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said.
    "I doubt it," Rebecca said with a sneer.
    Petal ignored her. "It's just that," Petal said, "Annie's power is that she can be as smart as an adult. Then, right after she discovered her power, we all noticed that Anthrax was getting bossier with the other cats. Er, I mean smarter," Petal hastily added, having caught the look on Annie's face. She went on. "Durinda discovers she can make people—except Zinnia—freeze by tapping her leg three times rapidly and then pointing her finger. Suddenly, Dandruff is doing the same thing, making the other cats freeze—except for Zither, of course. Now Greatorex discovers, somehow, that she can make herself disappear." She paused. "Do you see what I'm getting at?"
    It was shocking, to think that Petal was capable of making such an important point. And yet she had.
    Seven heads swiveled to stare at Georgia.
    "What?" Georgia said, perplexed. "What is everyone staring at me for?" Then a look of horror dawned on her face. "Oh, no!" she cried. "I don't believe it! This is so unfair! First, my gift arrives, borne under the wing of a carrier pigeon, but it's too early, so I send it away. And now my power— my power!— appears in my cat before it appears in me?"
    We had to admit: things weren't exactly working out for Georgia according to the usual plan. If we were her, we thought, we'd be upset too.
    "Aargh!" Georgia shouted. "I have the worst luck of anybody!"
    ***
    We retired to Winter to calm down.
    Winter was one of the four seasonal rooms at the back of the house that Mommy had created so we could go to whichever season we wanted. True, we should have been sick of the cold, but the rains of March were making us long for the pure whiteness of fresh snow. We did have to put on our parkas and snowshoes to go to Winter, but the man-made snow on the ground there, and the hills, and the great big sled, made it worth it.
    We dragged in a table upon which to set our drinks, as well as chairs to sit in while we drank.
    After we'd gotten Georgia calmed down—more cocoa would have been in order, but it had all been spilled on the kitchen floor and was dirty, so we had settled for a round of juice boxes instead—she had some practical questions.
    "But how did Greatorex make herself disappear?" she asked. "And, more important, can she make herself come back again?"
    "She's your cat," Zinnia pointed out. "Why don't you just ask her?"
    Georgia made a face at Zinnia. We all did.
    "Fine," Zinnia said. "Then you, as her mistress, command her to reappear, and I'll ask her."
    Georgia sighed. "I suppose," she said, "it's worth a shot." Then, in a much louder voice: "Greatorex, I order you to reappear!"
    In an instant, Greatorex was among us again. She leaped into Georgia's lap, and as Georgia petted her, she looked greatly relieved—Georgia, not the cat.
    We could understand this. Georgia had probably been worried that she'd never see her cat again. It would have been awful to be the only girl in our house without her own cat.
    Zinnia leaned over and whispered in Greatorex's ear.
    Greatorex shook her head, keeping her mouth firmly shut.
    "Fine," Zinnia said, loud enough for us to hear. "Then I'll ask Zither. Zither!"
    Zither came bounding through the snow to Zinnia.
    More whispering ensued.
    We didn't really believe that Zinnia could understand the cats, or they her, but Zinnia did come up with the most astounding things.
    At last, Zinnia spoke. "Zither says that Greatorex makes herself disappear by twitching her nose back and forth two times."
    "I'd try that," Georgia said dryly, "but how would I ever make myself come back?"
    "Zither says," Zinnia said, "that she's not completely certain, but she thinks that Greatorex reappears the same way."
    "That sounds like a rather iffy proposition," Georgia said.
    "Try it!" Jackie said.
    "Try it!" Marcia said.
    "What have you got to lose?" Rebecca sneered.
    "Oh, I don't know," Georgia said. "My whole body?" But then, in an act of amazing bravery, Georgia