Claws of Rage by Anna Starobinets

Author:Anna Starobinets [Starobinets, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780486829524
Goodreads: 42478805
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2019-09-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chief Badger finished reading and looked around. Everyone was silent with the exception of the ants, who persistently continued their endless roll call.

Arctic’s swollen eyes were staring in horror at the piece of string still tied to his tail. The dogs all had their ears flattened against their heads. Badgercat stood frozen, his eyes wide, his back arched, and his claws out. He looked like a sculpture that belonged at the exhibit. Vulture, Hawk, and Starling had puffed up their feathers and looked like three feathered balls—big, medium, and tiny. Badger suddenly had a thought that if you were to put Hawk on Vulture and then Starling on Hawk, you’d get a sort of feathered snowman with three beaks. He shook his head, willing the strange image out of his mind.

“Outrageous!” Hawk was first to come out of shock. “While some animals work to save lives, others are wreaking beastly havoc!”

“Marquise is in the paws of kidnappers,” whispered Badgercat.

“Yes, this is serious,” said Badger. “But they’re willing to communicate. That’s a good sign.”

“What’s good about it?” Badgercat wailed desperately.

“They’re playing with the police, which means they risk making a mistake and revealing themselves.”

“So what are we going to do? Sit around and wait until they make a mistake?” Badgercat felt himself start to shed from the stress.

“No, not sit around. Let’s get to work,” said Badger. “Officer Starling, let’s go over the list of animals who fled the opening after the fireflies burst.”

“List of animals who fled,” said Starling in Mole’s voice. “Arctic Fox. Porcupine. Anteater. Fox. Skunk.”

“Five animals?” clarified Chief Badger.

“Five animals,” confirmed Starling.

“Well, we know Arctic is innocent.”

“But the rest are guilty!” yelped Badgercat. “Porcupine, Anteater, Fox, and Skunk—they’re the organization the Claws of Rage!”

“Son, do know how absurd that sounds? The simple, nonpedigreed, flea-infested Porcupine, Anteater, Fox, and Skunk banded up to seek vengeance on the Far Woods and Huntington Farm for their unfair lives?”

“Makes sense to me,” insisted Badgercat. “Skunk is upset because the residents of the Far Woods don’t understand his art. Porcupine is a nutcase who’ll pick up whatever is lying around. Just look, he dragged a whole anthill out of the woods. I don’t know anything about Anteater but he looked suspicious. And Fox . . . Fox . . .”

“Don’t bother, Son. Fox has an alibi. I already checked. She left the opening yesterday because she was rushing to make her appointment at the warblershop. But she never got to see him, since you, Badgercat, summoned him to the opening and seized him. Warbler rescheduled her appointment for today. She’s been at the warblershop all day because she has very thick fur. So at the time of Marquise’s kidnapping, Fox was with Warbler. In any case, I find it hard to imagine why Fox would want to kidnap a cat.”

“Fine, Fox is out. Then the captors are Anteater, Porcupine, and Skunk.”

“You see, Badgercat, Skunk has an alibi too.”

“He does?”

“Last night, the bursting fireflies startled him into unplanned performances every few feet as he ran home.

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