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The Super Authors (Harriet, Sebastian, Rosie, and Albert)
arrived on the cloudy banks of Faerieland just as the sun was setting. A sliver
of light illuminated the horizon, turning everything it touched to a bright
golden hue.
Jay the Eyrie and Spot, Harriet's pet rock, were
slightly behind the rest of the group, panting for breath as they arrived on
the doorstep of the Faerieland Bookstore. "You... four... go... on..." panted
Jay, clutching a stitch in his side, and wiping his monocle free of excess sweat.
"I'm going... to the coffee... house... with Spot..."
Harriet shrugged as she watched Spot and Jay
plod away, panting for breath. She clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Honestly,
you'd think that our own agent would have a bit more energy."
Rosie grabbed the thick gilded door handle and
knocked three times. Nobody answered. She knocked again, this time slightly
more forcibly. Nobody answered still.
"That's funny. I wonder where the Faerie Librarian
is?"
"Probably out for coffee," Sebastian said, rolling
his eyes.
"I honestly don't see the science behind wanting
to drink a painfully hot beverage made out of water and crushed beans that smell
funny after a few days in the sun," Albert mentioned.
Rosie tried pushing the door open. It creaked
and groaned, and finally gave way. The four walked inside. The fire in the fireplace
was out, but it had been lit recently. A book lay on the end table with a bookmark
stuck haphazardly between pages 602 and 603.
"She must have just went out," Rosie said.
A note was taped to the backside of the door.
Albert read it outloud. "Dear Super Authors and Jay- Please excuse my absence,
but I was called by Queen Fyora to the second annual Neopian Assembly. She seems
to be rather bitter about being the note-taker. I am afraid you are going to
have to fend for yourselves here, but I have faith in you. Good luck!"
"So now what?" Harriet pouted.
"We look," Rosie said. "I'll go to there," she
said, waving a hoof in the direction of some shelves. "Albert can look over
here, Sebastian can look over in that room, and you can look over in those stacks.
If you see anything that looks remotely like an 'Archive of Neopia,' scream."
"AAAAIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"
"HARRIET!"
"Just practicing!"
The four separated into the four corners of the
library, digging through what seemed like endless piles of books. The Faerie
Librarian owned every book ever printed in Neopia, and some that had never hit
the shelves of the Neopian book stores. The shelves of the Faerieland Library
were a little untidy, and most of the books were out of order, making it very
difficult to find anything at all, except for the stray Spyders, which Harriet
found first.
"AAAAAIIEEEEEEEE!!!!"
Minutes turned into hours as the four began to
give up their futile search. Harriet had made herself a small fortress out of
autobiographies to defend herself against the Spyders. Sebastian had managed
to lodge his Desert Lupe tail in between The Magic Whirlpool and Cooking
For Kois, and was having difficulty getting out. Albert was engrossed in
a book about new theories about the effectiveness of using calculus to take
inventory in a shop.
Rosie was the only Super Author left, still searching.
"She could have at least pointed us in the direction of the archives," grumbled
Rosie, throwing aside a picture book about a Cybunny. The picture book hit a
very large shelf of books that were already close to the edge of their shelf.
The books swung dangerously, and then fell with loud bangs onto the marbled
floor.
"Oh, no!" whined Rosie. She bent down to pick
up as many of the books as possible. Leaning forward, she made to put them back
on their respective shelves, but stopped. On the wall behind the open bookshelf,
there a large panel of wood, darker than the rest of the wall. It looked suspiciously
like...
"A door!" breathed Rosie. Her gut told her what
she already knew: this door lead to the archives of Neopia.
"AAAAAIIIEEEEE! HEY, GUYS!" she yelled at the
top of her lungs.
"Harriet! I'm not going to come and kill another
stupid Spyder for you!" called Albert from the opposite end of the large library.
"That wasn't me!" called Harriet's voice, from
somewhere to the left of Rosie. "AAAAIIIEEEE! THERE'S ANOTHER ONE! ALLBEEEEERRTTT!!!"
Rosie sighed deeply at her partners' antics.
"I THINK I'VE FOUND THE ARCHIVES!" she called back.
Several loud thumps told Rosie that the rest
of the Super Authors were getting off of their chairs and following her voice.
