Chapter 7: And She Is…?
"ELECTRA! JEMIMA!" Etcetera dashed to her two older sisters and licked their faces enthusiastically. This woke Jemima up and made Electra wince in pain. "Why did you leave me? I find it very insulting, you know."
"Thank Heaviside they didn't. What I would have done if all three of you had gone missing!" Jenny cried. Pouncival, Ademetus, Plato, and Tumblebrutus stood awkwardly as the kittens were fussed over by the rejoicing Jellicles. Finally, Jenny turned to them and kissed them all. "You found them! How can I thank you enough…"
"It was nothing," Pounce stated grandly with a wave of his paw. He looked around and winked at the nearest queen he saw, which happened to be Victoria.
"So, what happened?" Victoria asked, coming closer to the toms. She sounded so much like Bombalurina that it made Alonzo choke with laughter. But at the moment, he wanted to hear what had happened to his friends, not his sister flirting with toms.
"Brutus?" Munku asked impatiently as Pounce stared at Victoria.
Tumblebrutus was also staring at the white queen, but shook himself and answered the question. "Well, they were tied up in an old tent. You know, my old home. I took these guys there to show them the place. It was on fire, the girls were inside, we went in and untied them." Jemima smiled gratefully at him for not telling them about her talking rubbish when they were trying to rescue her.
"Sorry, we ran off," Electra apologized, "but we just wanted some freedom. Jemima wanted to see the city on our own." Skimbleshanks hugged her tightly. Munku smiled.
"It's good to have you back." He told her. "Tugger was getting lonely! But who," he turned to Persephone, "is this?"
Jemima and Electra exchanged another look. "Sit down everyone," Jemima called. "We'll tell you our story. Well, the other night, there was the most beautiful moon out. The type of moon that all Jellicles can't resist staring at. My sisters weren't affected because they didn't look at it before they fell asleep. But I looked, and was instantly transfixed. I couldn't take my eyes off it for several minutes. I began to crave excitement and freedom. So, I woke Electra up and convinced her to go into the city."
"Why didn't you take me?" Etcetera asked indignantly.
"Because we both knew you'd make a fuss if we woke you up at that hour of the night. You'd of killed us." Electra explained. "Anyway, for a while we just wandered aimlessly through the streets. And we saw Cats too. Jerrie and Teazer, Vicky, Misto (sort of), Bomba and Brutus."
"When you say 'Bomba and Brutus' do you mean together?" Tugger asked. Electra nodded. Jemima examined her singed toes. Tugger grinned evilly at Brutus. The young tom tried to look innocent, but Tugger was going after him. He squealed and ran up the trunk and up to the chair. Tugger tried to follow him, but Bomba grabbed his arm.
"Behave yourself! You do it all the time." She hissed.
"Whatever, keep going." Alonzo urged, ignoring the bickering cats. He was as caught up as any of the Jellicles by the kitten's tale. It acted like the moon and entranced them.
"And then, I went around a corner and saw the shadow of a cat. Jemi followed me and saw it too." Electra went on. "At first we were afraid, but the cat wasn't coming toward us. The cat heard us and took off. We chased her and finally caught up with her. We were just becoming friendly when Macavity came. He kidnapped us."
There were gasps and Jellylorum said "Oh Heaviside."
"Yes," Jemima carried on, her voice strong and clear over the city's growls. "He took us to an old circus tent and tied us up to a pole. After a few days, he couldn't think what to do with us so he set the tent on fire. With us inside." There were more gasps, sympathetic murmurs, Munkustrap looked horrified and disgusted, and Jennyanydots began to cry. "Luckily for us, Tumblebrutus, Pouncival, Plato, and Ademetus were outside. It used to be Tumble's home and he was showing it to his friends. They heard us and saved us." Jemima blushed and fell silent.
*~*~*
"So, that's what just happened?" Munkustrap asked. "You just escaped from the fire?" The crew of kittens nodded tiredly. "You must be tired." More nods. "OK Jellicles, let the kittens sleep for now. We'll talk more tomorrow." All the cats started to stumble towards sleep, but Coricopat stopped them.
"Wait, they never answered Munkustrap's question."
"Yes," Tantomile said, "who is she?"
"Oops," Electra giggled, "we forgot the most important part! Munkustrap, this is Persephone." She motioned the new kitten forward. "This is who we were chasing." Persephone studied the tabby through narrowed eyes.
"Persephone, I'm Munkustrap. Guardian of the Jellicles." Munkustrap turned a stern face to Jemima and Electra. "Why did you think you could bring an outsider here? DO you even know she's a Jellicle?"
"She seems like it!" Electra mewed defiantly. "You should have seen her under interrogation, she wasn't even scared."
"Sorry Munku, if we did something we shouldn't have." Jemima hung her head. "We just wanted to bring someone new to the Jellicle Ball. We wanted a new friend."
"All right, all right." Munkustrap held up his paws. "We'll talk to Old Deuteronomy. Go to bed for now. And kittens, good to have you back." Jemima and Electra smiled. They turned to their parents and sister and curled up with them, beckoning Persephone over to them.
*~*~*
Persephone didn't go. She stood in the middle of the Junkyard, wary of the unfamiliar cats. "Hey, what's wrong?" Persephone turned to see an all white queen, the one who'd been flirting earlier.
"I dunno, just unsure where to go. I don't know if I'm allowed to stay or not." Persephone shrugged.
"You are. Munkustrap will have to see our leader, Deuteronomy, but for now, you're with us." The cat smiled. "I'm Victoria, by the way, Vicky. You wanna come with me and Misto?"
"Misto?"
"Well, he's a magical cat. We call him Misto, but his real name's Mr. Mistoffelees." Victoria explained.
"Sure, I'll come with you." Persephone accepted. "Where're you going exactly?"
"Well, usually, we go home, but tonight we'll just stay here in the Junkyard. I sleep in the stove when it's unoccupied, like tonight. All the kittens go there, but I doubt Jenny, Jemima, Electra, and Etcetera's mum, will let them out of her grip for a moment. Misto will probably sleep on the trunk of the old car next to his friends." Victoria told Persephone.
"Thanks," Seph told Victoria gratefully.
"No problem, actually I was feeling kinda lonely. What with my friends having been gone and the toms preoccupied with the search." Victoria yawned. "Oh, I'm so tired though! Tomorrow, will you tell me about yourself?" Persephone nodded and Victoria fell into contented sleep.
Persephone didn't. She sat in the stove, curled up next to Victoria. She was thinking about her family, trying to remember her past. She still couldn't quite recall everything. Just that cat, large and threatening. Black and beastly…