Chapter 1Two-Leggers
Today is a good day! The “campsite” has opened – the place where all the two-leggers sleep in their little houses. Actually, they remind me of the kennel of a dog called Reksio, whom I met a long time ago. There were so many colours! Blue, orange, purple, white… a real rainbow!
In the middle of the night we were going to start the raid, but oh! We came out of the bushes and straight away some kind of siren went off!
– WEEEEEEH!
And then a voice:
– Quiet, Marcel! I said quiet!
– Barbara, I told you camping with a three-year-old was a bad idea!
– WEEEEEEH!
– Oh, Marek, going camping was your idea!
– Three years ago…!!
– WEEEEEEH!
– Marcel, sweetie, you’ll wake up the whole campsite!
Lights came on in the other little houses, and people started shouting. So we decided it had been a bad idea after all, and that we were out of there.
‘Hey, since when does that happen?!’ Bianco asked me as we ran back to the den.
‘How should I know?’ I said. ‘I guess we’ll have to get food some other way.’
‘We’re here,’ announced Negra, our leader. ‘We need to find food some other way. Any ideas, Alea?’
Alea was Negra’s sister. It was really annoying how Negra always asked her about everything and ignored the rest of us.
Nobody answered.
‘Alea?’ Negra repeated. ‘Alea!’
‘Where is Alea?’ asked Luna, a cat so white you could hardly believe it.
We all looked around. Alea was nowhere to be seen.
‘We have to find her!’ cried Cleo, which surprised me, because she of all cats really didn’t like Alea.
‘I know,’ said Negra, looking upset. ‘Quick, back to the campsite!’
‘We can’t!’ Bianco snapped. ‘The siren!’
‘She’s my sister!’ she shouted. ‘And your companion! How can you leave her behind?’ she asked reproachfully.
‘Negra’s right,’ I said, surprising myself. ‘We can’t leave her.’
Bianco snorted. ‘Fine, but just so you know, I don’t like this!’
‘Meow! Then change your perspective, dude!’ said Leon, and ran after Negra. I always liked Leon.
‘Meow,’ Bianco complained, but he followed the others. So did I, and since everyone was running, we got there quickly.
Alea was nowhere to be seen – at least not until we heard a pitiful mewing from above.
‘Alea!’ I said, surprised. ‘How, in the name of all cats…?’
‘Meow! Help!’ she said, and I noticed that she was hanging in a net.
‘Try to tear through the net with your claws!’ Negra suggested.
‘I tried! Nothing works!’ she whimpered, and at that very moment a big two-legger came over.
– What’s this? – he asked in a deep voice. – I won’t have intruders at my campsite. This net was meant for rats, but oh well… it’ll do for cats too!
Only then did he notice us.
– Shoo, you cat-shaped rats! Shoo! – And then he started kicking in our direction. We all jumped back on instinct, and he took the chance to fling the net as far into the forest as he could.
‘NO!’ screamed Negra, but there was no time, because the guy kept kicking at us. We all broke into a run together, and a few minutes later we reached the den.
‘Meeeoooow!’ Negra wailed like a wolf.
‘It’s okay,’ I soothed her. ‘We’ll find her, I’m sure.’
‘I… thanks, Auri.’
I couldn’t help smiling. ‘No problem.’
‘Hey, this is no time for chit-chat,’ Bianco cut in. ‘We have to go and look for Alea.’
‘You’re right,’ said Luna very quietly. ‘Quickly, now.’
I didn’t know why, but I trusted Luna completely. Actually, I trusted everyone here… even Bianco.
‘Okay, let’s go then,’ Negra agreed.
Chapter 2Night
‘Alea!’ Negra called into the emptiness. ‘Alea, Alea!’
‘Quiet, Negra, you’ll wake the whole forest,’ Bianco muttered from behind. Negra snorted, but she stopped shouting.
‘Why is it so quiet?’ Cleo wondered. ‘Are we sure Alea is here?’
‘She has to be!’ said Negra.
‘Meow! Quiet!’ Luna whispered, and we all fell silent at once. We heard the crunch of footsteps – not two-legger ones, but… cat-like.
A fox stepped out from behind the bushes.
‘Meow!’ Negra mewed in surprise. ‘Who are you?!’
The fox blinked his big green eyes. ‘I am Ren,’ he said in a melodic voice. ‘I am a fox.’
‘Three cheers for the fox, speaker of the obvious!’ Bianco muttered under his whiskers.
‘Shut up,’ Cleo growled at him. Her thin grey fur was almost invisible in the night.
Ren tilted his head. ‘What are you doing?’
‘We’re… looking for our friend,’ I admitted.
‘Wraw, a kitty?’
‘Yes, how do you know?’ Negra asked suspiciously. The fox blinked twice and pointed to the left with his paw.
‘Sound. Lots of sound.’
‘You mean meowing…?’ Cleo asked warily.
‘Meow. Meow meow and meow,’ he said.
‘Meow…?’
‘Meow meow meow,’ he repeated. ‘Meow meow,’ he giggled.
‘Yes. Meow meow meow, and another meow on top of that,’ said Bianco impatiently. ‘Listen, you said the cat was somewhere over there?’
‘Yes,’ Ren nodded. ‘Follow me.’
Nobody seemed thrilled with the idea, but we started following the fox…
To Be Continued