Daisy Meadows
Lucy Longwhiskers Gets Lost
For Darcie Littley
Special thanks to Valerie Wilding
Chapter One
A Golden Visitor
Lily Hart stepped into the long yard, breathing in the scent of the dewy grass. In the distance, nestled behind a grove of trees, was the barn her parents had turned into the Helping Paw Wildlife Hospital. Lily shrugged a vest over her green striped dress, then picked up the bucket of lettuce leaves waiting by the back door. Swinging it over her arm, she walked over to a large pen with a wire fence. At the end of the pen was a wooden hutch.
“Breakfast time!” Lily called. A pink, whiskery nose poked out from one of the hutch’s doors, then another. Soon three rabbits were hopping toward Lily. Two of them had bandages on their paws and the other had a bandage over its ear.
Lily opened the top of the pen and tipped the lettuce leaves into a bowl.
“Eat up,” she murmured. Her bobbed dark hair had fallen across her face, and Lily tucked it behind an ear as she watched the rabbits nibble the leaves. They’re almost better now, she thought. Soon they’ll be ready to go back to their burrow.
A flash of movement from the row of houses across the road caught Lily’s eye. One of the front doors had opened and out came a blond girl in denim shorts, leggings, and a pink hoodie.
Lily smiled. It was Jess Forester—her best friend!
Jess checked that the road was clear and hurried to the garden gate. She grinned as Lily ran to meet her.
“First day of vacation!” said Jess as the two friends hugged. “You know what would make this summer extra amazing? Helping in the hospital every day!”
Like Lily, Jess adored animals, and she loved living across from the Hart family.
Lily clapped her hands together. “Then let’s get started! I just fed the rabbits, but the other animals need their breakfasts, too.”
The girls passed the grove of trees where the Harts kept injured deer. A fawn was skipping around happily on three legs. His fourth leg was wrapped in a plaster cast.
“Dad fixed his leg yesterday,” Lily explained. “I helped.”
“Looks like you did a good job!” Jess patted the pocket of her shorts, where she kept her mini-sketchbook and pencil. “I’ll have to draw him later.”
They entered the barn, smelling the clean hay and fresh sawdust.
Mrs. Hart was standing by a hutch. “Just the helpers I need!” she said with a smile. Her jeans were tucked into a pair of muddy boots, and her dark hair was piled into a messy bun. “Could you feed these fox cubs for me?” she asked. “The poor things were found all alone.”
Lily grabbed two pairs of thick gloves, and Jess fished in her pocket for a hairband to tie back her blond curls. They were ready for work!
Soon the fox cubs were drinking greedily from feeding bottles, just like babies! When they finished, Lily entered the feed time in the hospital’s computer.
“Can you fill the water bottles in the hutches, please?” asked Mrs. Hart. “All except the end one—that hutch is empty. I’m off to check on the baby badgers. They’re very happy in the burrow we built. They seem to think it’s a real one!” She bustled out of the barn.
Lily and Jess filled the bottles from little watering cans, speaking softly to the squirrels, mice, and hedgehogs as they worked.
Finally, Jess said, “That’s all of them.”
But suddenly, Lily saw something move in the end hutch. Funny, she thought. Mom said it was empty.
“Look, Jess,” she whispered, opening the door and peering inside.
In the shadows at the back of the hutch nestled a cat. Its pointed ears twitched at the sight of the girls.
“That’s weird,” said Jess. “How did a cat get in?”
“Magic?” suggested Lily. They both laughed.
With a mew, the cat leaped out of the hutch. It had golden fur and eyes as green as spring leaves.
“She’s so pretty,” said Jess, tickling the soft fur on the cat’s head. “Lily, doesn’t she look just like that cat who came in last year with the hurt paw?”
Lily looked thoughtfully at the cat. “She does! I wonder if it’s her. Let’s check.”
Lily went to the computer to check the patient records. She clicked through a few pages, then gasped.
“Look!” she said, pointing to an old entry on the screen. It read:
Patient: Female cat.
Appearance: Gold fur, green eyes.
No collar—maybe a stray?
Notes: Arrived with an injured paw.
Healed well. Took a real liking to Lily
and Jess! Patient then disappeared.
Beneath the entry was a photograph of the golden cat.
“We were right!” said Jess. “I wonder why she came back today?”
The cat jumped down from the hutch and curled around the girls’ legs, purring.
“She doesn’t look sick,” said Lily, “so that can’t be the reason. It’s a mystery!”
The cat moved toward the barn door, stopped and looked back at the girls, then darted outside!
“Come on!” called Jess. “Let’s catch that cat—before she disappears again!”
Chapter Two
The Magical Tree
Lily and Jess ran outside. The golden cat sprinted across the Harts’ lawn toward Brightley Stream, which ran along the bottom of the yard.
“That’s weird,” Jess panted as the girls followed. “Cats usually keep away from water.”
Lily’s dad had put stepping-stones in the stream so people could cross safely. The cat sprang onto the first stepping-stone. Then she looked over her shoulder at the girls and mewed.
Lily’s dark eyes were wide. “She isn’t running away,” Lily said. “I think she wants us to follow her!”
With a flick of her golden tail, the cat leaped onto the next stone. The girls quickly jumped after her. On the other side of the stream, in Brightley Meadow, stood a huge oak tree. Even though it was the middle of summer, the tree had no leaves. Jess’s dad was a science teacher, and he’d told them it was dead.
But as the cat ran to the tree, something amazing happened. Leaves sprang from every twig, bright green and shimmering in the sunshine, as if they had been speckled with gold dust. Birds swooped down to the branches and began singing, and bumblebees and butterflies danced among the yellow flowers below.
“It’s come back to life!” Lily said with a gasp. “How is that possible?”
Jess rubbed her eyes. She couldn’t believe what they were seeing!
The golden cat was rubbing around the tree trunk, pawing at some strange marks.
Jess kneeled to stroke her silky fur. “I know this sounds crazy, but I think the cat has something to do with this!”
Lily nodded, her eyes wide. “Look! There’s writing carved into the trunk.”
Jess crawled around the tree, reading the letters. “Friend... ship... For... est...”
The cat meowed and pawed at the letters once more.
“Maybe she wants us to say it louder?” Jess guessed. “FRIENDSHIP FOREST!” she shouted.
But the cat just meowed again. She first rubbed Lily’s leg, then Jess’s, and pawed at the letters.