To Her Regents Three Chapter 2

If I Could Talk to the Animals

Matt's unusual morning was only getting weirder by the minute. When Mr. Huggles discovered he could now talk to his master that was all he wanted to do. He leapt up and down chattering on and on asking question after question. Finally Matt had to clamp the little guy's mouth shut.

"Huggles listen to me. I don't know why I can suddenly understand you but we need to find out if it's you or me."

Huggles looked up confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, can we just hear each other or can other people hear you as well?"

"Like how the kitty can talk like a human?" Matt found it a little funny how Huggles referred to Napoleon but at least Huggles was making the connection.

"Yeah, I guess that's one way to put it. And if that's the case you can't let anyone else know you can talk understand?"

Keeping his eyes on Matt the dormouse nodded. "Because dormice and kitties aren't suppose to talk like humans?"

"You got it." He said relieved that Huggles understood the situation. But as Matt turned to close his door he saw his mother was standing in the doorway. "Ah, hey Mom I was just uh…" he gulped not knowing how much his mother had heard.

"Talking to your pet dormouse?" Trying not to panic, he thought quickly about how to explain a talking dormouse in his room.

"Look Mom I can explain." But she just sighed and walked out of the room.

"Just like your Grandfather always chattering away with every little critter he sees." she said almost to herself as she walked away. Matt blinked, he was sure his mom had heard Huggles but it would seem she couldn't understand the little dormouse. Making sure his door was closed this time he looked down at his little friend. "That was close, but at least we know she can't hear you."

"So is it just you then?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure yet but it would seem that way."

"Good! Now I don't have to keep quite." And much to Matt annoyance he started rambling on again about anything that came to his mind.

"Huggles!" He finally shouted out. While calming down, Matt put Huggles down on his bed. "Look I can't talk right now I need to go to school."

"Can I come too?" he asked hopefully even though he already knew the answer.

"Now Huggles, I can't take you to school; Pets aren't aloud."

Huggles hopped once clearly frustrated. "Aw, why'd you have to learn how to understand me just before you had to go to dumb old school." Now Matt was starting to feel a little bad. He knew the dormouse was young but it seemed Huggles was mentally only about 7 years old in Human years. But what could he do, he couldn't take him to school.

"Look I don't have practice tonight, so unless someone tries to take over the world again, I'll be here to talk with you."

"You promise?"

"Regent's honor."

"Oh, Okay. But no one better try anything or they're gonna be sorry."

Convinced Mr. Huggles wasn't going to try anything stupid Matt had breakfast with his mother. She was pleased that he seemed to be eating normally and gave no indication she could hear Huggles. 'OK,' he thought to himself as he made his way to school. 'This isn't so bad; I can just understand Huggles now. It probably has something to do with all of us being Regents.'

"Hey watch out!" Matt stopped in his tracks and quickly looked around. The strange thing was he didn't see anyone around or a reason someone would shout out to him. "Down here!"

Matt looked down and saw, of all things, a duck leading her ducklings across the sidewalk. "You almost stepped on my kids!" The mother duck said angrily.

"Ah, sorry." Matt said stepping back too surprised to react any differently.

She waddled off in a huff her kids all lined up in a row. "Next time watch where you're going."

As the boy began to process what had just happened he began to notice that despite the lack of people around him he could still pick up conversations going on all around him. It was a warm winter and while most animals were hibernating there were still an odd number of squirrels, rodents, stray cat, dogs, and a very suspicious looking flock of pigeons in a tree besides him.

"All right men the target is in sight. Do not break ranks even if one of us is killed! Onward to freedom and onward for FRANCE!" The lead bird with a crooked beak shouted with a bad French accent. Suddenly the flock simultaneously took off. Matt ducked and covered his head but the flock flew around him, dived, and bombed a short bald business man getting into a new car. When the attack was over the poor man was cursing more than a sailor and seriously in need of a dry cleaner and a car wash.

"You have got to be kidding me." He said as the flock flew back up into the tree cheering and laughing all the way.

"Great job men. Now before we hunt for our breakfast, remember to stay alert and keep an eye out for enemy solders. Remember return here at 1600 hours for our big assault on the street called Spring." Matt shook his head questioning if he was really awake or if this was some bizarre dream.

"I must be going out of my mind." Suddenly the head bird's head shot up.

