Chapter 1. The Missing Tissue Paper
In the morning, the school was still sleepy, but the art club room was already full of activity. Pani Ada was arranging crayons, scissors, colored paper, and cups of water. On the table waited bowls of paint, and by the window stood two big boxes filled with supplies for the first day of activities.
Today’s plan included tissue paper. Lots of tissue paper. Blue, purple, green, red, and yellow—perfect for cutting, twisting, rolling, and, most of all, painting. First you dipped the tissue paper in water, then used it to make colorful blotches, and finally traced around those blotches to discover different shapes.
Pani Ada blinked, opened one box, then the other, looked under the table, behind the cabinet, and inside the drawer. Not a single piece of tissue paper was there.
“Oh dear…” she sighed softly.
The room was still empty, so her voice bounced off the walls like a tiny echo.
She searched the shelves. She checked the trash bins. She even looked inside the paint boxes, although she knew right away that made no sense. A moment later, she called her coworker, pani Zuzia.
“Was the tissue paper here on Friday?” she asked.
“Yes,” said pani Zuzia at once. “I put it away in the room myself.”
Pani Ada called the school principal.
“No one should have gone in there,” she heard. “Pani Zuzia had the keys, and the maintenance key set was only for the renovation crew.”
Pani Ada sat down heavily on a chair.
The children were due in an hour. Ola and the rest of the group were especially looking forward to the tissue paper games. Without them, the first day of the art club would be much less colorful.
Pani Ada looked at the closed classroom door and made a decision.
“We need to call the detectives,” she whispered.
Chapter 2. Through the Portal in Time
The Animal Detectives were resting after their visit to the Land of Friendship and the great heat. Kuba was stretching on the terrace, Alfred was cleaning pollen off his nose, Zofia was organizing her notes, and Patrycja was reading a book about color mysteries.
Ala sat on a branch and pretended to be very busy, though in truth she was listening to everything with great curiosity.
Then the old stained-glass tree trembled.
Inside it, a round golden light began to glow. The portal opened softly, as if someone were drawing back a curtain made of sunshine.
“A new case!” shouted Ala and flew up first.
Patrycja grabbed her notebook, Alfred his long detective coat, Zofia her small bag of supplies, and Kuba already asked on the way:
“Does this case have anything to do with something colorful or edible?”
“For now, the tissue paper has disappeared,” Patrycja replied. “And that means it may be very colorful, but not exactly edible.”
The portal swallowed them one by one and after a moment dropped them right into the school corridor.
Pani Ada breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Always at the right moment,” said Kuba.
Chapter 3. What Disappeared?
The detectives began with the facts right away. That was their favorite part.
“When was the tissue paper last in its place?” asked Patrycja.
“On Friday afternoon,” answered pani Ada. “Pani Zuzia locked the room, and after that no one came in.”
“What colors?” asked Alfred.
“Mostly blue and purple. A little green, but not much. Nothing else is missing.”
“So someone needed the tissue paper specifically, not the other things,” Zofia noticed.
“Or someone mixed up the tissue paper with something very similar,” said Kuba, peeking into the empty box.
Everything in the room looked ordinary. Tables, chairs, cabinets with materials, paint, brushes, sketch pads, scissors. Yet Patrycja immediately noticed that one trash bin had been moved, as if someone had pushed it aside in a hurry.
Alfred, meanwhile, lifted his nose and sniffed the air.
“I smell paint,” he muttered. “And not paint from a week ago. Fresh paint.”
Pani Ada looked surprised.
“Really? That’s interesting… When I came into the room this morning, I didn’t smell anything like that.”
“The nose can be useful,” Alfred said gravely.
Chapter 4. A Clue on the Stairs
First they checked the whole room. Then they headed toward the corridor. That was when they heard it: a dull rustling, as if something were scraping from the inside.
Patrycja immediately pricked up her ears.
“Something is in there,” she whispered, pointing to the trash bin in the corner.
Kuba stepped forward, although his tail showed he did not really want to go first. He grabbed a broom handle lying in the corner as if it were the strongest weapon in the world and began to approach the bin with a slow, “brave” step.
“Stand back,” he whispered. “I’ll check it.”
Everyone held their breath. Kuba lifted the lid in one quick motion.
“Aaa!” came a voice from inside.
“Aaa!” Kuba answered, jumping backward with the broom handle.
Inside the bin, buried in paper scraps, was… Ala.
“I was checking whether the tissue paper had fallen in here by accident!” she explained, straightening her feathers. “But I leaned in too far and couldn’t tell what that darkness was.”
Kuba rested the broom handle against the wall, trying to look as if he had not been scared at all.
“I knew it was you. The broom was just in case.”
After that, they finally went out into the garden and then to the side stairs leading to the first floor.
Alfred stopped at one step.
“Something is here.”
On the wooden surface there was a barely visible mark, as if someone had stepped there carelessly and left a shoe print.
“And here,” he added, bending lower, “it smells like fresh paint.”
Zofia looked up.
“That makes sense. The renovation is happening on the first floor.”
Pani Ada frowned.
“I know that, but the workers came in through a separate entrance. They had no reason to come here.”
Kuba crossed his paws on his chest.
“In that case, maybe someone came by and didn’t want us to notice.”
