Flow: The Official Colouring Book
Author: Dream Well Studio
Date: 2026-04-09 18:34:16+00:00
Keywords: Juvenile Nonfiction; Activity Books; General; Animals; Science & Nature; Environmental Conservation & Protection; Juvenile Fiction; cats; Environment; Disasters; Performing Arts; Film; Fantasy; Social
Description: A colouring book packed with black-and-white illustrations from the Oscar-winning film Flow - perfect for ages 6 and up. Colour your way through the stunning world of Flow, the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning film that took the world by storm. Join Cat, Capybara, Lemur, Dog and Bird as they face the perils of a flooded world and seek safety - together. Featuring 30+ scenes from the hit film, this book promises hours of fun. Grab pens and pencils and dive in to join the animal friends on their epic journey! A fun-filled colouring book of the Oscar-winning film beloved of audiences around the glo
Publisher: Farshore

Copyright

First published in Great Britain in 2026 by Farshore

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF
www.farshore.co.uk

HarperCollinsPublishers

Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper,

Dublin 1, D01 C9W8, Ireland
ebook 9780008835804

PB ISBN 9780008824068

Version 2026-03-19

Text copyright © 2026 HarperCollinsPublishers Limited

Licensed Materials copyright © Dream Well Studio, Sacrebleu Productions and Take Five 2024

Cover illustration copyright © 2024 Dream Well Studio, Sacrebleu Productions, Take Five

Paw pattern here–here and here-here used under licence from Shutterstock.com.

Text written by Genevieve Herr

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

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

Without limiting the exclusive rights of any author, contributor or the publisher of this publication, any unauthorised use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expressly prohibited. HarperCollins also exercise their rights under Article 4(3) of the Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790 and expressly reserve this publication from the text and data mining exception.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Farshore is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

Note to Readers

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

- Change of font size and line height
- Change of background and font colours
- Change of font
- Change justification
- Text to speech

- Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008824068

Praise for Flow the movie

“Brimming with sentiment but not sentimentality” – IndieWire

“The animals act like animals, and that gives their adventure an authenticity that, in moments of both delight and peril, makes the emotion that much more powerful.” – New York Times

“Pure cinema, pure animation, pure magic” – Film Yap

“An eco-parable … bracingly fresh and unexpected” – Guardian

“Mesmerising and wondrous” – Empire

Contents

1. Title Page
2. Copyright
3. Note to Readers
4. Praise
5. Chapter One: Cat
6. Chapter Two: Water
7. Chapter Three: Darkness
8. Chapter Four: Lab
9. Chapter Five: Bird
10. Chapter Six: The boat
11. Chapter Seven: The monument
12. Chapter Eight: Capybara
13. Chapter Nine: Lemur
14. Chapter Ten: Whale
15. Chapter Eleven: Treasure
16. Chapter Twelve: Full circle
17. Chapter Thirteen: Old friends
18. Chapter Fourteen: The fight
19. Chapter Fifteen: Onwards
20. Chapter Sixteen: The sunken city
21. Chapter Seventeen: Stuck
22. Chapter Eighteen: The swimming lesson
23. Chapter Nineteen: The rescue
24. Chapter Twenty: Fish
25. Chapter Twenty-one: The visitors
26. Chapter Twenty-two: The storm
27. Chapter Twenty-three: Goodbye
28. Chapter Twenty-four: Adrift
29. Chapter Twenty-five: Land
30. Chapter Twenty-six: The ravine
31. Chapter Twenty-seven: Beached
32. Epilogue
33. About the movie
34. Quiz
35. Which Character Are You?
36. About the creators
37. About the Publisher

Chapter One

Cat

In the middle of the forest, a small dark-grey cat sat looking at its reflection in a puddle. Its big amber eyes took in the reflected trees and the clouded sky above. Ripples passed across the surface of the puddle, making the green canopy tremble, distorting Cat’s watchful face. Cat whimpered.

The forest around Cat was dense, shadowy, damp with early morning mist. The wind rustled loudly in the trees. A bird called out in flight and Cat lifted its head briskly in the direction of the sound, before, seconds later, its ears pricked at a new sound: a hare bounded out of the mist, almost colliding with Cat before disappearing into the trees.

Cat’s eyes grew wide and watchful. Harsh barks announced the next arrivals. Dogs. Cat had just enough time to leap into the bushes before the pack charged noisily past. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Big and small. They too disappeared into the forest, and Cat reemerged. Only a bird trilled in the canopy now. The danger was over and Cat narrowed its eyes in annoyance at the intrusion.

The sun was rising now, giving a golden glow to the mist and glinting off the wings of insects as they fluttered upwards to greet the day. Pink clouds in a blue sky.

Cat padded towards home, picking its way through the bracken. The forest was less dense here and, as it walked, Cat slowed down to cast a glance at a statue in its path. A larger-than-life stone cat – the first of several that peppered the slope leading to Cat’s cabin. Cat knew them well.

The first was walking, the second sitting, the third licking a paw. Cat brushed past them – they weren’t worth stopping for, not when something much, much more impressive was about to reveal itself …

In the distance was a cat on an altogether different scale: a vast stone monument that towered over the trees, illuminated majestically in the morning sunlight.

Cat paused to take in the sight, entranced at its own likeness looming over the forest, bathed in the golden light of the rising sun. Then – onwards – through a chorus of birds chirping and insects fluttering, it weaved its way through the grass, past more stone cats – playing, resting, stretching, batting an insect with one uplifted paw. And there was the cabin. Home. Its boards were weathered and pale, and one window was cracked open, the glass long gone.

The door of the timber and brick building was shut, as always, but that didn’t matter. Cat’s method was tried and tested. It sprang onto a rock, then a wooden shelf, then the slate porch roof, then leapt nimbly in through the broken round window, landing on the bed below.

A quick sniff told Cat that all was well. Ears softening, it kneaded the bed as it always did before it rested. Sometimes Cat’s ritual went on for some time – turning in circles, padding the soft surface over and over – but Cat was tired now. It curled up on the bed, wrapping its tail around its body and giving a delicate yawn. Its head sank onto its tail, its eyes closed, and it began to purr.

Alone and safe, Cat slept.

Cat slept for a long time and when it woke, the forest was dappled with midday sun.

Out! Time to go out!

Cat picked its way down the river bank, the moss soft under its paws, catching the distant cawing of a crow.

The river was large today, swollen with rain, rushing fast. Its surface was broken by dancing light and larger rocks. Cat crouched at the edge, wary, choosing a place where the water slid smoothly over pale stones.

Cat was afraid of the water.

It lowered its head and sniffed the river, which could smell different after the rain, with all the branches and leaves amongst it and the earth stirred up. Then Cat began to drink, in efficient laps, pausing between mouthfuls to scan the trees. Caught in the branches of a tree was an old rowboat, tossed there somehow.

The forest was quiet now, but there were always sounds that Cat’s keen ears could hear. The lapping of water, the branches moving in the breeze, the rustling of leaves … and then Cat’s head snapped up and it spun around. It could hear barking. The sound of dogs.

The sound was growing louder fast. Cat only had time to dart a few paces back into the undergrowth when five dogs came crashing into view, splashing straight through the stream. They circled noisily, glancing around for fish.

One fish flashed fast and silver in the shallows and the dogs spied it. A large yellow dog with pointed ears pounced first – it flung the fish into the air with a swipe of its paw and caught it in its jaws, where it flopped wildly. The dog hurried to the bank with its catch, where it began to eat and the other dogs barked and growled enviously.

While the dog feasted on the bank, the others began to hunt in earnest, kicking up water as they fished. Another caught a fish with its paw, and this time the whole pack tussled for it. Soon they were so distracted by their fight that they didn’t notice the fish flop onto the river bank.

In the undergrowth, Cat flattened itself against the ground, heart pounding, watching, its eyes locked on the fish.

The fish bounced and rolled – landing right in front of Cat.

Cat’s gaze darted from the fish to the dogs still snarling and wrestling. Back again to the fish, flopping on the bank. Then instinct took over: Cat wanted that fish.

Cat slipped into hunting mode. It raised its back haunches and pounced. It snatched the fish into its jaws and spun round to flee, bolting for the shelter of the trees.

But almost instantly, Cat heard a sharp bark cutting through the air. The bark told it that one of the dogs had seen it and was giving chase. Cat put on a spurt of speed. But the other dogs had heard the bark too and they broke apart, their fight forgotten.

Thief!

The chase was on.

The dogs followed their leader in pursuit of Cat and the fish. Cat ran, keeping low. Branches whipped its face as it plunged through undergrowth, the fish slippery and heavy in its mouth. But the fish was its first taste of food in days and it wouldn’t give it up without a fight.

Behind, Cat heard the dogs, loud and clumsy. The sound of panting, bodies crashing roughly through brush that Cat – small and nimble – had barely disturbed.

The pack were gaining fast and Cat struggled to keep the slippery fish in its mouth. Cat felt it slide. It tried to clamp down, but the effort was too great.

The fish fell.

Cat did not stop. Dimly it was aware that some of the dogs – two or three perhaps – had fallen away to descend on the fallen fish, but the others were still in hot pursuit.

Cat ran harder, lungs burning. It veered sharply, darted through ferns, leaping over roots. The forest blurred into streaks of sunshine, brown and green. It seemed to Cat that barking echoed everywhere, the sound bouncing between trees. The river reappeared up ahead and Cat slowed apprehensively as it approached the dreaded water.

With nowhere else to run, Cat leapt onto a hummock of grass in the middle of the water. The dogs splashed close behind, all five of them on its tail again now. The water slowed the dogs down, but not by much and as Cat glanced around, it let out a frightened whimper.

Too close! Far too close!

Cat ran up the side of a rockface, the dog racing nearly parallel. Cat darted back down onto the forest floor and slipped neatly under a fallen log that briefly hampered the dogs. Seizing the advantage, Cat put on a desperate burst of speed. And then, something blundered unwittingly into the dogs’ path. A hare. The dogs’ sharp gaze alighted on a new prey.

Cat dodged to the side, ducking into the thick foliage. The dogs thundered past, in pursuit of the hare.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Dogs were large and frightening and clumsy, but they were easily distracted. They would have forgotten all about Cat by now. Still, Cat crouched in the shadows for a time, waiting until their barks had long receded into the distance. Then, pressing its body flat against the damp ground, breathing hard, it crawled out.

Cat padded quietly between the trees now, its paws making hardly a sound on the soft forest floor. Sunlight dripped through the leaves above, and everything felt calm again. Too calm? Cat looked around, still alert. What could be wrong? It could catch the dog’s scent on the breeze. Their excitement, their hunger. But they were long gone now. Songbirds trilled above and Cat lifted its head to see large white birds with vast wings, soaring in the blue sky.

Secretary birds.

Cat looked down to find a puddle at its feet. In the glassy surface, it saw its reflection, with the trees and branches above it, and the sky and the birds above that.

Cat’s ears flattened. Something was wrong. But what was it? No dogs returned. No barks cut the air. No hares burst from the undergrowth. There was just the wind in leaves. Just the stream, distant now, murmuring to itself. Just Cat’s reflection and the clouds and sky beyond–

And then Cat’s reflection in the water began to tremble.

Chapter Two

Water

The ground was definitely shaking now, a low, steady vibration. Small stones rattled faintly on the path. A bird burst from the canopy, crying sharply as it fled. But fleeing from what?

The tremor underneath the ground grew stronger, heavier, as if something vast was moving beneath the forest floor. Whatever was coming, Cat knew that it was big – and that it was getting closer.

The same dogs appeared again – one, two, three, four, five – bursting out from behind a clump of ferns and racing toward Cat. Cat was too startled to run, but they sprinted past it without a second glance. Their ears flapped, their tongues lolled, and their paws kicked up dirt as they ran, seemingly intent only on getting as far away as possible.

They had seen Cat – Cat was sure of it – but they didn’t stop.

Strange.

Cat watched the dogs disappear between the trees. For a moment, the forest went quiet again. But Cat could still feel that great tremor, the ground shaking beneath its paws. And now it could hear something too. The sound of hooves.

With a rush, a herd of deer came hurtling through the trees. Hundreds of them, eyes intent on the forest ahead, legs flying. Some of the larger beasts had antlers, some were smaller, soft brown with white spots. They were also running from something that Cat could not see.

It was too late to run – Cat was caught in their path and could only duck and dodge as best it could. A deer’s hoof missed Cat’s tail.

