Paw Power

by Kitty Wells

  Jessica’s face lit up. “Bristol.”

  Purrr. Purrrrrrr. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

  Maddy started. It felt like there was an engine in her pocket. “Oh! Um – did you like it there?”

  “It was OK.” A look of dread crossed Jessica’s face. Twisting in her seat, Maddy saw Sherry nudging the spiky-haired Jo and pointing at them. No!

  The Purr continued, louder than before. Maddy found it amazing that the whole canteen didn’t hear it, but not even Jessica seemed to. Maddy tried to angle herself so that Greykin was pointing right at her.

  “Tell me more about Bristol,” she said. “It’s – it’s got a harbour, right?”

  Jessica’s gaze flicked nervously behind Maddy. “Sherry’s watching us,” she whispered.

  “I know,” Maddy whispered back. “Just ignore her.”

  Jessica’s jaw dropped. “Ignore her?”

  “Sure,” said Maddy desperately. “I’m not scared of her; why should you be? She’s just a big, cowardly bully.”

  Jessica gazed at Maddy as if she were the bravest person on the planet. She scraped her chair a bit closer to Maddy’s.

  Maddy saw Sherry and the two Jos starting forward, weaving through the tables. Oh, Greykin, hurry! “Why did you move here?” she managed.

  Purrrr, PURRRRRRR!

  Suddenly Jessica sat bolt upright, her eyes wide. Maddy held her breath as a faint hint of colour came into the other girl’s cheeks and she shook her head as if to clear it.

  “Jessica?” Maddy leaned forward.

  Jessica’s thin shoulders straightened. She gave Maddy a considering look. “So . . . you’re really not afraid of Sherry, then?”

  “No, and you shouldn’t be either!” Maddy glanced over her shoulder, her heart thudding.

  “You’re right!” Jessica stood up so abruptly that she knocked her chair over. Maddy watched, open-mouthed, as she strode up to the larger girl.

  “Listen, Sherry!” she said, hands on hips. “I’ve had just about enough of you!”

  Sherry goggled down at her. “Er . . .”

  “You’ve been picking on me ever since I got here, and you can just stop it right now,” said Jessica. She took another step forward. Sherry actually backed away, looking startled.

  Maddy stifled a wild giggle.

  Jessica’s chin was thrust out, her eyes narrowed firmly. The dining room fell silent as the children stared at the scene in wonder. A few tables away, Rachel sat dreamy-eyed, as if she were watching the most wonderful film ever.

  Sherry recovered herself with an attempt at a sneer. “Yeah, well . . . how are you going to make me?”

  “Don’t push me, Sherry,” said Jessica in a low voice.

  Sherry gulped, and glanced desperately at the two Jos. They seemed as stunned as she was.

  “I’m not scared of you,” Jessica went on disdainfully. “Neither is Maddy.”

  “Maddy?” Sherry’s tone sharpened. She looked across the canteen.

  Maddy quickly busied herself with unwrapping her sandwich.

  “No, we’re not scared of you at all,” said Jessica, tossing her blonde hair. “Why should we be? That’s what Maddy says. She says you’re just a big, cowardly bully!”

  “Oh, she does, does she?” snarled Sherry.

  “Sit down, girls,” called one of the teachers.

  “Yeah, so back off,” said Jessica. And with a final hard look at Sherry, she turned on her heel and sauntered away.

  She sat down next to Maddy again – and blinked. All at once her face lost its confident expression, turning pale and scared-rabbit again. “I – I stood up to Sherry!” she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did that! How—”

  “Yeah, great.” Maddy’s voice came out in a squeak. “Well, um – nice talking to you, Jessica. Got to go now!” She grabbed up her lunch and scurried over to Rachel’s table. Her best friend was biting her thumbnail.

  “Wow,” she said weakly as Maddy sat down beside her. “The Purr really works, doesn’t it?”

  “What am I going to do?” cried Maddy. “Sherry’s going to kill me!”

  Rachel’s mouth twisted. “Um . . . maybe it’s not that bad. I mean, Sherry’s never noticed you before, has she? So why would she bother now?”