"Halt! Who goes there?" He flew down landed on Matt's head and stared at him upside down. "Are you a spy for the enemy? How did you learn to talk?"

"Ah, what enemy? Who are you at war with?"

"You know very well who we are fighting Mr. Human. Now tell me, how did you learn to speak the language of the noble Pigeon?" He would have laughed, but the last thing he wanted was to arrive a school covered in Pigeon crap.

"I'm not sure, I didn't even know I could until I heard you guys."

"A likely story." Suddenly one of the other birds flew in closer to get a better look at the talking human.

"Hey Captain, isn't this the human from the Hidden Medic Clinic?" The bird on top of Matt's head quickly twisted his head upright for a brief moment before switching back.

"Hmmm, you maybe right." Hidden Medic Clinic? Matt thought as the bird flew to a near by fire hydrant. "Are you from the place where the old human steals away injured comrades, only to release them recovered from their wounds?"

"If you're talking about my grandpa then yeah, he runs the local…animal hospital." He didn't think calling it a pet store would help his case.

"Ah, a strange human that I myself owe my life to. Should he ever be in need of Captain Loone's services he has them my friend."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to let him know." And with that he few off.

"Farewell strange talking human."

As Matt watched him fly off he wondered aloud. "Are all pigeons this crazy?"

"Don't mind Captain Loony-I mean Loone," said the same bird who recognized him from the pet store. "He was hit in the head with a rock a few years ago by some human chicks. The old human fixed him up but he's never been quite the same. He's not even from France, he flew in from somewhere in Jersey."

"So why are you guys following him and this…war of his."

"Because messing with humans is fun. See you around Talking Human, we're off to find breakfast." And with that the rest of the flock flew off. The birds may have been gone but Matt could still hear every pet, creature, and animal he got close to. After that very strange conversation with the flock of pigeons he realized it wasn't Huggles alone who could understand him. No, it was Matt who could understand all of the animals now.

He remembered how Will and the other Guardians had suddenly developed a new set of powers when the Veil had been lifted. Only, he wasn't a guardian, and as far as he knew there were no other Veils to lift. The only other possible explanation was that this was a new power related to the Heart of Earth. After all, Lillian's power developed early, when she was much too young. Maybe this was just another piece of her power that would have developed naturally if she was of age.

The only thing he knew for sure was that he was going to go crazy if he didn't get all of these critters to shut up. He needed help and fast so he pulled out Henry, his cell phone that Will had brought to life, and prayed that Cornelia hadn't left for school yet.

Cornelia yawned as she picked up her cell. "Hello?"

"Uh, hey Cornelia, it's me." Cornelia's eye snapped open as she recognized the voice at the other end.

"Matt?"

"Yeah, listen I need to talk."

"OK, but why are you calling me?" While Matt and Will we always by each other's side the tall blond never really had much in common with the boy unless it was W.I.T.C.H. related.

"Ah, actually I was hopping to talk to Napoleon." She raised an eyebrow.

"You called me up to talk to my cat?" Cornelia said then realized her mother was in the living room with her. She covered up her odd conversation with a laugh. "Aha ha ha, that's very funny." She causally slipped into her bedroom closing the door behind her. "OK, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure but I think I might be experiencing another power from the Heart of Earth."

"You're not changing all of your clothes pink are you?" she said thinking of the time Irma discovered how to alter the color of her wardrobe.

"No I'm-what?"

"Never mind inside joke."

"Oh, well I was just talking to Mr. Huggles this morning-."

"Big deal you talk to the rodent all the time." she said interrupting him.

"Yeah well now he's talking back." the blond raised an eyebrow. "Along with every frickin bird, dog, cat and rodent I see."

"Are you saying you've discovered how to talk to animals?"

"Seems that way, do you know how many animals live in Heatherfield?"

"Never gave it much thought." She could tell Matt was getting anxious, but since this didn't seem to be a save-the-world matter she didn't take it as seriously as he did.

"Neither have I, until I could hear every last one of them. I can't get them to shut up it's driving me crazy."

"Hold on I'll put the cat on." She found Napoleon sleeping in the Laundry room curled up in a basket of warm towels. "Napoleon wake up." He gave a muffled meow in response. "Come on you have a phone call it's Heart of Earth business." he grumbled again but stretched trying to wake himself up.

