The Magnificent Cat by Nadia Ramadan (early reader chapter books .TXT) 📕

Prologue

Lisa Watson is dancing on the Fantastica stage, singing amazingly as everyone claps and cheers for her. She stands still as the song ends and bows to everyone. She made it this far! She actually made it. She is not a waitress anymore. And she doesn’t live in Bevin anymore. 

 

She looks at the audience who were clapping; Wade is clapping and smiling back at her on the far end of the table. She returns his smile. 

 

Chapter 1 - Entering Bevin

 

Two months earlier

James Scorpion, mid-twenties known for his mysterious behaviour, is a guy with too much trouble to bear. He is a tall, medium sized body, high cheek bones and a narrow nose, dark eyes that shone like a ruby, a dark hair that was brushed neatly, and a deep cat-like scar on his left eye. 

 

James walks out from a strange looking building known to be a variety shop in a small town named Bevin. James lit up a cigarette and smokes. Growing up with a disturbing childhood memories, all what James wished for is some new changes. Who murdered his father was not an issue anymore to James, for seeking a future is worth more than mending the past. At least that was what his father used to tell him.

 

Driving into the city of Bevin, Lisa Watson looks out of the car window at the strange town she is entering. The town is dull and void of activity.

 

The car stops at a building about half a mile away from where James is standing.

“This is it” the driver says as he looks at Lisa

 “Thank you” Lisa replied as she gives him the money 

“Good luck” the driver says as he takes the money and drives off.

 

Lisa grabs her bag and looked at the building which was addressed as {The Pastry Bar}.  

Lisa knew that this is her work place and walked straight in.

“You made it!” Jessica shouted as she ran to Lisa.

Jessica is Lisa’s best friend and her soon to be co-worker. Jessica was the one who invited Lisa to come over to Bevin after the horrible murder of her mother, and also the execution of her father. 

“Are you feeling better Lisa?” Jessica asked 

“I am much better, I mean that’s why I’m here, to forget all of my problems right?”

“Yes, you are right” Jessica continued “let me show you to your room”

 

They both walked into the Pastry bar, which was quite big and clean from the inside. They climbed upstairs to the second floor where there are some few rooms. 

“This is my room” Jessica said smilingly “and that will be yours!” 

“Oh thank you Jessica” Lisa said as she walks into her room “I will let you know if I need anything”

“Please do so” Jessica said as she walked away.

Lisa closed the door and looked at her small room; it was small yet cozy and relaxing in a way. She dropped her luggage on the floor and looked through the window. From the window she can somehow see the whole town of Bevin, from its beautiful garden to its tiny river, houses and parks. But the one thing that caught her eyes was the large, unattractive, building. She wondered what it could be. But it somehow looked like a flat where people live, and a shop underneath at the bottom floor. Lisa was still looking at the building when she suddenly saw James standing in front of it. 

Lisa cannot help starring at him, for he was somehow strange in way but yet the most attractive individual she had seen so far.

 “Lisa!” a voice shouted from behind the door.

Lisa spins and said “who is that!?”

“It’s me Jessica!” the voice shouted “the boss said that you should start working right away!”

“Alright” Lisa said lazily “I will be right there

 

James looked at the last floor of the building. The floor he was always longing to be; the floor in which the Magnificent Cat is being kept. James turned away and walked across the street, heading to the Pastry bar.

 

Mr. Bacilli, also known as the body guard of the building, is a stout, stocky individual, tends to annoy most of the employees, especially James. Bacilli watches as James leaves the building.  

 

James stomps down the street as usual; straight to the pastry bar just a few feet away from his so called home.

James walked into the bar and scans the place.

 

“Here he comes again” Jessica whispered to Lisa as she cleaned the counter.

“Who comes again?”  Lisa asked as she prepared some coffee.

“Look over there” Jessica said lowly.

 

Lisa turned and saw James standing at the door. She can’t help but noticed he was the guy at the large building. He was even nicer looking from near than when she saw him from her flat’s window.

