(I will be posting occasional Creature Features on this blog, highlighting the unusual creatures found at the Ozwald Heidegger School for the Cursed, the setting of my next YA novel, Touched.)
There are
so many animals on the grounds of The Ozwald Heidegger School for the Cursed: mischievous jump-monkeys and adorable knuks, sweet-smelling stinky toads and
dangerous mimicats, but the cutest of them all is the hitchog. In its natural
form, this tiny creature resembles a hedgehog, with a spiky, spherical body,
bright black eyes, and stubby little legs.
The hitchog, however, doesn't spend
much time in its natural form. Its tiny legs aren't well suited to getting
around, so when the hitchog wants to get somewhere, to find fresh foraging
grounds, escape a predator, or even warm up on a cold winter's day, it relies
on its ability to shape-shift so it can hitch a ride with a human being. The
hitchog can take the form of any small, useful object it has seen: a pen
knife, a coin, a bottle opener, even a bright earring or an interesting-looking
rock. When a human comes along, the hitchog uses a mild charm spell (similar to
the Look At Me charm) to attract the person's attention and make itself look
desirable. Unless the human is on guard against charm spells, he will have
the urge to scoop the object up, thinking he might have a use for it or
planning to find its owner.
Once the
hitchog is in the person's pocket, it uses a mild forget charm (similar to Out
of Sight, Out of Mind) to make the person forget its there at all. When it
arrives at a new location, the hitchog transforms back into its hedgehog form
and leaps out, eager to explore. Often, the human is none the wiser for having given
the hitchog a lift, but sometimes the hitchog's transformation can come as a
shock. The person reaches into her pocket for that key, only to find a spiny
little animal instead! Classes at Ozwald Heidegger are sometimes interrupted by
a student yelping when something starts to move around in his backpack. Other
times, students may drop the object before it has a chance to transform back
into its hedgehog shape, never knowing what they carried. Student Miguel
Arroyos reports "I once went to get my Creature Creation textbook out of
the lost and found box and there were
three baby hitchogs stuck in there! People had thought they were lost mittens
or something. I just dumped them out in the garden. Startled the heck out of
me."
But other
than surprising the occasional student, hitchogs are really quite harmless.
They forage for bugs, nuts and berries and generally keep to themselves,
building little nests in the gaps of stone walls and the holes at the base of
trees. They can even make themselves useful: If a student raises a hitchog as a pet, or if she has a particular talent for animal charming, she may be able
to train the hitchog to shift forms on command. Student Suzanne Schwartzenberg
says, "My hitchog Penny is the Swiss army knife of pets. I used to lock
myself out of my dorm room every time I forgot my Knock Lock spell. Now Penny
just takes her skeleton key form and I let myself right in. She's even working
on a comb form, for those days when my hair won't behave. But don't use a
hitchie as a toothbrush. I hear they taste like dirt."
Need to know if the object you've found is really a hitchog?
Look for these tell-tale signs!
1) Temperature. Hitchogs run hot. Is the coin you picked up
warm, even on a cold day? It may be a hitchog who transformed as you
approached.
2) Details. Not all hitchogs are expert mimics. Unless they
have seen an object often and up close, they may not get the details right. Does
the face on that dollar look "off"? Is the logo on that wallet not
quite right? It might be a knock-off - or it might be a hitchog.
3) Function. Hitchogs can imitate form, but they can't do
complex functions. If that cell phone won't call, it might be out of power, or
it might be a spiny little animal.
4) Sudden Disappearance. You often don't know an object is a
hitchog until it disappears. If you swear you picked up that pretty rock but
now it's not in your pocket, it may be a hitchog who bailed. One sure sign? A
hole in your pocket. You may assume the rock just fell out, but in reality it
was a hitchog who chewed her way out of your pants. Take a look around and you
just may spot this clever little hitchhiker of the wild!
Think you may have picked up a hitchog? Wish you had one as a pet? Leave me a comment! I'd love to hear about it!
Think you may have picked up a hitchog? Wish you had one as a pet? Leave me a comment! I'd love to hear about it!
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