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“Gently, Dan! Millie, be careful! You’ll frighten her,” Mrs Jones cried. The children stopped shoving as their mum came in. “These are my grandchildren. They’ve missed her too,” Mrs Jones explained to Amy and her mum. “And this is my daughter, Sarah.”

Sarah was smiling delightedly.“I’m so glad you’ve found her. We’ve all been so worried.”

Amy looked anxiously at Misty– or Jet, she supposed she ought to call her now. She was pressed against Mrs Jones, her ears twitching with fright. Amy thought the children were loud, so she couldn’t imagine how a kitten felt.

“We’d better go – leave you all to settle down,” Amy’s mum said.

“Please, let me have your number – I’d like to call and let you know how Jet is. I’m really so grateful.” Mrs Jones stood up, with Jet held against her shoulder, and led them out into the hallway. “My goodness! Jet, what is it?”

The kitten suddenly scrabbled her way up Mrs Jones’s shoulder, and leaped to the top of a shelf, almost knocking over a vase. Her tail was fluffed up, and her ears were laid back. Charlie was here!

“Oh, you’ve got another cat!” Amy exclaimed, seeing the sleek Siamese padding along the hallway, staring up at her little Misty.

“Yes, that’s Charlie. He belongs to my daughter. He and Jet don’t always get along too well. But I’m sure they’ll settle down now that she’s back.”

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Watching Misty spitting angrily from her safe spot on the shelf, Amy thought that it didn’t look like they got along at all.

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“You were very good, Amy,” her mum said, as they walked home. “I really did mean it about you getting your own kitten.”

“Thanks,” Amy whispered. “Not for a while though,” she added. She knew she ought to be happy at the idea of her own kitten. But at the moment all she could think of was Misty, scared by those noisy, grabby children, and terrified of that Siamese cat. It made her want to cry. When she’d first seen Misty with Mrs Jones, she’d thought she’d got it all wrong, and Misty did belong with her. But now she wasn’t sure. What if that Siamese had been stealing all of Misty’s food and that’s how the kitten had ended up so thin? She wouldn’t be surprised. She was almost sure that Charlie had made Misty run away. And now Amy had made her go back.

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Misty raced across the living room, making for her hiding place under the bookshelf. But she couldn’t get in! She wriggled frantically, but she’d grown – two weeks of proper food, and she was simply too big to fit into her special safe place. Why had Amy left her here? Was she going to come back? Shaking, she turned back to face Charlie, who was right on her tail. She hissed defiantly, andraked her little claws across his nose. But he was just so big! With one swipe of his long brown paw he sent her rolling over and over across the carpet, and then he jumped on her.

“Honestly! Mum, she’s fighting with Charlie already! Stop it! Bad cat!” Sarah tried to pull the two of them apart as they scratched and spat.

Mrs Jones heaved herself up from her chair, and tried to help.“Jet, Jet, come here. Oh, he’s hurting her.” She waved Charlie away with her walking stick, and leaned down to scoop up the little kitten. “Oh dear…” She sat down again, the kitten a ball of trembling black fur in her arms.

“Charlie hates not being able to use the cat flap, that’s why he’s being grumpy,” Sarah muttered, picking up Charlie, and holding him as he wriggled and spat at Jet.

“I know, but Jet might run off again, if we let her out. We need to keep her in for now, so she starts thinking of this as her home.”Mrs Jones stroked her gently.

Sarah sighed.“We’ll just have to keep them apart until they get used to each other.”

Mrs Jones looked worriedly down at the kitten, still shaking on her lap.

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“Maybe I was wrong to say you’d get along with Charlie… I suppose I was just so pleased to have you back. Poor little Jet. Whatever are we going to do with you two?”

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After school a few days later, Amy was up in the tree house lying with her head resting on the beanbag. There were little black hairs on it here and there. She looked up and saw that, sitting on the shelf, there was still one tin of cat food left, that she’d never remembered to bring into the house. It was all she had left of Misty, that and her collar, which was on her bedside table.

Mum kept mentioning the idea of another kitten, and Lily had bought her a cat magazine, so she could look at what sort of cat she might like. But Amy just couldn’t think about it yet. It would feel like betraying Misty – betraying her all over again, because Amy felt sure they had done the wrong thing by taking Misty home. She kept listening out for that telltale thump on the wooden boards that meant Misty was coming back to her, but it never came. Shesupposed Mrs Jones was keeping Misty shut up so she didn’t stray again.