Mystery for Megan (6 page)

The girls stood under the treehouse and stared at the buttercups, trying to make sense of everything that was happening. A movement at the bottom of the garden caught
Freya’s eye.

‘Look, it’s Dorothy,’ she exclaimed, as the black cat appeared from behind a tree.

Megan couldn’t contain her excitement a moment longer. She ran down the garden towards Dorothy, and just before she reached the line of trees, Dorothy turned and ran towards her, stopping
by her legs. It was the first time Megan had seen Dorothy close up and she thought she was the most beautiful cat she had ever seen. Straight away she noticed the white paw and the gold ring around
her eye, just like Granny and Freya had said. Then something incredible happened.

Megan stood very still, watching Dorothy, who was looking up intently at her. Then Megan looked towards the stream, then at Freya.

‘What is it?’ said Freya, who had caught up with them.

‘I think some of the bridge over the stream needs mending,’ said Megan.

‘Where?’ said Freya.

‘Over there, I think,’ said Megan. ‘Dorothy told me, kind of.’

Even as she said it, she knew how strange it sounded. How could a cat tell her anything?

The girls walked carefully towards the stream. Dorothy went ahead a little and then suddenly stopped and looked back at them.

‘Look,’ said Freya. ‘You’re right, Megan, the wood has come away a bit. It’s a good job Dorothy warned us.’

The girls looked at each other in amazement.

‘Did that really just happen?’ asked Megan.

Freya smiled and nodded. ‘Granny did say that Dorothy seemed to know things and warned her about hidden dangers, didn’t she?’

‘And now she’s warning us too,’ said Megan.

‘I bet Granny’s right about the other thing as well,’ said Freya. ‘I bet they’ve come back because you’ve come to Buttercup House, Megan!’

Megan didn’t know what to say. She suddenly felt incredibly special.

‘I can’t believe what’s happening,’ said Megan, as the girls walked back up the garden. ‘And I especially can’t believe we saw Buttercup!’

‘I can’t either,’ said Freya. ‘I never thought I’d actually get to see him.’

But Megan still didn’t understand how the fact that she was living at Buttercup House had made the animals come back. It was very mysterious and no matter how much Megan thought about it,
she just couldn’t make sense of it.

The next day, Megan could still hardly believe any of it. She thought about her old friends, Emily and Beth, and how she’d love to tell them all about it. Emily adored
dogs and had always wanted one. She would love Buttercup. Of course, there was no way she could tell them – she’d promised to keep it a secret – but she wished she could!

‘I told Granny about seeing Buttercup and the buttercups coming out,’ Freya said, when they met in their secret place that evening.

‘Did you tell her about Dorothy warning us too?’ Megan asked. She couldn’t wait to hear what Granny thought of it all.

‘Yes. She was really excited,’ whispered Freya. ‘Granny thinks that because Dorothy told you, she’s probably trying to look after you, like she used to look after
her.’

This house and everything around it are full of mystery,
thought Megan. She still didn’t understand how Dorothy and Buttercup could be so old, and she felt she would never
understand how she had been able to read Dorothy’s thoughts. That made no sense at all. And why had they felt so safe and happy when Buttercup appeared?

Megan puzzled over it all evening, and at bedtime she just couldn’t go to sleep. In the end, she sat up in bed, got out her special gold-covered notebook and wrote a poem about it all.

Megan felt a bit better after writing her poem, even though she knew she couldn’t show it to anyone – not to Emily or Beth, not to Miss Roberts, not even to her mum and dad. But at
least she could show Freya. She could share anything with Freya.

When Megan woke up the next morning and pulled back the curtains, she couldn’t believe what she saw. The whole garden was alight with golden buttercups. They
weren’t just under the tree, they were everywhere!
Buttercup must be here,
thought Megan.
How wonderful!

Then she remembered it was Saturday. She and Freya could play among the buttercups. They could make buttercup chains instead of daisy chains. She could make Freya one, and one for her mum. They
could even make one for Dorothy and one for Buttercup.

