1 Chapter 1: Kitty

Susan stood on the top step of the back porch, horribly upset with her circumstances.

Ever since Mom and Dad moved them so far from all her friends at Grand Point Elementary to spend a dismal summer in a rundown old place with zero neighbors except for the creepy trees that were everywhere, Susan's life had become boring, boring, boring. She tried really hard not to take it out on Mom, but it was so easy to be temperamental and feel sorry for herself, especially considering she hadn't had a say in the matter.

So Dad was offered a new job in a new place. So it gave Mom the chance to stay home and renovate "the project," a musty and distinctly creepy big house at the end of the endless lane of trees, just like she had always wanted. What about what Susan wanted?

Like anyone cared what Susan wanted.

Stupid house, she thought. Stupid yard. Stupid rain.

The very last thing in the world she would choose to do was go out into the wet and surprisingly cool June morning. But Mom hadn't given her a choice. After listening to Susan sigh all morning, Mom finally had enough.

"Susan!" Mom said. "Outside!" And that, Susan knew, was that.

So there she stood in her shiny red raincoat and matching red plaid mud boots Dad gave her the first day they arrived. Susan despised them. She was, after all, ten, thank you very much, and no civilized ten-year-old would be caught in red plaid rubber boots. At least no one would see her in them besides Mom and Dad, and they didn't count.

Susan pulled up the hood of her jacket, heading out into the yard. Everything was soaked. Wet leaves clung to the slippery steps in bad need of a coat of paint. The grass lay limp and heavy, brown in patches. Even the trees looked black, bark darkened by the never-ending rain.

Susan took one look at those wet and creepy trees and shuddered inside her red raincoat.

She made her way with tiptoeing steps through the grass. But no matter how hard she tried, before long her new boots were coated in old brown twigs and stray leaves.

Ew, Susan thought. Gross.There wasn't much for her to do outside either. This really was a silly idea, she decided as the raindrops pattered noisily against her hood, the knees of her jeans catching the water so drips ran down into her boots.

Susan turned around and trudged back to the kitchen door. She stopped at the bottom step and examined herself. There was no way she was going back inside with so much junk clinging to her. She took a seat on the lowest step, resigned to the fact she would have to be hands on to get the job done.

She pulled free her first boot and began gingerly scraping off the wet mess with one finger. And suddenly stopped, ears perked. She was sure she heard something, an out of the ordinary thing. Rustling, maybe, and squeaking. Susan waited, head tilted, as she listened in the rain. Her hood muffled most sound, making the raindrops so loud she was finally convinced she imagined it and turned back to her dirty boot when she heard the sound again. Susan froze. The rustling sounded louder, like whatever it was making the noise was coming closer to her.

Dirty boots or not, Susan wasn't waiting around to see what nasty critter was headed her way.

Just as she was about to pull her boot on and make a dash for the kitchen door, she heard another noise. This time, the sound that made her pause was totally different.

It was the soft, pathetic mew of a cat.

Susan looked around, scanning the back yard for the source of the cry. No cat. She pulled her boot back on absently, shifting first to her right then her left, her peripheral vision blocked by the red hood. Still no cat. Susan waited and waited, almost but not quite giving up on the sound, when it came again and closer than she first realized. So close, in fact, she thought the cat must be right next to her.

Susan stood up and turned, but couldn't see anything. She even lowered her hood so she could hear better, the rain beading on her ponytail and across her freckled nose.

The cat mewed again, and this time Susan saw a flash of fur. It was hiding under the stairs.

Susan fell to her hands and knees, totally forgetting she hated being wet and dirty, and peered through the riser of the steps into the dark, damp and filthy space between theporch and the house. She could only see leaf piles and bits of garbage. She leaned closer still just as a bright green eye and a handful of whiskers appeared on the other side.

Susan jumped back, startled, landing on her backside in the wet grass. She could clearly see the cat, now, soaked and bedraggled, whiskers hanging low, as he made a soft, pleading mew, one paw raising toward her as he shivered.

Susan's heart reached out and her hands did too and the cat found his way into them and against her raincoat. She cradled him against her, rain dripping from her onto him as he looked up at her with his bright green eyes and started to purr.

Which, of course, sealed the deal for Susan. All that was left was to convince Mom he had to stay.

She carried the wet bundle up the steps to the kitchen door. He was heavy, obviously well fed, but she was sure he needed a home and was going to be her cat. Susan's heart swelled and for the first time since she arrived in the old house, she was completely and utterly happy.

Mom stood in the kitchen, mouth open, cleaning supplies and yellow rubber gloves forgotten as she took in the soaking, dirty cat in Susan's arms. For an instant, Susan was afraid. What if Mom said no? She was never allowed a pet before. Mom always thought they were too much work. Susan bit her lower lip.

"Mom," she said, not knowing she herself looked as lost and forlorn as the cat she clutched in her arms. "Can we keep him?"

And to Susan's delight, Mom smiled.

