by Kitty Wells
Much later, there was a firm tap on Maddy’s ear. A pause, and then there was another one. “Hey. Are you asleep?” demanded a voice.
“Mmph?” Groggily Maddy struggled to lift an eyelid – and then both eyes flew open. Nibs was sitting on the pillow beside her, her black fur gleaming in the moonlight.
“Nibs!” exclaimed Maddy softly. She propped herself up on one elbow. Coiling her tail around her legs, the little cat cleared her throat. “Oh good, you’re awake. I just wanted to say … thank you. For sticking up for me to your cousin.”
“That’s OK,” said Maddy, startled. “I wanted to!” She grinned suddenly. “I just wish Chloe could really see you; then she’d see how wrong she was. Her eyes would pop right out of her head!”
Nibs smirked. “Yes, we do have that effect on people.” Her eyes glinted with wicked amusement.
The shared moment sent a warm feeling through Maddy … and then she remembered what had happened. She quickly sat up, crossing her legs and pulling the duvet around her.
“Nibs, what are we going to do?” she whispered. “I didn’t get to read the whole email, and now—”
“I read it,” broke in Nibs.
Maddy blinked. “You … did?”
Nibs nodded, her tiny face suddenly grave. “And the problem’s just as bad as I feared. Your cousin’s planning to run away.”
Chapter Six
Maddy’s blood turned to ice as she stared at the little cat. “Run away?” she squeaked. “You mean, back to Ragdale?”
Nibs flicked her ears in assent. “Yes, next Saturday. The plan is for Chloe’s friend Chrissy to hide her somewhere in her house. But first Chloe has to get to Ragdale, and to do that she plans to take the train, and then a bus – and then she’s going to hitchhike the last few miles.”
“But she can’t!” Maddy cried. Popping her hand over her mouth, she glanced at her bedroom door. “Nibs, honestly, that’s really, really dangerous,” she hissed. “She could be kidnapped or something!”
“Yes, dangerous is certainly the right word,” agreed Nibs, flexing her claws against the pillow. “We have to stop her.”
“Shall I tell my parents?” asked Maddy anxiously.
Nibs’s green eyes looked doubtful. “You can try, but they probably won’t believe you.”
“But all they’d have to do is read Chloe’s email!” cried Maddy. “Then they’d have to believe me.”
Nibs started to prowl about. Her tiny weight barely made a dent in the pillow. “Except that the email isn’t there any more. Chloe said that she was going to delete it after she sent it, and she asked Chrissy to do the same. I assume delete means to get rid of.”
“Um … yes, it does,” muttered Maddy in dismay.
Nibs paused in a gleam of moonlight. “Besides,” she said matter-of-factly, “the magic wouldn’t have brought me to life if the problem could be solved without your help.”
Maddy shivered and drew the duvet more tightly around her. “You mean … I have to be the one to solve it?”
Nibs nodded. “Yes. Well, both of us, working together. If it could be solved as easily as telling your parents, then I wouldn’t be here. That’s the way it works.”
Maddy swallowed. Suddenly having the magical cats seemed much more serious than before. What if she wasn’t able to stop Chloe, and something happened? Tomorrow was Wednesday – they had just over a week before she was going to run away!
Amazingly, Nibs seemed to understand how she felt this time. “Worrying won’t help anything, you know,” she said gently. Settling down closer to Maddy, she curled herself up on the pillow, no larger than a mouse. “We can do it. I’m sure of it.”
The next afternoon after school, Rachel came home with Maddy to help think of a plan. The moment they got upstairs, she clutched Maddy’s arm eagerly. “Can I meet Nibs now?” she begged. “I’ve been dying to!”
Bending down in front of the Barbie house, Maddy motioned for Rachel to join her. Nibs was lying stretched out on the pink bed like a tiny panther. She saw them and sat up, gazing narrowly at Rachel.
“Who’s this?” she demanded. Rachel sank to the floor, staring at Nibs in wonder.
“This is my best friend, Rachel,” explained Maddy. “She’s going to help us.”
