LITMIR.BIZ

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to need help with the details.

      ‘The key is all in the timing,’ Cleo said. I got the feeling that she liked to pontificate – something Dad said I always did when he was watching the sport. Still, under the circumstances, I was willing to put up with a bit of fellow cat know-it-all-ness. ‘We can’t make the swap until after they check our pet passports and microchips.’

      ‘Of course,’ I murmured, even though I was actually thinking, I have a passport? I mean, I knew about the microchip thingy, buried under my fur, but I’d never needed a passport before. (I’d seen Dad’s, though. He looked hilarious in the photo, and Mum liked to show it around any friends who stopped by, whenever he was preparing for another trip.)

      ‘Once we’ve been checked, but before we go our separate ways, we need to switch places, without anyone noticing.’

      ‘Easy,’ I said, although actually, it sounded anything but. I tried to picture how it would work, but without ever having been to an airport before, or gone through the security things Gobi had talked about, I couldn’t imagine it. Would it be like getting on the ferry, with the man who scowled at paperwork? Or would it be totally different?

      If our humans weren’t looking too closely, they might not notice if we swapped places. I hoped …

      ‘We’ll see,’ Cleo replied. I supposed she was right – I’d have to wait and see how it all worked.

      But one thing I was certain of – it would work. It had to. This was my one chance to escape on a real adventure, not just tagging around after Gobi. I wasn’t going to miss it.

      I raised my head, stretching out my neck as I sat, imperious. ‘It’ll work like clockwork, just wait and see. We’ll swap places, and I’ll go adventuring to Australia with Jennifer, and you can …’ The gap in my plan suddenly seemed obvious. ‘Wait, what are you really going to do once we’ve swapped?’ I didn’t think she’d want to fly to China with Mum and Dad, but what other choice would she have?

      But Cleo just shrugged. ‘I’ll hang out with your people long enough for you to make your getaway, then I’ll lose them before we get on the plane.’

      ‘Lose them? How? You’ll be in my carrier.’ And I had tried opening that door from the inside before, usually when they were using it to take me to the vet. It didn’t work.

      But Cleo looked unconcerned by the difficulties ahead. ‘Yowl loud enough and someone will open the door eventually. Then I just need to slip past them and make a run for it.’

      ‘What if you get caught? And, actually, what if you don’t? What will you do?’ It sounded to me like Cleo had her own adventure planned.

      ‘If I can stay free, I’ll just hide out around the airport as long as it’s fun and entertaining. Then, when I’m ready for humans again, I’ll let myself get caught by the airport staff. They’ll just check my microchip, then put me up in some pet hotel or another until Jennifer gets back in the country. Hopefully, losing me will put her off flying for a while.’

      For someone planning an audacious escape, Cleo seemed remarkably calm and unruffled. Were her nerves jangling like mine were, inside? If she hated flying as much as she said, she must be a bit nervous, right? I wished she’d show it – it would make me feel better.

      And there was something else Cleo hadn’t considered, either.

      ‘Unless Jennifer decides she likes me better, and wants to keep me.’ I was hoping to ruffle her, just a little bit. But Cleo just laughed, which was rather insulting.

      I got the feeling that Cleo wasn’t really that nice a cat. But she was helping me, so I’d need to put up with her, for now at least.

      Later, once Jennifer had whisked Cleo back into her carrier to take her next door, and Mum and Dad were ready for bed, Gobi settled down next to me and asked, ‘What were you and your lookalike whispering about earlier?’

      I allowed myself a small, smug smile. ‘You’ll have to wait and see.’

      ‘I didn’t like her,’ Gobi said. ‘She seemed sly. Sneaky. Not like you.’

      If only Gobi knew how sneaky I could be, when I needed to. But it was better that she didn’t. Mum and Dad and Gobi were all so convinced that I was a boring, homebody cat, they’d never even dream I could plan an adventure like this, so they’d never see it coming. I’d be halfway to Australia before they even realized what had happened.

      It was the perfect plan.

      I smiled to myself, and curled up, my paws under my chin and my tail wrapped over Gobi’s back to try to sleep. But without the distractions of Cleo and Jennifer, or making plans, I was very aware that I was on the giant ship in the middle of more water than I’d ever imagined could exist, even when Dad pointed out the oceans on his map.

      Gobi was already snoring, so I hopped off the bed and over to the little table under the window, almost knocking over Mum’s bottle of water. Pressing my paws against the window, I looked outside again.

      The waves rose and fell around us, making even the huge ferry sway from side to side. The moon glowed in the sky, and again in the water. I knew from Dad’s documentaries that it was the same moon that looked down on our house in Edinburgh, the same moon my family would see in China, and the same moon I’d be looking at in Australia.

      The whole wide world to explore, but only one moon. That made me feel a little better about everything, somehow.

      After a while, watching the waves started to make my stomach feel odd, so I settled down again next to Gobi, listening to her gentle snores, and Mum and Dad’s breathing as they slept. This might be the last night I heard those sounds for a while, so I drank them all in, storing the memory away for other nights, away from my family. After a while, they merged with the other sounds I could hear – creaks and clanks from the ferry, the voices of some of the other passengers passing our door, the waves outside lapping against the boat.

      Eventually, I fell asleep to the sound of the waves rocking the boat, still picturing Gobi’s face when she realized I was having a much bigger adventure than she ever could.

      Airports turned out to be a lot bigger than I expected. And noisier.

      There were so many people, everywhere, that I could see instantly how easy it would be for Cleo to lose herself among them, after I was gone. Once she’d escaped from the carrier, anyway.

      So far, everything had gone perfectly to plan.

      The ferry had docked early in the morning, and we’d all had breakfast together in our little cabin before we headed out to find our car again. Dad helped Jennifer with her cases too, taking her with us down to the car. We sat in the giant car park on the boat, and I peered out from my carrier through a sliver of window I could see, waiting to see the new country we’d arrived in – France.

      Jennifer and Cleo travelled with us on the drive to the airport, Cleo in her carrier beside mine. We’d exchanged knowing looks, but hadn’t risked discussing our plan with Gobi there to listen in. I wasn’t sure how she’d stop us, but I was pretty sure she’d try, if she knew what we were planning. I reckoned Gobi liked being the only pet to have the big adventures.

      My whole body buzzed with anticipation throughout the long drive to the airport – and for once, I didn’t even fall asleep in the car! I was far too excited for that.

      At the airport, Jennifer stuck with us, just as Cleo and I had hoped she would. I’d tried to imagine what we’d do if she decided to go her own way once we got there, but without being able to picture an airport, it was impossible.

      Now I could see exactly what one looked like, it only seemed more so.

      It helped that Cleo had talked me through what would happen – and that, actually, it wasn’t very much different to the systems we’d been through at the ferry port the day before. Now, though, I realized that the papers Dad handed over to the man in the uniform were probably mine and Gobi’s passports

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