  “Do you think?” said Maddy, hardly daring to hope.

  Rachel nodded quickly. “Of course! Well . . . maybe.”

  The two girls stared at each other. As one, they peeked over their shoulders. Sherry and her gang were sitting huddled at a nearby table, whispering and shooting venomous looks in Maddy’s direction.

  Suddenly Maddy had a very, very bad feeling.

  Chapter Six

  “IT’S UNFORTUNATE,” ADMITTED Greykin later that afternoon.

  He was prowling about on Maddy’s maths worksheet as she sat fretting at her desk. She had started on her homework to try and take her mind off things, but she’d never felt less able to concentrate in her life.

  “Unfortunate?” she burst out. “Greykin, did you see her face? I mean, no, of course you didn’t, but—”

  “Worse than that, I’m afraid,” said Greykin. He paused at problem twelve, peering down at it with a furry frown. “This should be thirty-seven, not thirty-five.”

  “What do you mean, worse than that?” asked Maddy. Her hands felt clammy as she made the correction.

  She and the tiny cat were alone. Rachel had wanted desperately to come home with Maddy again, but she and her family were leaving for Cornwall the next morning, and her mum had said they had too much to do. In a strange way, Maddy was glad. It was lovely to have Greykin all to herself – even at such a time as this.

  Greykin sighed and sat down, his tail curling about the number seven. “Well – we cats have rather superior hearing, you know. Sherry and her cohorts were plotting what to do to you after half-term. I’m afraid their plan is for you to become their next victim.”

  Maddy’s heart seemed to shrivel in her chest as she stared at him. “Me? But – oh, Greykin! What now?”

  She jumped as her door opened.

  “Thought you might like a treat,” said her mother cheerfully, coming into the room. “How are you getting on?”

  “Oh . . . fine,” said Maddy as her mother put a small plate of biscuits on the desk. Greykin had instantly become ceramic again, his painted eyes vacant. “Thanks, Mum.”

  “Oh look, it’s your little cat! Is he keeping you company?” Maddy’s mother laughed as she picked up Greykin, turning him over in her hands.

  Maddy nodded, wishing fervently that she would put Greykin down and leave. Then her cheeks reddened. Her mum was holding Greykin upside-down, peering at his bum!

  “Mum, don’t!” She grabbed Greykin away.

  Her mother blinked. “Don’t what? I was just noticing that he doesn’t have one of those little holes on his underside. See?” Taking the tiny cat back, she turned him over again, pointing. “I thought all ceramic figurines did . . . it’s a bit strange. I wonder if these two do?”

  Maddy gulped as Mum reached for the other cats. What if she thought it was so strange that she decided to take the set away, and study them in more detail?

  “Mum, I’m busy,” she said.

  “Hmm?” Her mother frowned as she inspected the black cat’s stomach.

  “Mum,” insisted Maddy, her heart thudding.

  Maddy’s mother shook her head and placed the black cat back on the desk.

  “Odd . . . All right, love, enjoy the biscuits. I’ve some studying of my own to do.”

  Maddy sagged in relief as she left the room. Greykin rippled back into life and regarded her coolly, flicking his ears.

  “Don’t look at me like that! I couldn’t stop her,” said Maddy. She adjusted the black cat so that he was entwined with the long-haired tabby once more.

  “To think that I, who have been fêted by royalty . . .” Greykin shook his head with a weary sigh. “I suppose it’s only to be expected in this uncouth age. Not l
ike the glory days of Persia.”

  “Persia?” echoed Maddy. “Is that where you—”

  “In any event, leaving my indignity aside, there’s a problem that needs discussing,” broke in Greykin. He began to groom himself, attacking his thick grey fur with long strokes of his tongue.

  Sherry. A shiver ran through Maddy as she imagined returning to school, with Sherry and her gang waiting in the playground like vultures. Then she relaxed as the answer came to her. “But, Greykin, it’s easy! All you have to do is use the Purr on me, right? Then I’ll be able to stand up to Sherry too!”