"OK OK, put the kid on the phone and leave it here." The blond looked indignant.

"Are you asking me to leave?"

"Hey, I don't eavesdrop on your calls you can at least show me the same courtesy." She dropped the phone and walked out of the laundry room with a huff. The black cat moved the phone as to better hear and talk.

"OK Matty boy, what seems to be the trouble?"

"You tell me. I woke up this morning and suddenly I'm Dr. Doolittle."

"Come again."

"I can talk to and understand animals." The cat sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You do realize this is nothing new to me."

"Well it is to me and it's not just you and Huggles, it's EVERY animal I'm near." Napoleon was silent for a moment before answering.

"I hate to break it to you but it doesn't sound like a power from the Heart of Earth."

Now Matt was getting concerned. "Well what else could it be? I went to bed normal, well as normal as can be expected, and I wake up and it's like nature did too."

"I have a theory," he said more to himself than Matt. "but I'll need some time to think it over, I don't want to jump to any conclusions."

Matt was just getting more frustrated that he wasn't getting the answers he was hoping for. "Great but what about my job?"

"Unless you work in a pet shop kid you'll be…" Napoleon paused remembering that was exactly where Matt worked part time. "…oh boy."

"Well what do I do?" He didn't have to work until tomorrow but the though of being enclosed in a crowded, already noisy pet shop for an entire afternoon was like an oncoming nightmare.

"Take two aspirins and call me in the morning." and with that the black cat brought the phone back to Cornelia and went back to sleep.

"Ah, you little fur ball be careful with my cell!" She exclaimed picking up the phone from the floor. She could still hear Matt panicking on the other side.

"Matt calm down Napoleon's already left."

"Ah, so now I have to just sit around and wait for answers."

"Looks like it." she said calmly since there really was nothing to do but wait for her cat to reply. "Oh, there's always the new Vance Michel Justin Movie premier tonight to look forward to. That'll be a nice distraction."

Suddenly the crowed pet shop wasn't sounding so bad. "No chance in Hell. I refuse to watch, buy, or listen to anything from that punk." The blond looked shocked at Matt's disregard for her idol.

"How can you say that? Does Will know cause she'd skin you alive if she hears you badmouthing Vance like that."

"Oh she knows alright."

"And she's still going out with you?"

"Ha ha, we have a little something called a compromise. She doesn't make me watch or listen to PB&J-"

"VMJ!!!" she shouted back her voice dripping with venom.

"Whatever, and I don't drag her to anything with Rob Zombie involved or any movie where the body count is higher than "Kill Bill." He was quite proud of the way they had handled their difference of a opinion. Every couple had things they didn't agree on and the compromise was a very mature response that didn't lead to a pointless fight. Cornelia however didn't see the attraction of watching violent and scary movies when she could look at a lovely Vance for two and a half hours.

"After fighting off real monsters how can you stand to watch those movies?" She questioned.

"After fighting off real monsters how can you be scared of the phonies?" she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Boys." Just then she heard her mother calling her to finish getting ready for school. "Gotta go Matt, try not to follow any white rabbits down any strange looking holes, even if they're saying something about being late."

"Ha ha ha, I'll meet you guys at school. Bye." As soon as she hung up her parents came into the room readying themselves for the working day.

"Oh Cornelia, I almost forgot to tell you. Your father and I are going to a retirement party tonight and we need you to baby-sit your sister." Her mouth fell open with shock.

"But the Vance Michel Justin movie premier is tonight! I've been waiting for months to go, you both knew that!"

"I'm sorry honey, the date of the party was change at the last minute and this is the last chance to see old Burbinstrock before he moves to England. We may not see him again for ages, you can see your movie another night." Said her father reasonably but not in her eyes.

"But it's the premier everyone who's anyone is going." Just then Lillian scampered into the room.

"What's everyone yelling about?" Her father patted her on the head.

"Your sister's going to baby-sit you tonight."

"That's so unfair!" said both sisters at once.

"Well I suppose we could call the service for a sitter." Said Mrs. Hale trying to think of an alternative solution but Lillian protested.

"I don't want someone from the service!" She hated strangers watching her. They always thought she wanted to play kiddy games that were much to young for her or worse. Pretend to be her friend only to leave and never call or write back ever again.

