Fawn dodged left, then right, trying to shake the cat. Her shoulders ached and her breath came in gasps. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep flying. But no matter how she twisted and turned, the cat was always just behind her.

Ahead, Fawn saw a raspberry bush. She headed straight for it, darting into the branches with her last bit of strength.

Fawn peered out between the leaves. She could see the cat watching her hiding spot with its yellow eyes. “Why are you bothering me?” Fawn called out in Cat. She hadn’t talked to many cats before, but the language came to her naturally. Part of an animal-fairy’s magic was being able to speak to any creature.

The cat blinked. It was clear that he wasn’t used to being questioned by his prey. “Come out where I can see you, shiny bird,” he said.

Shiny bird? Fawn thought, confused. Then she understood. He thinks I’m a bird! He’s attracted to my glow.

“I’m not a bird!” she yelled to the cat. “I’m a fairy!”

The cat blinked again. “Dragonfly?”

Was it possible this cat had never seen a fairy before? “Not a dragonfly. A fairy!” Fawn shouted.

“Flying thing?” the cat said. If he’d had shoulders, he would have shrugged.

Fawn realized she was getting nowhere talking to him. She had to find another way out of this mess.

Fawn plucked a raspberry from the bush. She weighed it in her palm, considering. A single fairy wasn’t strong enough to fight a cat. But Fawn knew cats were proud animals. Maybe if she wounded his pride, he would go away.

Fawn threw the berry as hard as she could, hitting the cat squarely between the eyes. The cat jerked back, startled. He tried to shake the berry off his head. Then he lifted his chin and stalked away, as if he had important business elsewhere.

Fawn grinned as the cat broke into a run. Her plan was working!

But a second later, her smile faded. The cat wasn’t running away from Fawn—he was running toward something.

Just beyond the edge of the woods, a mouse cart was passing through the meadow. The cart driver, a sparrow man named Dooley, was whistling to himself. He didn’t see the cat creeping up behind him.

“Dooley!” Fawn shrieked. “Look out!”

Too late! The cat landed on the cart, and its load of walnuts spilled across the trail. The cart mice squealed and bolted, throwing Dooley from his seat.

Dooley tried to fly, but the cat caught him between his front paws. He batted him back and forth, toying with him as if he were a ball of yarn.

“Leave him alone, you ratty tabby!” Summoning her courage, Fawn flew right up to the cat’s nose and gave his whiskers a yank.

The cat yowled in pain and leaped back. Fawn took the moment to grab Dooley’s hand. She pulled him to safety in a nearby mole hole.

“Are you all right?” Fawn asked. The stunned sparrow man’s glow flickered like a firefly. But he didn’t have any scratches as far as Fawn could tell.

“Wh-wh—” Dooley stuttered. “Wh-where did that monster come from?”

Before Fawn could reply, they heard squeals. Fawn peeked out the hole. The driverless mouse cart was careening in circles as the terrified mice ran this way and that.

“He’s going to get the mice!” Fawn cried.

But to her surprise, the cat bounded right past the mouse cart. Something else had caught his eye.

Ahead was the Home Tree, sparkling with the hundreds of fairies who wove in and out of its branches, going about their business.

Fawn gasped. What had she done? In trying to drive the cat away, she’d sent him straight to the heart of the fairies’ world!

“Stay here. I’ll send someone to help you with the mice,” Fawn told Dooley. Then she raced off toward the Home Tree to warn the other fairies.

In the pebbled courtyard in front of the Home Tree’s knothole door, a group of fairies sat enjoying a picnic. The cat headed straight toward them, his tail twitching with pleasure.

“Fly!” Fawn screamed. “Fly away!” But she was too far off to be heard.

Wham! The cat pounced, landing in the middle of the picnic. Seashell plates and acorn teacups crashed to the ground. Cries of horror filled the courtyard. The cat danced on his hind legs, swiping happily at the fairies as they darted out of the way.

In an instant, the Home Tree was in chaos. The singing-talent fairies’ songs turned to screams. A laundry-talent fairy dropped a whole line of washing, which sailed away on a breeze. Fairies and sparrow men crashed into each other as they tried to escape.

Fawn grabbed a blueberry from an overturned barrel and threw it at the cat. But the cat was too dazzled by the fairies to even notice. He slinked around the trunk, looking for one to catch.

Between the roots at the back of the Home Tree was the entrance to the kitchen. The doorway was just wide enough to fit a small melon—or a large cat. As Fawn reached the back of the tree, she saw the tip of the cat’s fluffy tail disappear inside.

“Oh no!” Fawn gasped. The kitchen fairies would be trapped!

But a second later, the cat came streaking back out. Right behind him came a band of red-faced kitchen fairies. Some hollered and banged on pots and pans. Others pelted the cat with peppercorns.

The cat fled.

“Good thing we were making pepper soup today,” the baking-talent fairy Dulcie said when she caught Fawn’s eye.

When the cat was a good distance away, he stopped running. He paced back and forth, casting sulky glances at the Home Tree.

“But it looks to me like we haven’t seen the last of that cat,” Dulcie added.