Turn me. Part 1
Tekst- Rozmiar: 290 str.
- Kategoria: fantastyka naukowa, fantasy rosyjskie, romanse wpsółczesne, thrilleryEdytuj
© Altar Coal, 2024
ISBN 978-5-0064-2809-6 (т. 1)
ISBN 978-5-0064-2808-9
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Prologue
The branches lashed him mercilessly across the face, if one could call his hairy, toothy muzzle a face. Yet now he didn’t care what he looked like. Most importantly, and he tried his best to keep this thought in his furry head, he had to reach the place where the long-awaited reincarnation could happen. «The main thing, the task is completed. To get rid of this heavy burden as soon as possible,» – that’s what he thought, as far as it was possible to think in this state. And so he again and again strained all the muscles of his body, trying to speed up his already fast run.
Although it was easy to run. Though he hated this body, it was as if specially made for running. His lungs pumped air like bellows, and he could literally feel the oxygenated blood coursing freely through his mutated veins. Strange, but in his other state, he always wanted to be like he is now, and he experienced some strange longing for the Spell, that’s what he called for himself the feeling of reincarnation that enveloped him. It was like a dark cloud surrounded him immediately after the spell was uttered. However, he still hated it with all his heart, especially when he experienced the terrible pain of the transformation. Yet, probably, the main reason for his hatred was not the pain, but the understanding that he was not acting in his own will, but doing the oppressive and humiliating will of the Spell. Kanny did not remember when all this happened to him, and in the whirlwind of life he did not have enough time, and did not particularly want to stop and seriously think about it, especially now, when his human thoughts were mixed with bestial instincts. Precisely at such moments, for some reason, he felt a special desire to regain his human appearance and the ability to think clearly and calmly.
He saw a dim light ahead.
«Getting close!» a human thought flashed somewhere in the depths of his dual consciousness. He still had them, these human thoughts. A few moments later Kanny ran out into the clearing. The thick thicket was gone. Further it will be even easier to run. Soon he will reach another clearing at the end of which is his destination. Suddenly, his sharp wolf senses alerted him to people.
Chapter 1
Peter was a strong, though not tall, fair-haired and gray-eyed young man, who worked as a head of a special department whose functions were to investigate some paranormal phenomena and cases. He was reading a new report that was placed on his table by his secretary this morning. «There were several people in the area of the Maslovka village who saw UFOs and after that some strange creatures which were, according to the descriptions, similar to either a ghost, or either to a gray alien with traditionally huge eyes. Some photos and videos, made on some kind of smartphone, were added.
As usual, someone lost something, someone disappeared somewhere, and someone was kidnapped somewhere and after that began to tell all sorts of incredible stories about his kidnapping.
Peter winced and rubbed his forehead. Unpleasant pain in the temples disturbed him for several days. The superior chief from the very morning began «to take out his brains.» The wife sent him a message five minutes ago that their little Xenia was ill and had a fever.
«Work…!? How… in the world?»
It was stuffy in the room which made him feel sick. He got up and went to the window. The sky was so blue and clear today. He opened the window and waited until the morning coolness touched his face, and inhaled it filling his entire chest.
«Eh!» he thought. «If people could fly, I would now spread my wings, or something with which I flew in my dreams as a child, and fly somewhere to the top of the mountain away from all this vain mortal existence.»
* * *
«Look which one I’ve found!» A graceful girl in the age of about fourteen triumphantly picked up a huge porcini mushroom, showing it to a guy of average height and strong athletic build, who looked like he was twenty. An attentive observer would immediately understand that these two are brother and sister. Both have gray eyes and straight features. Both have light brown thick hair, which in guy’s case were a little curly. Both are of average height.
«Yes, the good one,» he replied without much enthusiasm and looked around anxiously.
«What’s happened?» She asked, noticing his concern.
Without answering, he looked up, trying to see where there’s a sun, but because of the clouds, the direction of the sun’s rays could not be determined.
«Andrey?»
She knew her brother too well. He never worried without a reason.
«I don’t like it,» he replied.
«What exactly?»
Both had special plastic containers already full of mushrooms.
«Do you happen to remember where you and I turned into this clearing?»
She thought for a moment.
«No, I do not remember. When I’m with you, I don’t follow the terrain at all.»
He shook his head.
