Magic Kitten: Moonlight Mischief (6 page)

Mrs Dawson sighed. ‘Jo seems very upset. I think I’ll go inside and have a word with her.’

‘All right,’ her husband said as he began gathering up sheets of newspapers. Eve picked up some packets and reached for a couple of tins. ‘Careful you don’t cut yourself, love. Those are sharp,’ her dad warned. ‘You’d best put some thick gloves on.
Oh, that’s the phone now. I’ll be right back.’

‘Darren is such a pest!’ Eve said to Flame. She reckoned you needed three eyes to watch him. Two in the front and one in the back of your head. ‘This mess is going to take ages to clear up.’

Flame gave a short miaow. ‘Do not worry, Eve. I will help you.’

Eve felt the familiar tingle up her spine as Flame’s sandy fur ignited with silver sparks and his whiskers crackled and fizzed. Eve couldn’t wait to see what would happen next! Flame pointed a tiny paw, his emerald eyes flashing with concentration. Suddenly a comet’s tail of glittery light shot all round the rubbish-strewn paved area.

Bang! The bins stood to attention and
opened their lids. Rustle! Newspapers rose up high into the sky and then fluttered back down into the bottom of the bins. Crunch and clunk! The packets, boxes and tins marched one behind the other, like toy soldiers, right up to the bins and then shot inside.

Eve clapped her hands in delight as the bins snapped shut – not a single piece of the mess Darren had made remained. ‘Thanks, Flame. That was fantastic!’

‘You are welcome.’ Flame sneezed as a final spark tickled his nose and then faded before Eve’s eyes.

A few minutes later, Eve’s dad came back out into the yard. ‘Another owner wanting to book their cat in…’ He broke off in amazement as he noticed that every bit of rubbish was all gone.
‘Goodness me! However did you manage to clear up so quickly?’

Eve gave him a broad grin. ‘Oh, I’m full of magic tricks!’
At least, Flame is,
she thought, wishing she could tell everyone how special Flame really was.

‘That was the vet. He wants to have a chat about Oscar,’ Mary Dawson said the following afternoon, replacing the phone.
‘I
’m going to pop over there now.’

‘Can Flame and I come with you?’ Eve asked eagerly.

‘All right,’ her mum agreed.

‘I’ll meet you at the car!’ Eve jumped up and went to fetch a pet carrier for Flame.

At the surgery the, receptionist took them straight through to a treatment room. Eve was carrying Flame in her arms. ‘Hello again,’ the vet said, when he saw Eve and Flame. ‘Still got his fat little tummy, I see. Good, good.’

Eve felt Flame stiffen indignantly and lay his ears flat. A tiny spark tingled against her fingers for a second. ‘It’s OK, Flame, the vet’s trying to be nice,’ she whispered hurriedly to him. ‘Healthy kittens are supposed to have round tummies.’

Flame relaxed and pricked up his ears.

The door opened and a nurse brought Oscar in and put him on the table. Eve put Flame down on the table beside Oscar. Flame mewed softly and rubbed his sandy head against the older cat’s leg. Oscar touched noses with the kitten and began purring softly.

‘Hello, boy. How are you?’ Eve stroked Oscar as she listened to the vet. He explained that Oscar had something with a very long, complicated name, which some cats developed as they grew older.

‘But is he going to get better?’ Eve asked worriedly.

The vet nodded. ‘Oh, yes. He’s had some medicine and he’s already feeling
much better. Once he gets his appetite back, he’ll be just like his old self.’

‘That’s brilliant!’ Eve exclaimed. She felt so pleased that Oscar was going to be OK. Flame seemed delighted too and even seemed to have forgotten to be cross with the vet!

Back at the cattery Eve and Flame took Oscar to his pen and made him comfortable. She discovered some of her dad’s favourite prawns in the kitchen fridge and pinched a couple as a treat for Oscar. ‘Here you are, Flame. There’s a few for you too. Dad won’t miss them!’

Flame chomped down the prawns and then licked his lips to get every last fishy taste. ‘That was delicious. I like this human food!’

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. Eve helped her dad for a while and then gave Jo a hand cleaning pens with disinfectant. When a delivery of dried cat food arrived from a pet-food supplier, she showed the driver where to put the sacks.

Darren was on his best behaviour. He stayed by Alison’s side while Jo worked, and even made a big fuss of Flame. Eve
thought he seemed sorry for running off with Flame the other day

She felt really tired by the time she went upstairs and crawled into bed. Rain pattered against the bedroom window. She drifted slowly off to asleep to the sound of it, with Flame’s warm furry little body curled up next to her.

