Ola’s pink slippers vanish from the hallway, and a strange glittery paw print leads her and Leo upstairs toward a mystery hiding in the house.
Ola was seven, and her fluffy pink slippers were her favourite thing to slip on first thing in the morning.
She lived in a bunkhouse with her parents and her cat, Leo. That morning, Ola padded into the hallway, ready to slide her feet into the warm slippers waiting by the door.
They were not there.
Ola blinked and looked down at the floor. In their place was a strange print, shiny as if someone had stepped through glitter. It was shaped like a paw, but it was too large for Leo and too small for a grown-up.
Leo sat nearby, licking one paw and pretending not to care.
“Leo,” Ola whispered, “did you take my slippers?”
The kitten only gave a soft purr and flicked his tail.
Ola crouched lower. The glittery print pointed toward the stairs. Then another print. And another. They climbed upward, one by one, until they vanished around the corner.
“Come on,” Ola said, her heart thumping with excitement. “We have to find out who’s playing this trick.”
She took one careful step after the prints. Leo trotted beside her, ears pricked high.
At the top of the stairs, right beside the attic door, something on the floor gave a tiny, secret rustle.