«It’s not good, Lerochka, not so good. It would be very helpful. When did we put the last mark?»
She thought again and sadly answered.
«A long time ago.»
Without saying anything, he went, as it seemed to him, to where they had come from. His sister silently followed him.
After a while he stopped near a large tree.
«Look here.»
«Oh, a mark!» she exclaimed joyfully, seeing the peeled bark on the tree trunk.
«It’s not,» he sighed. «This is not our mark. You see?»
Now she saw. These were obviously traces of claws of some kind of a beast.
«Bear?!» she exclaimed with fear.
«Yes, it looks like. But this is not scary actually. In that season they are satisfied, and it’s unlikely that they would desire to meet a human. But the fact that this is not our label is bad. It looks like we got too far away.»
«What are we going to do?»
«Trying to find a way home, what else can we do?» he replied with a shrug. At that moment just before the sunset the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, and Andrey, following the direction of the rays, turned east.
«It looks like we have to go there.»
Valeria sighed heavily and silently followed him.
* * *
«People! Why are there people here?»
The question sounded so deep, as if his consciousness spoke somewhere from the bottom of the ocean. However, even from there his brain somehow managed to match distances with mathematical precision and calculate the location of people in relation to the destination.
Kanny stopped and turned his nose toward the wind. The hair on his thick black scruff and wide gray back stood on end, his mouth slightly opened in an evil grin, showing a row of sharp white teeth, his ears stood straight up and instinctively turned towards the scanned object.
«They are two. Very young. He and she. Relatives. They gather mushrooms. Very close to the place…» signals came one after another from the Mariana Trench of his animal-human brain, as if somewhere there was an unknown translator of his subconsciousness, stubbornly reminding of himself. In this state, his brain worked like some kind of super-computer, giving out the data he needed in a split second… and so… not everything was so hated in this bestial nature. Its dominating essence was very unpleasant, but some of its things he really liked. For example, strength, speed, flexibility, reaction, or that special ability to literally «see» with his nose. Even with his eyes closed, he continued to fully perceive the world around him. In this body his sight was much worse and he ceased to distinguish most of the colors, but at the same time his consciousness was overwhelmed with the richest information coming to him through hearing and especially through the scent, which gave him incomparably more information than other senses. And although he did not distinguish every color and shade of the grass, or of the bark of trees, but at the same time each plant, each facet of the tree fungus, each crack in the bark exuded its own special smell, telling both what kind of plant it was and what kind of the creature lives in it or on that; here are ants, here is a bark beetle, there are ticks… In addition, his wolf’s sense of smell, one of the sharpest on earth, could tell him with amazing accuracy even what was happening at a distance of more than ten miles. And… by the way! What an amazing intuition he had! He missed it so much, turning back to the human again. Somehow, being a beast, he immediately felt the danger, understood the nature of people, knew where he needed or needed not to go…
Now, for example, he felt that there was something special in these people, but it was still unclear what exactly. On one hand, he really wanted to find out what it is, since he intuitively understood that it was this «something» that for some reason would not allow him to harm them, but on the other hand, they were close enough to the base, and according to the instructions, it would be necessary to destroy them in order to preserve the secret.
«It’s strange, they still won’t be able to get inside the protection field, aren’t they? Why does Alex insist on killing people if I meet them in this area? After all, when I’m not there, there are sometimes hunters here, and he doesn’t touch them. None of them have ever been able to penetrate the protective barrier.»
However, the order of the authorities is an order. Sighing, Kanny again «scanned» the area with his scent. One bear-male, completely fed and uninterested in anything. He certainly knows about the humans because they have invaded his territory, but that obviously didn’t bother him right now. A small pack of wolves, recently from hunting, after a young roe deer, they tried to stay away from people. One lynx, following the trail of a deer, two wild boars, getting ready for bed, the rest of the predators in the nearby radius do not pose a danger to these two. The werewolf understood that a couple of miles for him, and for them, is not the same thing. By their smell he read that these people are simply lost, and therefore do not know where they are. This meant that they might never find a secret place, and they did not pose a danger, at least not yet. However, the bestial dominating essence of the Spell did not obey human logic and continued to lead him in their direction with one and only goal – people had to be terminated.
* * *
It got dark quickly. After a couple of hours, pretty tired, the guys realized that they were completely lost.