  Greykin stopped grooming and cocked his round head to one side. “Perhaps,” he said thoughtfully. “Shall we test it? Close your eyes, and imagine meeting Sherry in the schoolyard. If you touch my fur, it will make it more vivid for you,” he added.

  Hesitantly, Maddy rested a finger on Greykin’s velvety fur. Closing her eyes, she pictured herself in the playground again.

  She could see it very clearly. She was standing by the slide wearing her blue jacket, and she could feel the cold air, hear the squeak of the swings – and see Sherry Newton and the two Jos advancing towards her, smiling unpleasantly.

  Maddy took a deep breath. Be brave, be brave, she thought. Where was the Purr? And then all at once she heard it, a deep rumbling like the ocean’s roar.

  Purr, PURRRR, PURRRRRR!

  Maddy straightened as courage pulsed through her, tingling from her head down to her toes. Oh, what a lovely feeling! Sherry and the two Jos were almost on her now. Sherry’s face was alight with glee.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” Maddy started to say scornfully . . . and then stopped in confusion. A tiny voice inside her was whispering, But I am, really. It’s just the Purr that’s making me brave; it’s not me at all.

  And with that Maddy could feel the courage leaving her, swirling away like water down a drain. The Purr grew fainter, until she could hardly hear it at all . . . and then it was gone.

  Sherry’s eyes glinted as she loomed over Maddy with an evil grin. Heart pounding, Maddy tore her finger away from Greykin’s back before she could imagine what happened next.

  The playground scene vanished. She was still safe in her room, sitting at her desk. The little cat was perched on her maths paper, watching her keenly.

  “Oh, Greykin, it didn’t work!” wailed Maddy. “I mean, it – it sort of started to, but then . . .” She trailed off in dismay.

  Greykin nodded sympathetically. “Yes, I was afraid that might happen. You see, the Purr doesn’t always work when one knows about it – particularly if the fear is too great.”

  “Oh,” said Maddy in a small voice. She must be a bigger coward than she’d thought if Greykin’s Purr couldn’t even help her out in her imagination!

  Greykin padded across the desk and rubbed his head comfortingly against her thumb. “Don’t worry, Maddy. The Purr is only minor magic – it can’t solve everything. What we need now is some real paw power! And fortunately we have much stronger weapons than the Purr in our arsenal.”

  Maddy wasn’t sure what an arsenal was, but Greykin’s meaning was clear enough. “We do?”

  “We do.” Greykin nosed Maddy’s hand, and she turned it over so that he could step onto her palm. She raised him up to face-level, and he beamed at her.

  “Maddy . . . how would you like to have magical powers of your own?

  “Now, the first thing is to just relax,” instructed Greykin. “Try flexing your knees a bit.”

  Standing in the meadow at the bottom of their back garden, Maddy bobbed up and down. She glanced over her shoulder at the house, praying that Jack wouldn’t suddenly appear.

  “You’re not concentrating,” said Greykin. He was perched on her shoulder like a small grey parrot. “You need to get into the right mindset. Think cat.”

  “Cat,” murmured Maddy, dipping up and down. “Cat, cat, cat.”

  What would it be like, she wondered nervously, to suddenly have a cat’s physical prowess? For that, incredibly, was what Greykin had told her would happen. Each of the tiny cats had the ability to give Maddy powers of her own – and Greykin’s magic would allow her to perform amazing feline feats.

  She stopped bobbing and cleared her throat. “Er . . . it’s not going to hurt, is it?”

  “Hurt? To take on a cat’s grace and strength?” Greykin sounded insulted. “Now then, are you ready?”

  “I suppose.” Maddy wiped her palms on her jeans.

  Greykin sat very still on her shoulder. After a moment he began to speak again – an odd mix of foreign words and a cat’s meows and chirrups. There was silence as he finished.

  Maddy began to fidget. She felt exactly the same as before. “Greykin, I don’t think it— Oh!”

  She yelped as a rush of tingly power crackled through her. It felt as if her hair were standing on end!

  “Try a leap,” cried Greykin, digging his tiny claws into her jumper.

