Claws!

  She was sitting there, a few feet from the front door. She sat up straighter when she saw me. Her eyes appeared to light up.

  “Bella?” I stepped into the hall and carefully closed the door behind me. “Are you going to be a good cat?” I said softly.

  She answered with a deafening screech. Raised her front claws—and leaped at me, snapping her jaws.

  “Noooo!”

  This time, I wasn’t surprised. I was ready for her.

  As she jumped, I shot out both hands. I caught her around the middle before she could land on me.

  She screeched and squirmed and clawed. But I gripped her tightly and held her in the air.

  I struggled to hold on. But I saw something that made the breath catch in my throat. I started to choke.

  The cat fell from my hands.

  I staggered back, staring … staring at something impossible.

  “Noooo!” The cry burst from deep inside me. “No! It can’t be. I—I don’t believe it!”

  29

  I stared in shock at the cat’s tail. At the chunk of missing fur on her tail.

  I pictured Amanda’s bubble gum stuck to the first Bella’s tail. Amanda had to cut the gum off with a pair of scissors.

  The first Bella had a circle of fur missing.

  But that Bella was dead.

  So how did this cat have the same chunk of fur missing in the exact same place on her tail?

  As I stared at the pink circle of skin, I felt a cold shudder run down my back.

  “It—it’s impossible,” I murmured to myself. “No way …”

  The cat raised her head and gazed up at me with glowing yellow eyes.

  It can’t be the same cat, I thought, staring back at it. But she looks just like the first Bella. And the same spot of fur is missing ….YIKES!

  This was too frightening for me. Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.

  Bella followed me as I began to search the house. I pulled open closet doors. I searched under beds and behind couches.

  Finally, I found what I was looking for. A cat carrier, folded up at the back of a linen closet.

  I pulled it out and unfolded it. I opened the canvas door on the side and set the carrier down on the floor.

  “Go ahead, Bella,” I said, pointing. “Get inside. Go.”

  To my surprise, she stepped right into the carrier. I reached down quickly and fastened the door behind her. I could see her eyes glowing in there like two fireflies.

  I carried the case to the front door. Then I set it down. I didn’t really want to do this alone.

  I pulled out my phone and tried Amanda’s number. It rang and rang. Finally, I got her voice mail.

  “Never mind,” I said. And I hung up.

  Okay. I was going to do this by myself. I didn’t want to wait. I knew it had to be done.

  I carried the case to the bus stop. Bella had grown very still inside it.

  I peered in through the screen. She was curled up in a tight ball, her tail wrapped around her legs.

  “Good,” I murmured. I felt relieved that she wasn’t giving me a hard time. No screeching or hissing or clawing at the sides of the carrier.

  Taking her back to Cat Heaven was hard enough.

  I knew that Lou and the other store clerks were really angry. I expected them to give me a hard time.

  I was ready to face them. I had broken the law. I stole the cat. I deserved to be in trouble.

  I just hoped they wouldn’t call the police.

  The bus ride took forever. I sat in the backseat with the cat carrier on my lap. Bella didn’t raise her head. The carrier seemed to grow heavier and heavier.

  The bus driver got into a yelling fight with the driver of a red SUV. He stopped the bus and jumped out to scream at her.

  I just wanted to get this afternoon over with. Horns honked. People shouted. Finally, the driver climbed back into his seat, and the bus started up again.

  By the time I reached Cat Heaven, the sun had almost set. My heart started to pound as I crossed the parking lot.

  A man in denim work overalls came out of the store dragging an enormous red bag of kitty litter. He heaved it onto the back of his pickup truck.

  He turned to me. “What’ve you got in there, son? A cat?”

  I raised the carrier. “Yeah. I’m returning it,” I said.

  He climbed into the front of his truck. I was glad he didn’t want to see the cat or ask me any more questions.

  I stepped up to the entrance. A sign by the door read: 2 FOR 1 SALE. Did that mean two cats for the price of one?