Eve woke up with a start.

She sat up, blinking in the darkness, trying to work out what it was that had woken her. She listened carefully. Every now and then, she was sure she could hear faint sounds coming from outside.

‘Can you hear that?’ she whispered to Flame.

‘Yes, I can. Someone is out there,’ the
little kitten mewed softly, jumping across to the window sill.

Eve’s heart beat fast. She got out of bed and peeped out of the curtain. It was still raining. The terrace with its table and chairs looked shiny in the darkness. Beyond the terrace wall, the extension and the cat pens looked dim and shadowed.

As the moon slipped out from behind a cloud, Eve froze. The storeroom door leading to the yard was wide open. She watched as a slim dark figure came out dragging something that looked heavy. It was only then that she noticed the dark humps already lying out on the paved area.

A burglar was stealing the sacks of cat food!

‘Come on, Flame, we have to stop them!’ Eve said, already dashing for the door and racing downstairs in her pyjamas.

With Flame streaking ahead of her, Eve rushed into the extension. A blast of cold air met her as she ran outside. She could see the dark figure a short distance away in the yard, bending over a sack of food. It was wearing dark trousers and a top with the hood up.

‘Stop, thief!’ Eve meant to shout, but it came out as a dry croak. She tried again, this time yelling at the top of her voice. ‘STOP, THIEF!!’

‘Wha…!’ The figure almost jumped out of its skin with shock. It straightened up and started hurrying towards the gate at the side of the cottage.

Eve didn’t think twice. She ran after the burglar, but Flame was even faster. He hurtled towards the gate and scrabbled up it until he stood balanced on the top. His sandy fur bristled as he arched his tiny back. Hissing fiercely, he faced the burglar.

Eve’s heart hammered in her chest. Flame was so brave. She could imagine just what he would be like as a Lion
Prince, even though here he couldn’t use any magic or he’d give himself away Eve felt sick with fear for him.

The hooded figure raced up to the gate and grabbed the catch. ‘Get off! Go away!’ the burglar shouted at Flame.

Eve’s eyes widened in shock. It was a girl’s voice! One she recognized.

Flame recognized the burglar too. He gave a loud whine and jumped into the girl’s arms. The burglar took a step backwards, holding Flame. She turned round slowly to face Eve as Eve pushed back her hood.

‘Alison!’

Chapter
* EIGHT *

Eve sat with Flame huddled inside her dad’s fleece jacket. Her bare feet stuck out of her rain-soaked pyjama bottoms. From the look in her dad’s eyes, she knew she was in for an awesome telling-off for running outside in the middle of the night by herself.

At least the cat food hadn’t got too wet. It was all back inside the
storeroom and her mum had assured everyone that it would be fine.

Alison sat opposite Eve, looking shamefaced. Mr and Mrs Dawson sat on either side of her.

‘But why, Alison?’ Mrs Dawson asked gently. ‘What did you hope to gain by stealing the cat food?’

‘I wasn’t stealing it. I just wanted it to get wet, so everyone would be furious with Darren. You were supposed to think he’d dragged the food out,’ Alison said miserably.

Eve’s dad looked at his wife. ‘Am I missing something?’

Eve thought she was beginning to work it out. ‘You wanted everyone to see what hard work Darren really was?’ she said to Alison, remembering the supermarket.

Alison nodded. ‘I wanted Mum to see, so that she would have to look after Darren and it wouldn’t be just up to me to watch him all the time. But she wouldn’t listen.’

Flame gave a little mew of sympathy and brushed against Alison’s ankle. She leaned down to stroke him.

Mr and Mrs Dawson looked at each other in amazement.

Something else fell into place for
Eve. She remembered the day when she’d called round to Alison’s house with the video. Alison had been really out of breath when she’d answered the door. Then there was the new plaster on her finger.

‘You didn’t burn your finger, did you? You cut it when you tipped all the rubbish out!’ Eve burst out. ‘No wonder you were puffed out. You’d only just rushed back home, when I knocked on your front door!’

Alison hung her head, nodding. ‘Eve’s right. I tipped out the rubbish, so that Darren would get the blame. I know I’ve been really stupid. Are… are you going to call the police?’

Her mum and dad looked at each other.

Eve stared at her parents in horror. ‘You aren’t going to, are you? They’ll probably handcuff Alison and throw her into a cell. And she’ll only get bread and water to eat…’

‘That’s enough, Eve,’ her dad said with a faint smile. ‘I think it’s time we took Alison home and I had a word with her mum.’ He gave Eve a firm, direct look. ‘And as for you, young lady, you can go straight back to bed.’