Phew! Close!

The earth flew up and branches snapped. The air filled with confused sounds and panic – snorting, panting, the thud of hooves.

It felt to Cat like there were hundreds of the deer, an unceasing rush of limbs and antlers and terrified breath. Cat was trapped underfoot, unable to do anything other than miaow, whimper and wait.

A terrifying moment later and the deer were gone, following the dogs deeper into the forest. Cat watched them go, breathing fast. Why were they all running? And why was the ground still shaking?

A few seconds later, Cat found out. Because now Cat could hear another sound in the forest. A sound louder than the dogs, louder even than the deer. A sound that did not come from animals at all but belonged to something bigger, stronger, something Cat knew in its bones was far more dangerous. It was the roar of water.

But it wasn’t the usual sound of a river. It wasn’t rain. This sound was something far greater and far more terrible.

Chapter Three

Darkness

And then Cat saw it. A giant wave that swelled above the trees, swallowing everything in its path.

Water ploughed forward, ripping leaves from branches, sending tree trunks rolling, blotting out everything that came before it.

It was too late to run.

There was a giant crash and everything went black.

Chapter Four

Lab

For a few helpless seconds, Cat had no sense of what was up or down. Its world was no longer one of air and grass and earth, but one of murky green. A world in which it couldn’t breathe and couldn’t stand upright, in which it could only flail and spin.

A world of water.

Then first its paw – and then its head – broke the surface and Cat frantically gasped for air.

The world above the water was rushing past too quickly to take much in, but it seemed that the river had become the forest, or the forest had become the river perhaps. A river that moved terrifyingly fast and was murky with the silt and branches that it had swept away. It was a flood.

All Cat could do was try desperately to keep its head above water as it was whipped along, ears flattened, eyes darting as it looked for anything that it could grab hold of. The bank sped past, with trailing ferns and brambles and branches, but all passed too fast and too far away for Cat to reach.

Until – there it was.

Up ahead, Cat spotted a fallen tree, with one branch hanging low over the water. Cat leapt for it, claws digging frantically into the wet bark, until it could pull itself up onto the branch. It clung there, trembling. It was out of the rushing water now – just – but it was not safe. The branch bounced and jerked as water slapped against it and Cat whined uneasily.

Then Cat froze. Over the sound of water, it could hear something else – a dog’s bark. Cat’s head shot up and it looked around with wide yellow eyes, full of fear. It could see the dog, also in the river, a head just above the surface of the water. It was one of the dogs from the pack that had pursued Cat before the flood had struck – a large, golden-haired dog with soft brown eyes and a lolling tongue. A labrador. It was being swept towards Cat’s branch. A branch already perilously suspended over the rushing green-brown water, a branch that would never hold them both.

The labrador caught hold of the branch and began to haul itself up. Cat miaowed and swiped at it, desperate to drive the dog off. Lab barked, its golden fur plastered to its body, struggling determinedly onto the branch. The branch bent and strained under their combined weight and Cat hissed and snapped.

Get away!

But Lab scrambled closer and it was too late. Cat could hear an ominous creaking noise, the splintering of wood and then – crack.

The branch snapped and both of them plunged back down into that rushing, muddy green water. The branch spun away fast and Cat was once again at the mercy of the swollen river, kicking and paddling with all its strength to keep its head up, to keep breathing.

But this time, something had changed. The direction of the current was kinder, no longer speeding Cat forwards, but instead driving it towards the bank. Solid ground was close, so close, and unbelievably the flood was taking it there, spitting Cat out into the mud and wet grass.

With one last spurt of energy, Cat staggered up the bank, legs trembling, feeling mud beneath its paws. When it paused to shake itself, water lapped at the bank and Cat sprang away in alarm. It hurried up the bank, not pausing until it was well above the dreadful water.

A little further down the bank, Lab had also been washed up. It dragged itself out of the river, breathing hard. It shook itself and barked. There was an answering bark, and Lab turned to see the rest of its pack on the other side of the river. Cat watched as the dogs barked to each other longingly across the divide – but no dog was crossing that river.

Too exhausted to run, too exhausted to be afraid of a dog, Cat slunk away from the flooded river and away from Lab, back through the trees. It was going home.

Chapter Five

Bird

As Cat walked through the forest, impossibly calm after the river, it felt its energy return. It could hear Lab whining and began to trot along the river bank, putting distance between itself and the dog. It knew that Lab was watching but it did not look back.

The further it walked uphill away from the river, the safer it felt. Its sleek, dark fur dried and the feeling returned to its legs. It could tell that Lab was following, so it trotted faster. Cat was going home – alone.

Lab, however, continued to follow at a distance. After a few paces, Cat rounded a bend and sensed Lab was still behind. It paused, turned and narrowed its eyes at Lab, with a warning.

Stay back.

Cat continued on. The familiar path curved through tall grass and smooth stones warmed by the sun. Cat hurried faster still but Lab followed enthusiastically, tail wagging as if they were old friends heading home together.

Cat turned again and narrowed its eyes more fiercely – stay back. Then it turned, its ears went back and it began to run, bounding through the undergrowth, trying to shake Lab, glancing back from time to time to see if the dog was following. Which meant that Cat missed the tall bird that was suddenly standing in its path.

Cat was running too fast to stop. It shot through the bird’s legs, spinning round and skidding to a halt with a sharp yowl.

A secretary bird!

Cat froze, looking up at the vast creature. It had seen secretary birds in the sky but never on land, never close up. It was too afraid to run. All it could do was cower in terror, ears flattened.

Up close, Cat saw that the secretary bird had long legs, vast, strong wings, sharp black eyes and a lethal-looking beak. The bird tilted its head curiously and took one careful step toward Cat.

Transfixed, Cat watched. The bird raised its wings – wings that were so large that they blotted out the sun, wings that could destroy Cat with one swipe.

It took another step towards Cat on its long legs. Then another. But before the bird could come any closer––

With a flurry of barking, Lab was there, darting in front of the secretary bird. The bird stopped and took a startled step back, flapping its wings in surprise. At that, Cat seized its chance and ran. Lab ran too, ears flapping, still barking, through the trees after Cat.

At last, Cat neared the slope with its wooden cabin at the top, perched high and away from the swollen river and the slippery bank.

As it picked its way between the large stone statues frolicking and pawing at insects, it glanced back again at Lab, still following. This time Cat didn’t narrow its eyes or run faster. It saw that Lab was half-distracted by the strange statues, sniffing and circling them, and chasing the glinting insects. But all the same, it continued to follow Cat.

Cat was nearly at the wooden cabin now. Home. The place where Cat had always been safe and would surely be safe now, away from that fast-rushing river. It leapt lightly onto the familiar rock, then the wooden ledge and slipped neatly through the broken window. On the grass below, Lab circled in the sunlight, watching it disappear inside.

Meanwhile, down by the river, water began to trickle over the banks.

Inside, the cabin was quiet and warm and smelled familiar to Cat – of sun-warmed wood and dust. Sunlight streamed through the round window onto the bed in front of it.

Cat belonged in this cabin. A well-used workbench had an old oil lamp on it and a piece of paper with a drawing of a cat on it – the image of Cat. The pencil had been thrown down on the bench and the chair pushed back, as though the artist had left in haste. Perhaps this drawing was a sketch for another of the great cats outside or perhaps for the wooden, carved cat that also sat on the desk. There were wood shavings too, from other carvings, lying in scattered curls.

Blue glass floats were suspended from the ceiling with knotted rope, catching the sunlight. There was a gramophone and a telescope. But nothing – and no one – except Cat moved in this cabin. There were no sounds at all apart from Cat’s careful paws padding across the wooden floor.

Beside the bed was a small chest of drawers and a candle stub in a holder. Cat leapt onto the bed, then curled into a tight ball and sighed. It was too tired even to knead the blankets. The warmth from the sun wrapped around Cat as it had so many times before.

Outside, Lab sniffed at the door, circled, wagged its tail.

Inside, Cat closed its eyes.

It slept.

While Cat slept and Lab circled, the river crept higher, breaching the banks now. Water slid silently over the grass of the river bank, then roots of trees. It rose up the path, over the sun-warmed stones. Then it reached the first stone cat.

And it continued to rise.

Chapter Six

The boat

Cat woke in a pool of drowsy late-afternoon sunlight, a molten gold which caught the dull metal of the old gramophone and filtered through onto the bed.

Cat stretched and yawned.

Something felt different. But surely all was the same in the cabin – it always was. Cat could hear insects and birds, like always. It could see the drawing of the cat and the gramophone and telescope and the great glass floats hanging from the ceiling, like always.

Cat went to the round window and looked out, seeing past its reflection to Lab, circling and panting down below. But there was something else down below too. Water.

While Cat had been sleeping, water had crept across the garden, all the way up the slope. It lapped around the carved stone cats and Lab’s legs now. The sunlight glinted in puddles and pools that, only hours before, had not been there.

Outside, Lab looked up at Cat in the round window, tail wagging uncertainly. Then Lab turned, its attention caught. It gazed past the carved cats that leapt and slept and pawed and circled in the rising water. It knew that something was coming.

Cat saw then what Lab had spotted. An old wooden rowboat, drifting slowly towards the cabin, nudged along by the current. It was the same old wooden rowboat that Cat had seen earlier, caught in the branches of the tree by the river. It must have been lifted by the flood and carried by the river, allowing the dogs to jump on board. And now it was coming in the direction of the cabin.

Lab looked at the boat, then turned back to Cat and barked. Then it looked back at the boat again.

Come on.

With the water rising so fast and so high, a boat was their only way out.

Hurry.

Cat did. It jumped through the hole in the round window and ran out onto the tiled roof.

Then the boat rounded the corner and Cat saw what was inside. It froze. For inside the boat were the dogs, the rest of the pack that had chased it for the fish, with their hot breath and rough barks. Cat whimpered.

No! Danger!

It couldn’t go to the boat now.

The dogs stood crowded together, looking over the bow of the boat, noses lifted, eyes alert and fixed on the bank, scanning for Lab.

When they spied their friend, they barked urgently.

Come.

Lab barked excitedly in return and wagged its tail harder, splashing water everywhere.

The boat bumped against the bank and Lab jumped in. It looked back at Cat, tail still wagging.

Come.

Cat shrank back. It was too afraid – of both the water and the dogs. The dogs barked noisily and the boat drifted on. Lab stood at the edge, looking back at Cat as the current pulled it farther from the bank. Then the boat slipped behind the trees and disappeared.

Cat was all alone. It couldn’t have reached the boat now, even if it tried. The water was rising. Cat had to leave; it was too dangerous to stay here in the cabin any longer.

Cat ran down from the roof. It leapt over the water, feeling the ground already unsteady beneath its paws. It ran past the stone cats on the slope, seeing that only their heads and paws broke the surface now. As Cat ran on, even their heads sunk beneath the surface. The water was rising, faster and faster.

Cat paused at the foot of the slope, just for a second. It turned and looked back at the cabin one last time, knowing that if the water kept rising it would eventually even reach the round window. Cat would have to leave its home – it was no longer safe.

But Cat knew somewhere that still would be – for now at least.

Chapter Seven

The monument

Without a boat, Cat knew it would need to reach higher ground – something higher than the cabin, higher than the trees. The only higher ground that it could see now was the massive cat monument, the giant image of itself that towered over the landscape – or had done once, before the waters had risen. Soon even this monument might not be tall enough to escape the rising water …

But right now, it was Cat’s only hope.

Cat ran towards the monument. There was wooden scaffolding covering the lower part of the great statue, scaffolding that had been abandoned like the sketch of Cat in the cabin, like the carvings, the bed and the candle, the gramophone and the telescope.

Cat reached the scaffolding and began to climb. Soon it had reached the great cat’s moss-covered back. As it walked up the spine, Cat did not look down, focussed on nothing more than reaching the top.

But when it finally reached the cat’s head and stood between the giant ears, it stopped for breath – and looked out over a drowned landscape.

The forest Cat knew so well was erased. The fern-covered riverbanks and the trees and the paths were gone. Only the tallest and faintest mountain peaks remained in the distance, dark islands in a sheet of silver that was the lake – a lake that looked too serene to be rising so rapidly.

Cat thought of its cabin, also far below. It thought of the water rising to meet the cabin’s circular window.

Water slipping through the crack that Cat had hopped through so many times.

