Curiosity Killed the Cat (3 page)

The next morning, Hannah slept through her alarm and was late getting to the bus stop. She saw the bus pull up when she was still a block away, but she figured Madison would hold it for her. Instead, Hannah made it to the corner just as the driver was closing the door.

“Wait!” Hannah cried, and the door opened again.

“Sorry about that,” the driver said kindly. “I didn’t see you there.”

Thanks a lot, Madison
, Hannah thought as she walked toward the middle of the bus. The glare Madison gave her was a pretty good indication that she definitely had
not
tried to hold the bus for her new stepsister.

Hannah slid into the only empty seat she saw, which unfortunately happened to be two seats behind Madison and her best friend, Alexis Schaefer. Hannah heard Alexis’s shrill voice waft over the bus seats.

“Ugh,” Alexis scoffed. “I can’t believe that dork is your stepsister.”

“I know,” Madison agreed loudly. “You’ll never believe what happened yesterday. She spent half the day crying her eyes out over her lost kitty cat, like a six-year-old.”

“Seriously?” Alexis asked as she cracked her chewing gum.

Hannah was mortified. She slouched down in her seat and hoped no one around her realized Madison and Alexis were talking about her.

“Can you believe it?” Madison continued. She laughed sharply. “First her mother leaves her, then her cat. What a loser.”

Tears sprang to Hannah’s eyes. She wasn’t usually so emotional, but hearing Madison mention her mom had gotten to her. Hannah knew Madison had a mean streak, but she hadn’t expected her to stoop so low.
What have I ever done to her, anyway?
Hannah
thought. For once in her life, she couldn’t wait to get to school.

Relief flooded through Hannah when she got to homeroom and saw Paisley sitting near the windows.

“I’ve had the worst morning,” Hannah groaned as she slipped into the seat next to her friend. “Come to think of it, yesterday wasn’t so hot either.”

“What happened?” Paisley asked, concern etched on her face. “Did Icky come home?”

“No, he’s still missing.” Hannah sighed. “And that’s not even the worst of it.” She filled Paisley in on Madison’s latest mean-girl antics. She almost told Paisley about the scratching sound that had woken her in the middle of the night, too, but for some reason she decided to keep that detail of her miserable weekend to herself. Hannah still wasn’t quite sure what had happened, and she didn’t want Paisley thinking she was making things up.

Paisley loved talking about local legends, and Hannah knew she even half-believed them, but lying or making things up was another story. The only time Paisley had ever been really angry with Hannah was when they had been five years old. Hannah loved Paisley’s favorite stuffed toy, an elephant named
Ellie. Every so often, the girls would swap toys, and Ellie would go to Hannah’s house for a sleepover while Hannah’s teddy bear, Charlie, stayed at Paisley’s.

During one of those stuffed toy sleepovers, Hannah decided she couldn’t let Ellie go. His blue elephant fur was the softest she had ever felt, and she loved cuddling up with him. She just had to have him. So she told Paisley that she had lost him. Hannah felt guilty about it the entire time, but she kept that toy for an entire week before her mom found out and returned Ellie to Paisley.

After that, Paisley didn’t want to play with Hannah for weeks. Finally, the girls’ mothers got them together and convinced them to be friends again. But Hannah still remembered what Paisley had told her after they made up. Paisley had looked Hannah straight in the eye and said, “I don’t like friends who tell lies.” And Hannah had promised Paisley (and herself) that she would never, ever lie to her friend again.

Hannah knew telling Paisley about the scratching sound wouldn’t be lying, but she wasn’t sure what Paisley would think. With her mom gone, Hannah couldn’t bear the thought of not having Paisley in
her life. So she kept the rest of the details of her weekend to herself, just in case.

“I don’t understand Madison,” Paisley said, shaking her head. “Why is she going out of her way to be so nasty? It’s not like you did anything to her. And you’re the one who had to move! She could show a little empathy.”

“Something tells me Madison got that one wrong on her vocab quiz,” Hannah said with a little laugh. “I seriously doubt she even knows what the word means.”

