by Kitty Wells
Cat, thought Maddy, closing her eyes. Cat, cat, cat . . .
“Hey, you have to watch!” shouted Sherry.
Maddy’s eyes flew open. Sherry was standing up, scowling at her. “What’s the matter?” she taunted. “Too scared to watch me beat you?”
“Of course not!” said Maddy, flushing. Oh, where were her cat powers? She chewed her lip nervously as Sherry crouched down again.
“Ready . . . steady . . . go!” chanted the two Jos.
Sherry sprang into the air. Thump! She landed a few centimetres away from the second stick, and bobbed up with a triumphant leer. “Ha! Beat that!”
Cat, cat, cat, thought Maddy desperately. Oh, where are you? Cat, cat . . . And then, to her immense relief, she felt the familiar tingling flow through her. Her powers had come back!
“OK,” she said with a grin. She strolled over to the first stick. “But let me just get this straight. Is it that stick I’m supposed to jump to?” she asked, pointing. Before Sherry could reply, Maddy leaped, feeling the wind blowing through her hair.
Whoomp!
“Or this one?” she finished innocently, turning round and pointing to a twig at her feet.
Sherry and the rest of 5A stood three metres behind her, their mouths hanging open like a group of dumbstruck fish. Only Rachel was smiling widely. She gave Maddy a thumbs-up.
“You won!” gasped Jessica, recovering. “Maddy, that was brilliant!”
“She – she must have cheated,” sputtered Sherry. “No way could she have really jumped that far!”
“How could she have cheated?” said Rachel. “We all saw it.”
“Yeah, Sherry, she won fair and square,” put in a boy called Peter.
Unexpectedly, Maddy felt a pang of conscience. Sherry was right – she had cheated. She cleared her throat. “Um . . . shall we do chin-ups now?”
Chattering excitedly, the class trooped after her as she crossed the yard to the horse chestnut tree. Bounding upwards, Maddy grabbed the branch and performed twenty chin-ups easily, cat strength flowing through her arms. The class cheered.
Sherry only managed twelve before dropping to the ground with an angry huff. After Maddy had won the race as well – streaking past to touch the fence before Sherry had even gone halfway – the larger girl’s face turned bright red.
“She is cheating!” she insisted, stamping her foot. “I don’t know how, but she is!”
“Don’t be a sore loser, Sherry,” said Rachel.
“Yeah,” said someone else. “Maddy won, that’s all – and now you’ve got to leave everyone alone like you promised.”
5A echoed their agreement.
“Not when she cheated I don’t,” snarled Sherry.
“No one cheated,” said a boy named Tom. “Maddy’s just better than you, that’s all.”
“Yeah, Maddy’s miles better!” laughed Jessica. “Right, Maddy?”
“Er . . .” Maddy trailed off as guilt flushed hotly through her. Somehow, beating Sherry wasn’t quite as much fun as she’d imagined.
Sherry looked like a cornered rat. “She is not better than me!” she shouted. Glancing around wildly, she suddenly leaped onto the grey drainpipe that snaked up the side of the school building.
“I bet you can’t climb this, Maddy,” she called. And as 5A watched in startled silence, Sherry started climbing the wall, pulling herself up by her hands and feet.
Chapter Eight
HIGHER AND HIGHER Sherry went, until she was almost at the first floor. Maddy stared up at her in horror. “Sherry, stop!” she called as loudly as she dared, hoping that there weren’t any teachers nearby. “You could fall!”
But Sherry kept going, grimly pulling herself up the side of the building. When she was halfway up, she paused and peered down. All at once Maddy saw her face turn pale. She gave a squeaking noise, and gripped the drainpipe hard with her hands and feet.
Long moments passed. Sherry stayed where she was, not moving. 5A glanced worriedly at each other.
“She’s stuck,” said Jessica, biting her fingernail.
“Look!” gasped Rachel, pointing.
Gazing upwards, Maddy caught her breath. Sherry was slipping! Though clutching the drainpipe for all she was worth, she was starting to lose her grip, the smooth pipe sliding through her fingers. As Maddy watched, Sherry dropped jerkily by several centimetres.
“Argh!” she cried.
“Someone’s got to climb up and hold onto her!” burst out pointy-faced Jo, her sharp features pale. “She’ll fall otherwise.”
“Maddy! You could do it!” said Rachel, gripping her arm.
Maddy nodded quickly. With her cat powers, she knew she could easily scale the drainpipe and hold Sherry in place until help came. “OK,” she said. “You go and get a teacher!”
She hurried over to the wall as Rachel raced off. Suddenly she felt a sharp claw jabbing her trousers. Greykin!
She slipped her hand in her pocket. The little cat squirmed into her sleeve and up her arm. “You must be careful!” he hissed urgently from her shoulder, hidden by her long hair. “There’s no ka left – you’re on your own!”
Maddy’s hands turned to ice. “No ka? But—”
“No, that’s why I’ve stayed ceramic!” Greykin’s tail swished fretfully from side to side. “When your mother went into your room to put your laundry away this morning, she looked at the other two cats again – and she didn’t put them back together afterwards. There’s barely enough ka left to keep me going now, much less to power you any more!”
“Maddy, what are you waiting for?” called someone. “You have to hurry!”
“I—” Maddy’s throat was dry. 5A were staring at her, the same expectant expression on all their faces. They knew she could climb the drainpipe; hadn’t she just proved what a great athlete she was? Only she wasn’t, and she was scared of heights!
