Lucien the hedgehog in the town of strange people

Chapter 5. The note

Back in the room, the children saw that the hedgehog with a lost look was sitting on the floor.

"We can't leave it like this. We must do something," he told them and lowered his face.

The phrase sounded finished and well-crafted, as if all the time that brother and sister spent with the hasty girl, the hedgehog diligently thought over and memorized every word. Artem even came to mind that this phrase is like an advertising slogan.

The brother and sister sat down on the floor in front of the hedgehog.

"But what can we do?" Dasha said quietly. Besides that, she was worried about Monday; that day she would have to see at school Nastya, who never left her threats unfulfilled.

But for Artem, this vague call to action was not enough.

"What are you talking about?" he asked the hedgehog.

Dasha bit her lip and looked at her brother.

"About this girl, of course!" Lucien clearly did not expect this question.

The hedgehog's answer also did not clarify anything for Artem. Feeling nervous, the boy turned around, looking for something to fix his gaze on. I can't understand these aphorisms. Not all people are very shrewd! If I had listened to Ira Stanislavna better in class, maybe then everything would have been different. At that moment, Artem didn’t care that Stanislavna was the same kind of teacher as a plane passenger afraid of heights was a pilot.

"What's wrong with her? I really don't understand…" He paused, looking at the pillow intently.

The hedgehog was silent. Artem turned his gaze to Dasha, hoping that she would explain. His sister freed him from the gravity of the unknown.

"She loves to chew the rag! Do you understand this?" the sister said with reproach.

A smile appeared on Artem's face.

"Well, I know it! What does it matter to us? Let her talk as much as she wants!"

Dasha and Lucien did not support him.

"She'll tell everyone about it everywhere; she will tell her mother. Very quickly, this news will be known to all Simfulensk! Can you imagine what will happen? It's all my fault…" Dasha said.

Artem was bursting to cheer up his sister because it's not all that bad. He thought, choosing the right words, but the ones circled in the head did not fit. He got angry at his own sluggishness and involuntarily said the first thing that came to mind.

"You're not in the right place to repent."

Dasha gave him a displeased look. Artem stared at the floor. It's all the fault of my dumb brain! He could not apologize to his sister either because even eating a bowl of cat food seemed easier. The boy rose and walked around the room, looking nervously at the table, then at the bed, then on the walls. The hedgehog watched him dejected. Finally, Artem forced himself to stop. He leaned his back against the table, grabbed the edges of the plasticine shelf with his palms, and declared, with a pretentious expression, looking straight ahead:

"But she saw nothing!"

Putting her palm to her forehead, Dasha dipped her head.

"It was enough for her just to hear," the girl said, rubbing her face with her hand.

"Can you erase her memory?" Artem glanced at the hedgehog.

"No, I don't remember the spell."

A brainstorming session started without any warning. Artem's lips spread in a rogue smile less than a minute later.

"Why don't you just put a spell on her?"

He imagined several situations, but he chose not to voice them. In the first, Nastya's mouth ran away. It came off her face like a sticker. In the second, she rushed into the sky like a ball filled with helium. She flew higher and higher, helplessly jerking her legs and arms and screeching from fright. And in the last one, the grandstander had the intelligence of a frying pan and moved on all fours, chewing clover with cows and goats.

"Are you nuts?" Dasha boiled viciously at her brother, and he scowled.

"You can't cripple a person because of some secret," Lucien shook his head, as if somehow seeing everything that Artem imagined.

"So, what can we do? To go to her and make her not tell anyone?" Artem asked the hedgehog.

"How do you imagine it?" Dasha smirked.

Artem did not answer.

"This girl is very impressionable, right?" After a little pause, the hedgehog asked Dasha.

"And curious?"

"It seems to me that if she were to be distracted by anything exceptional in her understanding, she would not remember what she heard here," the hedgehog suggested.

"I know what will work!" immediately blurted out Artem. "To make a hole in the middle of her yard all the way to the very center of Earth! ("I'm sick of you!" crossed Dasha’s face) Or write a note anonymously, make up stuff like "a treasure is hidden in your house." And slip it to her, with such a message, she will forget her name!"

