Duchess Read Online Free

quick,” Mia said. It wouldn’t take long. How much could Logan really tell her? After all, Duchess was a cat, not a shark.
    Mia found her class list and dialed Logan’s number. When he answered the phone, Mia suddenly felt nervous. Maybe it would be better to talk to his mom. But she took a deep breath and jumped in. “Hi, Logan. It’s Mia Battelli. We picked up Duchess today.”
    “You did?”
    “Yeah, after your mom talked to my mom.” Mia bit her lip, remembering again how mad she’d been at Logan. But that wasn’t why she’d called. That wasn’t important anymore, now that they had Duchess. “Thanks for telling us about her.”
    “No problem. I told my mom you’d take really good care of her.”
    “Um, thanks,” Mia said. “Well, I don’t know if you can help, but I’m calling because we didn’t get to talk to Abby very long, and we want to know more about Duchess. You know, what she likes and stuff like that.”
    “Hmm, I don’t know that much about her,” Logan said.
    Mia rolled her eyes. This call was a waste of time. Why ask a shark boy when you needed cat facts?
    But then Logan went on. “I mean, Abby got Duchess as a present about four years ago. I remember because it was right when my little brother was born. Abby used to bring Duchess over to our house all the time for visits. Duchess usually just slept in her lap. But whenever Abby brought her windup mouse, Duchess would pounce on it over and over. She never got tired. My little brother thought it was hilarious. And Abby used to sit with Duchess on the porch and brush herfor hours. Seriously.” Logan paused. “But I haven’t seen Duchess much since the twins were born.”
    Mia scribbled down just what Logan said, but she had a hard time keeping up. He might not think it was much, but to Mia this was treasured information.
    “I don’t know if that helps.”
    “I think it will,” Mia said, and she meant it.
    “Mia, honey.” Dad tapped his watch. “Bedtime.”
    “I’m sorry, Logan,” she said. “I better go.”
    “Okay. See you tomorrow, Mia.”
    Mia said good-bye and hung up. Logan had actually been kind of nice!
    Mom walked into the kitchen. “Maybe you should invite Logan to your party.”
    “Um, maybe,” Mia said. She headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth. What was Mom thinking? He might have been nice this one time, but it wasn’t as if she and Logan Barrow were friends.

CHAPTER FIVE
    The next morning, on her way through the living room, Mia checked the carrier. It was empty! Duchess had finally come out. But where had she gone? Mia held her breath as she knocked on Michael’s door. “Is the cat in there?” Mia asked, her fingers crossed.
    “Nope.”
    Phew! Mia was glad Duchess had come out of the carrier, but she would
not
have been glad if Duchess had slept with Michael, who didn’t even care about her that much. But if Duchess wasn’t in the carrier and she wasn’t in Michael’s room, where was she?
    That was when Mia got a whiff of breakfast. Bacon. As soon as she stepped foot in the kitchendoorway, she saw Duchess. The white cat sat on the wooden floor in a patch of sun. She practically glowed in the morning light as she sniffed the air and licked her chops.
    Mom looked up and smiled. “Look who’s hungry,” she said. It took Mia a second to realize that Mom meant Duchess. “She didn’t touch her food from last night, but I’ll bet she eats this morning.”
    Duchess had her chin up and her ears pricked forward. Her nose quivered as she smelled the bacon. Mia slowly walked up to her, reached out a hand, and scratched behind her ear. Duchess ducked her head and walked away.
    Why is she petting me now? Can’t she see I’m hungry?
    “Can I feed her?” Mia asked.
    “Sure, her food’s in the fridge,” Mom said. “I found a couple of tins in the bag with her other stuff after you went to bed.”
    Mia frowned. Their other foster cats hadn’t eaten canned food. They had both loved Kitty