  Maddy noticed that her knees felt different: springier, and more powerful. She crouched down – and leaped.

  All at once she was more than two metres up, hurtling through the air like a rocket. “Aargh!” she shrieked, her legs wheeling. There was a dizzying blur of trees, clouds, the ground – and then she landed with a thump.

  “Ow.” Maddy sat up, rubbing her arm.

  Greykin had jumped clear when she landed, and was now sitting on a nearby tree stump. “Are you all right?” he asked, his furry face creased in concern.

  “You said it wouldn’t hurt!” accused Maddy.

  “I didn’t precisely say that,” corrected Greykin gently. “There can sometimes be teething problems.”

  Maddy thought he really might have mentioned this before. She struggled to her feet and brushed herself down.

  Bounding through the grass towards Maddy’s foot, Greykin scampered up her jeans and top. “You mustn’t be discouraged. You just need to let go, and trust your new cat instincts! Try leaping with your eyes closed.”

  Maddy gaped at him. “But – I’ll crash into something!”

  “Unlikely,” said Greykin, swishing his tail. “The field’s empty. Try it and see.”

  Somehow Maddy found herself bending at the knees again, her eyes screwed tightly shut. She took a deep breath . . . and leaped.

  Without the view of the ground below, the whiz of air rushing past didn’t seem nearly so alarming. Maddy’s legs seemed to know what to do on their own this time, and flexed gracefully beneath her as she landed.

  “Oh!” she gasped, whirling about. She was standing upright, three metres away from where she’d started.

  Greykin purred into her ear. “You see? One hates to say I told you so, but—”

  “I did it!” Maddy gave an excited pirouette, her long brown hair fanning out. “Greykin, I really did it!”

  Soon she was leaping all over the field – landing, crouching, springing. Her heart sang with excitement. What luck that there were so few houses close by!

  “Well done,” said Greykin finally. “I think we can move on to climbing.”

  Maddy’s high spirits vanished as she stood at the base of the oak tree that rose from a corner of the meadow. It had to be at least fifteen metres tall! The tree’s branches seemed to spin dizzily as she stared upwards.

  “Um, Greykin . . . I don’t really like heights very much,” admitted Maddy. “They – they make me feel really odd, like my stomach’s whirling around and I can’t breathe—”

  “That won’t bother you now,” promised Greykin. “Cats love heights – the higher, the better!” His golden eyes gleamed. “Just look up, say to yourself, That’s where I’m going – and go!”

  Maddy swallowed. She placed her hands on the oak’s rough surface and gazed up at the tiny branches near the top. “That’s – that’s where I’m going,” she faltered.

  Whoosh! Suddenly she was scampering up the tree like a monkey. A starling squawked in alarm, darting out of her way. Leaves and branches raced past, until suddenly Madd
y was perched high up in the oak.

  “Wheee!” she cried, clinging to its swaying branches. “Greykin, look! We can see for miles!”

  A patchwork of fields and houses was laid out below her, like the view from an aeroplane. Maddy stared curiously at her own house. How funny to look down on its grey slate roof!

  As she watched, a male figure appeared at one of the first-floor windows. Dad! Maddy giggled. He looked even smaller than her Barbie doll.

  Her giggle died abruptly as she realized that her father could see her too.

  The window slid open. “Maddy!” he bellowed. “What on earth are you doing up there?”

  “Nothing,” Maddy called weakly back. Jack and Mum appeared behind him, gaping up at her. “Just . . . climbing.”

  “Get down at once!” shouted her dad. “No, wait – I’m coming out! Don’t move!”

  Unfortunately, climbing back down the tree turned out to be a great deal harder than climbing up. As her family stood on the ground gawping, Maddy slipped and slithered her way down.

  “Careful!” yelled Maddy’s mum. “Oh, Ted, be ready to catch her if she falls.”

  Hidden by her long hair, Greykin clung to Maddy’s shoulder, whispering encouragement. “That’s it . . . there’s a branch just by your left foot . . .”

  “Why isn’t the power working now?” hissed Maddy. She pawed the air with her foot, and heard her mother gasp.