«What do we do?» she asked, seeing that her brother does not know where to go.
«I think we need to think about where to spend the night,» he replied.
«And… where can we spend it?» Lera asked with fear.
«The best is on a tree. We… of course… will be mercilessly eaten by mosquitoes, but wild animals will not touch us.»
«Are you sure?»
«Yes, more or less. The wolf can’t. A bear will not climb a tree. They climb trees only when they are small. The adults wouldn’t. In general, only a hungry beast is dangerous, and now is the time when there is plenty of food. Lynx… attack a human only in winter time so…»
«What if we fall down?»
«Let’s get attached. You have a belt, I have a belt. Oh! I see the tree which is just right.»
Andrey confidently walked forward, and his sister followed him with a sigh, trying to keep up with her older brother, who seemed so strong and confident in this unfriendly forest darkening with every minute.
Approaching the tree the brother knocked it for some reason, and then, contrived, jumped up and grabbed the lower branch. Deftly pulling himself up, he climbed up and stretching his hand out said to his sister:
«Come on.»
«I’m afraid.»
He chuckled.
«Fine. I’ll climb up alone, and you can spend the night under a tree. I think you’ll like it.»
«What did you say?! I will not stay here alone, without you,» she exclaimed with fear.
«What’s the matter? Give me your hand.»
She timidly extended her tender girlish hand to him, and he, unexpectedly firmly grasping her, pulled her up with a fast movement. She only had time to scream in surprise, as she was already next to him.
Further it was easier. Deftly climbing from branch to branch, Andrey moved up, and Lera followed him as fast as she could.
At the height of just a little bit over three meters the brother stopped and said:
«These two branches are just right. High enough, and at the same time not so scary. They are large and you can get attached normally.»
He pulled the belt out of the loops of his jeans and buckled it to the trunk. His sister tried to do the same with her belt. Andrey looked and nodded approvingly:
«All right, Lerka. You won’t fall.»
«Not very comfortable,» she replied with a sigh.
«Of course!» he laughed. «This is not a resort, but a temporary vital necessity. So, let’s endure, somehow, this kind of inconvenience.»
He looked around. Twilight was rapidly gathering.
«We’re on time. Just got here before it got too dark.»
«Yes, indeed,» she shuddered.
At this moment a huge shadow flashed behind the trees about fifty meters from them. If it were not for the evening darkness and the changeable forms of shrubs and trees, the guys would probably have noticed her, in fact Lera only caught a strange rustle and immediately turned toward it.
«Have you heard of it?
«What?»
«Some noise. Like steps. And a dull grunt, like an angry dog.»
«Hmm… no. I haven’t heard anything. Don’t worry. That’s why we climbed here, in order to not to be afraid of anything.»
«I’m still afraid. There is definitely someone there.»
«Hey, stupid little girl. Even if there is, so what? I told you, don’t be afraid. Maximum that it can do is to come to the foot of the tree and smell it.»
«But what if?!»
«What if, what if! Well, it will eat us, what’s the problem?»
«What are you talking about?» She indignantly poked him with her small fist.
«About nonsense. Nothing to be afraid of.»
«But I want to talk. All night is ahead.»
«Oh, ok, talk. You can start with some horror stories.»
«Aren’t you a fool! It is indeed so dark and scary, and he… horror stories.»
«Well… then what?»
«Something distracting. An… interesting story.»
«I do not know such a thing.»
«Well, for example, which of the girls did you like in the class?»
He burst out:
«What are you talking about? I’d never say this?»
«Why not? Didn’t you like anyone?»
«Well… no… I liked some, of course».
«So… tell me.»
«What for? You don’t know my class anyway?»
«I do know. Almost everyone.»
«Really?!»
«Yes. Here, listen. Guys are… Yurik Ganeshev, Pashka Smirnov, Vaska Glinkov, Taras Gromychko…»
* * *
Kanny stopped under the tree and, rising on his hind legs, stretched himself up along the trunk, suppressing the bestial growl inside of him. When he stood up like this, his height would have been more than two and a half meters. If he jumped, he could easily reach those two and rip them down. But for some reason he hesitated and could not do it. Something stopped him, as if some unknown force, completely different in nature in comparison with the power of the Spell, stood between him and these two, not allowing him to approach people and holding suppressed his bestial essence.
