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“No!” George yelled, panicking. He’d never expected this to happen. Pirate was so slow and sleepy, but now it was like he’d got ten years younger. Pirate was massive compared to the kitten – what if he really hurt the little thing? George reached down, trying to grab the kitten. He’d goand put her in the garden and shut Pirate in. But then he jumped back with a yelp. He’d got in between Pirate and the kitten, and there were claw marks all down the back of his hand, oozing thin red lines of blood.

George looked miserably at Pirate– he’d never seen him look so furious. But he supposed he should have realized. This was Pirate’s house, and another cat had suddenly turned up. Pirate was right to be hissing and spitting and clawing. Then he gasped as Pirate launched himself at the kitten, bowling her over with a swipe fromhis huge paw.

Cleo squealed in fright. This was nothing like the play fights she’d had with her brothers and sisters back at the shelter, and she didn’t know what to do. She made a desperate leap, scrabbling on to the windowsill.

Pirate sat below, staring up at Cleo, still making those horrible hissing sounds– but he couldn’t easily jump to that height any more.

Cleo didn’t know that, though. The window was only open a crack, but she just managed to shoot through the gap before George could grab her.

“Come back!” George wailed. His bedroom was at the side of the house, and the window looked out on to the two garages – theirs and next door’s. The kitten was teetering on the narrow windowsill.

“Come on, here, puss,” George called. He was trying to sound calm and coaxing, but his voice was trembling. The kitten hissed at him and jumped down on to the steeply sloping garage roof. She clung to the tiles, her fur all fluffed up and her eyes round with fear.

George raced out of his bedroom and almost crashed into his mum on the landing.

“George? What’s going on? What was all that noise? Are you teasing Pirate?”

“No! I’ll explain in a minute.” He dodged past his mum, tore down the stairs and out of the front door.

“Please come down,” George whispered, gazing up at the kitten. “I really don’t want you to fall.”

His mum appeared at the door, looking really cross.“George! What is going on? Get back in here!”

“I can’t, Mum. Look…” He pointed up at the kitten, and his mum came over to see.

“Oh!” Mum cried. “Whose kitten is that?”

“I don’t know. But she’s stuck on the roof.” George felt bad not explaining how the kitten had got on to the roof in the first place, but he hadn’t exactly told his mum a lie…

“How on earth are we going to get it down?” Mum said. “Poor little thing – it looks terrified!”

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“Kitty!” Toby clambered down the front step and pointed up at the kitten.

Mum caught his hand quickly.“Yes, it is. But the kitty’s stuck, Toby. Shh, now, don’t scare it.”

“Mum, what are we going to do?” George whispered.

“Pirate!” His mum gasped, pointing up at George’s window. “How did he get up there?”

George craned his neck to look up at the window. He could just see Pirate’s black-and-white face, pressed up against the opening. But Pirate was too big to squeeze through the way the kitten had. He just stood there, yowling.

Cleo could see him, too. The older cat looked enormous, and she was sure it was about to leap out of the window after her. She backed away, hissing, but her claws slipped on the tiles, and she slid even further down the steep roof with a terrified mew.

Mum turned to George.“We need a ladder. There’s one in the shed – at least, I think there is… Stay here with Toby and try to calm the kitten down. First I’m going to get Pirate off there before he hurts himself or frightens the little one even more.” She pushed Toby’s hand into George’s and disappeared inside.

George looked up at the kitten clinging desperately on to the roof and felt so guilty. He should never have brought her into the house.

“Just hold on,” he called softly. “It’s going to be OK. We’ll get you down. And then I promise we’ll try and find who you really belong to.”

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“Are you all right?” said a man’s voice from behind George.

George whirled round. It was Luke from next door. George hadn’t even heard his van drive up. “Hi!” he said breathlessly. “Do you have a ladder in your van? Mum’s gone to look for one, but she’s not sure where it is.”

“What do you need a ladder… Oh, I see.” Luke peered up at the kitten clinging to the garage roof. “Hold on a sec.” He hurried back to his van.

George went back to murmuring nonsense to the kitten and trying to stop Toby from climbing up the drainpipe to get to her. He glanced up at his bedroom. Mum must have grabbed Pirate and put him somewhere safe, because now his window was wide open. Maybe Mum thought the kitten could jump back in. But George was pretty sure such a little cat couldn’t jump up there from the steep roof, not without sliding back down again.

“I’ve shut Pirate in the kitchen,” said his mum, rushing out. “But I can’t find the ladder, I think it must be in the garage.”