the games.” To Tyler, it sounded like an apology of some sort.

“Is that so,” Ton sneered. His tail lashed side to side, and Tyler felt the rage roll off of him as heat.

Tyler made a move to elbow him in an attempt to get him to calm down, but only passed through his brother’s chest. Tyler’s elbow felt icy, like he had plunged it into a snowbank, until he withdrew it. His elbow felt numb and prickled once back in the warmth of the room.

Ton’s form grew fuzzy and he stared at Tyler in confusion, the rage gone for the time being. “Sorry. I would have done the same if you were Lin or Nyils.”

Hedeke stood, seizing Ton’s moment of helplessness. “We are leaving, you and I, this instant,” she demanded, closing the space between them in a single stride.

Ton made a soundless snarl, still unfocussed in this realm, and lowered himself to leap. Tyler took a sidestep away from both Ton and Hedeke, keeping calm. The trio regarded themselves for just a minute when a green streak blurred into the living room and toppled Hedeke. “Hey! He ain’t leavin’ without us. Right Ty?” Nyilakiv jumped up and did circles around Hedeke throwing another wrench into her laid out plan.

She leapt to a crouch, eyeing the newcomer with trepidation and still managing to keep a wary eye on Ton.

“Of course,” Tyler mused, feeling at ease at once. Ton continued to look threatening through he was still soundless and more transparent than usual. Tyler thought he looked a bit stronger than before, however.

Hedeke stood and puffed out her chest. It looked as if she was going to protest when Vikaliyn strode into the room, a ghastly court beauty, Tyler’s Hydruplit wriggling in her arms. “We’re all leaving then? Oh, I’m sure mother won’t mind a bit.” She glided past Hedeke and Nyilakiv without giving them a second glance to drop the petpet into Tyler’s arms. “If we leave, Mother will be alone. Now, doesn’t someone think that they should at least wake her up and inform her of this tomfoolery like I suggested we do last night?

Nyilakiv didn’t have to think twice about it, and although she hadn’t directly used his name, darted up the stairs a blur once more. Hedeke pulled her lips back in a snarl, directed toward Vikaliyn who had become another out of placed cog in the well oiled machine. “You must be the sister Vikaliyn. I am ordered to take only the one named Tyler. So sorry to you and your brothers.”

“Well, being that I’m the more cautious sister and the only level headed female of the bunch, I say that I will be going despite what you say,” Vikaliyn said, turning around slowly as she spoke. “Wherever my hair-brained brothers are going, I’m going.” To add validity to her point, Vikaliyn spread out her wings behind her and resumed a defensive stand. Tyler realized then that she had stationed herself between Hedeke and Tyler, acting as a barrier between the two.

The effect only somewhat worked on Hedeke. She flicked her tail, eyes wide, but otherwise impassive. “The Darigan.” Hedeke tilted her head to one side contemplating over some unseen thought. “You come. The ghost then stays. The air head can travel with you, if he makes it down here in time.”

“Why does Ton stay behind?” Tyler asked. “And just how are you getting us there? Who are you, aside from your name? What portal was supposed to open when I signed those papers? What do you mean by tampered with anyway? Who could’ve tampered with paper?” Maybe cutting them up and burning them constituted as tampering, but he wasn’t going to admit to doing something like that, especially if there was some unwritten rule about doing so.

And yet, Hedeke stared at Ton pointedly, putting a paw on her hip. He was once again back to being somewhat solid. After a minute of this silence, she turned back to Vikaliyn and Tyler. “I will not answer your questions now. You will watch and you will wait. It will consume little time for me to open up the transports to her mistress’ home. Once open, we will need to leave without question. Be ready at the three minute mark, approximately.” As she gave out her instructions, Hedeke began to trace connected geometric patterns in the air. Her finger left a trail that glowed an unnatural silvery sheen, and did not fade from sight right away.