The hedgehog thought a little and said:

"This plan with a note is a little cruel, but you are right, it must be effective. Let's do it."

"Is it possible to age a note, for example, to make it look like it's been kept since the century before last?" Artem asked. Feeling more confident, he sat in the chair and put his hands on the armrests. The chair's back went back and creaked.

"I can. Give me a piece of paper."

"Any?"

"Yes."

Artem quickly opened the desk drawer, pulled out a clean notebook, tore the first piece of paper out and put it in front of the hedgehog. Then he sat down on the floor next to Lucien.

"Tell me this girl's address," Lucien asked.

"Shadow street, 48." Dasha answered.

The hedgehog touched the piece of paper with the fingers of his front paw.

"Lirops!"

The children felt the cold begin to emanate from the piece of paper. The piece of paper became dirty yellow, roughened, and its edges became uneven. Then a text written in black ink and beautiful calligraphic handwriting appeared on it:

The gold coins hid in the attic, address: Shadow Street 48.

There was no one at home. I sneaked across the back of the yard, unnoticed.

"Done! All that remains is to deliver this. I would do it, but I don't know where this girl lives. One of you should do it. But it is necessary to make sure that no one can see you."

"Well, we're not superheroes; how can we be invisible? And we also do not have an invisible mantle!" Artem's face appeared bewildered. Noticing that his palm was soiled in the plasticine, the boy wiped it against his T-shirt.

"I know one spell that makes the bewitched invisible. But it does not mute voices; on the contrary, it makes them louder."

Artem straightened his back. Returning to its place, the back of the chair creaked with relief.

"Why would we drown out our voices? Invisible people aren't mute! And they're not noiseless. It's completely different!" he said enthusiastically, already imagining himself invisible.

"Voices get a lot louder. It's a spell; it's like… Visibility decreases, and voice enhances," explained the hedgehog.

"What if we try another spell? Is there anything similar?" asked Dasha, straightening her stiff legs.

"There's another one that isn't suitable at all. That spell does not affect voices. Instead, it increases the body by about ten times or more."

"It's even cooler!" Artem exclaimed and inquiringly looked at the hedgehog: "Do all your spells have a catch? Side effects?"

"No, not every. Only a few of them," Lucien smiled with restraint.

"Do voices get much louder?" asked Dasha.

"Yes. A whisper, for example, turns into a scream."

The girl shook her head.

"Then it's not a good idea for us. Well, think: we will become invisible. What if some words break out? And then what? A disaster!"

"Right," the hedgehog agreed.

Yes, a loud voice may create difficulties, but not so much that we would change our minds about doing it at all! Artem thought.

"And if someone small becomes invisible, his voice will be quieter than that who is the size of a person?" After a little thought, Dasha clarified.

"Of course."

"Then I would send someone small there, the size of a cat. We could send our cats, if that would be possible." It seems Dasha didn’t believe what she was saying.

"I doubt that they can be assigned a similar mission," Lucien replied to her.

Artem looked at his sister. Mentally, he was outraged.

She does not want to put a spell on Nastya, but she considers it a good idea to do this with our cats. She even offers to do it!

"Do you seriously think they could do that? They are lazy. And how will they understand what to do? How can we explain it to them? This is nonsense." He told her.

How much he wants to become invisible!

"Very simple, in fact," the hedgehog gently objected to Artem. "I can make them not only invisible, but also speak and understand speech, respectively. However, I repeat, I don't think it's a good idea to delegate them to do it."

"Speaking?" Dasha was surprised.

Artem laughed.

"He-he! Speak? Seriously, can you make these slobs speak?"

"Yes."

Dasha threw up her hands.

"Maybe entrust it to them? In any case, we have no other ideas." she said, looking Lucien in the eyes.

"Bring the cats here," the hedgehog said without much desire.

Okay, let the cats do it. Later I'll ask Lucien to make me invisible, too. When Dasha would not be nearby, Artem decided and went after his sister. Going down the stairs, he never stopped being surprised.

"The cats will talk! He-he! It is even difficult to imagine!"

"Yes, funny," Dasha said.

The children noticed Fox from the stairs: the cat was eating again. He was dipping his face into the bowl, grunting and whistling. His tabby brother was full-length on the kitchen floor and watched the gray brother.

Artem took Fox. The cat's muzzle was covered in his food from his eye to his throat.

"Look at him!" showed Artem cat Dasha. "Pig!"

She said with a laugh:

"Real pig!" Then she looked at the line of cat food on the floor and said to her brother, "We need to wash the floor."

"There are more important things to do now… So, when we're done, then you can do it," the brother didn't hesitate to answer.

"I thought we would wash the floor together."

"I'm not capable of that, you know."

The sister gave him a long, angry look, then said:

"All right, grab him, I'll take the second one."

"Okay," Artem replied, wiping Fox's face with his T-shirt. The gray cat sneezed and began to lick his paws. Artem deliberately exclaimed loudly, "Awful! What a nasty pet!"

Dasha knelt in front of the tabby cat:

"Well, let's go."

The cat looked up at her and purred knowingly. The girl held the cat against her and headed up the steps. The relaxed Matvey dangled like a sock drying on a street clothesline.

Returning to her brother's room, Dasha saw that preparations for the ritual were in full swing, and she was a little confused. Artem guarded the gray cat, who slunk back into a corner near the closet. Lucien walked in circles around the room. Either he appreciated the actions of Artem (Yes, yes, good, let him sit like that, you just stay there!), then he mumbled something unintelligible and rolled his eyes, then he condemned the furry brothers for being ill-mannered. The monster drawings were piled up against the wall. Apparently, Artem just moved them there to keep them out of the way. Probably he was too lazy to pick them up from the floor. The note was on the table.

"Close the door and give me Matvey," Artem told his sister.

Dasha silently gave her brother the cat and sat on the floor near the bed.

The hedgehog turned to the children.

"First, we will make them talk. Getting started?"

Artem shouted "Yes!" confidently, and his sister said the same, but with doubt.

"Move a little," Lucien asked Artem. "I need to stand right in front of these animals."

The boy obeyed. The hedgehog looked at the cats point-blank, raised his paws smoothly and pointed it at their faces. The furry brother's eyes turned truly insane.

Artem watched Fox and Matvey with a diabolical smile, but Dasha was worried about them. And if Lucien accidentally stutters and the spell does not work correctly? Or if he forgets some words? Or will he pronounce the spell incorrectly and mix up words?

"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed, rising.

Artem frowned. The furry brothers looked at Dasha with gratitude and with a plea for help at the same time.

"Why?" The hedgehog was sincerely surprised, turning on Dasha.

"I… If something goes wrong…"

"Sweet girl, you shouldn't worry. Everything will be fine with them. Don't forget, you have one of Leonard's best students in front of you. And this means a lot," the hedgehog assured her with calm and confidence.

"Are you sure they will be alright?"

"No doubt."

"Well, if so… I just thought…" Dasha explained in an apologetic tone. "And these spells – what are they, temporary? The cats won't always stay like this?"

"Of course, they're temporary. Continue?"

Dasha nodded shyly and sat down on the floor. Lucien turned to the cats and again pointed his paw at them. He whispered a long word in an unknown language with outlandish pronunciation. Leaving his paw in the same position, he lowered his head. A moment later, a tiny snow-white balloon burst out of his claw. It bifurcated, and both balls rushed into the faces of the terrified pets, crashed between their eyes, forcing the pupils of both cats to be directed to their noses, and the balls disappeared. It seems they penetrated inside their heads, bypassing wool and skin.

The cats howled and jumped out of the corner. Artem and the hedgehog barely managed to get out of their way. Both furry pets began to shake their heads, sizzle and squeal, as if they were possessed by demons. It seemed the balls of light that had penetrated the pets were hurting them badly every second. Even the eternally relaxed Matvey did not look like himself. Previously, he demonstrated madness only when someone bathed him. Once, even so zealously, that he kicked his paws on the faucet that it fell off.