Water spreading under the door and across the carefully sanded floorboards.

Water covering the scarred wood bench, sweeping away the sketch of Cat, lifting the oil lamp, the wooden carving, the curls of wood. The bed where Cat had slept safely in a patch of warm sunshine was rising, the blanket and cushions billowing.

Water pouring in, swallowing the room. Those wood shavings and the gramophone and telescope and candle dancing and bobbing in the water that climbed and climbed …

Now the water had reached all the way to the feet of the giant cat monument. Cat’s last refuge. The water was golden in the setting sun, rising serene and inexorable. Swiftly, it reached the monument’s chest, then its throat.

Cat circled in the space between the statue’s ears, surrounded on all sides by that vast shining sheet. Panicking, it stepped towards the water’s edge. It would have to swim – it had no choice. It darted a paw into the cold water but it was too frightening.

Cat retreated, circling wildly in the dwindling space.

As Cat turned in its circles, it leapt in terror. Something huge had broken the water’s surface – a fin, then another, a whole set of fins along the vast back of a creature arcing past the glowing sun. It was an ancient, monstrous, whale-like shape and Cat yowled in fear.

But the creature vanished again into the golden water, its tail smashing down last, leaving only widening rings. Cat whimpered and whined as the ripples cleared.

There was no way out – the stone head of the giant cat was now nearly submerged. Something rocked against the stone, clinking faintly, and Cat saw it was one of the glass floats from the cabin. Cat used to lie on the bed and watch the warm light catch the blue glass.

And then, as if from nowhere, Cat spotted it. Silhouetted against the dying sun, it could see a sail.

Chapter Eight

Capybara

Cat narrowed its eyes in disbelief, then widened them again.

It was real.

A boat with a ragged sail, nudging closer across that great lake as waves lapped against the stone cat’s head. Cat eyed the water and dipped another paw in. If only it was brave enough to swim out to the boat.

But again Cat recoiled. It would rather do anything rather than step into that dark, uncertain water. It turned from the boat in the distance and ran to one of the monument’s giant stone ears.

The ear was difficult to climb and Cat’s claws scrabbled on the stone until it reached the tip. It fixed its gaze on the sail and whined again. It had no choice but to get its paws wet now – the ever-rising water lapped against them. In seconds, the water was up to Cat’s neck, then its nose, rising no matter how desperately Cat angled its head to keep it above water.

Miraculously, though, the boat was drawing closer and closer until, just as Cat would have been forced to swim, it drew alongside.

Using all of its strength and its last remaining pawhold on the stone to launch from, Cat leapt scrabbling and clawing onto the side of the boat.

Cat clung for a moment to the edge, then pulled itself up and dropped onto the deck of the sun-bleached boat. It was covered in peeling white paint and the boards were warm beneath its paws. The boat wobbled slightly, but Cat was safe.

Only then did Cat see that it was not alone.

There was another creature on the boat. A strange, stocky creature with dense, light brown fur, short legs, a long, rounded snout, small ears and alert dark eyes.

A capybara.

Capybara stood near the rudder, staring at Cat. It must have guided the boat directly to the statue to save Cat.

Cat froze as Capybara abandoned the rudder and walked slowly but purposefully towards it. Cat hissed and slashed its claws at the creature. Capybara stopped and lowered its strange head, sniffing at Cat. Cat waited, tense with fear, all its fur on end and its ears pinned back. There was nowhere for it to run but everything in it longed to.

Then Capybara sat down heavily in front of Cat and scratched behind its ear with a hind leg. It lowered its head in between its front paws and let out a wide yawn, revealing large, rounded buck teeth. Its eyes hooded and then, in less time than it took to blink, it had rolled heavily onto its side. It was instantly asleep and snoring.

Cat stared at the creature, whose chest rose and fell gently as the boat sailed on, the sun setting red–gold in a sea of endless black. For now, somehow, Cat was safe.

Eventually night fell and silver moonlight, rather than sunshine, lit the deck. The wind picked up. Capybara still snored softly in the bow, but Cat could see the barrels in the hull of the boat rolling back and forth with the waves. Cat watched, tense and crouched, until rain began to fall, light at first, then growing steadily stronger.

Capybara woke at last and, with a grunt, retreated under the shelter of the wooden bench at the bow of the boat. It was dry there and Capybara lay back down heavily, settling its head back between its paws and falling instantly asleep.

After a moment’s hesitation, Cat also padded over and tucked itself into the shelter at a safe distance from Capybara, its eyes wide and yellow in the darkness. It did not trust this strange creature but it did hate water.

Above them, the sky opened and the rain poured down in great sheets. The little boat was tossed on the rough waves but Cat and Capybara were safe in their shelter. And somewhere far above the storm, in lights of blue, green and pink, the great aurora shone.

Chapter Nine

Lemur

Cat awakened, still in its shelter, opening its eyes cautiously. It looked out warily to see that the rain had passed and there was bright sunshine once again. It could hear birdsong and the faint sound of Capybara, still snoring.

Cat crawled out from under the bench and began to explore the boat, carefully examining its new home. A few objects littered the deck, including a small gilded hand mirror, the metal remarkably untarnished from the sea water. Cat stopped and crouched, staring into the glass, its eyes huge in its reflected face.

The air smelt different after the rain, like it always did. The waters were still strangely rising, but all seemed safe for now in the little boat. Cat purred and began to clean itself.

The boat drifted on through a drowned forest, trunks rising straight out of the water. Pine needles and leaves floated on the surface, thrown up by the rough winds of last night. Cat could hear the creaking of branches and the gentle lapping of water against the hull. And then it startled at a sound.

From the bow, Cat could hear a dull thud, the sound of something landing on the bench, followed by a thin clink, like metal striking against a hard surface. Cat stiffened, then darted quicksilver-fast back into the shelter, ears twitching as it tracked the sound. What new danger was this?

Cat was tense with fear, while Capybara snored on, oblivious beside it.

Then a fluffy, black-and-grey striped tail dangled into view. The tail was swiftly whisked away, to be replaced by a small, black face with cat-like ears and a pair of large, shining, inquisitive eyes. The creature, a lemur, gave a sudden chittering sound and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Cat waited for a moment, still hidden. Then curiosity got the better of it and it edged cautiously past Capybara out onto the deck to see what this strange creature was doing on their boat.

Cat looked up at Lemur. The creature was examining the ropes and rudder with quick, clever fingers. Seeing Cat’s reappearance, though, Lemur darted away into the trees, all long limbs and tail, letting out one final chirrup as it swung onto a passing tree trunk and ran into the branches. Cat watched it go, then looked down at Capybara, who had slept soundly through the whole of Lemur’s brief visit.

The boat drifted on through a channel of half-submerged trees and then through what seemed to be a ruined city, stone pillars emerging from the water. A great white bird swept past, clipping the water and startling Cat, before flapping past into the distance, calling and trilling. It was a secretary bird, like the one Cat had collided with on the banks of the river.

The large bird, which looked like it might be the flock’s leader, landed on a pillar, where another, smaller bird perched, and they pecked and scratched in the dust.

Down below in the boat, Cat miaowed nervously. The bird it had met on the bank had scared it, with its long legs, fierce beak and huge wings. Now there were lots of them, gliding low, long legs trailing, vast wings flapping.

Then something caught Cat’s eye in the water below. A fish, darting past, followed by another and another. Cat watching them with great, hungry eyes, wishing it dared slip into the water to hunt – which is why it didn’t notice another white bird dropping onto the deck without warning, jolting the boat. Cat startled back – and fell into the water below.

Cold water closed over Cat’s head, as horrible as it remembered. It paddled frantically to the surface and watched in terror as the red-and-blue painted hull of the boat began to pass by, Cat’s only means of safety.

Cat managed to dig its claws in and haul itself up, paws scrabbling urgently against wet wood. There it hung, on the side of the boat, watching the secretary bird stalk about the deck, its sharp, bright gaze settling on Capybara, who snored on, oblivious.

This bird looked familiar to Cat. It was younger than the other birds Cat had seen. Was it the same bird from the riverbank? The one that had stepped towards it so menacingly before Lab had scared it away?

Cat was glad that Bird’s attention was elsewhere, staring curiously at sleeping Capybara. Cat found its own gaze drawn back down to the fish flashing quickly beneath the surface. Hunger, sharp as a knife, cut through its fear of the water.

Could it?

Should it?

Cat had braved the water before – and down there was food …

Suddenly instinct took hold. Cat let go of the side of the boat and dived back in.

In an instant, Cat’s world turned green and breathless. Cat was sped along by the current. For a moment, it was as powerless as it had been earlier, when the flood had first arrived. Then Cat steadied, kicking, finding its balance, and its head broke the surface of the water. It sent out paws to swipe at the fish but they darted past, far too quickly to catch.

Cat realised it could not hunt like this. And when it looked up again, the boat was in the distance, painfully far away.

One of the secretary birds swept overhead in a rush of wings, snatching a fish from the water in its talons. In foolishly going after the fish, Cat had lost the boat.

Cat tried its hardest to swim after the boat, yowling fiercely. But it could only kick so hard and for so long, and soon its strokes slowed.

Fish swum past as Cat grew weaker and weaker. The distance grew between it and the boat, sailing on through the abandoned city. Then the surface of the water closed over Cat’s head and it was again lost in a murky underwater world, surrounded by fish, sinking deeper and deeper.

As Cat floated in those green depths, somewhere between awake and not, it heard a sound coming from below. The low rumbling of something ancient and vast. As darkness began to overwhelm Cat, the rumbling grew closer.

Chapter Ten

Whale

Cat woke with a rush, coughing and gasping, to bright daylight. It looked around, taking in where it was – far out of the water now and up high. It was crouching on the broad, grey, mottled back of a vast creature. A whale.

It must have been the same giant beast Cat had seen earlier, while stranded on the cat monument as the flood water was rising, arcing its back in the light of the setting sun. Now the whale had risen to the surface, lifting Cat on its back and carrying it high above the surface of the water to safety. Its tail lifted and splashed down, sending a great surge of water and froth behind it. The whale snorted. Cat turned to take in the scene and–

Screech!

Cat was seized in sharp talons and snatched from the whale’s back by one of the secretary birds. It screamed in shock as the bird trilled above it, the heavy beating of its wings drowning out all other sounds.

When Cat dared to look down, it could see the bird had carried it towards the boat. The boat was growing ever smaller as they soared higher. Cat twisted and could see needle-like mountains behind, stretching tall and sharp into the sky.

Below them, more enormous secretary birds sped through the sky, their wings slicing the air with terrifying force.

Higher and higher they rose.

Too far!

Cat began to fight, yowling and kicking, claws scrabbling at its attacker as the wind whistled past its ears. Then, with a desperate wrench, it slipped free from the bird’s grip and plummeted toward the water.

Too fast!

The world sped past, a tumble of green and blue and the boat rushing up to meet it. Cat struck the mast and then the sail, clinging to it with its claws all the way down, before dropping onto the deck.

For a moment Cat could only stand, panting.

Then Cat heard Capybara’s familiar grunt and whipped round. Capybara was awake and at the rudder now – but it was not alone.

To Cat’s horror, it saw the younger secretary bird that had landed on the boat earlier was also still there, watching it with interest. Cat scrambled away in fright, slinking under the bench. Bird tilted its head, surveying Cat, then turned and flew away to join its flock.

Phew!

Capybara remained at the tiller and Cat grew calmer. On they drifted in the dappled sunlight, to the sound of birds chirping. A giant stone hand emerged from the water, as though reaching out towards the air. Then a stone head, water up to its chin. The stone needles Cat had seen from the air were up ahead now.

Cat perched at the bow of the boat, taking in all the strange things it could see. In the distance was a broken tower, bright in the sunshine. If any creature was in that tower, it would be swept away soon by the ever-rising water.

Delicately, Cat walked along the edge of the boat, back to where Capybara guided the boat with the tiller. They had to go to the tower. Cat yowled meaningfully at Capybara and leapt up to grab the tiller in its paws. Capybara grunted and walked back to the bow, abandoning its post to Cat. Cat pushed with all its might to turn the tiller so that the boat changed direction, heading now towards the ruined stone building.

As they drew near, the boat bumped against the stone. Capybara and Cat could see that the tower had shelves lined with objects, mostly shiny ones – glass bottles, glass balls, lanterns. The stone stairs and even the floor were stacked with other collected objects – shells and spoons and bracelets and sundials. And in amongst these treasures, dancing about, and agitatedly stacking a wicker basket with all manner of trinkets, was Lemur.