Vikaliyn snorted, unimpressed with the act, and disappeared into the kitchen without a word. Ton stood where he was, watching the events unfold with apathetic eyes. Looking into them, Tyler shuddered to think of the thoughts that they might be containing.

In Tyler’s arms, Trimonster’s three heads bickered and snapped at one another as they so commonly did. The Hydruplit had been a birthday present to Tyler from his father when he had been little. He had cared for them ever since, and years later the three-headed lizard was Tyler’s loving and devoted friend who stayed up late in the lab with him and bothered him when he was getting a tad bit over his head with an experiment. Tyler placed Trimonster on the floor and faced Hedeke.

The kougra was transfixed with her work, not giving Tyler a second look. Figuring that she couldn’t leave without him, he hurried down into the basement whose entrance stood off to his left. Out of its dark confines, he emerged just a few seconds later with a large scimitar strapped to his back, the icy coating shining in the light with a luster that was unlike metal.

Trimonster was waiting at the top of the stairs, all three heads seeming to have gotten over whatever argument they were having beforehand. Tyler heard Vikaliyn in the kitchen and decided to take the long way into the living room to see what she was preparing for.

The lupe was bustling about, searching in cabinets and placing fruits and other dry goods into a sack on the counter. “Nyilakiv hasn’t come down yet,” she stated without turning around. Tyler didn’t miss the touch of worry in her tone. She closed the sack and turned around to face him. “Just saying. I don’t think that freak in there is going to wait for him and I can’t run up there to check on him - I might miss whatever is going on down here.”

Ton took this chance to enter the room, his expression somber. He glanced from Tyler, to Vikaliyn, to the sack. “Don’t bother with that Lin. The food is provided for you where you are going. As for Nyils, I’ll see to it that he’s brought over.”

Vikaliyn frowned, her forehead creased in worry. Tyler’s face mimicked hers as they stared their older brother down. “What do you mean by that?” Tyler asked.

“How could you possibly know?” Vikaliyn asked over top of him.

Ton shook his head, his body seeming to droop all at once, as if he might fall in upon himself in weariness. “She’s ready.” Vikaliyn grabbed the bag and Trimonster flew up to Tyler’s shoulder which wasn’t too far from the ground in the first place.

Tyler stood there, trying to see the connection with Ton’s words and the events. It couldn’t have been that Ton had been lying to them. Of course not. Why would he lie? He was still family, even he had said that himself.

Ton met his gaze and gave a solemn nod. “Good luck.”

Tyler opened his mouth to speak, to somehow protest against what was clearly a miscalculation or a horrible nightmare of some sort, but an awful tugging wrenched and pulled in his stomach. In the next second, he felt weightless and the bright kitchen with its burnt stove and ghost inhabitant was fading and melting quickly from view. The next instant, he was gone from the kitchen and in some other faraway land.

Ton looked after where he had been, then turned to see that Vikaliyn and her useless sack full of food were gone as well. He sighed, finally succumbing to the weight he was feeling both inside and out. He lay here, his head in his paws.

Feeling miserable, he laid there and on a whim glanced up to see the potion sitting on the chair, outlined in the rising sun filtering in from the windows behind it. Softly, he clicked his tongue to his teeth. “He’s going to need that later, I just know it.” Ton let the silence of the house sink in around him.

“Uh, it looks like Mom ain’t up here guys. What do I do?” Nyilakiv’s voice shattered the silence of the house, and Ton’s ears perked forward to a point. He jumped to his feet, whirling toward the stair’s entrance. The green lupe padded down them, his goggles askew on his head.

Nyilakiv saw the empty living room, devoid of the pirate kougra and his siblings, and his face fell with shock. “Drats.” He saw Ton, out of the corner of his eye, and smiled crookedly. “They left you too, huh? Well, now what?”

A feeling of heat was blooming in Ton’s chest for the first time in so long. He could feel the solid tug of gravity once more, and life filling his eyes. He winked at Nyilakiv as he replied. “We’ll play it by ear. Meanwhile, you got those bags of yours packed yet?”