The Clever Little Kitten by Holly Webb Page B

kitten’s cage. “I’m sorry I laughed. It was just that you asked so many questions, I couldn’t have got a word in! I can’t talk to you in front of my dad, anyway. He’s a brilliant vet, but he doesn’t understand about magical animals. And he definitely doesn’t know that I can talk to them.”
    Molly slipped the catch on the wire door and opened it carefully. “Would you like to come out?” she asked, her voice very polite.
    Posy gave a dignified little nod and allowed Molly to lift her out of the cage. She was obviously trying not to ask any more questions, but
Molly could see her ears twitching back and forth and sideways, it was so difficult for her to be quiet.
    As soon as she was snuggled up against Molly’s chest, she shook her head crossly. “Oh, I can’t not ask! Why is it that you can hear me talking and no one else can? Who are you? Are you a witch?”
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    Molly shook her head. “No. I have met a witch, though. And my dad
always says I’ve got a magic touch with animals – he doesn’t know that it’s really true!” She stroked Posy’s delicate little ears, which were still twitching excitedly. “Are you a witch’s kitten? You must be magical, or you wouldn’t be talking to me, but you don’t feel the same as Sparkle, the witch’s kitten I met before.”
    â€œI don’t belong to a witch. But I do have a bit of magic. Look, I’ll show you!” Posy closed her eyes tightly, so that they were just little dark slits in her furry face. Her whiskers suddenly lost their pretty curved shape, and stuck out straight on either side of her nose. She looked as though she were blowing herself up like a balloon.
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    â€œDon’t hurt your tail!” Molly said quickly. She could see the fur on either side of the neat bandage sticking up too.
    â€œI won’t!” Posy gasped. Little silvery sparkles were running along the ends of her tabby fur. “Oh! It still doesn’t work!”
    â€œWhat doesn’t?” Molly asked curiously.
    Posy sighed and opened her eyes. Her fur smoothed itself down and her whiskers drooped a little. “I don’t
know. I’m supposed to be able to do something , I know I am. But I’m not sure what. I can fluff up and go all glittery, but that isn’t very useful, is it?”
    â€œIt looked nice,” Molly told her, trying to be encouraging. But she could tell from the way Posy wrinkled her nose that that wasn’t good enough.
    â€œMy mother is a witch’s cat and she can do all sorts of things,” Posy muttered. “Just being fluffy isn’t what I call magic.”
    â€œYou can talk too,” Molly pointed out. “That’s magic. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met a kitten who talked so much.”
    â€œReally?” Posy asked in a hopeful voice. “Oh well, I suppose that’s good. What did Sparkle do? The kitten you met before?”
    â€œHe was only starting to learn magic,” Molly explained. “I don’t think he was especially good at anything yet. He did help me make a spell to find his owner – he was lost, you see. He belongs to a witch who lives in the woods, not far from here.”
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    â€œI never get lost,” Posy told her. “I always know where I am.” She sighed. “But tabby fur isn’t very good for witching. Plain black is better, or perhaps silvery, or even white. Tabby is terribly boring.” She glanced sideways at Molly as she said this, as though she was hoping Molly might not think so.
    â€œTabby isn’t boring at all,” Molly said quickly. “Tabby’s clever! Like, like a tiger! It’s camouflage. All your beautiful stripes help you hide, in case you need to watch somebody.” Molly wasn’t sure it would be a good idea to mention hunting. People sometimes brought mice and