Claws! (4 page)

I spun around. “Amanda!” I cried. “I—I didn’t see you!”

She hunched down in the weeds. She pointed at Bella Two on my shoulder. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah. Fine,” I said. I stared behind her. “That store guy—?”

“I didn’t see him,” she said. “I ran out the front and circled back.”

She lifted the cat away from me and held her in her arms. “How are you doing, Bella?” she asked, speaking softly. She rubbed the cat’s back.

“Yes, your name is Bella now.”

The cat purred.

“Calm as a pineapple,” Amanda said.

“Well,
I’m
not,” I said. “We killed one cat. Now we’ve
stolen
another one. We have to get home, Amanda. We —”

“Look how sweet and gentle she is,” Amanda said. “She’s perfect, Mickey. I think our luck is changing.”

Just as she said that, I heard Lou’s shouts from the parking lot.

I raised my head over the weeds. I saw Lou running hard, waving both arms wildly. “Stop! You two! Stop right there! STOP!” he screamed.

Amanda and I jumped up. We turned and ran. The weeds rustled and bent as we pushed through them to the street.

Glancing back, I saw Lou, still waving and shouting. He reached the edge of the parking lot. He dove into the weeds, coming after us. “Stop! Stop! Both of you!”

Amanda and I had no place to run. We stood on the edge of the road. Cars honked at us as they rolled past.

“He’s got us trapped!” I cried. “We can’t escape him.”

Amanda held on to Bella tightly I watched Lou thrashing his way through the weeds. He was only a few yards away from us.

When the bus pulled to a stop, I cried out in surprise.
“No way!”
I didn’t realize we were standing at a bus stop.

Amanda and I dove onto the bus.

The driver squinted at Bella. “Pretty cat,” he said.

The bus doors slid shut just as Lou came bursting out of the weeds.

The bus pulled away. I saw the angry look on Lou’s face. He shook both fists in the air. I
couldn’t hear him, but I could see he was still shouting furiously.

Amanda and I stumbled to the back of the bus. We sank down in the backseat. We were both still breathing hard. My face was drenched in cold sweat.

We didn’t speak all the way back to the Caplans’ house. Bella was totally calm, as if nothing special was going on.

We were carrying her up the Caplans’ driveway when my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket. “I know, Mom,” I said. “Sorry I’m so late. Amanda and I got hung up with the cat. I’ll be home in five minutes.”

I didn’t lie—right? We really did get hung up with the cat.

Now I began to worry about how this new cat would act being in a strange house. She had been perfectly calm so far. But being in a new place with strange rooms and strange smells … would it freak the cat out?

Would she smell the old Bella? Would that make her upset?

Only one way to find out.

We carried Bella Two into the Caplans’ living room. This time, I carefully closed the front door. Amanda set the cat down gently on the rug.

The cat just stood there for a long moment. She gazed up at Amanda. But she didn’t look
around. And she didn’t seem eager to go exploring.

She waved her tail slowly from side to side. Then she took off suddenly. Her paws padded the carpet silently as she darted around the couch, onto the tattered pillow beside it on the floor.

Amanda and I exchanged glances. “That’s the old Bella’s favorite spot,” I said. “And the new Bella went right to it. Weird.”

“Weird as a raspberry,” Amanda said.

Raspberry?
Before I could try to figure that one out, Bella leaped up from the pillow. She ran into the kitchen and stopped at the space beside the fridge.

She lowered her head and licked her empty food dish. Then she meowed, like she was asking for her dinner.

I turned to Amanda. “How did the cat know where her food dish was?” I asked.

Amanda shook her head. “Beats me. She ran right to it.”

“Maybe she smelled it,” I said.

I pulled a can of cat food out of the cabinet. I opened it, then forked it into the food dish.

The new Bella dug in to it, chomping and slurping as if she hadn’t been fed in days. She made the funniest noises, gulping and coughing as she sucked down the fishy-smelling gunk.

“Wow, she was
starving!”
Amanda declared. “Don’t they feed the cats in Cat Heaven?”

Hearing the name of the store made me shudder. I pictured stealing the cat again. And our narrow escape. I pictured Lou, all red-faced and furious, shaking his fists at us as we roared away on the bus.

I knew I’d have nightmares that night.

Bella licked her food dish till it was sparkling clean. Then she lapped up some water from the water bowl.

Amanda had a big grin on her face. “Look at her, Mickey,” she said. “Look how perfect this cat is.”