“Hello!” said Rachel, leaning forward. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Nibs. Would – would you mind if I stroked you?” She started to reach out with her hand and then stopped, confronted by Nibs’s silent stare.
Rachel’s cheeks coloured. “Or not,” she mumbled, dropping her hand. “Um – sorry.”
Though she knew it wasn’t very nice of her, Maddy couldn’t help feeling a bit glad. At least she wasn’t the only one to get the silent treatment at times!
With a final hard look at Rachel, Nibs came out of the doll’s house and padded across the carpet to Maddy. “Have you had any ideas yet?” she asked.
Maddy sighed, propping her chin in her hands. “No. Rachel and I tried to think of something at school today, but we couldn’t come up with anything.”
“We will, though,” promised Rachel. She was still gazing at the tiny cat in awe, her blue eyes wide behind her glasses.
There was a pause as they all mulled over the problem. Suddenly Maddy started in surprise. As casually as if she did it every day, Nibs had settled down against Maddy’s foot. Her tiny body was soft and warm, her black fur glossy against the red of Maddy’s sock.
A glow of pleasure spread through Maddy. Though she longed to stroke the little cat, she just sat very still. For now, it was enough that Nibs was snuggled up next to her!
Rachel was rubbing her glasses up and down her nose, which she always did when she was thinking hard. “We could lock Chloe in her room on Saturday,” she suggested. “Or we could steal her shoes! Or …” She trailed off as Nibs stared wordlessly at her.
“You’re not thinking big enough,” stated the cat. “We need to stop Chloe from running away next Saturday, but there’s more to it than that. The only way the problem can really be solved is if she’s happy here. Otherwise she’ll just try again. I know I would.”
Maddy and Rachel exchanged a doubtful glance. How could they make Chloe be happy when she wasn’t? It sounded impossible!
Nibs raised an eyebrow as if she knew what they were thinking. “For instance, I wonder what it’s like to start a new school?” she mused, scratching her ear. “I can’t imagine it’s very nice, really.”
Rachel gasped. “Oh, Maddy, that’s it!” she cried. “Just use your power to go into Chloe’s school and get everyone to be friends with her, and then she’ll change her mind about running away!”
Maddy’s jaw dropped. “How am I supposed to do that?” she protested.
Rachel waved her hand impatiently. “Lots of ways! You could – you could whisper in people’s ears that Chloe Taylor is really nice, or you could make it so that people have to sit next to her in class, or all sorts!”
Maddy blinked as she realized that Rachel was right: there were a lot of things that she could do invisibly. In fact, it might even be fun!
“OK, I’ll do it!” she said. “But I’d better practise being invisible a lot more first,” she added with a sudden frown. The thought of suddenly appearing in the middle of Chloe’s secondary school wasn’t very appealing!
Nibs nodded. “We’ll spend the weekend practising. Then you can go into Chloe’s school some day next week.”
“Brilliant!” Rachel grinned, straightening her glasses. “I’m sure the plan will work. Just wait – Chloe will have millions of friends in no time!”
“Well, millions might be difficult to keep track of,” said Nibs with a yawn. “Sometimes one friend is all you need. It’s a good plan, though. Wish I’d thought of it.” Curling herself into a cosy black circle, she started to close her eyes.
“Wait, Nibs … can I ask you something?” said Rachel, edging closer.
Nibs opened a single green eye and waited. Maddy smiled to herself, knowing what w
as coming.
Rachel took a deep breath, and said in a rush: “You see, Greykin never said much about where the three of you are from, and I just wondered if you could tell me more about it. You know, how old you are, and – and how the three of you came into being, and why …”
Nibs had both eyes open now, and was staring coldly at her. Maddy saw Rachel swallow.
“I mean … well, you don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to,” she stammered. “It’s just that I’m going to be a scientist someday, so I’m sort of curious about these things, and … um …” Rachel’s voice grew more and more feeble. Nibs hadn’t blinked once as she gazed at her.
There was a pause.
“Never mind,” said Rachel faintly. “I suppose I don’t really need to know.”
Nibs closed her eyes again, and went to sleep.