From here, a distance of fifty meters, he could smell every centimeter of their skin, every element of their clothes, the plucked bark of the tree where they fastened their belts, his and her metal buckles, the smell of sweat mixed with the smell of her not very expensive perfume, mushrooms in their plastic boxes, the scent of her and his emotions, changing every few seconds…
He sniffed and thought, and that was something very strange, since usually in this state he was guided more by reflexes and animal instincts, and not by human thought.
«Well… now they are settled down for the night. To the secret place there are 756 meters. They won’t go there today. There is still plenty of time until morning. I will calmly run to the place and reincarnate. Why should I touch them? If I kill them, it will strengthen the beast in me, and then the transition will be very painful…»
Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. Never before has the animal nature in him fought to such an extent with the human mind. Because of this increasing tension he wanted to shrink and hide somewhere where no one would find him, fenced off from the whole world. And that was what he tried to do, grouping and sitting on his hind legs, and lowering his head low to the ground, in between his front legs, although no one saw him anyway. This went on for quite some time. For some reason, the werewolf hesitated and could not make a decision, tormented by the choice he had to make and feeling on himself the attentive gaze of someone unknown and enormously big. It was a very strange feeling.
Finally Kanny let out something between a growl and a human sigh, abruptly jumped up on all fours and rushed away, moving in heavy leaps on the ground chilled from the chill of the night that had fallen on it.
Chapter 2
«You’ve heard it?!» asked the frightened girl.
«Yes,» he replied, peering into the darkness of the night.
«What was it?»
«It’s hard to say. I think that, most likely, judging by the size and heavy steps, it was a bear.»
«A bear?!»
«Mm… well… yes… most likely.»
«And now what?»
«Well… calm down. You can see for yourself that he did not even come close to us.»
«Maybe he didn’t see us?»
«Are you kidding? This is the animal! First of all, he heard us much earlier than we heard him. And secondly, he sensed us long before he heard us.
«Why did he leave?»
«This is exactly what you should be happy about. Since he left, it means that he realized that he couldn’t reach us. And now it’s no longer dangerous.»
«Why are you so confident? How do you know everything?»
«Well… hmm… I’ve been coming here every year for ten years in a row. And you’ve only been a couple of times, and even then… you’ve been mostly sitting at home, instead of walking in the forest and talking with the villagers.»
«They are rude, and therefore do not communicate well enough.»
«Ok, what a city-girl you have become, ah! Too touchy! Have you forgotten that you spent your entire childhood here? Rough, aren’t rough, what’s the difference? The main thing is that they know all the signs, and share their experience if you are friends with them…»
* * *
Kanny ran to a large house in a clearing, surrounded on all sides by a solid wall of forest.
He went up to the porch and, reaching out with his paw to the bell, pressed it.
Inside the house sounded a very quiet and completely unmelodious bell. Than he heard footsteps. A man being in his place would not have heard anything, but not Kanny. He have not only heard all these sounds, he also felt the vibration, and caught the smells.
«Master!» thought the werewolf, and whimpered plaintively, not realizing his actions.
«Kanny?» sounded at the door.
«Why does he ask? He sees me through the camera, doesn’t he?» a thought flashed in the back of his mind, but he only whined even more and scratched his claws against the door.
«What are you scratching? Can’t you answer?» the same voice asked irritably.
«After all, he knows that I can’t,» another thought with a bit of irritation flashed somewhere either in his head or in his stomach.
«Ok, wait, I’ll open it now,» the voice said, and the bolt inside creaked.
The door opened slightly, remaining locked with a chain, and a bearded short man in a beige cap peered through the resulting opening. The master’s eyes were small, gray and prickly. He seemed to see through Kanny’s every thought.
Seeing the master, the werewolf lowered his head and, placing it in between his huge paws, prostrated himself in front of the door, barely fitting on the rather spacious porch, expressing complete submission, as dogs do.
«You can get up, I’m opening it,» the bearded man said in his stern manner.
Kanny got up and wagged his tail happily. It was strange for him to smell that the master had a feeling of fear for him, although he suppressed it, since he smelled both.
«How can he be afraid of me? He knows that without him I can’t return to a human?» he thought, as far as one could think in his state.
The chain rattled, the door swung open, and the master ordered sternly:
«Come to the place. You know where. Wait for me there.»
