Chapter Four
Nowhere is Safe
(Cassandra's POV)
I sat in front of Tugger's den, handing Alonzo a tissue whenever he needed one, which was every other two seconds. Well, I can't judge him. I probably would be like that if my father just told me that Exotica (my big sister) had just been kidnapped by Macavity. She's always away traveling though.
Alonzo sobbed into his palms, his face buried in his hands. "How could this happen?" I made out from his gibberish.
I rubbed his back. "It's going to be okay. Your father, Munkustrap, Jenny, Skimble, and some other cats are out looking for him." I didn't tell him Demeter was trying to calm down a hysterical Bomburalina inside.
Alonzo sniffled, and I saw his black and white furry face emerge from his paws. "Jenny went?"
"She insisted." I told him. Alonzo cracked a small smile, which I guess was a good sign.
Then, we saw two figures come towards us. When they got closer, we saw that they were Victoria and Jemima. Jemima sat down on Alonzo's other side and hugged him. He hugged back. I gave them a strange look. "What? He needed it." said Jemima.
Oh dear. Jemima seemed to have that effect on people. No matter what, whenever she was around someone sad, they always seemed to feel a lot better. Victoria stood, leaning against the house. She had red puffy eyes and a runny nose, clear signs she had been crying.
"It took us a lot to get Mungo and Rumple to let us out of the house. A whole week of mice that we get after chores."
By then, the whole tribe had heard about the attack from the strange queen named Katana. All the cats seemed to take this as a warning, so they kept themselves, and (if they had any) their kittens inside. Apparently, since Jenny and Skimble were both out looking for Misto, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were in charge. Usually, they weren't trusted not to throw a party (they did do that once last year, and every person in attendance, including me, were grounded), but Misto's disappearance had a put a somber mood over the whole junkyard.
Everyone here had known Misto since he was a tiny kitten, and we all loved having him around. And now...him not being with us just didn't feel right.
oOoOoOo
(Macavity's POV)
Just as my two youngest children disappeared into the car, one of my hench cats came up to me, with a message.
"Someone has been spotted not far from here. It looks like another Jellicle."
"Coming for my son probably." I snarled under my breath.
I pointed to the hidden door. "Send one of 'em out there. Get rid of them." He nodded, and I knew that against one of my adoptive children, the intruder didn't stand a chance.
oOoOoOo
(Skimble's POV)
I crawled nimbly through the darkness, cloaked in shadow. Nothing was heard on the cool September night. I slithered under a fallen over propped piece of a refrigerator, making sure the appliance didn't crush me.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I heard a deep voice ask. I turned and saw a single, glowing, ocean blue eye on top of the fridge. Metal claws raked the cool surface.
And then, the figure pounced.
oOoOoOo
(Jemima's POV)
We were warming each other up by telling funny stories about Misto.
"Remember when we first found out he had magic powers?" Victoria asked. We all laughed, remembering the funny day like yesterday.
oOoOoOo
I leapt on top of our den, playing with Victoria and Mistoffelees. Alonzo and his new friend Cassandra were playing their own game. Something boring, like a word game. They called it Scrabble. They were about eleven at the time.
Anyways, us seven and eight year olds were doing something much more fun. We heard that humans call it role playing. We were pretending that we were crime fighting cats. I was the criminal, and Victoria and Mistoffelees were the superheroes trying to stop me. Kinda like the Rumpus Cat!
"You'll never stop me from stealing this priceless rock!" I said in a grotesque voice, holding up your average, everyday stone.
"No!" Vicky called. "She's stealing the priceless-almighty-all knowing rock!" She slapped her paws to her face. Very overdramatic.
Misto followed up her antics. "I don't even know how it's all knowing because it's a rock!"
Vicky looked confused for a minute. "Um...that's why it's priceless and almighty!"
Alonzo looked over for a minute. "Make sure you guys play safely!"
Misto rolled his eyes and nodded. "Sure."
I laughed evilly and held it off the top of the TSE car. "I will now drop it off the really huge building we're totally on top of right now!"
Vicky shouted in despair and shook Misto's arm. "We need to stop her!"
But Misto had some sort of funny grimace on his face. He was rubbing his nose all weird like, kind of like he was about to sneeze.
Which he did.
Only...he sneezed out glitter. Bright, shiny, silver glitter came flying out of his nostrils. Vicky screeched as the glitter flew right into our faces. I backed up and almost fell off the car.
"What going on out there?" asked mother. She rounded the corner and screamed when she saw her two younger daughters and their friend covered in snotty sparkles.
oOoOoOo
We all laughed at the memory.
"Oh, that day was amazing." Cassandra said. She put her arms around Alonzo's shoulders. "I can remember the surprised look on your face. It was priceless when you found out your little brother had magical powers!"
Alonzo nodded. He looked happier, but you could still see a layer of mist covering his eyes. He still had tears running down his face.
Just then, Alonzo stood up. I turned around, and saw that Mungojerrie was running towards us waving his arms like a windmill, with Rumpleteazer following quickly. They both had horrified looks on their faces.
"Guys, guys! Come quick!" shouted Mungo. "What's wrong?" I asked, suddenly filled with dread.
From the looks on my older siblings faces, something awful had happened.
