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The dogs were very confused. They had a cat in their garden and now somebody was climbing over the wall, too. They circled between Ava on the wall and Tiger by the gate, barking at both of them but wagging their tails at Ava– they knew her, even if she wasn’t usually in their garden.

“Good dogs,” Ava said, trying to sound calm. “Hi, Charlie. Good boy, Max. I’ll be gone in a minute. I’m just coming to get Tiger. We’ll both be out of here soon.”

She rocked the ladder gently, trying to see if it was nice and steady– but Megan’s patio was gravel, not solid paving slabs like in her garden, and the ladder kept shifting. Ava gritted her teeth and climbed on to it anyway. She wasn’t giving up now. It swayed and wobbled, and Ava closed her eyes and jumped. The ladder fell over with a crash and there was a wail from the other side of the wall. Lucy and Bel were crying.

“Ava! Ava! What happened?” Gran called frantically.

“I just jumped off the last bit of the ladder. I’m fine, Gran, I promise. Tell Lucy and Bel I’m OK. Down, Charlie! Down, Max!” Ava hurried across the garden to the fence, the dogs getting under her feet as she ran.

“Poor Tiger!” She scooped him up and pressed her face against his soft coat. “Come on. We’re getting out of here,” she whispered to the little kitten. “I’ve got him, Gran!” she called.

She dashed back to the ladder, pushing it back close against the wall with her free hand. The dogs stood watching, occasionally waving their tails– they’d probably never had such an exciting afternoon, Ava thought.

Tiger wriggled a little, realizing that he was safely away from the dogs. He was with Ava. He was almost home! He didn’t understand what had happened but the terror that had gripped him as the dogs chased him down the garden slowly began to slip away.

Ava reached up and gently placed him on top of the wall. Tiger stood there for a moment, gazing down at next-door’s garden and the dogs. Then he looked back at Ava, as she cautiously climbed the ladder.

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“Can you get back up?” Gran called.

“I’m coming,” Ava said, as she reached the top of the ladder and pulled herself up on to the wall. “Oooh. Ow.”

“Ava?” Bel cried anxiously.

“Don’t worry. I just scratched my arms a bit.” Ava gave Tiger a stroke and waved down to Gran and her sisters. “It’s all OK!”

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Tiger’s adventure in next-door’s garden was going to become part of their family history, Ava realized. She told the story to Mum and Dad as soon as they got back. And then to Jess on the way to school on Monday, Mrs Atkins during registration and all her friends at break. When Dad came home that night he said he’d told everyone at work about her heroic rescue. Ava didn’t feel very heroic, though. After she’d finally got back down the ladder, she’d suddenly started shaking. She never, ever wanted to go up one again.

Ava was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be the last time they would have to rescue Tiger, either. But hopefully he wouldn’t try getting into Charlie and Max’s garden again, not after his huge scare.

The other good thing about Tiger’s adventure was that it seemed to have made Bel and Lucy understand that Tiger had to be looked after and kept safe. Lucy was a little too young to understand properly but she was still big enough to run and tell someone if she saw Tiger out in the front garden, or on the wall between the gardenand the alleyway. Ava felt like the three of them were a team.

Perhaps it was because everyone was watching out for him so carefully, or perhaps he was keeping to the safety of the house after having such a fright, but Tiger behaved beautifully all that week. He didn’t get stuck anywhere. He was always around whenever anybody called for him. He didn’t even sneak out into the front garden and worry Mum by gazing at the road.

But then on Sunday, exactly a week after his great escape, Tiger disappeared again.

Ava had been working on a project for school– it had to be in soon, so she spent all of Sunday afternoon drawing pictures of Mayan headdresses and copying out chocolate recipes. She didn’t notice that she hadn’t seen Tiger. Bel had a birthday party and Lucy was cross because she didn’t. It wasn’t until Dad started making dinner andgot out the cat food to feed Tiger that everyone realized they had no idea where the kitten was.

“Ava? Is Tiger up there with you?” Dad called up the stairs.

Ava came out on to the landing.“No. I haven’t seen him since lunchtime.” She looked at her watch. “He hasn’t come in for his tea?”

Dad smiled up at her.“I’m sure he’ll turn up in a minute. Don’t worry, Ava.”

Ava went back to her project but she couldn’t concentrate. After spending ten minutes writing one sentence, she went downstairs. “Dad, is he back?”

“No,” her dad admitted. “I went out in the garden and called, and I had a quick look around the front, too.”

“Shall I go and check again?”

“All right, but don’t go far. It’s getting dark.”