Atticus Claw Settles a Score by Jennifer Gray

Author:Jennifer Gray [Jennifer Gray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571286829
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2013-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

‘You’ve got a nerve turning up like this,’ Jimmy spat. ‘After what you did at Toffly Hall.’

‘What do you want?’ Ginger Biscuit growled.

Atticus swallowed. It had been easy enough to creep past the gang on Tower Green and hide in the Jewel House. It had even been fun watching Ginger Biscuit squirm with fear when he thought Atticus was a ghost. Now came the hard part. He needed Ginger Biscuit’s respect; and the only way to get it was to tough it out. He shot out a paw and pinned the nearest magpie.

‘I thought you said he was a pampered pet, Boss!’ Pig squawked.

Atticus gripped Pig tightly. ‘No chance,’ he hissed. ‘I’m back to burgling. And if you call me that again I’ll pull all your tail feathers out one by one and roast you in boiling oil.’

Pig fainted.

‘I don’t believe you, Claw,’ Jimmy said. ‘You double-crossed us last time. To save your own skin.’

Atticus kicked Pig out of the way with his back paw and advanced on Thug. ‘You said it, Jimmy. I had to save my own skin. That’s what you’d expect from the world’s greatest cat burglar, isn’t it? Besides, I thought it was you who double-crossed me.’

Atticus saw a shadow of doubt pass across Jimmy’s face. It was going better than he’d hoped. Jimmy was feeding him all the right lines. He prayed it was making an impression on Ginger Biscuit. His paw shot out and pinned Thug.

‘Why me?’ Thug cawed weakly. ‘Why not Slasher?’

‘Don’t worry, he’s next.’ Atticus patted Thug from side to side across the floor, like a fat feathery ball. ‘Look at it from my point of view, Jimmy,’ he continued reasonably. ‘The only way I could be sure of getting out of Littleton-on-Sea was by cosying up to the Cheddars and pretending to help them catch you and your gang.’ The words tasted bitter in Atticus’s mouth. None of it was true and it made him feel disloyal to the Cheddars. He loved all of them, especially Callie and Michael. But he had to go through with it. He had to gain the gang’s trust. He’d promised the Queen.

‘You’re saying you’re not a pet?’ Ginger Biscuit demanded.

Atticus looked him in the eye. With one sweep of his paw he sent Thug hurtling towards the ermine.

CRUMP!

‘Me?’ he laughed. ‘A pet?! Come on, Ginger, you know me better than that. Get real! How could a cat trained by Zenia Klob ever become a pet?!’ He pinned Slasher. ‘Once a cat burglar, always a cat burglar: that’s what I say.’

‘I still don’t buy it,’ Jimmy grumbled.

‘Help me!’ Slasher sobbed. ‘Somebirdy help me!’

‘I don’t care whether you buy it or not, Jimmy,’ Atticus hissed. ‘You’re just a bird. This is between us cats.’ He held Slasher up by the tail.

Ginger Biscuit laughed. ‘You’ve toughened up, Atticus, since the last time I saw you.’

‘You’d better believe it.’ Atticus bared his teeth at Jimmy. ‘And I don’t take orders from magpies.’ He pinged Slasher at the orbs.

‘Neither do I,’ Ginger Biscuit said lazily.

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