Just then the doorbell rang: Rachel’s mother had arrived to take her home. Rachel looked a bit stunned as Maddy walked her downstairs. “She’s very different from Greykin, isn’t she?” she whispered.
Maddy nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, totally.” And recalling the unexpected warmth of Nibs pressed against her foot, for the first time Maddy wasn’t sure whether that was such a bad thing.
Then she sighed, remembering. If only the little cat wasn’t so anxious to leave her!
That weekend Maddy went invisible every chance she could get. She slipped around the house like a ghost, unseen by her family. The magic felt much more serious now that she knew she’d soon be sneaking into Chloe’s school, and she practised and practised, until finally she got so good at staying invisible that she thought nothing at all could make her reappear unexpectedly.
“Good,” said Nibs briefly on Sunday evening. She sat on the doll’s house chimney, her tail tucked neatly around her legs. “I think we’re ready.”
On Monday morning Maddy waited until the kitchen was clear, and then darted in. Flipping quickly through the little phonebook that Mum kept by the telephone, she dialled her school’s number. Nibs perched on the worktop, watching her closely.
“Good morning, Emerson Primary School,” said Mrs Wooton’s voice.
It was part of their plan that Maddy should call in sick that day, so that her teachers wouldn’t suspect anything when she didn’t go in. Mum, of course, would think that Maddy had gone to school as usual – but really, she’d be at the secondary school across the road, trying to make friends for Chloe.
Glancing around to make sure no one was nearby, Maddy held the phone out to Nibs.
The little cat purred into it, “Hello, this is Mrs Lloyd. Maddy’s got a cold, so I’m keeping her home today.”
Mrs Wooton chuckled. “You sound like you’ve got a frog in your throat yourself, Mrs Lloyd! All right then, we’ll hope to see Maddy tomorrow.”
Nibs looked insulted as Maddy hung up the phone. “A frog?” she echoed in disgust.
“It’s just an expression,” Maddy told her. “But, Nibs, we did it!”
Nibs smiled smugly as she leaped onto her arm. “Of course,” she said, and settled herself on Maddy’s shoulder.
“Bye, darling, have a good day,” said Mum as she dropped Maddy off at school that morning.
“Bye, Mum,” said Maddy, climbing out of the car. She tried not to look at the secondary school, in case she somehow gave herself away. Chloe was already there; Mum had dropped her off first.
As Mum drove away, Rachel hurried up to Maddy. “Are you ready?” she whispered excitedly. She pulled Maddy to one side of the playground, so that the two girls were hidden from view behind a tree.
Maddy nodded, touching the ceramic Nibs in her pocket. “I – I think so,” she said. “But, Rachel, what if I can’t find her or something?” She shivered at the thought. Now that it was time to actually try their plan, she could imagine a hundred things that might go wrong!
Rachel adjusted her glasses. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m sure that—”
She broke off abruptly, gaping at Maddy. At the same time Maddy felt Nibs come to life, as well as the tingling sensation racing through her. She was going shadowy!
“Wow,” breathed Rachel. Her eyes were bulging. “Maddy, I can hardly see you! You’re like a ghost or something!”
Nibs climbed out of Maddy’s pocket and bounded up to her shoulder. “Right, then, are we ready to go and make friends?” she asked, swishing her tail from side to side. Maddy yearned to stroke her, but still didn’t quite dare.
She took a deep breath. “Ready!” she said.
Chapter Seven
The secondary school was even larger than Maddy had imagined. The students were large too: most of them were about twice her size! Shadow magic, conceal me, Maddy thought fervently as she approached the main entrance.
A girl bumped into her. “Oh, sorry—” she started, and then broke off in confusion, looking around. “Weird …” she muttered, hurrying away.
To Maddy’s relief, once she got inside she spotted Chloe almost immediately. Her cousin was leaning against a wall with her earphones on, looking down at her mobile.
Nearby, three girls around Chloe’s age were peering around on the floor as if they’d lost something. Edging closer, Maddy suddenly realized that she’d seen the girl with the long chestnut ponytail before – her family lived on the other side of the meadow from the Lloyds.