I had to agree. She looked a lot like the old Bella. She was about the same size. Her yellow eyes were the same. Her tail was just about the right length.

“She even has the same cute perked-up ears,” I said. “This could work, Amanda. It really could. Maybe you
are
a genius!”

Her grin grew wider. “Told you so.”

I started to bump knuckles with Amanda. But before I could reach her, I saw the cat sway back onto her hind legs.

Bella pulled back her lips, bared her teeth—and let out a shrill screech from deep inside her. Her eyes started to glow bright yellow.

Before I could move, she leaped off the floor. Leaped high into the air.

“Whooooa!” A shocked cry burst from my throat as the cat landed on my chest. I staggered back.

She screeched again. It sounded like a scream in a horror movie.

Her eyes glowed brighter. I saw her teeth … saw her claws poke out from the furry paws.

No time to move. No time to push her away.

The cat swiped her claws down my chest—and slashed the front of my T-shirt in two.

“Owwww!”
I let out a howl of pain.

The cat dropped to the floor, landing on all fours. She took off running and disappeared down the hall.

I staggered back against the fridge. I pulled apart my slashed T-shirt and examined my chest.

“Did she cut you?” Amanda demanded. “Are you bleeding?”

“N-no,” I stammered. My voice came out in a choked whisper. “I’m only scratched. She didn’t break the skin.”

Amanda shook her head. “I don’t believe it. She ripped your shirt to
rags.”

“What was
that
about?” I said, trying to pull the two sides of my T-shirt together. My hands were shaking. I couldn’t get over my shock. “One minute she was enjoying her dinner. The next …”

“Nervous, I guess,” Amanda said. “She’s just tense. A new house. New people. It must be very frightening to a cat.”

I took a deep breath and held it. “She—she
attacked
me. Like a wild animal.”

I followed Amanda to the back of the house. I saw the new Bella on the Caplans’ bed. She had curled into a ball on one of the pillows. Her eyes were closed. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Right at home.

“Like a wild animal,” I repeated in a whisper.

Amanda tugged my torn shirt hard. “She needs time to get used to everything. It’s a good thing the Caplans won’t be back for a few days. By the time they get home, Bella will be perfectly sweet and normal.”

I gazed at the black cat curled up so comfy on the Caplans’ bed. “Amanda, I sure hope you’re right,” I said. I tugged her arm. “Come on. Let’s get out of here—before she wakes up and attacks again.”

“Mickey, you sure spend a lot of time at the Caplans’,” Mom said at dinner. “How are you and Amanda getting along with that cat?”

I nearly choked on my chicken leg. That was the
last
question I wanted to be asked tonight.

“Fine,” I said. “Everything is perfect.”

I had a strong urge to tell Mom and Dad the truth. To tell them everything that had happened today …

We left the Caplans’ front door open. Bella ran out and got run over by a truck.

Then we stole a black cat from a store and just barely escaped. The cat looks a lot like Bella, so we’re hoping to fool the Caplans.

But after we fed the new cat tonight, she went berserk and attacked. She leaped on me like a wild creature and raked her claws down the front of my shirt.

But I was afraid to tell them the truth. And I definitely didn’t want them to tell the Caplans what Amanda and I had done.

“If you enjoy this so much,” Dad said, “maybe you’ll want your own cat.”

“Uh … maybe,” I said.

Later, up in my room, I fed Zorro. I gave him some bits of lettuce and a tiny piece of apple. After his dinner, I tickled his stomach for a little while. He likes that a lot.

He’s a very cute mouse. I love the way he gets excited when I come into the room, and he starts to wiggle his nose like crazy till I pet him.

I fed my three goldfish, too. I named them Nick, Joe, and Kevin. Good names for fish.

I did some homework. I texted some of my friends. I tried to call Amanda, but I got her
voice mail. I didn’t leave a message. She never listens to her messages.

Later in bed, I couldn’t get to sleep. I kept thinking about the old Bella and the new Bella. Could Amanda and I really get away with this trick we were pulling on the Caplans?

Thinking about it made my throat tighten. I could feel my dinner churning around in my stomach.

I shut my eyes and tried to concentrate on sleeping. But the harder you concentrate, the more awake you are.

My bedroom window was open. The curtains made a rustling sound as they floated in a soft breeze. In the far distance, I heard a horn honk.

Relax
…
just relax,
I told myself.

But I gasped and jerked straight up in bed when I heard the sound.