Chapter Eleven

Treasure

The boat knocked gently against the lip of the building but Lemur barely seemed to notice, so busy was it with filling its basket. Capybara climbed down onto the stone step, looking around – at lidless glass jars, pan lids, tarnished silver, shells. The water was climbing fast. In seconds, the tower would be underwater, and Lemur must have known that, yet still it stayed, cramming objects into its basket.

Capybara circled the basket, sniffed it and grunted at Lemur.

Leave, now.

Lemur ignored Capybara and continued to fill its basket with tins, old metal coins and medallions. The water began to rise over the edge of the building. Again, Capybara grunted a warning, more urgent this time.

Leave, now!

Still Lemur continued to fill its basket. Clearly it considered these items too precious to leave behind, no matter the danger.

Capybara began to push Lemur with its broad snout.

Leave, now.

Lemur narrowed its eyes and chittered at Capybara, dancing around its bulky back to access the basket. It snatched up a medallion and put it inside.

Capybara lowered its head and lifted a jar into the basket. Then it gripped the basket in its strong teeth and, with a firm tug, began to drag it towards the edge of the building, where water was beginning to spill onto the boards.

Lemur shrieked and tugged at the basket, determined to hang onto its treasures. But Capybara was too strong and soon its hind quarters were on the boat. Lemur gave one great tug, but went sprawling backwards in a somersault.

At last, Lemur seemed to notice the water, rising through the gaps in the floorboards. It looked around in disbelief at the treasures that would soon be swept away.

From the side of the boat, Capybara grunted again. Finally, Lemur leapt onto the boat, just as they pulled away from the ruin.

Lemur watched with huge, incredulous eyes as both the tower and its hoard of precious treasure vanished silently beneath the rising water.

When the tower was in the distance, Lemur danced past Capybara and began to quickly gather up the treasures that had tipped out into the hull of the boat, placing them carefully back into the basket.

Cat stalked past, eyes narrowed. They had rescued this strange creature, but Cat was still wary of it. Suddenly Cat stopped and began to heave, finally hacking out a large coin onto the hull of the boat. For a moment, Lemur and Cat looked at each other. Then Cat narrowed its eyes once more and slunk past to nap under the bench where it was shady and dark.

Capybara grunted at Lemur and held out the handheld mirror that had been on the deck, an offering to the creature who had reluctantly abandoned its shiny things in order to save its life.

The mirror was rimmed with etched gold that caught the sunlight. Lemur reached out for it and looked, entranced, at its reflection, just as Cat had stared at itself in the puddle earlier. Capybara turned away as Lemur trilled softly, lost in its own image.

The day wore on. At last, with much chittering and chirping, the basket full of treasures was pushed by Lemur beneath the bench, where Cat was trying in vain to nap, ears twitching at every splash and clink and squeak.

Cat edged away deeper under the bench, tucking its tail in so that it was as small as possible. But now Lemur wanted to nap too and settled in beside Cat, its long tail swinging out and tickling Cat’s chin. Giving up on the prospect of sleep, Cat yowled and stalked out of its shelter into the sunlight.

Capybara had guided the boat to the edge of the river, where low hanging branches covered in flowers and bulbous fruit swung near enough to grab. Capybara sniffed them as they passed and it wrenched a plant free, covered with pink flowers. On it was bunches of bright yellow bananas – food at last.

Capybara tugged the bunch of fruit onto the boat, dropping it onto the boards of the deck. Then it removed one banana and placed it carefully in Cat’s path, grunting.

Eat.

Cat glanced at the fruit and then at Capybara, then stalked away to scratch at the sides of the boat. Cats did not eat bananas. And Cat did not trust Capybara.

Capybara settled down to eat its own meal. After noisily munching the entire bunch of bananas, Capybara staggered a few paces, then lurched against Lemur’s basket, tipping it over as it fell – instantly and completely asleep.

Aghast, Lemur began to gather its treasures again, while Capybara slumbered on, oblivious.

With Lemur clinking and chittering and Capybara snoring, it was all too noisy and busy on deck. Looking for somewhere to be alone, Cat ran towards the bow of the boat in the direction of the mast.

In the calm water, it was easy to scramble up the mast and Cat soon reached the top. There, perched up high, it saw again those distant stone needles rising above the water. Cat yawned. Here at least it was peaceful. Curling up small enough to fit on the very top of the mast, it closed its eyes and let sleep wash over it.

Chapter Twelve

Full circle

Cat woke in a dark, fog-filled land.

It was afraid.

Cold mist clung to its fur and all around it was the sound of beating hooves. As Cat stirred, it saw that it was at the centre of a huge herd of deer, circling it slowly, their hooves thudding low and heavy, their breath blooming white in the air and mingling with the fog.

Cat was surrounded on all sides by the marching deer. They reminded it of the deer in the forest when the flood had first come, but they were not running now, just circling, round and round.

Antlers loomed above Cat, sharp and terrible. Cat cowered, yellow eyes searching the gloom, ears pinned back in terror. It knew there was something coming, something worse than the deer, something that Cat was sure would tear down everything in its path.

As Cat turned, it saw the real danger. A colossal wave that thundered towards them with a roar that shook the ground, sweeping away the deer, heading right for Cat–

Chapter Thirteen

Old friends

Cat screamed and awoke, barely clinging to the mast. A dream. It had been a dream.

Cat was still perched atop the mast, the little boat rocking gently beneath it. Up ahead, Cat could see a large wooden structure with paddles gently turning in the breeze. A windmill. A windmill meant land. On land there might be the chance to hunt.

Cat scrambled down the mast, leapt past sleeping Capybara, and Lemur, who was still examining itself in the mirror.

Cat seized the tiller, steering them clumsily towards land.

It wasn’t long before the boat hit the shallow water close to the bank. Lemur leapt out eagerly, followed, more cautiously, by Capybara and finally Cat.

They were standing on a bank of white flowers and the air was warm and filled with the sound of insects chirping. Lemur spied something in the water-logged grass and ran quickly along the bank to find it – the blue glass float from Cat’s cabin.

Treasure!

It chittered excitedly and began to roll the float to drier land. Capybara lowered its head and started to calmly munch on some of the white flowers.

Then Cat heard something that made it stiffen and lower itself instinctively to the ground. Barking – joyful, excited barking. It knew that sound. Dogs, again.

Then a creature came running towards them, a familiar creature: it was Lab, the golden dog from the forest, the dog who had followed Cat home and then left with its pack in the boat.

It ran towards Cat like they were old friends, tongue hanging out, barking and splashing noisily through the shallows. When Cat hissed, Lab circled and edged away, only to meet Capybara. Capybara approached with care and examined the new arrival, sniffing it thoughtfully.

As Lab and Capybara barked and grunted at each other, Cat edged away. Barely noticing the dog, Lemur busily rolled the glass ball past Cat to the boat. It was then that Cat noticed that there were fish in the shallows. How hungry it was!

Cat began to stalk the fast-moving fish along the bank, keeping its belly close to the ground, but Lab splashed past, scaring them away. Cat narrowed its eyes.

Curious, Lab scampered over to where Lemur was trying to push the glass float onto the boat.

A ball?

Lab sniffed the float and barked – ball! ball! – and Lemur drew the float away, trilling crossly.

Not a toy! A treasure!

Ignoring the barking and trilling as the animals argued over the float, Cat eyed the water again, where those fish had been. It was very hungry now. Then it heard something and turned – and the sight stopped it in its tracks.

A secretary bird stood nearby, holding a fish in its beak. Cat was sure it was the younger bird from the boat. Cat crouched, frozen with fear, but then the bird lowered its head and placed the fish carefully at Cat’s feet. An offering, like Capybara’s banana on the boat earlier.

This time, though, Cat approached. It nosed the fish uncertainly. Could this bird be trusted? Was it a friend?

Tentatively, stomach tight with hunger, Cat lowered its head to the fish. It had just opened its mouth to take a bite, when a sudden rush of wings overhead made it flinch and shrink back.

Another secretary bird swept down, larger and more imposing, with a smaller bird following close behind, its chick perhaps. Cat had seen this large bird earlier, standing on a pillar in the sunken city. The leader.

The leader shot a sharp glance at Cat’s new friend. Then it snapped up the fish in its beak and tossed it to the chick and they flew off together. The friendly bird gave Cat a look that might have been apologetic, then flew off with its flock, screeching into the sky.

Cat wandered on, stomach empty and aching, climbing a slight hill.

On the slope ahead stood the whole flock of the secretary birds, gathered together, squawking and squabbling among themselves.

From the hilltop, Cat watched them.

Suddenly, Lemur and the Lab burst into view, still wrestling over the glass float. They tumbled wildly and crashed straight into Cat, sending all three sprawling animals down the gentle slope into the meadow where the flock stood.

The birds immediately stood to attention. For a moment, no creature moved – and then the birds surged forward as one towards the animals. Their heads were lowered, long necks stretched out menacingly, beady eyes bright, and powerful wings half-spread.

Cat, Lemur, and Lab backed away as the flock closed in. When the leader bird – the bird that had kidnapped Cat – lunged and shrieked, Cat panicked and bolted, abandoning its companions.

Too bad.

But in its blind panic, Cat had run towards the flock instead of away. It sprinted through the mass of feathers, dodging legs and wings and beaks, away from the slope.

The great white birds swept overhead in pursuit, their vast wings stretched wide against the blue, bright sky, driving Cat onwards to the water’s edge.

Cat didn’t realise its mistake until it reached the bank. With nowhere else to run, it paced desperately. The air was filled with the rushing of wings. The birds landed. And then the leader bird, tall and terrible, began to advance on Cat.

Chapter Fourteen

The fight

The leader advanced slowly while Cat backed away, whimpering and cowering until the land met the ever-rising water.

Just as the leader bird reached Cat, though, a smaller bird dropped from the air and landed between them. It was the younger bird who had tried to give Cat the fish, the bird who had landed on their boat.

A friend. Possibly.

The two birds faced each other, beaks inches apart. There was a long silence. To Cat, looking up, both birds seemed impossibly tall. But the leader bird was clearly the bigger and stronger of the two.

For one moment, nothing seemed to move or even breathe.

Then, with a rush of wings that seemed to blot out the sun, the fight erupted. The birds hurled themselves into the air, slashing and clawing and striking at each other with talons and beaks. The riverside was filled with harsh cries as the other birds in the flock watched, their bright, black eyes fixed on the battle.

The two climbed higher into the air, locked together, seeming to reach almost to the sun. But then the leader bird began to strike harder and faster and the younger bird faltered and eventually fell, spiralling down to the ground.

And there it lay, staring up at its opponent. Then it lifted its neck to its leader, as though looking for mercy.

With a shriek, the leader plunged downwards, pinning one wing beneath a claw and stamping it hard into the grass.

Snap.

Then it turned and took flight, the rest of the flock following without a backward glance. The injured bird struggled upright, shrieking and staggering helplessly as the rest of the flock lifted into the sky, their strong wings carrying them away.

The injured bird tried to follow, lifting briefly into the air. Its wings beat hard but then it drifted back to earth. It lurched forward and hopped a few paces. It looked to its broken wing, then back at its flock, flying into the distance, and gave one last cry.

As the sun sank and the meadow flooded with golden light, Cat walked towards Bird.

Thank you.

The bird had saved Cat, at a terrible cost. It was a friend indeed.

Bird glanced down at Cat, who, now that the danger had passed, began to clean itself. Capybara joined them, sitting down with a grunt. Together they looked out across the water towards the distant stone pillars, their silhouettes dark against the burning sky. The water was still rising and they did not have long.

Bird turned and walked towards the boat. The others followed. At the boat, Lemur waited, firmly clutching the glass float, which it had wrested back from Lab. It rolled the float into the boat at their approach, scampering on behind it. Bird stepped aboard, holding its injured wing awkwardly. Cat and then Capybara, calm as ever, followed. A bark sounded and Lab bounded after them, tail wagging.

The animals all settled on the deck and this time it was Bird who walked towards the tiller, steering the little boat with its ragged sail out to the horizon and towards the great stone needles there.

Chapter Fifteen

Onwards

Darkness fell. Capybara sprawled across the deck, snoring. Lemur curled around its basket of treasures, the glass bottles and jars clinking as the boat rocked. Lab whimpered faintly and its legs twitched as it chased hares through the forest in its dreams.

