The Time Thief

by Angela Dorsey

  And if Angel was going to run away again anyway, there was nothing wrong with helping her.

  Mika sat up. She could just wander past the old house and listen. That’s all. Just listen. And if she heard Angel calling for help again, no one could blame her for rescuing her once more.

  Mika jumped off the bed, feeling a billion times better. She found Mom in the kitchen. “Can I go to Aimee’s for a while?”

  “You’ll be back for supper?”

  “Promise.”

  Before she left, Mika phoned her friend. “Aimee, can you meet me on the road at the big woods in fifteen minutes?” she asked quietly so no one else could hear.

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  “I’ll explain when we get there.” In her room, Mika removed her school books from her backpack, then carried it down the stairs. She grabbed a few tools — a hammer, a screwdriver, and a short, sturdy crowbar — from the garage and shoved them into her pack. If Angel was trying to escape, Mika had better be prepared to help.

  She hurried toward their meeting place, hardly pausing long enough to say hello to Chocolate Drop. As planned, she paused in front of the old house to listen. Everything was quiet. Even the breeze, usually whispering through the grass, was still. Mika inhaled deeply. “I’m coming, Angel,” she whispered.

  When she got to the big trees, Aimee was waiting.

  “Sorry. I tried to hurry,” said Mika breathlessly.

  “That’s okay. What’s up?”

  “Angel’s owner came to get her while we were at school.” Mika felt tears come to her eyes again but willed them away. Now was not the time to feel sad. They had a job to do.

  “Oh, Mika, that’s awful.”

  “It was a woman with a big black dog, and Billy said Angel tried to hide from her. She didn’t want to go. Remember how I told you about Angel being terrified when I rescued her the first time?”

  Aimee nodded.

  “I think she doesn’t like her owner. We should try to rescue her again.”

  “You mean, just take her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But isn’t that, uh, stealing?”

  “It isn’t if we don’t force her to come with us. We’ll just help her by giving her a way to escape if she wants it.”

  “I guess so,” Aimee said, sounding doubtful.

  “What if I promise I won’t take her unless she makes it totally and completely obvious that she wants to come with us?”

  “Okay.” Aimee nodded. “So you have a plan?”

  Mika turned toward the forest. “We can go through the trees to get to the house. Then we can get close without being seen.”

  She explained the rest of her plan as they hurried through the grove of trees, dodging brush and low branches. When they came to the edge of the woods, they peered cautiously from between tree trunks. The side of the abandoned house was before them, and it still looked deserted. Could they be wrong about where Angel’s owner was living?

  “Let’s go.” Mika broke from the cover of the trees and ran toward the back of the house, Aimee right behind her. In the backyard, they leapt over broken fruit tree branches. Mika slipped on a rotten apple. Her load of tools clanged together as she jumped back to her feet and sprinted for the door. Together, the girls ran up the porch stairs, bounding over the creepy black hole that had once been the second step.

  Thank goodness the broken window in the backdoor hadn’t been boarded over or fixed. As Mika reached toward the opening, a despairing cry swirled out of the house. A white face and two bloody front paws appeared in the hole as Angel frantically tried to squeeze through the jagged glass.

  “No, Angel!” Mika cried. “Go back. You’re too big!”

  She pushed the cat back through the hole, then reached through and unlocked the door. As the door swung open, Angel darted past the girls, leaving bloody footprints in her wake. Mika and Aimee were right behind her. Mika scooped Angel into her arms at the corner of the house, and together they raced for the forest.

  Finally, they reached the protective trunks. Angel retracted her claws from Mika’s jacket and huddled against her chest.

  “It’s okay, Angel,” Mika whispered. “You’re safe now.” She lifted one of Angel’s front paws and looked at the pads beneath but couldn’t see the wounds under the fresh blood. “You poor, poor girl.”

  “We should’ve come sooner,” said Aimee.

  “I know. I feel so awful.”

  “What a horrible person she is. I mean, for Angel to be freaking out like that.” Aimee peered out from behind their tree trunk.

  Mika shuddered. “Yeah.”