Holding tail between his legs, Kanny darted past the man and went to the door at the end of the corridor. It was unlocked. He pushed her with his head and went into this mysterious, devoid of any glimmer of light room.
However, he did not need light for orientation. His scent told him every detail of what was inside; the dimensions of the room, which was the largest in this house, all its contents, including every piece of furniture, every figurine on the shelves or in specially made niches, every drawing, on the walls, or on the ceiling, or on the floor, and that very image, in the center on which he now had to sit, expecting and wishing with all his being a speedy deliverance from the wolf nature.
* * *
The mosquitoes bit mercilessly. Lera very soon realized that there could be no question of any dream. She was constantly slapping herself on all parts of her body, trying to destroy obsessive insects.
«I wonder how I’ll look like tomorrow morning?»
The brother chuckled.
«I think that after such a night, the morning will seem to you a happy deliverance in any case.»
«Yeah. That’s for sure. How did we get so far?»
«We already discussed it. What’s the use of talking about it now?»
«But after all, it was your duty to put notches on trees?»
«Yeah! And what? I did to a point. And then: „Oh, Andriushka! Look how pretty! Help me collect them soon. Oh, look again! What a clearing!“ Well, I got carried away. Are we going to blame me now?»
«Alright. That’s enough. Oh! How painful! What a bastard! Such a huge bite!»
«That’s so you don’t yell at me.»
«Like I said, that’s enough.»
For a while they sat in silence, and in the darkness only the slapping of the palms on the exposed parts of the body could be heard.
After some time, the moon, which had already been risen for a long time, apparently came out from behind a cloud, and in its silver light the surroundings became more or less visible.
«Andryush?»
«A?»
«What if we never find a way home?»
«Oh, come on! Don’t start it again!»
«Ok, well…»
She took a deep breath.
«I’m freezing.»
«Me too. And what?»
«Nothing.»
«It’s not winter. We will endure it.»
Somewhere in the distance, a lone wolf howl sounded.
After some time, another one, but a little higher in tone answered it, cutting through the darkness of the night and running unpleasant goosebumps down the girl’s back.
She looked around, and suddenly it seemed to her…
«Look, Andrey. What is this?»
«What exactly?»
She looked again.
«Over there.»
He turned to where she was pointing.
«Strange. Really. Like something is shining.»
«It does not shine. It burns. It’s clearly a light in the window.»
«Come on!»
«I’m telling you.»
«Do you have better eyesight than me?»»
«I don’t know.»
For some time he carefully looked in that direction, and then abruptly unbuckled his belt and began to descend.
«Andre-ey?!»
«Let’s get down!» he commanded in a tone that brooked no objection.
* * *
The master came inside, and all the images on the walls, on the floor and on the ceiling, as if in response to his presence, immediately came to life, starting to emit a dim phosphorescent light. At the same moment Kanny smelled that familiar bitter smell coming from the drawings.
«Hurry, hurry!» literally shouted his essence, weary from the Spell, although outwardly he did not show his impatience, remaining completely motionless in the center of the pentagram on the floor.
As if not noticing him, the master began to monotonously cast spells, moving from place to place, from figure to figurine, from drawing to drawing, stopping where he needed to perform the rite.
Gradually, Kanny felt a sweet languor slowly seize him, as if someone with an invisible hand hugged him, and then penetrated inside. The reality of what was happening began to slowly slip away from his consciousness, the smells began to dissolve and mix with each other, and the picture of the environment became more and more blurred. For some reason, the master’s words were getting louder, and his voice was getting sharper and rougher, as if everything he said caused him an extreme degree of irritation. From somewhere in the room, other wolf people began to appear, just like Kanny. They bared their teeth at him or maliciously, like hyenas, laughed in his face, splashing on him their saliva.
As usual, the werewolf was terrified with all this, but he knew he had to do his best to remain calm and not react to anything. An unbearable itch filled his whole body, as if every cell of his skin suddenly turned into a separate living being and began to live its own independent life.
«It’s close, it’s close!» this was the last thought in his mind before Kanny, as if in a dream, suddenly saw two teenagers approaching the house and, crying out in unbearable pain, fell unconscious.