Cat was used to sleeping alone in its peaceful cabin, with only the carved cats outside for company. With all of this noise, it could not sleep. It covered its ears with its paws and glared at its companions.

But it was no use. At last Cat gave up and stood, shaking itself. It jumped onto the side of the boat and paced along the edge to the stern, ears turning at every sound. It joined Bird at the rudder. Bird was quiet, calm. Cat curled up on the bench beside it.

Feeling safe with Bird, Cat finally relaxed in a patch of moonlight. It curled up tight, tail tucked in, and at last fell asleep. Far, far above the little boat, the green lights of the aurora twisted and glinted in the sky.

The boat drifted on.

Chapter Sixteen

The sunken city

Cat woke to the sound of panting and the sail flapping in the breeze. It opened one yellow eye and stared at Lab, who was fixing it with an eager look.

Play.

Cat closed its eye again and curled up tight, trying its best to ignore the dog and go back to sleep.

Lab whimpered, restless. It turned and paced to the other end of the boat, where Lemur and Capybara slept. It pawed at Lemur’s basket, which held the green float.

Ball.

Lab tipped the basket onto the deck. Bottles clinked, jars rolled and wooden fishing bobbins spun and rattled noisily across the deck.

Lemur woke, saw its spilled treasures, and let out an indignant scream. Cat’s ears twitched and it sprang up and into a crouch.

It was definitely awake now.

Grunting with delight that its companions were finally taking notice, Lab lunged and snatched the wooden bobbin in its mouth, while Lemur chittered irritably.

Cat leapt to join Bird by the tiller, watching the action unfold on deck. Bird was so tall and could see so much, and Cat stretched onto its own hind legs so that it might see too. But Cat overbalanced and tumbled headlong into the water with a splash. Bird watched, head cocked, until Cat had scrambled back into the boat, shaking itself dry rather sheepishly.

They sailed on beneath a blue sky, the calm wind carrying them forward effortlessly, with Bird at the tiller.

It was briefly peaceful on the little boat. Bathed in sunlight, Lab happily gnawed the wooden bobbin, tail wagging. But then Lemur came over, snatching back the bobbin and returning it to the basket of treasures.

Mine.

Deprived of the toy, Lab put its head between its paws and sighed.

Chittering to itself, Lemur took stock of its hoard, lifting out a shell to examine it. As Cat passed Lemur on its way to the bow of the boat, Lemur clutched its shell protectively to its chest, narrowing its eyes and warning Cat away from its treasure.

Seeing another shell on the edge of the bench, Cat put out a paw and flipped it off mischievously. Lemur was quick to seize it back.

Mine! Mine! Mine!

As soon as Cat lost interest, Lemur retrieved the rest of the objects from where Lab had carelessly spilled them. It discovered a tarnished spoon in an old bucket, putting it in its mouth and biting down. It felt hard and cool. For a time Lemur sat amid its treasures, happily occupied, turning over the spoon and chattering to itself.

And then Lemur heard something. A familiar sound, a chirping and chittering that it recognised. A sound that belonged to other creatures like it.

Now Lemur spotted it – a second boat approaching. It was full of lemurs – only these ones were all dressed in finery – crowns made from tin and wire, saucepan lid hats, beads and necklaces strung with bottle caps around their necks.

Lemur ran to the side of the boat and waved its arms, keen to get their attention, but the lemurs didn’t notice. Trying to attract them – for Lemur knew that its kind loved shiny things – it held its spoon held aloft, chirping and jumping excitedly.

The other lemurs glanced at the spoon, then turned away.

Lemur needed something more impressive to show. It raced to its basket and began rifling through its other treasures, searching for its most prized possession. But the sound of clinking metal had done the trick already. The other lemurs looked up, their eyes wide and gleaming.

The lemur leader guided its boat closer and leapt, landing on the deck in one wide bound. The others followed. Delighted, Lemur held up the small gilded hand mirror, tilting it this way and that.

The chief lemur peered into it, at first startled, then delighted as it realised it could see its own reflection. It stretched out a disbelieving finger to the glass. The other lemurs crowded close, craning their furry faces to see.

Me? Me!

Cat watched in panic as the creatures gathered around – strangers on their boat, strangers with long arms and high voices, touching their things. Lab, Bird, Capybara and Lemur were one thing – but these newcomers were another. They might be dangerous! Cat darted over and lashed out at the intruders with a paw, hissing and yowling.

Not welcome!

The other lemurs fell back, startled. Lemur narrowed its eyes at Cat.

What was that about?

But Cat had succeeded. The lemurs took flight. In a flurry of limbs and jangling jewellery, they scrambled back to their boat and pushed away in haste. Lemur ran to the side of the boat and watched, ears flattened, whimpering, as the others drifted off, away into the bright afternoon, the sun glinting on their finery.

The boat floated on, past huge green-tipped mountains. These peaks were all that emerged from the shining, vast lake of water. Cat took the tiller while Bird slept, its great wings folded, feathers fluffed up in the sunshine.

Then Cat jolted and lost its grip on the tiller as the boat struck something in the water. Cat yelped in alarm, stumbled and then managed to regain its hold. The great lake had narrowed somehow into a channel. The boat lurched and the hull scraped against what felt like hard stone.

Cat strained to keep the course as the stone emerged from the water. Cat could now see it was a sandstone balcony that jutted from the water.

Bird woke and squawked. It hopped to the tiller and took it from Cat, who glanced up with relief. Bird put a firm claw on the tiller and the boat began to steady. Bird guided them clear from the stone structure and into free water again.

But they were no longer adrift in the open water – they were now sailing through a magnificent sunken city.

All the animals wanted to see more of this strange place. Panting and barking with excitement, Lab hung over the side. Lemur held onto one of the ropes, while Cat seated itself at the gunwale of the boat. There was so much to take in. Elegant buildings of yellow brick lay half-buried beneath the water, and behind those buildings Cat could again see those enormous dark needles of rock that pierced even the clouds. Bird lifted its head and looked at the tallest peak, its gaze lingering.

The current moved them along quickly into a cool, sheltered channel of arches and bridges, ornate, crumbling buildings and colonnades. It was a dreamlike world of shadows punctuated with shafts of sunlight that glinted on the water. Cat looked in wonder at the old buildings, the ropes and pulleys, as the channel narrowed still further and the walls seemed to close in. For a moment, it felt like they would crash against the sides. But Bird guided the little boat safely, however close those walls felt, however dark and narrow it seemed. And then they were out in the open water again and the bright sunshine.

Chapter Seventeen

Stuck

With the distraction of the strange sunken city now gone, Lab was bored. It wanted badly to play and luckily there was a basket full of toys on deck – Lemur’s basket. There were good things in it, like the wooden bobbin and the glass float and the shiny jars that Lab could roll onto the deck.

Dog approached the basket eagerly, tail wagging, and found the shining green glass float.

Ball.

Dog tugged the float out of the basket by its rope, dropped it onto the deck at Bird’s feet and nudged it towards Bird. It panted and wriggled happily.

Play.

Bird tilted its head. Lab barked and nudged the float insistently towards Bird’s feet.

Play. Play.

At last, Bird, with a quick kick of its talon, sent the float flying across the deck and Lab ran after it, delighted. It hurried back to Bird with the float in its mouth and dropped it at Bird’s feet again, wagging its tail expectantly.

Again.

Bird stretched out a talon and kicked the float. Only this time, it kicked it too hard and the float flew off the boat and splashed into the water.

Lab ran to the side of the boat, whining and barking worriedly. Lemur, realising what had happened, squealed in outrage at the sight of its precious float bobbing in the water. It ran alongside Lab and pointing with frantic gestures.

Turn back! Turn back!

Capybara joined them and added a low, earnest grunt in agreement.

Turn back.

But Bird looked straight ahead and kept its talon on the tiller. It was too dangerous to stop for a plaything, when the current was carrying them so swiftly and smoothly away from the city. The boat moved on.

Lemur squealed in alarm, its wide eyes fixed on its treasure, floating rapidly out of sight as they passed through the ruins.

Turn back!

It darted to Bird, whipping it with its tail, and Bird flinched but remained calm. Lemur pointed again, dancing in frustration.

Turn back!

Capybara grunted in agreement, looking firmly up at Bird and then at the float. Cat and Lab watched, Lab barking from time to time in support. Lemur chittered and leapt, increasingly frantic.

Turn back! Turn back!

But Bird’s talon remained on the tiller, steering their course, ignoring the fuss.

Now Lemur had become desperate, its chitters rising to shrieks.

Turn back!

Bird kept its gaze facing forward. At last Lemur, maddened with worry, leapt onto Bird’s back, pulling and tugging, wrestling with Bird for control of the little vessel. Taken by surprise, Bird flapped its great wings and staggered – and in the struggle Capybara and Cat went flying, off the boat and into the cold, murky water.

Cat and Capybara were swept off in different directions almost instantly and Cat was again alone in the deep water. Once it would have panicked but it was growing used to the water now and it emerged some distance away, thrusting its head above the water and gulping in air. Compared to the rushing waters of the flood, this water by the sunken city was calmer, although there was still a light current.

Cat could see the boat, some distance away, with Bird and Lemur still struggling on deck and Lab looking on, wagging its tail uncertainly, confused by the commotion that it had accidentally started. Lemur was clinging to Bird’s back and Bird was trying to shake it off, too distracted to steer. As Cat watched, the boat collided with a half-submerged tree and lurched to a stop.

Bird looked up at the tree. The boat was clearly stuck, the mast wedged firmly in the branches. Bird flexed its wings in irritation and tipped over Lemur’s basket. Bird took the tiller and began to work it, trying to free them.

Move! Move!

Stuck in ever-rising water was a dangerous place to be. A potentially deadly place. Bird eased the tiller this way and that. Fast then slow. Gently then firmly.

Cat and Capybara? They would have to fend for themselves.

Chapter Eighteen

The swimming lesson

Cat began to try to swim, faltering to the boat. It was hard work paddling. Then Capybara appeared beside it and Cat noticed it swam with more ease. Capybara paused and then dived under the water, swimming in fluid strokes beneath the surface before surfacing for air closer to the boat. Cat watched it with interest. Going under the water? It was worth a try.

Cat sank briefly below the surface. It glimpsed a shoal of fish before–

Air!

Panicking, Cat surfaced again. Capybara swam in broad circles, slowly, as though showing Cat how it was done. Cat tried again. This time, it tried to imitate Capybara’s fluid movement, calm and unhurried – and it worked. Cat’s legs no longer flailed. Instead its four limbs paddled, moving the water, working with not against it, propelling Cat forward. Cat felt its strength and confidence returning.

So this was what it felt like to swim!

Now that it could move through the water without fear, Cat found itself entranced by this green underwater world. It hung there, suspended and treading water, surrounded by a shoal of fish that darted this way and that in flashes of blue and green, circled all the while by Capybara.

Then suddenly Cat became alert. It felt something.

Something far below the boat and the fish.

Something vast and ancient, something that Cat could not see but somehow knew.

Suddenly spooked, Cat swam frantically for the boat, scrambling back up the side, eyes darting nervously across the rippling water.

Back on the boat, Bird struggled with the tiller while Lemur looked sadly at its float, bobbing in the water. Capybara looked from Lemur to the float, sighed, and then began to swim towards the green ball. And then, as Capybara paddled towards it, there was a rumble from the deep and a fin, vast and black, broke the surface of the water.

Chapter Nineteen

The rescue

The fin slipped back beneath the surface as quickly as it had appeared, but all the animals had seen it.

Capybara abandoned the glass float and swam quickly back to the boat, its short legs working fast. When it reached the boat, it hauled itself over the side and the animals all looked out at the water. The fin had gone and all was still.

Had it even been there at all?

And then, something vast surged out of the water. One fin and then another and another, on and on down a huge blue-grey back. A whale. Vaster than anything they could have imagined, it arced into the air and over their heads with a rush of spray and air. The sunlight gleamed on its sides, catching the water running off its body.

The little boat jolted violently as the great creature’s body sent water cascading over the sides, soaking the creatures that were staring up at it.

When the whale crashed down, it sent a surge that lifted the boat away from the tree in which it was trapped.

Snapping branches, rustling leaves and the scratching of twigs on canvas announced that mast and sail had come free. The tiller and rudder swung loose. The boat began to drift once again.