Megan leaped out of bed, pulled on her shorts and a red and white striped T-shirt and raced down the stairs and into the garden of golden buttercups!

Freya was peering over the wall. ‘Wow!’ she squealed, her eyes lighting up as she saw the buttercups. ‘You know what this means, don’t you?’

Freya’s head disappeared and the next moment she was running towards Megan, looking at the buttercups with a beaming smile on her face.

‘I’ve never seen so many,’ said Freya. ‘Buttercup must be here. Come on.’ She grabbed Megan’s hand and the girls raced through the never-ending sea of
buttercups, towards the trees at the bottom of the garden in search of the golden dog.

They were careful not to go over the bridge, so stood a couple of metres away from it, looking out across the stream and towards the wood. Then, suddenly, Freya gasped. ‘Look, it’s
Buttercup!’ she said.

Buttercup stepped out of the wood, his coat shining and glimmering in the sunlight.

‘Oh, how wonderful!’ said Megan, squeezing Freya’s hand and feeling remarkably calm all of a sudden. She felt so happy again, just like the last time they had seen him.

Then, as they watched, Buttercup turned and disappeared among the trees.

‘Oh! I wonder where he’s gone,’ said Megan, feeling disappointed. She was searching for him when, out of nowhere, Dorothy appeared. She sat right next to Megan, leaning against
her legs.
How lovely,
Megan thought. It was almost as if Dorothy knew she was disappointed and needed comforting.

Dorothy looked up at Megan, and then at Freya.

‘I have a feeling we’ll see Buttercup again,’ said Freya. ‘I think that’s what Dorothy’s trying to tell us.’

‘How does she do it?’ asked Megan.

‘I don’t know. It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ said Freya. ‘Granny said that it all happened in her head. She said it was as if she could hear Dorothy’s
thoughts.’

‘That’s just how it feels to me,’ said Megan.

‘Me too,’ said Freya.

It seemed that Dorothy and the mice were there to look after them. But what about Buttercup? Why had he come back?

Megan was dying to know more about the beautiful golden dog. Where did he come from and why had he been away so long? And now that he was back, what had it got to do with her
living at Buttercup House? There were so many mysteries!

But Megan still hadn’t had breakfast, and all the excitement of the early morning had made her even hungrier. She also wanted to take some more things to the treehouse. Megan had been
saving up things that she thought might be useful, and some less useful things too.

She quickly ate her cereal and raced upstairs, pulling the box of things out from under her bed. She took them out one by one – a snugly pink blanket, in case it got cold; a book, in case
she got bored, although that seemed very unlikely; a poster of a white horse to put on the wall; a roll of sticky tape and a pair of scissors, so they could stick the poster on the wall; a plastic
container with some lollies in, in case they got hungry; and a colouring book and some felt pens.

Then she added some rolled-up bits of different coloured wool and some beads. Megan wanted to make Freya a friendship bracelet.

Megan carried the box to the kitchen. She took a few biscuits out of the tin and put them in with the strawberry lollies. Then, as she got to the door, she looked across the garden to the
treehouse.
How silly of me,
Megan thought.
How am I going to get up the ladder with this lot?

‘Dad,’ she said, peering into the living room. ‘Can you help me carry some things to the treehouse?’

‘What things?’ her dad asked, peering over the top of his reading glasses.

‘Just a blanket and a book and a poster and some tape and some lollies and biscuits and a colouring book and some pens and beads and things,’ said Megan.

Her father laughed, and said, ‘I think you might need a crane for that lot.’

But somehow they managed without a crane, and in no time at all, Megan had all her new things in her lovely treehouse.

Freya suddenly appeared at the fence and climbed through into Megan’s garden.

‘I’ve got some new things for us,’ Megan told Freya excitedly.

The girls couldn’t get up the ladder fast enough!