The Secret of the Shadow Bandit: Volume 4 (Curious Cat Spy Club, 4, Band 4) - Hardcover

Singleton, Linda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807513857 ISBN 13: 9780807513859

Verlag: Albert Whitman & Company, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Kelsey's dad has a new job and that means a new house—on the same property as a castle! Kelsey, Becca, and Leo can’t wait to explore, but what they find might lead to their most intricate case yet. How are an abandoned tree house, a wad of cash, a missing heirloom, and a mysterious creature roaming the grounds all connected? The Curious Cat Spy Club is determined to find out!

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

At age eleven, Linda Joy Singleton and her best friend created their own Curious Cat Spy Club. They even rescued three abandoned kittens. Linda was always writing as a kid—usually about animals and mysteries. She is now the author of more than thirty-five books for children and young adults, including YALSA-honored The Seer series and the Dead Girl trilogy. She lives in California.

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The Secret of the Shadow Bandit Book Four

By Linda Joy Singleton

Albert Whitman & Company

Copyright © 2016 Linda Joy Singleton
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8075-1385-9

Contents

Prologue: Three Months Ago ..., 
Chapter 1: Monstrous, 
Chapter 2: Houdini Cat, 
Chapter 3: Cat-Napped, 
Chapter 4: Up in a Tree, 
Chapter 5: Cash and Clues, 
Chapter 6: Dinner Rules, 
Chapter 7: Bragg Castle, 
Chapter 8: Game of Bones, 
Chapter 9: Tailing a Tail, 
Chapter 10: Ferreting Out the Truth, 
Chapter 11: Surveillance, 
Chapter 12: Doggy Dilemma, 
Chapter 13: SOS!, 
Chapter 14: The Cat Guy, 
Chapter 15: Pawn, 
Chapter 16: A Sticky Situation, 
Chapter 17: Cash, Clues, and Crushes, 
Chapter 18: Dog-Gone Lucky Day, 
Chapter 19: Road Trip, 
Chapter 20: Mystery Solved?, 
Chapter 21: Accused, 
Chapter 22: It's a Trap, 
Chapter 23: Shaker Shake-Up, 
Chapter 24: A Thief Unmasked, 
Chapter 25: King, Queen, Pawn, 
Chapter 26: The Mystery Name, 
Chapter 27: Treasure Quest, 
Chapter 28: The Emerald King, 
Chapter 29: Club Mates, 

CHAPTER 1

Monstrous

A shrill scream rips through the house.

I jump off the window seat, fling my mystery novel aside, race out of my bedroom and — Wham! — into the solid mass of big brother.

"Whoa, Kelsey!" Kyle's hair is mussed like he just woke up from a nap. He puts his hands on my shoulders and peers into my face. "Why'd you scream?"

"Not me ... Kiana, I think," I say as another scream echoes through the hall. I whirl around and run into her room, my brother close on my heels.

My older sister is perched on her bed, clutching a stuffed pink bunny to her chest like a shield. "Get the monster out of here!" she shrieks.

"What monster?" Kyle scrunches his forehead, looking around.

"It moved too fast to get a good look, but I think it's a fanged snake or horned lizard with a spiky tail," Kiana says in a rush.

A fanged horned monster with a spiky tail?

I want to believe Kiana because she's nicer to me than Kenya and sometimes she even helps me with my homework. But there's no monster in her room.

"It's in my closet!" Kiana points a shaky finger. "I saw a horrifying shadow on the wall then heard claws running into my closet so I kicked the door shut. It's still there!"

"You only saw a shadow?" Kyle scoffs. "Don't you know that shadows are always more exaggerated than reality? I'm not surprised you're imagining monsters after you and Kenya stayed up late watching Jurassic Park."

"That has nothing to do with this ... this creature!" Kiana squeals, her gaze glued to the closet. "I came into my room to get my backpack and heard a crunching sound — and look! That thing chewed my book report!" Kiana picks up a shredded paper from her bed and waves it at us.

I stare at needle-sharp punctures and clawed stripes, and my stomach knots. As Spy Tactics Specialist in the Curious Cat Spy Club, I've trained myself to observe and analyze evidence. The claw and teeth marks are proof I can't ignore. A horrible suspicion grows in my mind.

