what caused it, whether the cigarette smoke or the dust under the couch. It didn’t really matter; what mattered was that Lemonade, hard as he tried, couldn’t help but sneeze into his paws. At that moment there was a pause in the conversation, and, although the sneeze was muffled, it was clearly heard in the quiet room.
The woman and the person she was talking to turned their heads simultaneously in the direction of the couch. Hannagh’s face looked angry and almost furious, Corgy looked surprised and startled.
Lemonade pressed himself farther under the couch, rolled into a tight ball and prepared for the worst. Most of all now he wanted to fall through the floor, but the floor was sturdy, and there was nowhere to go.
Corgy got up quickly, approached the couch, kneeled down and looked under. Lemonade saw her wary face up close, her startled eyes were darting in all directions. He bared his claws, ready to swat the hand that would reach out for him. But something strange happened. Corgy searched all under the couch with her eyes, and they never stopped on the cat frozen in tense expectation. Then she got off her knees, shrugged and said with disappointment but also obvious relief:
“There’s no one. Might have been a couch spring, it happens sometimes.”
Hannagh, who was still staring at the couch suspiciously, snapped:
“I don’t like any of it. Please deal with your couch springs. Just remember, there’s no room for mistakes now.”
And then he vanished.
The room went back to its regular look. The TV screen was off, and it looked like any other TV now. Corgy sighed with relief and left the room, fixing her hair as she walked. Lemonade decided not to test his luck anymore, he’d found out enough information, and he darted out the window. In a few minutes he was home, where Allie and Lu had been waiting with hopeful impatience.
5. THE CHASE. IN AN ICE TRAP
Lemonade made it back just in time. Allie was almost losing her mind with worry and concern about her parents. When Corgy had said it would take them three hours to take one step, she wasn’t far from the truth.
Indeed, their movements had slowed down so much that at a first glance it seemed that the two adults were playing the children’s game of “Freeze”. It was unclear whether they realized something was wrong with them. To Allie’s parents, the world around them must have accelerated enormously. The night must have passed by in a couple of minutes, which was confirmed by the surprised look on Mom’s face turned toward the window. All of Allie’s movements, who was just walking around the room, must seem so fast to them that they weren’t able to see their daughter, just as we are unable to see a flying bullet. All of this made Allie quite desperate. A few times she tried to call the ambulance, but Lu talked her out of it.
When Lemonade saw Allie’s tearful eyes and found out what was going on, he firmly announced:
“No doctors! It is absolutely useless, and potentially dangerous. They’d start treating them for who knows what, and might only harm them. We’ve got nine days to act. Just listen to this.”
Trying not to miss any details, Lemonade told Allie and Lu about everything he had seen and heard at Corgy’s apartment. He only left out the last episode of his adventurous sortie, deciding not to puzzle them with yet another mystery.
“Well, girls, it seems like it’s a real sorcerers’ hub in there,” he concluded his story.
Lu, who had been impatiently pacing the room, stopped and said:
“No, it seems that the hub is elsewhere. Corgy looks like a mere pawn in the game, and all of the big figures are…” the monkey stopped there, scratching her head. “What is Galfar, by the way? The word sounds positively familiar. Well, there are more mysteries than there are answers. But we found out the main thing: it is possible to break the spell that your parents are under, although we’ve only got nine days to do it. The trouble is, only Corgy herself can do it.”
“Or the ones she calls the Guards of the Cup,” added Lemonade.
“That’s right, and them.”
“I will go to Mean Jean and ask her to remove the spell,” said Allie decidedly. “I will give her the cylinder, or… What’s it called? – the viamulator. That thing is the cause of all this trouble.”
“You won’t help your parents and will ruin yourself,” disagreed Lu. “As soon as Corgy gets her viamulator, she will do everything to get rid of all witnesses to her dark secrets. I hope you don’t think I’m trying to talk you out of it just because I am a concerned party here too.”
“Oh,” exclaimed Allie. “I completely forgot, I’m sorry.”
“It’s OK, really. At the very least, we can save that for a last-resort option. We’ll just have to make clear to her our one condition – that we won’t give her the viamulator until your parents are back to normal. Now we’ve got nine days to try something else.”
“But what?” Allie looked at the monkey with hope and admiration.
“We will follow Corgy. Today she is supposed to check some kind of ‘transfer window’, remember? We should follow her and find out what kind of ‘window’ it is. And then we’ll see. Shall we go?”
“Let’s go!” Allie agreed.
“I’m ready,” announced Lemonade.
“Good. Then you, Lemonade, will go outside and watch her door carefully. Allie, put on some hiking clothes. It’d be best if Corgy doesn’t recognize you. But what should I do?” Lu thought hard. “I can’t be walking around just like that in broad daylight.”
“Let me carry you,” offered Allie.
“No, that wouldn’t work,” objected Lu.
Indeed, she wasn’t heavy but still quite a large toy. Allie looked around the room and noticed her brightly colored school backpack. She emptied it and opened it up for the monkey.
“Jump in.”
Lu didn’t hesitate long and a moment later was safely tucked inside the backpack with only her head sticking out.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m quite cosy in here, “she said, pleased. “I think people in Japan or China carry their babies this way.”
“Well, it’s not China here, but your name sounds rather Chinese. So there,” said Allie, rummaging through her clothes in the closet. In a little while, she put on jeans, a light but warm and waterproof jacket, and leather running shoes. She accessorized her look with a toboggan pulled low over her ears.
“Great job,” approved Lu. “One might take you for a boy.”
“Let’s hope that Mean Jean won’t recognize me,” said Allie, putting on her backpack. “You try to stay quiet in there.”
She threw one final look around her room; somehow she knew that she wouldn’t be back for a long time. Allie also said goodbye to her parents, giving each a hug.
“We’ll save you, I promise,” she whispered, fighting back her welled-up tears.