  “Look,” Aimee hissed.

  Mika peeked around the other side of the massive tree. What had Aimee seen?

  A human-shaped blur through a window. Standing still, like a statue.

  Watching them?

  No, it couldn’t be, because now it was moving away. Mika inhaled greedily. She hadn’t even realized she’d been holding her breath.

  “Let’s get out of here, Mika. I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Mika was about to ask, “What bad feeling?” but the words froze on her tongue.

  The black dog trotted around the corner of the house.

  “Aimee,” Mika said, her voice hardly more than a breath.

  “I see it too.”

  The dog sniffed the ground, followed their scent for a few metres, then stopped to look around.

  Aimee shrunk back behind the tree trunk, but Mika couldn’t pull her eyes from the black beast. He stood like a sculpture, the gloomy sky casting an iron tint to his coat. A low growl rumbled toward them, then the dog lowered his head and trotted their direction.

  His golden eyes caught hers — and before she could even think, before she could say “Let’s go,” the dog was racing toward them, his mouth open in a slobbering snarl, his eyes like embers in the night.

  Chapter 9

  “Run!” screamed Mika.

  Aimee didn’t ask questions. She ran. Mika raced a metre behind her through the woods. Branches tore at her hair and scraped her skin, but she hardly noticed the pain. Aimee reached the fence that surrounded her yard and slipped through the boards. Mika handed Angel over the fence to her, then glanced back. The black dog was metres away, hurtling toward her.

  “Run!” she yelled again, and threw herself through the fence boards. She landed on the lawn with a thump, then sprang to her feet and ran faster than she’d ever run in her life. At any moment she expected to feel sharp teeth in her leg, pulling her down, savaging her.

  Aimee ran in front of her with Angel, wide-eyed and mewling in terror, hanging over her shoulder. At least they would be safe. But why hadn’t the dog caught her yet? She didn’t stand a chance of outrunning it.

  Finally they were at the steps to Aimee’s house, then at the door itself, then inside. Mika slammed the door and raced to the window.

  The dog was nowhere in sight. He hadn’t followed them across the lawn.

  “Hi, Mika.”

  Mika turned to see Aimee’s little brother, Seth, standing behind her.

  “We brought Mika’s kitty over to visit you,” Aimee said quickly. “Isn’t she pretty?”

  “Wow!” said Seth. “But she’s hurt.”

  “She cut her paws.” Mika took Angel from Aimee and carried her into the bathroom. She washed the cuts while Angel squirmed and Aimee found the First Aid kit, then they bandaged Angel’s two front paws and took her into the living room.

  “Can I hold her?” asked Seth.

  “Sure,” said Mika. “Sit on the couch, and I’ll show you how. She needs to lie down so she doesn’t put weight on her front paws.”

  Seth bounced all the way to the couch, then sat still as Mika laid Angel on his lap. She stroked the cat’s side to help her settle. Angel mewed.

  “Aimee, feel this.”

  “What?” Aimee rushed over.

  “Right here, on her side. There’s a bump.”

  Aimee gasped. “Do you t
hink …” She stopped. “Let’s go talk in the kitchen.”

  “Just pet her on the top of her head, Seth,” said Mika and followed Aimee out of the room. By the time they got to the kitchen, Mika was shaking. “She hit or kicked Angel. How else would Angel get a lump on her ribs?”

  “We should take her to the vet.”

  Mika took a deep breath. “I’ll call Mom, but first I have to decide what to tell her. I mean, how do I explain getting Angel back?”

  “You could tell them some of what happened, like that we found Angel near the woods and that she was hurt. All true things.”

  “And they’ll think she was abused and ran away again.”

  “Well, she was abused and she did run away. We just opened the door first.”

  Mika checked on Angel, then went to the phone.

  Mom answered, “Hello?”

  “Mom, Angel needs our help. We found her on the way to Aimee’s house, and she’s been hurt.”

  “What? What do you mean, you found her? How has she been hurt?”