“Well, let’s focus on the things we can actually do something about,” Paisley said reasonably. “Take Icky, for example. We can put up some ‘Lost Cat’ flyers after school.”

“That would be great!” Hannah agreed enthusiastically.

Paisley pulled out her calendar. “Let me just make sure I’m free this afternoon.” She flipped through a few pages and frowned.

“I don’t get it,” she said, finally looking up at Hannah. “I always leave at least one free day per week, but I’m fully booked for the next month! Between soccer, dance, clarinet, student government, and homework, I don’t have a single free afternoon.”

“Oh,” Hannah said softly, trying hard not to show her disappointment. She was used to Paisley’s hectic schedule, but her friend always made time to spend with Hannah, too, even if she did have to schedule it in.

Paisley sighed. “I’m sorry, Hannah,” she said apologetically. “I guess seventh grade is going to be tougher to manage than I thought.”

“That’s okay,” Hannah said as the bell rang for homeroom to begin. “I’ll figure something else out. Maybe my dad will help me hang the flyers.”

“Thanks for understanding,” Paisley whispered as their homeroom teacher, Mr. Jaffe, began taking attendance. “You’re the best!”

Hannah smiled weakly. She didn’t feel very understanding. Was seventh grade going to be the year Paisley stopped having time in her schedule for her best friend? That was just one more change Hannah didn’t think she could bear.

Hannah slipped into her English class just as the bell rang for first period to begin. It was only after she sat down that she remembered that English was her one class with Madison. Hannah glanced around,
breathing a sigh of relief when she didn’t spot her evil stepsister. Then something made her turn around.

Madison was sitting right behind Hannah. She scowled darkly.

Great
, Hannah thought.
Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse.

“Today we’re going to talk about legends,” their English teacher, Mr. Bonaventure, announced as he paced the front of the classroom. “Can anyone define the term
legend
?”

Everyone was silent. Finally, the class brain, Emilia Lacey, raised her hand.

“It’s a story that’s passed down from one generation to another, right?”

“Yes, that’s part of it,” Mr. Bonaventure agreed. “But legends aren’t just tales that are passed down within families or among groups of friends — they’re stories that become so popular that everyone knows them, even if no one is sure if they’re true or not.”

“You mean like the legend of King Arthur?” Thomas Lee asked. He was on the fencing team and was really into anything medieval. Hannah’s mom had dragged her to the New York Renaissance Faire in August, and Hannah had bumped into Thomas —
literally. He had been wearing a costume with puffy sleeves and he had said something goofy like “Pardon me, m’lady” after almost knocking her over.

“Yes, the legend of King Arthur is a great example,” Mr. Bonaventure replied. “Robin Hood is another. Can anyone think of some local legends that originated right here in our area?”

Ryan Walsh raised his hand. “Rip van Winkle?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yes, that’s one of them,” Mr. Bonaventure said. “Any others?”

Silence again. The answer was so obvious Hannah couldn’t believe no one was speaking up.

Without even meaning to, the words popped out of her mouth. “The legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

“Yes!” Mr. Bonaventure cried. “That’s one of the most famous legends in this town, and we’re going to be reading it this week.”

The class groaned, and even Hannah rolled her eyes. It wasn’t the first time any of them had read “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in school. In fact, Hannah’s sixth grade English teacher had made the class study the story for an entire month. Every teacher in town obviously thought it was the thing to do during pumpkin season.

“Any other local legends you can think of?” Mr. Bonaventure asked as he passed out copies of the story.

“Well, there are all those ghost legends about the cemetery,” Shana Strobert said. “You know, like the story about the ghost cat? People see it around there all the time.”

A bunch of the boys laughed. “That’s no ghost!” Jordan Saks shouted. “That’s just a cat from crazy old Mrs. Wilkinson’s house. She’s got about a thousand of them in there.”

