Chapter 1

TOTO THE NINJA CAT AND THE GREAT SNAKE ESCAPE DERMOT O'LEARY

CHAPTER 1 Toto was having the best dream of her life (featuring an enormous pepperoni pizza, a bucket of cheesy pasta and, to finish, her furry face buried in a massive tiramisu), when she found herself RUDELY transported back to a cold London night.

CRASH, BANG and, while we're at it, WALLOP doesn't even come close to the terrible noise that disturbed the silence on the otherwise sleepy street. It was the kind of night where you and I would be tucked up in bed with an extra blanket and a hot-water bottle. The kind of night where no one in their right mind would get out of bed until the lazy winter sun rises and makes it just about OK to face the new day. And that's just for us humans. For cats? FORGET ABOUT IT! No cat would be seen dead getting out of a snuggly bed when it was this cold. They'd never be able to show their furry faces in polite cat society again. No. 'Best leave it to the foxes and the rats, most cats would say. 'Let's get some shut-eye

and I'll see you some time tomorrow about, oh, let's say, eleven-ish...' Which is why Toto was annoyed, tired and just a little bit scared when she heard the ALMIGHTIEST DIN coming from the bins outside. Toto looked at her parents. They'll sort this out, won't they? she thought. They hadn't moved a muscle. They weren't even stirring. 'Honestly, Toto muttered to herself, 'who are the cats and who are the humans here? We're supposed to be the ones who sleep all the time, and you're supposed to be the ones who get us food, pet us, lavish us with attention, groom us, open doors for us, turn on taps for us to drink water,

massage our feet, and most importantly... GETUP WHEN THERE ARE SCARY NOISES OUTSIDE! It's a fair deal... but to recap: WE are supposed to be the sleepers!' She looked over at her brother Silver, who, as his name suggests, had silver and white fur, with a big bushy tail and white paws.

Toto, on the other hand, was a big ball of black, grey and brown fur, especially with her winter coat on. She had a ruff around her neck, which made her look like a cat that wouldn't be out of place in Elizabethan England, as opposed to where she was really from- a place called Puglia, in the heel of Italy. She and Silver were stray cats and they had arrived in London only three weeks ago, after they were rescued by two kind humans, who they now called Mum and Dad. (Or, as Toto would say, Mamma and Papa.) The ones who currently lay snoring in their bed. 'Silver, whispered Toto. 'SILVER! Did you hear that? I think it came from outside, from the bins... OUR BINS!'