Fairy Falls was bores-ville from the get-go. Then the animals started talking...
The Fairy Falls Animal Shelter is in trouble. Money trouble. It’s up to an old calico cat named Whiskey—a shelter cat who has mastered the skill of observation—to find a new human pack leader so that their home will be saved. With the help of Nobel, the leader of the shelter dogs, the animals set out to use the ancient skill of telepathy to contact any human who bothers to listen to them. Unfortunately for fifteen-year-old Meagan Walsh, she hears them, loud and clear.
Forced to live with her Aunt Izzy in the safe and quiet town of Fairy Falls, Meagan is caught stealing and is sentenced to do community hours at the animal shelter where her aunt works. Realizing Meagan can hear her, Whiskey realizes that Meagan just might have the pack leader qualities necessary to save the animals. Avoiding Whiskey and the rest of shelter animals becomes impossible for Meagan, so she finally gives in and promises to help them. Meagan, along with her newfound friends, Reid Robertson and Natalie Knight, discover that someone in Fairy Falls is not only out to destroy the shelter, but the animals as well. Can Meagan convince her aunt and co-workers that the animals are in danger? If she fails, then all the animals’ voices will be silenced forever.
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“You can understand me, can’t you, girl?” the calico cat said,
staring straight at her.
Meagan stretched, much like a cat, and then crossed her arms.
“So what if I can? And FYI—cigarettes relieve stress for me. I need them like
you need food.”
Whiskey’s ears flattened. “I do not need poisoned food, thank
you very much. And what is stress, girl?”
“Meagan.”
“What?”
“My name is Meagan. How would you like to be called ‘cat’ all
the time?”
“It is what I am.” Whiskey preened her head with a paw. “You humans
are the only ones who need to give out names. In my lifetime, I have had three
different names, though I like Whiskey the best. Now, what is this ‘stress’?”
“Stress is something adults do to kids all the time. It’s that
push-push-push feeling that gets up all inside you. Stress makes your stomach
bunch, neck tense, and head ache.”
Whiskey stopped grooming. “So why don’t you just walk away
from this stress? Cats do it all the time.”
Meagan sighed. “I wish it were that easy.”
Whiskey sneezed, making her bells ring. “It’s easier than
poisoning yourself with that white stick. If you could smell what I can smell,
then you’d never pick up another white stick.”
Meagan laughed. “Maybe, but when I first walked into the
shelter, you should have smelled what I smelled. It was ripe! Whew, you animals
are disgusting!”
Whiskey grinned a cat grin, and then laid down on the gravel.
“Does the Kind One know?”
“Kind One?”
“The human you came in with. Does she know that you can talk
to cats?”
“Aunt Izzy? No. Only my mom knew. She used to work for a
veterinarian, but…” Meagan paused, shook her head, and then cleared her throat,
“Nobody does now. I used to talk to animals all the time when I was younger. It
seemed natural to me, picking up pictures or feelings or emotions from a stray
cat, a wandering dog, or a friend’s pet, and then sending a message back to
them. I remember it being fun.”
Whiskey’s yellow eyes widened. “You can understand dogs, too?”
Meagan nodded. “Sure. I just pick up their signals, the same
as I would for cats, and connect with them. I stopped doing it when I was
around ten ’cause—” Meagan paused for the second time, and sighed deeply “—kids
were making fun of me and adults didn’t believe me. I honestly thought I’d lost
the ability until I picked up on you.”
The dogs started barking wildly again. “Okay, okay, hold your
bits and pieces, Mama Gail is coming!”
“What’s going on?” Meagan asked, peering around the shed.
“It’s feeding time for the dogs. The Loud One is rotating them
so they all get a chance to relieve themselves before eating.”
“The Loud One? For not caring about names, you animals sure
have some strange ones for us.”
Whiskey’s tail twitched. “We go by the steady patterns we pick
up from a human.”
“Steady patterns?”
Her tail flicked again. “Yes. Every human is different. The
Loud One booms in everything she does. She uses her voice far too much and her
ears far too little. The Quiet One is the opposite. She listens and rarely
speaks, but knows more about what’s going on at the shelter than anyone else.
Then there’s the Quick One. She speeds through the shelter, cleaning, watering,
and feeding us as if she’s doing the job of ten humans. It’s all so disturbing
to watch, darting here and there like a lost puppy on the road.”
“I see,” said Meagan. “So how did you come up with the
oh-so-wrong name for my Aunt Izzy?”
Whiskey jumped up on her lap and stared into her blue eyes.
Meagan shrunk. “If you can communicate with me, then you should know why.”
Whiskey was a light-weight cat, no more than a furry bag of
bones, yet there was something intimidating about her, like an old-school
teacher smacking a ruler against her palm. The truth was, this elderly cat knew
her aunt better than she did and it made her a little on the jealous side.
Other than the stories her dad had shared—the bar fight, the drug addiction,
the rebellious big sister—she knew nothing else.
Meagan shook her head. “I haven’t a freaking clue, Whiskey.”
The cat almost looked disappointed. “Then may I suggest that
you start paying attention? You’ll learn more about humans that way.”
Book Details:
Kindle File Size: 667 KB
Print Length: 203 pages
Publication Date: June 17, 2017
ASIN: B0713S1DCR
Publisher: Mirror World Publishing
http://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com
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Sharon Ledwith is the author of the middle-grade/young adult time travel adventure series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, and the teen psychic mystery series, MYSTERIOUS TALES FROM FAIRY FALLS. When not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys reading, exercising, anything arcane, and an occasional dram of scotch. Sharon lives a serene, yet busy life in a southern tourist region of Ontario, Canada, with her hubby, one spoiled yellow Labrador and a moody calico cat.
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