 

James approached the counter and was about to say something.

 “Can I help you with something?” Lisa asked nervously  

 “No” He scans the place one more time and then walks off.

“What in the world?” Lisa said lowly.

“That was James” Jessica said as she walks to Lisa.

“James?” Lisa said lowly.

 

It’s the memories again! Childhood memories, why does it have to haunt him down again, and at wrong times and wrong places! James wondered over and over. James just decided he shouldn’t have breakfast and should head back to his work place.

 

James lived in this building for as long as he could remember. This building is not just his home, but also the place he works, the place this business takes place. James is currently living with more than 30 people in this particular building. They are all working under the control of a single boss, the owner of the Magnificent Cat.

 

James continue to walk down the street until something caught his eyes, “a girl”, he never saw this lady before she must be new in this neighbourhood.

He's never seen a lady as beautiful as this one.

The girl was actually with a man, walking right next to her, an older man, he was wearing the expensive clothes and shoes and was also holding a huge brief case 

James sees a sign of richness around him. He turned back to look at the girl but they both went into a shiny car.  

James watched them drive off, he then heads back to the building.

“Who are they?”  He thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2 - The Boss

The sight of the verandah and Mr. Bacilli already tells James that he’s home.

James opened the iron door of the house and walked down the corridor into a large hall, where he found his team sitting in a circle with Wade standing right in front of them as if they were on a meeting. 

Wade Carter, early-twenties, unlike James, Wade is more friendly and open hearted to people, no one can tell if he is a bad person or a good one, easy to approach and talk to, yet capable of killing without hesitating, maybe it’s because he’s into his job, or perhaps a real psychopath.  

 

Wade joined this team only few years ago, no one knows where the boss found him and brought him to the building, but ever since he came to the building he was more important than all the other staffs, this was one of the main reasons James hated Wade from the very beginning.

James ignored them and  walked straight to his room and shut the door behind him , he can never forget the day their boss picked Wade as his right-hand man instead of him , but he always have the feeling The Magnificent Cat will be his someday. Some dream.  

 

James could hear the main door open, and knew at once that it was their boss who came in, Armand Walker. 

 

Armand Walker is 6 feet tall, broad shoulders with short brown hair in his mid-forties. He has an oval shaped head with a unique bone structure which somehow look like a woman; he has very black eyes which look like holes.

 

James could hear his footsteps walking straight to the hall, James quickly walked out of his room to the hall to see what the boss got for them this time 

 

Armand walked straight to the crowd and looked at Wade.

“Follow me to my office will you?”  Armand said smilingly.

“Sure” Wade said happily as he follows Armand straight to his office.

James anger grew with rage inside him, he just hates the fact that Wade is closer to the boss than himself, he hates it so much. Will Wade take over this business after Armand; is he the heir of the Magnificent Cat? To James, it’s too painful to even think about it.

 

James actually saw Armand’s office only once, it was three years ago when Armand noticed that James was very serious with his work and never does any mistakes.

Armand took James that same day to his office and it was an experience of a life time.

 

The office was locked by an iron door, not once but twice, the first iron door was thick but the second is even thicker, and each door has the most high tech security system, at first James thought it was unnecessary, but when he saw the office and The Magnificent Cat and what this whole business is about, he was speechless.

 

The Magnificent Cat is not even close to being a cat, it is actually a scientific robotic object with a shape of a golden cat, engineered to go inside human soul without them knowing and also against their will, it is very illegal and everyone in the house knows, however Armand said that he uses it for only good purposes and hires it for people who only wants justice and other good things, but James sometimes think that Armand himself is using The Magnificent Cat to his own advantage and in a bad way.

 

That very day always flashes back in James’s memory , he thought that from that day on he will be seeing Armand’s office very often but it was three years ago and he did not see it ever since , this was the time James anger and rudeness started to eat him up.

 

James suddenly hears the elevator's door open; he quickly turned his head and saw Armand and Wade walking into the room.

“I have news for you all”