I only had to guess what it was for a while, because I heard Victoria screaming and pointing at a mound of junk.
Munkustrap and Tugger were coming over the top. They were moving at a slower pace, because in between them, limping, almost unconscious, was-
"Daddy!" I shouted and raced over to Dad's aid. He was covered in bite marks, scratches, and bruises. One of his eyes was forced closed and black, and his left arm was twisted in a painful position. My eyes started to water in horror of seeing my father like this. Oh, who would do such a wicked thing like this?!
"Skimble?! What happened?!" Alonzo shouted, rushing over. If this is what it takes to get Alonzo's mind off of his brother, I would rather just have him be sad than have somebody get injured. Especially Dad!
"Daddy! What happened?!" Victoria asked, near sobbing again. She raced over, and hid her face in his chest, tears rolling down her cheeks. Somewhere off to the side, Rumpleteazer buried her face into Mungojerrie's chest and cried, really hard.
"Well, let's get him inside first." Tugger said.
Tugger, on the other hand, was distressed in a completely different way. He had large bags under his eyes, and he looked like he had been crying as well. Tugger usually never cried! He must be really torn up about Misto's absence. I thought sadly.
We scrambled into Tugger's den, which was closest. I had almost forgotten about the crying and screaming Bomba until we entered the old limo (long story, don't ask) . She was a mess of tears and snot that was dripping down her face. I swear she was making puddles of the stuff. Her younger sister, Demeter, was sitting by her side, telling her things were going to be okay.
She wasn't too happy to see her childhood friend beaten up.
Bombalurina went ballistic when they entered. "ACK! SKIMBLE! LET ME GET SOME WATER! SOME BANDAGES! SOME-SOME-AGH! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO GET ANYMORE!" With that, she fell onto her knees, and started to hyperventilate all over again. Demeter and Tugger sank down to the ground to comfort her.
It was pretty bizarre seeing Bomba like this. Usually, it was the opposite. Demeter would be the one to get upset and go berserk, and Bomba would calm her down.
"I'm sorry." Bomba whimpered. "I'm just kinda scared. You know, it's-it's nothing." And then the brave, independent queen started bawling again. Tugger looked like he didn't know what to do.
"I've never seen her like this, it's usually Demeter that get's like this." Demeter and Munkustrap sent him glares. "Shut up Tugger." they both said at once.
We heard Mom, Admetus, Asparagus Jr., Coricopat, and Tantomile enter the den (Gus Jr., Admetus and the twins were the others who went).
"No sign of him." Mom said. "Wish we knew anything...you guys have any OH MY GOSH IS THAT SKIMBLESHANKS?!" Mom shrieked as soon as she entered the room.
"Oh dear. That's unfortunate, isn't it?" asked Tantomile.
Mom went crazy in the other queen's face. "WELL DUH! HE'S MY HUSBAND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" She shouted, then turned to face Daddy. She ran over to the bed they had set him on. "Skimble?" She asked in a much calmer, soothing voice that she uses when us kittens can't fall asleep. "Skimble darling, can you hear me?"
"It's hard not to hear you." Daddy muttered. Tugger laughed.
"Shut up Tugger!" said all the adult cats in the room.
Mommy sighed happily and nodded. "He's alright." She grinned, and kissed him on the forehead. "Now, can one of you run to my den and get some things that I need?" Munkustrap ran out of the den. Demeter helped Bomba (who was still weeping a bit) stand up and said "I'm going to take her to me and Munkustrap's den for a while, okay? She's already had enough traumatic drama for one day." Tugger nodded, then the two queens left.
"What happened?" Cassandra asked. I had forgotten about them. We were all being so quiet during all of this.
Father propped himself up on his good arm. "Well, there was this mysterious queen that attacked me-"
"Could be the same one that attacked my little brother!" Alonzo exclaimed.
Daddy shook his head. "No, this one only had one eye."
Tugger shrugged. "Misto could've scratched her eye out!"
"SHUT UP TUGGER!" Everybody in the den shouted.
"She also had one metal paw."
Tugger looked very pleased and proud. "He took her arm off too? Wow, that kitten's good at this magic stuff!"
"SHUT UP TUGGER!" Everybody shouted once more.
"I crept underneath this big refrigerator. One second, I was alone. The next, she was on the top."
"That sounds exactly like what happened to me and Misto." Tugger said, finally being helpful.
"And the worst part-she was a magic cat." Everybody gasped.
"I bet you all she works for Macavity." Victoria said. She looked extremely worried during all of this. Tugger nodded. "I agree with you, Victoria. This whole business with these magic yahoo's has Macavity written all over it!"
Daddy nodded. "That's right. Well, probably. And that means, if she attacked me and Misto,-"
"Nowhere is safe." Tantomile and Coricopat finished at the same time.
A/N
Wow, that was very exciting! I got the sparkle sneeze from the Broadway revival of Cats also.
My older sister Baylee helped with a great deal of this. Her fanfic account is LunaOdin1234! Please follow her! Or at least read her story ( she has one up right now. It's sadly not about Cats, but she will put up another one soon, and this one will be about Cats)! Critique as much as you like, just don't swear or say anything inappropriate. This fanfic is the opposite of gas station bathrooms-clean!
That's it for now, see you next time!
Sayonara (Goodbye)!
-Luna