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Mum put an arm round her shoulders.“We’ll give Tiger time to explore a little by himself, then we’ll all go and see how he’s doing. Anyway, don’t you have to do your literacy homework, Ava? How long should that take you, twenty minutes? If you get it out of the way now then you’ll have the rest of the afternoon free to play with Tiger.”

Ava nodded and sighed. Mum was right about the homework. But why did Lucy and Bel always have to mess things up?

Tiger’s ears twitched as the kitchen door clicked shut. He could still smell those cat treats. He crept to the carrier door and peered round it. There was a scattering of treats on the floor and they smelled so good. He stepped out and then started to crunch up the treats, looking around carefully between each bite. But there were only a few and they were gone in seconds. He looked uncertainly back to the carrier. He knew he was safe in there but he didn’t like it much. Now that the kitchen was quiet, he wanted to explore.

He jumped up on to a kitchen chair and then the table. He liked to be high up, to see what was going on. He prowled across the table and eyed the window above the sink. The main window was mostly closed but there was a smaller window at the top and that was open. Just then, a bee looped in through the window from the garden. Tiger watched it with interest, not really sure what it was. He crouched down a little, wondering if he could pounce on the bee from where he was. It zigzagged round the kitchen and as it swooped back over the table he followed it, his tail twitching with excitement.

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Tiger balanced at the very edge of the table, trying to swipe at the bee with his paw. But he just couldn’t get close enough. Then the bee stopped for a rest, perched on the kitchen wall. Tiger hopped back on to the chair and down to the floor. He would creep up on it and pounce! Stealthily he padded across the tiles and then he launched himself at the bee.

The bee flew away, buzzing frantically, and Tiger turned his head to watch. He’d missed it by miles. Then he looked down and flexed his claws rather worriedly. They were firmly stuck in the thick wallpaper. He was halfway up the kitchen wall and he wasn’t quite sure how he’d got there…

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Ava peeped round the kitchen door, wondering where Tiger was. She had rushed through her homework– she was sure Mrs Atkins wouldn’t be impressed.

“I hope he’s come out of the cat carrier,” Mum said, looking over her shoulder. “But I can’t see him. I’m surprised he’s so shy – he seemed really daring at Rosie’s house. He was definitely the most adventurous of the four.”

“Mum! Look!” Ava pointed across the kitchen at the wall, next to the fridge. Mum was always saying that she wanted to change the wallpaper, she thought it was too bright and plasticky-looking but Ava liked it. The paper was yellow, with a bright pattern of jam jars on it. Right now, though, halfway up there was a little stripey kitten.

“How did he get up there?” Mum gasped.

“He must have climbed up,” Ava giggled. “I suppose the paper’s squishy enough that he can stick his claws in. Poor Tiger! Are you stuck? Shall I get you down?” She walked slowly over to the wall. “How long have you been up there, silly boy? What did you do that for, hey?”

“Just be careful, Ava,” said Mum. “Don’t pull at him, it might hurt his claws.”

Ava put one hand under Tiger’s bottom and tried to lift his front paws up a bit to unhook the claws.

“How is he?” Dad asked, putting his head round the door. “Settling in OK?”

Mum sighed.“You could say that. Look!”

Dad laughed.“Wow! That’s one way to get rid of that wallpaper! Can you get him off there, Ava?”

“His claws are stuck right in,” Ava said worriedly. “I can’t lift his paws away and he’s so panicked he’s just clinging on. At least I’m holding him up now, so it’s not like he’s hanging there by his claws… What are we going to do? Should we call Rosie?”

Dad shook his head.“Just a minute, I’ve got an idea.” He reached out and gently rubbed the top of Tiger’s closest paw. The kitten looked round at him, his ears laid back, and his eyes wide and anxious-looking.

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“What are you doing, Dad?” Ava asked.

“My mum did this when our cat climbed the back of the sofa and got stuck. Our old grey cat, Smokey – remember, Grandma Shirley showed you his picture.”

Ava nodded. Her gran loved cats– she’d had several and Ava had seen photos of all of them. Smokey was the beautiful grey longhaired cat that Dad’s family had owned when he was about Ava’s age.

“It’s working,” Ava whispered as Tiger relaxed his claws and his paw came away from the wallpaper with a little popping noise. “Do the other paw, Dad!”

Dad rubbed Tiger’s furthest paw and it happened even quicker this time. Tiger was free – his hind paws hadn’t been stuck in nearly as deeply. Ava lifted him away from the wall and put him down carefully on the floor.