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Harper leaned against the fence for a moment. Sammy was OK! They’d seen him – a spotty silver kitten – it had to be him, didn’t it? She hurried back along the road, calling hopefully. “Sammy! Sammy, here, boy! Where are you?” She was sure that she’d see him darting out of a garden towards her any moment, but she went on calling and calling, and nothing happened.

He could have gone further up the street, Harper decided, especially if it had been a while. She ran along the pavement, stopping to peer over fences and under cars, always calling.

About halfway between the park and their house she saw something grey dart underneath a gate and she gasped excitedly, running to lean over and look into the garden.“Sammy! I’m here, Sammy, come on!”

There was a moment of silence and then a little face looked back at her from behind a tall fern.

It wasn’t Sammy. The cat looked a bit like him, but it had a white chin and paws, and it was mostly striped, with a few spots along its sides. It just wasn’t her kitten. Harper swallowed hard, gulping back her disappointment. She’d have to keep looking.

She was turning away from the garden when she realized the awful thing. The elderly couple must have got it wrong. They must have seenthis cat. Young and thin and silvery tabby– it all matched.

No one had seen Sammy after all.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_6]

Under the bushes at the edge of the park, Sammy startled awake. He’d heard a voice he recognized. That was Harper, he was almost sure. She was here! She was calling him! He leaped up, racing to the edge of the path, and then checked, looking around for the dog. He remembered its bright eyes and the way it had snuffled after him so eagerly. Sammy’s tail fluffed up to double size again. What if it was still there, waiting for him? He was safe here underneath the bushes – out there he’d be in the open, with nowhere to hide. He crouched under the low branches, hesitating.

But he had to follow Harper’s voice. He couldn’t let home go again!

[Êàðòèíêà: img_38]

Sammy darted out on to the path and through the park gates to the street, hoping to see Harper looking for him. But no one was there.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_6]

Harper rubbed her eyes on her sleeve. She knew crying wasn’t going to do any good, but she couldn’t help it – she’d been so excited, so sure that she was about to get Sammy back. That extra little bit of hope from the elderly couple had been torn away, leaving her feeling more heartbroken than ever.

She would go back and see how Mum was doing with the phone calls, she thought sadly. Maybe there’d been some good news. Then she looked down at the poster in her hand and sighed. It had actually been a sensible idea to put one up at the park – so many people went through those gates. She just needed to find a better spot than the fence, that’s all. She’d do that now, rather than wasting the poster.

“I can’t give up,” Harper muttered to herself. “We’re going to find him. We have to.” But she wasn’t calling for him as she trudged back down the road towards the park. She wasn’t hoping, the way she had been before. She walked on with her head down, just concentrating on not crying.

She was unrolling the poster, ready to tape it to the litter bin by the gates, when she heard the mewing– high, frantic, excited mewing. She dropped the poster and the sticky tape, without even noticing that she’d done it. She looked around wildly, her breath caught in her throat – and a tiny silvery spotted cat came racing out from under the bushes by the park gates.

“Sammy!” Harper scooped him up into her arms. “Theydid see you! I thought– oh, it doesn’t matter! Where did you go? We have to get back and tell Mum. She’s calling everyone about you. Oh, I dropped the poster!” She scrabbled around to pick it up, while Sammy tried to climb inside her jacket and nuzzle her, purring and purring. Then she shoved the poster into thebin and whispered into the top of his furry head, “Let’s go home.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_39]

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The house still seemed a little bit strange– but Sammy was starting to feel as if he belonged. His litter tray was in a nice quiet corner now and his toys were scattered everywhere. A blanket that smelled like Harper was draped over the back of the sofa. He could stretch out on it and see the street, and watch the birds in the garden too.

When Harper had carried Sammy into the house, such a wave of happiness and relief had swept over him. He could feel them all loving him– Harper, Ava, Mum and Gran. He’d followed them around all day, even curling up in Gran’s lap under the table while they were eating lunch.

That night, as Ava and Harper had started up the stairs, Sammy had put one paw on the bottom step and mewed.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_40]

“He wants to go with you!” Mum had said to Harper, laughing.