  “I think she ran away from her owner again. Her front paws are all bloody like she was trying to escape from somewhere, and she has a bump on her side.” Mika struggled to hold back her tears. “We bandaged her paws, but I think she should go to the vet.”

  “Stay right there. Dad will come pick you up.”

  “You won’t give her back again, will you?” Mika couldn’t breathe as she waited for Mom to answer.

  “Let’s wait to hear what the vet says. If Angel’s being abused, then no, we won’t give her back. But if she hasn’t, well, maybe we can talk her owner into giving her up.”

  Aimee’s mom came in from the garden while Mika and Angel waited for their ride. “Who’s this?” she asked Seth.

  “Angel,” said Seth. “Mika’s new kitty.”

  “Wow, she’s gorgeous, Mika. But what happened to her paws?” Aimee’s mom knelt in front of Seth and stroked Angel’s head.

  “We think her old owner hurt her,” said Mika.

  “Oh, the poor thing. I’m glad she’s with you now.”

  “Thanks.” A car horn blared from the driveway. “That must be Dad.”

  “Call me later and tell me what the vet says, okay?” asked Aimee.

  Mika agreed, then hurried out to the car.

  “Sounds like you had an exciting time,” said Dad as Mika slid onto the front seat. He reached over to take Angel from her lap and ran gentle hands over the tiny body. When he finally spoke, his voice was gruff. “I think you’re right, Mika. She’s been abused. We’ll take her straight to the vet and have her checked out.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” Mika held Angel as they pulled out of Aimee’s driveway. She wondered if the little cat would be nervous about riding in the car, but after a moment Angel curled up and went to sleep, seeming exhausted after her ordeal.

  Mika liked Dr. Gulbransen right away. He had kind eyes that crinkled when he smiled. “So what’s been going on here?” he asked as he reached down to stroke Angel’s head.

  “She hurt her paws,” said Mika. “And I think someone kicked her.”

  The veterinarian’s friendly eyes hardened. “Do you know who?”

  “I’m not sure, but I think it was her old owner.”

  Dr. Gulbransen motioned to Mika and her dad to follow him into one of the examination rooms. “Is there any way you can prove it?”

  “No one saw her do anything, but she picked Angel up from our house this afternoon, and later I found her, injured, near the woods.” A touch of guilt brushed against Mika’s heart, but she forced it away — now was not the time to confess anything. In fact, never seemed a really good time to come clean.

  Worried silence engulfed the room as Dr. Gulbransen began to feel Angel’s body. The veterinarian bent her joints and felt along her spine, gently pressed on her stomach, and even felt along her tail. He looked into her ears and eyes with special instruments and opened her mouth to look at her teeth and flex her jaw. Then he listened to her heart and lungs with a small stethoscope. Finally, he removed Mika’s makeshift bandages and examined Angel’s front paws.

  When he looked up at them, he was smiling. “She’ll be all right. You’ll have to watch her for a few days and make sure she doesn’t move around too much. Of course, call me right away if she begins to vomit or can’t seem to balance properly. Keep track of how much she’s eating too. If she’s not eating much after a couple of days, call me.”

  “Were her insides hurt?” asked Mika.

  “I think her ribs absorbed most of the damage. Luckily they weren’t broken. In fact, there are no broken bones at all, except for one. Feel here, gently,” said Dr. Gulbransen and guided Mika’s hand to the tip of Angel’s tail.

  Mika was shocked to feel the twist in the tail. “It’s crooked.”

  “Yes, but she’s going to be okay. She was lucky. The tail isn’t paralyzed, so it won’t need to be shortened. She’ll just have a little souvenir to remind her of her experience.”

  “What about the pads on her paws?” asked Dad.

  “The cuts are all shallow. They bled quite a bit, so they look worse than they actually are. Since she doesn’t seem to mind a bandage, I’ll wrap them for you. We don’t want her licking them until the cuts are well sealed.”

  “When do we take the bandages off?”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that,” said the veterinarian. “The hard part will be keeping them on for any length of time.”

  Dr. Gulbransen finished bandaging Angel’s front paws and lifted her back into Mika’s arms. Angel rubbed her face against her girl’s cheek, then sniffed at her bandages, bit the tip of one, and pulled.