On the handle of the side door Patrycja found one more thing: a tiny hand mark.
“But with a glove,” she said. “You can only see a faint print.”
Zofia stamped her hoof.
“One of the painters I saw was wearing gloves! It was the tall one in the blue cap with a brim. Maybe to keep from dirtying the walls.”
“Or to keep the walls clean, or to leave no trace of something,” Ala whispered from above.
Chapter 5. Above the Window
Kuba shrugged.
“Then I guess it’s time for the classic detective animal tower.”
“Very unclassic, but effective,” replied Patrycja.
Alfred raised a paw confidently.
“I can stand on Kuba. And Patrycja can stand on me.”
Kuba looked at him doubtfully.
“Do you remember what happened last time? You got your claws tangled in my mane for a full half hour. And some ant fell out of your pocket, and we searched for it in my mane for a whole week.”
“That was an exceptional week,” Alfred defended himself.
“An exceptionally itchy one,” added Kuba.
Then Zofia stretched her neck forward.
“I’ll stand by the window. Patrycja can sit on my neck and hear everything without any tower of claws.”
“That sounds much safer,” Alfred admitted with relief.
Patrycja was already climbing lightly onto Zofia’s neck when Ala fluttered beside them, making sure no one passed under the window.
Through the slightly open window came the voices of the workers from the first floor.
“Is someone looking for tissue paper?” one asked.
“I hope not down here,” muttered another.
The detectives froze.
“We’ve got a lead,” Patrycja whispered.
But it was not yet proof.
Chapter 6. A Small Trick
They returned downstairs and for a while pretended to be busy with something else. Patrycja spread out her notebook. Zofia arranged the brushes. Kuba straightened the chairs. Alfred walked around the room as if thinking about something very complicated.
At one point the workers went out to the car for more paint.
“Now,” hissed Patrycja.
Quickly they set up a small white device by the room entrance that only looked like a camera—no wires, no recording, but a very convincing red light blinked on it. When the workers came back with the paint, Kuba raised his voice so it could be heard down the whole corridor.
“Well, the camera recorded everything. Now we know who took the tissue paper. We’re just waiting for the file to copy.”
The voice carried through the open door all the way to the stairs.
Alfred looked at him with admiration.
“Good theater.”
Not a moment later, one of the workers came back so quickly he nearly ran into the room.
“It was me!” he blurted, clearly frightened. “I took the tissue paper.”
Pani Ada opened her eyes wide.
“You took it?”
The man lowered his gaze.
“My paint spilled. I had to soak it up quickly. I had the keys to all the rooms because I was supposed to help with the renovation, but the principal told me not to talk about it so the children wouldn’t worry. I thought no one would notice. Tissue paper absorbs paint very well, and I planned to buy new tissue paper afterward.”
Then, after a moment, he added:
“My car broke down. I wanted to go to the store this morning, but I didn’t make it.”
Patrycja closed her notebook.
“If you had told Pani Ada right away, there would surely have been a solution.”
Alfred nodded.
“It’s always better to ask than to take without asking.”
Kuba, who had been making a fierce face only moments before, now let out a sigh.
“And it saves stress. And sometimes very strange camera scenes.”
Chapter 7. Everything Returns to Its Place
Just then, pani Zuzia came into the room carrying a huge cardboard box.
“Luckily I had a запас in the other storage room,” she announced. “When I understood something was wrong, I went to get it right away.”
The worker breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m truly sorry. I wanted to do the right thing, but I did it in the worst possible way.”
Pani Ada nodded, already calmer.
“Next time, just ask. And give back what you borrow.”
A moment later, everyone was helping arrange the new tissue paper. The blue sheets lay in one folder, the purple in another, and the children’s tables looked colorful again.
First children were already appearing in the corridor.
Ola came in with a wide smile. Behind her, other children arrived with their parents—Kuba, another Ola, and Amelka. They knew nothing about the morning investigation.
“Oh wow, it’s so colorful in here!” Ola exclaimed.
“And it’s about to become even more colorful,” Pani Ada promised.
Chapter 8. The Quiet Disappearing
The Animal Detectives looked at one another. Their work was done, and in just a moment the real activities were about to begin. It was time to return before anyone noticed that somebody had talked rather too much in the school room.
“Time to disappear,” Ala whispered.
The detectives slipped quietly through the side door and darted behind the school. There, hidden among the bushes, they watched for a while as children entered carrying backpacks and curious expressions.
They had no idea that the first hours of the art club had begun with a great mystery.
Pani Ada had already said goodbye to them by the door, and then laughter, the rustle of paper, and the first paint spots made with soaked tissue paper filled the room.
The detectives went straight back to the portal in the magical stained-glass willow.
In the jungle on the other side, Kuba stretched and smiled.
“Well, well. Once again we managed to save someone’s day.”
Patrycja closed her notebook.
“And once again, careful observation helped.”
“And a very good nose,” added Alfred.
Zofia laughed softly.
“And proper animal tower planning.”
Ala spun in the air.
“And most of all, the children got to have fun and spend their time creatively.”
And so the art club began exactly as it should: with play, colors, and a new adventure. And in the room—now free of any mystery—waited pink, blue, and purple sheets, ready for the big masterpieces of little artists.