Maddy’s heart leaped. She had always thought that the older girl seemed really nice. She’d be a perfect friend for Chloe, if only she could get the two of them talking!
“But I had it just a minute ago!” the girl was saying, pulling fretfully at her left earlobe. “Can’t either of you see it?” In her other ear twinkled a tiny unicorn earring.
One of her friends, a tall blonde girl, shook her head. “No, I can’t see it anywhere, Gemma.”
“I reckon you must have dropped it in your mum’s car,” said the third girl, who had short curly dark hair.
Gemma looked close to tears. “No, I definitely had them both on when I came into school!” she insisted, dropping to her knees to search. “Come on, you two, help me look.”
A lost earring! Maddy’s eyes widened. Could she and Nibs somehow use this to get the two girls talking?
Thinking hard, Maddy’s gaze fell on the reception desk a couple of metres away. There was a gap under the desk, and she caught her breath as an idea came to her. “Nibs, I think I know where it might be!” she whispered.
Slipping invisibly past Gemma and her friends, she crouched down and peered under the desk. It was so dark that at first she could hardly see a thing – but then, squinting hard, she suddenly saw something glinting on the floor.
“That’s it!” purred Nibs. Leaping to the ground, the little cat padded off into the shadows, and a moment later returned triumphantly with the earring dangling from her mouth.
“Hurrah!” Maddy exclaimed softly as Nibs leaped back onto her shoulder.
Taking the earring, she edged towards her cousin. Chloe was still gazing down at her mobile, punching keys with her thumb. Dropping the earring between Chloe’s feet, Maddy quickly leaned over and touched her on the ankle.
“Huh?” Chloe started, and looked down. Seeing only the unicorn earring, she glanced around and spotted Gemma and her friends, still searching.
Chloe picked up the earring. “Hey, um – is this yours?” she asked, tapping Gemma’s arm.
Gemma spun round. “My earring!” she cried, her face lighting up. “Oh, thank you, thank you! They were a birthday present from my parents, and I thought I’d lost one of them!” She put it back in her ear, smiling broadly.
Chloe shrugged, looking embarrassed. “It was just on the floor over there—” She broke off as her mobile beeped with a text. “Oh – sorry,” she said, and turned away to read it. Her eyes shining, Gemma went back to talking with her friends, the moment already forgotten.
The bell went then, and everyone started heading towards their classes. Trailing along after her cousin, Maddy clenched her fists in frustration. S
he had been so close to getting Chloe and Gemma talking – and then Chloe had to get another text and ruin everything!
“Never mind,” murmured Nibs from her shoulder. “Try, try again, and all that.”
But by lunch time Maddy was feeling deeply discouraged. It wasn’t nearly as easy to make friends for Chloe as she’d hoped. So far, she hadn’t had even a single opportunity. Her spirits had lifted when Chloe’s English class went to the library, but even there she hadn’t had any chances. Chloe had immediately gone to the other end of the room from the others, and had spent the whole time just sitting on her own, reading her fantasy novel.
Maddy trailed glumly along behind as her cousin queued in the canteen. What was she going to do? Suddenly she caught her breath. Chloe was taking her tray to the table where Gemma and her friends were sitting!
“Now that’s a nice coincidence,” said Nibs, swishing her tail. But as soon as Chloe sat down, she pulled out her iPod and stuck in her earplugs. Maddy groaned. Her cousin really wasn’t making this easy!
Then her ears pricked up as she heard what Gemma and her friends were saying.
“Oh, you and your stupid fantasy novels!” the blonde girl teased Gemma. “You should try reading a good romance instead of stuff about mouldy old dungeons all the time.”
“They’re not like that at all!” protested Gemma good-naturedly. She was flipping through a book with a dragon on the cover. “Honestly, Izzy, you should give fantasy a chance sometime – I bet you’d really like it.”
Chloe’s purple and silver handbag sat on the empty chair between her and Gemma. Maddy’s eyes flew to it. She could just see the corner of Chloe’s book sticking out! Leaning over, she eased it from the bag and tossed it onto the floor near Gemma’s feet.