“That tickles!” Amy half-laughed, half-sobbed. She picked her up gently. “Sorry, Misty, we have to go and find Mum.” Amy carried her down from the tree house and across the garden. Misty purred in her arms, so happily. She was such a different kitten from the nervous little creature Amy had first seen. It felt so wrong to take her back!
“Oh, you found her!” Mum came over to stroke Misty, as Amy opened the kitchen door. “Please don’t cry, Amy.” But she looked close to crying herself, as she gave Amy a hug. “I don’t want to give her back either, but we have to. You know we do. Look, shall we wait until tomorrow? So you can have tonight to say goodbye?”
Amy shook her head. “No. That would be worse. We should go now. Come on, Mum, please, let’s just get it over with.”
“All right. I’ll call the number on the poster. Rose Tree Close isn’t far. We can just carry her there, can’t we?”
Amy nodded, and sat down at the table with Misty, half-listening as Mum explained to someone on the phone that they’d found their missing kitten. With shaking fingers, Amy started to take off Misty’s pink collar. Misty wasn’t even Misty any more! She had another name.
“They’re really glad to know she’s safe,” Mum told her gently. “I said we’d bring her round.” She grabbed her bag, and they set out, Amy with Misty held tightly in her arms as they walked down their street and along another road, to the little turning that was Rose Tree Close.
Misty looked around her curiously, wondering what was happening. Amy had never carried her outside like this before. Then, all of a sudden, her ears went back flat against her head, as she recognized where they were going. Why was Amy bringing her here? She struggled in Amy’s arms and mewed with fright as they walked down the path.
“Oh, Mum, she doesn’t want to!” Amy protested, but her mum had already rung the doorbell.
The door opened, and an old lady stood there, staring at them in delight.
“Jet! It really is her! Oh, thank you so much for finding her!”
Amy only just stopped herself from shouting, “No, her name’s Misty!” Instead, she stared at the brooch on the old lady’s cardigan, which was a little silver cat, with green glass eyes.
“Come in, please! Oh, Jet, where have you been?” Mrs Jones stroked Misty, and Misty actually relaxed and purred, and let the old lady take her from Amy.
Amy felt the tears starting to burn the backs of her eyes again. This really was Misty’s owner. It was true. Her little cat belonged to someone else.
Chapter Eight
Misty felt very confused. She was back with Mrs Jones, but Amy was there too. She wasn’t sure what was happening. Mrs Jones had Charlie now, so why had Amy brought her here? But it was so nice to have Mrs Jones holding her again. She rubbed herself against the old lady’s cheek lovingly.
Mrs Jones led them into the sitting room, and sat down with Misty on her lap. “Where did you find her?” she asked, smiling at them so gratefully that Amy felt guilty.
“She came into Amy’s tree house,” her mum explained. “We did ask around, but no one seemed to have lost a kitten. She’s actually been with us a couple of weeks. I’m sorry, you must have been so worried.”
Mrs Jones nodded. “I was terrified that she’d got lost or had even been run over. I’ve only just moved here, you see, to live with my daughter, so Jet doesn’t know the area very well.” She scratched Misty behind the ears, and the little cat stretched her paws out blissfully. “She kept wandering off – we hardly saw her – and then she disappeared. I thought she’d gone too far and got lost.”
Mum gave Amy a look, and Amy stared at the carpet, feeling miserable and guilty. Mrs Jones had hardly seen her because Amy had been tempting her away. She’d been so stupid! Mum had been right – she really had stolen someone else’s cat.
“Amy looked after her very well,” her mum said, giving Amy a hug. “We’d always thought she was too young for a pet, but we’ve changed our minds after watching her with your cat. We’re definitely going to get a kitten of our own. I mean it,” she added to Amy in a whisper. “We’re so proud of you.”
There was a scuffling noise at the door, and Misty suddenly tensed up. She had forgotten! It had been beautifully quiet, almost like things used to be, with just Mrs Jones. But now Millie and Dan were home!
“Gran! Gran! Oh! You’ve got Jet back!” A little boy raced into the room, and tried to grab Misty.
Amy gasped, as she watched Misty cower back against Mrs Jones. A little girl came running in after him, and tried to pull her brother away so she could reach the kitten too.
“Gently, Dan! Millie, be careful! You’ll frighten her,” Mrs Jones cried. The children stopped shoving as their mum came in. “These are my grandchildren. They’ve missed her too,” Mrs Jones explained to Amy and her mum. “And this is my daughter, Sarah.”
Sarah was smiling delightedly. “I’m so glad you’ve found her. We’ve all been so worried.”
Amy looked anxiously at Misty – or Jet, she supposed she ought to call her now. She was pressed against Mrs Jones, her ears twitching with fright. Amy thought the children were loud, so she couldn’t imagine how a kitten felt.
“We’d better go – leave you all to settle down,” Amy’s mum said.
“Please, let me have your number – I’d like to call and let you know how Jet is. I’m really so grateful.” Mrs Jones stood up, with Jet held against her shoulder, and led them out into the hallway. “My goodness! Jet, what is it?”
The kitten suddenly scrabbled her way up Mrs Jones’s shoulder, and leaped to the top of a shelf, almost knocking over a vase. Her tail was fluffed up, and her ears were laid back. Charlie was here!
“Oh, you’ve got another cat!” Amy exclaimed, seeing the sleek Siamese padding along the hallway, staring up at her little Misty.
“Yes, that’s Charlie. He belongs to my daughter. He and Jet don’t always get along too well. But I’m sure they’ll settle down now that she’s back.”
Watching Misty spitting angrily from her safe spot on the shelf, Amy thought that it didn’t look like they got along at all.
“You were very good, Amy,” her mum said, as they walked home. “I really did mean it about you getting your own kitten.”
“Thanks,” Amy whispered. “Not for a while though,” she added. She knew she ought to be happy at the idea of her own kitten. But at the moment all she could think of was Misty, scared by those noisy, grabby children, and terrified of that Siamese cat. It made her want to cry. When she’d first seen Misty with Mrs Jones, she’d thought she’d got it all wrong, and Misty did belong with her. But now she wasn’t sure. What if that Siamese had been stealing all of Misty’s food and that’s how the kitten had ended up so thin? She wouldn’t be surprised. She was almost sure that Charlie had made Misty run away. And now Amy had made her go back.
Misty raced across the living room, making for her hiding place under the bookshelf. But she couldn’t get in! She wriggled frantically, but she’d grown – two weeks of proper food, and she was simply too big to fit into her special safe place. Why had Amy left her here? Was she going to come back? Shaking, she turned back to face Charlie, who was right on her tail. She hissed defiantly, and raked her little claws across his nose. But he was just so big! With one swipe of his long brown paw he sent her rolling over and over across the carpet, and then he jumped on her.
“Honestly! Mum, she’s fighting with Charlie already! Stop it! Bad cat!” Sarah tried to pull the two of them apart as they scratched and spat.
Mrs Jones heaved herself up from her chair, and tried to help. “Jet, Jet, come here. Oh, he’s hurting her.” She waved Charlie away with her walking stick, and leaned down to scoop up the little kitten. “Oh dear…” She sat down again, the kitten a ball of trembling black fur in her arms.