“Yeah, weird people live near the cemetery,” Parker Anderson added. “Like that one over there.” He gestured at Hannah. “I know cuz I’m on her bus.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. Parker had been pestering Hannah regularly since second grade, when he had been known to chase the girls during recess, trying to kiss whichever ones he could outrun. When he’d come after her, Hannah had been so afraid she had panicked and accidentally punched him in the stomach. Even though they’d been seven at the time, Parker had never forgotten. Hannah wasn’t sure if it was because Parker had been impressed or annoyed by Hannah, but he always went out of his way to
make wisecracks at her expense. By now, she was pretty used to it.

“Thank you for those colorful anecdotes, gentlemen,” Mr. Bonaventure said crisply. “And the correct word is
because
, Parker.”

Thankfully, the bell rang to end class. As Hannah headed for the door, Parker and his friends jostled past her, knocking one of her books out of her arms.

A second later, Ryan Walsh was standing in front of Hannah, holding out her book.

“Looks like you dropped this,” he said, brushing his floppy dark brown hair out of his equally dark brown eyes. “And for the record, I think it’s cool that you live near the cemetery. I live pretty close to it, too.”

“Um, thanks,” Hannah said softly, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Or was it something else? She couldn’t help but notice how cute Ryan was.

“See ya,” Ryan said as he walked out the door.

Hannah practically floated out of the classroom. For some reason, despite every thing that had happened that morning, she suddenly felt lighter and happier.

That is, until Madison stepped in front of her. She grabbed Hannah’s arm and pulled her into the girls’ bathroom.

“Look, let’s get a few things straight.” Madison crossed her arms angrily and glared at Hannah. “I don’t appreciate you drawing attention to the fact that
I
live near the cemetery.”

“O-kay,” Hannah replied slowly. “But I didn’t —”

“Save it.” Madison cut her off. “You were the one who mentioned Sleepy Hollow. And then that Parker kid points out that
I
live near the cemetery! That place is super-creepy, and my friends are weirded out enough when they come over. It’s not exactly cool to live next to a bunch of dead people.”

“Parker wasn’t talking about you, he was talking about me,” Hannah tried to explain. She couldn’t figure out why Madison was getting so upset. Probably no one in class even remembered what Parker had said.

“But you live with me now!” Madison practically shouted. “And I have a reputation to maintain. So keep a low profile. Got it?”

And with that, she whipped around and stormed out, her blond ponytail swinging angrily behind her.

After the bathroom encounter, Hannah tried to steer clear of Madison as much as possible. It wasn’t particularly hard, since Madison didn’t seem eager to be in the same room with Hannah either. Madison did conveniently keep forgetting to unlock Hannah’s door to the bathroom, which meant Hannah was constantly going downstairs to use the one in the front hallway, rather than risk a confrontation with her stepsister.

On Tuesday, Hannah’s dad picked her up after school and drove her around her old neighborhood so she could hang up “Lost Cat” signs on telephone poles. Hannah spent the rest of the night sitting near the phone, hoping it would ring with news about
Icky. By the next afternoon, though, there still hadn’t been a single call.

Hannah tried to concentrate on her biology homework. As she began labeling the parts of an animal cell, the chat window popped up on her computer screen.

“Mom!” Hannah cried. It had barely been three days since her mother had left, but Hannah suddenly realized how much she missed her.

Hannah logged off of the chat window and turned back to her biology assignment. She tapped her pencil against the desk softly as she tried to recall the correct placement of the cell membrane and the cell wall.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Hannah leaped out of her chair, her heart pounding. Her pencil flew out of her hand and bounced off the windowpane. The scratching was even louder than it had been the other night, and it had come from right outside the window over her desk.

Hannah glanced out into the yard and saw a flash of black fur streak across the backyard. It looked just like a cat —
her
cat!

“Icky?” she gasped. Could it really be him? What was he doing all the way over on this side of town? Had he followed her to her dad’s? Animals
always seemed to do that sort of thing in Disney movies.

It seemed so unlikely, though. Hannah’s mom’s house was at least three miles away. She shook her head in disbelief. It was probably just a stray — maybe even one from the cat lady’s house that Jordan Saks had mentioned in English class. Still, Hannah had to be sure. If there was even a chance it was Icky out there, she had to go after him.

