Back in the hotel room, Éloïse, Théo, and Marceau were exhausted but happy. The day at Sacré-Cœur had been a complete mess, but somehow that had made the memory so special. They threw their bags into the corner, collapsed onto the beds, and took a deep breath.
“Finally some peace and quiet,” sighed Éloïse, closing her eyes. “I could lie here for hours.”
“Me too,” nodded Théo, who was just taking off his shirt, “but first I want to shower. The rain soaked me completely.”
Marceau stood up to close the window when suddenly a soft but clearly audible meow came from the corner of the room.
“Did you hear that?” he asked, frowning.
“That sounds like a cat,” murmured Éloïse, sitting up. “But we don’t have a cat here, do we?”
Théo shrugged. “Well, then it must have gotten in somehow.”
Hardly had he said that when a small black-and-white cat jumped out of the shadow behind the curtain and dashed lightning-fast across the room. The three friends jumped up.
“Oh no, a cat!” shouted Marceau, trying to catch the animal, but the cat was as quick as a whirlwind. It jumped onto the bed, ran under the table, and then disappeared behind the wardrobe.
“Okay, no need to panic,” Éloïse tried to stay calm. “We just have to lure it out of the room somehow.”
“I have an idea!” shouted Théo and disappeared into the bathroom. Seconds later he returned with a can of tuna.
“Perfect!” said Éloïse enthusiastically. “Cats can’t resist tuna.”
Théo opened the can, and immediately a louder meow sounded. The cat cautiously came out, sniffed the can, and then shot back under the wardrobe.
“It doesn’t trust us,” Marceau observed. “Maybe we have to lure it out somehow.”
“I’ll try the door,” Éloïse suggested and carefully opened the door to the hallway. “Come on, little one, out here!”
The cat shot out of the room like lightning—but not into the hallway, but directly into the hotel corridor. The three friends jumped after it and found themselves in a labyrinth of corridors and doors.
“Wait!” shouted Marceau, running up the stairs, “we mustn’t lose sight of it!”
The cat moved with astonishing speed, darted through the hotel lobby, jumped onto a free chair, and from there onto a table with a vase full of flowers. In doing so, it knocked over the vase—water and flowers spilled across the floor.
“Oh no, not again!” cursed Théo, while Éloïse tried to gently catch the cat. But the nimble animal escaped again and ran toward the elevator.
“Careful!” shouted Marceau, but the cat jumped right into the elevator before anyone could react.
“What now?” asked Éloïse, already racking her brain about how to get the chaos under control again.
“We have to take the elevator down,” decided Théo. “Maybe it’s waiting for us on the ground floor.”
The elevator stopped—and the door opened. But instead of the cat, there stood an older lady with a stern look and a huge dog on a leash, who curiously eyed the three friends.
“Excuse me, have you seen my cat?” Marceau asked hastily.
The lady snorted. “If it’s running around here, that’s not my problem. And please watch your dog!”
The dog sniffed at Marceau’s pants and wagged its tail happily, while the cat suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind the lady and purred around her legs.
“Great,” murmured Éloïse. “Now we even have a dog involved.”
“This just keeps getting better,” sighed Théo, looking at Marceau. “What do we do now?”
Before Marceau could answer, the cat quickly jumped onto the reception desk, climbed further onto the chandelier, and dropped a small wastebasket to the floor, which promptly triggered the beeping of a smoke detector.
“Oh no, not another fire alarm!” shouted the hotel manager, who suddenly stormed out of a back room waving her arms wildly.
“Guys, I think chaos has caught up with us again!” laughed Éloïse, while they tried to catch the cat, which was now the center of attention amid the alarm and commotion.
And somewhere, very quietly, a meow was suddenly heard again—but this time it sounded as if it wasn’t coming from the hotel...