Posey holds his hands out in front of me like a stop sign.
“Before you freak out, I think you should know something,” he says. “I can speak cat.”
I roll my eyes. “What does that have to do with building sandcastles?”
Then the drawbridge creaks open, and Sir Pounce’s cat face peeks out.
Posey talks fast. “It’s just that Sir Pounce really wanted to go to the beach. He doesn’t like to miss out on all the fun! And when he was pawing the window, he wasn’t saying good-bye, he was asking you to bring him along.”
Sir Pounce looks at me. “Mrr-row!”
I soften ever so slightly.
Wow, I think. I had no idea Sir Pounce actually wanted to go with me on trips. That’s pretty cool. But wait! “Pets are not allowed at the beach!”
Posey smiles slyly and asks, “What about invisible pets?”
With a snap of his fingers, Sir Pounce disappears. Completely.
“Mrr-row!” says the nothing space where my cat used to be.
I roll my eyes again. “Can you at least make him visible to just us?”
Posey tosses some imaginary friend dust at the castle door. And wa-la! Sir Pounce reappears on the drawbridge. I can almost see him smile.
Then he hops over the moat and starts talking to Posey in cat.
And I’m not going to lie—I feel super left out. I tap my foot on the sand. “What are you two talking about?”
Posey turns to me. “We’re talking about the rules.”
I keep tapping my foot. “What rules?”
Posey puts his arm around Sir Pounce. “Your cat has promised not to run away, and he will also obey all your orders.”
I sigh heavily. I just want a nice day at the beach. Then I realize that maybe having Sir Pounce here would be awesome. Just the thought of it gives me a little surge of excitement. Then I fling two fistfuls of sand in the air.
“Okay,” I say, giving in. “Let the beach party begin!”