A shrill cat yowl.

From under my bed?

I grabbed the covers with both hands. Sat up straight and listened.

Silence. Just the soft shifting of the window curtains.

And then—another angry yowl. From beneath the bed.

My heart pounding, I half fell, half leaped out of bed. Dropped to my knees. Pulled up the bedspread and peered under the bed.

No. Too dark.

I climbed to my feet. Fumbled for the lamp on my bed table and clicked it on. Blinking in the yellow light, I dropped back to the floor.

No cat under there.

I saw a lot of dust and a tennis ball and a sneaker I’d been searching for. But no cat.

“I didn’t dream it.” I said the words out loud. “Where are you, cat?”

Silence.

I sat on the edge of my bed and waited for my heartbeat to slow to normal. My hands and feet were suddenly ice-cold.

My pajama bottoms were twisted. I stood up to straighten them—and heard the cat’s shrill cry again.

From across the room?

I jumped up, gazing all around. No sign of a cat.

Could the sound be coming from outside?

I crossed to the window and peered out. Pale moonlight washed over the front yard. It made the bushes and lawn look silvery and unreal.

I didn’t see a cat down there.

I grabbed the bottom of the window and pulled it shut. The curtains fell back in place against the wall.

I stood there for a while, frozen. Listening. Listening hard.

Finally, I climbed back into bed. I didn’t turn out the light. I pulled the covers up to my chin.

I shut my eyes—and heard the cat’s cry again.

“No!” I shouted. “Where are you? Where?”

Did Bella somehow escape the Caplans’ house? Did she follow me home?

If she did
… why couldn’t I see her?

I climbed out of bed again. I searched the
entire room. Everywhere. Under my desk. Under the pile of dirty clothes on my closet floor. I even opened the dresser drawers and peered inside.

No cat.

I was down on my hands and knees, searching under the bed again, when I remembered a totally scary horror movie Amanda and I had seen at the mall. It was about an evil cat that haunted a family
from inside the walls.

I was so freaked out by that film, I made my dad move my bed away from the wall.

Yeeeeoow.

I heard the cat again. So close. It sounded close enough to reach out and touch.

I spun all around. No cat.

I walked to the wall. I pressed my ear against the red-and-white-striped wallpaper. “Are you in there?” I cried in a trembling voice. I listened. “Are you inside the wall?”

Silence.

Was I going CRAZY?

No. No way I was imagining this.

I couldn’t stop shivering. My eyes darted around the room as I made my way back to bed. I pulled the covers up again.

I clicked off the bed table light. I scooted down low in the bed. I started to shut my eyes.

Yeeeeeow.

“Oh, no!” A cry escaped my throat. Right above me on the wall … a shadow … a shadow reflected from the streetlight on the curb.

The shadow of a cat.

I stared in horror. I don’t know how long I stared, not blinking, not moving. Finally, the cat shadow vanished.

I stared at the wall where it had been. Chill after chill ran down my back.

Then … I heard a soft splash.

What could that be? The bathroom was across the hall. What could splash in my room?

I reached for the lamp and clicked on the light. Across the room, I saw Zorro’s cage. Beside it—the fish tank.

Even in the dim light, I could see the water in the tank washing against the sides. Tilting up and down.

I squinted at it, trying to understand. Why was the water splashing in the tank?

I took a deep, shuddering breath. Then I lowered my feet to the floor. I crossed the room and stepped up to the goldfish tank.

Where were my fish?

Too dark to see clearly. I moved to the door and clicked on the ceiling light. I returned to the fish tank …

… and let out a cry of horror.

The water washed from side to side. And floating on top of the water … floating on the top … pieces of orange and yellow.

Little chunks of goldfish.

“No!”

I lowered my head over the tank and stared down in shock. I saw a goldfish head on its side with one black eye staring up at me.

The head ended in a jagged yellow line. As if it had been
ripped
off its body.

My three fish had been torn apart. Torn to little hunks.

I saw slender pieces of fin. Tiny bones. Part of a tail. Chunks of yellow-orange washing back and forth in the tilting water.

Yeeeeeow.

The cat cry made me jerk straight up. I spun away from the fish tank. My eyes frantically swept over the room.

“Where are you?” I screamed. “What’s going on?”

I couldn’t see the cat. I could only hear it. And I could see what it had done to my goldfish.

“Where are you?” I screamed again. “Show yourself. Show yourself! What are you doing in my room? What do you
want?”