The Case of the Mirrored Cat

By Cindy Cipriano

With the end of the school year fast approaching, Grace and Jack are looking forward to what their summer might bring. As a final goodbye to middle school, they decide to take one last trip from their science class, the place where their adventures all began.

What starts out like any other trip quickly goes drastically wrong when they are spotted upon their return to class.

To make matters worse, they discover the mysterious ink is having side effects not only on them, but also on their favourite travel spots. For Grace and Jack, questions are piling up faster than they can answer them as they continue to unravel the mystery of Miller’s Island.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vulpine Press
• Release date: Jun 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781912701513

Cindy Cipriano

Cindy Cipriano lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and their twenty-seven pets.Not really.Just three dogs who think they are children and three cats who think they are raccoons. It only seems as if they make twenty-seven. When Cindy isn't writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and the avoidance of cooking.Fading, The Fading Series Book One, (Clean Teen Publishing) releases in 2018. This is the first in a three-four book series in which seventeen-year-old Leath Elliott wonders if the new boy in town is literally the boy of her dreams.Cindy's Miller's Island Mysteries series is described as innovative in blending science and fantasy. Eighth graders, Grace and Jack, travel through time solving mysterious science events. Miller's Island Mysteries #1 The Case of the Toxic River (Vulpine Press) released in August 2017. MIMS #1 is the first in an eleven-book series.Cindy's first novel, The Circle, Book One of The Sidhe (2013), won the 2014 Moonbeam Children's Book Silver Award for Pre-Teen Fiction – Fantasy. Other titles in the series include The Choice, Book Two of The Sidhe (2015), and The Lost, Book Three of The Sidhe (2017). Look for The Secret, Book Four of The Sidhe to release in May 2018. The series follows Calum, Laurel, and Hagen from middle through high school as they first rescue Calum's kidnapped cousin, and then save the Otherworld from dark Sidhe. This series is published by Odyssey Books.Cindy's article, Level Up Intrinsic Motivation, was published in the JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY LEADERSHIP in 2016 and two of her short stories were published in the Children's anthology, Doorway to Adventure (2010).

Book preview

Miller’s Island Mysteries

Book 4

The Case of

The Mirrored Cat

Cindy Cipriano

Grayscale

Copyright © Cindy Cipriano 2018

Miller’s Island Mysteries Book 4: The Case of The Mirrored Cat

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Published by Vulpine Press in the United Kingdom in 2018

ISBN 978-1-912701-51-3

Cover by Paige Selby-Green

www.vulpine-press.com

Also in the Miller’s Island Mysteries series:

Book 1: The Case of The Toxic River

Book 2: The Case of The Mysterious Future

Book 3: The Case of The Magnetic Rocket Fuel

For Charles

Chapter One

Just Like Family

If I thought girl drama was hard to understand it’s only because I’d never dealt with boy drama. Jack’s words echo in my mind as I stare at his empty seat and try to understand how the argument began in the first place.

Jack and I were enjoying our last day of Easter break, the last time we’ll probably be at The Beanery without textbooks hogging the table. Next week brings the return to school and with it, the return of homework. And, in my experience, teachers tended to pile it on thick as the school year came to a close in preparation for the end-of-the-year tests.

Why don’t you just go hang out with Nick? Jack had said before snatching up his book bag and striding out of the coffeehouse without a backward glance.

As for my part in all of this, all I had said was that Nick ran into me while I was walking Neutrino and he asked if Jack and I wanted to go see a movie tomorrow night. I don’t understand why Jack seems to be acting so jealous.

What right does he have to feel that way anyway? We hadn’t kissed again since that night in front of MIMS right before we were caught trespassing by Jackson, the MIMS maintenance man (who is also Miller’s Island’s Mayor). Sometimes at night, I find myself wishing that night had never happened because ever since it did, things have been weird between me and Jack.

I almost wish it.

Jack’s abrupt exit earns a sympathetic look from Emma who was doing her best to look busy behind the counter. We’re alone now during one of the rare lulls in customer traffic. Emma raises her eyebrows questioningly. I smile in an invitation for her to join me. She leaves the counter and flips the Open sign to Closed as she passes by the door, and sits down at our table. The table Jack and I always sit at whenever we come to his family’s coffeehouse.

You don’t have to do that, I say. Close the shop. I’m fine. Really.

No big deal, says Emma. It’s about time for my trip to the bank, anyway. She turns her jade-green eyes on me. I’m struck again by how identical the color is to her brother’s eyes. Don’t worry about him, she says. He’s just being a great big doodie head.

I burst out laughing. I don’t have any siblings of my own and so this name-calling catches me off-guard.

I sigh. Are they all like that?

Boys? asks Emma.

I nod.