"Then it will have to be your sister." Suddenly Cornelia was struck by a brilliant idea.

"What if I got someone else?"

"Like who?" said her mother looking with interest at her daughter possible suggestion.

"How about Matt? I know for a fact he's not going to the premier." Lillian thought for a moment and smiled. Matt was probably the only sitter she had that she considered a friend. And every now and then he would stop by, usually with Will to see Cornelia, but he at least said 'hello' and didn't try to shoo her from the room.

"Matt? Well at least he's nice to me. I guess I wouldn't mind if he came over." Mrs. Hale however looked a bit skeptical.

"That's Will's boyfriend right? I don't know." But now that the idea was planted in her head Lillian found that she was looking forward to Matt coming over just for her.

"Please Mom he's watched me before why can't he do it again?" Upon hearing this shocking bit of news Mrs. Hale turned to her older daughter and glared at her.

"When was he over our house without us knowing?" Cornelia glared at her sister who was unknowingly ruining her plans. She quickly made up a cover story, one she had saved incase she was ever caught out of the house when she wasn't suppose to.

"It was an emergency I was told a friend of mine was hurt and I wanted to go see if she was OK. Matt was near by so I asked him to help. It's not like he was a stranger and I wasn't even gone half an hour." But this did little to diffuse her mother's anger.

"Cornelia you should have told us this a lot sooner I'm beginning to question your judgment young lady."

Sensing she was going to either be stuck with a stranger again or a very angry sister Lillian came to her defense. "It's true she wasn't gone very long and Matt at least plays with me. The last sitter sat me in front of the TV and ignored me the rest of the evening. She even called a boy over and locked themselves in Mom and Dad's bedroom making weird noises-oops I wasn't suppose to tell you that." The rest of the family had a horrified look on their faces while Lillian was wondering what she had said wrong.

Mrs. Hale turned to Cornelia with a serious expression on her face. "Can he be over by 6:00?"

"Yes!" both girls cheered as their parents said something about suing the service.

**************************************************************

Matt arrived at the school with a headache forming. He was glad there were no animals in the school but even in the school yard it felt like there were too many. He was relived when he caught sight of Will who was waving to him.

"Hey Matt, I got your text message but do you think you could elaborate? 'Meet U school, new thing showed up this morning' was a little vague."

Matt glanced around making sure they would not be heard. The new computer teacher had been hovering around Will and the others ever since they got back from winter break and he really didn't want him overhearing them.

"OK this morning I woke up and discovered I could talk to animals."

"You can what?" she said surprised and a little louder than Matt would have liked.

"Shush! Not so loud, I don't know why it happened but now can't make it stop. I'm hearing everything with scales, fur and feathers." By now the other girls had arrived and were listing to Matt's story.

"Is it a power from the Heart of Earth?" asked Hay Lin but Matt shook his head.

"I got a hold of Napoleon and he doesn't think so but I don't know what else it could be?"

Irma raised an eyebrow. "Well, did he say what it was?"

"He said he might know but he also said he had to think about it to be sure. So I've got to sit back and wait until then."

"Oh well, at least we have the Vance Michel Justin movie premier to look forward to tonight. Right Matt." Said Will batting her eyes at her boyfriend. Matt blinked and suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

"But I thought we agreed that-"

"Oh can't you make an exception just this once?" She said holding on to his arm. "I'd be willing to go with you to see Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween." Poor Matt was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. He really, really didn't want to go anywhere near anything that involved VMJ but he didn't want to disappoint Will either. Plus a good scary movie would make her hold on to him extra tight. But he absolutely HATED VMJ and his awful music which was sure to be embedded into the soundtrack.

Cornelia, who had been waiting for the perfect moment, chose now to bring up the babysitting job to Matt. "Oh, sorry Will, he really can't go tonight. He promised to baby-sit Lillian for me tonight so I could go." Will looked at her boyfriend disappointed.

"Really?" Matt quickly pulled Cornelia to the side.

"Since when did I agree to baby-sit?" he whispered quickly into her ear.

"Since my parents are going out tonight last minute and they need someone to watch Lillian."

"But-"

"Look I want to go to the movie, and you don't want to go to the movie. This way we both win. Besides this gives you a chance to talk to Napoleon about your little furry problem." Matt sighed. He really couldn't argue with her logic, and it was really the lesser of two evils.

