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Back The Copycat Save as PDF
Chapters (68)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Chapter One
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Chapter Two
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Chapter Three
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Chapter Four
  19. Twelve
  20. Thirteen
  21. Fourteen
  22. Chapter Five
  23. Fifteen
  24. Sixteen
  25. Chapter Six
  26. Seventeen
  27. Eighteen
  28. Nineteen
  29. Chapter Seven
  30. Twenty
  31. Twenty-One
  32. Twenty-Two
  33. Chapter Eight
  34. Twenty-Three
  35. Twenty-Four
  36. Twenty-Five
  37. Chapter Nine
  38. Twenty-Six
  39. Twenty-Seven
  40. Chapter Ten
  41. Twenty-Eight
  42. Twenty-Nine
  43. Thirty
  44. Thirty-One
  45. Chapter Eleven
  46. Thirty-Two
  47. Thirty-Three
  48. Thirty-Four
  49. Thirty-Five
  50. Chapter Twelve
  51. Thirty-Six
  52. Thirty-Seven
  53. Thirty-Eight
  54. Chapter Thirteen
  55. Thirty-Nine
  56. Forty
  57. Forty-One
  58. Forty-Two
  59. Chapter Fourteen
  60. Forty-Three
  61. Forty-Four
  62. Forty-Five
  63. Forty-Six
  64. Forty-Seven
  65. Chapter Fifteen
  66. The Following Summer
  67. About the Author
  68. About the Publisher

As Ali leaned over to hear better, there was a piercing cry. Ali ran to the window and stuck her head out. Topsy, the neighbor’s cat, had cornered one of Gigi’s squirrels. There was blood.

“Alfie!” Gigi yelled.

Ali glanced back at Gigi, confused. “It’s not Alfie. Topsy’s attacking a squirrel!”

The color drained from Gigi’s face. “Save him, Ali! You have to save him!”

Ali knew Gigi was attached to her critters, but her terror was still a surprise. “I’ll—”

“No! You don’t understand!” cried Gigi. “The squirrel is Alfie!”

Alfie? Ali’s head was a jumble. Alfie was a squirrel? He’d been visiting Gigi? For how long? And then a realization: Alfie was a Copycat too. Ali froze, trying to take it all in. The squirrel squealed again, and Ali sprang into action. Alfie was being attacked. She had to save him!

Ali pulled off her sneaker and threw it at Topsy’s head. The cat didn’t budge. Supper was right there, and she wouldn’t give that up even if it meant a cuff to the head. Alfie the squirrel tried to crawl away, his chitter pitiful when Topsy batted him with a vicious paw. Ali did a quick calculation: taking the stairs and going out the front door would take too much time; Topsy was about to pounce again. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped, trusting she would change into a cat on the way down.

She did.

Ali landed on the grass beside Topsy and hurled herself forward, claws and teeth bared. Startled, the other cat hissed and tried to stand her ground, but Ali’s momentum was an advantage; she knocked Topsy sideways like a bowling pin. Topsy righted herself and yowled, but Ali was in warrior mode. Fur straight up, back arched, she charged forward and swiped a paw across the cat’s face, drawing blood. That was enough for Topsy. She fled home to lick her wounds.

Panting, Ali raced over to Alfie and nudged him with her nose. She expected him to panic and try to escape, but he’d rolled into a whimpering ball, his small heart racing so fast she could see it rise and fall in his tiny squirrel chest. Why didn’t he change back? Was he too hurt?

There was no way she could help him as a cat, so she changed back and scooped Alfie up, cradling him in her arms. Her panic rose with his every chirpy sound of misery. Gigi would know what to do.

Chapter Fourteen

The Comfort of Fog

On a foggy night, there is nothing so lonely and yet so comforting as the call of the foghorn, reaching out across the water to guide those at risk of peril to a safe harbor.

—PERCIVAL T. SLOANE,

A History of Fog in the Bay of Fundy (1932)

Forty-Three