Harriet soon appeared, skipping happily. Albert appeared next, holding his book
on calculus, and readjusting his glasses. Sebastian was the last to turn up.
He seemed to be dragging a small end table bookshelf with him which his tail
was wedged into.
"You know, you think you can measure the stupidity
of someone, and then you have to go for a bigger ruler."
"Shut up, Albert," growled Sebastian.
"I have one question," Rosie said, delicately.
"How did you MANAGE that?"
After several tugs, Sebastian was freed from
his paper prison. As soon as their giggles at Sebastian's expense were exhausted,
the four Super Authors faced their new battle: the bookshelf. Taking deep breaths,
they all pushed, and the bookshelf was pushed out of the way easily to reveal
a dark wooden door.
Rosie took a second deep breath, and opened it.
A small room, hardly bigger than a cupboard, was lit by a single candle on a
dusty glass desk. Inside the glass desk lay several yellowed books, looking
very brittle and very old.
"The archives of Neopia!" Rosie breathed, her
eyes widening.
"How do you know?" asked Harriet.
Rosie pointed at a large sign hanging above the
table that read, 'Here lies the Archives of Neopia. Please clean your hands
of cookie crumbs and chocolate before handling.'
"This probably has facts on everything on Neopia,"
Albert said, cleaning his glasses. "The history of Dr. Sloth, the beginnings
of the Tyrannian Land Wars..."
"...but we need to find out about Mystery Island,
and that pencil," said Rosie, in all seriousness. She opened the dusty door
to the slanted glass table, and peered down at the records. "Humble beginnings
of Dr. Frank Sloth... the first recorded Tyrannian Land Wars..." she mumbled,
flipping through the pages carefully.
"Stop! That was a map of Mystery Island!" cried
Harriet.
Rosie flipped back a page, and began to read
outloud. "The land with the least amount of known history is the island of Mystery,
also known as Mystery Island. Although now a populous island with many stores,
shops, and tourist attractions, the actual beginnings of Mystery Island are
unknown."
"Great," mumbled Sebastian.
"The local Island Mystic, however batty she may
seem, made a prophecy about the history of Mystery Island. She said that, quote,
"The true secrets of Mystery Island will forever remain secrets, unless, and
only unless, the one with the power rewrites history." This refers to a legendary
pencil that was made from the first tree that grew on Mystery Island. The wielder
of this pencil was said to have the power to change Mystery Island and all of
its inhabitants by rewriting the history of the small isle."
Harriet's eyes grew wide with fear as Rosie turned
the page. "That's all that it says about the pencil," Rosie said tonelessly.
"What if this pencil got into the wrong hands?"
Sebastian asked.
"Judging by the latest mishaps in Mystery Island,
it already has," Albert said.
"But who... or what... would want the pencil?"
Harriet asked.
"Probably another power-hungry evil genius,"
Rosie said, sighing.
"But what if that power hungry evil genius was
a really... really... bad writer?" Albert said, thinking outloud.
Everybody shuddered.
"...and so the Super Authors face their most
challenging test yet," said a familiar female voice. The Super Authors whipped
around to see the Faerie Librarian, Jay, and Spot standing illuminated by the
fireplace. They were all holding styrofoam cups of coffee.
"Didn't hear us come in, I suppose," Jay said,
grinning.
"The Neopian Assembly ended early, so I thought
I'd go find Jay and reminisce, and wonder of all wonders, he was lurking at
the Coffee Shoppe," the Faerie Librarian said, grinning.
"This is no time to reminisce!" cried Harriet.
"Mystery Island is in ruins! The legendary pencil has been stolen! A power-hungry
evil genius is going to rewri-" Harriet stopped. Spot had poured the remaining
dregs of his coffee down Harriet's throat.
Harriet choked, and finally swallowed the hot
liquid. "Hmm... you know, it's not as bad as I thought it would be..." she said,
smiling.
To be continued...
Coffee. Can't live without it, it's as simple as that. Who is the masked
power-hungry evil genius that is threatening the innocent citizens of Mystery
Island? Does he or she have the legendary pencil already? Will the Super Authors
be able to solve this mystery? Not to mention Charlie! Find out the answers
to this and more in the next thrilling chapter of... The Super Authors and the
Chamber of Mysteries!
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