Emerdon awoke to a sudden shout. "Macavity!" A voice cried. He was still in his mother's arms, but she was fleeing to her den. Jemima looked around, and finally scooped up Asteria in her other arm. Asteria was looking very nervous, and the two kittens hugged each other.
A fearful laugh echoed around the junkyard, and Emerdon saw a large ginger tom in the corner. He felt that the tom was under a spell, locked in his doom. Emerdon wriggled, and fell free of his mother's grasp. "Emerdon!" She shouted, but the tom kitten kept running to the ginger tom. Once he was within two meters of the frightful ginger, Emerdon stopped.
He was still laughing; Emerdon was the only one left in the clearing. He saw his mother off to the side, worrying... crying... shouting... It was all a blur. Emerdon reached out his paw to touch the tom...
SWIPE! Emerdon was clawed across the face. He stumbled backwards, and the ginger tom thought of as Macavity disappeared.
The next thing he knew, he saw to queens leaning over him. "Will he be alright?" One fretted. Emerdon recognized the voice as his mother's.
"Yes." The other answered. "His scars will go away in a matter of weeks. He should be waking up in about an hour- Oh, well, here he is now." The other said.
"Thank you so much, Jenny. We owe you so much."
Jenny smiled. "Oh, It was nothing." She walked out of the den into the sunlight.
"Emerdon?" His mother asked gently. "Are you alright?"
Emerdon moaned. No, he did not feel alright. First, his face was throbbing and stinging, his head ached, and, he still had not been able to help the ginger tom. But, to make his mother not fret, as she has done so many times before, he mumbled, "Yeah..."
"Good." Jemima said gently. "Because there is someone here to see you."
Emerdon squinted his eyes, not quite sure what his mother meant by that. Someone had come to see him? He was the runt of his litter, and none of the kittens liked him very much. But, that was mostly because Asteria would tell everyone what a little Pollicle he was: eating all of her food, taking her toys, biting and scratching her... But, it wasn't true. He was a good brother, or he thought he was. Jemima gives Emerdon more attention, so she feels jealous and is compelled to make none of her friends attention on him, by spreading false rumors.
Everlasting Cat... Emerdon thought. He had completely forgotten about her... Always stuck up for him, came over for play dates often. And she came walking right in, carrying a small bouquet of dandelions with her. Her calico coat was gleaming, her bright black eyes were sparkling... Oh, man, was he drooling?
"Hi, Emerdon." She smiled.
"Hey, Aelina." He tried to sound casual, as if he wasn't as ugly as a cockroach, stupid enough to walk right up to Macavity, and was just drooling at her beauty. Had he mentioned that she was magical too? Yeah, her dad was Mistoffolies, and her mom Electra. She had inherited her mother's beauty, and her father's magical powers. Man, was she awesome.
Aelina blinked. "I brought you some flowers." She said, her voice like honey.
"Um... Thanks?"
Aelina turned around. "Jellina is calling me. Got to go." She said and took off.