  The glass doors slid open. I took a deep breath and stepped into the store.

  The lemony smell of air freshener and cat litter greeted me.

  I heard a cat yowl. Then a few more cats joined in.

  Standing at the entrance, it took me a little while to realize what was happening.

  Then I gasped as the cats started to go nuts.

  The whole store came alive at once. Hundreds and hundreds of cats began to scream and yowl and cry. The sound rose up in front of me, a wall of wails and angry screeches.

  I stared at the cages in the first row. Screaming cats threw themselves at their cage bars. They clawed the sides and tops of their cages. They climbed the cage walls. They flung themselves at the doors, trying to break out.

  I staggered back against the wall.

  I had to set the cat carrier down and cover my ears against the deafening wails and cries.

  Did I cause this? I asked myself.

  Is this cat riot my fault?

  I didn’t have time to think about it.

  Lou and the two gray-uniformed store clerks came running down the aisle. Their faces were red. They were pointing at me angrily.

  Cats yowled and howled and flung themselves at their cages, wild-eyed, drooling.

  I froze in fear and total confusion.

  Lou grabbed me by the shoulder. “I’ve got you!” he screamed over the racket.

  He shoved the cat carrier into my hands—and dragged me out the front door.

  30

  The glass doors slid shut behind us. I could still hear the cats carrying on in the store.

  Lou and the two other men formed a tight circle around me. Their faces were grim and angry. Lou had his eyes on the cat carrier in my hands.

  I raised it to him. “I—I brought her back,” I stammered in a tiny, frightened voice. “I—I’m so sorry I stole her.”

  I tried to push the carrier into his hands.

  But to my surprise he shoved it back at me.

  “That’s why we’ve been chasing after you,” he said. “That’s why we’ve been trying to catch you. I had to tell you—you can’t bring the cat back.”

  “Huh?” A gasp escaped my throat. I still had the cat carrier held high in front of me. “What did you just say?”

  “You can’t bring her back,” Lou said. “Get away from here. And take that cat with you.”

  “You can’t bring that dead cat back here,” one of the other clerks said.

  Dead cat?

  “Don’t come anywhere near here with her,” Lou said. “Go away. Now. I’m warning you.”

  “But—but —” I sputtered.

  The three men held tense fists at their sides and glared at me.

  “Go,” Lou muttered through gritted teeth.

  My head was spinning. The clerk’s words kept swimming through my mind.

  “You can’t bring that dead cat back here.”

  Gripping the cat carrier tightly, I turned and ran. My shoes slapped the asphalt parking lot. I ran without seeing, without thinking.

  I just heard those terrifying words over and over.

  Did I really have a dead cat in my hands?

  I saw Bella get run over by that truck. How could she be back?

  I could still hear the yowls of the cats inside the store. I reached the bus stop and glanced back. The three men were still standing in the parking lot, watching me.

  Th
ey wanted to make sure I left. Why were they so afraid?

  I had only questions. No answers.

  When the bus finally came, I climbed on and took my seat in the very back. I set the carrier down gently on my lap.

  The bus started up. I brought my face close to the screen on the carrier. Bella was sitting up, staring out at me calmly.

  “Are you really dead?” I asked her softly.

  She brought her face up against the screen and tried to lick my hand.

  Amanda was waiting on the front stoop of the Caplans’ house. “Where did you go?” she asked. “Why did you take the cat?”

  “We have to talk,” I said. “It’s too weird. It’s all too weird.”

  I set the carrier down. Bella let out a soft cry.

  Amanda squatted down to see Bella. “Is she okay?”

  “I—I don’t think so,” I said. “I mean, I don’t really know. I took her back to Cat Heaven.”

  “You what?” Amanda cried.

  “They wouldn’t take her back,” I said. “They’ve been searching for us all this time to tell us we can’t return her.”

  “That’s crazy,” Amanda said.

  “That’s not the crazy part,” I said. “Here’s the crazy part. They told me this cat is dead.”

  To my surprise, Amanda burst out laughing.

