Cats

Tiga and Fluffanora raced back to Linden House and didn’t stop until they reached the door. Tiga gripped the handle tightly and panted, as Fluffanora collapsed in a heap.

The door creaked open.

‘What’s happened now?’ Felicity Bat groaned.

‘Why did you go?’ Felicity Bat spat. ‘WHY?’

‘Curiosity?’ Fluffanora said.

‘And before you say it, Felicity, we know – curiosity killed the cat,’ Tiga added.

There was a hissing sound and then a sharp crack as a large clump of cats fell through the ceiling and landed at Tiga’s feet. They looked up at her.

‘Why are there cats falling through the roof?’ Tiga asked.

One of them licked her boot.

‘You just did a spell,’ Felicity Bat said impatiently.

‘What, “curiosity killed the cat”?!’ Tiga cried as another clump of cats fell on her. ‘That’s just a saying. People above the pipes say it all the time.’

‘Well down here,’ Felicity Bat said, ‘it’s a spell.’

Fluffanora leaned closer to Tiga. ‘It saves unwanted cats. You know, strays and things. If you want to help some cats, you say it.’

‘THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!’ Tiga cried.

‘Well, what do you expect from a Catcat family spell?’ Felicity Bat said. ‘Did Catriona not tell you about it at the Points gathering? She’s always boasting about her family’s spells.’

‘She didn’t go into detail, although Idabelle mentioned the one about turning witches into cats … just not the … ceiling cat one,’ Tiga said.

Felicity put her head in her hands and let out a muffled scream.

‘I think she finds us frustrating,’ Fluffanora said with a smile.

Felicity Bat went black in the eyes and flew towards Tiga. ‘I find her frustrating,’ she seethed, prodding Tiga with her finger. ‘She barely knows any spells. She doesn’t take my warnings about my sister seriously. SHE ALWAYS CAUSES TROUBLE.’

‘I barely know any spells either,’ Fluffanora said, flicking her finger and making a notebook appear. It had FLUFFANORA’S SPELL LIST written in perfect green ink on the front. She flicked through and looked up. ‘But I did know that curiosity killed the –’

‘DON’T SAY IT!’ Felicity Bat screamed.

Fluffanora closed her notebook slowly and tucked it into her pocket.

‘She’s right,’ Tiga said, slumping on the sofa. ‘I hardly know any spells. I don’t even write the ones I do know in a notebook. They’d barely fill a page!’

‘You’re good at being my best friend, though!’ Peggy said as she came cantering into the room and halted in the middle of them. ‘Wait … why so serious? What did I miss? And whose are these cats?’ She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Or are they here to complain about something?’

‘Tiga’s messed everything up again,’ Felicity Bat said as she floated slowly towards the door. ‘I have my own problems to deal with, I can’t spend my life sorting out yours.’

‘But the cats?’ Peggy pressed. ‘Why the cats?’

‘Tiga did a spell,’ Felicity Bat said faintly. ‘And this time I’m not helping them – THEY ARE ON THEIR OWN.’

‘Technically we’re far from alone,’ Fluffanora said, lifting up two of the cats.

Felicity Bat rolled her eyes as she floated out of the room, and with the flick of a finger, slammed the door.

‘NO!’ Tiga cried. ‘We didn’t even get to tell her about the return of the Ritzy Six.’

‘She’s too angry, Tiga. We’ll have to fix this one ourselves,’ Fluffanora said.

Peggy’s mouth was hanging open and the cat in her arms was licking her glasses. ‘The Ritzy Six? Not the Ritzy Six?’

Tiga nodded gravely. ‘I tried to tell Felicity, but she was furious we’d even gone to the Points meeting, and then the cats fell from the ceiling and, well …’

‘I’ve read about the Ritzy Six,’ Peggy said.

‘Well, you’ll probably get to meet them soon,’ Fluffanora said. ‘Idabelle brought them back – at the Points meeting. We saw it all.’

Peggy scooped up a cat and held it tightly. ‘Did they say anything when they came back? Maybe they’re nice now?’

‘I don’t think they are,’ Tiga said. ‘They raced off to Pearl Peak – they said everything they needed to be all powerful and wreak havoc was there.’

‘I remember,’ Peggy said, pacing the room. ‘The Ritzy Six locked their powerful magic in their home before they were caught. The only way to stop them is to get there before them.’

‘Oh!’ Tiga said, breathing a sigh of relief. ‘Well, that’s not impossible, is it? We can stop them! I mean, I can see Pearl Peak from the window here. It’s just a mountain. I’m really good at climbing. We can get to the top in no time. Let’s go!’

Fluffanora grabbed the side of the sofa to steady herself.

‘You can’t just climb Pearl Peak, Tiga,’ Peggy said. ‘It might look like a spindly mountain, but it’s a whole other world, with its own rules.’

Peggy clapped her hands and a black sled landed with a thud in the middle of the room.

‘What are we supposed to do with that?’ Fluffanora asked.

‘Well, there’s snow up there,’ Peggy replied, herding the cats and attaching them to the sled in neat rows. ‘So you might need a cat-drawn sled.’

‘Thanks,’ Tiga said with a gulp as she watched the mist swirl around the tip of Pearl Peak. ‘We need all the help we can get.’

‘And I’m coming too,’ Peggy said, nestling into the sled and grabbing the reins. The cats arched their backs, ready to run. ‘Because the sled is mine, the cats will only respond if I’m driving.’

‘And three is better,’ Fluffanora said in a whisper as she eyed the mountain. ‘The more of us that go up, the more likely it is that one of us will reach the top …’