"Kat, it's all set." Mom grinned at me the next morning when I walked into the kitchen for breakfast.

"What's all set?" I asked sleepily.

"Your birthday party tomorrow!" Mom replied, giving me a quick hug. Mom's very big on hugging.

"How could you forget?" she asked in surprise. "We've been planning your birthday for weeks!"

"My party!" I breathed with delight. "Oh, I can't wait!" I sat down at the table for cornflakes and orange juice.

Birthday parties are a really big deal around the Merton house. Mom always orders a big cake. And she makes all the invitations and decorations by hand.

This year, I helped with the invitations. We cut them out of purple construction paper and used a pink sparkle pen to write the words.

I usually have a theme for my parties. Last year's theme was "Make your own pizza." And it was awesome! My friends talked about it for weeks.

Now that I'm going to be twelve, I decided I'm too old for a theme. So Mom and Dad are taking me and five of my best friends to WonderPark—for the entire day.

WonderPark is definitely the coolest. It has two wave pools, a whole bunch of water slides, and the Monster Masher. That's the scariest upside-down roller coaster I've ever been on!

Just how cool is it? Well, last summer, Carlo lost his lunch after a ride on the Masher.

Pretty cool.

"This is going to be my best birthday ever!" I exclaimed, smiling across the table at Mom. I turned to Daniel. "Sorry, you're not invited. This is for twelve-year-olds only."

"No fair! Why can't I come along?" he complained, banging his spoon into his cereal and splashing milk all over the table. "I promise I won't talk to any of Kat's friends. Who would want to? Please let me come!"

I started to feel sort of bad. I started to change my mind. And then Daniel totally ruined his chance.

He folded his arms over his chest. "Kat gets everything around here," he grumbled. "She won't even share the sponge with me!"

"That old thing Kat found under the sink?" Mom asked in surprise. "Who'd want it?"

"Me!" yelled Daniel.

"Well, I found it, so it's mine. And I'm bringing my sponge to school today," I informed Daniel.

"Why?" Mom asked.

"I'm going to show it to Mrs. Vanderhoff," I explained. "Maybe she'll know what it is. Now I need to find a carrier for my sponge."

I searched around in the kitchen cabinets. "Perfect!" I proclaimed, holding up a plastic container labeled Deli. It still smelled faintly of potato salad.

With an old pair of scissors, I punched a few air holes in the top of the container. Then I ran upstairs to get the sponge.

Back in the kitchen, I set the sealed container on the floor and opened the refrigerator.

"Mom," I called, "which lunch bag is mine?" "The blue one, honey," she replied.

I grabbed my lunch and shut the refrigerator.

I heard a sniffing sound coming from the kitchen floor. I looked down. "Killer, what are you doing, boy?" I smiled at the floppy-eared dog. Snrff. Snrff. Snrff.

He sniffed at the container. Grrr. Grrr.

He pawed the ground and growled. Here we go again, I thought.

Killer set his ears back, circling the container suspiciously. And barked.

And barked. And barked. "Killer! Get back!" I shouted.

But the dog was way too excited to listen to me.

"Mom, Daniel!" I called. "Help me get Killer away. I think he wants to eat the sponge for breakfast!"

Mom grabbed Killer by his collar and hauled him, still growling, away from the container. She pushed the door open and shooed the dog into the backyard. "Go outside, boy, there you go," she said gently.

Mom turned to me. "What's got that dog so upset? He sure is acting strange. Now get a move on, or you'll be late for school. And then I'll be growling and barking!"

Throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I gave Mom a quick kiss good-bye and followed Daniel out the door.

"Watch this!" he yelled, dashing across the street to the Johnsons' house and planting himself underneath their basketball hoop.

Daniel faked a dribble and a pass, and ran madly around in circles. "Bet you can't jump this high!" he said, pretending to sink a basket.

"Come on, Daniel," I replied, walking quickly down the street. "Mrs. Vanderhoff will keep me after school if I show up late."

Daniel trotted over to me. Suddenly, his eyes bulged! "Kat! Look out!" he screamed.

Craaack!

I heard a frightening sound above my head. A loud cracking. As if someone had cracked about a thousand knuckles at the same time.

I glanced up in time to see a huge dead tree branch hurtling down through the air. I froze.

I couldn't scream. I couldn't move. I couldn't move a muscle.

I was about to be crushed into Kat litter!