Artem and his sister crawled to the wall. Lucien joined them.

Dasha's heart sank again.

"It's bad for them, you see?" she told the hedgehog, saddened.

"It can't cause harm to them. They just show their terrible temper." Lucien replied.

The cats were shaking their heads as if they shot their eyes around the room without stopping for anything longer than a second.

"Heh! If they had lasers instead of eyes, like Scott Summers, then we would have to live on the streets," Artem grinned.

After exploring the whole room with their eyes, Fox and Matvey turned their heads at the hedgehog. Staring at him, they began to open and immediately close their mouths, slamming them like pot lids. Both drooled like a stream. Their chins got wet; their drools hung like stalactites, dripping on the floor. Slamming mouths began to occur less often, but they opened wider. The first sounds began to be heard from the mouths, different from purring or meowing. The sounds were like clearing the throat before spitting.

"B-r-r… i-hi-x-x-x-i-i-k...."

"K-k-k-f-r… it-y-y-f…"

The intervals between opening and closing mouths became longer and longer; the sounds heard sounded clearer and more distinguishable. Then the slammings stopped, the cats' mouths closed, but their eyes lit up with hatred. Both brothers rushed as if on command towards the hedgehog. Artem covered Lucien with his hand and barked at them:

"Stop!"

Fox and Matvey braked sharply in front of the younger owner's palm, almost turning over.

"Now I see how kind they are!" Lucien said. He was no longer afraid of the fluffy brothers.

Dasha embarrassingly tried to justify Fox and Matvey:

"Er, they are just fooling around."

The cats kept their anger-blazing eyes on Lucien and began to open and close their mouths again, this time on their own.

"K-re-x-t… Har… Y-you!… u… u… P-prick-ckly! B-bag!" Fox said with great difficulty.

"Br-tan… in-howl… Mon… mon… Mon-n-n-ster!… nee… with need-l-l-les!" the tabby cat hardly said.

Lucien pointed his paw at the furry brothers and firmly declared:

"It is unacceptable to behave like this."

The cats jumped on the bed, curled up with their backs to the others. They didn't stop trying to talk, but they didn't dare call names anymore.

"Hen-n-n… Bro-o-o… Nao-o-k-k! E-k-o-o-t-t… Fe-e-e!"

"Well, as always…" Dasha said with condemnation.

"Hey, why are you guys laying down?" Artem asked the cats.

"Turn around, please!" the hedgehog addressed them.

The pets obeyed the hedgehog. Fox looked embittered and his tabby brother confused. There was no doubt that they understood all that was said to them and could answer.

"Do you know this girl who came here today?" Lucien asked them.

"M-m-may-b-by, w-we kn-now. D-does it-t mmatterr?" hissed Fox.

Artem grinned and moved up to his sister.

"How do you think they will talk like parrots all the time?"

"I don't know," Dasha smiled meekly, not looking at her brother.

"Yes, until the spell ceases to act," Lucien said to Artem and continued to tell the cats, "It matters because we want to entrust you with one task."

Matvey asked him:

"W-hat-t's tas-sk?"

"You'll have to take this note to that girl." The hedgehog pointed the note to the cats. The brothers looked at the note without interest.

"Why d-did you-u thi-ink m-we woul-ld agree-e-e? You-u do it-t!" said Fox. He got up and began to walk along the bed, arrogantly raising his head.

Matvey got up and approached his brother, looking into his eyes. Fox stopped, not realizing what was on his brother's mind. Matvey raised his paw and slapped Fox in the face.

"Don-n-'t sho-oww off-f!" And the tabby cat lay down where he stood.

Fox's eyes rounded in surprise.

"Oh!" the hedgehog said.

The brother and sister looked at each other with smiles on their lips: they had never seen anything like this before. Although it was funny, Artem decided to intervene. Who knows what the cats will do? They might want to fight, then they will turn out to be bad spies. The agents should be calm and judicious; you can't send feuding or mad persons on a mission because it'll end badly. Artem knew this very well from cartoons.