As it turned out, he was a cream tabby once he was cleaned up and dried off. Susan loved his fur, the color of warm butterscotch with light reddish stripes through it, so soft it was almost cold to the touch. Once dry, Kitty, as Susan decided to name him, was medium haired with a bit of a mane and a thick, fluffy tail as long as he was. She loved to watch him coil it around his paws, the fullness of it hiding half of him in a soft, furry cloud.

Her new friend changed her for the better. Susan actually started to enjoy the old house. What was once boring and a little scary was now a grand adventure. Susan and Kitty spend endless hours exploring the rooms and closets and hallways of the house, while she made up stories and created adventures for them to play. She actually didn'tcare so much about the rain anymore. She was having so much fun, she actually sometimes forgot about her old life and her old friends and even that Dad was gone all the time.

Susan loved Kitty so much she forgot about being sad. Even Dad approved with a ruffle of Kitty's ears and a smile.

By the time a couple of days passed, Susan was so used to hiding out from the rain she was annoyed to be woken one morning by a bright golden light. It was such a long time since she saw the sun it took her some time to realize it was actually finally a nice day and she could go outside. She didn't realize until she was half-way down to the main floor that Kitty, who never left her side, was no where to be found.

Susan made it to the kitchen, eyes going immediately to his bowl, but no Kitty. A feeling of panic hit her. Where was he?

Susan went to Mom who was flipping pancakes. "Have you seen Kitty?"

"No, honey," Mom said, handing her a loaded plate.

"I can't find him," Susan said, tears welling. She was being silly. Ten years old and upset because she couldn't find her cat?

My best friend, her mind said as her lip twitched on its own.

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere," Mom said, giving her a push with her plate toward the table. "He'll probably show up before you finish your breakfast."

Susan picked at her fruit-covered pancakes, appetite gone. "What if he doesn't?" Mom sat down next to Susan. "We'll find him, honey, it's okay."

Susan glanced out the window at the sunshine and saw Kitty running through the grass into the trees behind the house.

Mom must have seen her expression light up. "Okay, go on," Mom said to Susan's back. She was already away like a shot.

Susan paused only long enough to put on her plaid boots and red coat. Then she was out the door and running across the grass.

"Kitty!" Susan called as she ran. "Here, Kitty!"

She paused only briefly at the edge of the forest. It seemed not quite so scary anymore now that the sun was shining.At least until she was in them. The heavy trees were thick with leaves blocking out most of the sunlight and making the air dim. And she thought she heard noises, soft scraping and scuttling noises, and was sure for an instant she saw a pair of glowing red eyes in the bushes ahead.

"Kitty?" Susan called. "Where are you going?"

She almost decided to turn back when she stumbled into a clearing, the center of which was a huge oak tree.

Susan looked up and up the giant tree, unable to see its top. It was very old and very big and she was almost afraid of it standing there, all alone in the middle of the woods.

Susan turned to leave when she heard a soft mew from up ahead. She froze, listening. "Kitty? Is that you?" Susan walked closer to the tree. "Are you there?"

She heard it again, but this time from above her. Susan looked up and was sure she saw the flash of Kitty's tail disappear into the thick leaves of the tree.

"Kitty!" Susan was close enough now to touch the tree, tripping a little over the huge roots. "Come down here right now!"

When Kitty didn't appear, Susan tried to decide what to do. The smart and safe thing, she knew, was to just go back to the house and wait for him to come home. That would be what Mom would want her to do. But she worried Kitty wouldn't come home, that he was only waiting for the rain to stop to leave her.

She looked up the big tree and at the large branches she was sure would hold her weight, and Susan, not always the bravest girl, decided going after Kitty was worth it.

She realized almost immediately rubber boots were not the best choice for climbing still-wet tree branches. Even though the first one was low enough for her to get to easily, the slippery soles of the plaid boots made going scary. Still, she didn't think she had time to go back to the house for a change of shoes, not with Kitty so close.

It didn't take long to get to a good height in the tree. Susan reached for the next branch and slipped, hitting her shin so hard tears sprang to her eyes. She clung to the bark and, for the first time, looked down.

And quickly looked back up. Her heart pounding, Susan held on to the branch in front of her. She clenched her eyes shut, suddenly so afraid she didn't think she could go up or down, but would remain stuck in the tree forever.There was a soft mew from above. Susan unclenched her eyes and looked up. Kitty needed her, she was sure of it. Susan swallowed her fear and reached for the next branch.

"I'm coming, Kitty," she said. "I'll be right there."

As Susan struggled for balance, red eyes appeared in a hole in the tree. She cried out, feeling a sharp sting as something bit her hand. Susan screamed, her grip on the branch slipping. The rubber of her boots slid along the wet bark and she fell as if in slow motion, the canopy of the tree getting further and further away as she toppled backwards to the grass below.

Susan hit the ground hard, the back of her head meeting a rock. She felt darkness close in and a soft, warm calm fall over her. She heard the scuffling, scuttling noises again as her world went slowly black around the edges, along with harsh whispering voices and nasty giggles.

And then, nothing.