Prologue

Alonzo waited as patiently as a young kitten could manage outside his mother's den. He was only a year old, quite young for a Jellicle, and didn't fully understand why he wasn't being allowed to see his mother at the moment. He also wasn't aware that his two sisters were being born.

Glancing around, letting his mind wander, he took in all the Junk that was so familiar. He lived with a tribe of Cats, known as Jellicles, in the middle of a place where humans left their waste, and never ventured, which made it an ideal setting for such a tribe.

Lonzo watched as a nearly four year old marmalade-coloured queen, called Jennyanydots, hurry into his mother's den without saying a word about what she was doing to the little tom. He grumbled after her, but knew better than to ask questions when the air in the Junkyard was filled with anticipation such as this.

His mother's cries of pain from inside her den caused a look of worry to pass his face, but he quickly hid it; a skill he had learned long ago, and which his mother insisted that he had inherited from his father, who he had never known.

"She's having kittens," explained his best friend (whom he regarded as his brother), a strong silver tabby tom called Munkustrap, who had come up behind him with his curious way of appearing when he was needed out of the shadows. Alonzo nodded, pretending he'd known all along, although he figured Munku knew otherwise. Munku had a knack for knowing other Jellicles' secrets.

Lonzo wondered how having kittens again would affect his mother. He was the only surviving kitten from her first litter; the others having been killed by the Mystery Cat, Macavity, himself. His mother, Clytemnestra by name, had cried and mourned so much over the loss of her kittens that Jennyanydots had practically had to raise Lonzo herself.

The screams and cries of pain suddenly stopped. Lonzo looked quizzically at Munku, expecting his friend to know what was going on. "Do you think there's something wrong?" he asked aloud, trying with much difficulty to hide the worry he felt from showing itself on his voice.

Munku simply shrugged. "I've no real idea. Sorry, Lonzo." The two toms watched the door to Clytemnestra's den for what seemed quite a while. Nothing happened for a long while.

After what seemed an eternity to both of the young toms, Jennyanydots appeared, a very somber expression on her pale, orangey face. She knelt down next to where Lonzo sat. "I don't know how to tell you this, Alonzo," she began, using his formal name, telling him that it was something very dire. Lonzo's tail flicked in apprehension, and he waited for Jenny to continue. "You have two sisters..." Tears clouded the green eyes of his marmalade aunt. "But your mother, my sister..."

"Oh Bastet..." Munku murmured as quietly as he could manage. It was obvious that he was catching on to what was being said long before Lonzo did. The gold and black tom stared at Munku, trying to figure out what it was.

"She's dead..." finished an old tom, known as Asparagus (although why he was named this, Lonzo didn't know), as he limped out of the den. His face wore as somber an expression as the Gumbie Cat's.

"No," Lonzo began, shaking his head in utter disbelief of what had happened, "No! She can't have left me here alone..." His eyes gleamed with tears and the pain his face hid so well. "Not when she just had a litter that I am certain will survive..." His breath came in gasps for a moment, before he got a better hold of himself.

"I'm sorry, Alonzo," Jenny continued, embracing her nephew. "I couldn't save her, the strain was too much for her..." There was a pause, and the tension between the Jellicles could almost be physically felt. "But I want you to help me raise your sisters." Her request, almost a command, had broken the silence.

Lonzo almost declined, wondering why he should do anything for his mother when she had just abandoned him. However, he knew his mother was Jenny's sister, and it hurt her that Clytemnestra was gone as much as it hurt him. "I will help you," he spoke at last, his voice faltering as he tried to find words.

Jenny forced a wan smile onto her dark orange lips. "Thank you, Lonzo," she whispered to him. "I know your mother would be happy. She'd be glad to know that you're doing this."

Lonzo's face grew cold, which was a strange appearance for one so young. "Don't lie. She never cared," he hissed. "I'm doing this for her kittens, not her." Jenny's jaw dropped, and she couldn't find anything to say. She opened and closed her mouth soundlessly for a few moments, then just shook her head.

"You shouldn't say such things," she told him hurriedly. "Especially about your mother! She cared about you, she just didn't know how to show it!" Their argument ceased at the appearance of another tom.

"Wha's 'appened?" asked the ginger tom, whose name was Skimbleshanks. He was a little older than Jennyanydots, and was a lot nicer in Lonzo's opinion. Perhaps it was because Alonzo didn't like Jenny's overly-motherly nature towards him, or perhaps because he admired Skimble's work as a railway cat. At any rate, Lonzo neither knew nor cared.

"Clytemnestra's… gone to be with the Everlasting Cat," Jenny mumbled, and her mate embraced her comfortingly. Lonzo thought he heard her sob slightly. Skimble's golden-green eyes softened.

"It's a'right," he assured Jenny. "Everything's gonna be fine." Sniffling, Jenny backed away. Her eyes fell upon Lonzo, who shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of her shining green eyes.

"You'll be staying with Skimble and me, then," she told him. "You're far too young to be out on your own." Lonzo opened his mouth to protest, but the stern look he received from Skimble told him that it would be best not to argue at the moment. His gaze landed upon the ground at his feet.

"Alright," he assented, rather grudgingly. It was then that he noticed that Munkustrap had disappeared. This disheartened him somewhat, though he wasn't sure why.

Jenny smiled warmly at the young tom, and he forced a smile back at her – it wasn't his place to tell her that he didn't want to stay with her. He'd just have to learn to accept it, and spend as much of his time as possible away from the Gumbie cat, who he knew, despite her warm, accepting words, would never treat him as one of her own.

"And you'll help me take care of your sisters?" Alonzo found himself blinking in surprise – it had somehow slipped past him that his sisters had apparently survived, though his mother had not.

"Yes," he replied, trying to imagine himself taking care of kittens, even if they were his sisters. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see it working, but there was no other option. Besides, how could he defy his mother like that? "I'll help you." He smiled rather warmly, he thought, once he had finished speaking.

Jenny smiled in return, then entered the den that had once been Lonzo's mother's, and returned with two, tiny, sleeping kittens in her arms. One was black, with a beautiful white blouse, and brilliant red patches. The other was mostly black as well, also with a white blouse, but with a golden yellow where her sister was red.

"What're their names?" Lonzo found himself asking, almost automatically.

"Well," replied the Gumbie cat, looking down at the two sleeping kittens, "I thought I'd let you help me name them, since your mother isn't here to do it." She blushed, seeming rather embarrassed to be saying that Clytemnestra was, indeed, dead.

Lonzo took another look at each of his sisters, and knew immediately what they should be called. "The red one's Bombalurina, and the gold one's Demeter."