Relief. The animals drew breath, grateful, humbled, awed by the strange encounter.

The whale had freed them and once again, the little boat was on its way, with Bird at the tiller. Only Cat looked back, searching the still water for a sign of the whale, the huge and mysterious creature that had saved it for the second time. For just a moment, Cat was sure it could see the beast, rippling beneath the surface.

Chapter Twenty

Fish

By the next morning, the flooded city and the whale were behind them.

The hot sunshine made nearly all the animals sleepy. Lab and Cat dozed on the warm wood of the deck, their ears flicking from time to time at the sound of birds or insects. Capybara sprawled beside them, snoring in its deep sleep as usual.

The only one who was awake was Lemur, who crouched beside Capybara, catching insects with quick fingers, its hands snatching them mid-air. A fly tickled Capybara on the nose and it sneezed loudly – so loudly that Lemur jumped back in surprise. Capybara grumbled, scratched its nose, then fell back to sleep. Lemur watched it warily. It had never heard a sneeze quite like that.

The sneeze had also woken Cat. It stood, stretched and yawned. Beside it, Lab stood too, stretching and yawning in perfect imitation. It wagged its tail hopefully at Cat.

Play? Play?

Cat narrowed its eyes at Lab, miaowed, and walked away.

The day wore on lazily under the hot sun. Lemur sat cross-legged on the bench in quiet meditation while Cat crouched under the bench, watching as Lemur’s long, bushy tail swung back and forth like a pendulum.

Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!

Cat’s yellow eyes moved in time with the tail, thrilled and hypnotised, all its own playful instincts wakening.

Back and forth, back and forth the tail swung until it became too much for Cat to resist and it pounced, rolling and clawing in pursuit of its furry prey.

Lemur whipped its tail away, squealing in protest.

Stop it!

Lying on its back, its plaything removed, Cat met Lab’s upside-down eyes. The dog had rolled onto its back in imitation of Cat, tongue lolling, eyes eager.

Play?

Play!

Now Lemur was also in the mood for some fun. It had picked up its beloved gilded hand mirror and was pulling funny expressions, closing one eye and sticking out its tongue, surprising itself by its own reflection. The sunlight glinting off the hand mirror cast a perfect circle of light onto the deck. It moved back and forth tantalisingly as Lemur tilted the mirror.

Rolling onto its front, Cat darted after the ball of light, but every time it seemed like its paws might land on the light, it was whisked away. And when Cat finally caught the light, it caught Lemur too, rolling over in a tumble of fur and limbs. All the animals were playing in their different ways, except for Bird, who steered the boat, and Capybara, who slept.

Then Cat sat up, its attention shifting to the water alongside the boat. It peered out.

Hungry.

Underneath the boat, in a world far below the scuffling, scampering animals and the sunshine, it knew there were shoals of fish, swimming and darting. Cat had seen them, swum with them, in the sunken city – and now it was no longer quite so afraid of the water.

Remembering what Capybara had taught it, Cat plunged in. Bird looked after it, crest ruffling, watchful.

But Cat understood the water better now – at least calm water like this. It kicked towards, not against, the pull of the current, following the rhythm of the fish. One swum past temptingly close and Cat lunged suddenly, paws snapping shut.

Gotcha!

Cat surfaced with its first catch wriggling between its teeth. It hauled itself back onto the side of the boat and dropped the yellow-and-turquoise fish onto the deck with a wet slap. This was better than any playtime.

It licked the fish, half tempted to start eating right away – but the hunt drove it on, the urge to catch the wriggling fish stronger even than its hunger. It went to the side of the boat and dived again and again.

Gotcha!

Gotcha!

Gotcha!

Soon a small, glistening heap of fish lay on the planks. Cat climbed out of the water, fur slicked flat, chest heaving. In its mouth was one last fish.

Now that it had hunted its fill, Cat could finally satisfy its hunger. And, oh, how hungry it was!

It selected a fish and began to eat, gulping and munching. Head between paws, Lab huffed, eyes fixed longingly on the pile. Then it stood, tail wagging eagerly.

Cat squeaked uncertainly, half-ready to defend its store. It had worked hard for those fish. But Cat knew what it was like to be hungry and the pile was big enough. It stood and dropped a fish down to Lab.

Next Cat looked to Bird, who stood at the tiller, guiding the boat. Taking another fish gently in its mouth, Cat padded towards the stern and set the fish at Bird’s feet. The same thoughtful gesture that Cat had experiened from Bird before, just before the fight between Bird and its leader had broken out.

Bird glanced down at the fish, tilting its head. Then it looked in front again, towards the open water.

Chapter Twenty-one

The visitors

The rain came later that day as they passed through another sunken city. Through the driving rain, Cat could see a submerged bell tower and those huge stone needles ahead, guiding them on.

All but Bird crowded beneath the bench for shelter, packed close together. Bird remained at the tiller, eyes dark and unfaltering in the rain, guiding them on.

The motion of the boat, the sound of the rain and the warmth of the animals was lulling and Cat was almost asleep when it heard the noise – the sound of barking.

Dogs.

It was alert at once. Lab jerked upright too, ears high, answering with a sharp cry of its own.

Ahead, rising from the flood, was the half-drowned bell tower that Cat had noticed earlier. Under the broken arch, on steps that were rapidly being covered with rising water, was the rest of the dog pack from the river. Cat could see that they were wet and desperate. The barks that carried across the water to the animals in the boat were loud and pleading.

Help us.

Cat ran to look. The dogs were in trouble, that much was clear. In a very short time, this tower would be covered with water.

But Cat did not trust dogs.

Lab began to bark urgently in reply to the others. It turned to Bird, eyes pleading, and Capybara added a deep, urgent grunt.

Go to them.

Capybara and Lab ran to the tiller and looked up at Bird, urging it to turn the tiller and help the dogs. Cat hesitated, looking back to the tower where the dogs called out.

Cat knew those dogs from the forest. They were noisy and dangerous. They chased and fought and broke things. But Cat had been stranded by the flood, just like them, and Capybara had come for it. Cat had been cornered and afraid and Bird had saved it. Cat had been lost in the dark water and the whale had lifted it to the surface.

Cat ran forward and joined Capybara and Lab at the tiller, all of them urging Bird.

Help them. We must.

Bird looked down at them, taking in the chorus of barks, miaows and grunts, all of them pleading with it. It held the tiller a moment longer. Then, with a flap of its wings, it dropped the tiller and hopped down, still careful with its injured wing, and stalked to the other side of the boat.

Capybara moved in at once, strong paws closing around the tiller. As the boat turned towards the tower, the stranded dogs began to bark louder. Lab ran eagerly to the side and Cat followed. But then Cat found itself looking towards Bird instead. Their eyes met and in Bird’s gaze there was a warning.

But the course of the little boat had already changed. It was decided.

They were going to rescue the dogs.

Capybara drew the boat alongside the sunken tower and the dogs were on board in seconds, reuniting with Lab in a tangle of fur, circling each other and barking happily.

Cat watched from the side, unease prickling inside it. It remembered these dogs chasing it through the forest, it remembered their loud barks and hot breath.

Bird also stood apart on the other end of the boat, looking ahead, wings folded tight. When Cat edged closer to Bird, Bird screeched and flapped its uninjured wing and Cat flinched back.

Cat’s gaze dropped just in time to see one of the larger dogs seize the remaining fish and swallow them in greedy gulps, leaving none for the others.

Cat’s ears flattened. All that effort, all that diving and hunting, and all their food, gone in seconds.

Meanwhile, Lemur had awoken and emerged from under the bench to find strangers on board. When it was met with an inquisitive dog, it hissed and shrieked. Two of the dogs began to nose its precious basket and Lemur ran to it, encircling it with its long arms and shrieking.

Mine! Mine!

The dogs tugged at the basket but Lemur planted its feet and bared its teeth, refusing to let go. The dogs retreated and Lemur glared after them.

Distracted by the argument, Cat and Capybara, at the tiller, missed the stone monument approaching until it was too late.

Wood hit stone with a jolt.

The boat lurched suddenly, sending the dogs flying across the boards. Lemur’s basket tipped once more and the hand mirror slid free, skittering across the planks in front of the dogs.

Capybara steadied the tiller and the dogs sat up, dazed. Then their eyes fell on the mirror. Lemur saw it too and, at the same moment, lunged for it.

One of the dogs, a short, red-coated creature with pointed fox-like ears, seized the mirror in its jaws, growling around the handle as Lemur cried out.

Mine!

Lemur leapt forward, shrieking, clawing desperately for its treasure. A grey dog sprang in to help its packmate and then Lab joined Lemur, all of them tugging at the mirror, pulling it back and forth between them. Cat watched, pacing, its tail flicking nervously.

With a great effort, Lemur and Lab pulled the mirror free – but fell back with such force that they landed hard on the deck. The mirror fell too, smashing into two parts, the handle and glass lying separately.

Lemur approached, its eyes wide with disbelief, and lifted its precious, broken mirror. It blinked as it stared at its shattered reflection in the glass. The dogs backed away, interest already fading, and Lab looked from the mirror to Lemur.

I’m sorry.

Cat needed to get away – from the fighting, the screeching and the careless, dangerous dogs. It leapt onto the ledge by the bow and scrambled up the mast. Below, Dog nudged the broken mirror handle gently towards Lemur, who chirped sadly.

The boat carried on in the rain, the dark needles approaching. From the top of the mast, Cat saw a broken rowing boat. Then another. And another – and then too many to count. Cat realised that the water was strewn with splintered wood, parts of cabins, whole boats smashed and scattered into great pieces. Destruction was all around them.

The light was failing now. Cat’s gaze fixed on the needles, still dark enough to show up against the grey sky. The boat pressed on towards them as the rain began to grow heavier.

Chapter Twenty-two

The storm

The storm broke in earnest as night fell.

Great waves rose and crashed around the boat, tossing it up and down, sending enormous sheets of water onto the deck and sweeping the boat mercilessly on towards the stone needles. Now that they were closer, the needles loomed dark and terrifying – huge rocky things that could dash the little boat to pieces in a heartbeat. Just like the broken boats they had passed.

The crates and buckets on deck skidded wildly back and forth. Cat clung to the top of the mast while, below, Lemur clung to its basket with equal desperation. Capybara planted its feet and leaned into the tiller, struggling to hold the boat steady. Lab cowered, trying to shelter as best it could, while Bird hunched low against the wind. It let out a shriek of alarm as they neared the stone needles and its crest rose as it cried a warning to Capybara.

Watch out.

Capybara grunted with effort as it struggled to hold the tiller against the force of the waves and keep them safe from the needles. It took all its strength to keep the small boat steady. Then, with a sickening crunch, the tiller snapped.

They were at the mercy of the sea now, and deep among the jagged rocky needles.

As the waves surged, Cat lost its grip and fell from the mast. Screaming, it clawed for the sail, but it was no use. The world spun – grey sky and grey water and a flash of wood. Cat was flung hard against the deck and the greyness swallowed everything.

Cat woke, a dull pain throbbing through its body. Every limb seemed to ache. Dimly, it became aware that it was being pushed along the deck and when its eyes opened, it could see Capybara was there, shoving Cat with its snout beneath the bow, into the cramped shelter.

Once Cat was stowed in the makeshift refuge, safe from worst of the storm, Capybara bundled in beside it. Lemur was huddled there too, still clinging to the lip of its basket.

Dazedly, Cat pulled itself upright. The tiller was broken. They had no choice now but to wait the storm out and hope that they missed the great needles.

Only Bird did not take shelter. Instead, it edged to the side of the boat and looked out at the storm, where Cat could just make out a dark rocky outcrop of one of the needles. And then, incredibly, without a word, without a backward glance, Bird took flight.

It flew unsteadily with its injured wing, fighting against the wind and rain as it veered towards the mass of rock rising from the sea. Bird looked fragile against the sky, all long legs and broken wing.

In spite of Capybara’s grunted protest, Cat staggered out of the shelter and miaowed.

Come back?

Trying to keep its balance as barrels rolled up and down, Cat fought its way to the side of the boat and climbed up onto the edge. Now it could see better what Bird had flown towards: a city carved directly into the black rock of the mountain.

Capybara grunted again, a warning, but it came too late. A sudden wave sent Cat tumbling into the water.

Freezing!

