CHAPTER 4: Fright

"Eek!" the beautiful, brown Abyssinian queen squealed as she rushed out of her den.

"Cassandra, what's the matter?" asked Demeter, concerned. She had been passing her sister-in-law's den when she had fled outside, looking like a scared mouse.

"Oh, Demeter, there's – there's – there's a-a-a…w-well, I-I don't know exactly what it is," she confessed, "b-but it really startled me."

Demeter told Cassandra to stay where she was and then cautiously entered the den. She glanced around, but was unable to see anything out-of-the-ordinary. "What did it look like?" she called out to Cassandra.

"Uh…well…I guess it sort of looked like…a bear."

Demeter walked around the den and was about to exit when she noticed something fluffy on the ground near the back wall. She moved towards it for a closer look. It was what she was pretty sure she had heard humans call a 'teddy bear', and it was brown. She picked it up and took it outside to show Cassandra. "Is this what you saw?"

Cassandra let out another small shriek.

"Calm down, Cass," Demeter said, biting back a laugh, "it's only a teddy bear. A toy. See?"

Warily, Cassandra took a longer look at the thing. She supposed it looked harmless enough. "But how did it –?" She stopped suddenly, then, with the loudest voice Demeter had ever heard her use, Cassandra yelled out, "MISTOFFELEES!"

Mungojerrie had carefully concealed himself nearby, but made a dash for it when he heard Cassandra yelling. When he was some distance away, he sat down and chuckled to himself. He had thought it was a pretty lame joke, but, all the same, the results were so satisfying. He had managed to scare the most collected queen in the junkyard, and for that he was proud. He only hoped Mistoffelees wouldn't get in too much trouble… But, as long as Oi don't, Oi'm 'appy.


Tugger flopped onto the floor of his den and let out a huge sigh. Why did Mistoffelees have to allocate him the hardest of tasks? Tugger let his eyes wander to the ceiling and around the room, before he finally noticed a ball of pink yarn nearby. Where did that come from? Tugger wondered momentarily. He shrugged and reached out for it. Doesn't matter…it might help me think. He began to bat it between his paws. How come I have to risk my tail to get him Victoria…when I already have to set him up with Jemima? Can't he just settle for Jemima? She's pretty enough…perfect enough. Why Victoria as well? Tugger suddenly stopped the movement of his paws and looked down at the ball of yarn. Yarn…pink…yarn…perfect! And with that thought, and the ball of yarn, he dashed outside.


Etcetera stirred slightly and smiled as her face came into contact with soft fur. "Mmm…Tugger…" she murmured sleepily, her eyes still shut tightly.

Her only reply was a grunt, obviously produced in sleep.

The young queen slowly opened her eyes and blinked. She felt a yawn coming and went to stifle it, but found herself unable to move her paw from behind her back. "What the…Tugger? Tugger, why can't I…" She trailed off as she looked at her companion, who by now had awoken, properly for the first time that morning. She frowned. "You're not Tugger."

Her companion rolled his eyes. "Good observation, Etcy," he said dryly.

"But I thought Tugger was here?" asked the confused kitten.

"He was. Looks like he tied us up when we were asleep and left us here."

"Oh. That explains why I can't move." She glanced down at the pink yarn binding her to the chair. "Why would he tie us up?" she asked, tears springing to her eyes at the thought of Tugger being mean to her. "Doesn't he like me?"

"I'm sure he does," the tom quickly reassured her. "It's probably just his lame idea of a joke."

Etcetera hiccupped, then sighed. "So how do we get out of here?"

"I don't know, Etcy. I don't know."