"You know, one of these days you're going to change me back and I'll stay yellow or still have spines or my hair will be green and pointy and then you'll be sorry." Pasha grumbled. The company had resumed their trek towards the sea, stopping only for lunch, when Eva had graciously turned Pasha back into a human since Misha hadn't actually come to any harm.
They were now working their way across a large stretch of stubby, dry grass.
"People might pay to see a human pineapple." Eva mused.
"We could run a carnival!" Isidor suggested.
"Why not? We're already hiking around for no reason." Matvei said.
"We could have pony rides, and I could sing and do tricks." Isidor brandished the stick he had been dragging across the ground. It turned into a seagull, held firmly by the legs. It shrilled, flapping its wings.
"For god's sake..." Eva muttered. Isidor let the seagull go.
"I...I meant to turn it into a flower." He said.
"I'm not going to live out my days as a freak attraction in a cheap carnival." Pasha protested.
"What do you think you are now?" Matvei asked.
"He's not a freak." Pushki spoke up, his first words in hours.
"Oh?" Eva held up her hand, "Pineapple."
Pasha flinched.
"Dad had a freak show over once. He hosts performance troupes all the time, but those freaks were something else. There was a woman who only came up to my chest, and her brother was a giant." Pushki said.
"Performance troupes?" Pasha raised his eyebrows.
"You know. Actors and things."
"Wow. The bunny's cultured." Eva teased.
"So... you think we'd have a chance at being a carnival?" Matvei asked.
"We are NOT going to join a carnival!" Ruslan protested from his seat on Ludmilla, several feet behind the rest of the group as the donkey stopped to examine every rock and bug in her path.
"Who said anything about joining? We're forming a carnival." Isidor clarified.
"We're heroes, not clowns!"
"That's really a matter of perspective." Matvei said.
"Besides, I'm the head of this operation and I say that we're not forming a carnival!"
"Only because you're carrying a sword." Eva pointed out.
"A sword that, I hear, slew many a foe in the small hours of the morning!"
"Actually, all it did was fling a wiggling dead squirrel through the air." Isidor said.
"Misha killed a few, but most of them ran away. Not to mention that you slept through the whole thing." Eva added.
"Well, that's all well and good but--" Ruslan fell silent.
"Anybody up for twenty questions?" Isidor asked.
"Sure. Umm... is it an animal?" Pasha started out.
"No."
"Plant?"
"No."
"Mineral?"
"Yes."
"Is it cinnabar?" Eva asked. Isidor looked crestfallen.
"How could you tell?"
"I just knew." The witch replied cryptically.
"You're not allowed to play, Ev. Just keep track of the questions. Pushki, you go next." Pasha said.
",,,okay."
"Is it an animal?" Matvei asked.
"Yes."
"Where's Rus?" Eva asked.
"Shh. You're not playing." Pushki said.
"No, really. He disappeared."
Chapter Twenty-Six