Cat cried out, though the sound was torn away by the wind. This water, rough and ice-cold, was not the placid green currents of earlier, where Cat had learned to fish. This water was not Cat’s friend. Cat could not dive and tread water here. It could do nothing at all except be tossed helplessly, up and down.

When it finally broke the surface, gasping, some instinct made it strike out not for the boat but towards the shadow of land. In the direction that Bird had vanished in.

Remarkably, the sea swept Cat to the rocky shore into a kind of natural harbour. As it approached, Cat was dimly aware of an unlit lantern, a bridge, empty houses. There had been something here once, some sort of city carved into the rock.

When its claws struck stone, Cat dragged itself up onto the lip of the harbour. It looked out to sea – where the boat was still being tossed – and then up at the needle. Ahead, carved into the mountainside, was a long set of rough stone steps with prayer flags to mark the edges. Cat began to climb.

Cat bounded up, up, up the steps cut into the mountainside. Past empty houses, broken arches and crumbling balconies, lashed by wind and rain.

The air thinned the higher Cat climbed and it realised it was nearing the peak of the tallest needle. Clouds gathered white around the dark grey stone. Soon Cat was climbing above even the clouds. The city and even the steps vanished, swallowed by the white.

At the summit, the steps opened up into a wide plateau. Up here, above the clouds, the storm seemed to pause. The wind dropped. Even the rain seemed to cease. There, standing at the edge of the plateau, was Bird.

Its wings were folded and it looked not outwards at the clouds but up towards a pale sky above. Cat stepped onto the plateau and began the long walk towards Bird.

Bird inclined its head slightly as Cat approached. It didn’t seem surprised to have company. Cat settled beside its friend. They stood together, tiny figures against a great sky that was slowly lightening.

Chapter Twenty-three

Goodbye

Sitting beside Bird, Cat felt a faint trembling beneath its paws. It looked down. From the rock, bubbles were rising. At first Cat thought they were bubbles of water, but then, as the bubbles drifted gently up past it, Cat saw that they were spheres of light. More followed, hundreds of them, rising up as the sky around them shifted from pale grey to green.

At the sight of the spheres, Bird became suddenly alert, its head darting as it looked from bubble to bubble. As Cat stared around in wonder, it felt itself begin to lift from the ground.

Legs dangling, Cat floated upward, its fur lifting gently. It was like being underwater. The safe, cocooning green water with the darting fish – only here instead of fish there were bubbles and instead of water there was vast endless sky.

Cat floated upward, weightless. Bird rose too, wings spreading eagerly. Lights swirled around them, pale blue and green, with the bubbles glowing like fireflies. The sky rippled like calm waves. Above them, there was brighter light still, glorious and golden, swirling, casting out eddies of green and blue and pink. It was like the light of the aurora, only closer and more brilliant.

Bird and Cat rose together towards this light, Cat tipping upside down, spinning gently. Bird cocked its head at Cat for a moment. To say farewell?

And then Bird flapped its wings and began to fly. Its broken wing flapped hard and strong now, as though it had never been hurt.

For a moment it seemed like Cat might float up along with Bird towards the light. But as Bird rose, Cat began to sink.

As Cat sank lower, its eyes remained fixed on Bird, watching the familiar shape, with its long legs and strong wings, grow smaller. Suddenly afraid, Cat cried out. It began to paddle, like it had in the water, trying in vain to reach Bird – but Bird only flew higher.

Goodbye.

Then Cat was once again on solid ground. There were no bubbles now, no lights that danced like fireflies, just hard stone.

The green and golden lights were disappearing too. Cat howled at the sky after Bird – after his friend – but Bird was a speck now and then suddenly was gone. Cat sniffed the air and scanned the vast grey sky. Nothing. Bird was really gone.

The place where Cat stood revealed itself now: it was at the centre of an elaborate stone pattern carved into the rock, lines and spirals worn smooth. It was an ancient place, Cat knew that somehow. Ceremonies would have been held here. Rituals would have been attended. The patterns, facing the sky, had been special once.

Bird must have known that too. It must have known to fly here and then go on boldly to the great light.

Cat stood alone on the vast plateau, as it had stood at the centre of the circling deer in its dream. It lowered its gaze and caught its reflection in a shallow puddle, eyes huge and confused. The water here rippled but only gently. Cat realised then that the rain and the wind had definitely stopped.

And suddenly Cat knew that the storm had stopped below too and the little boat, with Capybara and Lab and Lemur on board, was safe.

Cat lifted its head. Capybara! Lab! Lemur!

Cat began to run.

Chapter Twenty-four

Adrift

Cat raced down the stone steps, all that long way back down. It spied the boat’s sail from the steps and began to track it through the mist. At the foot of the steps was the lantern and the water. The sky was lighter now, pale blue through the clouds. All was calm. The storm really had passed and the boat – and aboard it, Cat’s friends – was saved.

But the boat was already pulling away, swallowed by distance and waves, bobbing onward between the needles. And, even if Capybara or Lab or Lemur could see Cat, they had no tiller to guide them back to it.

Without hesitation, Cat launched itself into the water. But it was tired and weak and the water was cold and unforgiving. Each stroke felt heavier and harder as the boat slipped away on the waves.

Cold and relentless, the water began to drag Cat down, its paws slipping uselessly through the water. It began to call out frantically.

Help! Help help!

As panic crept in, something familiar, something round and pale blue, wrapped in rope, bobbed into view.

The glass float from Cat’s cabin in the forest. The one that Lemur had taken on the boat, that the dogs had chased. A familiar object in an unfamiliar and unfriendly sea.

Cat lunged for it and managed to hook its claws over the rope. Exhausted, trembling, Cat hauled itself onto the float, the blue light reflecting in its eyes. There it clung, curled tightly onto its precarious perch. As the dawn broke and the sky turned from grey to cool white, Cat closed its eyes and slept.

Chapter Twenty-five

Land

After a brief, unsettled sleep, Cat woke to the sound of creaking wood and found that it was floating past the very tops of trees. An underwater forest. It was as though the tops of trees which had been submerged were now … reappearing.

But how?

With a flash of understanding and horror, Cat realised. The waters were dropping – and with terrifying speed now. The trees shot up around Cat as it clung, bewildered, to its glass float. What had been an endless lake swiftly emptied, as though a hole had been opened in the bottom of the earth and the water was rushing out. From being at the very top of the world, Cat found that it was sinking to what felt like the bottom, small and insignificant, trunks and trees rising up around it.

Then, suddenly, jarringly, the float landed on something solid. Quickly, Cat hopped off. It was standing on a mound of mossy, damp earth. Somehow, amid this fast-disappearing world, it had landed on solid ground.

Cat looked around as the water drained away, taking with it trees, uprooting them from sodden ground with terrifying speed. When Cat looked down, it saw a chasm of falling rocks and earth. But the flood had gone. Now Cat stood in a forest, a drenched and battered and broken forest but a forest nevertheless. Somewhere out there, the little boat might have also struck land.

Cat ran through the lush, newly emerged forest, ducking under fallen branches, miaowing loudly for its companions. The air smelled of wet earth, moss, ferns, of plants and fresh green life. The sun was breaking through and Cat could hear birdsong and the trilling of insects. It was running through a drowned world – but a world that was miraculously still here.

And then Cat spotted something that made it stop. It was Lemur’s basket, lying on its side.

Cat sniffed at the basket. A ladle and jar had tumbled out. Cat knew that Lemur would never have abandoned its precious basket of treasure – not willingly, anyway. Cat whimpered and ran on, more urgently now, racing over the green ground.

It passed other fallen objects, strewn on the ground – a bottle, an ornate drinking horn, the wooden bobbin that Lab had gnawed in the sunshine on the boat. But there was no sign of Lemur, Capybara or Lab.

At the edge of a gentle incline, Cat slowed and peered over the ridge. The ground here sloped downwards into a series of broad stone steps, wrapped in vines. They descended in a circular pattern – some sort of temple or amphitheatre, mossy and overgrown, nearly reclaimed by the forest.

A lemur emerged with a baby clinging to its back. It walked past Cat, curious but not seeming afraid. Another lemur sat on the damp stone steps, cleaning itself. Cat could see more and more lemurs now, a whole troop of them. Some flinched away as Cat approached, some only glanced at Cat. Cat looked each one in the face, searching for its friend, for Lemur.

Cat descended the broad steps quickly, miaowing, scattering the remaining lemurs, as it reached the heart of the amphitheatre. And there, on a raised central podium, clutching its mirror, was Lemur.

It was surrounded by the other lemurs that had briefly boarded their boat – the leader with its crown, the others with their jewellery and saucepan-lid hats. They clustered together, staring into the mirror and preening, turning this way and that to admire themselves in the cracked glass.

The lemurs heard Cat’s approach and while most were too entranced by the mirror, one or two glanced up and narrowed their eyes, gripping the precious mirror tightly.

Ours! Go away!

But Cat wasn’t looking at the mirror. Its gaze was fixed on Lemur. It miaowed loudly.

Come.

Lemur looked up. For a moment, Cat and Lemur’s eyes met. Recognition flared briefly in Lemur’s wide eyes. Then Lemur turned back to the mirror, once again absorbed with the cracked glass.

Cat stared for a moment, then lowered its head, turned and walked away, shoulders slumped. It was alone once more. When Lemur next looked up, blinking as though suddenly struck by a thought or memory, Cat was gone.

Back in the forest, the air felt warmer still and the sunlight flooded through the green canopies. Cat padded on, heading deeper into the forest. Then Cat heard a rustling behind it. It turned to see Lemur racing over to it. But Lemur barely stopped. It bounded past Cat, leaping and nodding ahead, as though urging Cat onward.

Over here. Come.

Cat began to follow. Lemur ran, chattering urgently, tail streaming behind, bounding over fallen branches and boulders. It ran as though it knew exactly where it was going. As though it had just recalled something, something urgent, something it had to show Cat immediately.

Come.

Cat followed.

Chapter Twenty-six

The ravine

Cat ran behind Lemur over damp earth and fallen leaves. The forest thinned as they raced along, until they burst out of the foliage at the edge of a precipice that was shrouded in mist. There, swaying over the vast drop of a ravine, hung the little boat.

Cat put on a burst of energy and ran faster along the ridge until it reached where the boat hung above them. It dangled from a fractured branch that jutted out over the ravine – a ravine that must have appeared when the waters had fallen away.

By some stroke of luck, the boat had caught in the branch of the tree, but Cat could see that the branch creaked dangerously with every gust of wind. It would not hold for long. Lemur must have forgotten the boat in its joy at rediscovering the troop and sharing the mirror with them.

As Cat approached, it could see Lab and Capybara on board, barking and calling out, and the other dogs too. They yelped loudly, scrabbling excitedly against the side of the boat at the sight of help.

But the more the dogs barked, the more the boat rocked – until a sharp crack split the air and the boat dropped further downward. It was still snagged in the branch by its mast, but barely.

The boat was now level with the land and with Cat and Lemur. It was close enough for the dogs to get out, just. As the boat swayed back and forth, one by one, the dogs leapt safely on the edge of the ravine. They wagged their tails in relief. Lab turned back to Capybara.

Come.

But Capybara hesitated. It looked up at where the boat was held precariously in the tree. The tree groaned, its roots shuddering in the sodden ground. Capybara was smaller and squatter than the dogs, with shorter legs. It could not make that jump.

Cat ran closer to the tree and looked up. The dogs gathered by the edge too, barking keenly. There was another, louder crack and the boat slipped down more. Capybara clung to the mast. Its dark eyes, usually so calm and steady, were full of fear.

Help!

There clearly wasn’t much time. Cat scrambled up the tree trunk. It ran along the branch to where the rope attached to the mast was looped around it. Cat kept low to the branch, examining the rope, an idea forming. If it could throw the rope down to the edge of the ravine, Lemur and the dogs could pull the boat closer and Capybara could jump out …

Working quickly, Cat took the rope in its mouth and flung it below, where Lemur and the dogs grabbed hold of it in paws and jaws. Understanding the plan, they began to haul it with all their strength. The tree groaned, roots tearing free from the earth with a sound like splitting bone. The ground shuddered. And then the branch bounced, flinging Cat off into the air.

Cat would have fallen into the ravine, had Capybara not stuck its head out of the boat, lightning fast, and gripped Cat by the scruff of its neck with strong teeth.

Saved once more.

Capybara hauled Cat back into the boat and grunted as the boat stopped its frantic rocking. The animals on the ground began to work again, pulling the boat closer to the ledge.