  “I really believed you for a moment,” she said. She slapped my shoulder. “You got me. You looked as serious as an artichoke!”

  “I am serious,” I told her. “It isn’t a joke.”

  “You’re saying there’s a dead cat looking out at us from this carrier case?” Amanda demanded. “Bella Two is a dead cat? Some kind of zombie?”

  I shrugged. “That’s what they told me. And they weren’t joking. They were totally serious.”

  “Do you have the Caplans’ key?” Amanda said. “Let’s go inside and talk about this.”

  I unlocked the front door, picked up the cat carrier, and followed Amanda inside.

  “Oh, nooo!” I uttered a cry.

  We both stopped in the doorway and cried out in shock.

  The living room was filled with cats.

  31

  Two cats sprawled on the couch. One sat on the coffee table. Another cat had climbed on top of the TV. Two sat on the carpet in front of us.

  They were scrawny and mean looking. Hunched. Their fur ragged and patchy. One of them had only half a tail. The cat perched on the TV was missing an eye.

  Inside the carrier, Bella let out a screech. She began to claw furiously at the side. The door popped open—and Bella came shooting out.

  The cats tossed back their heads and began to yowl. They jumped off the furniture and began to circle Amanda and me. They eyed us menacingly. Bared their fangs and hissed.

  “Do you see them?” I cried.

  Amanda grabbed my shirtsleeve. “Yes. I see them. Where did these cats come from?” she cried. “What are they doing here?”

  “I—I don’t know,” I stammered. “Maybe—maybe they’re all dead!”

  Bella arched her back and screeched at the circling cats. The black fur on her back stood straight up. She screeched again and again.

  “Let’s get out of here!” I cried.

  Amanda and I spun away from them. We started for the front door.

  And the door swung open in front of us.

  “Hey!” I cried out.

  Mrs. Caplan came walking in.

  She wore a short-sleeved red T-shirt over a long-sleeved yellow T-shirt and a short purple skirt. She had her dark hair tied up in a purple bandanna. When she saw the ragged cats, her dark eyes bulged. She dropped the suitcase she’d been carrying.

  Mr. Caplan came in right behind her, lugging two suitcases. He wore a red-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt and white tennis shorts.

  “We came home a few days early —” he said. But then his mouth dropped open. His eyes blinked behind his round eyeglasses. “What’s going on in here?” he cried.

  “Where did these cats come from? Where is Bella?” Mrs. Caplan demanded in her booming voice.

  I pointed. Bella had crawled under the couch. She was hissing at the other cats.

  Mr. Caplan bent down and picked Bella up. He soothed her, holding her tightly against his chest.

  The other cats grew quiet. They stopped prowling and gazed up at the Caplans.

  “How did they get in here?” Mrs. Caplan demanded.

  “I … have to tell you the whole story,” I said. “Amanda and I … well … we’re really sorry.”

  “Sorry?” she asked.

  “We left the front door open,” Amanda said. “Bella ran out and got run over by a truck. So … I got this great idea that didn’t turn out so great.”

  “We went to that pet store, Cat Heaven,” I said. “And we brought home this substitute cat. We—we thought maybe we could fool you into thinking it was the real Bella.”

  “We know it was a terrible thing to do,” Amanda said.

  “And we’re so—so sorry,” I said again. “We messed up. It’s totally our fault.”

  Mrs. Caplan put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t be sorry, Mickey,” she said. “We should have told you the truth.”

  I squinted at her. “The truth?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Bella was a dead cat from the beginning. Bella died four years ago.”

  32

  The Caplans shooed the scraggly cats out of the way. They sat down on the couch. Mr. Caplan still held Bella in his arms.

  Amanda and I stood awkwardly in the center of the room. We waited for them to explain.

  “I’ll make this short and sweet,” Mr. Caplan said, petting Bella. “Four years ago, Bella ran out of the house and was run over by a truck. But we couldn’t bear to part with her. Then someone told us about the place where cats who die violent deaths go—Cat Heaven.”