Unfortunately, she says. But you’ll find out that some are totally worth it.

The expression on her face tells me she’s not talking about Jack. And that’s fine with me. I’m not exactly eager to talk about my feelings for Jack with his sister. I shift the topic off him.

Some boys are worth it? I ask. Like Finn? Emma blushes and I know I’m on target with what I’d suspected. You guys are totally dating, aren’t you? I ask.

Shh, she says, looking around the coffeehouse.

I point to the sign on the door. You’re closed, remember?

Emma sinks back in her chair. I guess I’m just used to keeping it below the radar.

Because of Boone? I ask. Jack’s real name is Boone Carter. I’m the only one who calls him Jack.

Yeah. He’s not a fan of Finn’s, says Emma.

I’d gathered as much when I met Finn at Chloe’s birthday party. Jack was quietly hostile toward him and had steadfastly refused to explain why. Finn was the one and only topic Jack wasn’t keen on discussing with me.

What’s the big mystery about Finn? I ask. He seemed like a nice guy when I met him.

He is. I just wish Boone… says Emma. She looks at me as if considering something then says, That’s a conversation you’ll have to have with him.

If he’s still speaking to me, I say.

He’ll cool off, says Emma. Knowing Boone, he’s probably standing right outside the door, waiting for me to leave so he can come in and apologize to you.

Maybe, I say. I just wish I knew what’s got him so keyed-up lately.

Aside from the obvious? she asks. Besides the fact that he’s falling for you?

I feel my cheeks getting hot. It seems I’m not going to be totally successful in keeping my relationship with Jack and my relationship with Emma untangled. I don’t feel so bad though, since she brought it up.

Emma tips her head and smiles. And, I see you feel the same way.

Busted. No sense in denying it now. Yeah. I like him. A lot. And, if you’re right, and he likes me, then why does he act like a—

Doodie head? Emma finishes.

I smile.

Because things are hard enough at this age for regular kids. But, Boone, he’s lost so much already.

A shadow crosses her face and I know she’s thinking about how their parents were killed in a car accident on their way home from Emma and Boone’s uncle’s funeral. Too much death at one time and they were, and still are, so young.

Any normal person is scared whenever they enter into a relationship. But for someone like Boone, it’s even scarier. Neither one of us got to say goodbye to our parents. I think Boone worries about going all in, only to have to deal with a loss again.

I can relate to this, but on a different kind of level. If Jack and I became a thing, a couple, a whatever, then what would happen if it didn’t work out? Would we still be friends? That’s one thing I couldn’t bear. Losing Jack as a friend.

But, it’s really too early for either of you to be having those worries, says Emma. You’re not even in high school yet.

But, we’ve been in high school already, I think, reflecting on my trip to the future when Jack and I were seventeen years old and at odds with each other.

I know it’s none of my business, but as Boone’s big sister, and as your friend, I encourage you guys to take things slow.

I don’t know how much slower we could go, I say, indicating the door that Jack’s just walked out of.

Emma laughs and points. Through the window, I can see the top of Jack’s head as he paces back and forth. Told you. Waiting for me to leave, she says. Emma leans over and gives me a quick hug. I think I should put him out of his misery.

I watch as Emma retrieves the bank bag from the behind the counter, then goes through the door. Seconds later, Jack’s standing in front of me. At first I pretend I don’t see him as I look so very busy doing something on my laptop. I successfully ignore him for a whole minute before he breaks.

You’re not going to make this easy. Are you? asks Jack.

I take my time in rolling my eyes upward. If it’s hard for you to come back in, maybe you’ll think twice before running out again.

Jack sits down and slides his book bag to the floor.

Do you regret it? he asks. Going into the future?

The question takes me by surprise and I wonder once again how it is that Jack always seems to know my mind. I don’t answer, just look into his gorgeous eyes, waiting for him to elaborate.

I mean, I already know how some things turn out, and I’m so afraid of doing something that’s going to change that. I’m afraid of doing something that will make things different to what I know is supposed to happen. Or worse, mess things up so badly that nothing turns out the way I know it should.

I feel that way sometimes, too, I say. Except it’s twice as hard for me. Things were really bad between Jack and me in the future and so I’m constantly trying to head off any kind of falling out. I can’t tell Jack any of that though; he refuses to hear anything about the future. We’ve both had a peak at the future. So I get it. I’m careful, too. Sometimes, maybe a little too careful.

Being afraid or overly cautious is no excuse, though, says Jack. I’m sorry I was such a jerk earlier. He hesitates. I just feel like I’m walking on thin ice, afraid to do anything that messes everything up and then no matter what I do or think, it seems like I’ve already messed it up.

A suggestion? I ask.

What’s that? he asks.

"Try to worry about the present and trust that the future will work itself