Then a rabbit burst from the undergrowth, a streak of dun with a fluffy white tail. The dogs, unable to resist their instinct to chase, yelped and dropped the rope. They ran off in pursuit. Lab also dropped the rope and turned to follow – then stopped. It looked back to the boat, swinging wildly again, with Cat and Capybara on board and Lemur alone, gripping the rope.

Help.

The bond of loyalty was stronger than the urge to chase. Lab trotted back, picked up the rope and again began to pull, teeth clenched, straining to drag the boat closer to land.

It was all on Lab and Lemur now. Cat and Capybara could only hold on. Slowly, impossibly, it was working. Together Lab and Lemur managed to drag the boat, inch by painful inch, closer to the edge of the ravine.

The boat needed to be close enough to jump safely, but it wouldn’t be long before the tree branch snapped or the whole tree was ripped from the bank. The sound of splintering and rustling filled the air. Closer the boat came, and closer until, at last – Cat leapt, Capybara leapt. As the two animals hauled themselves safely to firm ground, Lab barked joyfully and Lemur shrieked in triumph.

It was just in time. Seconds later, not just the branch but the entire tree finally gave way. With a great rending sound, it tore loose from the earth and plunged into the ravine, dragging the little boat with it.

The animals watched, breathing hard, as tree and boat vanished together, swallowed by the abyss below, ending in a great booming sound that seemed to silence the forest.

Safe.

The animals celebrated in their own ways, which meant that Lab circled and leapt, Lemur chittered and waved and Cat and Capybara brushed noses gently. When Lab joyfully flung itself to the ground, it brought down Cat and Capybara too. Cat narrowed its eyes at the rough treatment, but accepted Lab’s rough, happy lick. Lemur perched on Lab’s back. They had survived and they were safe and together.

In that moment, it was enough.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Beached

Then Cat’s ears pricked. The animals all fell silent. It seemed they had heard it at the same time. The sound of danger, so soon after their last reprieve.

A distant thunder rolled through the forest and the animals braced. Then they realised that it was not thunder at all, but hooves.

The ground trembled.

Leaves shivered.

Cat turned as a herd of deer burst through the trees, leaping over moss-covered logs and shattering the peace. When the deer were running, Cat had learned, danger soon followed.

Cat ran after the deer through the sun-dappled forest, glancing back, urging the others to follow. As Cat sprinted, it looked up and, there, framed against the sky, rose the tallest of the needle-like mountains, sharp and silent, watching. At the very top was the plateau, the place where Bird had flown into the bright light.

Cat ran on. The forest opened into a sunlit glade and Cat, in spite of its terror, slowed. For there, in the clearing, lay a whale.

Cat knew this whale. It had saved Cat, more than once. Its immense body that was meant to swim through the depths and rise from the water to arc majestically into the sky, rested among the green grass of the forest, impossibly out of place. It must have been beached and left behind when the waters had fallen away.

Cat stopped. It felt an instinct, a very strong instinct, to run after the deer, towards safety and away from whatever danger was surely coming. But it didn’t. It ran deeper into the glade towards the whale.

The light fell gently across the whale’s skin as Cat approached. It drew in a great, juddering breath, as though scenting something. Perhaps it longed for the water that was gone. Despite the peaceful quiet in this clearing, Cat knew that the deer were running and scared. But this was where it was meant to be. The whale’s eye, dark at the centre ringed with bright blue, keenly alive, met Cat’s.

The whale’s eye followed Cat as it drew near. Cat’s ears flattened. It crept close and pressed its small head against the whale’s immense side, nuzzling gently. The skin was cool, rough, alive beneath Cat’s fur. Its great grey body rose and fell, each breath an effort. The skin that had once gleamed beneath the water as it had carried Cat to safety and effortlessly freed their boat, now looked dry and fragile, streaked with mud and grass. For all its size and great power, the whale was helpless. But its eye, dark, bright and ancient, was still open.

Above Cat and Whale, the needle mountains loomed.

Cat rested quietly with the whale. A moment of comfort, as the whale drew breath after painful breath. A bark sounded and Cat turned to see Lab, Capybara and Lemur standing at the mouth of the glade. They halted, unsure, their eyes on Cat and the whale. For a moment, no one moved. Then, slowly, they approached.

The whale released another low breath. The last of the flood had drained away. The forest was a forest once more, but the whale had paid a price for it. Somewhere far off, rock groaned and shifted. Their world was still changing. The deer were still running. Still scared. But here, it was peaceful.

Cat wandered to a puddle nearby and sat looking at its reflection, just as it had before the flood had come. Cat could see itself, then behind it the reflected trees and the needles. Its reflection trembled in the water, distorted by a faint ripple, as it had before. Was it the slow breath of the whale that shook it – or something else?

Cat had changed so much since it had last looked at itself this way. Before the flood, Cat had been alone. Now Cat had Lab and Lemur and Capybara. Cat had learned to dive, swim and hunt. It had learned that it could be saved and save others. And it had learned that it could face something huge and terrifying, and survive.

The flood might return. The animals might need once again to work together to survive. But for now, the flood was gone. The forest was becoming itself again. The ripples in the water grew fainter.

One by one, the others came to sit close beside Cat. Lab with its golden coat and need for play, Lemur with its sharp eyes and clever hands and Capybara, solid, steady and true. Together they looked down at their reflections. The water on the surface was almost still now.

This time, it was Cat who leaned in first, nuzzling Capybara. The animals would stay until the whale was gone. And they would face whatever came next together.

Epilogue

The sun was setting golden over the vast water. Deep beneath the surface, a great whale moved slowly. It was not the first or last of its kind but it seemed entirely alone, with just the water and the great sky for company.

For a glorious moment, the whale surfaced. Water streamed from its skin, glinting in the light of the dying sun. The whale rose towards the sun, towards the light. Then, with a final, powerful sweep of its tail, it plunged downward again, back into the depths.

About the movie

The story you’ve been reading is based on the animated movie Flow, released in 2024, created by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis and cowriter Matīss Kaža. Flow gained huge success in many countries – winning many major international film awards.

In the original movie, the characters you’ve met don’t speak – at least not in a language we can understand! They mew, grunt, bark and chitter – we can only imagine what they are thinking and feeling. Just as the animal characters don’t speak, the film-makers avoid giving them lots of human characteristics. We can tell from the animals’ body language that they are scared, excited, bored, uncertain … However the film also shows the animal characters growing emotionally over the course of their adventure, changing as they learn to live with each other and respond to the extraordinary natural disaster they encounter.

Quiz

How much do you remember from the story? Complete this quiz to find out! You can check your answers at the end.

1. 1. Which two objects are found in Cat’s cabin?

- a) a mug
- b) a glass float
- c) a sketch of a cat

2. 2. When it’s stranded on the cat monument, what creature does Cat see in the water?

- a) a dog
- b) a dolphin
- c) a whale

3. 3. Which character falls into the water with Cat in the sunken city?

- a) Lemur
- b) Lab
- c) Capybara

4. 4. Which creature does not want to rescue the dog pack, stranded on a tower?

- a) Bird
- b) Lab
- c) Cat

5. 5. Which object gets broken while the dog pack are on board the boat?

- a) a glass float
- b) a mirror
- c) an oar

6. 6. What do the animals see in the water when they get near to the tall needle mountains?

- a) a flock of birds
- b) broken boats
- c) a boat full of lemurs

7. 7. What does Cat see when it climbs the steps to the top of the mountain to find Bird?

- a) prayer flags
- b) fairy lights
- c) cat statues

8. 8. What object is Cat floating on when land reappears?

- a) a piece of wood
- b) a glass float
- c) the back of a whale

9. 9. What is the first thing Cat sees when land starts to reappear?

- a) treetops
- b) its cabin
- c) a ravine

10. 10. Which is the last creature to escape from the boat as it dangles above the ravine?

- a) Lab
- b) Lemur
- c) Capybara

Answers: 1. b & c; 2. c; 3. c; 4. a; 5. b; 6. b; 7. a; 8. b; 9. a; 10. c

Which Character Are You?

Complete this quiz to find out which of the main characters – Cat, Capybara, Bird, Lab or Lemur – you have most in common with!

1. 1. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

- a) Playing quietly on my own or with a friend

- b) Playing games with a group of friends – the noisier the better!

- c) Doing something to help in my community

- d) Taking naps – I love to sleep!

- e) Collecting things and taking care of them

2. 2. How do you handle challenges?

- a) I sometimes panic in new situations

- b) I am helpful and bring lots of enthusiasm

- c) I take the lead and enjoy responsibility
- d) I am calm and I reassure others
- e) I am easily distracted

3. 3. What best describes your personality?

- a) Independent and sensitive
- b) Loyal and playful
- c) Brave and determined
- d) Calm and friendly
- e) Energetic and inquisitive

4. 4. Where do you feel most comfortable?

- a) A cosy spot where I can relax

- b) A big open space where I can run around

- c) I love being up high – a tall building or a mountain

- d) I love water

- e) I love shops where there are lots of new things to see

5. 5. What do you value most in your friendships?

- a) Respecting each other’s boundaries
- b) Enjoying similar games and activities
- c) Independence, loyalty and respect
- d) Treating each other with kindness

- e) Letting our unique personalities shine through

6. 6. If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?

- a) The ability to climb any surface

- b) Super speed

- c) Long-distance vision – I can spot danger from far away

- d) Super strength

- e) Magnetic force – I can pick things up from far away

Now add up your scores:

Mostly As: Cat

You are curious and sensitive, you enjoy the company of close friends but need plenty of your own space. New situations can make you anxious but you’re always eager to learn and grow!

Mostly Bs: Lab (Dog)

You are a bundle of fun and joy. You love being around other people – especially if they love the same activities you do. You’re loyal and always ready to help a friend.

Mostly Cs: Bird

You are a leader and your friends trust you to stick up for them. You think carefully before you act and always do what you believe is right, even if it’s challenging.

Mostly Ds: Capybara

You are calm and reliable. You enjoy your own company but also enjoy hanging out with your friends – who love how relaxed and supportive you are. No dramas here!

Mostly Es: Lemur

You are curious about the world around you and love to encounter new things – especially things you can touch with your own hands. You are full of energy and enthusiasm and determination.

About the creators

Gints Zilbalodis is a Latvian filmmaker and animator best known for writing, directing and producing the 2024 animated movie Flow, which has won him and his team a host of awards and nominations, including the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Animated Feature and a Golden Globe Award in the same category – the first film from a Latvian director to win either award. Gints Zilbalodis is also the director of the award-winning film Away (2019), which he wrote and produced.

Matīss Kaža is a Latvian director, the co-writer and co-producer of Flow, and founder of Trickster Pictures. His award-winning films include One Ticket Please (2017), Neon Spring (2022) and Sisters (2022) by Linda Olte.

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada

Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower

22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor

Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3
www.harpercollins.ca

India

HarperCollins India

A75, Sector 57

Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India
www.harpercollins.co.in

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand

Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive

Rosedale 0632

Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

195 Broadway

New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com

Contents

1. Title Page
2. Copyright
3. Note to Readers
4. Praise
5. Contents
6. Chapter One: Cat
7. Chapter Two: Water
8. Chapter Three: Darkness
9. Chapter Four: Lab
10. Chapter Five: Bird
11. Chapter Six: The boat
12. Chapter Seven: The monument
13. Chapter Eight: Capybara
14. Chapter Nine: Lemur
15. Chapter Ten: Whale
16. Chapter Eleven: Treasure
17. Chapter Twelve: Full circle
18. Chapter Thirteen: Old friends
19. Chapter Fourteen: The fight
20. Chapter Fifteen: Onwards
21. Chapter Sixteen: The sunken city
22. Chapter Seventeen: Stuck
23. Chapter Eighteen: The swimming lesson
24. Chapter Nineteen: The rescue
25. Chapter Twenty: Fish
26. Chapter Twenty-one: The visitors
27. Chapter Twenty-two: The storm
28. Chapter Twenty-three: Goodbye
29. Chapter Twenty-four: Adrift
30. Chapter Twenty-five: Land
31. Chapter Twenty-six: The ravine
32. Chapter Twenty-seven: Beached
33. Epilogue
34. About the movie
35. Quiz
36. Which Character Are You?
37. About the creators
38. About the Publisher

Guide

1. Cover
2. Contents
3. Chapter One: Cat

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