Hannah grabbed her jacket off the back of her desk chair and dashed down the stairs and out the kitchen door into the backyard.

“Icky?” she called out tentatively as she ventured toward the back of the yard. She felt foolish as she repeated his name over and over again. There was no sign of a cat anywhere. A soft breeze rustled the leaves of the trees, and Hannah pulled her jacket tighter around her. When she got to the fence at the edge of the yard, she could see the first row of tombstones about fifteen feet away, just inside the cemetery.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Hannah whirled around, her heart leaping into her throat. Not the scratching sound again!

“Who’s there?” she squeaked, terrified. “Madison? Is that you? This isn’t funny!”

The sound had come from behind her, but the whisper of the wind in the trees was the only reply.

Hannah turned to head back to the house. The sun was beginning to slip behind the trees, and she could feel the temperature dropping.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

“Ack!” Hannah choked, her knees turning to jelly. She was afraid she was about to pass out.

Get ahold of yourself!
Hannah thought. This time, the sound had come from beyond the fence, and Hannah was sure she hadn’t imagined it. Instinctively, Hannah turned toward the noise and caught a glimpse of a black shadow moving between two of the tombstones. She was sure the shadow had a white-tipped tail, just like Icky.

Hannah took a step closer to the fence that encircled the backyard. She noticed a small latch in the fence. It was a gate! A gate that led into the cemetery.

As scared as she was, Hannah forced herself to take another step forward, closer to the gate. She knew she should have been heading in the opposite direction, back toward the warm and cozy house. After all, didn’t something terrible always happen to girls who wandered into cemeteries alone in horror films?

Still, if there was even a chance that Icky was in the cemetery, lost and alone, Hannah had to find him. She tried to convince herself that the cemetery wasn’t any different than the backyard — there were just some stone monuments scattered around it.

They’re only crumbling old sculptures
, Hannah told herself as she pushed the gate open and stepped into the graveyard, trembling with every step.
Just like the ones I saw at the art museum on our class trip last spring.

She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and a wave of confidence washed over her. Hannah plunged after the shadow with sudden determination, pushing aside branches and vines as she went.

Hannah gasped.

In front of her was an enormous tree. An undeniably cute stone bench peeked out from underneath the tree, violet and yellow wildflowers growing around its base. A tangle of pretty green vines climbed up the tree and hung across one of the thick, low-hanging branches, creating a picturesque arbor that almost completely concealed the slab of stone.

There was nothing creepy about it. In fact, the bench looked even cozier and more inviting to Hannah than the Van Meters’ manicured wooden porch and
swing. If the sun hadn’t been setting, it would have made the perfect reading nook.

The sun
, Hannah thought suddenly. It was getting dark fast. As cute as the stone bench and arbor were, Hannah had no desire to hang out alone in a cemetery after dark.

Hannah glanced around her one last time, looking for any signs of Icky, but she didn’t see anything. If he really was out there among the tombstones, she would have to come back to look again during the day. A breeze swept through the cemetery, and a chill washed over Hannah as she hurried to the fence, through the gate, and back to the house.

Hannah woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. Certain that the scratching sound had woken her, she sat up in bed, listening for it for an agonizing ten minutes. Finally, she realized she hadn’t heard a thing, though she
did
have to use the bathroom.

Hannah slipped out of bed and crossed the room silently. Then she grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. It was locked.

“Grrr, Madison,” Hannah growled under her breath in irritation. She sighed. Now she had to go
downstairs in the dark. Hannah stepped into her slippers and headed out of her room and down the stairs. The porch light shone through the front door, illuminating the way with a soft yellow glow. Hannah was careful to move slowly and quietly so as not to wake Allison and her dad, but just as Hannah reached the last step, she heard it.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

It was coming from the porch.

Hannah froze on the steps, terrified. She couldn’t take a step forward, but she didn’t want to turn her back to the front door to go back up the stairs either.

And then she saw it — a dark shadow slowly moving across the doorway.

Hannah screamed.