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“Stanley?” Lily called worriedly. Where was he? She ducked down, searching under the table and behind the bin but there was no little white kitten.

“Lily, what’s going on?” Dad hurried into the kitchen, with Mum and Carly close behind. “Wow! What happened here?”

“I don’t know! Hugo’s really upset and I can’t find Stanley. He isn’t anywhere.”

Hugo came over to Dad, sniffing and nosing at his hands, and Dad rubbed his ears comfortingly.“Hey, he’s got a scratch on his nose,” Dad said. “What happened, boy?”

“Oh, Hugo, did you cut yourself on that broken mug?” Mum crouched down to look, too.

Hugo pulled away and padded over to the sink cabinet again, this time leaping up and planting his paws on the edge of the sink. He wasn’t supposed to jump up like that but nobody stopped him.

Then a little white face peered out from behind the curtains. Stanley– with his long white fur all fluffed up. He was huddling in the corner of the windowsill, looking terrified.

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“There he is!” Lily exclaimed gratefully. “How on earth did you get up there?” She hurried over to the windowsill, picking up Stanley and cuddling him close. She’d never have thought that Stanley could make the jump on to the counter – he must have jumped on to a chair to get him halfway. “Come on, Stanley, it’s OK. What happened?”

“It’s pretty obvious,” Dad said anxiously. “They’ve been fighting. Hugo couldn’t have cut his nose on that mug, not unless it actually fell on him. That’s a cat scratch.”

Lily could feel the white kitten’s heart hammering and his ears were laid back. Hugo dropped back down to the floor and stood looking up at Stanley in Lily’s arms.

“That can’t be right,” Lily said, shaking her head. “Stanley loves Hugo. They were even asleep together in Hugo’s basket when I went to bed! And Hugo wouldn’t hurt Stanley.”

“He didn’t!” Carly said angrily, crouching down beside Hugo and putting her arm round him. “Stanley hurthim! Look at his poor nose!”

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Mum sighed.“We don’t know which of them started it. I suppose we’ve been lucky we haven’t had any issues with them until now – it’s weird this has happened so suddenly… But if they’re going to start fighting with each other, we’ll have to talk to Amy in the morning. Stanley’s old enough tostay at the shelter now until they find a home for him. Hopefully they’ve got room.”

“What?” Lily gasped. “No, Mum, he’s staying here. We said we’d look after him until we found him a proper home. He can’t go to the shelter!”

“He has to, Lily,” Dad said gently. “I know you’ve loved having the kittens here and you’ve worked so hard with them but we can’t risk Stanley being hurt if he and Hugo aren’t getting on. What if Stanley tries to scratch Hugo again and Hugo lashes out? I know Hugo wouldn’t deliberately hurt him – at least, I don’t think he would – but he’s just so much bigger than Stanley. It’s not safe.”

“And this is Hugo’s home!” Carly put in.

“She’s right, Lily,” Dad said. “We can’t send Hugo away.”

Lily shook her head, tears starting to well up in her eyes. Stanley wriggled a little as one fell on to his nose and he licked it, liking the salty taste.

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This couldn’t be happening, Lily thought, looking miserably from Dad to Mum to Carly. Everyone seemed to be certain that Stanley had to go. How could this be happening now? Tomorrow was supposed to be the start of her grand plan to convince everyone they could keep their gorgeous kitten forever – and now instead he was going to be sent to the shelter.

“He just can’t,” she whispered. “He’ll hate it there. We saw the cats when we went to get Hugo – they had those little rooms. He’s used to a whole big kitchen and my bedroom. He’ll be so lonely without us.”And without Hugo, Lily added in her head. She still couldn’t understand what had happened. Hugo had never barked at the kittens – not even when he’d first found them in the woods. He’d looked after them so carefully – Stanley even slept in his basket. This just wasn’t right.

But nobody was listening to her. It felt like all the plans were already made– Mum and Dad were discussing who could go and drop off Stanley at the shelter. Carly was still petting Hugo and glaring at the kitten.

“What are we going to do with them tonight?” Dad murmured, looking between Stanley and Hugo. “We can’t leave them both in here, obviously.”

“I’ll take Stanley upstairs with me,” Lily said quickly. It was their last night, she realized. Her last time to cuddle him. “I’ll take his box upstairs with me and put it by my bed.”

Mum nodded.“OK. But shut your door, Lily.”

“I’ll bring the box for you,” Dad said. He picked it up and followed her up the stairs.

Lily couldn’t help crying into Stanley’s fur as she took him up to her room. He was still so little – far too little to go to the shelter, she was sure. It would be like sending him off for his first day of school. She half laughed, half sniffed at the thought.