  “No, Angel,” Mika said firmly. “The bandages are there to help you.”

  Angel looked up at Mika with innocent eyes and meowed.

  Dr. Gulbransen laughed. “Wait until you’re not around to stop her. I have a feeling those bandages will be off in a matter of seconds. But don’t worry. Even if she pulls them off, the wounds should still heal moderately quickly.”

  “I’ll watch her all the time anyway,” promised Mika.

  The veterinarian opened the door and Mika carried Angel from the examination room.

  “If you find proof of the abuse, you can report her former owner to the authorities,” said Dr. Gulbransen.

  “If we find proof, we will,” replied Dad.

  It was dark by the time they got outside. Mika was silent on the drive home, her mind going over the veterinarian’s words again and again. What a huge relief it was that Angel didn’t have any serious injuries. Everything was going to be okay.

  The road unwound before them as they drove along, and after a few minutes, Mika shut her eyes. Now that all the excitement was over and Angel was safe, she felt exhausted.

  The car slowed and stopped. She opened her eyes, expecting to be in front of their house but instead the country road, illuminated in their headlights, stretched out before them.

  Beside her, Dad unrolled his car window. “Can I help you?” he asked.

  Someone had flagged them down? Mika looked past her dad, hoping to see the person outside the car, but it was too dark to see more than a shadowy figure.

  “Yes. You can give me back what’s mine.” The woman’s voice was hostile, menacing.

  “What?” asked Dad, obviously startled.

  “You have something that belongs to me.”

  Mika pressed against her side of the car. She could guess who that voice belonged to — to a person who was mean enough to abuse a cat. Automatically, she put her arms around Angel to hide her.

  Suddenly, the little cat hissed at the passenger side window. Mika’s heart boomed as she slowly turned. Inches away, a wide black head glared at her from the other side of the glass. The dog’s lips lifted and his muzzle twisted into a snarl. With trembling fingers, Mika reached to lock her door.

  “Your brat daughter stole my cat, and I want her back.” The woman was getting louder, and unbelievably, sounded even m
eaner. “Give her to me now.”

  Finally Dad understood who she was. “Be careful what you say.” His voice was a low growl. “And I would advise you to stay away from my family, including our cat.”

  The woman laughed. “Why don’t you just give her to me now and save yourself some grief? Or soon you’ll be begging me to take her back.”

  “That’ll be the day,” said Dad and started to roll up his window.

  “No. Tomorrow will be the day.” The ominous words floated through the narrowing crack as the dark form faded back into the night. “Tomorrow.”

  Mika had never seen her father so angry. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel and slammed the car into gear. She looked for the dog again as the car moved forward, but the night seemed empty now.

  A couple of minutes later, they were home. Mika undid her seatbelt but stopped when her dad reached over and touched her arm. “Wait,” he said, his voice sounding normal once again. “Don’t say anything about this to anyone, okay? There’s no need to worry your Mom and Grandma. Don’t even tell Aimee, because she might let it slip.”

  Mika nodded.

  “And you don’t worry either. We won’t hear from this woman again.”

  Mika was relieved to hear his words, and of course, he was right — and even if Angel’s old owner did try to do something, she’d be no match for Dad. “Thanks for sticking up for Angel, Dad. She needs to belong to our family.”

  He reached over and tousled Mika’s hair. “She does.”

  As they walked toward the front porch, the moonless sky opened and torrents of rain pummelled the earth. Mika held Angel as tightly as she dared as she ran toward the house, Dad right behind her.

  “Angel’s home!” she yelled as she opened the door, then laughed when her brothers crashed down the stairs, shrieking with joy. Grandma and Mom cheered from the living room and joined them in the kitchen moments later.

  As her family crowded around her, all talking over each other, demanding to know what had happened, telling her not to leave anything out because they wanted to know every tiny detail, Mika smiled. Despite her brothers pushing and shoving each other, despite their incessant noise and the chaos they created, it was awesome to be home.