Old Man Drucker walked to the other side of the room and sat down heavily in a worn woollen chair, stretching his legs out in front of the fire.

"Sit down a while, I'm gettin' old ya know, I'll fetch ya 'spiders in a moment," he stated. The Old Man then reached for a pot of tea he had sitting on a small side table next to his chair, and using a butter knife placed through the handle of the pot he poured hot tea into 3 china tea cups.

"Uh, thanks," replied Miss Blimey and Betty H.V in unison as they both took a cup of tea and sat down on a worn rug in front of the fire. They felt instantly comfortable in this little house, it was dry, warm and inviting. Old Man Drucker even seemed OK, though he did indeed have a strange way of serving tea.

"Nice bird ya got there," observed Old Man Drucker.

"Thanks, I haven't had him that long, he's pretty smart though, just got divorced," answered Miss Blimey.

"Hrmph" agreed Old Man Drucker, getting to his feet. "Now you gals just stay put and I'll get your fixin's..... just stay put now."

Miss Blimey frowned to herself as he left the room. It wasn't often that people repeated themselves, but she knew it meant they were hiding something. Betty hates Veronica caught Miss Blimey's frown and simply nodded her head. Did they really want to know what was going on here? Old Man Drucker appeared nice enough, but what was he hiding. Just then they heard a whispering, coming from below where they sat.

"Psst, hey you, has he gone?" came the whisper.

"Yes," whispered back Miss Blimey.

"Can you let me out please?" asked the voice.

"But who are you?" asked Betty H.V leaning in.

"They call me Fading Boy, I've been stuck down here 6 years, most people who come here think I'm a ghost and run away, often screaming as they do," he whispered.

"Why do they think you're a ghost, and why are you down there?" asked Miss Blimey a bit too loudly, forgetting their situation.

"Old Man Drucker keeps me here, he doesn't want me to leave him, then he'll be all alone," explained Fading Boy sadly.

"But that's not fair," recoiled Miss Blimey. "Sure I'll get you out... how?"

"Wait, what if it's a trap?" asked a slightly nervous Betty H.V interrupting.

"Oh, I've handled worse than one barely-there boy, believe me," said Miss Blimey decisively.

"Pull back the rug, and you'll find a locked trap door, open that and I can get out," piped up Fading Boy, who knew they were running out of time.

Miss Blimey did as Fading Boy said, and indeed found a locked trap door. Using her cutlass she was able to break the lock easily and lift the door. As she did so Fading Boy emerged from the darkness, and managed to startle both girls for he was truly the palest and most beautiful child they had ever seen. Fading Boy climbed up and into the main room, squinting painfully at the light from the fire then smiling widely at his two saviours.

"Thank-you, but we must hurry, Old Man Drucker will return soon and he'll make you put me back where you found me," said Fading Boy with some urgency.

"No one makes me do anything, but I don't feel like killing a poor old man today so we had better go, as he says," stated Miss Blimey, turning towards the door.

"Qwuark, trouble," sounded Rawkous as Old Man Drucker appeared out of nowhere.

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY STILL!" screamed Old Man Drucker, his whole body shaking and reverberating with the sound. "YOU SHALL NOT TAKE HIM!"

"Damn it!" cursed Miss Blimey

"Bloody heck!" chimed in Betty hates Veronica as before their eyes Old Man Drucker began to transform and show himself for what he really was, a nasty little toad of a demon-man.

"So he's a shape shifter, and not the nice kind," observed Miss Blimey, her hand fast around the hilt of her sword. "You don't scare me you tea pouring idiot, I've dealt with the likes of your kind before."

"Maybe you have girl," retorted Old Man Drucker. "But I'll kill ye yet, I'm at the pinnacle of my game and you will not take my prize pet away from me."

"Likes to talk doesn't he," stated Betty H.V briefly recovering from her initial shock. In response Old Man moved like lightening towards her and back handed her across the head, sending her sailing across the room.

"Right, that does it, you really are a nasty...." but Miss Blimey didn't finish her sentence. Instead she chose that moment to smite the beast's head from his shoulders. Showing off just a bit. Miss Blimey then turned to check on her friend, but she could see that Betty H.V would be all right. Fading Boy was helping her to her feet.

"Why can't people just play nice for a change?" she asked as Betty hates Veronica and Fading Boy joined her in the doorway. Neither of them said anything but just looked at her in wonder.

"Swoo Hoo, aren't you forgetting something?" spoke up Rawkous, from his perch on the mantle above the fire.

"Oh yes, the fizzies! I'll get the crates," laughed Miss Blimey happily, running back inside to look for their plunder.

"You're captain sure is nutty," said the grateful, if not mystified Fading Boy, stepping out into the rain.

"She has her moments," replied Betty H.V. "Come on we best get to the store and pick up our other stuff," she added turning to Miss Blimey who had returned with nine cases of their favourite beverage, which was rocking dangerously back and forth in her collapsible wheelbarrow. She was still giggling quite hard.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Miss Blimey of Fading Boy, who was walking quietly away.

"Don't know, really," replied the boy, stopping in his tracks and turning back. "I have no family now that Old Man is gone, guess I'll find summin somewhere," he finished, staring at his feet kicking the mud around sadly.

"That's no plan at all," said Miss Blimey sternly. "You better come with us for now, I know a place where you can go, and I promise we'll have lots of fun getting there.... what do you say?"

"Sure" smiled Fading Boy. "That'd be awesome, who wouldn't want to travel around with two pyrates and a talking parrot?"

Continued in Part 3