Sherry gave a strangled shriek as she slipped again, scrabbling to hang on with her knees.
Maddy felt dizzy, looking upwards . . . and then she decided. Pushing all thoughts of being scared to the back of her mind, she gripped the drainpipe with trembling hands and started to climb.
“That’s it,” whispered Greykin, balancing on her shoulder. “Easy does it.” Maddy’s heart was thumping so wildly that she thought it might burst from her chest. But to her surprise, the drainpipe wasn’t difficult to scale. Her legs were strong from doing ballet, and she was so light that she could pull herself up easily.
Just don’t look down! she thought, gulping hard. She stared fervently at her hands as she pulled herself up bit by bit.
In what seemed like no time at all, Maddy had reached Sherry’s feet. She held onto a windowsill to her left, bracing herself, and grabbed Sherry’s legs with her other arm. She could hear Sherry crying, and her own fear faded.
“It’s all right, Sherry,” she said gently. “Don’t cry, I’ve got you.”
Sherry peered down at Maddy, her face smudged and tear-stained.
“You – you won’t tell the others how scared I am, will you?” she choked out. “Please!”
Maddy hesitated. She thought the others probably already knew, to be honest.
“Please,” implored Sherry, her voice cracking. “I’ll do anything!”
Greykin whispered something in Maddy’s ear, and Maddy felt a smile spread over her face. “OK,” she said. “I won’t tell – but only if you keep your promise and leave everyone alone from now on.”
Sherry gulped, and then nodded hard. “I – I promise!”
Down below, Rachel had just come running up with two teachers. As one of them propped a ladder up beside the drainpipe and started to climb, Sherry whispered, “But, Maddy . . . how did you win?”
Maddy could feel Greykin nestled under the shoulder of her jumper, his small weight warm and comforting. “I don’t know,” she smiled. “Magic, I suppose.”
That night Maddy sat at her desk, her heart as heavy as a stone. “Don’t be sad,” murmured Greykin,
rubbing against her finger. His thick blue-grey fur was velvet-soft. “You’ll meet one of the others soon enough.”
“I know, but . . . oh, Greykin,” choked out Maddy. She felt as if she had only just found him, and now it was time to say goodbye!
“Now, now. You’ll be too busy with your detention to even notice I’m gone,” said Greykin with a small smile.
Both Maddy and Sherry had received a week’s detention for climbing the drainpipe – though Sherry had unexpectedly taken all the blame, explaining that Maddy was only trying to help. Even so, Maddy’s parents had been cross that she’d behaved so recklessly . . . though she had a feeling that they were proud of her, as well.
“I could never be that busy,” Maddy said. The words felt strangled in her throat. She stroked Greykin’s silky back. “Will – will I ever see you again?”
“Of course!” Standing on his haunches, Greykin clutched Maddy’s finger in his tiny paws and gave it a shake. “We’ve bonded with you, the three of us – that means you’ll have us around for a good long time to come. Agreed?”
Maddy tried to smile, though all she really wanted was Greykin now. “Agreed,” she said softly. Lifting Greykin up, she nuzzled him to her damp cheek.
He gave a rumbling purr, rubbing his head against her tears. “You know, Maddy Lloyd,” he said softly, “I do believe that you’re my favourite of all the humans I’ve ever had. And you’re a lot braver than you thought you were, aren’t you?”
“I suppose,” mumbled Maddy. Somehow it didn’t seem to matter very much.
She cuddled the little cat for a long time. Finally she knew she could put the moment off no longer, and she set him down on her desk. “Au revoir,” said Greykin, his golden eyes gleaming. “We shall meet again soon, Maddy.”
Maddy nodded, her heart too full to speak.
Greykin strolled across the desk to the other two cats, who sat locked together in their painted embrace. He stood very still, positioning himself so that his grey tail was wrapped around the black one, and his grey paw linked with the tabby’s.
Slowly his living fur faded, and cold, hard ceramic took its place.
Maddy sat looking at him for a long time. What she had learned about herself did matter, she realized suddenly. Greykin had shown her that she wasn’t such a coward after all – she had powers of her own, with or without magic.
Unconsciously, Maddy sat up a bit straighter. “Goodbye for now, Greykin,” she whispered, touching his face. “And thank you.”
Her gaze went to the other two cats: the slender black one, and the long-haired tabby with the laughing eyes. What would they be like when she met them?
Despite the knot of sorrow in her throat, Maddy felt a flutter of anticipation. She smiled. “And hello to the two of you, when the time comes. I can hardly wait!”
THE END
About the Author
Kitty Wells, aka Lee Weatherly, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. She moved to the UK in 1995, and now lives in Hampshire with her husband. Lee’s first book for children, Child X, was published by David Fickling Books in June 2002. It was shortlisted for the Sheffield Book Award, the Leicester Book Award and the Red House Children’s Book Award. Lee has written three more books for older children for DFB, and is also the author of Bloomsbury’s Glitterwings Academy series for younger children.
Also by Kitty Wells
Shadow Magic
Feline Charm
POCKET CATS : PAW POWER
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 446 43266 2
Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Penguin Random House Company
This ebook edition published 2011
Copyright © Kitty Wells, 2011
Inside illustrations copyright © Joanna Harrison, 2011
First Published in Great Britain
David Fickling Books (PB) 9781849920254 2011
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