"Yeah sorry Will, but I can't really back out this late." She was still disappointed and she may have even suspected it was just an excuse to get out of going but she accepted the fact that he wasn't coming tonight.

"Oh, OK maybe next time." she said with a pout which made Matt feel bad about lying to her. But he really couldn't back out now and it was his best chance to talk to the black cat uninterrupted.

"Thanks I-" but his thought were cut off by a local dog walker who was walking half a dozen overly excited dogs by the school yard. Their voices became almost overpowering as if they were all shouting over a loudspeaker all at once. He was forced to cover his ears to try lessen the noise but it didn't help much. It wasn't until they all passed that he was finally able to breath a sigh of relief. It was only then he noticed the girls were all staring at him anxiously.

Will put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you OK?" she said glancing at the pack of dogs now fading off into the distance.

"I'm OK." But he still held onto his head which now felt like it was going to explode at any moment. "I think it's getting stronger though. At first it was almost like they were blending in with all of the people on the street but now it seems like they keep getting louder."

"Is everything alright over here?" Suddenly they all looked up to see Professor Sylla looking at them more interested than concerned.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Matt said trying to cover for his strange behavior. "I've just got a killer headache right now."

"Really do you feel like you need to go home?" He was testing him and Matt knew it. He may have been focusing on the girls right now but Sylla probably suspected Matt at least knew something about the girls since he spent so much time with them. Best not to provoke him least he become another target.

"No, I have a test coming up in biology and I don't want to miss the review. I'll just get an aspirin from the nurse before homeroom."

"Oh," It was clear he was disappointed. Like he was hoping Matt was trying to get out of school so he would have an excuse to follow him. "Well in that case I'll write you a pass in case you're late for homeroom." Matt took the pass without question and headed off for the nurse. He really did need an aspirin and Sylla was sure to check to make sure he didn't go somewhere else.

Ever since the new semester started the girls noticed the new computer teacher was spying them on. While it seemed he was only interested in the girls Will warned Matt to keep his head down. There hadn't been much W.I.T.C.H. activity lately but there were still times when they were called to Kandracar during school. While Astral drops were OK for things like study hall and lunch Matt's glamours proved more effective when it came to matching the girl's behaviors. The problem was splitting up 5 different glamours at once was difficult and very straining on the poor boy. It proved easier to use the Astral drops with a light glamour when the girls were called away. They suspected Sylla knew they were up to something which made it more important that Matt stayed off of his radar. If he suspected Matt had powers as well they could all be in big trouble. They didn't know why he was spying on them but Matt suspected that perhaps someone saw through the Regent's glamour the night the girls took on Cedric in the middle of Heatherfield.

So now they had to be extra cautious when it came to discussing plans or using their powers. The new rule was never in school unless it was an emergency or when the Oracle called them. But right now Matt was having a bit of trouble controlling his new powers. While he made it through most of the day OK, Biology was like a touchier chamber. The class kept a large number of animals in the classroom to study and the noise, while normally was a minor nuisance, kept increasing in volume. Nigel, his lab partner was concerned, it looked like his friend was in a lot of pain.

"Hey Matt, you OK?"

"Yeah just a bad headache that won't go away."

"Maybe you should go to the nurse-"

"NO!" He didn't mean to almost shout but it was getting hard to think over the noise level. "Sorry, I'll be fine this is the last class anyway." The truth was he couldn't go to the nurse at the risk of his mother finding out and making him stay home instead of going to his baby-sitting gig. Now, more than ever, he needed to talk to Napoleon and find a way to shut off the voices of all the animals.

Shortly before the class was over however the instructor gave them each a live frog to observe before they were to be dissected next week. He was hoping his frog would keep quite but luck was not on his side today. "Psst, hey you. Come on I know you can talk we heard you earlier." Reluctantly Matt looked down at the little green frog that he was scheduled to slice open next week. "What the heck is going on why are we all here?"

The pain in his head has lessened but he was in such a foul mood that he answered the frog honestly. "Dissection." but almost immediately regretted it. Frogs were in fact Will's favorite animals and now he was feeling sorry for the poor little guys.

The frog at his table looked back at him with a confused look on his face. "What's dissection?" Matt rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

"Someone up there hates me."