Lost in the Storm (Holly Webb Animal Stories) Read online

  The vet nodded thoughtfully. “She looks about three or four weeks old to me. Only just old enough to survive without her mother. She’s very weak – I think she’s had a couple of days on her own in the cold. I’m going to put her on a drip to get some food into her, and we’ll put her in an incubator, get her really nice and warm.” She smiled, looking at Ella’s anxious face. “I think you found her just in time. I can’t promise, but it looks to me as if she’s just cold and hungry, nothing worse. You might even be able to take her home in a couple of hours.” She started to get the equipment she needed.

  “Oh, that’s fantastic!” Ella squeaked, not noticing that Mum and Dad looked a bit shocked. “That’s really good, because I don’t think Fluff will understand where she is. She looked so upset when we drove off. She was watching us through the window—”

  “Ella, Ella, hang on,” Mum interrupted. “We don’t know who this kitten belongs to. And we already have Fluff, I’m not sure we can—”

  “Mum!” Ella was horrified. “We have to take her home! Fluff saved her – what are you going to tell Fluff if we go back without her?”

  Dad looked thoughtful. “Didn’t the people who moved from that house down the road a few days ago have a white cat? I’m sure I remember seeing one around. Was she pregnant? Maybe she decided to have her kittens in that cottage. Cats do that sometimes, don’t they?” he asked the vet. “Find strange places to have their kittens?”

  The vet nodded. “It’s to do with wanting to be private, and keeping the kittens safe. If her owners were moving, she might not have liked all the mess of packing up at home.” She was laying the white kitten in what looked like a fish tank. “This has got a heat mat to warm her up gently,” she explained. “I’ll take her through to the ward when she’s settled.”

  Ella peered through the plastic side. The kitten looked really cosy, but that gave her a horrible thought. “What happened to the other kittens?” she asked worriedly. “Do you think they’re outside somewhere? There was only this little one in the cupboard.”

  “Maybe the mother carried them back to the house,” the vet said thoughtfully. “Or perhaps she only had the one. That happens sometimes, and it would mean that it wasn’t too obvious she was going to have kittens. Her owners might not have known.”

  Mum looked sad. “So they took her with them and left the kitten behind.”

  “Yes, she might have had to go home for some food. Thank goodness for Fluff,” the vet said, smiling.

  Mum sighed, and shook her head. “I suppose you’re right, Ella. After what Fluff did, we have to take this one home too.” Then she smiled. “I might have known it wouldn’t stop with one!”

  “You mean we can keep her?” Ella asked, hopping up and down. “Really?”

  Her dad grinned. “Why not. I took ages putting in that cat flap, we might as well use it… Ooof!” he gasped as Ella hurled herself at him for a hug.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can’t wait to tell Fluff!”

  Back at home Fluff was sitting anxiously on the window sill. She didn’t quite understand where Ella and the kitten had gone, but Ella had whispered that they were looking after her. She stared out at the snowy street, watching for the car, waiting for Ella. As they pulled up in front of the house, she jumped up with her paws scrabbling on the glass, mewing excitedly. Where was the kitten?

  Ella got carefully out of the car, and Fluff watched in relief as she walked slowly up the path, cradling the kitten. Fluff was there waiting as they opened the door, twining affectionately around Ella’s ankles, then leading Ella to the kitchen and her too-big basket. She watched as Ella carefully set the kitten down on the red cushion, then she stepped in and curled herself around the white kitten lovingly. The kitten, who’d been fast asleep ever since they left the vet’s, opened one eye sleepily, and looked up at Fluff. “Prrrp,” she murmured, and a very small bright-pink tongue shot out and licked Fluff ’s nose. Then she went back to sleep.

  Fluff looked down at her, and then back at Ella, who was crouched next to the basket watching.

  Ella reached over to scratch Fluff under the chin. “What shall we call her?” she wondered, looking at the kitten’s white fur, snuggled next to Fluff ’s tabby coat. “How about Snowy? She is our snow rescue kitten.”

  Fluff yawned and stretched a little in agreement.

  Ella grinned, watching the two of them snooze. “It looks like we were right to buy a big basket after all!”

  About the Author

  Holly Webb started out as a children’s book editor, and wrote her first series for the publisher she worked for. She has been writing ever since, with over sixty books to her name. Holly lives in Berkshire, with her husband and three young sons. She has a pet cat called Marble, who is always nosying around when she’s trying to type on her laptop.

  Other titles by Holly Webb:

  Lost in the Snow

  Lost in the Storm

  Alfie all Alone

  Sam the Stolen Puppy

  Max the Missing Puppy

  Sky the Unwanted Kitten

  Timmy in Trouble

  Ginger the Stray Kitten

  Harry the Homeless Puppy

  Buttons the Runaway Puppy

  Alone in the Night

  Ellie the Homesick Puppy

  Jess the Lonely Puppy

  Misty the Abandoned Kitten

  Oscar’s Lonely Christmas

  Lucy the Poorly Puppy

  Smudge the Stolen Kitten

  The Rescued Puppy

  The Kitten Nobody Wanted

  The Lost Puppy

  The Frightened Kitten

  Copyright

  STRIPES PUBLISHING

  An imprint of Little Tiger Press

  1 The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road,

  London SW6 6AW

  Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2007

  Illustrations copyright © Sophy Williams, 2007

  First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2012.

  eISBN: 978-1-84715-263-3

  The right of Holly Webb and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved.

  Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  www.stripespublishing.co.uk