"A monster ate your homework?" Kyle throws back his head and laughs. "Try getting that excuse by your teacher."

"It's true! And it's probably devouring my clothes and best shoes right now!" Kiana twists a curl of her dark hair around her finger. "Hurry, Kyle! You're older and stronger than we are. Get rid of it!"

My brother's smile fades fast. While he's tall and can play a mean game of hoops, he's not made of muscles or courage. And lately he's been too busy researching colleges to play any sports. He glances uneasily at the closet, backing into the hall like he's poised for a quick getaway. "I'll go ask Mom to help. Catching animals is her job, so she'll know what to do."

"She's working in the garden," Kiana says.

"No need to bother Mom on her day off," I say calmly even though my heart is thudding. I step forward. "I'll do it."

My brother and sister stare at me, shocked. I'm the youngest in the family after all, the little sister who's usually so quiet no one notices me. They probably think I'm trying to prove I can be brave, but my offer has nothing to do with bravery. It's the opposite. If my suspicion about the "monster" is right, I'm going to be in big trouble. My only hope is to get my sister and brother out of the room.

"I can handle this." I imagine I'm a fearless detective from one of my novels and lift my chin confidently. "I've learned a lot about dealing with wild animals from hanging out with Becca at her wild animal sanctuary. Alligators, lions, and bears — they don't scare me. Becca's taught me how to protect myself, but I can't protect both of you, so wait in the hall."

Kiana frowns at her ripped homework then jumps off her bed and comes over to me. "I can't leave you in here alone," she says anxiously.

"Really, it's okay. Don't worry."

As I say this I hear rustling sounds from the closet and wonder what will happen if I'm wrong. Could there really be a spiked-tail snake-lizard in the closet?

"Kelsey knows a lot about wild animals, so she can take care of this," my brother says with a shrug. "Come on, Kiana. Let's get out of here."

"But Kelsey could get hurt." She tugs my hand. "Better my shoes get eaten than my baby sister. Let's all leave and go get Mom."

"Get Mom to do what?"

I spin around as Mom strides into the room. Her curly brown hair falls out of a red scarf and her gardening gloves are dirt-stained. Before she became a county animal control officer, she worked for a florist because she loves gardening.

I wish she'd stayed outside in the garden.

Things get worse when I hear Kenya's and Dad's voices.

Drats! Now my whole family is here.

"What's going on?" Dad squeezes in beside Mom. He must have been in the kitchen working on a culinary masterpiece because he's wearing his Eating Is a Necessity but Cooking Is an Art apron.

"Kiana, did you scream?" Kenya pushes past everyone to hug her. They both have long dark-brown hair like Mom's and full lips like Dad, and everyone says they're identical. But I can tell them apart. It's Secret 8 in my notebook of secrets.

"Mom, Dad!" Kiana gestures wildly. "There's a monster in my closet!"

Dad wipes his hands on his cooking apron as he chuckles. "Aren't you a little old for imaginary friends?"

"It's not a friend or imaginary! See what it did to my book report!" Kiana waves the ripped homework in the air. A corner breaks off and flutters to the carpet.

Mom pushes her hair from her eyes, leaning in for a closer look at the paper. "Hmmm," she murmurs. "What does this monster look like?"

"Horrifying! It was huge like a giant lizard or dragon with wicked fangs!" Kiana spreads her arms and juts out her teeth like fangs. "And it had a spiky tail!"

"But you only saw its shadow," I point out, hoping to calm everyone down and convince them to leave. "I'm sure it's just a harmless rat. I can get rid of it."

"No, you will not, Kelsey," Mom says firmly as she steps in front of me. "Rats carry diseases. Kyle, go out to my work truck and grab my net."

We all wait as if frozen in a movie frame. Kiana and Kenya stand close, their hands dramatically clasped together and their gazes fixed on the closet door like they're actors in a horror movie. Dad stands by awkwardly like an extra, while Mom waits to direct the action.

Minutes later, Kyle's footsteps pound down the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Albert Whitman & Company
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0807513857
• ISBN 13: 9780807513859
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar