From Lene Kaaberbøl, known as the Danish J.K. Rowling: Book one in the Wildwitch series, an acclaimed new children's fantasy series about a young girl who can communicate with and control the natural world. Twelve-year-old Clara is an ordinary girl, so small and shy that her mum calls her Little Mouse. Then, one day, she meets a cat. A huge, strange, black cat, with glowing yellow eyes. And so begins her new life as a wildwitch. Suddenly, Clara is plunged into a world of mystery and magic. With her Aunt Isa to guide her, she finds she can talk to animals and walk the mysterious Wildways. But then she is captured by the dreaded Chimera... “A stunning and wonderful short novel for kids!” —The Guardian “[A] series of quick-fire fantasy novels.” —Telegraph (UK) “Fast-paced, lively, at times quite scary and thrilling, and still perfectly suitable even for young fantasy fans who may have just about grown out of Sibéal Pounder and Laura Ellen Anderson’s Witch Wars but are not quite ready for Sally Green’s Half Bad.” —School Librarian “Lene Kaaberbøl chants her stories so that the reader is captured right from page 1.” —Politiken “The reader will be wild for more.” —Berlingske Tidende “Quality fantasy that works!” —Jyllands-Posten “A high-class cozy thrill of a read, made for putting your feet up and enjoying.” —Berlingske “One turns the pages, without noticing the time passing.” —Weekendavisen Award winning and highly acclaimed writer of fantasy, Lene Kaaberbøl was born in 1960, grew up in the Danish countryside and had her first book published at the age of 15. Since then she has written more than 30 books for children and young adults. Lene's huge international breakthrough came with The Shamer Chronicles , which is published in more than 25 countries and has sold more than one million copies worldwide. Wildwitch Wildfire By Lene Kaaberbol, Rohan Eason, Charlotte Barslund Steerforth Press Copyright © 2010 Lene Kaaberbol, Copenhagen All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-78269-083-2 Contents 1. Monster Cat, 7, 2. Cat Fever, 13, 3. Toad Venom and Snake Spittle, 20, 4. Blue Tits and Scarecrows, 29, 5. The Pencil Case Mouse, 36, 6. An Angel in the Mist, 44, 7. Self-defence for Wildwitches, 54, 8. Jumping Fleas, 63, 9. Wildways, 75, 10. Fire and Ashes, 85, 11. Blood and Red Rainbows, 97, 12. Purring Cats, 103, 13. The Coven Gathers, 108, 14. Raven Kettle, 116, 15. Tooth and Claw, 128, 16. To Run From a Fight, 143, 17. Skyfire, 149, 18. Waterfire, 153, 19. Earthfire, 158, 20. A Friend in Need, 167, 21. Heartfire, 173, 22. The Last Word, 182, CHAPTER 1 Monster Cat The cat was standing on the stairs, refusing to budge. It was the biggest cat I had ever seen. It was the size of my friend Oscar's labrador and just as black. Its eyes glowed neon yellow in the dim light of the stairwell that led up out of the bike basement. "Ahem ... hello, cat? Can I get past you, please?" No. Now I'm not saying that it actually spoke to me. But I could tell just by looking. It wasn't there by chance. This was no accident. It was there because it wanted to be there. Because it wanted something from me. I was on my way to school and I was already late. It was wet and windy, which meant my bike ride wouldn't be very fast or much fun, either. And I didn't want to try and explain to Ruler-Rita, my scary Maths teacher, that I was late for her class for the second time in two weeks because I was too scared to take on a black cat. "Shooooo," I hissed at it. "Go away! Beat it! Clear off!" The cat merely opened its jaws to reveal a pink tongue and a set of white teeth longer and sharper than ordinary cats' teeth. And it was quite clearly better at hissing than I was. I pushed my bike a little further up the ramp and moved up to the next step. The cat and I were now two metres apart. I flapped my hand at it. "Go away!" It didn't move an inch. I know I'm not the bravest girl in the world, but at that moment I was more terrified of my Maths teacher than the cat. I took a deep breath and raced up the steps as fast as I could. The cat would have to get out of the way or ... The cat jumped. Not to the side or backwards, but right at me. It landed on my chest and face so that for a second all I could see was black fur. I stumbled back and fell down the stairs with my bike and the cat on top of me. My head slammed against the concrete floor and my elbow scraped the rough wall. But what really made me lie still, shocked and with my heart in my mouth, was the cat. Its yellow eyes burned into me, its claws dug through my raincoat, through my jumper, right through to my bare skin. It was a black, furry shape that almost filled my field of vision, and all I could see behind it was a leaden sky and the rain falling on us both in big, cold drops. It held up its paw, then spread out and extended its claws. They were milky white with slate-grey tips. "No," I pleaded. "Please don't ..." Althou