* * *
Small, plump, bearded, cut like a hedgehog, with gray prickly piercing eyes, a master, he is Alex, he is Uncle Sasha for some villagers in those very rare cases when he still had to see them, he is a hereditary sorcerer, he is… although his last title, as well as other names, nicknames, ranks and the like, were not intended for a wide range of people – he saw as Kanny fell unconscious with the last spell, and thought:
«Weakling! He again could not withstand it to the end!»
At that moment, the bell rang, and suddenly someone knocked loudly on the door of the house.
The sorcerer even flinched in surprise.
«It’s impossible!» he thought, and with undisguised anger looked at the werewolf, who, at that moment, had already gone through the whole process and acquired a human form, to which the master did not feel anything but contempt. There was not the slightest trace of his former fear, which on an instinctive level aroused in him in front of the huge wolf.
Meanwhile, the knocking on the door continued.
Hurrying out into the corridor, Alex came to the exit and looked through the eyepiece of the surveillance camera to see who dared to disturb him at such a late hour in the middle of the forest. To his surprise, he saw two teenagers near the house, a girl and a guy, looking around in fear.
«Oh! Come on! And what should I do now?» the sorcerer thought irritably.
However, he knew that if he did not open, in their desperate situation, these two would look for a way to get into the house. Therefore, opening the inner door, he rudely asked:
«Who’s there?»
«Praise God!» the girl exclaimed.
«Forgive us, please, we got lost,» the guy said.
«Let us in for the night… please!» the girl asked in a pleading voice, as if she would burst into tears.
«Beasts!» the sorcerer thought angrily, and said out loud as calmly as possible:
«Wait for a moment.»
* * *
There became silence behind the door.
«He is not really pleased with our arrival, judging by his tone,» Andrey remarked.
«It doesn’t matter, as long as he lets us in,» Lera answered, chilly rubbing her cold shoulders.
«I think he will, but… I don’t really like all this.»
«Come on. It’s better than spending the night in a tree anyway.»
«It’s clear. But where is he from? I didn’t hear anything from any of the villagers that there was a forester’s house here, they crawled all the way across here. Moreover, it is quite large, not just a hut, but a whole cottage. How in the world did he get such a house like this unnoticed?»
«Maybe we’ve gone so far that it’s not their territory anymore?»
«Hmm, I don’t think so. We need to ask Uncle Venya. He is an experienced hunter. He spent all his life here and should know everything. He certainly explored every single place in the district. If, of course, we stay alive.»
«What are you talking about?» with fear asked Lera.
«Yes, be quiet,» her brother snapped. «I hope this isn’t the damned place he once talked about.»
«What place?»
«Doesn’t matter. One day I’ll tell you, but now… whatever may happen let it happen. It is strange that no light can be seen in the windows. How then did we see the illuminated window? I saw it clearly.»
«Maybe he turned it off?»
«I thought so too, but now, in theory, he should have turned it on again, but look, there is no light.»
«Yes, indeed. It’s strange.»
«I also thought that the moon could be reflected in the window, but no, all the windows are tightly closed with wooden shutters.»
«Perhaps he closed them before we arrived.»
«I don’t know, Lera, I don’t know. I have some bad feelings. I’m already seriously thinking that maybe we’d be better off staying in the tree.»
«Yeah, ok, stop it. Everything will be fine.»
«Let’s see. Now there is nowhere to go. We do not come back, do we?»
* * *
Alex entered the kitchen, took a mug, poured cold water into it, and going into the room where the ceremony was performed, he approached a naked man lying in the middle of the room and splashed him with cold water in his face.
The werewolf woke up and jumped to his feet, showing bewilderment with his whole appearance. However, although he was pitiful, and even more so, in his naked form, it was impossible not to notice that he was perfectly built and obviously very well developed and strong physically. His muscles played under smooth skin, under which not a single gram of excess fat was visible.
«Follow me,» the master ordered authoritatively, glancing at his muscular body with an envious look.
Silently following him, Kanny approached the front door.
«Look!» the sorcerer ordered, pointing to the screen.
«Who are these?» with fear asked werewolf.
«That’s what I wanted to ask you,» Alex said with a promising threat in his voice.
«I… d… don’t know,» Kanny began to stutter, but when he stumbled upon the host’s cruel, boring gaze, he broke off and, lowering his head, fell silent.
«Do not lie! How is it that these two are still alive and ended up here?» the sorcerer lowered his voice almost to a whisper, and then sharply and demandingly shouted: «Answer me!»