  Amanda and I both gasped. “It isn’t a store?” I said. “It really is cat heaven?”

  “The cats in front are live cats,” Mr. Caplan said. “But the cats in the back room are dead. They appear alive in every way. You bring them home, and they are fine. The problem is, if they get out of the house, they reenact their violent death.”

  I stared hard at him. “You mean —”

  “Bella ran out of the house three times before,” Mrs. Caplan said, shaking her head sadly. “Each time, she was run over by a truck. Then we had to go back to Cat Heaven to bring her home again.”

  “But what are these other cats?” Mr. Caplan demanded. “Are they dead, too? What are they doing here?”

  “I—I think they escaped when I stole Bella,” I stammered. “I grabbed Bella and ran out the back door. I knocked cages over. These cats must have escaped, too. They followed me. They’ve been haunting me!”

  “Oh, wow.” Mr. Caplan shook his head. “That’s bad, Mickey. That’s really bad.”

  “Don’t you realize what you’ve done?” Mrs. Caplan’s face had gone pale. Her chin trembled. “Don’t you realize you’ve ruined your life?”

  33

  I stared at her. I couldn’t speak. I wanted to ask her why she said that. But I couldn’t find any words.

  Mr. Caplan sat petting Bella. He kept his eyes on the cat. He didn’t look at me.

  The other cats padded closer to me. They watched me, as if they expected something from me. A gray cat with half its tail missing brushed against my leg.

  “You can’t just walk in and take a dead cat from the back room at Cat Heaven,” Mrs. Caplan explained finally. “Only the cat’s true owner can carry it out of the store. Only a cat’s true owner can claim it.”

  “If the dead cat is taken out by the wrong owner, it will become evil,” Mr. Caplan said, shaking his head. “Bella is gentle now. But she will become angry and wildly, fiercely evil.”

  “I—I know,” I muttered.

  “We had a lot of trouble with her,” Amanda said.

  “You’ve upset the whole cat universe,” Mr. Caplan continued.

  “These other dead
cats belong to you now, Mickey,” Mrs. Caplan said. “You let them out. They will haunt you. They will stay with you forever.”

  “They—they’ve been following me everywhere,” I stammered. “Giving me presents. Then attacking me.”

  She sighed. “Poor boy. You—you didn’t know what you were doing. But now these cats will haunt you for the rest of your life.”

  “No!” I cried. “No way! That can’t be!”

  The gray cat brushed my leg again. It sent chills up my body. The other cats stood stiffly, staring up at me.

  “What can I do?” I demanded. “I—I’ll round them up and take them back to Cat Heaven.”

  “You can’t take them back,” Mr. Caplan said softly. “The store won’t take them back.”

  I pictured Lou out in the parking lot. Telling me to take Bella away and never come back.

  “But … I can’t….These cats … I …”

  I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t think straight.

  “I’m so so so sorry,” Mrs. Caplan said. “We never thought this would happen.”

  “There must be something Mickey can do,” Amanda said in a trembling voice.

  The Caplans both shook their heads sadly.

  Suddenly, I had an idea.

  I rushed to the front door and pulled it wide open. Then I motioned to the cats. “Go! Out the door! All of you—GO!”

  They stared up at me without moving.

  “Go!” I screamed, waving my arms wildly. “Out the door! Beat it! Get lost! Go!”

  No.

  They didn’t move. They didn’t even turn their heads to the door.

  Failure.

  I let out a long, weary sigh.

  Suddenly, I had a better idea.

  34

  I turned and darted out of the house. I crossed the lawn to my house. Ran upstairs to my room.

  My brain was whirring. I could almost hear it spinning.

  I pulled the top off Zorro’s glass cage and carefully picked the little guy up. I brushed some wood shavings off his fur. The mouse twitched his nose and gazed up at me with his little black-dot eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Zorro,” I told him. “I’m really going to miss you, fella. But I need you to save my life today.”