"Listen! I'll explain it to you. Nastya, this girl, found out something that should not be known…"

"Is that at our house?" The tabby cat didn't let his owner finish, pointing his paw at Lucien.

The hedgehog took what the cat said with dignity.

"I have a name," he said. He approached Dasha, and she stroked him with her fingers on his back.

"Yes, exactly. It's no good she found out, but there's nothing you can do about it. But we can't let her tell anyone about this. For this you will take the note to her, and it'll distract her."

"Wwe kn-n-now sh-h-he likkes tto t-talk. Sh-he ssaid mean-nn th-thin-n-ngs ab-boutt us, thatt wwe arre s-st-st-tuppid. Wwe s-saw it-t." clucked Matvey.

"Well, you see," Artem nodded at him.

Fox was in no hurry to agree.

"Annnyw-way. Itt's nn-not m-m-my b-b-busin-nes-s-s. I wwon't d-do it-t-t!"

Fox felt uncomfortable under the gaze of Artem, the hedgehog and Matvey. He tucked his paws under himself but was not going to refuse the decision.

"Well, we'll have to come up with something different…" said the hedgehog, unhappily.

"Can't Matvey do it alone?" Artem asked Lucien.

"I wwon't-t ddo it-t allone!" The tabby cat objected.

"That's not a good idea," replied the hedgehog to Artem.

Artem sat down on the floor near his sister and Lucien.

Dasha was lost in thoughts. We've spent so much time talking, we're maybe already too late, and Nastya's already told everyone everything, and now probably Artem and Dasha's mom and dad's phones are ringing nonstop in a hurry to break interesting news. But anyway, another attempt to make the stubborn cat will not be superfluous. Having come to this conclusion, the girl rose and went to bed. Fox raised his head on her with a surprised fright. He thought that everything was simple: he would express his opinion, which was the only right one, and everyone would agree. But it didn't happen.

"You may not go if you have decided so," the girl told him. "But I want to warn you: I will not wipe up your food from the floor anymore. So, think about what will happen to you if our mother steps on it not twice a day, but five or more."

Does my sister wash the floor so often after Fox? Artem was surprised.

The hedgehog watched what was happening with interest. Only Fox became upset, imagining the older owner yelling at him loudly, to the point of hoarseness, and threatening him with a rag. Not wanting to listen to her, the cat runs off as fast as he can, sliding on turns and almost falling on his side, but the owner catches up with him and scolds him with the worst words. Grabs him and pokes his face into spilled food. Fox wriggles and gets hit in the back with a rag. Then she takes the cat out on the doorstep and kicks him in the butt. Twisting in the air a couple of times, the cat falls into the grass.

"Un-n-fai-r-rly…" Fox muttered plaintively.

"Fairly, fairly!" Dasha mimicked him.

"Okkay, I wwil-l ddo it-t…" The gray cat obeyed, looking anywhere, just not at the harsh personality towering over him. "C-cann wwe ttake s-s-somme ffood wwith us-s? Wwhat-t iff wwe s-s-stay therre t-too ll-long annd g-get hhun-ngry?"

Artem laughed.

"Where are you gonna put that food? Will you stuff it in your mouth like a hamster?"

Dasha sat on the edge of the bed and gently stroked the furry brothers, as if it wasn't she who just put conditions, but someone else.

Lucien came to bed and jumped on the girl's knees.

"I will make you invisible now," he told the cats.

"I-invissibl-l-le?" Fox rose with a dazed look. "Wwe d-didnn't agr-ree tto thatt!"

"You've already agreed to go, and that's necessary for this," Lucien told him.

"A-as I as eas-silly aggreed-d, s-so easily wwill rrefus-se!"

Artem approached the bed.

"Quiet, you!" he shouted at the cat. "Forgot what your owner told you?"

"I r-remmember…"

"Then I'll add. If our parents find out about Lucien, then it is impossible to even imagine what will happen later. Now you're the only one who can help avoid this, and if the parents find out, you'll be the only one to blame! This is the first and only time we've asked for your help, and what do we get?" said Artem strictly and clearly.